Talc In Cosmetics FDA Regulated In Win For Natural Cosmetics

In a huge win for healthy and natural cosmetics, the FDA or Food and Drug Administration has moved to propose an increase in the regulation of Talc powder, or talcum powder, within cosmetic products. This signals a larger scale change within the FDA, as part of a new direction, towards catering for a healthier population.

Talc powder or talcum powder is a naturally occurring mineral. Talc is mined and forms a component of many cosmetics products. One major concern surrounding talc, or talcum, powder is the clear link between talc containing cosmetic powders and products and cancer. You literally just have to add talc into a search engine and word cancer appears. Part of the official statement from the FDA, or Food and Drug Administration, is as follows.

We believe that the proposed testing techniques are appropriate methods to detect asbestos to help ensure the safety of talc-containing cosmetic products.

FDA’s Office of Cosmetics and Colors.

What Is Talc In Cosmetics?

Talc powder or talcum powder is used in cosmetics to improve both the visual feel of cosmetics and also to prevent the product caking or sticking together. Talc powder or talc is effectively a binding agent, that absorbs water well. Another name for talc powder is magnesium silicate. The issue the FDA have is not really with talc itself, but more to do with some of the unregulated and harmful by products that might be found inside talc powder.

The FDA has been detecting a lot of asbestos within cosmetic products and has linked this to the inclusion of talc powder, a mineral compound that is mined from earth rock deposits. From the analysis done at the Food and Drug Administration and elsewhere, these deposits might be contaminated with asbestos. This is why the regulations have come into place recently.

Why Is Talc Bad In Cosmetics?

An unsuspecting cosmetics consumer would assume that because these talc powder deposits are mined that they would be safe to use and apply.

The problem is that if there is asbestos contamination within talc containing cosmetics products, there is an added health risk that affects consumer health. The impression at the FDA is that added testing is needed because talc and asbestos might be inseparable, in some cases, during the mining process.

Asbestos

Asbestos was a building product used for many years and was praised as a wonder building material, especially for cost effectiveness. This was until it was effectively banned because of an uncontrollable spike in asbestos caused diseases. People were being hospitalised, while study after study was showing how asbestos was directly linked to cancer.

 Asbestos particle caused disease from this entire scandal became categorised under the name of asbestosis. This includes various symptoms that are similar to asthma.

The biggest danger asbestos poses is when asbestos mineral particles become airborne. This leads to the inhalation of tiny asbestos fibre spikes. Under the microscope they look like tiny branching mineral splinters. These asbestos fibres are incredibly dangerous for the lungs and also pose a huge danger for people’s health.

As this is a foreign and non-biological body contaminant, with an unusual structure, the lungs don’t know what to do with the particles. The asbestos fibres start to cause physical damage within the lungs. When asbestos got banned many years ago there were a large number of public lawsuits and pay-outs.

In 2019, talc possibly contaminated with asbestos, resulted in one company having to pay out nearly 30 million dollars. This was because the claimant filed a suit after a contracting mesothelioma. This risk to the public, especially through cancer, is why the FDA have moved to improve cosmetic product regulations.

Mesothelioma Associated With The Use Of Cosmetic Talc Powder

Because the body doesn’t know how to effectively get rid of asbestos, this leads to lung cancer. All asbestos fibres have been declared to be a cancer-causing agent, or carcinogen. Asbestos is a cause of mesothelioma. This a highly aggressive lung cancer form with a 12-month average survival rate, some symptoms include breathlessness and chest pains. Mesothelioma effects the thin tissue that lines organs such as the lungs, where oxygen transfer takes place. It also effects the heart and abdomen.

Talc contaminated asbestos is why there is a link between talc powder use and mesothelioma. Approximately 100,000 people die from mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases a year. This is one of the main reasons the FDA regulations have been proposed.

Cosmetics Without Talc

Given all this evidence surrounding talc and asbestos caused diseases like mesothelioma, this is a great move on the part of the FDA in safeguarding public health. While people should always make their own decisions about things, from a regulatory point of view this makes a lot of sense. As part of the new regulations, the FDA requires cosmetics manufacturers to properly test talc containing cosmetic products for asbestos. Manufacturers will need to adhere to these, unless they are willing to change talc for other ingredients. There are other ingredients that can be used instead of talc. These include corn starch, baking soda, arrowroot powder and kaolin clay. They are also cost-effective alternative options to talc.

A lot of product change and NDP, or new product development, comes down to widescale manufacturing acceptance. These new regulations could encourage new cosmetic products, brands and wider scale manufacturing acceptance of improved ingredients for all consumers. These regulations will give cosmetic product owners and manufacturers alike a lot to think about. The hope here is that these changes encourage a bit more of a natural outlook to the future of cosmetics. This could happen in the same way that animal testing regulations have influenced this industry. There are already some cosmetic brands approaching this angle on going talc free.

Some brands include Kosas, Ilia, Honest Beauty and Pacifica. These brands have excluded talc among other chemical compounds from their cosmetics products including formaldehyde, aluminium, parabens and sulfates. Below we have featured a pallet, with some additional cosmetics products from Pacifica.

Conclusion

The FDA has introduced added cosmetics testing for products with talc. This is because of the links between talc, asbestos contamination and asbestos caused cancer.

Asbestos is a dangerous contaminant of some mined talc powder that caused a public health catastrophe many years ago.

This signals a change in direction for the FDA, hopefully leading to further progression towards safer and more natural source cosmetics. In our opinion, this is going to be of benefit to the consumer in the long term and drive a healthier industry. We could see a similar drive within the cosmetics industry, as with animal testing.

Cost effective manufacturing alternatives to talc already exist. Additionally, there are already popular cosmetic brands who have removed talc, among other possibly harmful ingredients, from their products.

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