Guidelines for safety evaluation of cosmetics ingredients in the EC countries.

The Scientific Committee on Cosmetology (SCC) of the Commission of the European Communities was established in 1978 to assist the Commission in the application of the 76/768 Directive, which regulates the production and marketing of cosmetics products. The Committee has been asked to update the general guidelines, defined in 1982, for testing cosmetics ingredients with the aim of ensuring consumers' safety. In the present paper the full document approved by the SCC in October 1990 is reported. This new document is based on the experience of the Committee over the last 10 years, during which more than 400 cosmetics ingredients have been evaluated. The document also highlights the need to proceed to define standard methods to be used to assess dermal absorption and phototoxicity--areas in which international guidelines have not yet been approved. The document also includes some comments made by the author in order to explain better the position of the Committee in relation to certain items.