Not Just a Pretty Face: Please Read This Book

If you read anything this year, this is the book you should read. A friend recommended that I read this so I bought it and I have to tell you that it is one of the most important books I have ever read. Please go read it, share it, blog about it. Tell everyone you can.

The name of the book is Not Just a Pretty Face: The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry. It can be purchased for just $11 on Amazon.com, but it is worth a pile of gold.

This book is written by Stacy Malkan, who is Communications Director of Health Care Without Harm and media strategist for the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, a national coalition working to eliminate hazardous chemicals from personal care products.

So what is this book about? In a nutshell, it's about how our body products are killing us. It's about how our cosmetics and our lotions and our shampoos are full of carcinogens, phthlates, parabens, chemicals and other toxic ingredients. It's about how research shows that these ingredients are harmful, deadly even, and yet cosmetic companies don't care. It's about how the U.S. Government and namely the FDA isn't doing a damn thing to protect our health or our children's health. It's about how the Cosmetics Industry is actively trying to keep advocacy groups from disseminating information to the public about the dangers of using products with these ingredients.

You will get mad when you read this book. Really mad. And that is good, because getting angry is a step towards demanding change. And change is what we MUST demand. We must demand that companies stop selling us toxic crap and marketing it as something that is going to make us younger and more beautiful. We must demand that companies stop selling us baby products that contain carcinogens and hormone-disrupting chemicals. We must demand it by being vocal and by not buying this stuff. And we must educate ourselves about what isn't safe, which isn't so easy to do. But we have to do it because no one is looking our for us but us.

The Cosmetic Industry is the Big Tobacco of our times. We've got to speak up and tell them that we won't let them get away with this. There are safer options. There are companies who do care about the health of their customers. We've reviewed some of these companies at GMF. But there are far too many companies - most mainstream companies - that are thinking only of making money and not at all about the health of the public.

They care more about making money than they do about our children. It's maddening. And we must do something. We CAN do something. WE hold the pursestrings. WE are the mothers. WE can make changes by not supporting these companies anymore.

The time to act is now. Our health and our children's health are too important.

Before you tell me I'm off my rocker, read the book. And hey, let's make it a book club discussion. Get the book and then we can discuss it chapter by chapter. Who's in? If I have a few people interested, I'll set up a schedule.

Let's get the word out. Who's with me?