Motherhood was a wake-up call for Hilary Swank, as she learned about the toxic chemicals lurking in everyday products we trust to keep our babies safe.
In today’s episode, EWG co-Founder and President Ken Cook sits down with the two-time Academy Award-winning actress and film producer to discuss how becoming a mom transformed her understanding of just how toxic our world is for the most vulnerable among us.
Last year, Swank joined Cook at the California State Capitol to fight for passage of SB 646, a crucial prenatal vitamin safety law. She opens up about the shocking moment she learned that prenatal vitamins aren’t required to be tested for heavy metals, her partnership with Healthy Baby (the first EWG Verified diaper), and why she’ll show up “time and time again” to protect not just her children, but all children.
From her first-ever lobbying experience to helping pass the groundbreaking SB 646 in just six months, Swank is on a mission to make the world safer for the next generation.
Disclaimer: This transcript was compiled using software and may include typographical errors.
Ken: Hi there. This is Ken Cook and I'm having another episode. Celebrity Activism gets a bad rap sometimes, but what happens when a two time Oscar winner shows up at the California State Capitol? Fresh off a red eye flight to testify about heavy metals in prenatal vitamins and push those legislators to pass a law to do something about it.
I got to witness this firsthand when Hillary Swank joined our fight for California Senate Bill 646. It's now a law. That requires prenatal vitamins sold in California to be tested for toxic heavy metals, and for the results of the testing to be publicly disclosed brand by brand. That's a huge win, although it's slightly scary that we had to fight for it at all.
But it's a great win for moms and babies. So from testimony to the governor's signature in just six months, that's how fast that bill moved. That's not really normal. That's not usually what happens when you don't have the celebrity effect. And that was Hillary Swank in this case. In an era when environmental legislation is harder to pass than ever, we need every tool we have Now, sometimes that tool is a mom who happens to have won two Academy awards and isn't afraid to get on an airplane in the middle of the night to fight for other people's babies.
So without further ado, here's Hilary Swank. So how are you? Good to see you.
Hilary: Good to see you. Gosh, the last time I saw you was in Sacramento, right?
Ken: That's exactly right. And it was on April 2nd of this year and I was doing a little math, and I don't think I've been involved with legislation. That went from testimony to a, a signed piece of legislation in like six months.
A couple points. When we very first met, I loved your first reaction, which was kind of a WTF kind of reaction. Like, what, we still need to do this. Yeah. We need to have, we need to have vitamins tested by law and, uh, results posted for moms. That's exactly the take that you brought, I think, you know, to the conversation in Sacramento.
And thank you for coming 'cause it made a huge difference.
Hilary: Yeah. You know, I mean I think the surprising thing is, and you know, I feel like I have a pretty good understanding of the inner workings of certain things just by nature of my, having had a lot of experience out meeting people like yourself and you know, I have access to people like you.
So I feel somewhat edified, but when I learned that when something is being sold to consumers, you naturally think it's okay to consume or it's healthy…
Ken: Right? Someone's taken a look,
Hilary: Someone's taken a look. It's gotten approved by someone or other. I mean, there's gotta be a lot of people within this organization.
So it, it is very surprising and it still, a lot of people just aren't aware. You just bite these things thinking, yeah, this is great. These are my vitamins, I'm gonna pop 'em right in and they're gonna make me healthy. And then you figure out. Oh, actually this is actually doing a disservice. It's taking me backwards.
Ken: Yeah. And even worse, I've got a baby on the way. So surely someone took a look at this before they called it a prenatal vitamin and recommended that I take it.
Hilary: Yes.
Ken: Um, and I, I, I think it just compounds when you have the involvement of, you know. The most innocent, most delicate phase of life. Then it's like really, we haven't managed to, in 2025, do this by, the, any kind of books that made sense.
Hilary: I know. And also in 2025, with all the latest neuroscience research, that tells us that the quality of the surrounding environment plays such a pivotal role in early life. I mean, it profoundly influences the way a baby's brain develops in utero. I mean, this is like, mind blowing.
Ken: Totally. Totally mind blowing.
