As Democrats in Congress propose a bill Wednesday to crack down on toxics in cosmetics, a new video highlights the prevalence of such chemicals.

The legislation, by Reps. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., and Ed Markey, D-Mass., would empower the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to require that safety information about ingredients in personal care products be collected and disclosed.

Under current law, the FDA can't require cosmetics companies to conduct safety assessments, approve the labeling of their products before entering the market or order recalls.

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The seven-minute Story of Cosmetics video, released today, says fewer than 20% of chemicals in cosmetics have been assessed by the industry's safety panel. It's co-produced by The Story of Stuff Project, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and Free Range Studios.

"The FDA doesn't even assess the safety of personal care products, or their ingredients," says narrator Annie Leonard, host of the 20-minute Story of Stuff movie that has been viewed more than 10 million times since it went online in December 2007 and author of The Story of Stuff: How Our Obsession With Stuff Is Trashing The Planet, Our Communities and Our Health — and a Vision for Change.

"Not all of these chemicals are dangerous. But we know that many are. Some are carcinogens – that means they can cause cancer. Others are neurotoxins and reproductive toxins," Leonard says in the new video, which calls for legislation to remove toxics from products.

"It turns out the average American bathroom is a minefield of toxic chemicals," Leonard writes today on The Huffington Post, in describing what she learned in making the video.

The Story of Cosmetics is the third in a series of videos by The Story of Stuff Project. The first one, The Story of Cap & Trade, has received more than 600,000 views since it went online in December 2009 and The Story of Bottled Water has had more than 700,000 views since its March 2010 debut.