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News

Dispatches, Channel 4: “The truth about beauty creams”

13 May 2008

You may have seen Channel 4’s Dispatches programme last night entitled “The truth about beauty creams” and feel a bit more sceptical today about the products that you buy. Below are some facts that weren’t in the programme last night to help you make up your own mind:

Safety

The programme notes that some ingredients in medicines are also used in cosmetics and asks whether this is safe. When they’re used in cosmetics, these ingredients are used in very low, safe levels, which is why, unlike medicines, cosmetics never need to carry warnings about serious adverse health effects.

Each and every cosmetic product must undergo a rigorous safety assessment by a duly qualified professional before it can make it to the shelves. This is a requirement under the European Cosmetics Directive.  Find out more.

Science

The programme questions whether products can live up to their scientific claims. The science behind innovative cosmetics is carried out by highly qualified scientists from many different specialist fields. To put just one new product on the shelves can take up to five years or more, with a dozen senior scientists working on it, each supported by their own team of scientists.

During this time, many trials will be carried out on a large number of people to make sure the product does exactly what it says on the pack – and you don’t just have to take the industry’s word for it.  All claims made about products must also be approved by Clearcast and the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), which ask for a robust body of scientific evidence before they’ll give the green light.

Find out more about the science behind cosmetics.

Beauty consultants

There are around 25,000 beauty consultants in the UK. Each one is well trained to help people to select the most appropriate products for them. This is important because a happy customer will keep coming back to enjoy the same product. It’s not in anyone’s interest to hoodwink people into making one-off purchases at the expense of future trust. To find out more about beauty consultant training, including the nationally recognised BTEC qualification, the Retail Beauty Consultant Diploma, available from the London College of Beauty Therapy.

Product reviewers

The programme suggests that some journalists may feel under pressure to be complimentary about products that advertise in their publications. Journalists are able to say exactly which products they believe work for them and which ones do not and why – that’s how they add value for readers. With many products to review, only those which are being recommended to the readers are likely to reach the pages of the magazine.

Dispatches’ “The Truth about beauty creams” was aired on Channel 4 at 8pm on Monday 12th May. If you have any further questions for the CTPA, please contact us.

The Cosmetic, Toiletry and Perfumery Association (CTPA) is an association of manufacturers of cosmetic, toiletry and perfumery products, founded in 1945 to promote the interests of members, primarily with government. That remit has now extended to include the European Commission and many other regulatory bodies, national and international groups.

Members are manufacturers (full members), raw material suppliers and suppliers of services (associate members). Our Council is made up of senior industry representatives from small, medium, large and multi-national companies. Activities are funded through membership subscriptions.

The focus of our work centres on scientific, regulatory and legislative issues. We have a constant dialogue with the UK Government and this process is repeated at European level through COLIPA, the European trade body and internationally through an extensive network of national association contacts.

Visit the CTPA main website »

The Cosmetic, Toiletry and Perfumery Association (CTPA) is the voice of the cosmetic, toiletry and perfumery industry in the UK. Our members vary from small and medium-sized companies to large multi-nationals and include manufacturers, raw material suppliers and service providers.

Our primary goal is to promote good working practice to ensure that consumers are provided with the very best products. To this end, we co-ordinate the industry's viewpoint on key issues such as science, innovation and safety and maintain an open dialogue with government, both at UK and European level, as well as with international regulatory authorities and key opinion formers.

CTPA recognises that the consumer has a right to understand the processes that industry and the regulatory bodies go through to ensure the safety and efficacy of cosmetic and toiletry products. Over the years we have steadily increased our focus on providing the public with direct access to the industry's perspective and progress on safety, science and innovation.

In April 2008 we launched our consumer information website, www.thefactsabout.co.uk, which provides scientific facts about common ingredients used in cosmetics and the industry's perspective on common safety questions as well as information on how products are regulated to ensure safety and efficacy.

Further information on the work of the CTPA is available from our main website www.ctpa.org.uk which also houses the full set of legislation under 'Cosmetic regulations'.