So I wanna take our audience back to April 2nd. So you show up in Sacramento. So there's a legislation that's been proposed by Dr. Akila Weber Pearson. Who's from San Diego. She has, already has, lots of support on both sides of the aisle. It was Senate bill 646. You've had to fly down like at the middle of the night.
I remember picking you up fairly early and you had crazy flight stuff. You just, you did it all and you showed up and you're ready to rock. I was just blown away.
Hilary: Well look. I do what I can. You guys are in the trenches every day and I'm blown away by the work that you do. You are in it every day, and it's the least I could do to come and lend support where I can, you know, it's the least I can do.
People's lives depend on it and I don't, you know, I don't mean to sound grandiose with that, but they do. So what, whatever I can do to help, I'm here to help. And that's also precisely why, you know, I've partnered with Healthy Baby, which is, you know, a company that puts health first and to me, that says everything.
That's the most important. And you know, when it comes to your child, I mean, look, when it comes to yourself, but also when it comes to your child who's so innocent and they're, they're, they're more susceptible. It's a necessity. It's not just a choice.
Ken: Not everyone feels that way, but it was very apparent from the second I started talking to you that that's how you felt, and I knew from our mutual friend, the founder of the company, Shazi Visram. I think she's inspired both of us. I think that's safe to say. She brings her values to bear. She did it before that with the baby food company she started. Happy Baby, unbelievable, um, accomplishment.
Hilary: Well she shows she just has a deep respect for science and for Moms and Babies health.
That's what our company's rooted in. From Happy Baby to Now Healthy Baby. And she puts her money where her mouth is with her prenatal vitamins. With the diapers, with the wipes. With everything that's sold within the company. She goes and talks to doctors and neuroscientists and you all. She's the, the very first EWG certified diaper out there.
Yeah. And. A lot of people just like to say they're healthy, they're sustainable, they're this, they're that. And you know, they really aren't because those are just the clickbait.
Ken: Yeah. I mean, we are privileged and humbled to be working with her and have a EWG Verified products of hers that she manufactures.
I gotta tell you, when, when we first started talking about diapers, having a standard, the degree to which we learned from what she went through, and understood from her experience how her diapers are. I'm not, you know, I'm not gonna bash any other company, but so different, so much more care going into what it takes to make her diaper.
It was just really impressive and like you say, totally consistent with the way she started Happy Family and the baby food. And she obviously brings deep personal concern to all of this as well.
Hilary: Can I just touch on what you just said because I think it's really important for consumers to have an understanding that, obviously we know that diapers, they're the first products that touch a baby at birth. Right?
And on average, babies spend over something like 2 million minutes. 2 million minutes in them during the first years of their life. In them 24/7. While their, their brains and their bodies are developing so rapidly. And so one of the things that I found interesting and what made me wanna be a part of Healthy Baby besides the things that I've already said is that there's something like 3,900 plus chemicals and materials linked to health harm.
Right. That's under your, the EWG verified standard, right?
Ken: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mm-hmm.
Hilary: And Healthy Baby discloses every material and component used to make the diaper and as you know, yeah. All too well, other companies don't have to disclose it.
They don't have to be transparent about what goes in their diaper. And so, you know, when people say they're 99% this or whatever it is, I'd like to know what the other 1% is like.
Ken: Ha ha ha, yeah.
Hilary: Why can't you say what that other 1% is? If you can say what the 99% is, you know.
Ken: I completely agree. I mean, and, and transparency is at the heart of our standards.
It's really what this legislation that you worked on is, is about fundamentally, test prenatal vitamins for heavy metals, and then tell the public on a website, what you found. Just straightforward, empowering parents, empowering moms and dads to, to do the right thing during, you know, pregnancy. It's very straightforward, but it's also very challenging for a lot of companies who operate in a world where transparency, much less safety, isn't required.
I mean, right. The first step is just tell us what's in this stuff, how you made it, where you got it. It doesn't have to meet any safety standard. You start by telling us that. But they don't even do that.
Hilary: I know.
Ken: So you show up. The first place I think we end up is, is in the hearing room.
