The Environmental Working Group and US PIRG suggest that beauty and personal-care firms should avoid using talc in loose powders, if not all cosmetic products, and that the US FDA should consider banning the ingredient due to the potential for asbestos contamination, among other concerns.

Nixing the current exemption for VOCs in fragrance up to 2% in consumer products could prevent manufacturers from meeting VOC limits in California, considerably alter product formulations and efficacy, or remove products from California’s market altogether, the Fragrance Creators Association says.

IFRA’s new chairman Hans Holger Gliewe says one possible positive outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic could be that consumers go on putting a premium on scientific expertise after months of reliance on health experts’ advice. The public’s changed perspective could help drive science-based regulatory decision making, a caused long championed by the fragrance and beauty product industries.

Fragrance industry advocates say 10% to 15% of raw materials used in fragrance come from China, many subject to tariffs imposed in the US-China trade war. The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the need for tariff relief, as fragrance plays a vital role in germ-killing and personal hygiene products in high demand, commenters tell the USTR.

Cosmetics and personal-care manufacturers are certainly not alone in facing unprecedented challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Manufacturers today are uniquely vulnerable to supply chain breakdowns, and the current crisis is a perfect storm for impacts to come and already here.

The Scientific Committee for Consumer Safety upholds that zinc pyrithione is safe for use in rinse-off anti-dandruff hair products at levels up to 1%. In recent years, the cosmetics industry has pushed for a 2% ceiling on ZPT content in that capacity – with considerable inroads made. Where that proposal now stands vis-à-vis the ingredient’s pending CMR 1B classification and shifting political sands is uncertain.