Thanks so much for asking about this!
The bill I think you're referencing, is HR 5786, The Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010. It was introduced in congress on July 20. Coincidentally, a YouTube video was posted the same day, titled "The Story of Cosmetics." It owes it's production to Stacy Malkin, co-founder of a lobbying group called The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. The law seeks to reform current FDA regulations concerning cosmetic products.
You don't need to do anything special, because as carebear pointed out, it is only a bill, and not yet required regulation.
However, I would suggest becoming informed about it, because it will effect you and your business, and ultimately your customers.
Stacy Malkin had posted an article on The Huffington Post about why she created the video. I found her article when I was searching on google for blogs related to HR 5786, NOT, as has been implied, because I get my news from Huffington. Huffington is more concerned with opinion than anything.
However, in her statement, Ms. Malkin CORRECTLY identifies that we need to do something about getting toxic chemicals out of cosmetics. Their safety is questionable, and many ingredients exist that would be good replacements.
Unfortunately, well meaning people think that because of that need, to make our cosmetics safe, we should therefore support the proposed legislation.
The problem, though, is that the legislation does little to get crud out of products.
Instead, it outlines steps all makers of cosmetics will be required to go through in order to sell their products. These include:
- reporting gross sales.
-reporting number of employees
-reporting suppliers names and addresses.
-reporting any changes to those, within 60 days of the change.
-testing of each formulated product to ensure safety.
-listing every ingredient in the product, as well as all trace ingredients, down to nanometers...
Problems with this:
-We already report sales, employees on our taxes. Why should we have to report separately to the FDA?
-many of us change suppliers as we experience out of stocks, discontinued items, etc. or, simply when we use a new essential oil. The reporting requirement demands we report these changes within 60 days to the FDA. If we fail to do so, we can lose our registration and essentially be shut down.
-reporting batch numbers of our supplies may help the FDA with a papertrail should there be reports of contamination, but it really shouldn't be there concern. Our suppliers should be keeping track of their batch numbers, and so should we. I don't feel the government needs to be handling this.
-testing each product we make will be overly cost prohibitive for small businesses.
-reporting ingredients down to nanometers will create ingredient lists that are pages long, will confuse customers, and cause needless worry. (for example, water can contain arsenic and lead, but still be considered safe. under this law, each trace element found in your water needs to be reported. Will consumers want a product with arsenic on the label?).
So, basically, there is a whole lot of reporting going on, and I don't think the FDA will be able to keep up with any of it. I always question when more of my liberty is put under the supervision of the government. The costs that all of these regulations will create, will trickle down from big companies, to suppliers, to us, to our customers.
I don't think the legislation will pass because there are too many issues with it, and it will ultimately hurt small business. It is currently in committee, and members of many small business networks have been actively working with our representatives to kill the bill.
While the intention of it is a good one, it is just too much regulation all at once.
Many people think that if you're doing things right, and make a safe product, you shouldn't have to worry about this bill. It is not about worrying about it. It is about how much regulation you will be subjected to if it passes, the amount of reporting you will have to do, the amount of testing you will be required to do, etc.
So that's my 20 cents!! I have written several articles that are currently posted at a congressional website as "highest rated" articles. I have been contacted by news channels as well. Everyone is waiting to see how it fares in committee.
Even though I oppose the legislation, I do not oppose safe cosmetics or better legislation to ensure them. I sell products that are safe, and made to our industry's standards, and I also carry product liability insurance.
The link to oppose is here:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/oppose ... ct-of-2010
If you'd like to read more about it, and what other indie cosmetic makers are saying, try this site, created by the Indie Business Network,
http://opposesca.com
Thanks for your interest!
