Taking Stock — How the Cosmetics Industry Ranks on Toxic Chemicals was released last month by Environmental Defence, an environmental advocacy group based in Ontario.

The document provides the results of an initiative that assessed whether the five largest cosmetic companies in Canada have targets for eliminating harmful ingredients, how they are addressing concerns about chemicals in their products and ingredient disclosure on their product labels. In particular, the report looked at endocrine-disrupting chemicals in cosmetics, which may have links to endocrine-related cancers such as breast and testicular cancer.

The document concludes that the largest cosmetics companies in Canada still need to give their products and policies a makeover when it comes to toxic chemicals.

Since many of the contaminants in cosmetics and personal care products end up in the wastewater treatment facilities, and ultimately in the aquatic environment continuing efforts to monitor reduction efforts are of interest to the water and wastewater sector.