In 2005 As You Sow launched a shareholder campaign - coordinated with the Investor Environmental Health Network and in consultation with leading health groups such as the Breast Cancer Fund - asking companies to reformulate their products to meet the stricter cosmetic safety standards of the European Union (EU) and to increase transparency of their product ingredients, company safety standards, and procedures.

Companies including Johnson & Johnson, Avon, and Procter & Gamble now claim to be in full or significant compliance with EU Directive 2003/15/EC which banned the sale of cosmetics or personal care products that contain any ingredients on a list of chemicals known or suspected of causing cancer, genetic mutation, or birth defects. This list included Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP) a reproductive toxin that was commonly used in the US at that time. For more information on our work with: