Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 10, 1990 TAG: 9004100229
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short
A congressman who wants to increase oversight of the $18 billion industry said the report raises safety questions.
The Food and Drug Administration has no authority to require safety testing of personal-care products, which includes everything from toothpaste to bubble bath, or to force manufacturers to report safety data or cosmetics-related injuries, noted the report by the General Accounting Office, the investigating arm of Congress.
"Most people think somebody approves these products in advance . . . that the government would have access to safety data, that there's a review of the chemicals [in the products], but that's not what goes on here," Rep. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who requested the report, said in an interview.
Wyden is chairman of the Small Business subcommittee on regulation,
The Cosmetics, Toiletry and Fragrance Association defended the industry, saying: "There isn't a serious safety problem . . . If there was . . . the agency would know about it and the public would know about it."
The GAO report said that according to FDA estimates, there are about 2,000 to 2,500 cosmetics manufacturers and about twice as many distributors.
The drug agency's records show that 778, or 31 percent to 39 percent, had registered with the agency as of July 1989, compared with about 40 percent in 1977, the report said.
by CNB