Safe Cosmetics Act: Forcing FDA to take charge

In our July/August 2011 story on hair-care products, “Shampoos: Perception vs. Reality,” we were hopeful that lawmakers would introduce the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011 sometime this summer. It ultimately was introduced on Friday, June 24, much to our appreciation.

Introduced by three Democrats—Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass. and Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill.—the bill would give Food and Drug Administration the much-needed authority to make sure that cosmetics are free from toxic substances. FDA has overseen the U.S. cosmetics industry since 1938, but amazingly, the agency has no power to approve ingredients or products—or even assure that they’re safe—before they reach the market. FDA asks manufacturers to self-regulate, which they do through Cosmetic Ingredient Review, which is a group that’s funded by the industry. But in the past three decades, CIR has assessed the safety of just 11 percent of the 10,500 ingredients that are in U.S. cosmetics, according to Environmental Working Group.

“The Safe Cosmetics Act will close a gaping hole in the federal law that allows potentially toxic chemicals to remain in the cosmetics products we use every day,” Markey said in a press release. “I look forward to working with my colleagues to move this much-needed legislation forward.”

That’s great, but we wonder if this Democrat-sponsored bill can gain any traction in the current conservative, pro-industry, anti-regulation congressional climate.

“No Republican co-sponsors yet, but we are optimistic that the bill will have the bipartisan support needed to pass,” says Stacy Malkan, who is the co-founder of Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, which is a coalition that’s dedicated to eliminating dangerous chemicals from cosmetics. “Everyone is exposed to hazardous chemicals in personal-care products and everyone will benefit—especially the beauty industry—from rules that require companies to make products with the safest ingredients.”

Baldwin, Markey and Schakowsky introduced a previous version of the bill, the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010, in July 2010. But that bill wasn’t discussed in committee before the 111th congressional season concluded.

The 2010 version of the bill had no explanation of who would assess the safety of products. The updated bill orders suppliers of ingredients to provide manufacturers with safety tests. Currently, suppliers don’t have to make these safety tests public to manufacturers. FDA also will be given the power to require product testing if the agency believes that the combination of certain ingredients poses a health danger. Believe it or not, FDA doesn’t have the authority to require product testing, even when it receives adverse health reports. Companies aren’t required even to report adverse health effects to FDA. We hope that this bill changes those problems and that if it passes FDA doesn’t hesitate to wield its power.

If enacted, the new bill also would require that all companies list the ingredients that make up their fragrance. Those ingredients aren’t listed on today’s labels, due to a loophole in the Federal Fair Packaging and Labeling Act of 1973. And we believe that’s a giant wormhole, when you consider that fragrances often contain phthalates, which are a group of chemicals that have been linked to birth defects, infertility and kidney damage. European Commission prohibited all phthalates from cosmetics in 2003.

– K. Keeker