Friday, December 4, 2015

FDA PROTECTION AGAINST HARMFUL COSMETIC PRODUCTS

In booming skin care and cosmetic market, many players are either mislabeling their products, or marketing their cosmetic products so aggressively that their campaigns turn misleading. Many cosmetic products purport to claim ‘guaranteed’ treatment of a particular skin condition.  FDA has been taking active steps to prevent sale of potentially harmful cosmetics to consumers in one form or the other. FDA insists on strict compliance of safety and labeling requirements no matter what their source; for example, making sure that all labeling is truthful and not misleading.
Despite FDA regulations, growing number of online suppliers of cosmetic products do not adhere to safety and quality concerns. Increasing number of beauty products are advertised as  ‘guaranteed’ cure for one skin condition or the other that are not endorsed or approved under the  FDA guidelines. Consumers need to exercise caution in the case of ‘too-good-to-be-true’ claims.
Many a times, a celebrity appears in an ad to lend his or her stellar qualities to the product. Sometimes they appear to claim to use the product, but very often they don't. There are agencies surviving on providing products with testimonials.
FDA advises consumers to beware of potentially harmful beauty formulations, especially if they are adulterated. For example : (i) misuse of color additives,(ii) using prohibited and restricted ingredients, (iii) packaging may make the contents "injurious to health", (iv) cosmetics are not required to be sterile, but microbial contamination can pose a health hazard, making a product adulterated, (v)Unwanted substances from a number of sources may adulterate a product.
A recent report by Centre for Science and Evironment (CSE) made alarming finding that about half of the 73 brands of popular cosmetics contained high levels of toxic heavy metals.

The CSE’s Pollution Monitoring Lab tested popular fairness creams, lipsticks, anti-ageing creams and lip balms for mercury, lead, cadmium, chromium and nickel.

The tests found mercury in 44% of the fairness creams, chromium and nickel, both carcinogens, in 50% and 43% of the lipstick samples respectively.

Fairness creams Aroma Magic Fairy Lotion, Olay Natural White and Pond’s White Beauty were the top three with high mercury content. Use of mercury in cosmetics is banned. “Mercury is not supposed to be present in cosmetic products. Its mere presence in these products is completely illegal and unlawful,” said  Director General CSE, adding that Mercury is poisonous in any form and the chemical readily absorbs through the skin into the bloodstream.

 Hearts & Tarts-080V, Lancome L’Absolu Nu-204 and MAC So Chaud-A82 had high chromium content. The top three lipstick brands with high nickel content were Lancome L’Absolu Nu-204, Hearts & Tarts-080V and MAC So Chaud-A82.

Herbally Radiant, therefore, promotes natural beauty products because this sector is not well regulated, and most of the manufacturers use harsh chemicals or petro-based ingredients. 


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