Project Mom Casting – TheSmartMama Throws Her Blog Into The Ring
Project Mom Casting is looking for a few good women bloggers. And I'm going to toss my blog in the ring. If you haven't met me, I'm Jennifer Taggart. I blog as TheSmartMama. I'm a mom of 2, an attorney specializing in environmental and consumer product law, author of Smart Mama's Green Guide: Simple Steps to Reduce Your Child's Toxic Chemical Exposure, former environmental engineer, co-founder of 3 Green Angels, XRF wielding fierce non toxic green mama. My blog grew out of my story that begin when my mom handed me Rachel Carson's Silent Spring more than 25 years ago. The chapter ...
Blog Book Tour – What Does It Mean To Be Present?
As a mom, I'm always on the hunt for good books to read with my kids - particularly books that have a message. As an author, I'm always happy to help promote fellow authors. As someone trying to live green, I'm always excited to connect with like minded greenies. So, you can probably guess I was excited to be asked to review and promote the latest offering from Rana DiOrio of Little Pickle Press - What Does It Mean To Be Pesent. Rana is a mom, a former attorney, a "greenie", and an author. When I was asked to interview her to kick ...
The Story of Cosmetics and the Dangers of “Scare” Legislation
If you read this blog, you'll know that the beauty product industry and misleading claims of natural or earth-friendly really annoys me. So, I was excited when I learned that The Story of Stuff Project, in conjunction with the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, was releasing a new video - The Story of Cosmetics. (And, in the interest of full disclosure, 3 Green Angels has been hired by The Story of Stuff Project and the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics to host an #ecowed Twitter party to promote The Story of Cosmetics.) The video is really great - informative, clear, concise. I was thrilled that the ...
June Junk Claim #3 – Mrs. Meyers Clean Day Dish Soap Not So Clean As It Contains 1,4-Dioxane
June Junk Claim #3 is Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day Liquid Dish Soap and the company's claim that the products are "always EARTH FRIENDLY." Mrs. Meyer's products are sold and marketed as "green" products. The packaging is retro inspired cute. But, the thing is, they are not as eco-friendly as you think. For example, the Dish Soap was found to have high levels of the carcinogen 1,4-dioxane. In fact, according to testing commissioned by the Organic Consumers Association (OCA), Mrs. Meyers' Clean Day Dish Soap had the highest levels of 1,4-dioxane in the group of products tested. The levels in the Mrs. Meyers Clean Day ...
Cadmium Prompts CPSC Recall of McDonald’s Shrek Forever After Promotional Glasses
You pull in to the drive through at McDonald's and you place your order. And then you ask for some cadmium on the side. What? You don't want cadmium when you go to McDonald's? Well, then don't order the French fries (just so you know, fries generally have 0.06 parts per million or "ppm" cadmium). (For reference and before you panic, low levels of cadmium are found in many items we eat. But the most common source of cadmium exposure for Americans is cigarette smoke.) And don't buy the new promotional Shrek Forever After glasses at McDonald's, because, well, the painted decorations ...
June Junk Claim #2: Aveeno Not So Natural
June Junk Claim #2 is Aveeno's claim that "all of [its] products come from nature." Okay, so June Junk Claim #2 isn't a specific product claim as discussed in the post for June Junk Claim #1. June Junk Claim #1 addressed Josie Maran Cosmetics' false claim that the line's Argan Mascara is petrochemical free. But I wanted to talk about Aveeno. The Aveeno claims really bother me because people believe that the products are all natural. So, Aveeno markets itself as using the science of Active Naturals, which are ingredients derived from nature and uniquely formulated by Aveeno to optimize skin's health and beauty. Aveeno's tag line is ...
June Junk Claim #1: Josie Maran Mascara and Petrochemical Free
So, I recently blogged about how I was tired of chemical free claims when it comes to beauty and cleaning products. And that gave me an idea. I thought for each day of June, I'd talk about a "junk" claim when it comes to beauty and cleaning products. My first "junk" claim is Josie Maran Cosmetics' Argan Mascara. I'm picking on Jose Maran Cosmetics to start because of a recent Twitter party that included promoting the products as safe for pregnant mamas, including that they were free of petrochemicals. And while I can't safe whether or not the products are safe, I can say that many ...
No Such Thing As Chemical Free In Cleaning & Beauty Products. Really. Really really.
