The Personal Care Product Safety Act is pending review in the Senate in hopes to remove toxic ingredients and begin regulation on cosmetic products. The bill asks brand owners to register with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and provide information about all ingredients.

The FDA is to create a list of ingredients and categorize them as “prohibited and restricted”, “safe without limits,” or “priority assessment.” The bill requires the FDA to also establish tests to detect contaminants in an ingredient or cosmetic product.

Unlike Canada or European Union, the FDA said that makeup safety must come from the individual company and not the FDA. One thing the FDA does regulate are color additives.

Lime Crime, a makeup brand, ran into this regulation problem when they used color additives in their lipstick. Color additives became a concern in the 1950s when kids got sick after eating Halloween candy that had these additives.

Not only can some of the ingredients in makeup harm us, but they can also harm the environment. Face washes and toothpaste have plastic microbeads to help exfoliate and end up in water systems, where they can absorb the toxins and then be eaten by fish.

The bill will address these potentially toxic ingredients as well as the testing of cosmetic products. “I think the bill is really good!” senior Jeanelle Cho said. “It surprises me that makeup is so unregulated.”

The bill also bans using animal testing. Allie Zucker is a PV senior who uses cruelty free makeup products. “I have a list on my phone of all the companies that are cruelty free and I just get them at regular stores like Ulta and Sephora,” Zucker said.

When looking for animal cruelty free products, Zucker recommended doing research to see what brands do and don’t test on animals. “Sometimes the products have the cruelty free symbol, which is a bunny,” Zucker said.

The bunny Zucker refers to is called the Leaping Bunny. This universal symbol let’s customers know that a certain brand does not test on animals. There is a rigorous set of requirements that are to be met before any brand is labeled with the Leaping Bunny.

Local beauty stores like Ulta and Sephora carry brands having the Leaping Bunny, which means they have cosmetic products that are and are not cruelty free.