The FDA May Gain Regulatory Authority Over The Cosmetics Industry

Such a move could allow the FDA to force Johnson's Baby Powder to place an asbestos warning label on it or issue an outright recall of the iconic cosmetic product

Tuesday, March 26, 2019 - With billions of dollars of profits hanging in the balance, the cosmetics industry has escaped federal regulation and been allowed to police itself. One jury after the next is coming to the conclusion that talc, the main ingredient in Johnson's Baby Powder contains asbestos and is carcinogenic. Consumers of Johnson's Baby Powder are concerned that they may be harming their health and the health of their children when they use the product. The public's concern over the health implications of talc is being mirrored in the government these days and the FDA is starting to realize that they may have dropped the ball for over 50 years in failing to exercise due diligence in regulating the cosmetics industry the way they do foods, drugs, and medical devices.

In the wake of the multi-billion dollar jury award against Johnson & Johnson where plaintiffs with ovarian cancer were able to prove that their life-long use of Johnson's Baby Powder containing asbestos caused the disease, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) could be adding the cosmetics industry to the list of consumer product categories that are under their scrutiny and supervision. Such a move would give the FDA the power to force cosmetics companies to place warning labels on their products and to issue recalls and pull dangerous products from the market entirely. As the FDA cosmetics industry regulatory authority stands right now, all the agency can do is send out a "security alert" like the one issued last week when the FDA was alerted that certain talc-based cosmetics contained asbestos. Talcum powder asbestos cancer lawyers in the United States are representing families and individuals harmed by talcum powder and filing lawsuits against the responsible party Johnson and Johnson.

According to the FDA's website the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act which governs the FDA's oversight of the cosmetics industry, "has not been updated since it was first enacted in 1938." American consumers like mothers with small children will be flabbergasted when they realize that, according to the FDA, "The current law does not require cosmetics to be reviewed and approved by the FDA prior to being sold to American consumers." Cosmetics were believed by the agency to be less dangerous to the consumer than say drugs and new medical devices that could harm consumers. That type of faulty logic has allowed Johnson & Johnson to make tens of billions of dollars in an industry that was allowed to be "self-policing."

Fifty years ago when the issue of testing talc for asbestos contamination first arose, the FDA proposed that the threshold of one-tenth of one percent be the legal limit of asbestos in talc. According to industry leader Asbestos.com, "When the FDA sought to regulate talc in the early 1970s the FDA proposed the strict regulation that no more than one-tenth of one percent of a container of talc could contain asbestos. Johnson & Johnson countered by demanding a threshold ten times as great. There was never any resolution of the conflict and to this day the cosmetics industry is yet to come to a decision. Since the 1950's the cosmetics industry has been "self-regulating" as it pertains to testing talc for asbestos."

Information provided by TalcumPowderCancerLawsuit.com, a website devoted to providing news about talcum powder ovarian cancer lawsuits, as well as medical research and findings.