Evening journal., 1907-01-22
new LABELS
ON ALL DRUGS
No Longer Make
Claims That Their Medicines
Will Accomplish Cures
NEW Law HAS EFFECTS


Ever since January /. when the new
pure food and drug law went into ef-
feet. the manufacturers OF proprietary
and patent medicines have been busy
with mucilage and brush pasting labels
on the bottles, boxes and cartons COM
tanning their preparations, which are
guaranteed to tell the truth. the whole
truth and nothing but the truth, about
what the packages contain.
The law is very strict about the sale
Of medicines and sets forth a long list
of restricted drugs which cannot be sold
in mixtures unless the name and
amount Of the restricted drug is men,
toned in bold type on the label on the
bottle or box in which the dedicine is
contained. The law also says that de-
scriptive matter upon the label shall bo
free from any statement, design or de-
vice regarding the article or the ingre-
dients or substances contained therein.
or quality thereof. or place Of origin.
which is false or misleading in any par
ticular
For the most part only supplement-
ary labels are being used at the present
time. The law gives the manufactur-
ers until October Of this year to use
up old labels shat may be on hand, and
only requires that whenever any state
ment therein contained is contrary 20
the food and drug act as to character
Of the contents it sharll be corrected
by a supplemental label, stamp or pos
ter. Some medicine manufacturers,
however, have gotten out entirely now
labels, and these. as we'll as the little
strips used as supplemental labels, uu-
fold some interesting things In fact
IL is remarkable what changes the law
has brought about. A reading Of some
of these labels viii convince anyone
that fey OF the patent medicines are
now claimed to possess half Of the vir-
tues which We're attrabuted to them
prior to the passage Of the act.
! Before the law was passed IL was not
uncommon for the manufacturer OF 2
patent medicine to attrabute to it the
ability to cure nearly every disease tc
which human flesh is heir Now few OF
the medicines are claimed to cure any
thing. In fact, the word cure has in
many instances disappeared from Ia
bells altogether and the words "beneh-
city in the treatment of have been in.
serted in its place. Some manufacture
ers Of patent medicines, who formerly
called their preparations by such name.
as Headache Cure" Liver Cure" and
like terms. no longer employ such word
ing, but have substituted less preten.
tious labels bearing the words "Fo
Headache" or For the Liver" as TN,
case may be.
The clause requiring the name Of an!
restricted drug that may be used in tn
manufacture Of a bottle Of medicine Il
be printed upon the label has also beei
productive Of many changes. Certai
medicines which formerly were war
hyl-nryooaof nau nau nau nau nnnn
ranted not to contain any deleteriou
or harmful ingredients are now to b
seen on the market with labels guaran
teeing them to contain so much alcoho
arsenic, opium or other things regarde
as equally dangerous. The law require
only the name of the restricted drug
appear on the label. and this has le
many medicine men TO label their good
as containing so much morphine an
other ingredients or so much opiui
and other ingredients. Such Label
usually create a curiosity in the reade
to know what the other ingredients ma
be.
Just what effect the law is going
have on the sale Of medicine can onl
be conjectured. There can be but littl
Y doubt that certain medicines whic
1 contain an excessive amount Of the rf
stricted drugs will be forced out of IN
market. The average person abhoI
taking remedies containing such ingre
dients as morphine and opium, for fea
: that the persistent lse Of the medicin
viii create a desire within him for th
:. drug in its pure state The fact the
he has taken the medicine before an
that Il has not made him a drug fen
will probably have little effect. Thei
; is considerable difference in The mind
Of most persons between knowingl
taking a preparation which contain
opium and taking il unknowingly
AS a great many medicines contai
one or more of the restricted drugs
is more than probable that the sale
Of such as do win be materially cl
down. Such. at least. is the vic
taken by many druggists who profes
to see I'm the workings Of the new Ia
falling OF in the use of patent med
cines and more general resort to phS
sicians' prescriptions. Should this pre-
dction prove correct, IL viii mean a do
cfded Increase in the profit Of the reta
druggist, who generally clears as niue
money on a S5cent prescription as
does on a dollar bottle Of patent med
cine For instance, a certain perso
was heard complaining not long ae
because a druggist had charged him
cents for filling a prescription whiC
contained only 10 drops Of carbolc aei
30 drops OF creoline and ounces
water. In this case it was said Y
druggists profits on the medicine an
bottle must have been something lii
400 per cent The profit on bottle
patent medicine Sold at 81 Is general
about SO 1-3 oer cent.