How veg are cosmetics? Red, green dots to specify
New Delhi, May 20
On the lines of packaged food products, cosmetics and toiletries like face wash, soaps, shampoos and toothpastes will soon carry a brown/red or green dot indicating the source of the product as vegetarian or non-vegetarian.
A proposal in this regard was recently cleared by India’s highest drug advisory body, the Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB), said a senior official in the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO).
“To incorporate the changes, the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945, will have to be amended,” the official said. A notification in this regard is expected in six months.
According to Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) Dr S Eswara Reddy, people belonging to the Jain community and the Department of Consumer Affairs have been demanding labelling of cosmetics and toiletries with a brown/red and green dot for quite some time.
Currently, packaged food products sold in India are required to be labelled with a mandatory mark indicating whether the source of the product was vegetarian or non-vegetarian.
Vegetarian food is identified by a green symbol and non-vegetarian with a red dot. PTI
No non-veg food in trains on Oct 2?
- If a proposal from the Railways is approved, October 2 will not only be celebrated as Rashtriya Swachhta Diwas, but also as ‘Vegetarian Day’ as a mark of respect to Mahatma Gandhi, India's most-famous ambassador for vegetarianism.
- The Railway Board has proposed that no non-vegetarian food will be served to passengers on railway premises on October 2 in 2018, 2019 and 2020 when the Centre has planned a special commemoration of the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, according to a blueprint prepared by it.
- The railways also plans to run a ‘special salt rake’ from Sabarmati on March 12 to commemorate the Dandi March and 'swachhata express' trains from Sabarmati to various stations linked with Gandhi. PTI