What are the key responsibilities that the cosmetics industry holds in safeguarding the health of consumers and the environment? How do you balance marketing needs vs consumer safety?
The cosmetics industry is responsible to provide products that are safe when used as recommended. Companies should add a sensible safety margin such that “as recommended” allows for reasonable misunderstanding and mistakes. It should go without saying, that the industry should obey all laws and regulations in the regions where its products are made and used. If a company discovers a heretofore unrecognized safety problem with their products, they have a moral responsibility to fix it and make it known regardless of specific regulations. Beyond this, there is no responsibility to safeguard the health of consumers. Health means different things to different people. Consumers have the ultimate responsibility to safeguard their own health. This may not be a popular opinion, but I believe it to be the only practical way of conducting business.

How have recent transformative events in the cosmetics industry been influenced by evolving regulations, and what specific changes have they necessitated in traditional formulations and ingredients?

A recent example is the scrutiny of silicones in general and the specific regulation of cyclic silicones in the EU. Many large consumer product companies have formal programs aimed at finding viable substitutes for silicones in haircare and skincare products. No clear winners have emerged but esters, alkanes and various organic polymers and oligomers have recently been introduced.

How are retailers, consumers, and NGOs contributing to the push for the removal of non-easily substitutable ingredients like preservatives, colorants, and chelating agents in cosmetics?

Ultimately it comes down to consumers who wield the power in the consumer product value chain. Of course consumers are influenced by social media, traditional media and then the CPG companies, NGO’s and retailers. It is probably underestimated the extent to which social media player, X drives the mainstream media (newspapers, TV) narrative. Tiktok and to a lesser extent, Instagram and Facebook drive the consumer conversation.

What obstacles does the cosmetics industry encounter in terms of testing, especially with the bans on animal testing, and what alternatives are being explored to address these challenges? How might AI impact this type of testing?

China is a large, important market for cosmetics and requires animal testing for certain categories of non-polymeric new ingredients - either as ingredients or as part of a finished formulation. An impact of this stipulation has been a significant shift to ingredients that qualify as polymers under the China CSAR regulations. Many other regulatory jurisdictions favor polymers, in cosmetics and other applications.

What potential solutions are being considered amidst the challenges faced by the cosmetics industry, particularly in the exploration of alternative ingredients?

As a developer of new alternative ingredients, you will get a fair and open hearing by essentially all the large cosmetics companies and many of the smaller Indie brands. Companies are looking for new and effective alternatives to silicones, petrochemicals and other ingredient classes. If you come to the table with credible data and good, third party certifications in areas like biodegradability, product carbon footprint and of course performance at credible ingredient loadings, there is new business to be had.

How is technology, specifically AI, playing a role in ingredient sourcing, product development, and safety evaluations within the cosmetics industry?

There are a number of major initiatives in this area. I would highlight the work of PotionAI in formulation development and natural language querying of customer data. In the academic space, the University of Toronto’s Acceleration Consortium is working on the integrated application of AI/ML/SDL (Artificial Intelligence/ Machine Learning / Self-Driving Lab) technology to the development and formulation of new chemistry. The consortium recently won a USD 200 M grant from the Canadian government.

Other developments are dictated by regulation. Overcoming regulatory hurdles is almost always disruptive. Included in this class are:

Parabens

Phthalates

Formaldehyde

Triclosan

Toluene

Nitroso Compounds

D4

In each case we were forced to make adjustments to our products to meet regulation. How should we approach the requirement to meet new regulations and limit or remove these ingredients? Introducing new chemistries to solve these issues is difficult, since the new raw material is also regulated and needs regulatory approval.

Developers have tended to adopt the following approach. First, if at all possible, avoid new chemistry, for the reasons alluded to in the question. By the way, an ingredient is not technically new if it can fit into an existing broad nomenclature, such as glycolipid for many types of biosurfactant. Second, if new chemistry is needed, try to make it meet the polymer definition in one or more of the big regulatory jurisdictions. If a new ingredient is not a polymer, it had better be really good in performance, sustainability and cost metrics.

The biotech area offers a great potential in sustainable technology. Would you agree that it is in the early stages of development? Would you also agree we need to look at additional natural biotech products? What is being done to expedite the program?

Biotech for cosmetics and ingredients is in its second wave of development but still quite early .The first wave of companies, either no longer exist or are operating in bankruptcy. These include Solazyme, whose assets were bought out of bankruptcy and Amyris who filed for bankruptcy early last year (2023). The second wave of companies seem to be more tightly focused on biosurfactants and include startups like Holiferm and Ruby Bio and large established companies like Stepan and Evonik. To expedite the program, just add money, as many investors already are.

Given the cosmetics industry's focus on sustainability and the need to replace certain ingredients, how can the integration of biosurfactants be explored as a potential solution to meet regulatory demands, enhance product performance, and contribute to the industry's commitment to environmental responsibility?

I’m generally bullish on biosurfactants, but I’m not sure that any winners will yet emerge from this second wave. I certainly hope so, but it is too early to start handicapping these companies.