Arizona republican., 1916-02-06

faS ieCeHtly appeared the report 0t the Commission on Proprietary Medicinies of the Pharmaceutical Association. a document which reiterates and substantiates the chief contentious of those who have for years been fighting tEe elements of fraud and poison in patent medicines and which lays down a specific program of re- form. It can hardly be claimed that the American Pharmaceutical Associa- tion is under the sway of the (mythi- caD "Medicen Trust" Nor can ignor- ance of the subject be imputed to it. True there is a conflict of interest between the compromising pharmacist who charges for his technical skill in making up prescriptions, and the nos- trum manufacturer, whose product nullifies that skill. and this is frankly admitted in the commissions report If the patent medicine people wish to impute ulterior motives, as has always been their practice. there is oppor tUnity in this But they cannot impute such motives to the wholesale druggist, since very large proportion of the wholesale drug trade is in proprietary preparations.
 And-here is the vitally important feature of the new movement-the Ma tion Wholesale Druggists association has indOrsed nine out of ten articles Of reform in the committees report. It would be difficult, indeed, to over. estimate the far reaching importance of this action on the part of the rep resenrative wholesale drug body of the country, or the probable influence upon tle patent medicine industry. Prac- ticallv, the wholesalers have joined with the pharmacists in serving notice upon the nostrum vendors to this eff feet: ~
 The practice of creating drug habit through opiates and alcohol in patent medicine; of offering patent medicines to the public under misleading titles; of endangering life and health through more or less concealed poisons; of doping children, and of marketing proprietaries under false and mislead- ing claims, whether on the label or in outside advertising, is damaging to the good repute of the drug trade, and dangerous to the public
 If l am not mistaken, the sweeping proviso regarding false advertisements marks the first official utterance of the pharmaceutical profession upon this fundamental subject. The position of t(1 in ftCr preliminary observations:
 The greatest evil of the patent med icine industry is the falsity and extrav- agance with which it's products have been exploited. This is the basic evil of the patent medicine business, and the point where it is most vulnerable, and an attack upon this evil needs no argument for it's justification
 All of which is earnestly commended to the newspaper publishers of the country for their thoughtful considera- ton. together with the following dec iaratiOns of principle, approved by the council of the American Pharmaceuti- cal Association, at it's meeting last August These declarations are headed:
 Minimum Requirements With Which Proprietary Remedies Should Comply in Order to Render Them Safe for Direct Sale to the General Public
 For purposes of clearness I shall take them in sections. pointing out their bearing upon the patent medicine trade as at present conducted with the aid or Messrs. Hearst, Pulitzer, Barnes, Ben nett and their journalistic followers throughout the country.
 ,OD Prescription Fakes, Concealment of Proprietary Character-The prepar- atiOn must not be named or advertised in such way as to conceal it's pro- prietary character and lead the pur- chaser to believe that it is simple chemical or vegetable drug ordinarily furchasable in small quantities instead of a proprietary mixture or substance.
 Scores of these petty swindles have been masquerading in the daily, and particularly in the Sunday newspapers, often under pretense of reading mat ter, with some such caption as Health and Beauty Prescriptions or under the name of Dr. Lewis Baker, Valeska Sur att or some other professional faker. A conspicuous example now running is limestone phosphate" under the head ing of Get the Habit of Drinking Hot Water Before Breakfast" Cleverly inserted in the midst of a plausible dis quisition upon digestion appears the advice to try limestone phosphate, v which is Of cOurSp SimplV a Datent medicine. Many of these prescription fakes are for beautifying purposes. As rule, they consist of two or three cents worth of some common chem icals sold at an exorbitant price and under false representations. To make the deception complete many news papers carry this class of advertising without any distinguishing mark to in dicate it's true nature, an illegal prac- tice.
 CD Methods of Marketing-Tht preparation must be one which is regu- ! larly offered to the public through the usual trade channels, i. C.. through reg , ular wholesale and retail dealers 1T l readymade medicines, and thus subjec l to inspection by the authorities charged
 with the enforcement of state food ant i drug laws.
 1 This is aimed at the mail order prac 1 tice of medicine. system invOlvin:
 great risk to the patient. A concealed patent medicine firm, operating unde
 some individual name such as Mrs ! Summers of Notre Dame" advertise