81st Anniversary of the US Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act

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As a consumer it is vitally important to our overall health and well-being that we know what ingredients are in ALL of the products our family uses on a daily basis. Today marks the 81st anniversary of the passage of the US Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. The FDA began with an agricultural application in 1848, which then lead to the establishment the Agricultural Division of the US Patent Office and then to enactment of the 1906 Pure Food and Drugs Act. It would take another thirty-two (32) years before the US enacted the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

Why it took 32 years

It is not surprising that it took 32 years to pass the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act after the enactment of the 1906 Pure Food and Drugs Act. After 1906, the cosmetics and drug industries were in an ongoing battle with the FDA over definitions as to what was considered a cosmetic and what was considered a drug. The result of this battle established minimum guidelines for what was considered sanitary, as well as guidelines requiring cosmetics to only use colors in their products that were certified as harmless by the FDA. Where once products were sold with false claims without oversight, now the FDA had some ability to remove a product from the market. This did not mean, however, that those cosmetic companies were still concerned whether their products harmed the consumer. But now, companies had to be more careful about the colors they used in their products.

Lash Lure

During the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, the FDA had a display called "The Chamber of Horrors." The display contained injuries suffered by women using Lash Lure, Gouraud's Oriental Cream and Koremlu. This display contained images of women who suffered permanent injuries from these three products. Some of these women suffered permanent blindness, ulceration of the eyes, and bacterial infections. One woman died as a direct result of the injuries she suffered using Lash Lure. Lash Lure was marketed to women as an eyelash darkening treatment. Lash Lure contained a toxic coal tar dye, p-phenylenediamine. Lash Lure would become the first product to be removed from the market by the FDA and "has been directly linked to the passage of the 1938 Act."

Gouraud's Oriental Cream

A product created by Dr. Felix Gouraud in the early 1900's advertised as a "magic beautifier." This skin cream was purchased and used by women for almost thirty years before it was discovered that one of the main ingredients was calomel, a mercury compound. These women began showing signs and symptoms of mercury poisoning, which included dark rings around their eyes, loose teeth and blueish black gums.

Koremlu

This product was marketed as a "safe and permanent hair removal cream. In reality, it contained thallium acetate, an ingredient also used in rat poison. It was used by women to remove the hair from their upper lips. However, women experienced hair loss all over the body where the product had not even been applied. Some women even suffered permanent paralysis and damage to their eyes. Since Koremlu did not qualify as a drug it was deemed a cosmetic for which the FDA did not yet have the power to regulate. It was the American Medical Association that determined the product as "a viciously dangerous depilatory", and the fight against this product took the form of a series of articles published by the AMA.

A complete reading on the "Chamber of Horror" stories can be found here.

Unfortunately, to this day the FDA has only two pages dedicated to cosmetics, with little or no authority to protect the consumer from potentially harmful personal care products. This is why what Beautycounter is doing is so vitally important to all of us. We need to know what is in our personal care products.

Be sure to check out Beautycounter's Never List™ -- 1,500 questionable or harmful chemicals that Beautycounter will never use when creating their amazing products.