Hilary: Well, what was funny though, remember when we went in, because something happened with my first flight, and then I magically, like by the grace of God
Ken: How you got there, right?
Hilary: Like, finally I got there like just, by the skin of my teeth. And it was like everyone was filing in after lunch or something, so I gotta actually meet everybody too. It was perfect timing.
Ken: No, it was great. And we talked about this at the time. You haven't done a lot of this lobbying, right?
Hilary: No, I've done zero.
Ken: Yeah. And so it was all new to you. Sacramento, we were in the state capitol, so it's crowded with staff, assembly members and senators. And you know, a lot of our folks knew Assembly members and senators and staff, 'cause we have a very highly experienced staff there in Sacramento. But you fit right in Hillary, I have to say.
And you were so gracious. It was amazing to see all of those obstetricians and gynecologists in their white lab coats who are there also to lobby in favor of this legislation. And a number of them had testified. They were, they were going around making office calls to assembly members and senators in particular.
This was a Senate bill and they were so boosted by your presence. I have to say, 'cause a lot of them came up to me afterward and you know, just said thank you for, for bringing someone along who is going to use her prominence for this purpose. You couldn't have had a better group standing around you saying, hey, yeah, she's right.
We're the scientists, we're the experts, we're the caretakers, we're the practitioners. We need to do this bill.
Hilary: You know, I don't know any better than a lot of people. I'm simply learning along the way, just like everybody else. I'm a new mom trying to figure it out as I go. And what is my guiding light?
You know, my North Star is to give my children the absolute best opportunity at being healthy in their life that I can.
Ken: Yeah, yeah
Hilary: You know? And I will make mistakes because I didn't know better. Yep. When I can teach myself and learn and read and do the research, I do it where I can, and then where I can lend a voice, I'm here.
Standing by those doctors, standing by you, standing by all these people who have done years and years of research and, and really know, what it takes to be healthy and to get people the answers to their questions, which really shouldn't be that hard.
Ken: No.
Hilary: I have such respect. And so to stand by their side, shoulder to shoulder, to stand by your side, shoulder to shoulder, to do the right thing, to give the people the information that they rightfully deserve as citizens of the United States…
Is a no brainer. Like I'm gonna show up time and time again to lend my voice to do the right thing.
Ken: And it was very apparent and it was so gratifying to, to folks to recognize that you were coming to this, obviously, you know, with a, a great deal of, of fame, but also you were a mom. And that's, I think, how people connected to you that day in Sacramento.
And I think there was a buzz that this was something that might not have gotten as much attention and might have engendered even more industry opposition than it did, but there was your public presence backed by the, the science and the medical doctors who take care of babies. I've often wondered what percentage of movies don't get made, and if that percentage matches the percentage of good legislation that doesn't become law?
Hilary: That's a good question and probably a really good analogy. It only impacts our entertainment. It doesn't impact our lives still.
Or, our health rather.
Ken: Yeah. Uh, both. And, you know, towards the end as we were getting into the bill was, uh, signed by Governor Newsom on October 11th.
So again, this went from. From storyboard to, to, to law in a very short period of time. Right, that's right into production. The casting, everything took, you know, took lightning speed, but there was a bump towards the end. Your willingness, I don't think we actually had to get you on the phone with the governor or anyone, but once we told people you were eager to talk to them.
That completely changed the conversation. Everyone's like, uh, you know, I think I'll pass on having a tough call with Hillary Swank. Um, I don't wanna be the person that talked to her and then voted wrong. So, those things really, really matter
Hilary: Well, I'm happy that it, that, that it, it helps bring things to the finish line, but you know, it really shouldn't…
I mean, you shouldn't have to have that. It should be just having these brilliant doctors who do the research that says, you know. This is not healthy, and we're doing our people, our people that we've promised and sworn in to protect a disservice and essentially selling them lies. You know, that should really be enough.
I mean, this is all, this isn't just one person's word against another word. It's backed by science. It's clinically proven. That's all you really need.
Ken: Yeah. You would think the study that you know showed 150 prenatal vitamin products were tested, and a majority of them had these heavy metals in them. And so we had that science in a science journal.
