Last year and early last month, test results of popular children’s makeup discovered the presence of asbestos, a dangerous chemical that should be nowhere near children’s products. Since the discovery, many have called on the Food and Drug Administration to conduct its own investigation into the tainted cosmetics sold by popular “retailers Claire’s Stores Inc. and Justice Retail.”
Last year and earlier this year, test results of popular children’s makeup discovered the presence of asbestos, a dangerous mineral that should be nowhere near children’s products. Since the discovery, many have called on the Food and Drug Administration to conduct its own investigation into the tainted cosmetics sold by popular “retailers Claire’s Stores Inc. and Justice Retail.”
One of the individuals calling on the agency to do something is Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J. In fact, he wrote a letter to FDA Commissioner Scott Gottleib on the matter and said:
“Recently, there has been a lot of sort of frightening stories about cosmetics retailers marketing to children and to young teenagers, or young people, products that have had problems…While asbestos appears to be the primary impurity in the Justice Retail and Claire’s cosmetics, I am also gravely concerned about the risk that other cosmetic products may also be tainted with dangerous chemicals…I urge FDA to thoroughly investigate the claims against Justice Retail and Claire’s Stores, and to open a broader investigation into the presence of asbestos and other hazardous impurities in children’s cosmetics.”
The problem first became public last year when “fashion retailer Claire’s voluntarily recalled nine cosmetic products after a Providence, Rhode Island, television station aired a story about a local law firm’s test of a Claire’s product.” That report announced that the tested products “contained cancer-causing asbestos.”
However, in response to the report, Claire’s had its products tested by two independent labs that determined the questionable products were “asbestos free, completely safe and meet all government requirements.” The company added that “any report that suggests that the products are not safe is totally false.”
Shortly after the recall of certain Claire’s products, Justice Retail “recalled eight Just Shine cosmetics products after a reported presence of asbestos in tested samples of Just Shine Shimmer Powder.” When commenting on the recall, the company said that “while one set of laboratory tests showed no evidence of asbestos, a second round revealed ‘trace amounts of asbestos.‘”
As the “ranking Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee” Palone has been calling for “increased regulation of the cosmetic and personal care industry” for some time. In a recent statement he said:
“The thing that amazes me … is that so many people who buy cosmetics products just assume that they’re safe and they’re being regulated by the government. That’s not the case often times because the FDA has very little authority over cosmetics, even through cosmetics is one of the areas where they have the most activity.”
He added that regulations for the $60 billion a year cosmetics industry “have not changed since 1938.”
Sources:
Pallone: FDA should probe for asbestos in makeup sold at Claire’s, Justice
Kids makeup containing asbestos recalled after ABC11 Troubleshooter report
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