“Unprecedented” OCC funding
This article was originally published in The Rose Sheet
Executive Summary
House Appropriations Committee has approved a $2 mil. funding increase for FDA's Office of Cosmetics and Colors, which would strengthen the office's oversight of personal-care products and facilitate the development of global safety standards, according to CTFA. "Our strong partnership with FDA has been put at risk because [OCC] has shrunk to an inefficient level," CTFA President Pam Bailey notes in a release applauding the "unprecedented" funding. At CTFA's annual meeting in March, Bailey questioned the ability of OCC's staff - which she said has shrunk from 87 to 10 full-time employees since 1974 - to effectively oversee the $62 bil. personal-care market (1"The Rose Sheet" March 12, 2007, p. 3). "This [funding] increase will enhance consumer protections and provide [OCC] with much-needed inspectors and compliance officers," Bailey says...