It's a worry. US consumers continue to use cosmetic products and eat food containing unsafe chemicals for years after the were banned in Europe. You can dismiss these claims as over-anxious, but if there is the slightest doubt about the safety of (unnecessary) chemical additives to products, then surely this information should be made available to consumers.
And if this goes on in the US, what the hell goes on in China ? And what about the doubtful cosmetic products sold in Cambodia and SEA which contain nasty things like chemicals for skin-whitening ?

US cosmetics are full of chemicals banned by Europe – why?
A long list of potentially harmful ingredients banned in the EU are legally allowed in the US due to historically relaxed regulations
Oliver Milman
Wed 22 May 2019 07.00 BST
Last modified on Wed 22 May 2019 13.22 BST

A brief but telling piece of legislation was put forward in Connecticut in January. Just three lines in length, the bill calls for any cosmetics in the state to “meet the chemical safety standards established by the European Union”.

The move, unlikely to be made law, is the latest signal of mounting anguish over the enfeebled regulation of everyday products in the US compared with European countries. Across a span of cosmetics, including makeup, toothpaste and shampoo, to items ranging from household cleaners to fruit juice to cheese, hundreds of potentially harmful ingredients banned in the EU are legally allowed in the US.

“Many Americans are unaware that they are absorbing untested and unsafe chemicals in their products,” said Alex Bergstein, a state senator who put forward the Connecticut legislation. Bergstein was previously the chair of the Mount Sinai Children’s Environmental health center.

“Generally, the EU has got it right. In the US we have a strong favouritism towards companies and manufacturers, to the extent that public health and the environment is being harmed. The pendulum has swung in an extreme way and it’s really going to take a general awakening by the public.”

The disparity in standards between the EU and US has grown to the extent it touches almost every element of most Americans’ lives. In cosmetics alone, the EU has banned or restricted more than 1,300 chemicals while the US has outlawed or curbed just 11.

It’s possible to find formaldehyde, a known carcinogen banned in EU-sold cosmetics, in US hair-straightening treatments and nail polish. Parabens, linked to reproductive problems, are ruled out in the EU but not the US, where they in skin and hair products. Coal tar dyes can be found in Americans’ eyeshadow, years after they were banned in the EU and Canada.

“In the US it’s really a buyer beware situation,” said Janet Nudelman, director of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. “Cosmetics companies can use any raw material that they like and there’s no way to know if they are safe before they reach the shelves. The contrast with the EU is stark and troubling.”

At the heart of the EU’s approach is what as known as its Reach (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) laws which require manufacturers to prove to regulators that a product is safe before it can be used. The US has similar rules for new chemicals entering the market but no such precautionary principles for the thousands of potential toxins already in use.

This means that certain dyes used in cheese, chocolates and juice are restricted in some European countries such as the UK – where a 2007 study found some artificial colors and preservatives are linked to increased hyperactivity in children – but not the US. Atrazine is the most widely used herbicide in the US but has been banned in Europe since 2003 due to concerns it pollutes water. Lead-based paints were banned in much of Europe before the second world war but it took the US until 1978 to follow suit.
Full article: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/201 ... tricted-eu

Shit whole country's (Im American) health system is screwed up because it's in the private sector. Ppl die every day just because they don't have the cash to go to the doctor, ER, or the required meds. Unsafe cosmetics is like the weight of a chair on the sinking titanic, pretty small. Granted it is a small step in the right direction.