Unless you are living under a rock, you may be familiar with the term cannabidiol or CBD. It’s a legal cousin of marijuana with a bright future ahead.
With a worth of close to $2 billion, it’s right to say that the CBD industry is exploding.
However, unlike the rules and regulations on your favorite skin moisturizer or hand cream, CBD beauty products aren’t regulated by the US Food and Drug Administration.
That’s right, using CBD items can be safe or not. Either way, the FDA doesn’t have much to say about it.
This easy-going attitude from the FDA has created two sides among CBD consumers and producers.
One side thinks that CBD doesn’t have any potential side effects and hence will do fine without regulations.
And on the other side, we have a group that thinks regulations for all CBD products are necessary and the FDA needs to be more active in the CBD space.
So, which one is in the right? Let’s dive into the details so that you can pick a side in this case.
CBD is Not FDA Approved
Almost all the consumer commodities in the market, from food to cosmetics, need to pass the FDA tests to get the FDA approved certificate. Why is the certificate important?
Well, it’s an assurance of safety for the consumer.
So, when you go buy medication for your headache, you can have it without wondering about the right dosage or possible side effects thanks to the thorough research conducted by the FDA. And if something is not FDA approved, you’ll know to be cautious about that product.
However, CBD is not FDA approved but continues to grow as an industry. Today, you can find CBD in almost everything. There are CBD gummies as well as CBD hand creams. Many top beauty brands such as Sephora sell an assortment of CBD products.
But how is it possible for the CBD industry to bloom when it’s not FDA regulated?
There are several reasons that can give an answer to that question. For now, let’s focus on the two primary ones.
CBD is Federally Legal
There’s a reason why you need to apply for a medical card for using medical cannabis but not CBD.
Ever since the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, famously known as the Farm Bill 2018, hemp, or more specifically, industrial hemp, has been removed from the Schedule 1 category and thereby categorized as legal.
But, with the legality of industrial hemp came a lot of restrictions. It only allows industrial hemp with a THC percentage of less than 0.3 percent.
So, as long as CBD industries meet this criterion, it’s easier for them to produce hemp-derived CBD products and sell them to the public.
Some CBD is FDA Approved
If it was not confusing enough already, here’s another blow to people finding some logic in this situation: FDA approves some CBD but not all CBD. Let me explain.
The US Food and Drug Administration leaves an exception and approves a cannabis-derived CBD called Epidiolex.
Its use is meant for the treatment of two epileptic conditions- Lennox Gastaut Syndrome and Dravet Syndrome for people all aged 1 year and above.
This approval causes a lot of people to question that if the FDA can regulate the use of some CBD drugs, why not do it with all the CBD beauty products too?
Well, this question is met with silence which is why the beauty industries have been able to take advantage of the shortcomings of the FDA.
Beauty Cosmetics Taking Advantage of the CBD Loophole
As a result of the above-mentioned points, the regulations for CBD beauty products have a lot of loopholes that the industry takes advantage of and risks the safety of the public. Here’s how.
Since hemp-derived CBD is federally legal, beauty industries have the legal right to sell CBD products and consumers can use it legally too.
However, the FDA doesn’t really play a part in regulating the kind of beauty products that come into the market.
According to the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act), CBD products should be marketed lawfully which includes not claiming any product to be helpful in relieving, improving or preventing a health condition.
In addition to this, every CBD product should not contain an FDA regulated ingredient and should meet the claims on their labels. Many CBD companies have received warning letters from the FDA on such grounds.
But, in most cases, the FDA only investigates CBD products if there have been consumer complaints about them.
In most cases, it is the individual company that takes action such as recalling a batch and refunding the consumers.
In addition to this, in the FD&C Act, any ingredient that is additionally added to food or any drug needs premarket approval by the FDA but it’s not the case with cosmetics.
Another loophole here is the fact that there is not much research on CBD. The illegal category of cannabis makes it difficult to conduct research on cannabis-derived ingredients such as CBD.
So, the safety and health claims of CBD products is still under question.
Conclusion: Regulations or No Regulations?
If you are concerned about your safety and that of others, regulations are necessary.
Though there are many claims that suggest that CBD is essentially safe and has little to no side effects, the truth still stands that CBD beauty products do not have FDA approval. So, the question of safety doesn’t have a clear answer.
A beauty product can have all sorts of claims on its labels but there is no one to back it up.
To help ensure the safety of consumer CBD products and prevent industries to make claims that they do not meet, the FDA needs to take a stand and be more active with proper regulations in the ever-growing CBD market.
