Hi team,
Greetings from Washington DC where it is warm, muggy and surprisingly easy going in climate. I brought my running shoes and am hoping to go on a run through the monuments tomorrow morning.
We had an extremely busy day meeting with Congresspeople and staffers who are working on the Safe Cosmetics Act potential legislation. Debbie May from WholesaleSuppliesPlus and I met ahead of time to go over the results of the industry survey. The results were extremely helpful. Some results from the survey 1998 small handcrafted soapmakers took:
94% of respondents were female
98% of respondents hand produce soaps, lotions and/or cosmetics and of those, 80% of them sell products for profit
44% of respondents depended on income from soap to pay for mortgage, rent and/or household bills
99% of respondents support the production of safe cosmetics
85% feel current regulations produce safe cosmetics
83% feel additional regulations would not impact public safety
82% of respondents believe there should be small business considerations taken into account when defining “Good Manufacturing Practices”
Staffers were interested and appreciative of this information. As many times as representatives on behalf of the handcrafted soap industry have been to Washington DC, there are always new people to educate and introduce to handcrafted soap. Both Debbie and I brought handcrafted soap to showcase and whenever possible, leave with staffers.
Since the Safe Cosmetics Act has not been scheduled for official discussion in committee in 2011, we are here to exchange information and do further education about the handcrafted industry. We’ve been showing slide shows on how soap is made, explaining who some of our customers are and discussing current legislation versus proposed potential legislation. Our message is clear: small business supports safe cosmetic manufacturing (and currently practices safe cosmetic manufacturing) and any potential legislation should have special considerations with regards to fees, ingredient and product registration and manufacturing practices.
If you have any thoughts about what you’d like us to share in DC tomorrow or in the future, let me know. I would love to hear from as many soapers as possible. Leave me a comment and let’s chat.
