Last month China turned every eye in the cosmetic industry on itself after they released the revision of the Draft. Why was it necessary to revise the Draft? To understand this we must first understand the definition of “cosmetics” in China. According the China Food and Drugs Administration cosmetics refers to products that are applied to the human body surfaces (lips, skin, nails, hairs, etc.) teeth and oral mucosa by smearing, spraying or using any other similar approach with the purpose of cleaning, protecting, modifying and safe keeping its condition.

The main functions of oral care products such as toothpaste are cleaning and beautification, only these two functions should be enough to add toothpaste into the cosmetics category. The problem we face now is the fact that it is not as easy to see things this black and white. It will all depend on the claim of the product. For all we know, toothpaste can be considered a General use product, a Special use product or it can even be considered as a medical product. Normally, medical terms are not allowed by the CFDA so we still have to guess what will happen with terms as “first aid for bleeding gums”.

When we compare the Chinese regulatory with the EU/US regulatory we can see one very big difference. The EU does not divide toothpaste in any category as long as they can meet the necessary requirements. At this time toothpaste’s future is still not clear because we are still in the period that is called the public consultation.  This is a critical period because this might be the last chance to interact with the CFDA before last month’s Draft become official.

It will be very interesting to follow these changes made by the CFDA and I will revise this article with the final results regarding the faith of our beloved toothpaste.