Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 10, 1990 TAG: 9004100631
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/4 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
But Rep. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., says a General Accounting Office report to Congress shows that this self-regulation approach isn't working and may be allowing unsafe products on the market.
The report by the investigating arm of Congress found that most manufacturers of personal-care products - which include everything from toothpaste to bubble bath - are not signing up for voluntary federal oversight.
The Food and Drug Administration has no authority to require these manufacturers to let the agency know they exist, to provide safety-testing data on their products or reports on adverse reactions.
Without at least a registration requirement, "anyone could make cosmetics in their bathtub and not have to tell the FDA their location or any information about the product. That's absurd," said Wyden, who requested the report.
Of the 2,000 to 2,500 companies that FDA estimates are making cosmetics products, 778 were registered with the agency as of July 1989 - 31 to 39 percent.
The Cosmetics, Toiletry and Fragrance Association estimates there are at most 2,000 manufacturers and that 60 percent of them are registered.
The association, the main trade organization for the cosmetics industry, has been encouraging manufacturers to register voluntarily with the FDA, said Michael Petrina, the group's vice president for legislative relations.
FDA spokesman Jeff Nesbit said "the agency is doing what it can to regulate the industry under the authority Congress gave it."
by CNB