The federal government is trying to put small cosmetic businesses out of soap. Basically, a couple of senators declared war on handmade soap.
But who is doing this and why? I’m going to explain exactly what happened since this first kicked off back in 2014.
I going to tell you exactly what the back story is, and then I’m going to update you as to where we are now. You might be shocked to realize the extent of the relentless drive of these two senators to outlaw small businesses who make harmless cosmetics.
You might also be shocked to see how insidious and blatant the motives of the senators are, and why this needs to be fought by anyone with a sense of proportion in our modern society.
Who Is Doing This And Why?
This all comes down to the actions of two senators, Diane Feinstein and Susan Collins. There have been rumors about them getting kickbacks from corporations for years, but nothing’s ever been proven so that’s hearsay.
But in 2014 they launched a bill for the Senate to discuss called the Personal Care Product Safety Act.
Ostensibly, the goal of this act was to safeguard the public, bringing all beauty products including soap under the umbrella of the FDA, basically requiring them to be fully FDA regulated. They claimed that home-made cosmetics could cause damage, and there had been cases of people getting skin rashes and other complaints due to using home-made soap and other cosmetic products. But the proof was only ever shown to be around minor problems in a small number of cases.
What this bill would do is basically regulate small businesses out of existence. Fees, licenses, inspections, paperwork, would make it impossible for your housewife making soap in their spare time and selling it locally to make the money to make it worthwhile. They would basically kill all of that small business economy across the country.
Handmade Soaps And Cosmetics Must Be Regulated But It’s Okay For The Following Standards?
So the two senators are claiming to protect the public, but the regulation they want to put in place will force more people into buying products from the real worst offenders.
Let’s have a look at some of the ingredients in commercial soap products, the big names that you buy now:
- Phthalates have been linked to reproductive abnormalities in baby boys. This is alongside the potential to reduce sperm quality and quantity in men, and induce early puberty in girls. Animal experiments have shown high toxicity in all types of the reproductive system. It’s commonly found in industrial cosmetic fragrances.
- Formaldehyde is put in many cosmetics to stop mold and bacteria from growing. But formaldehyde is a confirmed powerful allergen, as listed by the US Department of Health and Human Services, and the World Health Organization. It’s also a carcinogenic substance.
- Parabens are used as preservatives in many everyday cosmetic products. But they can act as estrogens and therefore disrupt fertility in women. Although Johnson & Johnson agreed to stop their use in cosmetic products in 2012, many other companies have not followed suit.
That’s just the top three. I can list another dozen that have similar problems. So it’s okay to rub those into your skin for decades, but you can’t use handmade soap using only natural products according to the senators.
This Bill Was Introduced In 2015 Where Are We Now?
I first wrote about this in 2015, about the original bill that was proposed in 2014. However, no real progress was made by it.
But far from getting the hint, the same two senators reintroduced the bill in 2019. They’ve also been the driving force behind the website set up by an organization that I can’t find the history of, which seeks to justify the bill, smooth over any public negative responses, and justify the regulation on small businesses using completely natural products.
It all stinks, and you have to seriously question the motives.
Even if you don’t make handmade soap, even if don’t buy it, I would strongly urge you to take a look at this sort of insidious politics. It’s financially driven, and you can bet your bottom dollar that the people pushing for this to go into law and not doing it out of a holistic desire to block people from unregulated product exposure.
This regulation, and there’s overregulation. This would slap tens of thousands of dollars on a business that made even moderate profits. It would put them out of business within months because they will just give up and not bother. Hand soap is made using natural products, and millions of people around the world use it every day without any issues at all, and yet are senators are seeking to put these companies out of business so that you have to buy soap that is laced with chemicals that have proven negative health effects.
If You Tolerate This Then Your Business Will Be Next
There’s a song from a well-known rock ‘n’ roll band (manic Street preachers) called “If you tolerate this then your children will be next”, and you can apply that both to your children, and your business in the case of this hand soap scandal.
What about other businesses that are not fully regulated by the FDA? What about those bodybuilding supplement businesses that use completely natural and safe ingredients that are used individually in supplements all around the world, and are then bundled together to make more efficient single capsule doses?
Those workout supplement businesses will be put out of business in short order. You can apply that to any small business that is not fully under the Draconian rules of the FDA. Even the most innocuous of products made and sold locally, or on sites like eBay, could soon be driven out of business.
It’s also about grabbing a slice of the profit, and whatever your industry, whatever you buy from small businesses, if it’s something you consume or use on your body, then it’s in danger from the next step in this obvious attempt to stifle competition and hand all the profits and control to a small number of huge corporations.