Government and Policy

Cosmetics safety to receive a makeover

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-08-28 09:21

YIWU, Zhejiang - China's State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) has moved to create the country's first safety assessment and monitoring system for cosmetics and skin care products, an administration official said.

The SFDA would soon issue a plan for monitoring the safety of cosmetics and skin care products as part of the system, said the official, who declined to be named, during an SFDA meeting on safety supervision that ended Friday in Yiwu city, east China's Zhejiang province. The official did not reveal a date for issuing the plan.

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The SFDA was re-examining the qualifications of agencies that approve cosmetics and skin care products, and was screening candidates for a safety commission, he said.

Safety watchdogs across the country would strengthen emergency response capabilities by making emergency plans and securing enough technological, personnel and material support, the official said.

It would be China's first system to assess and monitor the safety of cosmetics and skin care products.

In 2006, Japanese-made products in China of SK-II, a brand of the US firm Procter & Gamble Co., were found to contain chromium. Chromium is an element that causes skin allergies and is widely prohibited in the production of cosmetics and skin care products.

The findings stirred waves of consumer demand for refunds nationwide and P&G temporarily pulled SK-II from Chinese mainland stores.

As it later turned out, the banned element was not added deliberately, but was contained in other ingredients of the products.