California Assembly Passes Professional Cosmetics Ingredient Labelling Bill

California's Assembly has passed a bill that would require ingredient labelling for professional cosmetics.

AB 575 calls for professional cosmetics manufactured after 1 July 2019 to bear a label of ingredients in order of weight. An ingredient present at a concentration below 1% could be listed without regard to predominance.

In floor remarks, the bill's author Assemblymember Ash Kalra (D) said the bill would simply apply existing industry requirements for retail cosmetic products to professional products.

"AB 1575 gives salon workers and consumers the ability to view ingredients in an open way that is already standardised across our food, home products and retail cosmetics," he said.

He added the bill has "substantially been amended to resolve concerns from industry" since its introduction. But, he noted, there is one last issue that remains to be addressed regarding aligning the bill with federal Fair Packaging and Labeling Act requirements.

Mr Kalra said he is committed to addressing this final technical amendment in the Senate. And once changed, he said, he is "hopeful that we will be able to remove all opposition" to the measure".

Jamie McConnell, director of programs and policy at Women's Voices for the Earth (WVE), told Chemical Watch that the NGO is excited that the bill has taken one step closer to becoming law.

She says that WVE, a co-sponsor of the legislation, had hoped for a stronger bill, but that "the version that passed the Assembly puts disclosure requirements on par with retail cosmetics and we see that as a win.

"Salon workers have the right to know what ingredients they are being exposed to, often on a daily basis. This same information is already required for retail cosmetics so there is no reason to continue to keep salon workers in the dark."

The Personal Care Products Council joined the American Chemistry Council and California Chamber of Commerce, among others, in opposing the bill as originally drafted. The organisation did not return a request for comment by publication deadline as to whether approved or future amendments have caused it, or would cause it, to drop its opposition.

So-called 'right to know' legislation remains a policy priority in the US. Last week, California's Senate also passed a bill that would require ingredient labelling of cleaning products, and a similar measure was introduced in the US Congress.