Adding to the first blog post, I have created a timeline to highlight the important events for the makeup industry. Since makeup is a broad topic, I chose to focus on the ethical part of makeup. To ensure that makeup products are safe to apply to people’s faces, there are a lot of safety measures and guidelines that need to be followed. As evident in the timeline below, there were many guidelines that needed to be enforced or amended.
As consumers, we are often concerned with the ingredients that go into our cosmetic products. With the recent introduction of the “No PFAS in Cosmetics Act” in the US House and Senate, it is clear that toxic substances in makeup products are a growing concern. In this blog, we will be exploring the history of cosmetics regulation in the United States and the European Union. The timeline starts in 1938 with the passing of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act in the US, and goes all the way to 2022 with the California Assembly approval of a bill to ban toxic “Forever Chemicals”.
As I was doing my research for this timeline, it was surprising to see that cosmetics regulation has come a long way since 1938, as it seemed like makeup industries, as well as health regulators like FDA. were having a hard time understanding the ingredients harmful ingredients from the beneficial ones to put into makeup. The Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act established the regulatory framework for cosmetics in the United States, but it wasn’t until 2016 that the FDA issued guidelines for limiting lead in cosmetic products. On the other hand, the European Union banned animal testing for cosmetics in 2013, and in 2021, the EU passed a ban on the marketing of cosmetics tested on animals outside of the EU.
Another surprising aspect as I was wrapping up my research was the lack of comprehensive regulation for nano-scale ingredients in cosmetics. In 2019, the Environmental Working Group commented on the FDA’s lack of action in regulating nanoscale ingredients in cosmetics, highlighting the need for more stringent regulation. One thing that bothered me while conducting my research was the animal cruelty issue. Not only were makeup industries harming human beings (whether intentionally or unintentionally), but they were also inconsiderate of animal rights. As included in the timeline, there are images capturing the torture animals had to go through just so makeup products can be tested, which is beyond gruesome.
Link to timeline: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vRRRxaupCXlVLQIpRmD6TPbe4G4bsMxzPCikQwyy1ODV9VFBCFS-o-rNgC96CMwOl9Dlpe9G35UvSJd/pubhtml
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