Toxic-free Cosmetics Act signed into law

The Toxic- free Cosmetics Act (Assembly Bill 2762) has been signed into law by State of California. The bill has been supported by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), Personal Care Products Council (PCPC) and many other organizations.

The law will apply from January 1, 2025, and it will prohibit the manufacturing and sale of any cosmetic products that contains any of the following 12 intentionally added ingredients:

(1) Dibutyl phthalate (CAS no. 84-74-2).

(2) Diethylhexyl phthalate (CAS no. 117-81-7).

(3) Formaldehyde (CAS no. 50-00-0).

(4) Paraformaldehyde (CAS no. 30525-89-4).

(5) Methylene glycol (CAS no. 463-57-0).

(6) Quaternium-15 (CAS no. 51229-78-8).

(7) Mercury (CAS no. 7439-97-6).

(8) Isobutylparaben (CAS no. 4247-02-3).

(9) Isopropylparaben (CAS no. 4191-73-5).

(10) m-Phenylenediamine and its salts (CAS no. 108-45-2).

(11) o-Phenylenediamine and its salts (CAS no. 95-54-5).

(12) The following per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and their salts:

  • Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS); heptadecafluorooctane-1-sulfonic acid (CAS no. 1763-23-1).
  • Potassium perfluorooctanesulfonate; potassium heptadecafluorooctane-1-sulfonate (CAS no. 2795-39-3).
  • Diethanolamine perfluorooctane sulfonate (CAS 70225-14-8).
  • Ammonium perfluorooctane sulfonate; ammonium heptadecafluorooctanesulfonate (CAS 29081-56-9).
  • Lithium perfluorooctane sulfonate; lithium heptadecafluorooctanesulfonate (CAS 29457-72-5).
  • Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) (CAS no. 335-67-1).
  • Ammonium pentadecafluorooctanoate (CAS no. 3825-26-1).
  • Nonadecafluorodecanoic acid (CAS no. 355-76-2).
  • Ammonium nonadecafluorodecanoate (CAS no. 3108-42-7).
  • Sodium nonadecafluorodecanoate (CAS no. 3830-45-3).
  • Perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA)(CAS no. 375-95-1).
  • Sodium heptadecafluorononanoate (CAS no. 21049-39-8).
  • Ammonium perfluorononanoate (CAS no. 4149-60-4).

However, this does not apply to cosmetic products, which contain technically unavoidable trace quantity of an ingredient listed above, that comes from impurities of natural or synthetic ingredients, manufacturing process, storage, or migration from packaging.

The list of banned ingredients is consistent with the EU’s Annex II of Regulation No. 1223/2009, which includes substances prohibited for use in cosmetics sold in the EU. Among those are also the 12 substances prohibited by California’s Toxic-Free Cosmetics Act.