3 Startling Issues in the Beauty Industry

Mica is a common ingredient in cosmetics. This naturally occurring mineral from the silicate family has a variety of uses across industries – from paint to makeup. Once extracted, it gets ground to a fine powder and used in the cosmetics for its reflective and sparkling properties. In the past, fish scales and mother of pearl were used to achieve this shimmer, but as the industry has moved away from animal cruelty, an alternative had to be found. Today, almost all makeup that shimmers will contain mica.

The problem is that a lot of mica is still mined by children in mineral-rich but impoverished parts of the world, most notably India. This fact has been widely reported in the past few years, but has been a known problem for over a decade, as reported by Antislavery.org in 2009.  In 2018, a report by World Vision Canada stated that approximately 22 000 children work in dangerous conditions mining mica. Putting them at risk of injury or even death from collapsing mines, and developing respiratory conditions from inhaling silica dust. 

Aside from these obvious medical and physical risks, other effects of child labour include a lack of access to education which perpetuates a cycle of poverty, exposure to violence, abuse, and sexual and physical exploitation.

Solution: More and more companies are opting for synthetic mica; a lab-grown compound made with naturally occurring elements so it remains biodegradable.

The Responsible Mica Initiative seeks to create a child-labour free supply chain and member companies support the mission of the RMI by endorsing its best practices guidelines.

Other cosmetics ingredients linked to child labour include cocoa butter in West Africa and vanilla in Madagascar according to this report by Maplecroft .