Go to Content Go to Navigation Go to Navigation Go to Site Search Homepage
Planned Parenthood and Maine Women’s Policy Center Partner to Screen Groundbreaking Film on Harmful Chemicals in Cosmetics
 
Portland (ME) –Planned Parenthood of Northern New England (PPNNE) and the Maine Women’s Policy Center partnered in the screening of the new film "The Story of Cosmetics" on Monday night.  The film explored the health implications of cosmetics for consumers, workers, the environment, and showed how we can move the industry away from hazardous chemicals and toward safer alternatives. Following the film, a panel of experts discussed ways to “give the beauty industry a makeover” to a crowd of over 45 people.
 
“Families need information about what harmful chemicals are in cosmetics and personal care products to ensure that the products they use on a daily basis do not hinder their ability to have a safe and healthy pregnancy and family,” said Steve Trombley, President/CEO of PPNNE.  “For more information about the work PPNNE is doing in the community around environmental health check out our blog, www.good-chemistry.org.”
 
“Not only did The Story of Cosmetics educate us about the harmful chemicals in our personal care products, but it also inspired a great conversation with the panel and audience about what we can do,” said Anne Sheldon, Community Organizer for Maine’s Women’s Policy Center. “To ensure that we keep our families and communities safe we need federal and state legislation to protect us.”
 
The panel included a wide range of speakers: Rebecca Herzig, Bates College Women and Gender Studies Department, Sarah Hart from WATCH, Women Against Toxic Cosmetics Harm, Lora Winslow, Executive Director of the Naked Truth Project, and Kristine Jenkins, Outreach and Organizing Director of the Environmental Health Strategy Center. A common question was: How can we reduce our exposure? Some simple solutions were offered:
  • Simplify: use less products less often and choose products with shorter ingredient lists and fewer hazardous synthetic chemicals;
  • Avoid the mystery concoction known as “fragrance,” made from a dozen or more secret chemicals;
  • Read labels: Thankfully there are great resources online to help consumers make sense of confusing product labels. One of the best is the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep database at www.cosmeticsdatabase.org, which ranks products for toxicity on a scale of 1-10.

Source

Planned Parenthood of Northern New England

Contact

Megan Hannan
Public Affairs Director for Maine
Planned Parenthood of Northern New England
(207) 210-3409 

Anne Sheldon
Community Organizer
Maine Women’s Policy Center
(207) 622-0851

Published

July 26, 2010

Updated

August 02, 2010

We and our third partners use cookies and other tools to collect, store, monitor, and analyze information about your interaction with our site to improve performance, analyze your use of our sites and assist in our marketing efforts. You may opt out of the use of these cookies and other tools at any time by visiting Cookie Settings. By clicking “Allow All Cookies” you consent to our collection and use of such data, and our Terms of Use. For more information, see our Privacy Notice.

Cookie Settings

We, and our third-party partners, use cookies, pixels, and other tracking technologies to collect, store, monitor, and process certain information about you when you access and use our services, read our emails, or otherwise engage with us. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences, or your device. We use that information to make the site work, analyze performance and traffic on our website, to provide a more personalized web experience, and assist in our marketing efforts. We also share information with our social media, advertising, and analytics partners. You can change your default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of required cookies when utilizing our site; this includes necessary cookies that help our site to function (such as remembering your cookie preference settings). For more information, please see our Privacy Notice.

Marketing

On

We use online advertising to promote our mission and help constituents find our services. Marketing pixels help us measure the success of our campaigns.

User Feedback and Session Replay

On

We use qualitative data from LogRocket, UserZoom, Hotjar and AB Tasty to learn about your user experience and improve our products and services. LogRocket allows us to view session replays.