Cosmetics are beautiful in the eyes of the public, treasured in the eyes of advertisers, sold for tens of billions of dollars worldwide, but woefully under-regulated in comparison to the other categories of consumer goods protected by the Food & Drug Administration. Regulation follows risk; cosmetic risks were perceived to be low when the Food, Drug & Cosmetics Act was passed back in 1938. Today, while cosmetic ingredients have grown to include a list of more than 10,000 different chemicals, the federal Food and Drug Administration has only prohibited or restricted eleven. In contrast, the European Union prohibits or restricts the use of nearly 1,400.
In light of this situation, these have been several recent, but so far unsuccessful, attempts to answer these calls to strengthen regulations of cosmetics to protect consumers, including The Safe Cosmetics and Personal Care Products Act of 2013 (House Bill 1385), The Cosmetics Safety Enhancement Act of 2012 (Enhancement Act), and the Cosmetic Safety Amendments Act of 2012.
The National Law Review reports that the California Assembly has taken a step in the right direction to deal with this situation by passing the Toxic-Free Cosmetics Act, Assembly Bill (A.B.) 276 by a bipartisan vote of 54-0 in June of 2020. If enacted by the Senate, the law would be the first in the United States to ban twelve ingredients, including mercury and formaldehyde, from beauty and personal care products sold in California due to toxicity concerns. And as California goes, so may the rest of the country unless preemption bars the way.
The full article is here.