Consumer Coalition Gets 432 Companies to Remove Hazardous Chemicals from Personal Care Products

More than 400 companies selling cosmetic and other personal care products have removed potentially hazardous chemicals from them, after a seven-year campaign by a large coalition of consumer, health and environmental groups.

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics said that those companies—all fairly small and in the industry's "natural products" niche—have met all or nearly all of its goals to make items from soaps and shampoos to cosmetics and aromatherapy safer for U.S. consumers.

The coalition worked with the companies to get them to remove substances banned by health authorities in other countries, particularly chemicals linked to cancer and birth defects.