“Court of public opinion” holding brands’ feet to the fire on prohibited chemicals

Some of the biggest challenges are coming from class action lawsuits and consumer-enforced accountability around contaminants and substances deemed unsafe for consumers rather than from Federal Drug Administration requirements, Donald Frey, president of the Independent Beauty Association, told CosmeticsDesign.

One of the prominent issues for Frey is recent recalls of benzene-related products ensuing from analytical testing performed by Connecticut-based pharma and analytics company Valisure. In that case, Frey said recalls were not driven by FDA action, but by the “court of public opinion.”

“The levels detected were very low but there was a lot of press about it which has caused some companies to withdraw their products from the market until they can figure out what is causing it,”  ​he said. “Benzene is obviously a safety concern, but these are cases where it was not knowingly or intentionally added.”​

As well as having to recall their products, companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Beiersdorf and Bayer HealthCare have been hit with class action suits. 

Click through to read about the prohibited substances IBA says mid to small beauty brands need to worry about.