By Cassie Huang, MPH, Project Manager, Consumer Health
Note: This blog is cross-posted from the EDF + Business blog.
EDF Health
New updates to understanding packaging scorecard spur a safer & more sustainable foodservice industry
Also posted in BPA, Food, Food contact materials, Food packaging
Tagged Chemicals in food, Food contact substance, Food packaging, Safer packaging
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California mandates toxics testing/disclosure for baby food
Tom Neltner, Senior Director, Safer Chemicals and Katelyn Roedner Sutter, State Director, California
What Happened?
On October 10, 2023, California Assembly Bill 899, authored by Assembly Member Al Muratsuchi, became law. It requires manufacturers of baby food (other than infant formula) who wish to sell their products in California to:
- Test a representative sample of each baby food product for four toxic elements (arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury) at least monthly starting in 2024.
- Provide the test results to the California Department of Health upon request.
- Make the results of the testing publicly available on the manufacturer’s website for the shelf life of the product plus one month. That provision goes into effect in 2025.
In addition, as FDA establishes action levels for the four toxic elements, manufacturers must also include a quick response (QR) code on the label that links to the manufacturer’s website, where consumers can find the test results for that toxic element.
Why It Matters
By requiring testing and reporting on these foods, California will provide parents and guardians with important information they need to compare products and make purchasing decisions. The law also:
- Sets a precedent for greater testing and disclosure of food contaminants; and,
- Is noteworthy, in that baby food companies did not oppose the bill.
The law will strengthen FDA’s efforts to reduce children’s dietary exposure to those toxic elements to the lowest possible levels, while maintaining access to nutritious foods by filling two critical gaps in FDA’s Closer to Zero program. FDA current approach sets action levels on final products that food companies must meet and requires they use preventive controls to manage toxic elements in their ingredients. It does not require final product testing or disclosure of any testing results.
Also posted in FDA, Food, Health policy
Tagged Baby food, California, Chemicals in food, Children's health, FDA, Legislation
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Environmental racism exists in our beauty products and must be addressed
Jennifer Ortega, Research Analyst, Environmental Health
Environmental racism is everywhere. At the neighborhood level, communities of color often experience worse air quality, fewer green spaces, or face more extreme temperatures. At the household level, families of color and low-income families experience a higher risk of lead in their drinking water and higher utility debt and energy insecurity. Inequities are even manifested in the items we use every day, with personal care products marketed to women of color often containing more toxic ingredients than those marketed to white women.
These toxic exposures are not driven by individual choices, but rather by where one lives, where one works, and by cultural beauty standards and norms. A new personal care product story map (also available in Spanish) consolidates federal labor and census data, as well as information from public health studies to show how the intersection of different factors manifests in racial disparities in the exposure to toxic ingredients in personal care products. The map is part of an interactive web series, led by Tamarra James-Todd, Ph.D., and her team at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Read More
Also posted in Health science, Industry influence, Public health
Tagged Beauty justice, Beauty products, Clean beauty justice, Environmental justice
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Breaking silence around Black women’s reproductive health: A conversation with Lilly Marcelin
Community activist Lilly Marcelin has dedicated her career to addressing racial and social inequities. In 2012, she founded and is now the Executive Director of the Boston-based organization, Resilient Sisterhood Project (RSP). The organization’s mission is to educate and empower women of African descent about common, but rarely discussed, diseases of the reproductive system that disproportionately affect them through workshops, trainings, empowerment circles, and community education and outreach programs. Ms. Marcelin ensures RSP’s work is done in partnership with – rather than on behalf of – Black women in order to address deeply rooted systemic racism.
I recently spoke with Lilly Marcelin to learn more about her advocacy around Black women’s reproductive health, including the importance of involving and centering Black women in this work. Read More
Also posted in Environmental justice, Industry influence, Public health
Tagged Beauty justice, Clean beauty justice
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The science behind toxic inequities in beauty and personal care products
Jennifer McPartland, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist with the Health Program.
Prominent incidences of environmental injustice in the public eye are typically place-based — from lead-contaminated tap water in Flint, Michigan to smokestacks lining Cancer Alley in Louisiana. For decades, communities of color and low income communities have confronted long-standing discriminatory practices and policies around land use, housing, and related issues that result in greater exposures to pollution and toxic chemicals.
While geography is a predictor of an individual’s health and well-being, environmental injustice and environmental racism extend beyond geography to include inequities in toxic exposures like in personal care product formulations. Beauty and personal care products marketed to women of color often contain more toxic ingredients than products marketed to white women. As a result, women of color are disproportionately exposed to toxic chemicals through these products. Read More
Posted in Markets and Retail
Tagged Beauty justice, Beauty products, Chemicals, Clean beauty justice
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Beauty has a toxic equity problem. It’s time companies champion clean beauty justice.
By Boma Brown-West. This blog was originally posted on EDF+Business.
The U.S. beauty industry is under scrutiny for its use of toxic chemicals. Consumers, particularly Gen Z, are concerned about the ingredients in their beauty and personal care products and the impact they are having on their health, and are pushing the industry to clean up its act.
Companies are responding by trumpeting clean beauty commitments. From major retailers to boutique brands, the number of companies marketing “cleaner” alternatives is exploding. Today, the clean beauty industry is estimated to reach $11 billion by 2027.
While it’s encouraging to see companies work to fill the current regulatory void on safe beauty products, the majority of clean efforts are focused only on products marketed to white women. As a result, women of color don’t have the same access to safer beauty options, and are therefore facing alarming and disproportionate exposure to toxic chemicals.
Retailers and product manufacturers need to champion clean beauty justice, which will put racial equity front-and-center in their efforts to provide consumers of color with safer products. Read More
Posted in Markets and Retail
Tagged Beauty justice, Chemicals, Clean beauty, Equity, Safer products
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