Founded 1976 | ||
The Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR), based in Washington, D.C., assesses and reviews the safety of ingredients in cosmetics and publishes the results in peer-reviewed scientific literature. The company was established in 1976 by the Personal Care Products Council (then called the Cosmetic, Toiletry, and Fragrance Association), with support of the Food and Drug Administration and the Consumer Federation of America.
Contents
Operations
In 2013, Dr. F. Alan Andersen, the CIR’s director, said that its annual budget "is not a matter of public record". The CIR does not file Form 990s, which show annual revenues and expenses. Overall funding for CIR comes from the cosmetic industry’s main trade association, the Personal Care Products Council.
However, the Personal Care Products Council, is a not-for-profit 501(c)(6) with 2011 revenue of -$742,260. It paid its top 15 executives a total of $5,294,564.00 in 2012 and Dr. Andersen's salary was $337,260.00
Chemicals reviewed
In 2002, the CIR decided that it was safe for the industry to continue adding possible endocrine and reproductive disruptors known as phthalates to cosmetics marketed to women of childbearing age. In August 2008, Section 108 of the federal Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), public law 110-314, banned the use of three phthalates, DEHP, DBP, and BBP, in children's toy and child care articles. In 2009, some phthalates were restricted in children's toys sold in California starting in 2009.
As of 2013, the European Union bans nearly 1,400 chemicals from personal care products because they are carcinogenic, mutagenic, or toxic to reproduction. In the United States, CIR has found only eleven chemicals to be "unsafe for use in cosmetics".