Welcome to Public Health On Call, a podcast from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health,

where we bring evidence, experience, and perspective to make sense of today's leading health challenges.

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Today, Cosmetics, Howard Sclamberg, a former deputy commissioner at the US Food and Drug Administration,

joins me to talk about a new law that empowers that agency

to make cosmetics safer in the United States.

Let's listen.

Howard Sclamberg, it is great to have you back

on the podcast to talk today about cosmetics

and the Food and Drug Administration.

Great to be here. I look forward to it.

So there is some major legislation that passed as part of this omnibus bill that went through Congress at the end of 2020 about cosmetics.

But before we talk about that legislation, I just want to ask you a basic question.

What counts as a cosmetic? What is a cosmetic?

You would think that will be an easy question, but nothing in FDA regulation is easy.

So I'm going to read you the actual definition, and I'll kind of tell you what it is or what it isn't.

Cosmetic is articles intended to be rubbed, poured, sprinkled, or sprayed on, introduced

into, or otherwise applied to the human body for cleansing, beautifying, promoting attractiveness,

or altering the appearance.

So you think like, okay, well, that's stuff like makeup or cologne or perfume.

...