Developments Planned for PCPC's Cosmetic Ingredient Review Panel

The Personal Care Products Council announced a significant enhancement of the Cosmetic Ingredient Review Panel (CIR) that will expand the capacity of the CIR’s Expert Panel and staff to assess the safety of cosmetic ingredients. This action will further accelerate the pace of cosmetic ingredient safety reviews and ensure that the program continues to keep pace with advances in scientific safety assessment processes as they emerge. 
           
Founded more than 30 years ago, CIR is an independent, nonprofit panel of world-renowned scientists and physicians that thoroughly reviews and assesses the safety of ingredients used in cosmetics worldwide. Both the U.S. FDA and the Consumer Federation of America participate in the program by serving as liaison members. In an open, public process, the CIR gathers published and unpublished safety data for review and publishes the results in the open, peer-reviewed scientific literature. By year end, the panel will have completed the review of more than 1,500 personal care products ingredients representing most of the materials used to formulate cosmetics today.
 
Improvements to the program that will be implemented over the remainder of the year and fully instituted by 2009 include:  

• Addition of two new experts to the panel,
• Preparation of new data for review, and
• Enhancements to the CIR infrastructure.

 
These enhancements will further strengthen and expand a safety program that has consistently served consumers of personal care products for more than 30 years. When fully implemented, these enhancements will enable the panel to review up to 400 cosmetic ingredients each year. These steps are part of an ongoing, multi-year effort that began in 2006 to strengthen and enhance CIR.

Based in Washington, D.C., the Personal Care Products Council is a leading national trade association representing the $250 billion global cosmetic and personal care products industry. Founded in 1894, the Council's more than 600 member companies manufacture, distribute, and supply the vast majority of finished personal care products marketed in the United States. As the makers of a diverse range of products millions of consumers rely on everyday, from sunscreens, toothpaste and shampoo to moisturizer, lipstick and fragrance, personal care products companies are global leaders committed to product safety, quality and innovation.