Portraits in Leadership
Carl Geffken
If you’ve ever attended industry conferences on regulations, chances are you’ve heard of Carl Geffken, president of Carl Geffken Consultants. He’s the expert who seems to have memorized practically every regulation and standard pertaining to cosmetic and personal care products and shares that knowledge pretty frequently. And, as vice president of the Independent Cosmetic Manufacturers and Distributors (ICMAD; Palatine, IL) and chair of its technical, regulatory, and legislative committee, you’ll find him answering regulatory questions at the ICMAD booth.
Geffken has invested more than 30 years in the cosmetic industry. Ten years ago he was working for Chanel, a company for which he spent 10 years as an executive director handling quality assurance and regulatory affairs. He joined Beiersdorf N.A. in 1998, where he spent another two years in QA/RA before becoming an independent consultant.
Questions on claims and label content to meet regulations are pretty popular these days, he says. He reminds clients all the time that while cosmetic product notification or registration is not mandatory in the United States, it is a legal requirement in most markets around the world.
Most of the work companies face is figuring out how to list ingredients and comply with other labeling regulations. Geffken points companies to the Cosmetic Ingredients Dictionary published by the Cosmetic, Fragrance, and Toiletry Association (CTFA) for the required naming designations. (As an associate member of CTFA, Geffken serves on four CTFA technical committees.) FDA “recognizes” the dictionary because it publishes the International Nomenclature for Cosmetic Ingredients (INCI) generally recognized in the United States, the European Union, and Canada. “But there are some differences between countries,” he warns, such as for botanicals and colorants.
For instance, during ICMAD’s meeting at Cosmoprof North America in Las Vegas, he said that in November 2006 Canada will begin requiring labels to identify INCI designations unless they contain trivial names, which must bear French and English terms. “You may have to print water/aqua/eau now on labels harmonized for the United States, Europe, and Canada.”
Geffken also urges companies to support safety substantiation in two significant ways. The first way is to confirm that ingredients comply with published findings of the Cosmetic Ingredient Review, a respected scientific body established 30 years ago by the CTFA.
The second way is to participate in FDA’s on-line Voluntary Cosmetic Registration Program (VCRP), a system that records ingredient use in an agency database.
Geffken also advises companies to remain conservative when making labeling claims. “You just can’t make aggressive health or treatment claims without the risk of agency scrutiny,” he says.
Geffken routinely encourages the industry to come together to make its collective voice even louder on regulatory and safety issues. Under his leadership, “ICMAD and CTFA have already informally met to discuss ways their members can support programs that are mutually beneficial,” he reports.