Washington DC - June 10, 2011

On June 10th, HSMG President, Leigh O'Donnell, flew to Washington, D.C. to meet with Congressional staff from Representative Schakowsky, Markey and Baldwin's offices. She was invited to meet with them as a follow up to ongoing meetings that have been conducted over the past year and to hear the changes that they are proposing to make as a result of our active advocacy efforts.

Since the first meetings last July (after the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010 was introduced) the Representatives' staffs have kept the lines of communication open and have been very receptive to our input. This meeting was no different; Leigh attended with our D.C. advocate Mary Anne Walsh of Roetzel and Andress who has been not only our eyes and ears in Washington, but also an advisor and strategist, introducing the industry to Members of Congress in both the House and Senate.

Without a doubt, that the HSMG's voice is being heard on Capitol Hill.

After some lengthy discussions and negotiations in our recent meeting, it looks like the new draft of The Safe Cosmetics Act should include several provisions that are major victories for the HSMG and its members. They are:

Registration

For registration of your facility or company and your products:

• Any cosmetic company with under $2 million in gross aggregate sales per year will be exempt from FDA registration for both the company and products being made.
• A company that makes between $2 million and $10 million in gross aggregate sales per year will register their company (facility) and their products annually. There will be no registration fees and no change forms if you introduce a new product within that year.
• A cosmetic manufacturer that has over $10 million in gross aggregate sales per year will register their company (facility) and their products and will be responsible for a registration fee to the FDA. This fee will be determined by the FDA and will be based on gross sales.

Labeling

• All botanicals will be listed as what they are on the label and will not need to be broken down into their organic compounds. For example, Coconut Oil will be Cocos Nucifera (Coconut Oil).
• Also, the legislation will NOT require additional testing for products made using already tested, approved and labeled ingredients.

Ingredients

The FDA will be charged with coming up with three categories of cosmetic ingredients: Safe without limits, Restricted, and Prohibited.

• All food-grade ingredients will be on the “Safe without limits list”.
• Ingredients on the “Restricted list” may be used in cosmetics but will have restrictions on usage or quantity.
• Ingredients on the “Prohibited list” cannot be used in cosmetics and will have a 2 year phase out period.
• To facilitate compliance, the FDA will maintain an online site for companies to access information on the three categories of ingredients and will update regularly, including the addition of new ingredients after testing and determinations are made.

Soap

The soap exemption will remain the same as it is in the current version of the Food Drug and Cosmetic Act.