Preface

The Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR), established in 1976 by the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association (CTFA), is a unique endeavor by the industry to have the safety of ingredients used in cosmetics thoroughly reviewed and assessed in an unbiased and expert manner.The CIR program is formalized in a set of written procedures adopted by a Steering Committee selected by CTFA to provide policy and direction.The president of CTFA chairs this committee, which includes a dermatologist (representing the American Academy of Dermatology) and a toxicologist (representing the Society of Toxicology), a scientist representing industry, and another scientist from CTFA.The Steering Committee is responsible for the selection of the seven member Expert Panel.These distinguished scientists are publicly nominated by consumer, scientific, and clinical societies, government agencies, and industry.The Expert Panel members are selected from the scientific disciplines of dermatology, pharmacology, chemistry, and toxicology.The CIR Procedures give these experts complete independence to review and assess the safety data concerning ingredients, and their recommendations are publicly announced without any private review or comment by the cosmetic industry.Three nonvoting representatives are named to assist the Expert Panel and attend the public meetings.These include consumer (appointed by the Consumer Federation of America), an industry liaison, and a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) contact person.CIR consultants and Panel members must meet the same conflict-of-interest standards applicable under federal law to special government employees.To minimize duplication of effort, priority consideration of ingredients that are subject to other existing safety reviews are deferred.Thus, OTC-drug active ingredients, fragrance ingredients, ingredients in new drug applications, and all matters that are subject to a final regulation of the FDA are either deferred or ex-