FDA to take action against cosmetics with drug claims
US cracks down on cosmetics
The US Food and Drug Administration’s Centre for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) will begin a major enforcement initiative against cosmetic products sporting drug claims that are illegal in the US. According to consultancy firm FDAImports.com, cosmetics with claims including SPF, anti-ageing or anti-wrinke – all classified as drug claims in the US – will be under particular scrutiny. Under FDA regulations all labeling claims must be cosmetic ones; therefore a label saying that a product counteracts, retards or controls the ageing process is considered illegal.
The agency is said to have issued FDA Warning Letters to several large firms concerning illegal claims on their product labels and Benjamin England, founder of FDAImports.com, notes that “cosmetics manufacturers and importers of all sizes will likely see increased enforcement on labeling compliance generally and drug claims in particular”. According to the consultancy, the FDA has focused its attention on small cosmetics importers in the past as opposed to large multinationals.