Frankly Speaking Friday-The Safe Cosmetic Act of 2011

For many months representatives from the soap making guild, as well as other industry leaders, worked hard to educate the powers that be [in Washington DC] about the reality of being a small bath and body business and/or an Indie soaper. They attempted to educate these legislators about the science of making soap, (and that lye saponifies so it is not present in soap), how small businesses operate, and what would and would not be reasonable in ingredient labeling and ingredient testing. They tried to educate these representatives, and even thought that they were making reasonable progress. See this note by the owner of Wholesale Plus Warehouse, one of the people who had been back and forth to Washington DC.  http://blog.wholesalesuppliesplus.com/2011/06/legislative-update.html 
When she wrote this message, she was encouraged and it sounded as though there was a light at the end of the tunnel. But a mere two or three days later, the bill was introduced and we found out that the light was NOT the end of the tunnel, but a TRAIN headed our way! 


When the Safe Cosmetic Act Bill made it to the floor, none of the discussed exemptions were included. As the bill reads now, I imagine that ALL small businesses will be unable to comply, In fact, I would even venture to say that  the large companies will even need to drastically alter their way of business, which will not only lead to major confusion for the consumers, but I can see major price increases as a byproduct as well. 

This page will explain why it is not a feasible bill and the basics of how it will impact us. It offers a paragraph by paragraph explanation of the bill.  http://personalcaretruth.com/2011/07/sa  Then, the petition site highlights some basic reasons to be against this bill. You will find their reasoning here;

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/no-2-sca-2011/   look at the "overview" tab.

I strongly urge you to read over the bill in its entirety, and then, assuming that you feel it will adversely affect your freedoms, as well as small businesses such as mine), please go to this link and sign a petition against it. Better yet, sign the petition AND contact your state representatives.  http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/no-2-sca-2011/  click on the "petition" tab.





For a few more interesting facts relating to safety in cosmetics, you may also want to review this article; 

http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/myths-on-cosmetics-safety/

Certainly we need rules, laws and regulations to try and prevent those few bad apples from spoiling our soap pots, but we need reasonable and applicable regulations. We do NOT need people who don't even understand what they are attempting to require, writing the regulations. It is quite obvious that the writers of this bill are ignorant about what they are intending every company to do. If this passes as is, they will put me and most every other small, small business out of business. Larger small businesses may be able to absorb the costs, but at what price? At any rate, consumer choice will certainly be reduced/limited. Consumer confusion will also increase (over the ingredient labels)m and large businesses will likely respond by raising their product prices. This is my take on it, and I could go on, but I have provided you links where much more eloquent writers explain things much better than I. 

Please take a moment to read these and take a stand. Remember, "all it takes for evil to triumph, is for good men [and women] to do nothing."  Be a part of the solution, educate yourself and then take action!