Legislator education is key to checking state bills that overreach, says Ross, executive VP of government affairs at the Personal Care Products Council, discussing the rising tide of US state bills aimed at restricting ingredient use.

Numerous cosmetic ingredients that preserve cosmetics by releasing formaldehyde could be prohibited in products sold in Washington state in coming years, but stakeholders have a chance to weigh in now and shape the rulemaking. Shari Franjevic, implementation head for the Toxic-Free Cosmetics Act within the state's Department of Ecology, discusses.

The European Commission’s Scientific Committee on Health, Environmental and Emerging Risks makes minor changes to its phthalates benefit-risk guidelines based on stakeholder feedback. The guidelines could be increasingly relevant given their applicability to other carcinogenic, mutagenic or reprotoxic (CMR) and endocrine-disrupting (ED) substances, lists that are bound to go on growing as the EU implements its Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability under the Green Deal.

Proposition 65 titanium dioxide lawsuits have been halted by a ruling in California in a First Amendment case, which could bode favorably for other scientific challenges to mandated warning labels.

Cosmetic Ingredient Review’s independent expert panel needs more data to assess the safety of prostaglandin analogs, but ultimately may pass review back to the US Food and Drug Administration due to concerns that the substances impact the structure and function of the body and thus are unapproved drugs with potentially serious side effects.

Amid organizational and leadership changes and numerous competing high priorities, the FDA’s planned Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to ban formaldehyde-containing hair-straightening products has been pushed from April to July 2024. An agency spokesperson provided an update on related activities, which are being closely watched by NGOs, state-level policymakers, and industry stakeholders.