The Food and Drug Administration said Friday it will ban sales of non-prescription anti-baldness creams and aphrodisiac products because none has been shown to work.
Non-prescription hair-growth products - usually sold by mail or through barbers or beauticians - have dwindled in number since the FDA indicated in 1985 that it would ban the products.But the FDA said these products "have continued to be an area of considerable fraud. The ban of all such products will provide a greater and more uniform protection to the public."
John T. Walden, a spokesman for the Nonprescription Drug Manufacturers Association said: "The industry has been anticipating this for a long time."
The number of companies marketing nonprescription aphrodisiacs also has shrunk in anticipation of a ban.
The FDA said none of the products that claim to arouse or increase sexual desire or improve sexual performance is effective. No manufacturer even defended its product during the agency's review, the FDA said.
The bans will become effective in six months.
For anti-baldness products, the ban applies to those available without a prescription that are used externally.
The only product approved by the FDA for stimulating hair growth on the crown of the head is a prescription drug that is a 2 percent solution of minoxidil, which is applied externally. The drug is manufactured by The Upjohn Co. and sold under the name Rogaine.
The FDA also said it has no evidence that vitamins, food supplements or other products taken orally retard baldness or grow hair and warned it will remove from the market products for which such claims continue to be made.
The FDA's ban on non-prescription anti-baldness products is based on a recommendation of an advisory panel that evaluated a number of ingredients, including lanolin, olive oil, wheat germ oil and vitamins. The panel found none of these prevented baldness or promoted hair growth.
The FDA said that once the ban is in effect, manufacturers of any non-prescription remedy claiming to prevent baldness or grow hair will have to provide proof that it is safe and effective before it can be sold.
The FDA said that to demonstrate the effectiveness of a hair restorer, a manufacturer would have to show the product "gets into the hair root and stimulates hair growth." Nothing that acts on the hair shaft after it emerges from the surface of the scalp will influence hair growth, the agency said.
FDA said baldness is an inherited trait, as is hair color, texture and curliness. The most common type of baldness occurs in men over an extended period of time.
Ingredients commonly found in products billed as aphrodisiacs, according to the FDA, include cantharides, a chemical derived from the dried bodies of beetles; estrogens, the female sex hormones; strychnine, yohimbine, a poisonous substance obtained from the bark of a West African tree; fennel, mandrake, anise, licorice and zinc.
Some of these are contained in food products, but would not be covered by the ban unless specifically labeled an aphrodisiac.