2 replies to this topic

[Leni]

The following is an excerpt from the WSP Soap Chat files. They have been copied here for your convenience.


U. S. Food and Drug Administration
Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition
Office of Cosmetics and Colors Fact Sheet
February 3, 1995



SOAP
Ordinary soap is solely made up of fats and an alkali. In the past, people made their own soap from animal fats and wood ashes.

Today there are very few true soaps in the traditional sense on the market. You might recognize these soaps as products marketed with characteristics such as "pure". "True" soaps are regulated by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, not FDA, and do not require ingredient labeling.

Most body cleansers on the market today are actually synthetic detergent products and come under the jurisdiction of FDA. These detergent cleansers are popular because they make suds easily in water and don't form gummy deposits. Some of these detergent products are actually marketed as "soap" but are not true soap in the common and legal definition of the word.

If a cosmetic claim is made on the label of a "true" soap or cleanser, such as moisturizing or deodorizing, the product must meet all FDA requirements for a cosmetic, and the label must list all ingredients. If a drug claim is made on a cleanser or soap, such as antibacterial, antiperspirant, or anti acne, the product is a drug, and the label must list all active ingredients, as is required for all drug products.



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The 1979 FDA Consumer article reprinted below provides additional information on soap products.



U. S. Food and Drug Administration
FDA Consumer
February 1979



ALL THAT LATHERS IS NOT SOAP

by Harold Hopkins
You've been near it all your life, bassinet to bath to boudoir. It was used behind your ears before perfume was used there. It has removed dirt and grime from your face, fingers, and knees. If you've said naughty words your mother may have threatened to wash out your mouth with it. It has cleansed you, made you smell good, added a glow to your complexion, and helped make you feel fresher. But what do you really know about soap?

Well, in the first place the product you regard as soap may not be soap at all, but a synthetic detergent "beauty" or "bath" bar. These and similar names have been used by copywriters to spare the consumer the awful knowledge that she is not bathing herself with real soap, but with a synthetic detergent which, ironically, is for some purposes superior to soap. Some "soap" bars may consist of soap and synthetic detergent.

Soap, as long as we can remember, has enjoyed an enviable respect in polite society and this could be at least a part of the reason why Congress placed soap above the law in enacting the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938. This law exempted soap from regulation as a cosmetic.

So long as no cosmetic representations are made for soap, other than that it cleanses, and no claims are made that it will affect the structure or functions of the body or treat a disease, it is beyond FDA regulation. When such claims are made the soap must meet all FDA requirements for a cosmetic or a drug or both, whichever is appropriate. If it's represented as a drug the label must list all active ingredients; if represented as both a cosmetic and drug or as only a cosmetic the label must list all ingredients.

[Infaftclast]

The FDA already lost the case. This is old news now.

[lauramw71]

That post was from 2008...