Annie Leonard - The Story of Cosmetics

Annie Leonard focuses predominately on the concept of “toxics in, toxics out”. Theres no doubt that when you use anything toxic in a product (in the cosmetics industry at least), it will stay there throughout the process and afterwards. It is also a main focus that there is not anything being done to stop this heavy reliance on toxic chemicals and materials. In the cosmetics industry, a very large problem is that only 20% of the chemicals used are inspected for safety but despite this, we still use products that contain these harmful chemicals each and every day without thinking about it at all. inspected 20% of the chemicals for safety, yet we still use them everyday without considering it at all. Despite the large amount of choices of different products, we are not actually given the choice of a safer option (and yes, all the organic options tend to be full of chemicals anyway) In the end, it comes down to the opinions and rules of the companies and governments. As consumers and members of society, all we have the power to do is help convince the companies and governments to change the regulations regarding the use of harmful chemicals within cosmetic products. Although there are regulations regarding the disposal of waste materials and things of that nature, there have not yet been any laws that actually   prevent the use of these harmful materials. In fact, since 1938, only 8 of over 12,000 ingredients that go into cosmetics have been banned. 

Another large loop-hole within the system is that the cosmetic industry makes its own regulations and rules. With this, it means that they are the ones who regulate them and therefore do not even have to follow the laws they make. This means that even when these large companies say that they are coming up with new, environmentally healthy products that do not contain chemical agents, they are still doing it and sometimes do not even have to change anything at all. Many European governments and companies have started making products that legitimately do not use harmful chemicals and it this is the first step to getting rid of these chemicals all together.