The Dark Secret Behind Your Favorite Makeup Products | Shady | Refinery29

Summary

This video script exposes the dark side of beauty, revealing the use of child labor in the mica mining industry in India, a key ingredient in cosmetics. Companies like Lush Cosmetics are taking ethical stands by opting for synthetic mica, while others pledge to improve supply chains. The script delves into the lives of children in Jharkhand, the center of the mica trade, highlighting the struggle between poverty and exploitation. It calls for responsible corporate actions and consumer awareness to break the cycle of child labor and empower the affected communities.

Takeaways

• 💄 Makeup is highlighted as a tool for liberation and self-expression, but it also has a dark side due to the use of controversial ingredients like mica.
• 🌟 Mica is a crucial mineral in many everyday products, including cosmetics, for its heat and electrical resistance properties.
• 💎 The demand for mica in the cosmetics industry has surged, especially for creating a radiant shimmer effect in makeup products.
• 🇮🇳 Most of the world's mica comes from India, where a 2016 investigation revealed child labor and dangerous working conditions in the mining process.
• 🤝 Some companies, like Lush Cosmetics, have chosen to use synthetic mica to avoid contributing to unethical practices in the mica supply chain.
• 🛑 The beauty industry is facing a moral reckoning and some companies are working towards creating a sustainable and ethical supply chain for mica.
• 🏭 Jharkhand, a state in India, is known for its rich mineral resources but also for the poverty and child labor associated with illegal and unregulated mica mining.
• 👧 Children involved in mica mining face significant risks, including injury, illness, and even death, as illustrated by the tragic story of Surma Kumari and her family.
• 🔄 The mica trade operates on a facade that conceals the involvement of child labor, with the mineral often sold under the license of legal mines.
• 🏫 Efforts are being made to provide alternative income streams for families to prevent children from working in the mines, such as the 'child friendly village' model.
• 🌐 The role of companies and consumers in addressing this issue is emphasized, with the power to determine the lives of those involved in the mica trade.
• 📚 The Indian government's response to the issue is mixed, with some agencies seemingly unaware or uninvolved in addressing the problem of child labor in mica mining.

Q & A

What is the primary purpose of makeup according to the script?

Makeup is described as a tool for liberation and expression, capable of making people feel beautiful.

What ingredient in cosmetics has been highlighted as controversial in the script?

Mica is the controversial ingredient in cosmetics, due to its dark side involving child labor in its mining process.

What property of mica makes it invaluable in various industries?

Mica's properties of heat and electrical resistance make it essential in industries such as electronics, insulation, paint, and even toothpaste.

Why has the demand for mica in the cosmetics industry increased significantly?

The demand for mica has increased due to its use in creating a glowing, radiant shimmer effect in makeup products, driven by the industry's pursuit of a no-makeup makeup look and highlighter effects.

What was the revelation about mica mining in India that forced the beauty industry into a moral reckoning?

The revelation was that mica was being mined by children in India, with a deadly cost, as reported by the 2016 Thomson Reuters Foundation investigation.

What approach has Lush Cosmetics taken regarding the use of natural mica?

Lush Cosmetics decided to pull out of using natural mica altogether due to the lack of a transparent supply chain, opting for synthetic mica instead.

What is the significance of synthetic mica according to the script?

Synthetic mica is highlighted as having a greater variety of sparkles and pigments, making it a viable alternative to natural mica without the ethical concerns.

What is the situation of the mica mining areas in Jharkhand, India?

Jharkhand is a mining state with rich reserves of various minerals including mica. However, most of the mining is illegal and unregulated, with many mines abandoned or scavenged, and children are often involved in the dangerous work.

What are the risks and consequences faced by children working in the mica mines?

Children face numerous risks including cuts, broken bones, respiratory illnesses, and even death due to accidents such as tunnel collapses.

What efforts are being made to address the issue of child labor in mica mining?

Initiatives like 'the child friendly village' model, piloted by the Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation, aim to connect parents to new income streams and rescue children from labor, enrolling them in school.

What is the role of companies and consumers in addressing the mica mining issue?

