US House Bill Would Define ‘Natural’ Cosmetic, Provide FDA Enforcement Authority

Beautycounter is among industry supporters of the Natural Cosmetic Act, introduced in the House on 5 October as the solution to greenwashing in the US personal-care sector.

The proposed Natural Cosmetics Act would combat greenwashing in the cosmetics industry by defining natural products, natural ingredients and naturally-derived ingredients and empowering the US Food and Drug Administration to take action against companies whose “natural” offerings do not meet the bill’s standards.

Introduced in the House on 5 October by Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-NY, the legislation is being touted by endorsers as a much-needed fix to a problem that challenges fair competition and erodes consumer confidence in natural products.

“My bill will set the standard for ‘natural’ personal care products and do right by American consumers by putting transparency first,” Maloney asserts in a same-day release.

Co-sponsor Grace Meng, D-NY, adds, “Increasing protections, transparency and oversight of personal care products is desperately needed, and this legislation would go a long way towards ensuring strict standards for items claiming to be ‘natural.’”

Meng has taken interest in cosmetics issues before. (Also see "Congressional Appropriators Press FDA For Feminine Cleanser Guidance" - HBW Insight, 16 Apr, 2018.)

Beautycounter says it is mobilizing its clients and more than 45,000 independent sales representatives across the US to get behind the legislation.

The proposed bill would amend section 602 of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act regarding misbranded cosmetics to prohibit products from being labeled as natural unless they contain:

• at least 70% natural substances (other than water and salt);

• no fragrance ingredient other than a natural substance or naturally-derived ingredient; and

• only naturally-derived ingredients, other than natural substances and water, except in cases where a naturally-derived ingredient is not available for a specific function or is otherwise not feasible.

Natural ingredients are defined as substances that are naturally occurring and unprocessed; processed only by manual, mechanical, naturally derived solvent or gravitational means, by dissolution in water or steam, by flotation, or by heating solely to remove water; or extracted from air by any means.

“Natural” does not not include petroleum and petroleum derived ingredients, the bill specifies.

The term “naturally-derived ingredient” pertains to substances of three types:

• where the starting material is of mineral, plant, microbe or animal origin but has been chemically processed;

• where the starting material is of mineral, plant, microbe or animal origin but has been chemically processed and combined with other ingredients, excluding petroleum and fossil fuel-derived ingredients; or

• that is derived from a plant feedstock and bio-manufactured using processes like fermentation, saponification, condensation or esterification in order to improve performance or make the ingredient biodegradable or sustainable.

The Natural Cosmetics Act also dictates terms for labeling selected ingredients in a product as natural or naturally-derived.

FDA Could Demand Records, Halt Distribution

The bill would require companies to maintain records verifying their natural claims, including carbon-14 testing data from ingredient suppliers.

According to biobased content testing lab Beta Analytic, Inc., headquartered in Miami, FL, “to ensure that an ingredient doesn’t have both natural and petrochemical-derived adulterants, carbon-14 analysis is a necessary tool for quality control.”

Companies would be required to make such records available to the FDA upon request.

If the FDA determined that a purported natural cosmetic was misbranded under the bill’s terms, the agency would be authorized to issue an order mandating a halt to its distribution.

The manufacturer or other responsible person would have 48 hours to appeal and request an informal hearing on the issue.

The bill’s natural definitions could well be subject to disagreement among stakeholders and its recordkeeping and enforcement provisions may not be popular with all companies. Then again, it could remove the threat of costly false-advertising class actions from plaintiffs with their own “natural” interpretations. (Also see "Are ‘Natural’ Claims Equivalent To ‘All Natural’? Tarte’s $1.7m Settlement Offers Little Instruction" - HBW Insight, 5 Nov, 2019.)

Beautycounter is among industry endorsers of the Natural Cosmetics Act.

“While words like 'natural' can signal a safer product, there are currently no industry standards,” says Gregg Renfrew, the Santa Monica, CA-based company’s founder and CEO, in a same-day release.

She continues, “For years, Beautycounter has been asking Congress to create clear standards for marketing terms and so we are thrilled to support the Natural Cosmetics Act. This landmark bill sets clear and reasonable standards for companies who want to claim an ingredient or product is natural, while instilling confidence for today's savvy consumer."

Beautycounter says it is mobilizing its customers and more than 45,000 independent sales representatives across the US to get behind the legislation.