NEW BOOK EXPOSES THE UGLY SIDE OF THE BEAUTY INDUSTRY
Lead in lipstick? 1,4 dioxane in baby shampoo? How is this possible? Simple. The $50 billion cosmetics industry is so powerful they’ve kept themselves unregulated for decades. Stacy Malkan’s award-winning new book, Not Just a Pretty Face: The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry (New Society Publishers, Oct. 2007), follows a group of environmental activists as they knock on the door of the world’s largest cosmetics companies to ask some tough questions:
- Why do companies market themselves as pink ribbon leaders in the fight against breast cancer, yet use chemicals that may contribute to that very disease?
- Why do products used daily by men and women of childbearing age contain chemicals linked to reproductive harm and infertility?
As doors slammed in their faces, the beauty myth peeled away and the industry’s toxic secrets began to emerge. The good news is that while the multinational corporations fight for their right to use hazardous chemicals, activists, scientists and business owners are giving the beauty industry a makeover!
About the Author
Stacy Malkan is communications director of Health Care Without Harm Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story ipod and a media strategist for the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, a national coalition working to eliminate hazardous chemicals from personal care products. Her book offers an insider’s view of the five-year campaign by environmental and health groups to pressure the US cosmetics industry to use safer ingredients. Stacy is a former journalist and newspaper publisher, who works as a leading media strategist for national and international environmental health campaigns. She currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
To order books online:www.newsociety.com/bookid/3966
“This is a gripping, personal book by a recovered cosmetics addict with a great factual range on the impact of an unregulated group of companies.” Ralph Nader, consumer advocate
“A must-read for everyone! Thank you, Stacy, for this most important investigation into the hidden dangers of everyday personal care.” Horst Rechelbacher, founder/former owner of Aveda
More reviewer comments here
Recent press: Green Hero of the Month
San Francisco Chronicle: “Activist, Author Challenges Cosmetics Industry”
San Francisco Chronicle: “Makeup for Teens Getting a Green Makeover” Comfort and Joy divx
Minneapolis Star Tribune: “The Ugly Side of Beauty Products”
Washington Post: “Can Beauty be Dangerous?”
Washington Post’s Sprig.com profile of Stacy Malkan The Great Global Warming Swindle divx
Grist.com interview Homecoming dvd
Alternet interview with Stacy Malkan
February 17th, 2010 at 9:04 am
I believe that God made us to be pure and we are beautiful just the way we are. When people start using the make-up continuously, they have a problem it becomes a addiction and everyone knows when you overdue something the out come can be nasty. Like women who just were make-up all the time eventually when you take it off you have dried out all the natural oils in your face that you just look pale and dry and now you NEED the make-up. Yes majority of the ingrediants in the cosmetics are harmul so abuseing them will eventually turn out the skin or even worse. To me its all about is it worth it?
February 17th, 2010 at 1:16 pm
Hey, im reading chapter11, so basically Dr.Li is telling me i’ts just to much toxic in our material economy?I feel the Green Chemistry that Dr.Li spoke about would be great to use.I mean who would of thought of Mussels from the beach, being scraped from a few rocks for adhesive substance which is non-toxic would be used for (glue) that works perfectly for making plywood for kitchen cabinets. now that’s nature for you!
February 17th, 2010 at 3:03 pm
Yes, it is a wonderful thing! Through billions of years of evolution, nature has already figured out many of our most vexing design problems. A great free resource on this topic is http://www.AskNature.org.