Meghan Staley 4/1/13 English 1102 Rough Draft

Dear FDA, It is apparent now more than ever that the cosmetic industry is becoming more and more prevalent in conversation, and not necessarily in a positive way. More and more cases are surfacing about serious reactions caused by make-up products, and the question I have for you is where are you when this is going on? Why havent you done more to stop companies from putting harmful chemicals into their products? If manufacturers are allowed to mandate and test their own products then how do we as buyers know that the products are not harmful to us? I am writing this letter to you to try and persuade you to take action and help the cosmetic industry maintain a safe background. I plan to explore ideas to back up my argument as well as provide ways to start making a difference. The current standards and regulations in the make-up industry allow the manufacturers of each make-up product to test their own products. How do we know that companies are sending in reports on all parts of their trials? You as the FDA currently have no authority over premarket approval of cosmetics. The only thing you can do is pursue enforcement action against violated products. You are also not required to put out a recall on products that are causing harmful effects. This is a huge concern for me and many women using these make-up products because we are unaware of what we are using on our faces, and you are just sitting back and watching without any

concern or attempt to stop this from happening. Due to your lack of concern, the state of California is now taking matters into their own hands. This state has come up with a bill called the Assembly Bill, which would ban certain products from being included into make-up products that are sold in that state. This bill was based on the European Unions direction to ban cosmetics containing anything on Annex II of their own cosmetic directive. This bill was not passed but they later came up with The Safe Cosmetic Act that concentrated on the lack of federal regulations and the claim that these products could cause cancer or reproductive health problems. They also said that an allotment of $100,000 per year would be able to enforce this act. The state was then to come up with a list of chemicals that they agreed to ban from being allowed in products sold in that state. A total of 783 chemicals were banned from being used including titanium dioxide, black 2, cocamide DEA, and retinol. With these guidelines they hope to stop the serious reactions caused by harmful products in make-up. They are also aiming to push for you to have required approval of all ingredients before being allowed on the market. Although California is passing its bills, the industry is taking a toll on this as well. The Personal Care Products Council issued its Consumer Commitment Code that contains six parts. The first part states that companies should market products only after the safety of each ingredient and the finished product have been substantiated. This will help in preventing products that are harmful to us from being allowed on the market. The second part of this code is that if a company markets a product with an ingredient that exceeds the limits set by the Cosmetic Ingredient Review, it should possess sufficient data to substantiate the safety of the ingredient at this level, and make the data available

to the FDA. This will help to provide some clarity to us as buyers as well as can cause companies to ensure safer products with the evidence to back it up.

Outline -letter to the FDA, arguing that they arent doing enough to ensure products are safe and not harmful to us. -what the FDA does in regulating products -why hasnt the FDA taken over regulating products? -make-up companies controlling testing? -California -taking matters in there own hands -passing new bills to regulate what is put in products that are sold in there state -following the EU -pushing for FDAs required approval for all ingredients prior to being put on the market -Assembly bill to ban cosmetics containing anything they see as bad -Lost the bill and came up with the Safe Cosmetic Act concentrated on the lack of federal regulations.