(Music...trumpets)
Today's episode ... The American Chamber of Horrors.
In the 1920s and '30s, hundreds of women purchased a cosmetic eyelash and eyebrow dye that
advertisements promised would help them "radiate personality."
Sadly, the product, marketed as "Lash Lure," contained a poison that caused ulceration
of the corneas and degeneration of the eyeballs,
which could lead to blindness and in at least one case,
death.
"Like many cosmetics of the time, Lash Lure was not tested for safety and did not disclose
ingredients, so consumers had no way of knowing the danger it posed to their health.
And the FDA could not remove unsafe products
like Lash Lure from the market because the existing law, the Pure Food and Drugs Act
did not apply to cosmetics."
Today's tale from the FDA history vault recalls how, in the mid-1930s, the FDA helped educate
the public about the shortcomings of the 1906 act, this information that would play an important
role in the enactment of new consumer protections
contained in the landmark 1938 Food Drug and Cosmetics Act.
For a public health agency like the FDA, the early part of the 20th Century was a troubling
time.
Dozens of harmful products like Lash Lure remained on the market.
The Great Depression created additional problems, causing many
poor Americans to avoid expensive doctors, and rely
on worthless and dangerous medicines that skirted regulatory authority.
Problems also existed in the food industry, where the use of deceptive packaging short-changed
consumers and ingredients were deceptively substituted into products as basic as peanut
butter and jelly.
A popular book of the day claimed that consumers were being used as guinea pigs in a giant
experiment by food companies and makers of patent medicines.
The authors blamed the FDA for failing to act, but didn't recognize the limits
of the agency's authority under the law at the time.
The agency DID have the power to educate consumers and policymakers - and it used this power
to shine a light on the dangerous product in the marketplace.
The FDA's new Chief Education Officer, a former advertising executive named Ruth Lamb, and
its Chief Inspector, George Larrick, organized a traveling exhibit of many of the fraudulent,
deceptive and dangerous products then on the market.
More than 100 products were featured, including medical products, human and animal
foods, and cosmetics.
It appeared at events like the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago, at state fairs across the
country, and on Capitol Hill.
The exhibition was so shocking it was dubbed the "American Chamber of Horrors" by a reporter who
accompanied First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to view the exhibit.
The name stuck.
The effort to enact a new law was supported by Assistant Secretary of Agriculture Rex
Tugwell, and many congressional wives and women's organizations
that mobilized their members.
It even led Mrs. J.W.
Musser, who had been blinded through the use of Lash Lure, to travel to
Washington to meet with members of Congress.
In 1936, Lamb also published a popular book entitled "American Chamber of Horrors."
As one reviewer wrote, "Miss Lamb has had a ringside
seat in the 'American Chamber of Horrors. The book tells the truth without embellishment
and is not only an indictment of present conditions, [but] it offers a definite basis for immediate
legislative action."
Indeed, as Lamb explained, "All of these tragedies ... have happened, not
because Government officials are incompetent or
callous, but because they have no real power to prevent them."
The exhibit, which was viewed by millions, was an enormous success, helping promote greater
awareness and understanding about the FDA's role in protecting the public and the need
for greater consumer protection.
To this end, it played an important role in moving Congress to
enact a stronger food and drug law - the 1938 Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
That law, along with many amendments over the years, remains
the law of the land today.
Many of the products from the historic Chamber of Horrors exhibit are part of the FDA's history
vault, and during this anniversary year of the 1938 law are on display at the FDA, providing
a compelling visual record of the FDA's continuing
and expanding efforts to protect and promote American health.
We hope you've enjoyed your visit to the vault!
(Music)