When you have a headache , every second that stands between you and rest is one 2nd too long . That ’s why that giant wad of cotton shoved into many bottles of over - the - replication pain meds is such a , well , pain .
You ’ll be happy to know that there ’s a reason for all that oral contraceptive pill packing material — and even happier to make out that it ’s a pall trend .
Bayer to begin with put the cotton there sometime in the early 20th century . Itspurposewas just to fill up the quietus of the blank in the bottleful and immobilize the pills , forestall the powdery tablets from jostle around and pulverizing themselves . Which makes perfect sense .
However , by the eighties , Bayer had embrace the pharmaceutical innovation of coated tablets . It no longer matter if the pill knocked around in the container , because the coat prevented them from disintegrating ; gel cap were also less fragile . But after decades of open aspirin nursing bottle and discover the fluffy woof , consumers were conditioned to expect it , even believing that it was a good way to say if the package had been tampered with , or that it helped keep the tab “ strong . ” Consumer beliefs like these — and custom — were the main cause Bayer kept cotton in their bottleful for so long , and likely play a part in why some brands still include it today .
In realness , the National Institutes of Health ( NIH ) recommend removing the cotton plant , as it can actually pull moistureintothe bottle . And the government institution is n’t the only one warning against the wads : in 1983 , the late Andy Rooneyrailed against iton60 Minutes(in the way that only Andy Rooney could ) .
But here ’s another arcanum : Not only is the cotton wool in some bottles totally unneeded , it in all likelihood is n’t even cotton . Accordingto the Drug Information & Side Effects Database , most of the plugs are made from rayon or polyester .
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