Uh, we, we had reports from government agencies basically saying the same thing. But you might be surprised at still, how regulated industries oftentimes will still find a way to evade the, you know, the obvious solution in a, like the one in this law, which is let's require, if you sell prenatal vitamins in California, let's require testing for these heavy metals.
We've known lead was a problem since Roman times, so it's not news, but it's in these, uh, some of these products. Let's require testing and require disclosure. That simple.
Hilary: Absolutely. And you know, I think it's beautiful. I mean, motherhood was a, I've always been a health advocate, um, for myself and for others and, and doing my research, but motherhood was a complete wake up call in a different way. And I started realizing how toxic the world is that we live in on a myriad levels. And I became even more committed to protecting myself and my family and therefore using my voice.
And I'm not alone in that. There are so many mothers, and I shouldn't exclude fathers or any caregivers, but who have really, you know, used their voice and we've seen them create their own companies to give a better choice and to, you know, stand up, whether it be in front of government or, or what, wherever it may be in, in order to get the word out there in a bigger way.
And so we are all aligned in that. And it feels nice to be aligned with people like you and, and those, and those caregivers to, to do the right thing.
Ken: I think that's exactly right. And I especially value, even if it's an adjacent field or topic. I see someone else doing good work that's putting another piece of the puzzle together.
Hilary: Yeah. It's kind of like, you know, I always use that analogy at one point someone broke the, what was it, the four minute mile?
Ken: Yeah. Four minute mile. Yeah. Yeah.
Hilary: And once somebody did it. Well, what happened the next year, a bunch of people followed suit. And the next year, more people followed suit. It's because you realize you can. And so once you realize what's really happening in the world, and whatever way that is, your mind goes, oh, okay, well there are different, better, healthier, whatever your adjective is, ways to do something.
Ken: A hundred percent. And the way in which. I've experienced the change that environmentalism has gone through, and I've, I've been at it a while. You wouldn't know to look at me. Of course, I, the fresh face and so forth. It's, it, it might throw you off, but, but I've been at it for decades and one of the things that's really struck me in the last, I would say 15 years, I realized that environmentalism now, it's not just what you're against, it's even more so in some ways what you're for.
And because companies like Shazi's, Happy Family, Healthy Baby, have come along and it's not an accident that a lot of 'em, I think are headed by women and founded by women, I'm just saying. It's inspiring because you think, well, we've got a whole range of products and economic systems and energy sources and ways of living that we didn't have 15 or 20 years ago that have been created by people who are worried about the environment and our health. They're not always perfect. Sometimes, you know, things fall short, but they're not doing it primarily driven by regulation.
They're, they're driven by something inside them. They, they want to make the world better.
Hilary: Yeah, and I think too, just mothers. And again, I don't wanna exclude anyone, caregivers, but it's just, I'm a mother so I can speak from my point of view. And I've actually also learned that we can actually proactively support developmental health.
Like yeah, from pregnancy to pre-K, we can, by focusing on the environment you raise your baby in, it really can have a profoundly positive effect on their health. And this is what caregivers are learning about. They can be an active participant in it and they can make change by, if they can't use their voice in the government, they can do the research and say, thank God that you know the EWG, this is a healthier choice.
And then they can make the actions to, to purchase those products that help support their child's development.
Ken: Yeah. You know, it, it's not as if we're enjoying a, a renaissance in environmental lawmaking and policy. So what's gonna make up for that is going to be the dynamic you just described, where as Shazi has done with diapers and supplements and wipes and lots of other products and before that baby food should just decide, I'm gonna set a standard that no regulation would really ever require me to set.
It's gonna be much better than that. The market forms around it, and then suddenly going to your four minute mile point, suddenly there's, there's someone you're chasing. If you're in that business, you better not lose more market share too.
So, lo and behold, you start making better products too.
Hilary: Exactly. It's exciting to see. And you know what, some of them, some of it's just greed and let let it be. If that's, that's what's important, let it be. But that means they have to keep up with the others who are doing the right thing. And, you know, if that's how they wanna make their money by doing the right thing, then great.
