Oppose HR 5786 Safe Cosmetics act of 2010

[#1]

This bill is intended to 'protect' consumers from unsafe cosmetics. the regulations and restrictions imposed are unnecessary, and will most likely put many etsy sellers out of business!! these rules will place homemade natural cosmetic products on the endangered species list, leaving the world nothing but bland, mass-produced, chemical- and preservative-laden lotions, lip balms, soaps, and fragrances.

that artisinal brown sugar bar you've been addicted to? gone. the handmade chapstick that you order by the truckload because no one else makes it just right? kiss it goodbye!

if you love honest, natural, homemade cosmetics, please stand up! this bill has not yet been signed, it can still be altered to allow us our rights to purchase and produce excellent and safe products. please, sign the petition, or at least read the bill, and have a good hard look at what you have to lose.

show the whole country that etsy is powerful, and that crafters, make-ers, and we-who-create are a force to be reckoned with!

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/oppose-hr-5786-safe-cosmetics-act-of-2010/

if this is an important issue to you, please share it with a friend. heck, share it with all your friends!

thank you!!

ps- sorry for cross-posting this, but it's an issue that affects a lot of us, and i'm not quite sure how to categorize it!

[Former_Member]

Hey I'm starting to wonder if maybe we should start an Etsy team.. S.O.O Save our soap ( and other good things.....) to help raise awareness among those on etsy who both sell and buy hand made cosmetics.

The EWG is raising all kinds of money and press to tell their side of the story. They are big and organized. Our numbers (as hand crafters) are great, maybe we should get organized and build some more momentum on our side? Currently the only voices we seem to have are through the Oppose HR Safe Cosmetics Petition and thepersonalcaretruth.com.

Also read this article last night its very truly ironic, thought you may all get a laugh out of it.

http://www.acsh.org/factsfears/newsID.1956/news_detail.asp

[Former_Member]

I don't know if it's been said before but phone calls and letters are the way to go -- politicians don't really care about online petitions.

[Former_Member]

Because this is a site selling handmade goods and not mass market goods to retailers, wouldn't soaps, essential oils, cosmetics, and so forth be exempt? How would they actually apply this law to handmade items sold on a site exclusively for selling "handmade" items? They can't stop people from making soaps and what not. It seems like this kind of law would apply more towards brand-name items sold in retail outlets. Are you all certain it will apply to those making handmade bath and body products and selling them on Etsy?

[Former_Member]

Marking with a little shroom...

[Former_Member]

primitiveearth, that makes sense.

My thinking was more along the lines of getting a team together on Etsy to help raise awareness among our community so that people understand what HR 5786 will mean to the hand crafted cosmetics movement.

I used to think the EWG was good, and that they would bring meaningful change to the industry. As it turns out all the change they are going to affect is to make it impossible for us smaller fish to do business in the North American market.

If we can raise awareness here then each person (who didn't know before) can go out and make those phone calls and write those letters to their local politicians.

Lauriecharnigo it can and will affect us all.

One (of many) things that will be required is that manufacturers (hand crafters in this case) pay to have each and every ingredient independently tested. I'm not entirely sure how much that would cost, but chew on this - can you afford to have your products certified organic by the USDA? Most hand crafters can't. And even if you can, can you afford the time it takes to deal with all of the additional bureaucracy, paperwork etc.? The same will ring true for the new Safe Cosmetics bill.

While USDA certification is entirely optional, compliance to HR 5786 will not be.

[eclipse]

On page 1.
Is this about soap or is this a tea party rally?
Can we leave the divisive right-wing rhetoric out of this?
I'll sign the petition and nobody better take away my handmade soap, I never want to go back to storebought, but I'm not going to vote for a bunch of warmongers.
Sheesh.

[Former_Member]

Great news!! Looks like this bill is being shelved till Congress' next session, in 2011. Taken from the EssentialU blog:

This week I got this note from a staff member at Rep. Blumenauer's office confirming that the 2010 version will not more forward. After a conversation with Schakowsky staff she wrote, "In short, they will be reintroducing in 2011. It sounds like they are hearing a lot of the concerns you raised via the small business angle and there will definitely be some changes. I'm sure it won't be everything, but hopefully it will improve. So we'll just have to stay tuned and see how the new version looks next year."

Link to the whole post: http://essentialu.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/10/update-safe-cosmetics-act-2010.html

Looks like we can all breathe a sigh of relief for a couple months, anyway. Yay!!

[Former_Member]

This is good news but only because it gives us as advocates, more time to derail the pending legislation...

[Former_Member]

Great news! Here's hoping that they revise their submission in a reasonable manner.

I'm all for safer cosmetics, but I detest and distrust fear-mongerers which is exactly what the Safe Cosmetics Campaign has been doing.

[Former_Member]

The thing about Etsy is we communicate with the people who sell us our products (e.g. bath and body works)so we know where we are getting are purchases and who actually makes them. This kind of relationship between the buyer and the seller is much more intimate and meaningful. As a buyer (I don't sell anything), I would purposefully come here and purchase a product from a seller knowing it is not made of harsh chemicals and unknown ingredients used in mass retail cosmetics and body works. The legislation is great for consumers who buy from retailers, but should exempt cottage industries and people who make handmade products, because, as buyers on Etsy, we are already making more informed, conscience choices by purchasing here and don't need protecting. The ones who need protecting are not the ones who purchase their bath and body works from Etsy. Most sellers explain what they make their products out of and whether or not they are vegan. I trust the sellers because they are not big corporations. I can't believe the legislation would not take this sort of thing into account.

[Former_Member]

Quite horrified by this! Also fairly ashamed that I wasn't aware of it. I have ridiculously sensitive skin and natural cosmetics are all I can use. Signed the petition and will be following this now. :(

[Former_Member]

Does anyone know when this might come to head? Being a Canadian I'm guessing that it might go in the form of a bill to congress? Can anyone bring me up to speed on just where this issue stands.

Thanks.

Pam