The script suggests that companies and consumers have the power to influence the situation through their choices, such as choosing to buy from companies that ensure ethical sourcing or supporting initiatives aimed at ending child labor.

How does the script suggest the Indian government is responding to the issue of child labor in mica mining?

The script indicates that while the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights is aware of the issue, there seems to be a lack of clear action or coordination between different government bodies, with some officials appearing uninformed about ongoing efforts.

What is the 'Child Parliament' mentioned in the script and its significance?

The 'Child Parliament' is an outcome of the child friendly villages initiative, where children like Champa Kumari are empowered to advocate for the elimination of child labor and participate in making decisions affecting their lives.

Outlines

00:00

🌟 The Dark Side of Beauty: Mica and Child Labor

This paragraph delves into the ethical dilemmas surrounding the beauty industry's use of mica, a mineral crucial for its radiant effects but tainted by child labor in India. The script introduces a press trip with Lush Cosmetics, a company confronting this issue head-on. Mica, valued for its heat and electrical resistance, is found in a variety of everyday products. However, the cosmetics industry's soaring demand for its shimmering properties has led to a reliance on Indian mica, much of which is mined by children at great personal risk. A 2016 investigation exposed this harsh reality, prompting some companies to commit to ethical sourcing, while Lush has chosen to eliminate natural mica from its products altogether, opting for synthetic alternatives.

05:02

👶 The Human Cost of Mica Mining

The second paragraph paints a stark picture of the conditions faced by child laborers in the mica mines of Jharkhand, India. Despite the region's rich mineral deposits, it suffers from high poverty rates and government corruption. Children, some as young as five or six, work in dangerous, unregulated mines for meager earnings that barely cover their daily needs. The script follows the journey of Pooja Bhurla, an 11-year-old who has been mining mica since she was eight, highlighting the fear and hardship she and her peers endure. The paragraph also touches on the broader issue of the 'resource curse' that plagues Jharkhand, trapping families in a cycle of poverty and dependence on the mica trade.

10:03

🛍️ The Mica Trade's Illicit Facade and Its Consequences

This paragraph uncovers the deceptive practices within the mica trade, which obscure the involvement of child labor. Mica mined by children is laundered through a network of traders and intermediaries, ultimately exported with its illicit origins concealed. The consequences of this trade are severe, including injuries, respiratory illnesses, and tragic accidents like the one that killed Laksmi, a young miner. The paragraph raises questions about the responsibility of companies and consumers in perpetuating these conditions and emphasizes the need for transparency and ethical sourcing in the beauty industry.

15:03

🏛️ Government Inaction and Grassroots Solutions

The final paragraph addresses the lack of effective government intervention in addressing child labor in mica mining. Despite awareness of the issue, there appears to be a disconnect between government bodies, with some officials seemingly uninformed about ongoing efforts to survey the scope of child labor. However, the paragraph also highlights a glimmer of hope through grassroots initiatives like the 'child friendly village' model, which has successfully rescued and enrolled thousands of children in school. Supported by organizations like the Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation and private businesses, including Estee Lauder, these efforts demonstrate the potential for positive change when communities and companies work together to break the cycle of poverty and child labor.

Keywords

💡Makeup

Makeup refers to the application of cosmetics to the face and body for aesthetic or protective purposes. In the video, makeup is highlighted as a tool for liberation and expression, emphasizing its role in making people feel beautiful. However, the script also reveals the darker side of makeup, particularly in relation to the use of mica, which is a key ingredient in many cosmetic products.

💡Mica

Mica is a mineral that is valued for its heat and electrical resistance properties. It is widely used in various industries, including cosmetics, where it provides a shimmering effect. The video discusses the ethical concerns surrounding mica, as it is revealed to be mined by children in India, presenting a significant moral dilemma for the cosmetics industry.

💡Ethical Sourcing

Ethical sourcing is the practice of procuring goods and services in a manner that upholds ethical standards, such as fair labor practices and environmental sustainability. The script mentions companies pledging to work with mining communities in India to create a sustainable supply chain for mica, which is an example of ethical sourcing in response to the issue of child labor.

💡Lush Cosmetics

Lush Cosmetics is a British cosmetics company known for its ethical stance on sourcing ingredients. The video describes Lush's decision to use synthetic mica instead of natural mica due to concerns about the lack of transparency in the supply chain and the potential involvement of child labor in the mining process.

💡Synthetic Mica

Synthetic mica is a lab-created alternative to naturally mined mica. The video script discusses the use of synthetic mica by Lush Cosmetics as a way to avoid contributing to the unethical practices associated with the natural mica supply chain. It is highlighted as a more ethical option, despite being more complex in terms of production.

💡Child Labor

Child labor refers to the employment of children in work that is inappropriate for their age. The video script reveals the harsh reality of child labor in the mica mining industry in India, where children are exposed to dangerous working conditions and are often the hidden cost of the cosmetics industry.

💡Resource Curse

The resource curse is a phenomenon where countries or regions with an abundance of natural resources, such as minerals, often experience negative economic and social outcomes, such as corruption and exploitation. The script illustrates this concept through the case of Jharkhand, India, which is rich in mica but suffers from high poverty rates and child labor.

💡Poverty

Poverty is the state of lacking sufficient financial resources to meet basic needs. In the video, poverty is identified as a driving factor for child labor in the mica mining industry, as families rely on the income from mining to afford basic necessities.

💡Transparency

Transparency in this context refers to the openness and clarity of information regarding the supply chain of a product. The video emphasizes the lack of transparency in the mica supply chain, which makes it difficult to ensure that the mica used in cosmetics is not mined using child labor.

💡National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR)

The NCPCR is an Indian government organization responsible for the protection of child rights. The video script mentions the NCPCR's awareness of the child labor issue in mica mining since 2016 and its efforts to understand the scope of the problem, although there seems to be a disconnect between the commission and the ministry overseeing its work.

💡Child Friendly Village

A child friendly village is a community-based model aimed at connecting parents to new income streams, thereby reducing the need for children to work. The video script highlights the success of this model, which has rescued thousands of children from child labor and enrolled them in school, as a positive initiative in addressing the mica mining issue.

Highlights

Makeup can be a tool for liberation and expression, but it has a dark side due to the use of mica.

The cosmetics industry's demand for mica has exploded, leading to a moral reckoning in the beauty industry.

Most of the world's mica comes from India, where child labor is involved in its mining.

Lush Cosmetics has decided to pull out of natural mica due to the lack of a transparent supply chain.

Synthetic mica offers a variety of sparkle without the ethical concerns associated with natural mica.

The mica trade in India is built on illegal and unregulated mining, affecting children and families.

Jharkhand, a mining state in India, suffers from high poverty rates despite its rich mineral resources.

Children working in mica mines make less than a quarter a day, highlighting the resource curse phenomenon.

The mica trade conceals its origins, making it difficult to trace back to child labor.

The National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights has been aware of the issue but progress is slow.

The 'child friendly village' model is providing hope by connecting parents to new income streams.

Estee Lauder supports the 'child friendly village' initiative, showing corporate responsibility.

The Child Parliament, part of the child friendly villages, empowers children to fight against child labor.

Solutions to the mica issue must acknowledge its importance to the region's economy and seek to empower the local community.

The choices of companies and consumers have the power to determine people's lives in mica mining communities.

The documentary highlights the need for transparency in supply chains and ethical sourcing of mica.

Transcripts

Makeup can be a tool for liberation and expression.

It can make us feel beautiful, but one of beauty's most popular ingredients has a dark side.

When children are the hidden cost in our cosmetics.

Who's stepping in to help them out?

And who's leaving them behind.

We're here in London on a press trip with Lush Cosmetics.

The British company invited us here to learn about an initiative surrounding one of the

most controversial ingredients going into makeup today.

Mica.

An unassuming mineral essential to modern life.

The property of heat and electrical resistance makes this mineral invaluable.

For decades it's been used in everyday products like electronics, insulation, paint, and even toothpaste.

But over the past few years the cosmetics industry's demand for glowing radiant shimmer

has exploded.

