The Subcommittee on Health has scheduled a hearing on Tuesday, March 27, 2012, at 10:15 a.m. in room 2322 of the Rayburn House Office Building. The title of the hearing is “Examining the Current State of Cosmetics.” A full witness list has yet to be announced. This hearing has been referred to as a “pre-bill” hearing. You will be able to watch the hearing live here on Tuesday at 10:15 EST.
There will be a link that shows up in the ‘gray’ area that says “Watch Hearing Live” and you’ll be able to follow along and see what the expert witnesses and testimony says about our industry.
Bramble Berry is submitting written testimony for the hearing. Debbie May of WholesaleSuppliesPlus will be testifying, live, in front of the committee. Several other industry leaders and small businesses have also been invited to submit written testimony. It is our hope that the message of small business and our role in job creation and designing safe products is clearly communicated.
Sure hope not! It’ll just mean a lot of regulations and added costs. Usually the only ones able to benefit will be the large corporations. It would hurt a lot of the people in this industry that are making good soap and/or selling soap supplies. Safety is a good thing, but this is probably more about money.
We’ll see; I’m in the dark on the issue as well having not seen a bill. This is being referred to as a pre-bill hearing so perhaps there will be a bill that comes out of the hearing. We shall see – whatever happens, I’ll keep you posted! =)
I would love to tune in! Can we have a reminder say Monday! LOL
Soap is soap and has been for generations, let’s hope it stays soap. It will hurt business is my thought as some soap crafters who make lovely soap (not cosmetic soap, not soap with medical claims, no magic soap) will not want to hassle with the regulation, added costs and paperwork.
Hey that might be a win win and there might be fewer soap makers!
Unintended consequences are the hardest to sort out.
Loving soap!
Agree – unintended consequences are tough to sort out. Right now, in this economic climate, the last thing anyone wants is to shut down small, women-owned businesses so I certainly hope that’s not an unintended consequence of any potential legislation that may arise after the hearings.
I’m new to this site and the world of soap. Do you know if this has to do with regulating the cosmetics industry and placing soap into that category like they do in Europe?
There is no bill currently attached to the hearing so it’s tough to say. FDA cosmetic laws have not been officially updated for many years – in part because the industry has been doing such a good job at self-regulation – and this may just be in preparation for a refresher to bring laws more in line with current technologies.
Without seeing a bill yet, I can’t say for certain but the second I see a bill, I’ll hit the main points for everyone.