Coal tar safety
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
FDA asked to conduct "formal review" of coal tar use in shampoo, soap and ointments by Occupational Knowledge International in a March 6 petition. The agency should "restrict the sales and distribution of these products to prescription sales," the group states. As a "known carcinogen...labeling requirements are insufficient and require additional warning to protect public health." Coal tar, which appears in Whitehall-Robins' Denorex and Block Drug's Tegrin, was banned from use in OTC drug products by Germany in 1995 and the EU in 1997, the comments point out