From the perfect, no makeup makeup gleam, to the blinding shine of a highlighter created

for double taps.

Mica is often a magic ingredient.

But it also has an ugly side.

The majority of the world's mica comes from India, where 2016 Thomson Reuters Foundation

investigation revealed that it was being mined by children and had a deadly cost.

The revelation forced the beauty industry into a moral reckoning.

Some companies have pledged to work with the mining communities in India to create a sustainable

supply chain.

It's a lofty goal.

With progress that's been slow to come by.

Companies like Lush that have built a brand on ethical sourcing have taken a different approach.

Without a transparent supply chain, it decided to pull out of natural mica altogether.

This glittering shimmery effect is all the synthetic mica.

It looks pretty but I'm about to find out that it's more complicated than appearances

might suggest.

Much as I love sparkles, I didn't want anything put into a Lush product that you

know could have had a death attached to it.

The nice thing about the synthetic mica is it has much more variety of the this sparkle

that you can get in the pigment.

So really there's no reason to have natural mica.

It's much more complicated in that natural mica that's a commodity which is in almost

any product you use.

You should not try to avoid mica.

You should make sure that the families where you buy the mica from as a company get decent

wages get living wages.

As corporations roll out initiatives with promises of positive change.

I'm curious to know how they're actually impacting the people and especially the children on

the ground.

Globally the mica industry is worth over half a billion dollars.

And India is at its center with the world's largest and highest quality reserves of mica.

The majority of it can be found in the country's eastern states.

We're leaving New Delhi and we're about to take a sleeper train to a region called Jarkan.

Which is where a lot of this mining is happening.

Jharkhand is a mining state with rich reserves of coal, copper, and of course mica.

Most of the nearly 33 million residents live in rural areas where illegal and unregulated

mica mines dominate the trade.

It's been this way since the 1980s when restrictive environmental laws drove the industry underground.

It's been a very long journey and we're trying to keep a low profile.

Just because this is such a sensitive subject here.

Now many of the mines are abandoned and scavenged, while others are run by illicit operators.

We're finally getting close because you can see all of the shimmer in the dirt.

It's the first time I've ever seen pretty dirt.

I met up with Rohit Gandhi our local contact who secured our access to the mine.

Nice to meet you.

Very nice to meet you as well.

I'm gonna keep the cars ready just in case any of these contractors who actually mined

with these children come around.

We should be ready to leave right away.

Why would they be mad that we're here?

They know it's illegal right to use children in the trade for mining then obviously they're

against the law.

Just a few steps off the road.

I start to see them.

Children.

Hard at work, mining for mica.

They sifted through up here.

It's all mixed with gravel, and then they'll sift it through and they'll take the mica out

and that then go and sell to somebody who will then you know shipped overseas.

Pooja Bhurla is only 11 years old and has been mining mica since she was eight.

How many days are you out here per week?

Every day?

Do you ever get scared when you're working in the mines?

Yes.

Where are your parents right now?

Jharkhand suffers from a classic case of the resource curse.

A phenomenon where areas with abundant resources tend to be worse off for it thanks to government

corruption, and commercial exploitation.

Despite the fact that this area is rich in mica and other minerals,

Jharkhand has one of the highest poverty rates in the entire country.

Many of these children including Pooja make less than a quarter a day.

But it can mean the difference between something to eat and an empty stomach.

What are the other children in the town doing?

It's been estimated that up to 20,000

children are working all across the region in mines just like these.

Seeing these mines and meeting these children it's easy to understand why Lush wouldn't

want anything to do with mica.

This is incredibly scary and I can't even believe there's kids all the way down there.

But it's also painfully clear that these children have no alternative.

Can you tell me how old you were when you first started working in the mines?

If you didn’t have to mine, what would you be doing today?

Do you have any idea where the mica goes after you mine it?

Wait someone’s...who’s coming?

We had to take off really quickly from that mine because we heard that people were coming

cause they knew that we were there.

The mica trade here is built on a facade that it’s players have a stake in maintaining.

Once the mica leaves the mine, it’s funneled into a process that conceals the fact that

children ever had anything to do with it.

