Almost a year ago, President Joe Biden signed the Cosmetics Regulation Modernization Act of 2022or MoCRA, becomes law, marking the first significant update to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act since 1938. The law will go into effect on December 29.
MoCRA gives the Food and Drug Administration more control over cosmetics, introducing product recall authority, facility registration requirements, and enhanced labeling.
While the law is a step in the right direction, it does not require the FDA to review or restrict harmful chemicals. The United States has been left behind more than 80 other countries that have taken steps to protect their citizens from chemicals linked to cancer and reproductive harm. The European Union continues to review the safety of chemicals, adding 29 ingredients to your ban list only in 2023. That's almost three times the total ingredients. forbidden by the FDA โ never.
Every day, consumers in the United States are exposed to an average of two ingredients linked to cancer and two linked to chemicals that can harm the reproductive and developmental systems. Women use more personal care products than men, so they are exposed to more unique ingredients on a daily basis.
The largest sources of ingredient exposure are body care, skin care, and cosmetics.
According to a 2023 survey commissioned by EWG, the average woman uses 13 products every day, which contains 114 unique ingredients. On average, men use 11 products daily, with 105 unique ingredients, compared to a 2004 EWG study that found they used six products containing 85 unique chemicals.
While MoCRA marks a welcome first step toward repairing the broken cosmetics safety law, there is still much work to be done to ensure the safety of chemicals used in personal care products. The new law stops short of forcing the FDA to review and potentially restrict or ban chemicals. But it gives the agency important new authorities.
New FDA Powers Under MoCRA
- Reporting of adverse events: MoCRA expands the definition of serious adverse events for cosmetics, improving transparency. Starting December 29, companies will be required to report such events within 15 days, and records will be kept for six years.
- Recovery Authority Summary: The FDA is now empowered to intervene in health-related events caused by cosmetics, requesting recalls. Failure to comply may result in immediate interruption of distribution.
- Register facilities and consumer products: Cosmetics facilities must register with the FDA by July 1, 2024. New facilities must register within 60 days of production or by February 27, 2024. On December 18, the FDA released Direct Cosmeticsa portal for companies to register facilities and list their personal care products.
- Good manufacturing processes: MoCRA gives the FDA authority to set standards for cosmetic facilities, emphasizing quality control and sanitary conditions. The goal is to prevent adulteration or contamination of personal care products and facilitate FDA inspections to ensure product integrity.
- Improved tags: Starting December 29, 2024, product labels must include national contact information for reporting adverse events.
- Disclose Fragrance Allergens: Starting July 29, 2024, fragrance allergens must be labeled on personal care products.
- Security rationale: Companies must maintain records that support the safety justification, although the FDA is not required to review them.
- Cosmetics containing talc: The FDA must develop a rigorous screening method to detect asbestos (a deadly human carcinogen for which there is no safe level of exposure) in talc used in personal care products. In 2020, Lab tests of talc-based cosmetics commissioned by EWG found asbestos in nearly 15 percent of samples, including products marketed to children. That analysis drew attention to inadequate methods used by the cosmetics industry to control talc supplies.
- PFAS in cosmetics: โThe use of toxinsโforever chemicalsโknown as PFAS in personal care products will be evaluated for safety and risks based on scientific evidence, potentially through consultation with the National Center for Toxicological Research. A summary report of the results must be issued within three years.
Focus on state laws
MoCRA preserves states' crucial authority to ban or regulate chemicals of concern in personal care products. The hard work of regulating ingredients now falls to the states.
To fill the void left by federal inaction, states have passed laws to regulate chemicals used in personal care products such as cosmetics, and continued oversight at the state level is vital.
twenty states Have passed laws limiting certain substances in cosmetics, including California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia and Washington. and Wisconsin. These chemicals have stricter limits in these states due to concerns about their potential health effects: 1,4-dioxane, cadmium, color additives, formaldehyde, mercury, parabens, PFAS, phthalates, methyl alcohol, and methyl methacrylate.
Nothing in MoCRA prevents states from banning or restricting ingredients in cosmetics. States can determine whether an ingredient is allowed in cosmetics and how much can be used.
