N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law § 37-0117: Prohibition of cosmetic products and personal care products containing 1,4-dioxane or mercury

§ 37-0117. Prohibition of cosmetic products and personal care products

containing 1,4-dioxane or mercury.

1. The term "cosmetic product" shall mean any article (a) intended to

be rubbed, sprinkled, or sprayed on, introduced into, or otherwise

applied to the human body or any part thereof for beautifying, promoting

attractiveness, or altering the appearance, and (b) intended for use as

a component of any such article. The term "cosmetic product" shall not

include any personal care product as defined in this section for which a

prescription is required for distribution or dispensation as provided in

section two hundred eighty-one of the public health law or section

sixty-eight hundred ten of the education law.

2. The term "personal care product" shall mean any product intended

for cleaning or cleansing any part of the body, such as the skin and

hair, and including but not limited to, hair shampoo, hair conditioner,

soap, bath gels and other bath products. The term "personal care

product" shall not include any product for which a prescription is

required for distribution or dispensation as provided in section two

hundred eighty-one of the public health law or section sixty-eight

hundred ten of the education law.

3. No person shall sell or offer for sale any cosmetic product

containing 1,4-dioxane, other than such trace concentrations, that

exceeds ten parts per million by December thirty-first, two thousand

twenty-two.

4. No person shall sell or offer for sale any personal care product

containing 1,4-dioxane, other than such trace concentrations, as

authorized by the commissioner, in consultation with the department of

health, by regulation; and further, such trace concentrations for

personal care products shall not exceed two parts per million by

December thirty-first, two thousand twenty-two and one part per million

by December thirty-first, two thousand twenty-three.

5. No later then May first, two thousand twenty-five, and every two

years thereafter, the department, in consultation with the department of

health, shall review such trace concentration thresholds and determine

whether such concentrations shall be lowered to better protect human

health and the environment.

6. The department is authorized to promulgate such rules and

regulations as it shall deem necessary to implement the provisions of

this section, including rules and regulations with respect to any

allowable trace concentrations.

7. A manufacturer of a cosmetic product or personal care product,

otherwise subject to the requirements of subdivisions three and four of

this section, may apply to the department for a one-year waiver from

such requirements for a specific cosmetic product or personal care

product, and upon such proof that the manufacturer has taken steps to

reduce the presence of 1,4-dioxane in that product and is unable to

comply with the requirements of subdivisions three and four of this

section. Thereafter, a manufacturer may apply for one additional

one-year waiver for such product, upon its satisfaction of such similar

proof.

8. No person shall sell or offer for sale any cosmetic product or

personal care product containing mercury, other than in trace amounts

identified by the department, in consultation with the department of

health, in regulations. Any such trace amounts shall be consistent with

the permissible concentrations of trace amounts allowed by the food and

drug administration as (a) unavoidable under conditions of good

manufacturing practice, or (b) necessary for use as a preservative in

the absence of an effective and safe nonmercurial preservative

substitute in cosmetic products intended for use only in the area of the

eye. For the purposes of this subdivision "mercury" shall mean elemental

mercury Hg, mercuric iodide, mercury oxide, mercurous chloride, ethyl

mercury, phenyl mercuric salts, ammoniated mercury, amide chloride of

mercury, mercury sulfide or cinnabaris, or mercury iodide.