By voting on the 3rd of May, a bill of law proposed by a group of centre-right members of the National Assembly, and aiming at prohibiting the use of endocrine disruptors such as phthalates, alkylphenols and parabens in consumer products, French deputies have caused confusion within the cosmetics industry, generating the utter incomprehension of some and the satisfaction of the others.
The chemical industry expresses full disagreement
The Union of Chemical Industries (UIC) said the vote by the National Assembly created utter incomprehension. “The prohibition of entire categories of substances with very different toxicological profiles, uses, and therefore exposure levels is a scientific, technical and regulatory non-sense,” commented the organization representing the interests of French chemicals industry.
While MPs argue that the effects of these substances and their interactions are not entirely known, the UIC believes that the bill is “an excessive application of the precautionary principle.”
Where the deputies from the Nouveau Centre party said that toxicity studies of endocrine disruptors “still relies on the definition of daily intake, while potential cocktail effects or the effect of small doses have been hardly or not studied,” the chemical industry answered that, from a scientific and technical point of view, this is mad with much precipitation as neither the INSERM [1] nor the ANSES [2] that were seized by the Ministry of Health have not made their final risk assessment yet. According to the UIC, endocrine disruptors even lack a validated definition at European level.
The UIC also emphasizes the usefulness of the suspected substances in daily life: phthalates render some plastics flexible, parabens inhibit the proliferation of pathogenic microorganisms in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, and derivatives of alkylphenols are used as emulsifiers. "Today, many of these applications are not technically substitutable," according to the UIC.
Support by NGOs and organic cosmetics makers
As far as NGOs are concerned, their position is obviously very different. André Cicolella, spokesman for the Réseau Environnement Santé, welcomes "the lucid and courageous vote of French deputies" that he hopes it will not be without incidence on the Commission and Member States of the European Union.
For manufacturers of natural and organic cosmetics, the vote of French deputies has the advantage of consolidating their own position regarding the use of synthetic chemicals. According to Thierry Logre, CEO of Laboratories Phyt’s, a leading maker of organic cosmetics in France, the vote strengthens its brand’s strategy, which since its inception 40 years ago, refuses the use of parabens. “From the outset, we learned how to make products without synthetic preservatives, according to a methodology of our own,” he says.
Indeed, according to Thierry Logre, there are “many questions related to these substances.” He particularly stresses the uncertainties regarding their "chronic toxicity" that is extremely difficult to assess. “So when they say that parabens have a very positive toxicological profile, they only speak about acute toxicity, but they pretend to ignore the consequences of the accumulation of small daily doses absorbed by the skin."
However, Thierry Logre does not claim for victory. “Parabens should not hide other synthetic preservatives, such as phenoxyethanol or formaldehyde precursors,” he warns. Above all, he knows that the new legislation must still be approved by the Senate which will have to resist “pressure from the government.”
Awaiting a Senate vote
Indeed, the bill proposed by MP Yvan Lachaud (Nouveau Centre) was adopted against the opinion of the government and despite a negative vote by the Assembly’s Commission of Social Affairs. To date, the examination of the text is not scheduled in the work load of the Senate for weeks to come. In France, the government decides of the Parliament’s agenda, but lawmakers still have the opportunity to schedule the examination of their own proposals during the “parliament niches", i.e. days that are dedicated to them.
In this framework, all options are possible: from the approbation by the senators on the bill in the same terms, which would mean it become a law applicable upon publication in the Official Journal after its promulgation by the President of the Republic, to the mere rejection of the text or, more likely to date, a vote amending the Assembly’s text.
Meanwhile, social networks and blogs devoted to cosmetic products, clearly expressed strong supports to the text voted by the National Assembly. What makes some people consider that, in any case, these substances are publicly condemned.
