# What This Bill Does: Making Cosmetic Ingredients Transparent

This bill requires cosmetic companies to tell you what's actually in their fragrances and flavorings. Right now, companies can hide these ingredients under vague labels like "fragrance" or "flavor," which can contain dozens of chemicals you never see listed. This bill changes that by forcing companies to disclose specific fragrance and flavor ingredients, especially ones that might be harmful to your health.

Here's how it works in practice. Starting one year after the bill passes, cosmetic brands must post detailed ingredient information on their websites in a format that's easy to read and searchable. If a fragrance or flavor ingredient makes up at least 0.01 percent of the product, it has to be listed. The company also has to tell you what each ingredient does and link you to safety information. Two years after the bill passes, companies must also print certain high-concern ingredients directly on product packaging and labels—the ones known to cause cancer, damage reproduction, persist in the environment, or cause other serious health problems. This applies to everything from perfumes and colognes to scented lotions, lip balms, and even flavored toothpaste.

The bill creates a master list of concerning chemicals that the FDA will maintain and update regularly. This list pulls from multiple trusted sources like the EPA, CDC, and international health organizations. If you're buying a product and want to know if it contains any of these flagged chemicals, you'll be able to check the company's website or look at the label. Companies have to update their disclosures within seven months if new chemicals are added to the concern list. The bill protects companies' trade secrets by keeping the exact amounts of ingredients confidential, but the ingredient names themselves must be public—so you can make informed choices about what you're putting on your body.

Cosmetic Fragrance and Flavor Ingredient Right to Know Act of 2021

Schakowsky, Janice D.

Cosmetic Fragrance and Flavor Ingredient Right to Know Act of 2021 This bill imposes disclosure and labeling requirements on cosmetics products that contain certain ingredients. A cosmetics product that fails to meet such requirements may not be sold. Within two years of this bill's enactment, a cosmetics product's labeling or packaging must indicate the use of any ingredient that (1) is identified on specified lists of harmful or potentially harmful chemicals, such as chemicals identified as carcinogenic to humans by the Environmental Protection Agency or toxic air contaminants under California regulations; or (2) must be disclosed under certain European Union laws and is present in a product above specified concentrations. The Food and Drug Administration must publish and periodically update on its website a list of the ingredients subject to this requirement. Within one year of this bill's enactment, a brand owner (i.e., the entity bringing a cosmetics product to market) must disclose certain information on its website if a cosmetics product contains any fragrance or flavor ingredient that is (1) present in the product above a certain concentration, or (2) subject to this bill's labeling or packaging requirement. The website must disclose the use of the ingredient in question and other information, such as the ingredient's functional purpose. The use of an ingredient subject to this bill's requirements shall not be treated as a confidential trade secret, but the concentration of such an ingredient shall be treated as confidential commercial information.