ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Warm commendations are due to Congressman David Obey and Senator Ron Wyden for their long-standing concern about the dangers of cosmetic and personal-care product ingredients; Senator Edward Kennedy, for his 1997 endorsement of the General Accounting Office report on carcinogenic ingredients in cosmetics, and for his warning that “[t]he cosmetics industry has borrowed a page from the playbook of the tobacco industry by putting profits ahead of public health”; Congressman John Conyers, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, for his long-standing legislative initiatives on white-collar industry crime; Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky for her 2001 bill (HR 1947) requiring warning labels on fragrances containing allergens and other toxic ingredients; and California State Senator Carole Migden for her 2005 California Safe Cosmetics Act requiring disclosure of toxic ingredients in cosmetics, authorized by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in January 2007.

As chairman of the non-profit Cancer Prevention Coalition, I am pleased to acknowledge the following for their support in our mission of winning the losing war against cancer and providing citizens with information on unknowing exposures to environmental carcinogens and a wide range of avoidable carcinogens in consumer products: the Goldsmith, Schneider, Oestreicher, Goodman, Helianthus, and Heinz Family foundations; and Horst M. Rechelbacher, past president of Aveda and current CEO of Intelligent Nutrients (IN).

I would like to thank: Ralph Nader, for his prescient chapter on cosmetics in the 1974 MIT Press book which I co-edited, and also for co-sponsoring my September 1995 Washington, D.C., press conference on the “Dirty Dozen” toxic cosmetics and other consumer products; the late, indomitable Studs Terkel, for frequent invitations to discuss cancer politics and avoidable causes of cancer on his highly celebrated radio program series; and Dr. Quentin Young, chairman of the Health and Medicine Policy Research Group and past president of the American Public Health Association, for his unflagging support, involvement in a wide range of CPC initiatives, and concerns relating to avoidable causes of cancer, including carcinogenic ingredients in cosmetics and personal-care products.

I would also like to thank George Schaeffer, CEO of OPI Products, Inc., for constructive comments on salon nail products; Robin Brown and Anna Cirronis of Erbaviva, for information on their certified organic baby products; Michael Wrightson, president of Natural Europe Enterprises, and Logona, a German company, for information on organic herbal hair dyes; Ronnie Cummins of the Organic Consumers Association, for his critical review and stellar contributions on certified organic ingredients; Melissa Christenson, president of Intelligent Nutrients, for assistance on evaluating organic products; and Horst Rechelbacher, CEO of Intelligent Nutrients, for his U.S. and international leadership role on safe organic products, well exemplified by his epic insistence, “Don’t put anything on your skin which you would not put in your mouth.”

It is also a pleasure to acknowledge the over 100 leading scientific experts in cancer prevention and public health and the representatives of activist citizen groups who endorsed the Cancer Prevention Coalition’s February 2003 report, “Stop Cancer Before It Starts Campaign: How to Win the Losing War Against Cancer.” This report deals with a wide range of avoidable causes of cancer, including unlabeled carcinogenic ingredients in consumer products, particularly cosmetics and personal-care products, and related public policy concerns.