A loophole left by the 1973 Fair Packaging and Labeling Act means the FDA doesn’t require manufacturers to list all the ingredients in “fragrances” as is required for other cosmetics. As a result, the Environmental Working Group’s Enviroblog published on May 12, “Millions of American consumers participate every day as unwitting human lab rats in one of the biggest experiments ever conducted.” In Kathleen Schuler’s February 22 OtherWords op-ed, she warned the growing amounts of chemicals used in every phase of modern life, from children’s toys to jewelry, are cause for concern. “More than 100 chemicals that adversely affect the brain and nervous system have also been implicated,” she wrote, “as playing a role in the development of neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.”
