Although we would like to believe otherwise, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not require premarket approval for cosmetics, unlike pharmaceutical drugs, vaccines, and medical devices. The FDA gives a lot of leeway to the cosmetic manufacturers including ingredient safety declaration, labeling requirements and determining when to take a product off the shelf. Many of the cosmetics available for sale contain harmful, toxic substances that are neurotoxins, known to cause cancer, or disrupt human hormone behavior...and the FDA allows it.
The hidden dangers in cosmetics
There are over 10,500 ingredients used in personal care products and only 11% have been tested for safety. These ingredients are used in women's, men's, and even children's products and many are used on a daily basis. With so many ingredients and so many products on the shelves it can be a little overwhelming regarding what to avoid. A few of the ingredients with the most health concern are triclosan, fragrances, parabens, and phthalates.
The introduction of the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011
On June 24, 2011, the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011 was introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives by Representatives Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.). The focus of the act is to make personal care products safe for Americans and hopefully eliminate altogether the toxic chemicals being used to manufacture them. Below are just a few of the things the act enforces.
What cosmetic companies would have to do
- Companies are not required to register themselves or their product ingredients with the FDA. The Act will require companies with more than $2 million in annual revenue to register with the FDA. This includes all domestic and foreign companies that manufacture, package or distribute cosmetics in the U.S. The FDA would be required to make the registration list available to the public.
- Companies with more than $10 million in annual revenue will be required to pay a sliding-scale registration fee. This fee will fund the oversight and enforcement of the Cosmetic Registration Program.
- Companies must list ingredients now on their labels in order of prominence, however, the FDA allows companies to exclude listing the ingredients in fragrance since it is accepted as a trade secret. These ingredients, unfortunately, can include dozens to hundreds more toxic substances; substances that you would not know are in the product since they are not listed anywhere accessible. Under the Act, companies would be required to list all of the ingredients in fragrance. The FDA would then decide if those ingredients would be listed online or on the actual product label.
- The FDA currently leaves ingredient safety to the manufacturers. Under the Act, the suppliers would be responsible for testing and listing contaminants and providing that information to the manufacturers.
- Currently, regulations prohibit the use of only some substances and restrict the use of others because of safety concerns or environmental factors. Under the Act, the FDA will be required to set up a public database that will house information about ingredient safety. This database will be used by the manufacturing companies for guidance about what ingredients are safe to use. The list will consist of prohibited ingredients (not allowed) and restricted ingredients (allowed under some guidelines). As ingredients are added to the lists, companies will have one year from then to reformulate if they are using any of the prohibited ingredients or if they do not comply with the guidelines of the restricted ingredients.
- The FDA requires proper ingredient labeling for all cosmetics qualifying as consumer commodities, meaning the labeling requirements do not apply to cosmetic products for professional use such as in salons. So right now those who work in salons don't have any knowledge of what ingredients they are exposed to on a daily basis and neither do the customers. Under the Act, a full listing of ingredients would be required on the labels of all professional salon products.
To get involved in the support you can ask your local U.S. Representative to co-sponsor the Safe Cosmetics Act.
NOTE: The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) defines cosmetics by their intended use, as "articles intended to be rubbed, poured, sprinkled, or sprayed on, introduced into, or otherwise applied to the human body...for cleansing, beautifying, promoting attractiveness, or altering the appearance" [FD&C Act, sec. 201(i)]. Among the products included in this definition are skin moisturizers, perfumes, lipsticks, fingernail polishes, eye and facial makeup preparations, shampoos, permanent waves, hair colors, toothpastes, and deodorants, as well as any material intended for use as a component of a cosmetic product.
Sources
- www.fda.gov/Cosmetics, U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Accessed December 30, 2011.
- www.safecosmetics.org/, The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. Accessed December 30, 2011.
Serena Smith-Williams - Serena Smith-Williams truly believes your own personal lifestyle does not have to be compromised in order to live healthy and well.
