The New York Times reports that the Food and Drug Administration has warned Congress that it is frequently finding contamination, illegal ingredients and other problems in the soaring quantities of imported cosmetics, and that it has limited resources to inspect the shipments. The warning was part of a letter sent in late June to a House Democrat who is pushing Congress to enact legislation giving the FDA more power to regulate cosmetics.
The FDA said that it has the equivalent of just six full-time inspectors to monitor three million shipments of cosmetics coming in each year — lipsticks, eyeliners, nail polish, face powders, tattoo inks and other products — an amount that has doubled in the last decade. These products came from 181 countries last year, sent by 29,000 foreign companies.
The full article is here.
