Fuelled by an intense debate over the need for federal regulation of the questionable or potentially harmful ingredients used in many personal care and cosmetics products, the policy fight erupted onto the public stage this week in a New York Times editorial, which cited Los Angeles-based Wen Hair Care as an example of why stronger consumer protection is needed. Read more at Business of Fashion.
Read More“The federal government has officially listed microbeads as a toxic substance, giving it the ability to ban the plastic beads used in cleansers. An online notice published Wednesday says the tiny plastic beads commonly found in facial and body scrubs is now listed as a toxic substance under the Environmental Protection Act, which gives the government the option to control their use or institute an outright ban.” Read more at The Globe and Mail.
Read More“Microbeads, which are tiny plastic beads, are regularly used in personal care products such as skin exfoliators and toothpastes. The law will phase microbeads out of consumer products over the next few years. From July 2017, the manufacture of the plastics will be banned, followed by product-specific manufacturing and sales bans in the following years.” Read more at The Verge.
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“On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives’s Energy & Commerce Committee unanimously approved a bill that would prevent the use of the solid plastic microbeads in soaps, cleansers and toothpastes, which pushes it to the rest of the House for consideration. The trouble with this particular type of exfoliant is that the particles, which by the Energy & Commerce Committee’s definition are less than five millimeters in size, tend to wash down the drain and out to sea or into lakes, contributing to plastic pollution.” Read more at Fashionista.com.
Read More“A March 2015 report by market research firm Kline & Company estimates the ‘natural products’ industry at $33 billion worldwide. A 2015 report by Nielsen found that 53% of consumers surveyed said that an ‘all-natural’ description was moderately or very important to them. But there’s a big problem with using terms like ‘natural,’ ‘organic,’ and ‘eco-friendly’ to describe personal care products: There’s no consensus on what those descriptors really mean.” Read more at Fortune.
Read More“A group of scientists in the UK have revealed new research that suggests the impact of microplastic pollution from cosmetic and personal care products may be even greater than first thought. The scientists, who are based at the University of Plymouth in Southwest England, show that the quantity of plastics contained in products such as scrubs and facial cleaners, means that as many as 100,000 of the tiny microbeads are released with every single application.” Read more at Cosmetics Design.
Read More“If you’re at all tapped into the world of indie makeup brands, you’re probably familiar with Lime Crime—and, if you’re familiar with Lime Crime, you probably know that Velvetines, its line of liquid matte lip stains, are cult favorites. But, if you’re a Velvetines devotee, you might want to look for a temporary alternative: Last month, on July 29, the FDA issued an official warning letter to Lime Crime stating that the use of ferric ferrocyanide and ultramarines listed as ingredients in the Red Velvet Velvetines Lip Stain constitutes a violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.” Read more at Refinery29.
Read More“Canada is one micro-step closer to a federal ban on microbeads. The Conservative government said Thursday it is proposing to add microbeads to the list of toxic substances under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. Microbeads are the tiny, plastic pellets that are most commonly found in skin care and exfoliation products.” Read more at CBC.
Read More“For decades, the Food and Drug Administration has had fewer than a dozen pages of instructions for how to regulate the millions of lipsticks, moisturizers and other cosmetics sold each year. Now, a new bipartisan bill proposes to give the F.D.A. broader oversight.” Read more at The New York Times.
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