MoCRA Check-In: EAS Consulting's John Bailey On Proposed Cosmetics Office Move

Historically, FDAs cosmetic program has been located in the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, first as a division (with and without the color certification program) and, in 1992, as the Office of Cosmetics and Colors. The fit in the foods program has always been something of an oddity because of the vast difference between the way foods and cosmetics are regulated. There have been recurring proposals to move the program, usually from the foods program to the drugs program in the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. The program has been kept in the foods program to maintain some level of prominence and visibility and so it wouldn’t get lost in the important activities of the drugs program.

But things have changed dramatically in the last few years. The foods program has been confronted with significant challenges, not the least the pandemic, outbreaks and infant formula. The same for drugs with COVID-19 challenges related to vaccines, treatments and tests. Add in the recent passage of the Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation of 2022 (MoCRA)