Seeing that there was a real need in the marketplace for clean, non-toxic, honestly labeled goods for personal and family use, Alba was inspired to get involved. Soon she was lobbying in Washington, D.C. for updated legislation. She was -- and is -- particularly focused on reforming the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act, which has allowed more than 80,000 chemicals to remain in household products untested. Only five are regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency; just 11 are banned from consumer goods. (In Europe that figure is more than 1,300.) "Enough people have to get sick or die from a certain ingredient or chemical before it's pulled from the marketplace," says Alba. Some were listed on the ingredients label plainly, with others disguised under the catchall of "fragrance," which is entirely legal. Alba founded her company and began formulating her own products not only in an effort to make wellness and personal products free of unnecessary chemicals, but also more transparent to the consumer with regard to ingredients. Once she began to create the foundation for The Honest Company, Alba’s husband Cash Warren, an Internet entrepreneur, helped to find partners and investors. Over the years they were able to raise several more rounds of venture capital as the company grew. They took the long, hard road of maintaining control of their own company, rather than going with a corporate partner or signing a celebrity endorsement deal. S AL U D O S H I S PAN O S
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NzU3OTQ=