Dr. Gwen Kay, author of Dying to Be Beautiful: The Fight for Safe Cosmetics , joined to break down the 1938 Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act as a primary source of the time period.

This law was designed to repeal the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act as much had changed in American society and culture over the course of the three decades that separate the two pieces of legislation.  Perhaps most notable, and the reason why cosmetics were included in the new regulations, was the rise of mass media, led by Hollywood.