Imperial Valley press., 1937-11-11
Editorials and Comment.
THURSDAY NOVEMBER L. 1897.
News Behind the News
- Deadly Patent Medicine

WASHINGTON - Sultanilamide elixir, sup
posed to have been responsible for the deaths of
90 persons at last count drew wide public atten-
ton because so many people who took Il died so
quickly resulting in a melodramatic race to get
remaining supplies off the drugstore shelves
But other drug preparations have killed more
people than this one, though less conspicuousy,
officials of the Food and Drug Administration
assert And they couple the reflection with the
question of whether the once-celebrated Tug
well Bill" would have prevented the. recent series
of deaths. The particular sulfanilamide prepar-
alton which proved so deadly o. the present
distributed through rel sllar channels
put out by an established firm and administered
by conscientious physicians.
DR.. E. Kennerly Marshall, jr. professor of
pharmacology at the Johns Hopkins university
says passage of the TugWeu bill would have
saved those who in the present instance, died
after taking the elixir Food and Drug Admin
istration officials say the in its original
form probably" would have averted these TRACE
dies as we'll others.
But the original Tugwel bill, prepared by
these government experts to protect consumers
against dangerous or worthless drugs cosmetics
and foods, has long since been pulVerized by
lobbyists and their congressional .sympathizers.
And under present laws, the only charge that
could be brought against the elixir manufactur-
would be a technical one of "misunderstand-
ing" which involves 5000 fine in case the viola
ton should be established
To experts of the Food and Drug Administra-
ton, the sulfanilamide affair is only the latest
of a series OF similar cases. The fault lies in
the willingness of some drug manufacturers to
distribute certain preparations without ade-
quately testing their possible effects. Dinitro-
phenol used in "fat-reducing' preparations, Gin
chophen, and radium waters, said to have
shocking fatality records
Even the original Tugwell bill. however, car
ried certain assurance that inadequately-
tested drugs might not be sold The most effec-
tive preventive would be federal act requiring
ich tests. ~k
But We didn't have the political temerity
10 offer such a proposal says a Food and Drug
official we thought We would have trouble
enough getting the less drastic provisions of the
Tugwell bill adopted And We did
Friends of rigid food-drug supervision and
hackers Of the Tugwen bill credit Senators Bailey
OF North Carolina, Clark of Missouri, and Van
denberg Of Michigan with the final emascula-
ton OF such shreds of the Tugwen bill as re-
manned when it was alst heard of.
Dr. w. G. Campbell, Foodand Drug chief,
believes that in the current case the manufac-
turer committed AN exceedingly thoughtless
act" in marketing his preparation without ade-
quate tests Of all its possible effects But there
is apparently no question OF legality, the law be-
ing what it is today. Whether the incident will
stimulate a revival of some version of the Tug
well bill, or further drastic preventive and pro-
tective laws in the coming session of Congress,
is questionable