The Cosmetic Ingredient Review Expert Panel should be "proactive" in conducting literature searches on controversial cosmetic ingredients up for re-review, CIR Director and Scientific Coordinator Alan Anderson urged during the panel's Sept. 10-11 meeting in Washington, D.C.

"That the panel is formally looking for red flags, is not waiting to hear [about potential safety issues] through some problem" will enhance the process of deciding whether a new review is warranted, Anderson pointed out.

CIR's re-review list includes approximately 60 ingredients that have been the subject of final safety assessments since the early 1980s. The panel will consider reevaluating the substances based on safety data generated within the past two decades. The process allows the panel to reaffirm, amend or attach an addendum to the original conclusion, a system it developed last year.

Anderson highlighted several ingredients which likely will be brought to the panel's attention in the near term due to information being submitted by industry or the scientific community. Among these ingredients is sodium laureth sulfate, a surfactant used in personal care products.

Found in shampoos and soaps, sodium laureth sulfate's safety continues to be publicly questioned, Anderson noted, pointing to reports circulating on the Internet suggesting the ingredient is carcinogenic. As a result, "I would recommend CIR conduct a literature search to update the science and determine whether or not there is a need to re-open," he said.

The ingredient, designated safe by CIR approximately 15 years ago, has been known to cause eye and skin irritation but has not produced adverse responses in other toxicologic testing, according to the group.

Due to ongoing studies, CIR also likely will reconsider the safety assessment of butoxyethanol, a solvent used in hair dyes, in 2002. The panel determined the ingredient to be safe as used at concentrations up to 10% in 1994.

Anderson noted the ingredient has been tested by the National Toxicology Program in rodents and showed some evidence of carcinogenicity in mice. The NTP data has not yet been reviewed by the panel, he said, adding industry also has conducted mechanistic research to "capture the relevance" of the data.

A third candidate for re-review cited by Anderson was cyclomethicone, a conditioning agent used in hair and skin formulas. With regard to its safety, he noted "there is a growing body of data with respect to certain chain length polymers in cyclomethicone in terms of reproductive toxicity." The ingredient was published as safe as used in the American Journal of Toxicology in 1991.

Aside from ingredients highlighted by Anderson, several others that previously received "safe as used" conclusions also are being reevaluated in light of publicized health concerns. One category, phthalates, will enter the re-review process at CIR's Nov. 29-30 meeting (¹ Also see "Phthalates "Safe As Used" Recommendation To Be Reevaluated By CIR" - HBW Insight, 11 June, 2001.).

The panel also addressed four other ingredient families up for re-review during the meeting: imidazolidinyl urea; glycol stearate group; octyl, cetyl and isopropyl palmitate; and squalane and squalene. None will be reopened for review, CIR decided.

Avocado oil, a "re-review" ingredient tabled at the last CIR meeting, also received a safe designation, based on information the panel believes resolved previous hepatotoxicity concerns (¹ Also see "Phthalates "Safe As Used" Recommendation To Be Reevaluated By CIR" - HBW Insight, 11 June, 2001.).

These ingredients, as well as all others up for re-review in 2001, will be published in an annual review submitted to the International Journal of Toxicology in early 2002. While reaffirming the original rulings, the list will give interested parties another opportunity to submit data related to ingredients' safety.

New information prompted CIR to table two ingredients scheduled for review during the meeting. The acacia group is being put on hold for 90 days to collect more quantitative industry data relating to the safety of nine acacia ingredients. The panel also voted to table malic acid, with hopes to collect more acute toxicity and irritation test data.

CIR concluded that 19 methacrylates in the ingredient family are "safe as used" by professionals on artificial nail enhancement products (³ Also see "Methacrylate Ingredients Designated Safe For Professional Use By CIR" - HBW Insight, 17 September, 2001.). Other ingredients that received a "safe as used" designation included methacrylic acid, t-butyl alcohol and niacinamide/niacin.

Due to the disarray in downtown Washington caused by the terrorist attack on the Pentagon Sept. 11, CIR postponed the review of mink oil, octyldodecyl stearoyl stearate and oxyquinoline.

CIR "Proactive" Approach To Seeking Controversial Ingredients Data Urged

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