Some colored contact lenses that people are buying over the counter at
beauty supply and novelty stores to complete their Halloween look — or
just in general — are being sold illegally and could be dangerous, law
enforcement officials say.To get more news about
Halloween contact, you can visit beauon.com official website.
The Department of Justice has charged Geo Medical, a Korean company that
makes decorative and colored contact lenses, with "illegally bringing
contact lenses into the United States by dramatically undervaluing
shipments in documents submitted to customs officials." It also charged
operators of the store Takashima in Los Angeles and Orange counties with
illegally selling colored lenses without prescriptions.Colored contacts
"are medical devices," according to the FDA. "Places that advertise
them as cosmetics or sell them over the counter, without a prescription,
are breaking the law."
In 2013, the US Food and Drug Administration found that lenses made by
Geo were contaminated with microorganisms, and put them on a "red list"
restricting imports.
"We believe that Geo Medical severely undervalued the shipments to avoid
customs scrutiny, which would have led to the seizure of the contact
because of the FDA action following the discovery of contaminated
products," said a spokesman for the US Attorney's Office, Central
District of California to BuzzFeed News.Health experts have been warning
about the risk of colored contacts for years. While there's nothing
wrong with colored lenses themselves, problems arise when people get
them without a prescription and the lenses don't fit correctly — causing
serious eye damage —
Cosplay contact
or when people don't keep them clean. According to a statement from an
FDA optometrist, "Bacterial infections can be extremely rapid, result in
corneal ulcers, and cause blindness — sometimes within as little as 24
hours if not diagnosed and treated promptly.”
Some may also contain "dangerous chemicals." Last month, Rebecca
Seawright, chair of the NY State Assembly's Consumer Fraud Protection
Committee, warned consumers "of the hazards and the strong possibility
of permanent eye damage — including blindness — from wearing
over-the-counter colored contact lenses that are increasingly popular
among children and teens who want to dress up as zombies, and that are
now on sale on-line and at many retail stores."
The group estimated that over 50,000 people would dress as zombies at this year's Greenwich Village Halloween Parade alone.
The Wall