Debate: Why ‘Clean’ Beauty Doesn’t Mean ‘Safer’—Yet January 19, 2021 Contact Author Rachel Grabenhofer Close "Why is oversight important? Women use about 12 personal care products per day. For men, it’s six and teenage girls use 17. This accounts for hundreds of exposures and we need to ensure the safety and health of consumers." Sponsored 'Clean' beauty may have started as marketing hype, following the path of the foods industry. But today’s consumers now hold faith in products brandishing this label. Does this put the onus on the industry to uphold this claim? And could it mean new standards? The IFSCC debated this topic in its first pro/con-style online event putting forth arguments as to whether “clean” beauty is both safer and real. Moderated by Perry Romanowski, of Element 44 Inc., the discussion featured Nicole Acevedo, Ph.D., founder and CEO of Elavo Mundi Solutions, LLC, arguing in favor of “clean” beauty and Mojgan Moddaresi, Ph.D., of Personal Care Regulatory Ltd., debating against it. Some 1,000 attendees were polled before and after the debate to “vote” on the outcome. Overall, they were not convinced that “clean” meant “safer”—although compelling arguments were made for standardizing “clean” beauty claims, especially for the U.S. market.