Working for safer cosmetics: a California teenager headed to the state capital in her effort to make sure the ingredients in cosmetics are safe.

I started wearing makeup when I was 13, and soon I was using all kinds of products: lipstick, mascara, nail polish, etc. It never occurred to me that I should wonder what was in them. I would just go to the mall and buy whatever I'd seen advertised in the magazines I read.

But when I started high school, I got involved with a group called the Marin Cancer Project as my required community service. The group was trying to figure out why Marin County, where I live, has high rates of breast cancer.

It was through the people there that I became aware of the potential health risks of some of the cosmetic products many of us use daily. Some contain chemicals that have been linked in scientific studies to cancer or reproductive problems.

I started reading the ingredient labels of the products I used. I couldn't even pronounce many of the names, much less know what they were. I did some research, and I found out that one of the ingredients in my mascara was also used to clean airplane wheels! I also learned that, unlike food and drugs, the F.D.A. is not required to test cosmetic ingredients for safety.

'INCREDIBLE STRIDES'

In January 2005, I got involved in Teens for Safe Cosmetics, a local coalition of teens working to spread awareness of the potential dangers of some cosmetic ingredients. Our goal is to ban the use of potentially harmful chemicals in cosmetics and personal-care products.

We have made incredible strides toward that goal here in California. Working with other environmental groups, we approached a state senator about introducing legislation to better protect the public.

During the summer of 2005, I went with four other teens to Sacramento, the state capital, to lobby for passage of that bill, which requires cosmetic manufacturers to report the use of any potentially hazardous ingredients to the state department of health.

We made our case to senators and one of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's aides. I began to realize we were even more effective because we were so young: Lawmakers see adult lobbyists all the time, but a group of teen girls arguing passionately for a law was something different.

A NEW LAW

The bill passed the State Assembly and the Senate, and on October 7, the governor signed it. The law takes effect next year.

Seeing the law passed was very fulfilling. I learned that we really can make a difference in the world. All it takes is confidence and belief in the cause.

I never believed that teenagers, who lack the legal rights of adults and the power to vote, could have such an impact. But now I see that age is just a number, and teens have as much power to create change as adults--and sometimes, maybe more.

Jessica Assaf a junior at the Branson School, lives in San Rafael, Calif.