Striving for safer product standards

A former Charlo resident recently made a trip to Washington, D.C., to talk with legislators about regulations for personal care products.

Crystal Kain, 32, now of Cut Bank, said that the reason behind the visit from March 3-6 was to encourage Congress to pass the Personal Care Product Safety Act.

“The last time a major federal law was updated was 1938,” she began.

“When I think of 1938, it’s pre- World War II, pre-Industrial Revolution. Eighty-thousand chemicals have come out since then,” Kain continued.

The Personal Care Product Safety Act is a bipartisan bill that would give the Food and Drug Administration the ability to review five classes of chemicals a year.

The FDA would also be able to issue recalls on products deemed to threaten consumer safety.

Currently, Kain said that if there is an adverse side effect from a product, the FDA can recommend a recall, not initiate a mandatory recall.

Within the act, companies would also have to report to the FDA.

The significance, Kain said, is that without updated standards, companies are allowed to self-regulate, leaving the Federal Drug Administration, which oversees personal care products, without much oversight.

“Food and drugs are regulated, so we assume everything is regulated,” Kain said.

The truth of the matter, she stated, is that there are 30 ingredients that are banned or partially-banned in the United States.

Kain added that in Canada and the United Kingdom, hundreds of chemicals are banned.

The purpose of the act is not to hinder sales or stop the 60-billion-dollar-a-year industry, but rather give the FDA more ability to oversee the industry.

Kain describes herself as health-conscience since childhood, but it wasn’t until her first pregnancy three years ago that she became more of a “label reader.”

Thinking about not only what she’d put into her body, Kain became more mindful of what she’d put on her body.

Reading labels, she realized, was an involved process.

“I felt like I needed a science degree,” she recalled.

Once the baby was born, Kain said she continued to try to make the best decisions for both the baby and herself.

“I was paying top-dollar for ‘natural organic’ stuff,” which wasn’t much better than standard products on the store shelves.

Around that time is when a friend introduced Kain to Beautycounter, a company whose mission is to give consumers an option to use safer products.

Now working for the company, Kain said she has learned more about ingredients. Beautycounter is also how she ended up in the nation’s capital, talking with lawmakers about regulations.

Kain said that lawmakers will take action in April, which could “go one way or the other.”

For now, Kain will continue reading labels and lobbying for federal regulations on personal care products.

“If I can be part of making a chance, I want to do it.”