Cosmed association considers legal action against magazine 60 millions de consommateurs.

Cosmed is the representative association of the French cosmetics industry's VSEs, SMEs and ETIs. It strongly condemns the misleading practices of the magazine 60 millions de consommateurs and has instructed his lawyer. In its special issue no. 188 April/May 2017, the magazine 60 millions de consommateurs takes a fierce stand against interior sanitizing sprays, particularly those with natural essential oils marketed by members of the association. It describes the use of these products for home hygiene as a "double deception", and discredits their safety in use.

In support of its "demonstration", the magazine produces a great deal of erroneous information, as was already the case in 2013 concerning suncare products*. It also contradicts itself on a number of points**.. Some of this information is so scientifically misleading*** that it is not possible at this stage to determine whether it is deliberate or due to a lack of verification of the information published. Cosmed intends to take legal action to ensure that these recurrent methods of creating misleading scientific discourse are finally brought to the attention of the public. The great freedom rightly enjoyed by the media does not mean freedom to misinform, intentionally or otherwise, to serve a dogmatic and partisan vision of a major social issue, such as consumer product safety.

Cosmed has entrusted Maître David Koubbi, attorney at law at the Paris Bar, with the task of studying the most appropriate legal action to restore truthful, transparent and objective information for consumers on the safety and efficacy of essential oils in sanitizing sprays, and to follow up on the publication of the disputed article.

Jean-Marc GIROUX
Doctor of Pharmacy, expert toxicologist-pharmacologist, President of Cosmed

*Press release Cosmed suncare products 2013 - "Who's fooling who?

**For example, the magazine accuses the sprays of containing too much natural limonene, a substance which is only potentially irritating if overdosed. And yet, a few pages later in the same special issue, it recommends using lemon essential oil to purify the air... which contains up to 80 % of limonene.

***The magazine's editorial team has rewritten and reinterpreted the findings of a clinical study on the tolerance of essential oils in mild asthmatics, resulting in readers being presented with exactly the opposite of the genuine scientific conclusion.