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SKIN DEEP 3.0 REVEALS INGREDIENTS IN 25,000
PRODUCTS
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CONTACT:
Jovana Ruzicic
(202) 939-9144
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Washington, DC — Most people think that the ingredients in
personal care and cosmetic products are safety tested before
they are sold. But there is no such requirement in federal law.
To help consumers make informed decisions about their products,
Environmental Working Group (EWG) is re-launching its popular
Skin Deep website, the only online source for assessing and
comparing the safety of personal care products. Skin Deep, first
launched 3 years ago by the EWG, generates more than 1 million
unique page visits a month. Skin Deep 3.0 is a dramatic upgrade
of the database, both in the number of products assessed and the
sophistication of EWG's safety reviews. This newest version
evaluates the safety of nearly one-fourth of all personal care
products on the market.
Skin Deep fills the information gaps left by an industry that
markets thousands of products with ingredients that have not
been assessed for safety by either industry or government health
experts. By law, the government cannot mandate safety studies of
cosmetics products or their ingredients, and only 13 percent of
the 10,500 ingredients in personal care products have been
reviewed for safety by the cosmetic industry's own review panel.
For virtually every product on the market, safety decisions are
made behind closed doors, guided by an industry-funded panel,
without the benefit of peer-review or independent pre-market
safety testing.
"Under federal law, companies can put virtually anything they
wish into personal care products, and many of them do. Mercury,
lead, and placenta extract — all of these and many other
hazardous materials are in products that millions of Americans,
including children, use every day," said Jane Houlihan, Vice
President of Research at EWG. "Mothers shouldn't have to worry
about what is in the baby lotion they use, and now they don't
have to. The new Skin Deep database provides information on
nearly 25,000 personal care products so people can find out for
themselves which products are the best choices for them and
their families."
EWG's scientists and programmers built Skin Deep to be a
one-of-a-kind resource, coupling our in-house collection of
cosmetics and personal care product ingredient listings with
more than 50 integrated toxicity and regulatory databases — the
largest public, product-safety database in existence.
Consumers can also use Skin Deep to create customized shopping
lists — products free of fragrances or carcinogens, for instance
— while manufacturers can construct one-of-a-kind safety
assessments, rating all their product ingredients at once to aid
in reformulation plans to make their products safer.
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