Related

Class	Doing what	Names
Base powder	Bulk, slip, absorbency	Talc, cornstarch, rice starch, tapioca starch, kaolin
Fragrance	The point of the product	Parfum
Absorbent	Moisture and odour control	Silica, sodium bicarbonate, kaolin
Emollient	Feel	Zinc stearate, magnesium stearate

Its uses are genuine: absorbing moisture after a bath, reducing friction in skin folds, and leaving a soft matched scent under a fragrance from the same line — the traditional layering practice that made the format a staple of mid-century grooming.

This is the most consequential unresolved question in this catalogue, and dusting powder is where it centres.

Talc is a mined mineral, and in some deposits it occurs alongside asbestos. Cosmetic-grade talc is specified and tested to be asbestos-free, and an asbestos-contaminated cosmetic is adulterated under FD&C Act sec. 601. But the testing methods have never been standardised in regulation, which is precisely the gap MoCRA addressed:

• MoCRA directed FDA to promulgate standardised testing methods for detecting asbestos in talc-containing cosmetic products.
• A proposed rule issued in December 2024.
• It was withdrawn in November 2025, leaving the requirement unfinalised.

Alongside that, litigation over talc-containing body powders and ovarian cancer and mesothelioma has been extensive and has changed what major manufacturers sell — several have reformulated to cornstarch or withdrawn talc products entirely.

The honest position: talc is not prohibited, asbestos is; the association is a contamination question rather than an inherent property of talc; the testing framework is not settled; and cornstarch, rice starch and tapioca starch alternatives work well and sidestep the question entirely.

A separate and less-discussed issue. Fine powder applied with a puff becomes airborne, and respirable particles reaching the lungs are not something to do daily in an enclosed bathroom — for talc or for starch. Aspiration of powder by infants is a recognised paediatric emergency, which is why powder near babies is discouraged; see Baby Powder.

Apply low, in a ventilated room, with the puff pressed rather than shaken.

Cosmetic in the US — FDA primary category (05) fragrance preparations, which explicitly includes dusting and talcum powders. No premarket approval. Under 21 CFR 701.3 the fragrance may be declared simply as "fragrance".

In the EU, named fragrance allergens must be declared individually above threshold, and Regulation (EU) 2023/1545 expanded that list from 26 substances to roughly 80. Talc is permitted with the general safety requirement, and the Annex II prohibited list — 1,766 entries — covers asbestos.

Genital-area use is the specific application at the centre of the litigation, and it is one that public health bodies now generally advise against regardless of how the science settles.

Two to three years or more. A dry powder has essentially no microbial risk; its enemies are moisture, which cakes it, and time, which flattens the fragrance as volatile top notes escape.

Keep the container closed and dry. A caked powder has been damp and should go. Do not share a puff — a puff is a used applicator that has been over skin repeatedly.

• Fragrance — the shelf this sits on, and the rest of it.
• Cosmetics — what the label is legally allowed to say, and the full catalogue.
• The rest of Scented powders — Sachet.
• Body Powder · Baby Powder — the same talc question, different shelves.
• Regulatory statements here follow the FDA and EU sources listed on Cosmetics, read 16 August 2026.