A new proposed bill in New York state could spell significant changes to the products you use every day, including your favorite black mascara. The bill, A2054 or the “Beauty Justice Act,” is currently in the committee assembly stage. If passed, it would regulate specific ingredients—including parabens, formaldehyde, and a specific pigment often used in mascara and eyeliner—prohibit the sale of products containing them.
“Thousands of chemicals are used in cosmetics and personal care products,” the bill reads. “Some of these chemicals are associated with asthma, allergies, hormone disruption, neurodevelopmental problems, infertility, even cancer. Exposure to personal care and cosmetic products typically begins in infancy, with products such as baby shampoo, lotion, and diaper cream, and continues throughout their lifespan. ” The bill cites the Environmental Working Group (EWG), saying that on average, “women use 12 personal care products a day, exposing themselves to 168 chemical ingredients.”
The bill says that “federal restrictions of harmful chemicals in personal care and cosmetic products are inadequate to educate and protect consumers and salon workers” and adds that “it shall be the policy of the state to restrict chemicals that may harm the health of New Yorkers during production, use, or disposal of personal care products and cosmetic products.”
Most of the ingredients included in the bill weren't particularly surprising—and most are either not added to modern cosmetics or are being phased out, says Kelly Dobos, cosmetic chemist and adjunct professor of cosmetic science at the University of Cincinnati. She notes that “very, very few” of the included ingredients are currently being used in personal care products. “Nobody's putting cadmium in a cosmetic for fun,” she says. “The last thing we want to do is hurt our customers.”
One addition to the list did stand out to Dobos, however: carbon black. It's a color additive frequently used in “blackest black” or “ultra black” mascaras and eyeliners. According to Dobos, carbon black is in the “certifiable” color category, which means “every lot made has to go to the FDA laboratories for testing against a list of specifications” before it can be sold for use in cosmetics. “[Including] carbon black… seems misguided and is problematic for sure.” If carbon black is banned, Dobos says companies will have to do “significant reformulation” of those “blackest black” eye makeup products. “There's nothing that will really get you to that same color space,” she says. “Black iron oxide can skew a little more red or brown, and it behaves differently in a product.”
Cosmetic chemist Sherilee Backman notes that self-tanners could also be impacted by the bill, as DHA (dihydroxyacetone), the active ingredient that gives skin its bronze color, “is a formaldehyde donor… pick up a self-tanner with DHA. You're going to have some level of formaldehyde in there." It's also worth noting that DHA is FDA approved for external use.
Some of these ingredients have come under fire before, including benzene, a known carcinogen. Trace elements of benzene were found in some popular acne products containing benzoyl peroxide, including La-Roche Posay's Effaclar Duo, leading to a voluntary recall. Benzene is another ingredient that companies are not purposefully adding to their products; it's typically the result of contamination during manufacturing or a byproduct from an ingredient breaking down.
Parabens, too, have been a hot topic for years. The preservative was used to prevent mold and fungi in products, though they have been removed from many products due to clean beauty-based backlash stemming from potential health concerns. (That said, Backman flags that parabens also occur naturally in the body, and you can also find them in certain foods.)
In 2023, the FDA proposed a ban on formaldehyde in hair products, namely relaxers and keratin treatments, reporting that use of these products has been "linked to short-term adverse health effects, such as sensitization reactions and breathing problems, and long-term adverse health effects, including an increased risk of certain cancers.” However, the ban is currently paused. In early 2024, California banned 38 beauty ingredients, though only six were actually products that are regularly used in modern cosmetics.
Backman says that the bill is “rightfully intended to protect consumers, including those whose health interests have been overlooked in the past." However, banning ingredients outright doesn't allow for the “dose makes the poison” nuance that's crucial for safe product formulation. “The potential risks posed by many materials are not so easy to characterize,” she explains over email, noting that she wishes we could get away from characterizing materials as either inherently good or inherently bad. “You need to factor in [things like] use levels, interactions with other materials, and cumulative exposure from various sources.”
That cumulative exposure is something Backman wishes the general public had more education around. For instance, she notes that the antioxidants and preservatives BHA and BHT, which are included on the list, are also present in bacon. “These materials are also in products outside the personal care industry,” she says. “We're ingesting these things.” Backman believes “a little more education and coordination between industries” would be helpful for similar bills. “Also, call on the chemists before you start putting these bills in the legislative cycle.”
If the bill passes in New York, companies would be required to reformulate their products by 2029—a costly process to be sure, and one that could have wide impact on the industry as a whole. “What this means is that prices are just going to go up,” says Backman. “There's so much new testing or retesting and reformulating that has to happen and that's all very expensive. There's got to be some kind of balance between what is being assessed for safety and what's being ruled out. From a chemist's point of view, we'll rise to the occasion,” she says. “There's a good chance that this bill will become law and we can conform to that, but it's a lot more work—and most of these materials have been formulated out of products."
The Personal Care Products Council (PCPC) shared in a statement that they are “concerned about the New York state legislature’s proposed ban on safe, commonly used ingredients, including preservatives that help maintain the shelf life of many cosmetics and personal care products, such as sunscreen, makeup and hygiene products.” The PCPC said that if the bill passes as currently written, it “will force trusted brands off the market, leaving New Yorkers with fewer options and irreparably harming our industry’s small businesses and entrepreneurs. In addition, the cosmetics and personal care products supply chain would be significantly disrupted. For example, a business not headquartered in New York that sells cosmetics and personal care products in the state would be impacted by the compliance requirements of these bills while complying with federal and global manufacturing compliance requirements.” The organization said they will “continue to work with New York state legislators to consider amendments to harmonize the bills with recently enacted laws, moving a step closer to global regulatory alignment.”
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