Posted on 06/10/2005 5:40:05 PM PDT by neverdem
MEXORYL is not the most notorious drug on the black market. Only a few insiders, most of them women, even know its worth, let alone where to buy it. But it is one of the most ordinary substances ever to be bootlegged. Mexoryl SX, made by the Paris-based skin-care giant L'Oréal, is an illegal sunscreen in this country, one that is thought to be particularly useful in preventing wrinkles.
Called by dermatologists one of the most effective filters of all wavelengths of ultraviolet light, Mexoryl has been used in sunscreen lotions sold in Canada and Europe for more than a decade. But the Food and Drug Administration has not yet approved it.
The reason for the delay is difficult to discern, because the F.D.A. does not comment on drugs going through its sometimes lengthy approval process. Dr. Darrell S. Rigel, a dermatologist at New York University, however, said safety is not an issue. "It's just bureaucracy," he said.
And so the cognoscenti ask for Ombrelle Extreme ($11), Garnier's Ambre Solaire ($24) or the particularly coveted Anthélios XL by La Roche-Posay ($40 and more for a relatively small tube) at certain drug stores - like Zitomer and Cambridge Chemists on Manhattan's Upper East Side - or order it online from Canadian or French pharmacies or even on eBay. Though the F.D.A. does not track down and prosecute those consumers, the purchases are technically illegal.
When asked about the decision to sell the unapproved sunscreens, representatives of both Zitomer and Cambridge Chemists declined to comment.
"I started buying it from Canada," one 46-year-old New Yorker said about Anthélios, which she has used for three years. (She insisted that her name not be published because she did not want it publicly connected with illegal purchases.) The Canadian pharmacy Web site feelbest.com sells a...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
bump
I live in Washington State.
I vaguely recall that there is something called a "sun" but I don't remember what it is or why you need to be screened from it.
So the war on some drugs is effecting sunnscreen now interesting.
bump for a later read
Of course! And THAT's why it always is that the dirtiest politicians and the wealthiest companies in the regulated industry always "capture" GOVERNMENT (read: political) regulatory agencies. In fact, if you check out the FDA's board of directors, it's almost all ex-officers of the pharmaceutical industry. They even set the bar for approving new drugs so high that ONLY the multi-billion dollar giants can afford to get the approvals (and guess what? they get to buy out all the small drug entrepreneurs and labs -- and even cosmetic companies! -- on the cheap if they ever come up with something good).
That's why we need to replace the FDA with a UL-type PRIVATE regulator. I used to have to meet UL specs for electrical components and, UNLIKE the FDA, are extremely tough, fair, unbribable and UNpressurable.
Check out http://freedomkeys.com/complex.htm
Thank you for this article, I am a redhead and have horrible problems with the sun. I am going to go over to Canada tomorrow and stock up.
read later
zinc oxide........that's the white butt medicine for babies' diaper rash. We use it for our horses who burn easily. 'Course, the horses sneeze and snort, they just DON'T like the smell.
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