Bill would mandate makeup safety law

OLYMPIA — Manufacturers of cosmetics with ingredients that may cause cancer or reproductive problems would be required to disclose potentially hazardous contents to the state Department of Health if the Washington Safe Cosmetics Act of 2007 is signed into law.

Currently, federal and state laws don’t require shampoos, face creams or other cosmetics to be tested for safety before they are marketed to consumers — even if the products contain ingredients that are suspected to cause cancer or reproductive problems.

“Cancer-causing petrochemicals have been found in dozens of children’s bath products and adult personal-care products, in some cases at levels twice the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s lenient recommended limit,” said Rep. Maralyn Chase, D-Edmonds, the primary sponsor of the proposed law, House Bill 2166.

“We are bathing our children in substances that are known to cause cancer,” Chase told the House Select Committee on Environmental Health at a public hearing.

If signed into law, the Safe Cosmetics Act would:

• Require cosmetics manufacturers with total annual sales of more than $1 million to disclose all products sold in Washington containing ingredients which may cause cancer or reproductive toxicity.

• Allow the state Department of Health to investigate cosmetics that have potentially harmful ingredients. Products found to have potentially toxic concentrations of chemicals could be referred to the Department of Labor and Industries for a determination of whether steps need to be taken to protect the health of workers who are regularly exposed to the hazard.

Numerous witnesses testified that state action is needed to protect consumers and workers from potentially hazardous ingredients in cosmetics.

“Unfortunately, major loopholes in federal law allow the $60 billion a year cosmetics industry to put an unlimited amount of harmful chemicals into personal-care products,” said Gretchen Lee, Senior Policy Coordinator for the national Breast Cancer Fund.

Much of the concern voiced at the public hearing focused on unregulated cosmetic products that contain cancer-causing chemicals.

“I am outraged to learn that the beauty products that many of us use every day contain ingredients with known links to cancer,” said Pam Tazioli, a breast cancer survivor who serves as the Washington state coordinator for the Breast Cancer Fund.

Tazioli contended that the issue of carcinogens in cosmetics should be a matter of particular concern in Washington state, which has the highest rate of breast cancer in the nation.

Other witnesses linked toxic substances in cosmetics to bladder cancer and reproductive problems.

The Washington Safe Cosmetics Act of 2007 is modeled after a California law that took effect on Jan. 1. Chase said the cost of complying with the disclosure requirements in her proposal would be minimal, because the information is already required for compliance with the California law.