North Cook News

WASHINGTON - On May 24, 2023, U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), a Chief Deputy Whip and Ranking Member of the Innovation, Data, and Commerce Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, reintroduced the Safer Beauty Bill Package with her Energy and Commerce colleagues, Reps. Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), and Doris Matsui (CA-07). The bill package includes four separate bills that offer progressive updates to an increasingly outdated set of federal cosmetics laws. This package builds upon the Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act (MoCRA), which passed last year and expanded FDA oversight to include the regulation of the cosmetics industry, including mandatory recall authority, adverse event reporting, and requiring facility registration, and more. 

“Safe, accessible beauty cannot wait. After more than 80 years of inaction, the United States finally updated its cosmetics laws last year. President Biden was able to sign into law the Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act, which now gives authority to the Food and Drug Administration to recall beauty and personal care products that are harming human health. While this was an important first step, our work is not done,” said Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky. “I am proud to reintroduce the Safer Beauty Bill Package with my colleagues, Reps. Lizzie Fletcher, Doris Matsui, and Lisa Blunt Rochester, which would protect consumers from toxic chemicals linked to hormone disruption, cancer and other health problems; require full ingredient transparency, including closing the fragrance and flavor loophole, for consumers and brand owners; and protect the health of women of color and salon workers, who are among the most highly exposed to toxic chemicals because of the products marketed to them or commonly found in their workplaces. We must pass the Safer Beauty Bill Package now!”

“Many people assume that the personal care and beauty items they use are safe, but with minimal oversight, many of the care, beauty, and salon products sold across the country actually contain toxic chemicals,” said Congresswoman Fletcher.  “I’m glad to partner with Congresswoman Schakowsky to reintroduce the Toxic-Free Beauty Act to protect the health and safety of people across the country by banning chemicals known to cause significant harm in beauty products.”

“I am proud to co-lead the Cosmetic Safety Protections for Communities of Color and Salon Workers Act with Rep. Schakowsky as part of the Safer Beauty Bill Package,” said Congresswoman Blunt Rochester. “Bottom line, our bill will ensure meaningful protections for women of color and salon workers who are at greater risk for exposure to toxic chemicals from cosmetic products through increased risk awareness and the development of safer alternatives – helping us protect the health and safety of these and all communities.”

“Having fragrance ingredient information will give consumers the facts they need to make safer, more informed purchases. That is why I am proud to join Congresswoman Schakowsky in announcing the Cosmetic Fragrance and Flavor Ingredient Right to Know Act of 2023, which would ensure transparency and accountability from cosmetics manufacturers,” said Congresswoman Matsui. “This important bill would mirror California’s first-in-the-nation law, which empowers consumers to know what they’re putting in their bodies by requiring companies to disclose potentially harmful ingredients in cosmetic and personal care products.”

We are grateful to Representative Schakowsky for her longstanding leadership on behalf of this important public health, consumer safety and beauty justice issue,” said Janet Nudelman, Director of Breast Cancer Prevention Partners’ Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. “The reintroduction of the Safer Beauty Bill Package will close important gaps in cosmetic safety that affect everyone, but particularly communities of color and young people. By banning the worst-of-the-worst chemicals from cosmetics, mandating fragrance and flavor ingredient disclosure, protecting communities of color and other vulnerable populations from toxic products, and requiring supply chain transparency, the Safer Beauty bill package will give everyone access to beauty and personal care products free of toxic chemicals, regardless of where they live, work, or shop.”

The four bills cover almost every aspect of personal care product safety. They are:  

• H.R. 3619 - The Toxic-Free Beauty Act (Reps. Schakowsky and Fletcher): Bans 11 of the most toxic chemicals, including mercury, formaldehyde, parabens, phthalates, and phenylenediamines (hair dye chemicals). The European Union, California, and Maryland already ban these chemicals, yet they are in cosmetic products sold legally in the United States. 
• H.R. 3620 - Cosmetic Safety Protections for Communities of Color and Salon Workers (Reps. Schakowsky and Blunt Rochester): Funds research, resource materials, education and outreach, and the development of safer chemicals to protect the health of women of color and salon workers, two vulnerable populations who are among the most highly exposed to toxic chemicals because of the cosmetic products marketed to them or commonly found in their workplaces.
• H.R. 3621 - Cosmetic Fragrance and Flavor Right to Know Act (Reps. Schakowsky and Matsui):  Requires product label and website disclosure of these secret, unlabeled, and often toxic chemicals in our personal care products. 
• H.R. 3622 - Cosmetic Supply Chain Transparency Act(Rep. Schakowsky): requires suppliers of raw materials, ingredients, and private label products to provide full ingredient disclosure and safety data to cosmetic companies so they can make safer products.

The average American adult uses about 12 personal care products a day, resulting in exposure to an average of 168 unique chemicals. Children are also exposed to products containing risky chemicals during critical stages of childhood development. As these products range from toothpaste to makeup, it is easy for companies to conceal harmful chemicals that risk American livelihoods. Chemicals in beauty and personal care products have been linked to cancer, infertility, poor infant and maternal health outcomes, asthma, and many other serious health concerns. Women of color are disproportionately exposed to these harmful chemicals due to workplace conditions.

For over a decade, Congresswoman Schakowsky has fought tirelessly to pass a robust regulatory framework for cosmetics and personal care products. The efforts focus on closing major loopholes in federal law that allow companies to use nearly any ingredient in these products—even chemicals that are known to harm human health and the environment like coal tar dyes, formaldehyde, lead acetate, parabens, and phthalates.

Joining Reps. Schakowsky, Fletcher, Blunt Rochester, and Matsui as original cosponsors of the Safer Beauty Bill Package are Reps. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Rashida Tlaib (MI-12), Nydia Velázquez (NY-07), Raúl Grijalva (AZ-07), Hank Johnson (GA-04), and Grace Meng (NY-06).

The bill has been endorsed by a coalition of over 100 organizations and safe cosmetics companies. Find a full list of endorsements here.

Original source can be found here.