PIERRE FABRE DERMO-COSMETIC LABORATORIES
AND RENÉ FURTERER ARE COMMITTED TO YOUR SAFETY

Today, some of you are concerned about the ingredients used in dermo-cosmetic products, so you sometimes forgo using them.
As a responsible health and beauty sector player, we have an obligation to provide you with transparent information on the safety and efficacy of our formulas.

• Scientific ethics
• Rigorous formulation charter
• Safe ingredients
• Strong commitments

Our top priority is to guarantee your safety. To do so, we work with highly-qualified toxicology teams to rigorously evaluate all our products, in compliance with the European regulations in force, which are considered among the strictest in the world.

We are continuously attuned to our customers to better understand your concerns and expectations. This is all the more important with regard to ingredients since the issue is very serious and all claims must be based on indisputable scientific evidence.

As a responsible health and beauty sector player, our conviction is that we have an obligation to provide you with transparent information on the safety and efficacy of our formulas.

In this context, Pierre Fabre Dermo-cosmetic Laboratories and the René Furterer brand commit to only making claims based on rational and scientific grounds.

When developing our formulas, if we encounter the slightest problem during testing, the procedure is very clear: the product is not marketed and it goes back to square one.
For Pierre Fabre Dermo-cosmetic Laboratories and the René Furterer brand, safety comes first. Each of our products is therefore put on the market with the absolute guarantee that it is safe under normal conditions of use.

HOW DOES THE PIERRE FABRE DERMO-COSMETIC GROUP DEVELOP SAFE PRODUCTS?

Pierre-Jacques Ferret, Director of Toxicology and Cosmetovigilance, explains how we develop a dermo-cosmetic product at Pierre Fabre

Consumer confidence – which is based on the guarantee that all our products are safe – is crucial. This is why, for over 50 years now, our product safety assessment has been based on 3 types of analyses, performed with the greatest rigor.

We only use ingredients that have been rigorously tested by our scientific experts, guided by the European Cosmetics Regulation.*

As such, for each ingredient, a set of criteria are assessed:

• ingredient type
• concentration of the ingredient in the product that will come into contact with the skin and scalp,
• contact time, which is dependent on product type (rinse or no-rinse)
• product category (face, body, hair) and, consequently, the surface area exposed,
• target customers, taking extra care when dealing with so-called “sensitive” groups, namely infants, children, pregnant women and people with skin pathologies.
• Packaging and method of application

We apply the fundamental rules of medical and pharmaceutical rigor to our dermo-cosmetic products, meaning that nothing can be asserted unless it is proven. To guarantee the safety and innocuousness of all our formulas, we carry out particularly strict checks that go beyond European requirements:

• - Pre-clinical in vitro tests
• - In vivo clinical tolerance tests,
• - Sensitization test in maximized exposure conditions, under medical supervision,
• - Skin and/or eye tolerance test in normal conditions of use, under dermatological and/or opthalmologic and/or pediatric supervision.

Due to our status as a healthcare company, we made the decision to have our own cosmetovigilance department within our laboratories to ensure the safety of customers when they use our products after market placement, in all countries where they are marketed. This international organization also calls on external and independent experts. This network of experts continuously monitors and reassesses the safety of René Furterer products. Using rigorous and recognized methodologies, the network collects, validates and analyzes adverse events related to the use of a cosmetic product and collects all information likely to improve the product.

Apprehension about controversial ingredients is at the heart of our concerns. Our goal is to provide you with tangible and scientific information on these ingredients to help you better understand them and guide you in your choices.
Cosmetic ingredients contribute to product efficacy, preservation, texture, color and fragrance. The choice of ingredients and their concentration in formulas is not random, and each has its own role in the formula.

The European Cosmetics Regulation is reviewed very regularly, five to six times a year, to take account of scientific progress. Decisions are adopted by the health authorities of the Member States. In France, these decisions are made by the ANSM (national drug safety agency) and the Directorate-General for Health, acting on a proposal from the European Commission. They are based on the opinions of independent European experts from various Member States who come together for meetings of the Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS).

They prevent products from being contaminated by mold and bacteria. Without them, the product could deteriorate and present a real risk to the consumer when used.

• Their role: Despite the rumors and false information, they are very effective preservatives that rarely produce allergic reactions. They are found naturally in strawberries, carrots, onions and royal jelly, for example.
• For your safety: Parabens are the ingredients most analyzed by toxicology experts, since there are a large number of them and they are used in many products (foodstuffs for example). Only four of them are used in cosmetics: METHYLPARABEN, ETHYLPARABEN, PROPYLPARABEN and BUTYLPARABEN. Suspicions of them being endocrine disruptors appear to be unfounded since no study has shown any effect on hormonal systems.

• Its role : PHENOXYETHANOL is an effective and very well-tolerated preservative. It is found naturally in green tea and chicory, for example.
Many accusations have been leveled against it, often unfounded and not based on any conclusive scientific data. In particular, it is accused of causing liver problems, if ingested. Yet, our products are intended to be applied to the skin or scalp and do not cross the skin barrier.
• For your safety : The Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) confirms that phenoxyethanol is absolutely safe for application on the skin, for all age groups including infants, with the exception of application to the diaper area.

• At René Furterer, to meet your expectations, we no longer use parabens. Instead, other preservatives can be used at the right dose to avoid product deterioration and ultimately, to ensure your safety.

Silicones (CYCLOPENTASILOXANE, DIMETHICONE, CYCLOMETHICONE and so on) are now suspected of: persisting in the aquatic environment, smothering the skin and hair and being endocrine disruptors, although no scientific publication backs up these claims.
• For your safety: Silicones are considered safe ingredients by the international regulatory authorities including the Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS). They are chemically inert, well tolerated by the skin, non-comedogenic, non-irritating and non-allergenic.
• At René Furterer, we only use Cyclopentasiloxane (D5) and sometimes Dimethicone in reduced concentrations. They have been found to be safe but suffer from the bad reputation of Cyclotetrasiloxane (D4), which we do not use and which is prohibited.

• Naturalness is central to our expertise
• Product composition: our products are formulated using essential oils and natural extracts, according to rigorous pharmaceutical laboratory procedures.
• Botanical Expertise
• Commitment to fair trade, supportive and accountable supply chains: Fair for life
• Made in France: our products are designed and manufactured in France
• Formulation charter