WASHINGTON – Today Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., urged the Food and Drug Administration to investigate whether cosmetics giant Rodan + Fields used deceptive marketing to downplay the risks of a possibly cancer-causing chemical used in its products.
"Rep. Pallone deserves praise for pushing federal regulators to investigate Rodan + Fields for its apparent effort to hide the presence of a potentially carcinogenic chemical in its products,” said EWG Senior Vice President for Government Affairs Scott Faber. “Any company that deploys deception to cover up a product that could harm consumers deserves to be investigated."
"This deceptive action on the part of Rodan + Fields is not consistent with the public health goal of helping consumers make informed decisions regarding product purchase or protecting consumers from potential health hazards,” Pallone wrote in a letter sent today to FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb. “Given this, I urge FDA to investigate the actions of Rodan + Fields."
On its website, the company tells consumers to click on a link which, it claims, provides the FDA’s views on benzophenone. However, the link actually leads consumers to a website operated by the Personal Care Products Council, an industry trade group. The link is adjacent to a cancer warning required under the California law known as Proposition 65.
