More on the FDA globalization act and "Safe Cosmetics"

Many of our clients and friends are members of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. After all, who doesn't want the products we sell to be safe, and to be publicly allied with an organization dedicated to removing toxic substances from products we use daily?

This week the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics not only drafted a petition to Congress endorsing the FDA Globalization Act, but asking that its provisions be strengthened.

Their Petition asks Congress to change the law so that any manufacturer must obtain pre-market approval of every single cosmetic product. That's tantamount to regulating cosmetics like drugs are currently regulated. The link to the House Committee considering this draft law is here: http://energycommerce.house.gov/FDAGlobalAct-08/index.shtml

The draft law is burdensome and discriminatory to small and woman-owned businesses. You can see the Campaign's Petition here: http://action.safecosmetics.org/petition/Index.asp?id=35. This Petition was announced without consulting with any of the signers to the Compact. Any signer of the Compact, by implication, is assumed to support the Campaign's position to drastically change the law as outlined above. Do not sign the Campaign's Petition if you support small businesses!

While we all support educating consumers and protecting them from unsafe products, this law will not serve that purpose. Instead, it will stamp out competition and return our customers to the days when all they could choose from are Dial Soap and Oil of Olay. It will also more than likely make it impossible for Nature's Gift to make available our range of products, since we can not possibly to the "pre release safety testing" that would be required. We believe that the petition on the Compact for Safe Cosmetics site is counterproductive to the goal of increasing the use of safe cosmetics and skincare products and will do more harm than good to small natural product businesses. If the industry is regulated to the degree they are calling for, small businesses would exit the marketplace in droves because they can't pay excessive fees and comply with burdensom, unfair and unnecessary paperwork.

If you are one of the several hundred signees of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics compact you can contact them, stating your opposition to their petition, and asking that your name (or your company's name) be removed from their list.

Oppose This Law!! Sign The Petition Against This Law The Indie Beauty Network, a trade orgranization representing 700+ small cosmetics manufacturers is leading the charge against this law. So far, over 1,500 cosmetics companies, their customers and concerned citizens have signed a Petition released by IBN. You can watch the video, read the Petition and sign it here (Scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page to see the comment section, and be sure to leave you name, city, state and zip.)IBN's July 24, 2008, letter to the Congress persons on the House Energy & Commerce Committee can be viewed here: