The Topeka state journal., 1919-11-14

logical specific for tuberculosis. but
SO far none has been produced good
enough to justify the public health
service in licensing its manufacture.
For no serum OF. vaccine can be sold
in interstate trade, imported or ex-
ported in this country, without Ii
cense from the public health service.
This means, in effect, that all manu-
factufers are licensed and supervised
by the public health service. 1t means
that this service guarantees US pure
germ supply. just as the department
of agriculture tries to guarantee us a
pure food supply.
These biological products, which
play such a large and growing part
in the battle against disease, are
chiefly of two kinds. The vaccines
are preparations containing the actual
germs of the disease. sometimes dead
and sometimes alive. The serums are
made from the blood of animals in
fected with the disease it is desired to
combat. and they contain the pro-
fact1res in fighting the disease.
tective principle which the body manu-
Thus, when you are vaccinated
against typhoid fever, there is injected
into your body about half billion
germs of the disease, which have been
raised in the body of an animal. These
germs produce a very mild form of the
disease in you, causing you little dis
comfort but causing your body to
manufacture the protective principle
which kills the disease. This prin-
ciple protects you from typhoid for q
period of from one to four years.
When you have diphtheFia, on ths
other hand, the doctor injects in.o
your body the actual protective sub
stance against that disease which has
| been formed in the blood of an animal
infected with the disease.
1t is evident that the manufacture OF
these biological remedies is a highly
scientific process. A layman has abb
solutely no means of knowing whether
, a serum sold or administered to him is
/ any good or not. That is why it is so
important that the manufacture of
these products should be under gov
ernment control. If it were not so
! controlled, the possibilities of damage,
both by deliberate fraud and by ignor-
ance, would be enormous.
The Public Health Service manufac-
lures in its own hygienic laboratory
all of the seruns and vaccines the
value of which has been conclusively
well as they can be made, and proves
their value by tests. 1t then sends
81 mples to all the manufacturers.
These samples are the standards to
which the manufacturer must con-
form. About twice a year, the plant
/ OIL every nlanuIactuFer Is inspected ana
| his product tested, to see that he does
conform to this standard. In addition
to this, the service has buyers in the
field all the time, buying lots of these
products offered to the public and
bringing them to the laboratory to be
/ tested.
The control of the government over
t this business is really autocratic. II
may refuse license to any manufac-
turer. and it may take off the market
any quantity of product which does
not come up to the standard set for it
The hygienic laboratory discovers
many patches of serum and anti-toxin
which are not up to standard, and
which must be taken off the market
Animals in great numbers are oi
course indispensable to this whoie
business. Serums and vaccines are
made in the bodies of animals and
tested in the bodies of animals. Ar
army of rabbits. guinea pigs, mice and
dogs is necessary to insure us this pro-
lection against disease. Recently at
tempts have been made to prevent this
use of animals for this purpose. Tht
questions raised by this attempt viii
be discussed in a future Haskin Letter