Though the Safe Cosmetics Act at the Federal Level continues to work its way through its slow process and has no current update, at the individual State level, there continues to be movement as various States introduce and work on passing legislation that affects soaps and cosmetic manufacturing and labeling.
One of the these bills is MA H02361 had a live hearing today. You can read the full version of the bill here. Though Bramble Berry was not able to attend the hearings in person, we submitted testimony on the Bill. A copy of the letter is below.
Bramble Berry is opposed to the bill as it is currently written. However, it is our belief, based on experience, that these types of bills tend to build upon one another, drawing language from previous versions from other States or at the Federal level. Thus, in our letter, we offered brief, constructive suggestions on how to improve the language in future iterations. The letter was designed to be short, to the point and fit on one page. As there are updates on this bill, I will continue to update this blog post.
Bramble Berry’s Testimony for MA H02361 is as follows:
On behalf of Bramble Berry Inc, a small business serving 60,000 soapmakers and toiletry makers across the United States, I would like to submit the following testimony on MA H02361 filed on January 20, 2011 by Bradley J. Jones Jr.
It is Bramble Berry’s position that handmade cosmetics are safe. We disagree that new legislation is needed in this area. However, if new legislation is introduced, I believe MA H02361 could use clarification in the following areas:
(1) “Authoritative Body” currently allows a private agency or formally organized program or group. I believe the bill would be better served to designate authoritative bodies in advance, such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, National Toxicology Program and International Agency for Research on Cancer.
(2) The term “Ingredient” is broad. I suggest pulling out “any individual component of botanical, petroleum-derived, animal-derived, or any other ingredient that the Commissioner or the Director determines to be considered an ingredient.” Additionally, under the definition of ‘Ingredient’, individual components of ingredients would need to be listed on labels, giving rise to long and confusing labels.
(3) The term “Contaminant” is not clarified in the Bill as written. There are many naturally occurring contaminants that are not harmful to the human body. Clarifying what type of contaminants (harmful versus innocuous naturally occurring) would be helpful in this section.
(4) Thank you for the small business exemptions for section 330A, B, C, and D. To be more in line with the Small Business Administration on the definition of a ‘Small Business, Manufacturer’, I suggest moving this up to $8 million in sales and do not include a definition relating to number of employees as to not impede job growth.
(5) In Section 4, regarding the Commission on Safe Cosmetics, I recommend taking out the need for a signer of the ‘Compact for Safe Cosmetics’ because this compact is run by a private non-profit rather than a recognized scientific expert in their field. I suggest having scientists and health professionals round out this Commission on Safe Cosmetics.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this Legislation.
Respectfully,
Anne-Marie Faiola
CEO
Bramble Berry Inc.
