Stuff YOU Should Know
Claire’s Not Looking So Good
If you’ve been to a mall in the U.S., you’ve probably been to a Claire’s. In case you haven’t, this retailer specializes in makeup, jewelry, and ear piercings marketed to teen and tween girls. But unfortunately for teenagers, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently tested Claire’s makeup products and found asbestos in three of the samples: eye shadows, compact powder, and contour powder. They also found asbestos in one sample from Justice, another store that markets to teens and young girls. (Asbestos is a silicate mineral which has been linked to lung disease and many deadly cancers.)
Claire’s insists that their products are safe and that there was an error in the testing process. Nevertheless, just to be on the safe side, they have removed the three questionable products from their stores, as well as any other products containing talc (a type of powder that sometimes can contain asbestos). But Claire’s might not be telling the whole story. Other independent testers and consumer advocacy groups have found similar problems with Claire’s products in the past. Claire’s always responds with the same argument: that the testing methods are flawed.
Currently, there is no law in place to protect consumers from dangerous ingredients in cosmetics. The FDA is not required to test them for safety before they hit the shelves. Moreover, if they are later found to contain harmful substances, the FDA doesn’t have any legal authority to force the stores to remove them. Other companies, such as Johnson & Johnson, have also faced allegations of asbestos in their consumer products in recent years.
What Do You Think? Write a letter to your local representative stating whether or not you think the law should be updated to give the FDA more control over the cosmetics industry, and why.
Georgia Governor Faces Criticism
You may remember that the governor’s race in Georgia was one of the most hotly contested of the 2017 election season. The election pitted Brian Kemp, the Republican secretary of state, against Stacey Abrams, the Democratic former state House minority leader. Because the secretary of state’s office runs elections, Brian Kemp was essentially overseeing his own election. He faced many accusations of voter suppression tactics, such as shutting down polls in areas with large numbers of minority voters. When Kemp emerged as the victor by a narrow margin, Abrams eventually admitted that he had received more votes, but she refused to officially concede the election because, she claimed, he had not won it fairly.
Now, the Democrat-led House Oversight and Reform Committee is re-examining the Georgia election. Committee leaders are concerned that voters in Georgia – especially in predominantly African American precincts – faced unusual and possibly illegal barriers to voting. They’ve asked Governor Kemp to submit all documentation relating to potential voter suppression issues, such as voter roll purges, polling site closings, unusually long lines at the polls, and more. He and Georgia’s new secretary of state, Republican Brad Raffensperger, have until March 20 to submit these materials.
Kemp claims that he did nothing wrong and that this is merely an act of revenge by Democrats who are still angry about losing the close race in Georgia. However, during Kemp’s time as secretary of state, his office closed more than 200 polling places and purged more than 1.4 million voters from the rolls.
What Do You Think? Based on what you’ve heard and seen in the news, do you agree that an investigation of Kemp’s practices is warranted? Why or why not?
Trudeau Under Fire
Trump isn’t the only world leader facing political scandal right now. Just north of us, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is undergoing intense criticism over his role in the prosecution of a powerful engineering firm.
Here’s what happened. SNC Lavalin was accused of an international bribery and fraud scheme worth tens of millions of dollars. Jody Wilson-Raybould, Canada’s former attorney general, claimed that Trudeau and those close to him got involved in the case and spent months threatening her career, saying that if she didn’t soften the case against Lavalin, there would be political repercussions. She later resigned from her position on Trudeau’s cabinet and no longer serves as attorney general.
According to Wilson-Raybould, Trudeau urged her to back off of the case because he didn’t want his own party, the Liberal Party, to look bad. But Trudeau continues to insist that he didn’t do anything wrong, and that the reason he got involved in the case was to prevent the loss of thousands of Canadian jobs. He claims that all he did was ask Wilson-Raybould to consider other legal opinions before making a decision about how to handle the case.
Criticism of Trudeau and his inner circle is coming from all sides, including from his own Liberal Party. Three high-level cabinet members have already resigned as a result of the case. Maintaining public support is critical for Trudeau right now, as he faces an election in October. Opposing Conservative Party leaders are calling for him to resign.
Dig Deeper Drawing on internet resources, who are the three members who have resigned from Trudeau’s cabinet as a result of the SNC Lavalin scandal? What reasons did they give for stepping down?
Ancient Artifacts Discovered in Mexico
Located on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, the ancient Mayan city of Chichen Itza has long been a tourist destination. That’s because it’s considered to be the world’s largest, most famous, and most accessible Mayan site. It’s also the site of an amazing recent archaeological discovery. Scientists have found two hundred ceramic artifacts which they believe to be more than a thousand years old, located in a cave called Balamku, eighty feet beneath the city. The artifacts are remarkably well preserved and include items such as incense holders, pots, vases, decorated plates, fragments of containers used to grind food, and more. Many are decorated with drawings that might help scientists to gain a better understanding of how civilization was developing during this time. Archaeologists believe this is the most significant discovery in that area since the 1950s.
Mayan pre-Colombian figurines
Credit: W. Scott McGill/Shutterstock
Chichen Itza flourished from 750 to 1200 and was built on top of a network of underground waterways, which is what archaeologists were exploring and mapping when they made the find. The cave itself was not a new discovery. But more than fifty years ago, scientists who were afraid that it would become a tourist site ordered it to be sealed off and undisturbed. The entrance was reopened last year. Scientists are now working to map and create a 3D model of the cave system. Once they are studied and cataloged, the artifacts will be returned to the spots where they were originally found.