Cosmetic Safety
Many people believe that the Food and Drug Administration regulates cosmetics the same way it does food and drugs to ensure safety. The average person – men as well as women – uses 10 personal care products daily. We also use them on our children in the form of shampoos and lotions. In reality, cosmetics and other personal care products are one of the least regulated consumer products on the market today and the existing law has not been updated since 1938. This is why I introduced the Safe Cosmetics Act which calls for removal of ingredients in cosmetics that are carcinogens or cause birth defects, gives the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authority to recall dangerous cosmetic products, and requires disclosure of all ingredients on a label so that customers know what they are purchasing. The $50 billion cosmetics industry uses roughly 12,500 unique chemical ingredients in personal care products—the vast majority of which have never been assessed for safety by any publicly accountable body. The Safe Cosmetics Act would require manufacturing and personal care product companies to register with the FDA and pay a registration fee to help pay for oversight of the industry. The legislation includes provisions designed to ease any potential burdens on small cosmetic manufacturers. Americans are often left in the dark about harmful mystery ingredients in personal care products; consumers deserve confidence that the products that they use will not hurt them.
Legislation I've Introduced
Safe Cosmetics Act – The Safe Cosmetics Act would phase out the use of dangerous chemicals, including carcinogens and reproductive toxins, from use in personal care products.
More on Cosmetic Safety
WASHINGTON, DC - Today, Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), a Senior Chief Deputy Whip and Chair of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee, and Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Vice Chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy, released a statement after Johnson & Johnson announced they would permanently discontinue talc-based Johnson’s Baby Powder in the U.S. and Canada after facing thousands of lawsuits from patients who developed cancer after use.
WASHINGTON, DC – Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, a Senior Chief Deputy Whip and Chair of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee, and Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, Vice Chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy, sent a letter to Johnson & Johnson Chairman and CEO Alex Gorsky seeking information on the targeted marketing and sale of the company’s talc-based baby powder and its potential to cause harm, particularly to women, teenage girls, and people of color, due to as
Lawmakers introduced Safe Cosmetics Act to protect consumers from harmful ingredients in personal care products, gives FDA ability to order recalls of dangerous products
Washington, DC (February 16, 2012) - Reps. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) released the following joint statement in response to the President's budget request for additional funding through user fees for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to conduct oversight of the cosmetics industry: