The star of The Nanny (I’m still waiting for her next sitcom) took her focus on health care and cancer (she is a uterine cancer survivor) to Capitol Hill yesterday to get Senators on board of the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010. The bill will eliminate carcinogens and other contaminants from makeup.
The fact that they need a bill like this at all is very disturbing.
The Senators were duly wowed by the sitcom star and her passion according to the NY Times.
Go Fran!
The Nanny and the Senators (NY Times)
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wow. I didnt even know we NEEDED a bill for that.
Go, Fran!! I had no idea she was doing this.
What that damn bill is *actually* going to do is impose fees well beyond the means of small, indie cosmetics businesses. Most indie makeup companies are woman-owned and -operated. There are already laws in place governing the use of certain chemicals in cosmetics, and I have yet to see an indie makeup company breaking those rules. All this bill does is set up a stratospheric schedule of fees for “enforcement” purposes that will end up putting small, woman-owned cosmetic companies out of business – one estimate I’ve heard puts it at around $12,000/year for the new level of testing and registration this bill will require. L’Oreal and Maybelline and all the big companies will be fine, because they can afford tens of thousands of dollars for registering their products and testing them in professional labs, while women who are trying to do what they love – with ingredients bought from wholesalers who *already* take care of ingredient testing, mind you – will be screwed.
This is not a feminist or pro-woman thing to be doing. Shame on Drescher.
Jadelyn, I agree that the impact of these kinds of bills on small business owners is overlooked (I recall a similar issue for craftspeople with regards to standards for materials in products intended for use by children). However, there is no denying that the cosmetics industry is dangerously unregulated.
I find Drescher’s taking a stand on this issue quite admirable, especially since cosmetics spokesperson contracts are one of the ways female stars close the wage gap with their male colleagues. Have you ever noticed how when an actress has a child she stops appearing in films for awhile but remains quite visible in cosmetics ads? Think Jennifer Garner and Halle Berry. For Hollywood mothers, it’s a great solution for staying in the public eye so they don’t forget about you when you want to return to acting and also bringing home a paycheck. Not to mention it’s a great way for the over-40 set to earn some scratch when the acting roles dry up.
I don’t begrudge these stars making a living. But there is a dark side to this — not only does the cosmetics industry thrive by creating self-hatred and insecurity in its clientele (that is, ALL WOMEN EVERYWHERE), but the actual contents of their products are not subject to testing or oversight!
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