Roses Are Red, Lipstick (Still) Has Lead

By Stacy Malkan, AlterNet. Posted February 14, 2009.

User-Friendly FDA 

"The new reality, unfortunately, when you look at the federal budget, is that there will be no federal funding available to FDA -- either this year or in the foreseeable future -- to focus on cosmetics," lamented Pamela Bailey in her first speech as president of the cosmetics industry trade association in 2006.  

Bailey was lamenting because, as she explained, "we know that industry needs FDA as the tough cop on the beat to protect us, and to reassure consumers." 

Wait -- isn't the cop on the beat supposed to protect us, the American public?  

Unfortunately, FDA has few resources to protect people from toxic cosmetics. But the agency does a good job of reassuring consumers, according to focus groups conducted for the cosmetics industry by right-wing messaging guru Frank Luntz. 

Lexie Shultz, who sat though a three-hour focus group about cosmetic safety in 2006, reported that participants reacted most favorably to messages from the government. "People were willing to believe FDA," Shultz said. "The FDA comforted people."  

Comments from participants included "FDA is strong" and "Nothing would get through FDA if it wasn't safe." 

The reality is, FDA lacks the authority to fulfill this expectation. Under current law, FDA can't require companies to safety test cosmetics and can't even require product recalls. In cases where FDA does have authority -- for example to recommend limits for hazardous substances such as lead -- well ... take a seat and wait a while.

FDA does, however, have a good reputation over at the cosmetics industry trade association.  

At an industry conference in 2006, John Bailey, former head of the FDA cosmetics office and current spokesman for the industry trade association, was introduced with these words by conference moderator Meyer Rosen: "(John) has always been on our side, even when he worked with the FDA. He was always willing to give us an inside voice." 

Several speakers at the conference joked about Bailey being "user friendly" to industry during his tenure at FDA. Bailey joked back, "If I'd known I was so user friendly, I would have been a bit tougher." 

Compare this to FDA's relationship with consumer groups: When a Campaign for Safe Cosmetics staffer called FDA to find out how many people work in the Office of Cosmetics and Colors, she was told to submit a Freedom of Information Act request. 

Time for a Makeover 

All this has deeper implications than the lead that obviously doesn't need to be in lipstick. It's about the food we all eat, the medicines we take, and the products we put on our bodies and our babies.  

It's about whether American products will be as safe as they can be, or whether we continue to fall behind as other countries develop greener ways of doing business. 

For the long-term health of our economy, American companies must shift away from polluting technologies and toxic chemistry, in order to develop the next generation of safer products that the world market is demanding.

FDA has an important role to play in spurring the green economy. Yet, as former FDA head William Hubbard pointed out in the Washington Post:

How much does Congress appropriate for the agency that has responsibility for the safety of the whole country's supply of food, drugs, vaccines, medical devices, cosmetics, animal foods and drugs, dietary supplements, and more? The same amount as Fairfax County, Va., provides for its schools.

It's time to give FDA the authority and funding it needs to do the job the American public expects it to do, and to give it leaders who will restore scientific integrity and public accountability.  

It's time to make FDA what it should be and what it once was -- the world's gold-standard leader for advancing public health and safety. 

See more stories tagged with: health, women, chemicals, fda, makeup, lead

Stacy Malkan is communications director for Health Care Without Harm.

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