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Sunday, June 20, 2004 |
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Sunday, June 20, 2004 |
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It’s not just food and medicines that have a specific shelf life. Cosmetics and toiletries too can
deteriorate with time. One should look at the shelf life of cosmetics at the time of
purchase, cautions Pushpa Girimaji
Most consumers are unaware about the fact that under Schedule S of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, most commonly used cosmetics and toiletries have to comply with the specifications laid down under the relevant standards formulated by the Bureau of Indian Standards. This includes labelling requirements such as the month and year of manufacture or packing and the recommended month and year before which it is best used. ("Best use before" date) The label should also indicate the key ingredients of the product, besides the manufacturer’s name, net content, batch number, instructions for use, etc. There are, however, exceptions to this requirement. The ‘best use before’ declaration is exempted in case of pack sizes of 10 gm or less or if the shelf life of the product is more than 24 months. Similarly, the requirement of mentioning the key ingredients is exempted in case of pack sizes of 30gm or 60 ml or less. A total of 28 products are listed under this schedule. These include: shampoos—both soap-based and synthetic detergent-based, hair dyes, nail polish, skin powders, lipstick, lipsalves, cosmetic pencils, hair creams, cologne, depilatories, toilet soaps, skin creams, tooth paste, hair oils, shaving creams, after shave lotion, henna powder and liquid bindi. Consumers would therefore do well to look for all relevant label information while purchasing these products. The list of key ingredients, for example, helps consumers who many be sensitive or allergic to certain ingredients to identify them and avoid products that have them— be it face creams, shampoos or hair colours. It’s equally important to look at the date of manufacture and shelf life of products. Retailers and manufacturers often come up with "buy one-get one free" schemes. They may well be promotional schemes as claimed. But there are also instances when such schemes are used to get rid of old stock. So beware. Last week a consumer wrote to me about some dark pigmentation that she noticed on her lips. The dermatologist that she consulted advised her to get rid of all old lipsticks and use new stock. What is the shelf life of a lipstick? She wondered. Now if you look at individual lipsticks, they come under the exclusion clause for specifying the ‘best use before’ date as the content within the container is less than 10 gm. However, if you consider them in their original packaging or carton, where several of them are packed in one box, then they do not qualify for the exclusion clause. Unless of course the manufacturer says that their shelf life is beyond two years. In fact in case of lipsticks, which are not bought by the dozens, but as individual units, the consumer does not even get other label information such as the date of manufacture on the ground that there is no space on the individual lipstick containers for such information. So, a consumer wanting to look at any label information at the time of purchase has to ask for the original packaging or carton ! If this particular rule is to serve its purpose then it should become mandatory for manufacturers of products such as lipsticks to provide for individual packaging so that the mandatory information is available on the package. In other words, a consumer buying any cosmetic should be able to get all required label information on the product, including its shelf life, irrespective of the size or the quantity of the product. This is absolutely essential, and should apply to all cosmetics. I also do not see the logic behind exempting products with a shelf life of over two years from marking the use before date. Does that mean that these products have unlimited shelf life? I really do not see why buyers should be denied this information particularly in respect of cosmetics. |