Here are some of the laws recently enacted by states to regulate chemicals in cosmetics:
California
California has been a pioneer in protecting consumers and salon workers from harmful substances in personal care products. The State implemented for the first time the Safe Cosmetics Lawrequiring manufacturers to disclose the presence of Proposition 65 chemicals linked to cancer or birth defects in your personal care products. California then passed the Professional Cosmetics Labeling Requirements Act, requiring ingredient labels on professional salon products. In 2020, there was a significant victory for consumers with the Toxic-Free Cosmetics Law, which banned 24 toxic chemicals in cosmetics sold in California. Led by EWG, along with partners such as Black Women for Wellness, Breast Cancer Prevention Partners, and CALPIRG, this initiative marked a crucial milestone. That same year, the Law on the right to know about ingredients of cosmetic flavors and fragrances A law was enacted requiring disclosure of ingredients in fragrance blends in personal care products. In 2022, California took a monumental step by banning all Intentionally Added PFAS of personal care products, beginning January 1, 2025. The state continued its commitment this year by ban 26 more chemicals of cosmetics.
Colorado
In 2022, Colorado banned the entire family of PFAS of cosmetics. The ban will take effect on January 1.
Maryland
In 2021, Maryland passed a law ban 24 chemicals from use in personal care products.
Maine
Approved in 2021, this State Law bans the sale of a wide range of consumer products, including cosmetics, with intentionally added PFAS starting in 2030.
Minnesota
In 2023, Minnesota enacted Amara's law, which prohibits the non-essential use of PFAS in consumer products such as cosmetics. Ten years earlier, the state forbidden formaldehyde, a carcinogenic chemical, from use in personal care products marketed to children under eight years old, such as lotions, shampoos and bubble baths.
NY
In 2022, the state approved the maximum allowable concentrations of 1,4 dioxane for cosmetics. On December 23 of the same year, Governor Kathy Hochul signed a bill ban mercury in personal care products and cosmetics, which came into effect on June 1.
Oregon
He Toxic-Free Cosmetics Law passed this year bans all PFAS, formaldehyde and formaldehyde releasers, methylene glycol, mercury, triclosan and orthophthalates from cosmetics and personal care products sold in the state starting in 2027. Starting in 2027, manufacturers will be required to publicly disclose all chemical ingredients on their product websites. January 1, 2025.
Washington
In 2008, Washington approved the Child Safe Products Actrequiring manufacturers of children's products (including personal care products) to report Chemicals of great concern to children. in their products. In 2023, Washington enacted the Toxic-Free Cosmetics Law, which prohibits the intentional addition of chemicals such as all class of PFAS, orthophthalates, formaldehyde and formaldehyde releasers, methylene glycol, mercury, triclosan, m-phenylenediamine and its salts, and o-phenylenediamine and its salts. The bans will go into effect in 2025, except for formaldehyde releasers, with a phased approach starting in 2026. After January 1, 2025, any products containing or contaminated with lead compounds will be banned from sale in the state with more than 1 part per million.
Moving the market towards healthier options
In 2004, the EWG created the Deep Skinยฎ database to provide online profiles of ingredients and personal care products, revealing potential dangers and health problems. The goal was to fill significant data gaps left by industry and government. EWG's team of scientists evaluates product labels and websites, referencing nearly 60 regulatory and toxicity databases to provide easy-to-navigate product and ingredient classifications.
Many products currently on the market contain chemicals linked to health problems. With increasing awareness of potential health risks, consumers are demanding transparency and questioning the safety of the personal care products they use every day. Increasingly, buyers are looking to trusted third-party appraisers to navigate the market.
He GTE VERIFIEDยฎ The program was developed to help consumers navigate the crowded market for "clean" products. The EWG VERIFIED mark only appears on products that meet our robust ingredient and transparency requirements, making it a trusted way for people to make informed consumer product decisions.
For people on the go, EWG Healthy living app provides ratings and safety information for quick reference, allowing consumers to make informed decisions, especially for products without the EWG VERIFIED mark.
