France bans usage of chloroacetamide in cosmetics

The French National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health products (ANSM) has banned the production, import and export of preservative chloroacetamide in cosmetics.

The agency said it had ordered the manufacturers, importers, stockholders, marketers and distributors to take necessary steps to stop the distribution and withdraw it immediately, as the preservative has been found to have harmful effects on human fertility, reports .cosmeticsdesign-europe.com.

Chloroacetamide, a chlorinated aliphatic amide used in cosmetic formulations, has also been prohibited in cosmetics and personal care products in Canada.

According to the ANSM, the decision was taken on an opinion by the Scientific Committee on Security consumers (CSSC), which concluded that as the safety margin was too low and the substance could not be considered safe for health as part of its implementation in cosmetics.

The prohibition, which is applicable in France, would also force a similar decision to be taken at the European level, which should not be a major setback for cosmetics manufacturers as chloroacetamide is no longer used in formulas.

However, the European legislation still permits using chloroacetamide as a preservative at a concentration of 0.3%,with products being labeled as ‘contains Chloroacetamide.’

The European Commission in 2010 had announced that it was looking into that chloroacetamide and dichloromethane regarding their potentially hazardous classifications.

The Cosmetics Directive had classified dichloromethane as a category 3 carcinogen and chloroacetamide as a category 3 mutagenic or reproductive toxin after the European Commission’s announcement.