Evening star., 1933-08-27
j. S. WILL QUELL|
BEAUTY: RACKET"
Probers Trace Paralysis,
| Death to ToHefies and
Z Cures
BY REX COLLIER.

health Of a rapidly growing health
and beauty racket" involving unre-
stricted sale of harmful cosmetics and
quack "cures," the Federal Government,
under personal leadership Of President
Roosevelt and several of his advisers, Is
planning a drastic war on injurious
beauty preparations, drugs and health
appliances.
Uncle Sam at present is forced by
inadequate laws to stand by helplessly
and see the so-called toilet goods
"racketeers" reap millions of dollars
from gullible, vanity -Smitten women
and also men-or diseaSe-racked in
valids, who are unwittingly subjecting
themselves to grave perilS in buying the
unsafe products.
The President, however, with the ad-
vice of Secretary Wallace and partlcu-
larly of Assistant Secretary ReXford
Tugwell. is determined to seek leg1Sla-
tion from the next Congress to emo
what he considers national menace.
Federal officials accordingly nave
armed themselves with evidence OF the
evils of the widespread and unregu-
ments. salts, potions, drugs and devices
Compile Poignant Cases.
Data which they are preparing 1or
presentation to Congress are replete
with poignant cases of blighted beauty.
blasted health and even instances ol
death caused by pathetic faltn M tne
luridly advertised claims OF nnscfupu-
lous manufacturers. 1s ond
The. files of the Federal Fooo anu
Drug Administration tell staftnle
story of victims OF consclenceless pto
meters of discredited tolletrles anu
medicines. They tell of women par
aivzed bv a certain depilatory cream
(since forced off the market by damage
suits which bankrupted the manu1ac,
t1Irer) of men and women rendered
6elirious and threatened with death py
reducing drugs, of women'S eyes SWoilen
shut by poisonous eyelaSh dye, OF oia-
betics who suffered fatal relapses a1ter
forsaking recognized treatment LOT q
"ouack" potion guaranteed to cure, Oh
ruptured appendices attributed TO Ger
tain laxative waters purportlng 10 nave
"cure-all' properties.
The evidence is being collected py
George P. Iarrick, in charge OF inspec-
ton activities of the Food ana Drug
A0mlDlSlTdIlOI.
under direction of w. q. CamppelI'
chief of the administration.
Look at this attractive little Jar,
made for the boudoir table" Larrlck
said yesterday, picking up q smartly-
put-up cream for removing Super1uous
hair. 1t was some of the brand which
recently went off the market because
of litigation against its producers.
Paralysis In Jars.
"This is called q superf1uous hair de-
vitalizer 1t contains thallium acetate.
This cream was widely used and 1t
caused many cases OF badness, severe
muscular pains. weakness, general
nerve impairment and paralysis. Here
is a medical report in the case OF a
woman who used two and one-half jars
of it on her face and was forced to go
to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Mimi,
for diagnosis of mysterious malady.
She suffered a nervous collapse and
partial paralysis Each time she visited
the clinic her condition improved, but
each time she returned home, she got
worse again. 1t was finally discovered
she had been using the poisonous cream
at her home
Larrick said his attention has been
called to several serious cases of eye
Inflammation In Washington among
users of certain eyelast dye. One
woman only recently was discharged
from the Episcopal Eye, Ear and Throat
Hospital after several weeks Of treat
ment for infected eyelids. he declared.
Look at this photograph of another
woman who sought to beautify her eyes
with a poisonous dye" Larrick said.
He exhibited a picture Of woman
whose eyes were swollen shut and
trimmed with ugly sores.
Many complaints have been received
against several widely advertised slen-
derizing compounds, Larrick said.
Overdose for Normal Person.
Here Is product that contains
thyroid extract and bladderwrack," he
said. Thyroid extract supplements
the natural thyroid secretion, and
bladderwrack supplies iodine which
stimulates the thyroid gland to greater
activity. In a normal person the use
of these drugs will constitute over
dosage. In a person whose thyroid Is
overactive taking of these drugs Will
cause sweating, fevers, delirium, loss OF
appetite, nausea, insomnia, palpitation
of the heart and possibly collapse, coma
and even death"
He picked up a dark bottle contain
for Sl2 per pint.
This product" Larrick explained,
"is chiefly an extract Of weed known
as 'horsetail.' Here is a letter want
to read to you. 1t was written TO the
manufacturer of this extract by Wo-
man in New Jersey: Enclosed you WILL
find money order for another bottle OF
as 1 find it is helping me
wonderfully. This will be my sixth
bottle. 1 will not stop at the sixth
bottle-I will continue until l am
cured And here Is that same Womans
death certificate, made out not long
afterward. Her letter was used as a
testimonial Here are several more OF
similar trend, and here are the death
certificates of those same persons, SHOW
ing that death was due to diabetes.
Lose Under Present Law.
incidentally. this particular prod
net is strong argument for an ex-
handed and revised food and drugs
act. such as we propose to seek from
the next Congress. We prosecuted the
manufacturer of this product unoer
the present law which requires that we
proye a product to be not only falsely
labeled. but fraudulently labeled, If con-
viction is to result.
In this case we had no troupie az
all proving the product was labeled
falsely. but since We could not prove
the manufacturer had fraudulent IN
tent we lost the case. The new legls-
lation would correct that sltuatioh,
making it necessary to prove only that
the product was falsely labeled"
Iarrick displayed a package OF crys-
tails advertised as good for athritis,
kidney troubles, indigestion, rheuma-
tism and other ailments.
This product sells for $3.50 PACK
age, and I understand that some 72o,-
900 packages have been sold. Oui
ANALYSIS shows it to be SO per cen!
Glauber salts-a common laxative sal!
that is very good for its purpose ano
saving in any drug store under Its
proper name. There is nothing harm
ful about these salts If they are taker