Colorado Safe Personal Care Products Act

"THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY (23) DECLARES IT TO BE IN THE BEST INTEREST OF THE PEOPLE OF THIS STATE (24) TO TAKE STEPS TO ENSURE THAT PERSONAL CARE PRODUCTS SOLD AND (25) USED IN THIS STATE ARE SAFE AND DO NOT CONTAIN SUBSTANCES THAT (26) CAUSE CANCER OR REPRODUCTIVE TOXICITY." HOUSE BILL 10-1248

Wow, this sounds so great, right? We will protect every person in CO. However, this bill proposes a blanket ban on all ingredients determined to be "potential carcinogens." It does not give any information on who will determine what ingredients go on the list. It does not say how the ingredients will be chosen. Will they be determined based on a particular campaign or lobby group? Will decisions be based on reliable scientific data that has been tested multiple times and solid conclusions have been drawn? Why are we not setting safe usage standards instead of a blanket ban? Humans are not lab rats that we are directly injecting highly concentrated doses into, so why would are decisions be based on such studies.

I know, some will read this and think I'm overreacting. However, the reality is that this is meant to put some control on large corporations, but it does not distinguish between them and small business owners trying to create something better for customers. Did you know that some essential oils have a potential carcinogen present in minute quantities? The dosage is nowhere near high enough to be harmful (remember don't ingest essential oils), but there is no safe usage standard, it would ban ALL potentially harmful substances!

The risk for business owners is a $5,000-$10,000 fine. The state will rely on consumers to enforce this law. So, I could make sure that my products have NONE of the listed substances and still run the risk of a costly law suit. So what if it doesn't go through and I don't have to pay $10,000 for a fine. How much will I spend on legal fees to defend myself in the first place? Not to mention the lost time because I have to be in court.

There are many other reasons to be opposed to this bill, but I won't list them all. Instead, I would encourage all who are concerned about the potential loss of business or options that you have as a consumer, please check out the following blogs written by ladies much more articulate than myself. Essential U, Indie Business Blog, and finally The Soap Queen. All three are extremely well written and very informative, plus each looks at this bill from a different standpoint. Be sure to read the comments too. My favorite is that someone pointed out one of my favorite arguments; titanium dioxide and zinc oxide are used as sunscreen alternatives to chemicals such as oxybenzone, but they are considered "unsafe" too. So what should we do? Avoid all sunscreens and the sun altogether :) Love it!

If you would like to get involved, please contact CO representatives. You can find the phone number and email addresses of your Colorado State Representative here. The bill is sponsored in the house by Dianne Primavera phone # 303-866-4667 click here to email, Dennis Apuan phone # 303-866-3069 click here to email, Karen Middleton phone # 303-866-3911 click here to email, Joe Miklosi Cap phone # 303-866-2910 click here to email.