Women and Green

By Audie Perove

Going green must become a way of life for us rather than a trend. It is of global importance and who better than women to take on this task to educate the public.

Where can we start? We can begin with our families. One way to expand our “eco-vision” is to teach them how to read labels and look for ingredients that could be a threat to their health as well as the environment.

Personal care products should be our first concern.
• Personal care products are one of the biggest offenders. Sadly, only 11 percent of the 10,500 ingredients FDA has documented in personal care products like hair spray, deodorants, fragrances, and nail polish have been assessed for safety by the cosmetics industry.

Many personal care products contain phthalates, chemicals that can damage the liver, the kidneys, the lungs, and the reproductive system.

• These exposures to phthalates are unnecessary, for virtually every single product that contains phthalates, phthalate-free alternatives are available. In fact, the same companies that produce phthalate-laden beauty products also make products that contain no phthalates.

• In addition to phthalates, personal care products may contain mercury, toluene, petroleum distillates, parabens, and any number of other chemicals that could cause cancer, harms the reproductive system, or retard human development.

• If we only used one product, we might not have to worry so much. But on average, we use between 9 and 15 personal care products every day. According to the non-profit Environmental Working Group, people apply an average of 126 different ingredients to their skin daily, making the cumulative impact of these chemicals particularly dangerous.

• We can protect our health by buying personal care products that contain the safest ingredients available. Luckily, greener alternatives abound. Companies have pledged to not use chemicals that are known or strongly suspected of causing cancer, mutation, or birth defects.

Read the label! Avoid personal care products that contain the following ingredients:
• Mercury
• Toluene
• Petroleum Distillates
• Phthalates
• Parabens
• BHA
• Progesterone
• Aluminum zirconium tetrachlorhydrex

Women are the driving influential force of a household. We have to take responsibility of this job description and make a conscious effort and do something in a positive way. We can have a direct affect on the future of our planet. One place to start is in our own homes.

Realizing that intelligent, conscious choices have to be made to reduce the impact of our planet is the best advice that we can give to our children. What we do, no matter how small, really does matter.

Take for instance a high profile woman like Julia Roberts is trying to make a difference for her children. Some people are just a whole lot more likely to listen when a mega-star points out the obvious to all of us. Especially when they make it personal. Julia Roberts is quoted as saying that "Motherhood is the big reason I started thinking more critically about the environment and global warming."

On a larger scale we can join forces with an organization that is requiring the health and beauty industry to clean up their acts. The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics is a coalition of women's, public health, labor, and environmental health and consumer-rights groups. Our goal is to protect the health of consumers and workers by requiring the health and beauty industry to phase out the use of chemicals linked to cancer, birth defects and other health problems, and replace them with safer alternatives.

The FDA or any other government agency does not regulate personal care products like shampoo, conditioner, after-shave, lotion, and makeup. It is perfectly legal and very common for companies to use ingredients that are known or suspected to be carcinogens, mutagens or reproductive toxins in the their products. Consumers buy these products at drug stores, grocery stores, online or in salons, usually without questioning the product's safety.

We are asking cosmetics and personal care products companies to sign the Compact for Safe Cosmetics (also known as the Compact for the Global Production of Safer Health and Beauty Products), a pledge to remove toxic chemicals and replace them with safer alternatives in every market they serve. As of August 2007, 600 companies have signed the Compact -- and that number increases every day!

The Campaign works with endorsing organizations and individuals so that together we can ramp up the pressure on companies that have not signed the Compact and continue to sell us toxic products, including Estee Lauder, L'Oreal, Avon and many others. Our founding organizations also work closely with other allies to reform the chemical policies that allow for toxic ingredients in consumer products in the first place.

I encourage you to purchase products whose environmental effects have been considered and found to be less damaging to the environment and human health, and incorporate them into your daily routine. Go green, one choice at a time and adapt our lifestyles so we can live as lightly on this planet as possible. Future generations are depending upon us to operate in a socially just and environmentally sustainable manner. After all, this world is a precious gift, isn’t it worth fighting for?

Businesswoman, Friend, Collaborator, and Team player, Audie Perove fills her Entrepreneurial Calling by offering a great service that enriches the lives of others. Together with other fellow BraveHeart Community members, her goal is to empower Women to be multi-dimensional success stories and inspiration to others. Be Sure to Visit: Be a BraveHeart Woman