Deputy Director Gordon Johnston will depart from OGD Jan. 1 following acceptance of an associate position at Lachman Consultant Services. Johnston will be joining former OGD Deputy Director and Lachman VP Robert Pollock. OGD Labeling and Program Support Division Director Jerry Phillips begins a new post at the end of November as associate director for medication errors in the newly established Office of Post-marketing Drug Risk Assessment ("The Pink Sheet" Nov. 2, p. 6). Phillip's vacated position will be filled by Consumer Safety Officer Robert West. Division of Chemistry II Director Frank Holcombe will become OGD acting associate director for chemistry, and will be replaced by Florence Fong

While endocrine-disrupting evidence was inconclusive, the Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety recommends more conservative limits on use of homosalate, octocrylene and benzophenone-3 in cosmetic products compared with current requirements under the European Cosmetics Product Regulation.

The risk of inadvertently growing SARS-CoV-2 virus in cell and gene therapies and possibly infecting patients and workers should be assessed and mitigated, the agency advises.