Cosmetovigilance: the 'beautiful' risk

A cosmetic is classically defined as any preparation that is applied to the skin, eyes, mouth, hair or nails for the purpose of cleansing, enhancing appearance, giving a pleasant smell or giving protection. Unlike drugs, which are used to treat or prevent a disease in the body, cosmetics are not thought to change or affect the body's structure or functions. However, the distinction between drugs and cosmetics is sometimes not clear. Regulations for cosmetic products primarily address the safety of products that may be used by large populations of healthy consumers. However, the efficacy and safety of cosmetic products are not reviewed or approved by national authorities before they are sold to the public. The identification and analysis of adverse effects related to cosmetic products is a process that is currently still, to a large extent, industry driven. It is the responsibility of manufacturers to determine that products and ingredients are safe before they are marketed, and then to collect reports of adverse reactions. However, although the manufacturers do their best to monitor the safety profile of their products, we should consider that there is always a potential inherent conflict of interest

Ecopharmacology:a new important topic for Pharmacovigilance.

Ecopharmacovigilance is a new issue of great interest. It can be defined as the science and activities concerning detection, assessment, understanding and prevention of adverse effects or other problems related to the presence of pharmaceuticals in the environment, which effect both human and the other animal species. During the 20th century, thousands of chemicals have been introduced into the market and used in everyday life, in industry and agriculture. This was \u2018blindly\u2019 carried out without considering the direct and indirect consequences on human health, on animals species and on the environment. Every year an estimate of 100.000 tons antibiotics are used all over the world. Many drugs are available on the market and their number keeps growing. Today, approximately 3000 different pharmaceuticals are commonly used in Europe. Drugs affect environmental organisms and are present in drinking and surface water. The presence of widely dispersed drugs and drug metabolites in the environment poses a potential direct, and indirect, risk to humans. - The nature and extent of the potential risks must be further investigated and assessed. - Safe disposal of medicines must be promoted, and appropriate facilities set up and used. - Further measures may have to be taken to reduce drug discharge into environment, including education. - The promotion of rational drug use should reduce the volume of medicines finding their way into the environment

Direct to consumer information in Europe: the blurred margin between promotion and information

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