31 Ontario

32 We had entered into 2021 with hopes and expectations that we would begin to reunite in person and get back to normal life. Unfortunately, all our educational events continued online only, and our social events were further delayed. On the bright side, the events were free for members and students. The first evening meeting of the year was in February when Beatriz Blanco and José Melo Barcelos spoke on the topic of “Biodesign Proteins for Personal Care”. They highlighted how advances in medicine and biotechnology are beginning to be consciously applied to cosmetics and personal care products, signaling a coming era of beauty thoughtfully powered by biology. Knowing that our industry continues to support the efforts in keeping people safe during the ongoing pandemic, our Regulatory Update in March focused on several aspects of these activities. The day was divided into 4 sessions: “Hand sanitizers, Hard Surface Sanitizers and related Health Canada regulations”, presented by Shahin Kalantari “US Regulations for COVID -19 products, FIFRA and FDA Regulations”, presented by Sol Bobst PhD “Canadian Federal Regulatory Update – what you need to know beyond COVID-19”, presented by Dave Saucier and a Health Canada Regulatory Update highlighting the key changes in relation to the pandemic, the future of those changes/flexibilities and updates to Health Canada’s regulatory agenda moving forward for natural health products and non-prescription drugs, which will take into account the lessons learned during this challenging period of time. This was presented by Matthew Bown, Associate Director, Bureau of Policy, Risk and Stakeholder Management, NNHPD. We had a fun and inspiring evening meeting in May with the topic of “Expanding the Rainbow’: Colors & Trends – Where they Come From and How they Influence Cosmetics, Fashion, Home & Décor” presented by Alison Griffin. For the first time ever, we offered a bonus evening meeting in July. The topic was “Navigating buzzwords to address demand for naturality” which was presented by Noellie Astruc. The recent surge of consumer interest in natural products has created the emergence of many buzzwords used to describe industry market movements which are being used with various interpretations. A discussion on the need to clarify these terms as they are not covered under any universal standard. Our Education Day was a CEP course on “GMPs For Cosmetics In Canada” taught by Karl Popp. It was specifically designed not only to introduce GMPs to those new to the industry, but also as a review for those experienced in this regulatory area. The last evening meeting of the year, in November, was on “New Perspectives on Aging Skin”, presented by Howard Epstein, Ph.D. The talk reviewed the various causes of skin aging and their effects on different skin types to create more personalized skin and hair treatments.