Ken: Yeah. We always like to say, look, we wanna win the particular issue. We, if we don't win it exactly on our terms or with our language, that's fine. As long as we advance public health and environmental protection, we're pretty open to the different ways that can come about and it, and the different voices and how they can, you know, formulate the problem for themselves and contribute and you just did a great job.
I mean, just a coming together of someone who cares, someone who has a platform, and people who've, who've devoted their lives to healthy babies.
Hilary: Yeah, right. It's beautiful when we can highlight the people that are doing the right thing. It really is. And I loved being there. I loved meeting the people behind doing the right thing.
I loved getting that interaction, that FaceTime, thanking them in person for doing the right thing. Thanking them for, you know, really trying to do the right thing. You know, with the, when you, when you, when you speak, you know, you, you, you know that they're hearing two sides and, and you appreciate that everyone's trying to, to, to really listen.
But again, the proof is in the pudding and you can't debate what's been discovered. And once you know, you can't unknow.
Ken: That's exactly right. And this was very bipartisan. Lots of Republicans, lots of Democrats voting for it. So that always makes me feel good that we're, we're doing something that has broad political reach.
That it's not just one camp victorious over another, but it's us coming some common ground. Yeah. That was very obvious as well. Like I say, getting the script handed to you to the film being made in six months. Come on.
Hilary: Yeah. It was pretty remarkable when we left that day and it looked like it was, you know, a unanimous resounding, um, yeah, we're gonna make sure that they're all tested, all prenatal vitamins are tested. That was a pretty awesome feeling, especially when you, when you, you hear like that, that's not the norm. Yeah. It was a pretty great feeling.
Ken: It was. And that, you know, the committee voted unanimously to move the legislation forward after, you know, you and a few others testified.
We had some testimony from, you know, a different perspective that was raising concerns about it. But I think the committee in the end saw that the greater good, the smarter move, the responsible move was to pass, you know, legislation that was well crafted and made sense, wasn't gonna bankrupt anybody, was really just bringing common sense to bear.
Hilary: Yeah. And, and not just common sense, like real science backed. Science backed sense. And I think that for all those people that are now going to be made aware of what I, this prenatal vitamin wasn't tested and it could be what? It could be like toxic, what? Now people are informed. And when you are informed, you know, that's all that anyone asks for.
No one wants the, the hood pulled over their eyes. Nobody. Everyone wants to know that what they're doing and what they're buying and the companies they're supporting in order to get their needs met when they're trying to be healthy, especially, that's all people really want. And it's, and and it's only fair.
It's only fair.
Ken: And it's more powerful. If it's on the demand side, if individuals, consumers are demanding it, that has much more impact on an industry than mere regulation.
Hilary: That's right.
Ken: Then you have to, again, you have to match that four minute mile, and if you don't, you're behind everybody else and losing market share like that.
Losing a race like that. That's right. You know, for the longest time, Hillary, we would say, well, we want solar power instead of coal-fired power plants. Or we want less pesticides, but back in the nineties and the early two thousands, you, you couldn't really point to it and say it was real.
It was just kind of like unicorn thinking, right? We want a unicorn to come in and shed tears and that'll, but now you have a $70 billion organic food sector. You have, you know, solar energy as the cheapest form of energy available for electricity generation and on and on. We weren't bullshitting. We wanted to go in this direction.
And now the technologies, the, and the, the business models have evolved.
Hilary: That's right.
Ken: That four minute mile is, uh, not, not good enough anymore. You gotta break three 50 or whatever.
Hilary: Yep. And that goes from everything, not just our prenatal vitamins or our diapers, but things that have forever chemicals in it.
You know, the PF-, the PFAS and all these things that we had no understanding. And thankfully, you know, uh, an organization like the Environmental Workers Group who comes in and says, you know, let's shed a little light on this. What you, you what, what's really happening? Because you just can't change what you don't know.
You keep going back to that. If you're not edified, if you have no idea, you can't make the changes. If you give someone the choice and you say, if this is a better choice for you because, you know, for whatever reason. But let, let, let's explain what's behind that and what makes that work and what makes this work.
