“Court of public opinion” holding brands’ feet to the fire on prohibited chemicals

Prohibited chemicals are the top regulatory and legal concerns for small to mid-sized cosmetic and personal care businesses according to IBA.

Some of the biggest challenges are coming from class action lawsuits and consumer-enforced accountability around contaminants and substances deemed unsafe for consumers rather than from Federal Drug Administration requirements, Donald Frey, president of the Independent Beauty Association, told CosmeticsDesign.

One of the prominent issues for Frey is recent recalls of benzene-related products ensuing from analytical testing performed by Connecticut-based pharma and analytics company Valisure. In that case, Frey said recalls were not driven by FDA action, but by the “court of public opinion.”​

“The levels detected were very low but there was a lot of press about it which has caused some companies to withdraw their products from the market until they can figure out what is causing it,” ​he said. “Benzene is obviously a safety concern, but these are cases where it was not knowingly or intentionally added.”​

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