US FDA Says White Paper Could Inform Rulemaking For Cosmetic Talc-Asbestos Testing

14 Jan 2022

Formed by the FDA in fall 2018 and convened in early 2020 for a public meeting, the Interagency Working Group on Asbestos in Consumer Products maintains that electron microscopy should be a first-line method for detecting asbestos in cosmetic talc and talc-containing products, and that labs should report elongate mineral particles beyond those classically understood as asbestos.

The US Food and Drug Administration will consider a newly published white paper from a federal interagency working group it formed in 2018 as it considers drafting guidance or initiating rulemaking on testing methods for asbestos in cosmetic talc and talc-containing cosmetic products.

Published on 13 January, the white paper hews closely to recommendations released by the Interagency Working Group on Asbestos in...