No more colloidal gold beauty masks? European Commission notifies WTO of plans to ban nanoparticles in cosmetics

18 Feb 2022 --- Colloidal silver, colloidal gold and similar ingredients found in popular beauty products, such as glittery face masks, are coming under fire in the EU market. The European Commission (EC) recently issued notice to the World Trade Organization (WTO) of its draft amendment to the EU Cosmetics Regulation, which will ban specific nanoparticles in cosmetics.

Nanoparticles are materials that the Scientific Committee of Consumer Safety (SCCS) has flagged as a potential health risk.

By amending the Regulation to ban a host of nanoparticles, the EC could potentially disrupt the operations and revenue flow of a multitude of cosmetics companies, and take many high-demand products off the market. 

“The adoption of this draft Regulation is needed to ensure a high level of protection of human health for cosmetic products in the EU,” the intergovernmental organization says in its notice sent to the WTO. 

Nanoparticles under the spotlight
The EU Cosmetics Regulation is a set of rules for cosmetics ingredients and manufacturing, which are set in place to protect the safety of EU-based consumers. 

The European Commission has not yet supplied a date for the ban’s enactment, leaving companies in the dark.Nanomaterials facing restriction under the amendment include gold, colloidal gold, gold thioethylamino hyaluronic acid, acetyl heptapeptide-9 colloidal gold, sodium styrene/acrylates copolymer, styrene/acrylates copolymer, copper, colloidal copper, hydroxyapatite, platinum, colloidal platinum and acetyl tetrapeptide-17 colloidal platinum.

The EC notice did not provided a date for when this ban will enter into force, leaving companies with little means to prepare for the economic fallout.

Under the amendment, Annex II to the Cosmetics Regulation would be revised to uniformly implement the prohibition of these nanomaterials within the internal market.

Research, research and more research
In the draft amendment notice, the EU indicates the ban is due to a lack of knowledge regarding the safety of these materials.

This is similar to the EU and European Chemical Agency’s reasoning behind the ban of nearly every ink color used by Europe-based tattoo artists. In the tattoo ink ban, the EU highlighted that a lack of research regarding consumer safety and cancer-causing potential for certain pigments means that said ingredients cannot be approved for consumer safety reasons.

To avoid this ban or similar bans in the future, it is thus up to companies, consumer groups and scientific research institutes to commit to more extensive research regarding ingredients used in consumer products.

Boosting research capacities for certain ingredients also have the added benefit of increasing consumer confidence.

Last month, PersonalCareInsights spoke to Zev Ziegler of Lycored about how scientific testing was one of men’s biggest concerns when purchasing skincare products and supplements.

Edited by Olivia Nelson