Document ID: FDA-2008-N-0138-0013
Agency: fda
Document Type: Supporting & Related Material
Title: 
Posted Date: 2008-03-21T04:00Z

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, January 25, 2007

Contacts: Marisa Walker, Breast Cancer Fund, (415) 346-8223 x17; Stacy
Malkan, Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, (510) 848-5343 x105

500 Cosmetics Companies Pledge to Make Safer Health and Beauty Products

Lacking Federal Regulation and Enforcement,

Manufacturers and States Take the Lead on Safety

SAN FRANCISCO—The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics announced today that
more than 500 cosmetics and body care products companies have promised
to eliminate toxic ingredients from their products worldwide.

By signing the Compact for Safe Cosmetics, companies pledge to replace
ingredients linked to cancer, birth defects, hormone disruption and
other negative health effects with safer alternatives.

Major concerns regarding the safety of personal care products led the
Campaign for Safe Cosmetics in 2004 to create the Compact, formally
known as the “Compact for the Global Production of Safe Health and
Beauty Products.” The U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not
review or regulate cosmetics products or ingredients for safety before
they are sold to the public and has no legal authority to
require safety assessments of cosmetics.

“The companies that have signed the Compact for Safe Cosmetics are
really leading the way toward safer products and healthier people,”
said Cindy Luppi, organizing director for Clean Water Action in Boston
and one of the founding members of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics.
“We’re moving in the right direction, but ultimately the FDA needs
to step up and take responsibility for public health.”

In the absence of federal oversight, states also have taken steps to
ensure that consumers have access to safer products and more information
about the products they buy. On January 1, California became the first
in the nation to enact state legislation governing the safety and
reporting of cosmetic ingredients. The California Safe Cosmetics Act
requires manufacturers to disclose to the state any product ingredient
that is on state or federal lists of chemicals that cause cancer or
birth defects. Washington and Oregon are introducing similar
legislation, and both New York and Maryland introduced bills last year.

Recent signers of the Compact for Safe Cosmetics include Aveda founder
Horst Rechelbacher's new company, Intelligent Nutrients; and celebrity
aesthetician brands Crush Groove Cosmetics, a make-up line, and Mi Amore
Skincare.

Compact signers include big names like The Body Shop and Burt’s Bees,
as well as smaller and niche manufacturers. The names of all signing
companies can be found by visiting   HYPERLINK
"http://www.safecosmetics.org/companies/signers.cfm"
www.safecosmetics.org/companies/signers.cfm .

More/

Add One/ 500 Cosmetics Companies Pledge to Make Safer Products

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics is a coalition of U.S.-based health and
environmental groups working to protect cosmetics consumers from toxic
chemicals and hold companies accountable for the safety of their
products.

The world’s largest cosmetics companies, including as L'Oréal,
Revlon, Estée Lauder, Gap, Avon, OPI and Proctor & Gamble have refused
to sign the Compact, which requires that manufacturers meet several
criteria, including: 

Meeting EU standards banning chemicals linked to cancer and birth
defects globally;

Conducting an inventory of all ingredients to determine whether they use
chemicals that pose health hazards including cancer, hormone disruption,
genetic mutation, reproductive toxicity, developmental harm and
neurotoxicity; 

Implementing substitution plans that replace chemicals of concern with
safer alternatives; and

Reporting on their progress in meeting these goals to the public.

Women and girls use an average of 12 personal care products daily,
according to a 2004 survey conducted by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics.
One out of every 100 personal care products on the market contains known
or probable carcinogens and only 11 percent of the more than 10,500
ingredients in products have been assessed for safety, according to Skin
Deep, an online, brand-by-brand safety guide that contains in-depth
information on more than 14,000 products and their ingredients by the
Environmental Working Group.

# # #

Founding members of The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics include Alliance for
a Healthy Tomorrow, Breast Cancer Fund, Commonweal, Friends of the
Earth, Women's Voices for the Earth, Environmental Working Group,
National Black Environmental Justice Network and the National
Environmental Trust. 

For more information and background on the campaign, and a link to the
Skin Deep database, visit   HYPERLINK "http://www.safecosmetics.org/" \n
_blank www.SafeCosmetics.org .