2.4 Ken Cook and Advocacy Organizations on Toxics in Personal Care Products

The presentation and video by Ken Cook, the president of the Environmental Working Group (EWG), was extremely eye-opening and shocking. Pediatricians and doctors previously thought that fetuses were safe from toxic pollutants because the placenta would flush them out. The experiment completed by Ken Cook and the EWG, “10 Americans”, researched this and found staggering evidence that proved that fact to be completely false. They found 287 toxic chemicals in 10 fetuses, representing to the public that the first time in a person’s life that they are exposed toxic chemicals is in the womb.  With such a vulnerable population, it is our duty to be aware of these kinds of exposures and attempt to prevent any negative exposures (which might be impossible unless chemical companies change their views as well).  I am happy to see that there was an act created in response to all this information called the Kid-Safe Chemicals Act in 2008, but when I looked it up today it seems that it had died in Congress. I feel like nowadays (10 years later) people are more aware of the toxic chemicals in our environment and if an act like this was created again if it would pass. I did see that the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 was modernized under President Obama in 2016, which is good to hear, but I don’t know how much of an impact that would have on the more vulnerable populations, like the fetuses.