Cosmetic Legislation – One hurdle overcome

The FDA Globalization Act of 2008 fading away

There is good news on the cosmetic legislation front! As recently posted by Debbie May of Wholesale Supplies Plus and confirmed by Donna Maria in her recent blog post, it looks like the FDA Globalization Act of 2008 has been withdrawn from consideration, at least for the time being.

Turns out that Rep. John Dingle, who was pushing the legislation, is being replaced as the Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee by Rep. Waxman (D-CA). Our contact was on Rep. Dingle’s staff; with Rep. Waxman taking the chairmanship a new staffer from his office will be assigned to handle cosmetics-related issues. At this time it is not known if Rep. Waxman will push for further action on the issues of interest to us.

As a note, the House Energy and Commerce Committee has changed their site and some of the links about the FDAGA are broken.  It is still appearing as part of their “Selected Legislation”, but there is no new information posted at the moment.

More Battles Ahead

However, the issue of cosmetic safety has reared it’s head and it not going to go away. In fact, there seems to be some backroom political dealing already going on in the office of Rep. Jan Schakowski (D-IL). In an article entitled “Fight Looms on Federal Regulation of Cosmetics” (Corporate Crime Reporter, September 5, 2008), Stacy Malkan, spokesperson for the Campaign For Safe Cosmetics reportedly said, “legislation will be introduced soon by Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-Illinois) that will, for the first time, impose federal regulation.”  I just checked, and I couldn’t find anything  on Rep. Schakowski’s website about forwarding legislation to regulate cosmetics,

What’s going on here?

Donna Maria spoke with a staffer in Rep. Schakowski’s office who said there would be a draft “within the next 14 days” but wouldn’t commit to what will happen by year’s end.  She suggested that DonnaMaria call every few days to see if there have been any changes.  (DonnaMaria will keep me posted – and I’ll keep you posted here as I know.)

So it seems that the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics has had Rep. Schakowski’s ear for some time now.  While it’s not clear on their website exactly what they want, there’s no doubt that they are pushing for more stringent legislation for cosmetics.

Luckily, we are in a position to make OUR position known, so our small cosmetic and soap businesses will have a voice in the process.  I, along with others in our industry, will be working to ensure that the “powers that be” understand that our small businesses are DIFFERENT from cosmetic manufacturers in corporate America, and that any legislation will need to take our position into account.

I will keep you posted.

Marie Gale, President HSMG