FDA Withdraws Rule on Tests for Cancer-Causing Asbestos in Talc-Based Cosmetics

WASHINGTON – The Food and Drug Administration today abruptly said it is withdrawing its proposed rule to establish approved test methods for detecting and identifying cancer-causing asbestos in talc-containing cosmetics.

The Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act of 2022 required the FDA to develop the rule. The Trump administration’s decision to scrap the regulation will be published in the November 28 Federal Register.

Asbestos is a deadly human carcinogen for which there is no safe level of exposure. Repeated contamination of talc-based products has raised serious public health concerns.

In 2020, EWG-commissioned laboratory tests of talc-based cosmetics  found asbestos in nearly 15% of samples. The analysis, published in Environmental Health Insights, highlighted the outdated methods currently used to screen talc for asbestos. The cosmetics industry’s inadequate test methods leave consumers at risk.

Cosmetics companies have known since the 1950s that asbestos can contaminate talc, and the public was alerted in the early 1970s. But the industry persuaded the FDA to allow companies to rely on test methods that can detect some, but not all, asbestos fibers.