Cosmetics
Americans assume personal care products on the market today have been tested or approved by the federal government. However, they are largely unregulated. In fact, it has been more than 80 years since Congress last updated the federal law designed to ensure that personal care products are safe. The Food and Drug Administration does not even require the basic safety testing of ingredients in personal care products before they are used.
Although other countries have taken action to protect their citizens from chemicals linked to cancer and reproductive harm, FDA lacks the basic tools needed to ensure the safety of cosmetics and other personal care products.
Now a bipartisan group of lawmakers wants to change that.
Laboratory tests of talc-based cosmetics products, commissioned by the Environmental Working Group, found asbestos – a deadly human carcinogen for which there is no safe level of exposure – in almost 15 percent of samples.
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Earlier this year, EWG reported results of tests that found the notorious carcinogen asbestos in samples of talc-based cosmetics. EWG-commissioned tests by Scientific Analytical Institute found asbestos in three of 21 cosmetics products, including two eye shadow palettes and one toy makeup kit marketed to children.
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In the wake of the Trump administration’s rollback of more than 100 federal environmental regulations, California has again showed leadership, with new laws to protect public health. In the past two years, EWG’s team in Sacramento shepherded numerous legislative proposals to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk, with nearly every bill signed into law.
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For more than a decade, the Food and Drug Administration and the cosmetics industry have known that keratin hair-smoothing treatments – commonly called “Brazilian blowout” treatments – release unsafe amounts of formaldehyde into the air, putting consumers and salon workers at risk.
Read MoreEmails obtained by the Environmental Working Group reveal that in 2015 and 2016, scientists at the Food and Drug Administration urged the agency to ban formaldehyde in popular hair-smoothing treatments, also known as “Brazilian blowouts.” Four years later, these hazardous treatments remain legal.
Read MoreWASHINGTON – The Environmental Working Group has added information about healthy cleaners to its Healthy Living App, putting ratings at shoppers’ fingertips for more than 122,000 foods, personal care products and now healthy cleaners.
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In a major victory for the movement for safer cosmetics, California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed the Toxic-Free Cosmetics Act, Assembly Bill 2762, into law. This is the nation’s first state-level ban of 24 toxic ingredients, including mercury and formaldehyde, from the beauty and personal care products Californians use every day.
The Environmental Working Group and the Personal Care Products Council applaud California Gov. Gavin Newsom for signing into law Assembly Bill 2762, which prohibits the sale and manufacture of cosmetics and personal care products with certain ingredients in California. This landmark bill moves the industry one step closer to global regulatory alignment.
Read MoreFor many cosmetics products, exposure through your mouth may seem unlikely. Still, it’s important to consider oral dosing in assessing the safety of cosmetics ingredients, according to a new European study.
Read MoreThe California legislature passed Assembly Bill 2762, the Toxic-Free Cosmetics Act. This landmark legislation bans 12 toxic ingredients, such as PFAS, mercury and formaldehyde, which are already prohibited from cosmetics and other personal care products sold in the European Union and other countries. The law now goes to Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Read MoreToday the California Toxic-Free Cosmetics Act, A.B. 2762, passed out of the State Senate Environmental Quality Committee. If enacted, the law would be the first in the nation to ban 12 toxic ingredients, including mercury and formaldehyde, from the beauty and personal care products Californians use every day.
Read MoreA notoriously hazardous cosmetic ingredient now has another black mark on its record: Butylparaben – a hormone-disrupting chemical used as a preservative in personal care products and linked to cancer, sperm damage and environmental harm – was recently classified by the European Chemicals Agency as a substance of very high concern.
Read MoreSince EWG released its first Guide to Sunscreens more than a decade ago, many things about the products have changed. But myths about sunscreens persist.
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Today, the California Assembly passed the Toxic-Free Cosmetics Act, A.B. 2762. If enacted, the law would be the first in the nation to ban 12 toxic ingredients, including mercury and formaldehyde, from the beauty and personal care products Californians use every day.
Read MoreA piece of legislation winding its way through the California legislature could be the biggest influence on U.S. cosmetics safety for close to a century. The bill would ban a dozen of the most concerning ingredients commonly found in cosmetics sold in California.
Read MoreAs states reopen and Americans leave their homes to venture outside, it’s important for them to remember to protect their skin from the sun’s harmful rays. Today the Environmental Working Group released its 14th annual Guide to Sunscreens.
Read MoreThe news, announced Tuesday, that Johnson & Johnson will soon end the sale of baby powder with talc is long overdue.
Because talc and asbestos can form in the same parent rock, cosmetics made with talc can become contaminated with the deadly carcinogen, which is responsible for the death of thousands of Americans every year.
Read MoreEWG today welcomed the news that Johnson & Johnson will soon end the sale of talc-based baby powders in the U.S. and Canada, and called on other cosmetic companies to end the use of talc in other loose powders
Read MoreAs many hair salons remain closed months into the national shutdown triggered by the coronavirus pandemic, at-home hair dyes are flying off store shelves. But many of these products may contain potentially harmful ingredients.
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The notorious human carcinogen asbestos has been found in two talc-containing eye shadow palettes, according to laboratory tests commissioned by the Environmental Working Group.
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