My Letter to Congress: H.R.2359 Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011

I am writing as your constituent in the 8th Congressional district of Illinois. I oppose H.R.2359 - Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011, and am tracking it using OpenCongress.org, the free public resource website for government transparency and accountability.

Although I feel it is important to keep products safe for public use, I also feel in this economic time that this bill will harm small businesses. The large health and beauty corporations will have the money to comply, but small or fledgling companies will not be capable of complying with these regulations.

As a female consumer, I have tried millions of health and beauty products over the years and always test a small amount before full usage, to test for reactions and allergies. I feel that consumers are smart enough to choose for themselves, and in this day and age, complaints, concerns and product information [both good and bad] are always a search engine click away. As US citizens, we have the ability to police ourselves and our consumables.

If you really wish to enact change to better everyone, set up government sponsored forums online where consumers can go to report, blog and complain. This allows free marketplace without governmental interference. Make this a federal site. This site, if maintained correctly, can be used by the legal system as a way to gather negative information on products which have been found to be unsafe or contain harmful ingredients. Set up incentives where companies caught infusing dangerous or toxic chemicals into health and beauty products will be liable for medical, emotional and legal compensations. Keep a list of known substances that are harmful and should not be used in health and beauty products and let the lawyers of America go to town against the companies using these substances. Lawyers and lawsuits against offenders of safety will keep the products safe. Encourage Americans to fix themselves and stop introducing and passing legislations that damage the free enterprise system.

In summation, all this bill will do is slow or stop small business owners from having the ability to compete in the marketplace and it will raise the prices of existing products. The government needs to make changes to help economic growth and stop putting obstacles in the way of small business.


Sincerely,
Barbie Ray

Dear Friend:

Thank you for taking the time to contact my office. Your thoughts are
very important to me. We read each message sent and appreciate your
patience, as we receive more than 5,000 comments per day.

Sincerely,

Mark Kirk
United States Senator

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I work for you,
Congressman Joe Walsh (IL-08)

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