DOCTOR, IS THAT A MAD COW IN YOUR COLLAGEN? BYLINE: Carolyn Susman DATE: January 14, 2004 PUBLICATION: Palm Beach Post, The (FL) EDITION: FINAL SECTION: ACCENT PAGE: 3D COLUMN: On Health With so many injectable collagen products on the market, you may not be concerned about - or even know - what is used to make your brand. The producers would have met the couple's two big, goofy, affectionate dogs. They would have gotten a glimpse of the brand-new white Harley - just Sara's size - right next to Michael's big blue one. Plumpers that are placed in the human face to fill in wrinkles may contain ingredients made from human cells, but they also can be cow- or pig-based. Did we say cow? Yes. There are two products on the market, Inamed's Zyderm and Zyplast, that contain a highly purified form of collagen made from cow hides. Since the mad cow scare, consumers are becoming more aware of how many products, beyond your average burger, may be derived from cow. To counteract any concern, Inamed produced a detailed fact sheet. It says, and I haven't heard differently, that no human variant of mad cow disease - Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease - has ever been reported among the estimated 2 million people who use Zyderm and Zyplast. A little Q and A from Inamed: How do we know Inamed's injections are safe? Inamed manufactures a highly purified collagen derived from its own USDA-certified and carefully monitored "closed herd" of cattle in California. What is a closed herd? A closed herd is one in which the hide source is controlled . . . the cattle have never been fed animal-derived protein and therefore have not been exposed to the primary suspected source of (mad cow). Inamed says that it is in complete control of the livestock from which its collagen is derived, that the animals are not fed any contaminant material linked to mad cow, and that the USDA certifies that no member of the herd has ever been diagnosed with mad cow or any other herd-threatening disease. Does anyone really care? New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd had a good time with this subject when mad cow first came upon the scene in Britain a couple of years back. And that was precisely her point. No one who was infusing herself with bovine lip-plumper was expressing any worries. Well, very few, anyway. "When it comes to cosmetic matters, women have a 'Don't ask, don't tell me, please!' policy," she quoted one dermatologist as saying. As we slowly turn our attention from mad cow to Madison Avenue's packaging of presidential candidates, we may be even less concerned. "This could all be a case of "Deja Moo," quips West Palm Beach plastic surgeon Dr. Fredric Barr. "The (only) questions I get are, how long does it last, will there be bruising/pain, what's the cost, and will it go with my black low-cut party dress tonight!" These people must not be watching or reading the same news reports as Bruce Friedrich, a spokesman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, who claims viewing of "abused" animals would turn everybody vegetarian. Maybe. But if Inamed's reassurance is sufficient, we don't need to worry about what we inject into our faces, just, perhaps, what we put into our mouths. On Health is a weekly column on health issues. If you have questions or comments, write Carolyn Susman at The Palm Beach Post, P.O. Box 24700, West Palm Beach, Fla. 33416, call 820-4433 or e-mail carolyn_susman@pbpost.com. Copyright (c) 2004 Palm Beach Newspapers, Inc.