CTPA introduces service to educate the public about chemicals

The Cosmetic, Toiletry & Perfumery Association has added a new service to its Facts About… website, intended to clarify consumer misconceptions about the chemicals in cosmetic products. Facts About Chemicals addresses the main areas of public concern regarding cosmetics and toiletries, and individual questions are answered using scientific facts from organisations including the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), the British Association of Dermatologists (BAD), the British Fragrance Association (BFA) and Sense About Science.

“Everything is made up of chemicals,” RSC chief executive Richard Pike explained to journalists at a press conference on 23 February. “To debunk one myth, there is no such thing as a chemical free product. There is also a misconception that naturally occurring chemicals are safer than man made ones – the most potent poisons in the world are naturally occurring ones.”

“We suffer from chemical confusion at times,” Chris Flower, director general of the CTPA added. He noted that although media scare stories about cosmetic ingredients were becoming less common the Chemicals section of the Facts About… site would “provide the background information to let people know what the truth is”.

The facility is intended to counter the current lack of consumer education about the definition of the word chemical, what actually constitutes a hazard or a risk (both overused and often wrongly used terms, says Pike) and the measures in place to ensure the products that reach consumers are safe.

“We have to make sure that people have the right basic information, so that when they buy a product they ask ‘what is this doing?’ and ‘what regulatory processes have they been subject to?’,” said Flower, who expects the most popular topics to be parabens, skin penetration and exposure during pregnancy.