Washington—Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), author of the Personal Care Products Safety Act, today released the following statement in response to a Food and Drug Administration letter to Congressman Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and the resulting New York Times story:

“The FDA’s letter to Congressman Pallone and New York Times story shows the urgent need to update our country’s woefully inadequate personal care product safety laws.

“Less than 1 percent of nearly 3 million shipments of personal care products are inspected at our nation’s ports of entry, even though 15 percent of the products that were inspected failed. 

“Nearly 30,000 companies from countries around the world sell personal care products in the United States. Under our bill, they would finally be required to register with the FDA and disclose their ingredients and ingredient amounts. 

“Protecting American consumers from dangerous imports must be a priority. Additionally, American companies are put at an unfair disadvantage when unsafe imported products that aren’t regulated can compete with U.S. products.

“Our bill is a no-brainer. It’s bipartisan, it’s supported by the private sector, public health experts and consumer advocates. It should move forward.”