Nine members of the US Congress have demanded answers from Revlon Group Holdings CEO Michelle Peluso following an FDA warning letter that documented testing and quality-control deficiencies at the company's Oxford, North Carolina manufacturing facility.

Representative Yvette D. Clarke led the congressional letter, which responds to a June warning letter from the FDA. The agency identified significant violations of Current Good Manufacturing Practice (CGMP) rules covering Revlon's over-the-counter drug manufacturing.

The central finding concerns talc. According to the FDA, Revlon failed to demonstrate adequate testing of incoming talc for asbestos — a contaminant with well-established health implications and a long litigation history across the cosmetics industry. The agency also flagged deficiencies in the company's specifications and quality controls, including microbiological standards for yeast and mould.

The FDA asked Revlon to test affected talc or finished products, conduct a risk assessment, and submit a remediation plan.

Equity concerns drive the intervention

The lawmakers raised a specific concern: potential asbestos exposure among Black women and girls. Their letter cites the significant participation of Black consumers in the US beauty and personal care market, framing the manufacturing failures as a disproportionate risk for a population that represents a core customer base for Revlon's product portfolio.

That framing gives the letter political weight beyond routine regulatory follow-up. It connects a facility-level compliance failure to broader debates over ingredient safety, contaminant surveillance, and equitable protection in cosmetics regulation — issues that have drawn congressional attention since the Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act expanded FDA oversight authority.

What the findings mean for OTC manufacturing

The warning letter underscores a practical point for any company manufacturing OTC drug products in the US: supplier verification and contaminant testing are not optional. Talc, a mineral ingredient sourced through supply chains where asbestos contamination can occur, requires documented incoming testing before use in formulation.

The FDA's findings at Oxford also touched on broader quality-system failures. Deficiencies in specifications and microbiological standards for yeast and mould point to gaps in the controls that CGMP regulations require for finished-product release.

For Revlon, the congressional intervention raises the stakes considerably. A warning letter alone carries regulatory consequences, including potential enforcement action if violations remain uncorrected. Congressional scrutiny adds a public and political dimension, with lawmakers positioned to escalate oversight if the company's responses prove inadequate.

The remediation path ahead

The FDA's requested actions define the immediate roadmap: testing of the affected talc or finished products, a formal risk assessment, and a documented remediation plan. How completely and quickly Revlon executes that plan will likely determine whether the issue stays contained to a single facility's compliance record or grows into a broader liability.

The company's response to Peluso and the nine lawmakers will be closely watched, both as a test of its quality-system remediation and as an early signal of how cosmetics manufacturers respond to heightened congressional interest in contaminant testing.