Pallone & Lance Unveil Bipartisan Proposal to Strengthen Cosmetic Product Regulation

Energy and Commerce Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Committee Member Rep. Leonard Lance (R-NJ) unveiled a bipartisan proposal today that would strengthen the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) authority to regulate cosmetic products.

FDA is the federal agency charged with cosmetic oversight, but, under current law, FDA cannot require cosmetic manufacturers to register with the Agency, provide information about their products and ingredients, or even require companies to test cosmetic products for safety before bringing them to market. The Pallone-Lance proposal would strengthen FDA's regulatory authority over cosmetic products to help ensure that the cosmetics Americans use each day are safe.

The members were joined today at a news conference to announce the proposal by Miriam Lawrence, the mother of 11-year-old Eliana Lawrence, who was featured in a New York Times story after losing all of her hair due to an adverse reaction to Wen Cleansing Conditioner.

"Millions of Americans assume the cosmetics they use each day are safe, however the reality is that cosmetics are one of the least regulated consumer products on the market today," Pallone said. "Eliana Lawrence's story demonstrates that FDA's lack of authority over cosmetic products puts consumers at risk. The bipartisan proposal Congressman Lance and I are putting forward today outlines a modern cosmetics regulatory framework that gives FDA the tools, information, and resources necessary to protect Americans from potentially dangerous cosmetics products."

"The goal is to advance consumer safety and provide a regulatory framework that furthers growth and innovation for American cosmetics manufacturers and small businesses," Lance said of the release of the discussion draft. "Consumers need to know that the products they are using are safe. And business needs a 21st century FDA that responds as quickly as the new great idea is being developed. This bill modernizes statute that has been virtually unchanged for over 70 years by creating more up-to-date regulatory structure for FDA oversight of the personal care products industry and by extending important safety practices many companies are already following on a voluntary basis to the broader industry."

The Pallone-Lance proposal would strengthen FDA's authority to regulate cosmetics by:

• Giving FDA mandatory recall authority for potentially dangerous cosmetic products and access to cosmetic records during an inspection;
• Providing FDA with authority to collect data and information on cosmetic ingredients and requiring FDA review such ingredients to determine if they are safe for use in cosmetics;
• Requiring cosmetic manufacturers, processors, packers, and holders to register their facilities with FDA;
• Mandating that cosmetic manufacturers report all adverse events to FDA;
• Requiring warnings on cosmetic products that are not appropriate for the entire population;
• Ensuring that all cosmetic manufacturers comply with good manufacturing practices established by FDA; and,
• Providing FDA with $20.6 million annually in user fees to implement these new authorities.

A copy of the Discussion Draft is available here.

A one page summary of the Discussion Draft is available here.

A section-by-section of the Discussion Draft is available here.

###