Cosmetic Ingredient and Regulatory Update: The Ugly, the Good and the Bad

So far, 2012 has been a busy year for cosmetic ingredient regulations. On February 29, the ECHA released its list of the first 90 ingredients to be evaluated under REACH. Included were cosmetic ingredients as well as starting materials for other ingredients. Those used by the personal care industry are listed in Table 1 (in the full article), along with the concerns for each. Considering this list, the European personal care industry is in trouble if these ingredients are restricted or even worse, phased out because the manufacturing of them as well as products containing them would be forced out of the EU. Also considering the current economic environment, this is not a good political move since cosmetic companies and chemical suppliers are already under pressure from foreign imports, and this would be another reason to move everything offshore, which would destroy local manufacturing bases and related jobs.

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