And you break it down, then people at least have a choice.
Ken: Yeah, a hundred percent. And, you know, we'll go back and check now, and others will too, to make sure, you know, a year down the road or this law takes effect in January of 2027. So that's when, uh, the reporting will have to begin. We'll check. It's not hard to check and see if people are doing the reporting, if they're testing rigorously to, to find whatever's in there and letting the public know about it.
So that's also a virtuous cycle because it strengthens the science, gives you more data and basically tells private companies, you know, this is the future. These, these, this transparency driven adherence to science-based standards, whether or not there's a law that requires a certain level, and this law doesn't require a level, a safety level, it just says disclose it, it's still gonna happen.
It's, you know, we're still gonna have safer and safer products as we go along. It's very exciting.
Hilary: It's very exciting. And you know, I am a part of a, like many others, a, a mom's group and our number one concern is health. And we share that information and it spreads like wildfire on our, on our channels.
You know, when we learn about something. It's like instantaneous. And I can only imagine, you know, that that's what all other mom groups are like. We all wanna know what's best for our babies. We all wanna know what's best for our families. And, and again, I keep going back to this, but it should be the right of every citizen.
You know, we're, we're taxpayers. We pay to live in this country. We are abiding citizens and we deserve the information. And, you know, we'll be out there shoulder to shoulder, all of us, you, me, all those scientists, doctors and mothers and caregivers, you know, marching the good fight to make sure that this information is provided because it's our right.
Ken: Yeah, exactly. Well, I will probably be coming back to you then with some requests for additional help. We have some pretty exciting prospects coming down the line, and I know you're hopelessly busy, but it was just really an honor and the fact that it turned out to be a spectacular success just makes it all, all the more, uh, cherished to me.
Hilary: Well, thank you for that. I hope that, um, I'm, I am happy to be by your side, shoulder to shoulder. Anytime you need me. I really am. And I hope that we continue to have many more successes together, all together from, you know, EWG, to all the doctors, all the scientists who are out there fighting the good fight.
Like, let's all stay together. I'll, I'll stand together. The mothers, the caregivers, to, to continue to make sure that we all remain healthy and have those healthy choices. I am here and available.
Ken: You're the best. And uh, I think as a result of your work, we're gonna have, the next generation's gonna be just that much more protected and healthier. Because, you know, you, you got on a plane in the middle of the night and came down to Sacramento and, uh, put your shoulder to the wheel and it, it made a big difference
Hilary: Because of our work.
I had a very small, small part of that, but, um, because of your work and me jumping in every once in a while.
Ken: All right. Well, Hillary, thank you so much. Really appreciate your time. Look forward to our next adventure and, um. I want to thank again, Senator Akilah Weber Pearson, and who's an OB/GYN, right?
And she was right there, she made it happen and, um, we're deeply grateful to her too. You, you two were quite a dynamic duo in Sacramento.
Hilary: Deeply grateful to her too. Thank you for, for saying that. Deeply grateful for her and her continued work. It's just beautiful. It's, it's, it brings me to tears when, when people like her are hitting the pavement every day to do the right thing.
Ken: Yeah. Bring a medical doctor into public life like that when they could, you know, they got a lot of things they could do. Yeah. Like you do pal. So thank you.
Hilary: And you too. Well, thank you so much.
Ken: Thank you to Hillary Swank for joining me today and for joining me in Sacramento to lobby. And thank you for listening to the podcast.
If you'd like to learn more, be sure to check out our show notes for additional links. To take a deeper dive into today's discussion, follow our show on Instagram at Ken Cook's podcast. And if you're interested in learning more about EWG, head over to ewg.org or check out the EWG Instagram account @EnvironmentalWorkingGroup.
If this episode resonated with you or you think someone you know would benefit from it, send it along. The best way to make positive change is to start as a community with your community. Today's episode was produced by the extraordinary Beth Rowe and Mary Kelly. Our show's theme music is by Moby. Thank you Moby, and thank all of you out there for listening.
