An important step has been made toward a modern, more transparent regulatory oversight of cosmetics and personal-care products with the Cosmetic Safety Amendments Act of 2012 (H.R. 4395) introduced in Congress by Representative Leonard Lance. “Everyone agrees that we need to update the regulation of personal-care products,” noted Representative Lance. “This bill will continue to advance consumer safety and provide a regulatory framework that furthers growth and innovation for American cosmetics manufacturers and small businesses.”
The development, close on the heels of news of toxic chemicals in beauty products, validates the safety training that professional cosmetologists such as those who have a CosmetologyCampus KY Cosmetology CE or a CosmetologyCampus WI Cosmetology CE, for instance, receive before they can get their licenses.
The legislation endeavors to develop means for the FDA to review all results arrived at by the Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR) Expert Panel, set safety levels for impurities or toxins, review basic ingredients for safety, establish national uniformity for cosmetics regulations, and institutionalize industry-wide good manufacturing practices. Significantly, the new legislation makes the voluntary registration program for facilities and products, and the reporting of unexpected adverse events mandatory. The cosmetics industry believes that H.R. 4395 is more realistic and fair in its approach than previously introduced legislation.
“The Cosmetics Safety Amendments Act of 2012 provides the needed improvements to the current laws regarding cosmetics and personal care products, without placing an undue burden on business or compromising safety,” declared Professional Beauty Association’s (PBA’s) director of government affairs, Myra Irizarry. “Consumers, manufacturers, distributors and government can in fact work together and PBA, along with our industry partners, are supportive of H.R. 4395.”
Allying with PBA in support of H.R. 4395 are Direct Selling Association (DSA), Independent Cosmetic Manufacturers and Distributors (ICMAD), the International Fragrance Association North America (IFRA), and Personal Care Products Council (PCPC). The impact on professional practitioners of H.R. 4395 now pending in the U.S. Congress pales in comparison to European Union proposals that would have hairdressers gloved up to their elbows and banned from wearing high heels.
Charlie Taylor, one of United Kingdom’s top hairdressers and operator of four successful salons in the East of Scotland declared that “These proposals are utterly unbelievable!”
“I honestly cannot understand why a bunch of bureaucrats sitting in Brussels think it’s appropriate to dictate the footwear and jewellery choices of hairdressing professionals, whose very business is about style and fashion. What next? No high heels for models on catwalks? They need their heads examined!”
Among the proposals being considered for hairdressers include flat nonslip shoes, elbow-length rubber gloves, accouterment-less wardrobe at work, “suitable” clothing, and periodic chat breaks with fellow hairdressers to prevent “emotional collapse.” The proposals have been received by salon professionals like Taylor with incredulity. “These proposed rules have little or no bearing on day-to-day reality,” protested Taylor. “Health and safety [are] important in any industry, but so is common sense and it’s about high time some of these bureaucrats employed some – before they put thousands of jobs and livelihoods at risk.”
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