‘Safer Beauty Bill Package’ targets toxic chemicals in cosmetics

Cosmetics and personal care product manufacturers and suppliers are facing another potential regulatory shift. Earlier this month, a group of lawmakers (Reps. Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07), Doris Matsui (CA-07), and Ayanna Pressley (MA-07)) reintroduced the Safer Beauty Bill Package, a four-part federal legislative initiative designed to address ongoing safety and transparency concerns in the beauty industry.

The proposed legislation would significantly expand beyond the Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act of 2022 (MoCRA), enhancing the FDA’s authority and introducing new requirements that could impact formulation, labeling, and supply chain operations across the sector.

Overview of the Safer Beauty Bill Package

The package includes four distinct bills:

• Toxic-Free Beauty Act: Proposes a ban on 18 hazardous chemicals and two chemical classes, including lead, formaldehyde, and phthalates, most of which are already banned in the EU and several US states.
• Cosmetic Safety Protections for Communities of Color and Salon Workers Act: Allocates $30 million for research, education, and safer alternatives, and directs FDA oversight of synthetic hair products.
• Cosmetic Hazardous Ingredient Right to Know Act: Requires full fragrance and hazardous ingredient disclosures on product labels and company websites, including links to safety information.
• Cosmetic Supply Chain Transparency Act: Mandates that upstream suppliers provide safety and composition data to brand owners and formulators.

According to nonprofit consumer protection organization Consumer Reports’ press release, “These bills recognize that everyone deserves protection from unsafe cosmetic exposures regardless of where they live, shop, or work.”

Rep. Jan Schakowsky, the lead author of all four bills, said in Consumer Reports’ release: “Consumers want and deserve transparency, safety, and accountability—and this legislation delivers exactly that.”

Addressing gaps left by MoCRA

While MoCRA established a regulatory foundation, advocates say it did not go far enough.

“MoCRA simply brought the federal regulation of cosmetic safety into the 21st century,” Janet Nudelman, Senior Director of Program and Policy at Breast Cancer Prevention Partners and Director of its Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, told CosmeticsDesign US. “MoCRA level set the cosmetics industry with the other industries the FDA regulates, creating a floor for cosmetic safety, not a ceiling.”

Nudelman emphasized that MoCRA did not give FDA statutory direction to ban or restrict harmful ingredients. “Even though at the end of the day, ingredient safety is what consumers care about most,” she added. “It is still perfectly legal for cosmetic companies to sell beauty and personal care products with ingredients linked to cancer, birth defects, reproductive harm and more.”

Rep. Schakowsky echoed this view in a media statement: “While [MoCRA] was an important first step, our work is not done… the Safer Beauty Bill Package… would protect consumers from toxic chemicals linked to hormone disruption, cancer and other health problems; require full ingredient transparency for consumers and manufacturers; and protect the health of women of color and salon workers.”

Targeting disproportionate health risks

One focus of the legislative package is reducing toxic exposure for women of color and salon professionals.

“Beauty products marketed to Black women often contain the most toxic ingredients used by the cosmetics industry,” said Nudelman. “Black women already face many health disparities, including the highest breast cancer mortality rate of any racial or ethnic group in the United States.”

Citing recent research, she noted that “Black women who regularly use darker and permanent hair dyes face a 60% increased risk of breast cancer compared to an 8% increased risk for White women,” and that “Black women who use chemical hair straighteners had a 30% higher risk of breast cancer than White women and double their risk of uterine cancer.”

Professional salon workers also face occupational exposure risks. “The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) lists the occupation of a hairdresser or barber as a probable carcinogen,” Nudelman said.

The legislation would require warning labels on synthetic braids that do not meet FDA safety standards and direct the agency to regulate those products for the first time.

Potential impact on the beauty industry stakeholder

If enacted, the bills would impose new compliance obligations across the cosmetics value chain. Nudelman explained that the Cosmetic Supply Chain Transparency Act “requires suppliers, manufacturers, and formulators of cosmetic ingredients, raw materials, products, or packaging… to provide cosmetic companies with the ingredient disclosure, toxicity and safety data, the certificates of analysis, and other testing results they need to make safer beauty and personal care products.”

She added that “the lack of supply chain transparency is a problem because it’s the brand owner who ultimately carries liability for ingredient safety.”

Fragrance disclosure is also central to the legislative package. According to Nudelman, the Cosmetic Hazardous Ingredient Right to Know Act “requires disclosure on product labels and websites of the secret, unlabeled, and often toxic ingredients that make up the fragrances that make 90% of beauty and personal care products smell good.”

The proposed legislation would also eliminate existing trade secret protections for fragrance ingredients, requiring companies to direct consumers to safety data online. “With this information, consumers will be able to readily identify and avoid ingredients… that could harm their health,” said Nudelman.

Growing support as bill moves through legislative process

While the bills reflect growing scrutiny of chemical safety in beauty products, they are not without industry support. “The fact that the Safer Beauty bill package has the support of so many companies communicates to members of Congress that these bills are not anti-business,” said Nudelman.

She emphasized that many companies are already demonstrating compliance voluntarily. “There are hundreds of clean cosmetic companies that are already voluntarily disclosing their fragrance ingredients and making and selling beauty and personal care products without ingredients that negatively impact human health—not because it’s the law, but because it’s the right thing to do.”

As detailed in Consumer Reports’ press release, over 150 stakeholders, including brands, consumer advocates, and environmental justice organizations, have endorsed the Safer Beauty Bill Package.