DRUGS IN COSMETICS--SHOULD THEY MIX? 319 these severe toxicants, conditions of damaged skin and oral ingestion are potential hazards. Anticholinergic and antiadrenergic drugs have been proposed for use in antiperspirants. Such preparations should be the subject of"new drug" applications. Capsicum, cantharides and pilocarpine have been employed as compo- nents of hair tonics. These so-called hair tonics ale active primary irri- tants requiring definitive label directions. Injury reports to us from their use are not uncommon but nearly always result from overzealous use, that is, from a disregard of directions. Carbon tetrachloride has been proposed for drying hair. We caused the removal from the market of preparations containing this compound for such purpose on the grounds that they contained a poisonous substance which might render them injurious under the conditions of use. Boric acid has considerable use as a dusting powder. Although the intact skin is a good barrier to boric acid absorption, a badly damaged skin permits ready absorption. In a paper to be published it will be re- ported that the absorption of boric acid was traced through urinary excretion studies. It was possible to demonstrate that exposure of 15 per cent of body surface of rabbits with a severely damaged skin exposed for 11/2 hours to boric acid, a urinary excretion level comparable to animals receiving 200 mg./kg. orally was obtained. Boric acid cannot be rated as a minor toxic agent. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS In summary, it appears that the mixing of drugs with cosmetics is likely to produce products that are classed as "drugs" under the law. They may be innocuous products such as royal jelly, which became drugs because of the intended purposes for affecting the structure or function of the body, and misbranded drugs because the labeling claims are misleading or false. Or they may contain potent substances capable of causing injury if not properly compounded and adequately labeled. Whether drugs or cosmetics, or both, it is to the interest of the industry as well as the consumer that products be safe, effective and honestly represented.

USE OF RADIOISOTOPES IN DETERGENT AND COSMETIC RESEARCH By M. F. NELSON* Presented March g, !959, New York Chapter APPLICATIONS OF radioisotopes to the problems of industry have been increasing at a tremendous rate during the past fifteen years. The Atomic Energy Commission estimates that industry is now saving nearly one billion dollars a year from the use of radioisotopes and predictions are that a saving of tens of billions of dollars within a decade will be realized (1). Probably one of the most fertile fields for the use of radioisotopes is in the detergent and cosmetic industry. Use of beta and gamma gauging in production control has been undertaken, and use of radiation itself as a method of sterilization of products or product ingredients normally altered by bacteria is soon to be realized. Radiotracer techniques have found and are finding considerable usage as aids to product development and improve- ment. However, only a limited usage of radioisotopes has already been undertaken in comparison with the full potentiality of these materials as research or production tools, and corresponding industrial savings. The restricting factor in many instances has been a lack of knowledge of the uses of radioisotopes and also a lack of personnel trained in their usage. Radiotracer techniques have already been used in a variety of ways in detergent and cosmetic research. Unfortunately the literature gives only a portion of the techniques which have been used to aid in the resolution of specific problems. This is due in part to the specificity of the particular study conducted or an unwillingness on the part of some industrial manage- ment to reveal techniques that may be direct aids to competitors in product improvement. Also some experiments which have been undertaken and techniques, which have been developed are faulty or are not suitable for publication. Faulty procedures often occur due to a lack of knowledge of radiotracer technique, as well as a tendency to formulate the method used to satisfy or substantiate advertising claims. Therefore, factors are often overlooked or ignored in tracer experiments that should be considered such as decrease in activity due to self or media adsorption of weak beta parti- cles, failure to maintain constant geometry in a series of radioassays, * Radiotracer Laboratory, Atlas Powder Company, Wilmington 99, Del. 320