The House Energy and Commerce Committee will take a step in considering cosmetics legislation with a hearing slated for March 21, according to the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics.

CSC requested the hearing in a Feb. 17 letter to E&C leadership. Committee staffers said they could not confirm or comment on the hearing.

CSC claims the fiscal 2013 budget request “signal[s] the White House’s acknowledgement that the agency’s current [cosmetics] oversight is inadequate to protect consumers.”

A hearing is necessary, CSC says, because the Committee has limited time to address user fee-related components of the Obama Administration’s fiscal 2013 budget request.

The funding request proposes implementation of user fees for the cosmetics industry for the first time, to the tune of $18.7 million annually, as well as mandatory registration for cosmetics firms Also see "FDA Proposes $19 Mil. In Cosmetics User Fees To Support Enhanced Oversight" - HBW Insight, 20 February, 2012.. Such measures would require legislation to establish appropriate infrastructure.

“We are deeply concerned that the Committee will not have the time to carefully consider the appropriate course for ensuring all cosmetics and personal-care products are safe in a meaningful way,” the activist group stated in its letter. CSC “strongly encourage[s] the Committee to hold at least one hearing dedicated to examining the current state of regulation, existing shortcomings and the best path forward.”

The letter, addressed to House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., and ranking member Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., was signed by more than 100 organizations and cosmetics companies, including [Aubrey Organics], Weleda, W.S. Badger, Greenpeace and CSC founding members the Environmental Working Group and the Breast Cancer Fund.

Elements of the budget request mirror provisions included in the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011, introduced in June 2011 by Energy and Commerce committee members Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis. Also see "Lawmakers Introduce Revamped Safe Cosmetics Act" - HBW Insight, 27 June, 2011.. The bill has garnered 20 co-sponsors and was referred to E&C’s Subcommittee on Health, as well as to the House Education & the Workforce Subcommittee on Workforce Protections.

Schakowsky and Markey praised the appropriations request and issued a statement suggesting that the Safe Cosmetics Act be used to shepherd the proposed user fees.

CSC supports that course of action.

“We urge Congress to take immediate action to pass the Safe Cosmetics Act, which will finally give FDA the authority it needs to require pre-market safety assessment as it does with food and drugs,” says Janet Nudelman, director of program and policy at the Breast Cancer Fund, in a Feb. 28 release.

In its letter, CSC maintains that “major loopholes” in current regulations allow cosmetics to be among the “least-regulated” consumer products on the market.

The budget request indicates that the Obama Administration has a similar view, according to CSC, “signaling the White House’s acknowledgement that the agency’s current oversight is inadequate to protect consumers.”

In addition to addressing the budget request, CSC encourages E&C leaders to review other issues impacting the cosmetics industry.

Specifically, the group is seeking action to phase out cosmetic ingredients linked to cancer, reproductive or developmental toxicity; to mandate that flavoring, fragrance, colorants and salon products be subject to labeling laws; to grant FDA mandatory recall authority; to allow states to “set more stringent standards that may address unique local needs”; to give FDA authority to assess cosmetic ingredient safety; and to create a public database of cosmetic products, ingredients and safety studies.

Campaign For Safe Cosmetics Requests Congressional Hearing

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