Traders pedal the mica to intermediaries who often sell it under the licence of a legal

mine from another part of the country.

By the time the mica is exported, its illicit origins have been stripped away.

But back in Jharkhand, it’s impossible to escape the realities of the trade and the

risks that go along with it.

Cuts and broken bones.

Respiratory illnesses that can damage or even scar the lungs.

And sometimes, the unthinkable.

Surma Kumari and her sister Laksmi were mining one day when the tunnel they were working

in collapsed.

Can you show me where you got hurt in the accident?

Do you and your family still work in the mines?

The Kumari Family story is a common one.

Lakshmi’s death is just one of an estimated 10 to 20 deaths that occur every month.

The unregulated nature of mica opens the door to dangerous work conditions and predatory pricing.

Families are trapped in a cycle of poverty.

How much would the companies that are buying the mica have to pay you to be able to send Pooja

to school?

To be able to completely change your life.

It really hit home.

For better or worse, the choices that companies and consumers make have the power to determine

people’s lives.

It made me look at my beauty products in a totally new light.

I’ve pulled out some of the products that I use every single day.

There’s mica in this.

First ingredient.

They all have mica in them.

There’s mica in all of these products.

While I don’t know if the mica in these products specifically came from a mine that

used child labor, there’s no transparency in any of these supply chains involved with

these products.

These families all rely upon these mines and they’ve been selling mica for a long time now.

There has to be an ethical way to get mica out of the ground.

There has to be an ethical way to treat these families and it’s hard not to feel responsibility.

I wanted to know where the Indian government was in all of this.

It turns out, the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights, or NCPCR has

been aware of the issue since at least 2016, when its governing ministry lodged a complaint.

When we reached out to them, they said they were conducting a survey to understand the

scope of the problem, and sent us to the ministry that oversees their work.

There is poverty and there is less spread of education in these interior areas and our

ministry is making all efforts to see that child rights are protected.

So we were just in Jharkhand and we saw children working in the mines that are young

as five or six, but your department is the one that's surveying that.

Is that enough that’s being done?

Actually we are not aware of any such survey that’s currently being done, as you say.

We have been told that this committee is doing the survey and that they’re under your jurisdiction.

How is that–

We have not authorized it.

As far as this ministry goes, the ministry of the women and child development, child

labor is not exactly a mandate.

It was alarming to realize that someone so high up at the ministry, seemingly knew so

little about this dire issue.

While solutions may be slow to come from the top, a movement on the ground is providing

some hope.

A model that’s been coined “the child friendly village” is connecting parents

to new income streams, so that their children don’t have to work.

So many kids.

It’s a concept piloted by the Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation.

And it’s working.

More than 3,000 children have been rescued.

More than three thousand children have been withdrawn from child labor.

And they have been enrolled in school.

Funding comes through government services and private business support, including beauty

conglomerate Estee Lauder.

We thought long and hard if we wanted to stay in Indian mica, if we wanted to move towards synthetic.

And where we ultimately landed is that it’s important for us to have a stake.

And having a stake means we will continue to be there until this problem comes to a resolution.

And it has been incredibly important to us to always start these initiatives with the

community itself.

It has been a long term process.

And everybody has a role and responsibility to play in addressing this whole issue.

This gathering of child friendly villages is a showcase of what’s possible when companies

stay invested in the communities they work with.

Thank you.

I feel very welcomed right now.

My name is Champa Kumari.

Champa.

Lovely to meet you.

Champa Kumari is part of the most important and inspiring outcomes of these child friendly

villages.

The Child Parliament.

At 14 years old, she’s a fierce champion of illiminating child labor.

What would you say to some of the companies and consumers who are buying mica that come

from child labor.

What do you want to accomplish next?

You want to become a teacher?

Yeah.

You’re a big picture thinker.

I like it.

Yeah.

Promising to be mica free isn’t the only, or even the best, answer.

Mica is the lifeblood of this region, and any solution that

will make a real difference must acknowledge that.

It’s empowering kids, like Pooja and Champa, that will bring change and break the cycle

that keeps this region and its children chained to mica.

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