Innovators in the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics

Our friends at the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics just released their new report, Market Shift, and (drumroll please), Parissa is on the short list of companies that “broke the mold."   Here's the report: http://bit.ly/rqyvjj

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics created the Compact for Safe Cosmetics to improve the safety of cosmetics and personal care products and to provide better information about product ingredients so consumers can make informed decisions about the products they buy.

The Campaign provides support and guidance to companies that sign the Compact for Safe Cosmetics and has developed a set of benchmarks and tools, outlined below, to measure and publicly reflect progress in meeting this pledge. Our primary tool in ensuring that companies provide complete information about the products they manufacture and demonstrate their progress in meeting this pledge of safety and transparency is Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep database.

Six Steps to Meeting the Compact for Safe Cosmetics, in Brief 

1. Comply with the EU Cosmetics Directive.
2. Disclose all ingredients.
3. Publish and regularly update product information in EWG's Skin Deep database.
4. Comply with ingredient prohibitions and restrictions under the Compact for Safe Cosmetics and substitute ingredients of concern with safer alternatives. 
5. Substantiate the safety of all products and ingredients with publicly available data.
6. Participate in the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics.

The Six Steps, Explained

By signing the Compact for Safe Cosmetics, companies agree to comply with each of these six provisions as follows:

Provision 1: Comply with the EU Cosmetics Directive ingredient prohibitions and ingredient nomenclature standards in all markets.

Upon signing the Compact, companies must be compliant with the personal care products formulation standards and ingredient naming standard of the European Union. The European Union bans more than 1,100 toxic ingredients, including chemicals linked to cancer and birth defects, from personal care products; the U.S. Food and Drug Administration bans only 11. The EU has also instituted an ingredient naming standard. The Compact requires that companies standardize their ingredient listings so that consumers know exactly what is in each product. The standard is based on INCI listings (International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients).

Provision 2: Disclose all ingredients. 

One of the most important concepts of the Compact for Safe Cosmetics is transparency and public accountability.­ Companies who sign the Compact agree that consumers have a right to know which ingredients are in personal care products they use on their bodies and those of their children. By signing the Compact, companies agree to post a full list of their product ingredients – including components of fragrance and other mixtures – on their company Web site and in the Skin Deep database so that consumers can know what’s in the products they’re using. Toxic chemicals can sometimes hide in ingredient listings; for example, hazardous chemicals like phthalates are a common component of the ingredient “fragrance.”

Provision 3: Publish and regularly update product information in EWG's Skin Deep database.

Companies are required to update their product information at least once a year, and to include all products that are applied to the skin for cosmetic or personal care purposes. This helps to ensure that consumers have the most accurate and current information about the products they use and ensure that companies that sign the Compact are meeting their commitment to safety and transparency.

Provision 4: Comply with ingredient prohibitions and restrictions under the Compact for Safe Cosmetics and substitute ingredients of concern with safer alternatives. 

Once companies have analyzed their ingredients and all available data for health risks, they must develop a plan to replace ingredients of concern with safe alternatives. Entering ingredients in Skin Deep can show Compact signers whether they are currently using ingredients with known health concerns. Signers must develop a plan that prioritizes those ingredients for substitution – and implement solutions – within three years of signing the Compact.

If products contain ingredients that are restricted or prohibited by the Campaign, companies are required to reformulate these products, using safer substitutes, by the end of the third year as a Compact Signer. These restrictions are based on ingredient standards from multiple nations, as well as some ingredients identified by the Campaign based on government, industry or peer-reviewed scientific research.

Provision 5: Substantiate the safety of all products and/or ingredients with publicly available data. 

Without adequate toxicity data, there is no way to assess whether an ingredient is safe or not. Currently only 11 percent of the ingredients used in cosmetics have ever been tested for safety. The Compact for Safe Cosmetics asks that before a product is put on the market, reasonable proof of no harm should be established by consulting peer-reviewed scientific publications and publicly available industry studies. This substantiation of safety must also take into account potential impurities, which can pose serious health risks, and other factors.

Companies are required to submit assessments showing a reasonable certainty of no harm from the use of their products or ingredients. The best of these assessments are peer-reviewed studies that consider the impact of cumulative exposure and repeated use, and that recognize exposures to vulnerable populations such as infants and pregnant women. 

Provision 6: Participate in the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. 

Companies must actively participate in the Campaign by attending meetings or conference calls, providing product data and submitting annual signed certification of compliance with the Compact.