[caption id="attachment_893" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Fingers cross"][/caption] Cross my heart - there is no such thing as "chemical free" when it comes to cleaning and beauty products. Unless you bought a product that just contains a vacuum - nothingness. Because if it was just air, it would still have chemicals. Really. Really really. A "chemical" is a material with a specific chemical composition. Like water, whether it is found in nature or manufactured in a laboratory, is always 2 hydrogen atoms and 1 oxygen atom, or H20. Now, there are some refinements to that. For example, in organic chemistry, there can be more than one chemical ...
Bisphenol A (BPA) Found In Virtually All Canned Foods
[caption id="attachment_871" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Canned Food"][/caption] We knew it. It really isn't all that surprising. It is shocking to see the numbers in black and white. But it isn't surprising. We knew that the US Centers for Disease Control found bisphenol A (BPA) in the urine of 93% of US adults. The CDC estimated that we are exposed to 6.3 micrograms of bisphenol A (BPA) each day from the lining of canned foods. We had prior reports of BPA in canned goods, most notably infant formulas. But a just released report from the National Workgroup for Safe Markets, a coalition of US public health and environmental ...
An apology and explanation
Just wanted to apologize and explain why I haven't been posting. My grandmother is ill. Her cancer has spread from her lungs to her bones to her brain. And my energy has been spent on supporting her. But I've got some more energy now so I'll be posting again. Thanks for your patience.
Recent Articles from The Smart Mama
Project Mom Casting – TheSmartMama Throws Her Blog Into The Ring
Project Mom Casting is looking for a few good women bloggers. And I’m going to toss my blog in the ring. If you haven’t met me, I’m Jennifer Taggart. I blog as TheSmartMama. I’m a mom of 2, an attorney specializing in environmental and consumer product law, author of Smart Mama’s Green Guide: Simple Steps to Reduce Your Child’s Toxic Chemical... [Read More]
Blog Book Tour – What Does It Mean To Be Present?
As a mom, I’m always on the hunt for good books to read with my kids – particularly books that have a message. As an author, I’m always happy to help promote fellow authors. As someone trying to live green, I’m always excited to connect with like minded greenies. So, you can probably guess I was excited to be asked to review and promote the latest offering... [Read More]
The Story of Cosmetics and the Dangers of “Scare” Legislation
If you read this blog, you’ll know that the beauty product industry and misleading claims of natural or earth-friendly really annoys me. So, I was excited when I learned that The Story of Stuff Project, in conjunction with the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, was releasing a new video – The Story of Cosmetics. (And, in the interest of full disclosure, 3 Green Angels has... [Read More]
June Junk Claim #3 – Mrs. Meyers Clean Day Dish Soap Not So Clean As It Contains 1,4-Dioxane
June Junk Claim #3 is Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Liquid Dish Soap and the company’s claim that the products are “always EARTH FRIENDLY.” Mrs. Meyer’s products are sold and marketed as “green” products. The packaging is retro inspired cute. But, the thing is, they are not as eco-friendly as you think. For example, the Dish Soap was found to... [Read More]
Cadmium Prompts CPSC Recall of McDonald’s Shrek Forever After Promotional Glasses
You pull in to the drive through at McDonald’s and you place your order. And then you ask for some cadmium on the side. What? You don’t want cadmium when you go to McDonald’s? Well, then don’t order the French fries (just so you know, fries generally have 0.06 parts per million or “ppm” cadmium). (For reference and before you panic, low levels... [Read More]
June Junk Claim #2: Aveeno Not So Natural
June Junk Claim #2 is Aveeno’s claim that “all of [its] products come from nature.” Okay, so June Junk Claim #2 isn’t a specific product claim as discussed in the post for June Junk Claim #1. June Junk Claim #1 addressed Josie Maran Cosmetics’ false claim that the line’s Argan Mascara is petrochemical free. But I wanted to talk about Aveeno.... [Read More]
June Junk Claim #1: Josie Maran Mascara and Petrochemical Free
So, I recently blogged about how I was tired of chemical free claims when it comes to beauty and cleaning products. And that gave me an idea. I thought for each day of June, I’d talk about a “junk” claim when it comes to beauty and cleaning products. My first “junk” claim is Josie Maran Cosmetics’ Argan Mascara. I’m picking on Jose Maran... [Read More]
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