Beautycounter leads group to address lack of US cosmetics safety laws

By

Cassidy Mantor

Published
Sep 13, 2017

Beautycounter's parent company, Counter Brands, LLC, has formed Counteract Coalition, a group of 15 beauty brands lobbying to update legislation and increase regulation for the cosmetics industry in the US.

Currently the laws that regulate cosmetics in the US were written in 1938. There are less than two pages of laws covering the $62 billion dollar beauty industry. Compared to Europe and Canada, the US has much looser regulations. Europe's list of banned ingredients in personal care items totals 1,400. There are only 30 banned personal care ingredients in the US.

In addition to updating laws, the Counteract Coalition wants to increase safety review. It wants to see more FDA involvement in personal care items. Currently the FDA has no authority to create a recall. There is also no industry standard requirement for screening or monitoring beauty products in the US.

The group on the whole is focusing on developing awareness and ultimately new laws that require clean, safe and non-toxic product and manufacturing.

Seventh Generation, Unilever's gentle and naturally focused brand, is one of the 15 brands in the Counteract Coalition. Seventh Generation's CEO John Replogle said the company is proud to demand "change to our country's outdated regulations that are currently designed to 'protect' trade secrets and profit over human health."

Senators Dianne  Feinstein (D-CA) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) are behind the bill called the Personal Care Products Safety Act. The proposed legislation is designed to tighten up loopholes and improve regulations on personal care and cosmetics products.

In addition to Beautycounter and Seventh Generation, the Counteract Coalition currently includes Annmarie Skin Care, Biossance, Côte, Goddess Garden, Follain, Josie Maran, OSEA, Peet Rivko, Rahua, Silk Therapeutics, SW Basics, Tenoverten, Vapour Organic Beauty and Vintner's Daughter.

For its part, Beautycounter was founded in 2011 and launched as a direct-to-retail brand in 2013. It currently has 25,000 reps who promote the cleaner cosmetics that the company stands for. It has collaborated with Target and J. Crew, and had a pop-up on Nantucket Island. Its products are also available online.