Get unlimited access to everything VICE has to offer.

Turn off all ads on VICE.com

Exclusive New VICE Documentaries

Member Exclusive Features & Columns

Turn off all ads on VICE.com

Exclusive New VICE Documentaries

Member Exclusive Features & Columns

Turn off all ads on VICE.com

Exclusive New VICE Documentaries

Member Exclusive Features & Columns

4 Magazines Delivered to Your Door

Europe Just Banned These 15 Chemicals From Cosmetics (the US Still Hasn’t)

Be careful what you put on your face, friends.

Share on X (Opens in new window)X

Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Facebook

Share using Native toolsShareCopied to clipboard

Europe is cleaning out its medicine cabinet, and American regulators are, once again, in no particular rush to do the same.

Starting May 1, the European Union will enforce a ban on 15 chemicals in cosmetic products—substances now classified as carcinogenic, mutagenic, or toxic for reproduction (CMR). That’s the scientific shorthand for chemicals that may raise cancer risk, alter DNA, or mess with fertility and fetal development. Under EU rules, a CMR classification triggers an automatic cosmetics ban. Manufacturers have to pull existing stock, halt production, and clear shelves by next Friday or face fines.

In the US, these same 15 chemicals remain legal in personal care products. No ban. No deadline. No scramble.

“Unlike the EU, the US does not have a similar mechanism that automatically bans chemicals classified as carcinogenic, mutagenic, or toxic for reproduction,” Alexa Friedman, a senior scientist at the Environmental Working Group, told the New York Post.

To be fair, the picture is a little more complicated than a straight-up regulatory failure. Most of these 15 substances aren’t ingredients you’d typically find in your face wash or mascara. They’re industrial........

© Vice