Sample of Estee Lauder lipstick
- Made:
- 1950-1960 in unknown place
Sample of Estee Lauder lipstick which may have contained penicillin, purchased between 1950 and 1960
In his 1946, Alexis Milankovich, writing as George Bankoff suggested “soon young ladies will be able to buy their lipsticks impregnated with penicillin…Penicillin will be like a guardian angel ready to halt any intruder that is unwelcome.” His book ‘Conquest of Disease’ was written a few years after penicillin became a useable treatment.
Whether or not this lipstick contains penicillin is unknown, but its addition to a range of products including toothpaste, ice-cream and detergents were advertised. Historian Dr Robert Bud suggests that this intriguing item highlighted the hope that penicillin and other antibiotics could cure almost anything. However, antibiotic resistance is a growing global health issues and one that was commented on even as the medicines began to be used.
Details
- Category:
- Materia Medica & Pharmacology
- Object Number:
- 2007-2
- Measurements:
-
overall: 75 mm x 20 mm x 20 mm, .0206 kg
- type:
- lipstick
- credit:
- Dr. Kim Coleman