Nice attitude. Remember, you're on HN, not reddit.
Do you really think those products you are rubbing around your skin every day and sniffing up your nose don't get absorbed by your skin and lungs!!?
Aside from the fact that I don't typically snort lotion, it's true that there are plenty of things that come into contact with my body all the time. So maybe you can help me understand where to draw the line.
For example, why is hand soap of interest to the FDA, but not:
- dish detergent, since I'm actually ingesting some small remnant of their content
- laundry detergent, and especially softener, since that's rubbing against my skin for nearly 24 hours/day.
- building materials, whose outgassing I'm inhaling for much of the day
Further, in your quotation above, this part seems pretty much nonsensical: "The FDA does not review – nor does it have the authority to regulate – what goes into cosmetics before they are marketed for salon use and consumer use.". I read this to say that "you can sell any cosmetics you want - as long as you don't try to sell it".
mostly a wild west at the moment.
Is that necessarily a problem? Is there a reason that everything must be regulated? If you're worried about safety, as in your final quotation, then why not settle for warnings while letting the users determine if they've got, e.g., adequate ventilation, or if there's other circumstances that make the risk worthwhile. For example, I typically won't use antibacterial soap myself, but if I've got a cut, or doing something else for which sanitation is important, it may be worthwhile in that special case. Government regulations lead to one-size-fits-all, and that size is the lowest common denominator, with no accommodation for individual circumstances - take their position on experimental drugs for terminal patients, for example.
