Press Releases - Women's Voices for the Earth

Statement from Women’s Voices for the Earth on HHS Layoffs

02 Apr 2025

April 2, 2025 As reported in multiple news outlets this week, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced layoffs of 10,000 workers, including 3,500 FDA employees (roughly 19 percent of its total workforce) and 2,400 CDC workers (roughly 18 percent). The CDC numbers include 873 workers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) (two-thirds of its workforce). Following is a statement from Women’s Voices for the Earth’s Co-Executive Director Debra Erenberg: We at Women’s Voices for the Earth extend our sympathy to the 10,000 public servants who lost their jobs at the Department...

Support Grows for Global Treaty Amendment to Ban Advertising, Display, Sales, and Offering of Sales of Mercury Skin Lighteners

11 May 2023

Media Contacts: Micaela E. Martinez, WE ACT for Environmental Justice, micaela.martinez@weact.org, +1-917-597-4282 Michael Bender, Zero Mercury Working Group, mercurypolicy@aol.com, +1-802-917-8222 Astrid Williams, Black Women for Wellness, astrid@bwwla.com Erika Wilhelm, Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, Erika@bccp.org, +1-415-539-5005 Support grows for global treaty amendment to ban advertising, display, sales, and offering of sales of mercury skin lighteners FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, NEW YORK – In early May, the African Region proposed an amendment to the Minamata Convention on Mercury to ban advertising, display, sale, and offering of sales of mercury-added cosmetics, including skin lightening products (SLPs), some of the most notoriously toxic cosmetic products...

New Ingredient Transparency Requirements Expose that Salon Professionals Continue to Be Put at Risk by Industry

07 Mar 2023

A new report released by health and justice organizations, Women’s Voices for the Earth (WVE), Black Women for Wellness, and the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative (CHNSC), spotlights how new ingredient disclosure requirements for professional salon products are providing improved and vital information about chemical exposure from the use of these products. The report, Exposed: Ingredients in Salon Products & Salon Worker Health and Safety, calls attention to significant changes the industry has made in increasing ingredient transparency as a result of new laws. It also points to chemicals of concern that, despite years of documented links to adverse health impacts, continue to be widely used in professional nail and hair products. Specifically, the report reveals over 30 hazardous ingredients in professional salon products only recently disclosed on product labels.

Campaign For Safe Cosmetics Publishes First-Ever List of Top Black-Owned Beauty Brands & Non-toxic Product Database

18 Oct 2022

Released during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the Non-Toxic Black Beauty Project focuses on specifically supporting Black women’s health because Black women face the highest breast cancer mortality rate of any racial or ethnic group in America. Beauty products marketed to Black women often contain the most toxic cosmetics ingredients, including chemicals linked to cancer. In fact, Black women who regularly dye their hair have a 60% increased risk of breast cancer, and those who use chemical hair straighteners are 30% more likely to develop the disease. By uplifting leading non-toxic Black-owned beauty brands and connecting Black women with products they can trust, CSC aims to combat toxic health disparities to help prevent breast cancer and other diseases.

New Transparency Requirements Reveal Ingredient Complexity and Chemical Exposure from Menstrual Products

17 May 2022

A new report released by health and justice organizations, Women’s Voices for the Earth (WVE), Clean & Healthy New York, Sierra Club (Atlantic Chapter) and WE ACT for Environmental Justice, spotlights how new ingredient disclosure requirements for menstrual products are providing improved and vital information about chemical exposure from the use of these products. The report, "What’s in Your Period Product? An investigation of ingredients disclosed on product labels", calls attention to significant changes the industry has made in increasing ingredient transparency, as well as chemicals of concern that, until now, were kept hidden from people who use these products.