BUYER BEWARE: Lab Rat Squeals
Anna Is not to blame

(Sun Valley, CA 12/03/07), When your skin care doesnâ??t work as stated in the advertising or your lipstick has toxic substances in it, do not blame the company, blame the lab. I recently went to work this summer at a local cosmetics lab. I was so excited to finally meet the peopleâ?? behind the curtain.â?? The lab decided to start a line a few years before I joined the company. I noticed that there was no training and no manuals that accurately described the skincare and cosmetics. We were ordered to sell upon the day upon we were hired and told that they were FDA approved. I was sure that when someone stated that they were FDA approved, it was honest and true. I then was told no, it was not necessary to get approval before selling and that the claims on their packaging were not true but that the FDA had so many other cases, that even if I did speak out, nothing would happen to the lab, not even a fine. They could go on as long as they wish as long as they were â??pending.â?? To make matters worse, I was forwarded a list of ingredients that were listed on their packaging. One product stated that it had an SPF of 15 on the packaging. There was no SPF to be found in the ingredients. I sauntered into the lab and found one, sometimes two girls working in theâ?? labâ?? with no hair coverage. I then walked around into the warehouse and found that there was one of the workers filling jars with his bare hands! Then there was the pile up of garbage strewn about near all the cosmetics. Most of the boxes came from China where the cosmetics were manufactured and packaged, yet they claimed to be made in the USA. I received angry calls daily from unsuspecting estheticians and salon owners that had been sold broken equipment. The lab had many reps in the field working for them so they did not care. They just sold under a different rep or a different name. The reps, salon owners and companies were stuck holding the bag. We in the industry are there to help people look and feel great. We are giving people their selfâ??esteem and we rely on the labs to be honest, but they are not always truthful with the cosmetics companies or anyone else for that matter. They fired me after I spoke to them about their unscrupulous ways. I called the FDA and a few others that week. Nothing happened. The lab started following the rules to some degree but they were not closed nor fined. People also do not want to take the time to file-too much work and if they do, the lab owner comes up with some trouble for the squealer as one of my former co-workers found out. Their solution, hire undocumented workers or give them US citizenship, as long as they work for â??The Lab.â?? Soâ?¦ It just goes on. It is time that we take a closer look at the FDA and the labs that manufacture beauty/ health products.