FDA withdraws rule on tests for cancer-causing asbestos in talc-based cosmetics

The Food and Drug Administration today abruptly said it is withdrawing its proposed rule to establish approved test methods for detecting and identifying cancer-causing asbestos in talc...

The Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act of 2022 required the FDA to develop the rule. The Trump administration’s decision to scrap the regulation will be published in the November 28 Federal Register.

Asbestos is a deadly human carcinogen for which there is no safe level of exposure. Repeated contamination of talc-based products has raised serious public health concerns.
....
“Inhaling even the tiniest amount of asbestos in talc can cause mesothelioma and other deadly diseases, many years after exposure,” said Tasha Stoiber, Ph.D., senior scientist at EWG. “How much talc is inhaled, and how much is contaminated with asbestos, is difficult to know, but it only takes a single asbestos fiber lodged in the lungs to cause mesothelioma decades later.”

Exposure to asbestos is linked to asbestosis, mesothelioma, and lung and ovarian cancers. Even brief exposures can trigger disease years later. Studies estimate that more than 60% of mesothelioma cases in women are likely attributable to non-occupational asbestos exposure.