Faculty Fellows Diana Bowman and Andrew Maynard, with ASU College of Law alum and Research Fellow Nathaniel May, authored a chapter on regulating nanomaterials in cosmetics in the recently published Analysis of Cosmetic Products, Second Edition.
Cosmetics are big business with estimated global sales of $675 billion by 2020. Competition in the market drives innovation and the adoption of new technology, including nanotechnology and nanomaterials. For many people, whether they know it or not, cosmetics will be their first contact with nanomaterials.
These materials provide interesting challenges for regulators around the world. The potential health risks associated with nanomaterials are uncertain or unknown. And some of these products blur the traditional regulatory divide between simple cosmetics and therapeutic goods (or drugs).
Bowman, Maynard, and May describe the evolving, and diverging, regulatory approaches found in the United States and European Union. The differences will reveal the strengths and weakness of either approach and provide important guidance for future regulation of cosmetics incorporating nanomaterials.