Evening star., 1942-06-12
Americas S Drug Bill
Is Billion and Half
Yearly, ANA Hears
Georgetown Professor
Says Sugar Pills No
Lonoer Kid Public
By THOMAS r. HENRY,
Star staff Correspondent.

ATLANTIC CITY. juno 1.-THE
American people pay more than
billion and a half dollars annually
for drugs.
Less than s225 100000 worth of
these are purchased or prescrip-
tions by physicians.
Vitamin preparations sale of
which crossed the sl00,000000 mark
in 1898. have approximately dou-
bled in distribution every year since.
This astonishing increase in self
medication was stressed before the
American Medical Associa ton here
today by DR.. Wallace Yater, pro-
fesSor Of medicine at Georgetown
University. In many cases DR..
Yater said. this drug store trade has
taken the place of simpler old-fash-
toned remedies prepared in the
home.
Public Can't Be Kidded.
1t is partly, he said. the fault of
the physician. A highly literate
public can be "kidded" no longer by
an attitude of omniscience on the
part of a physician and sugar pills
given because he does not know
what else to prescribe for the time
being. The patient is entitled to
frank. intelligent discussion of his
case. DR.. Yates said. and he will be
quick to sense that the physician
either is not telling the truth or does
not know what he is talking about
The time has long passed. he
stressed, when physicians should
write prescriptions in Latina
practice which still persists in many
fusion. DR.. Yater said and defeats
its own purpose of not letting the
intelligent patient know what he is
getting He probably can read the
Latin as we'll as the doctor-or the
druggist.
Single Weight Standard.
It also is necessary, he stressed. to
Get up single standard OF weights
and measures in making and filling
prescriptions. The danger is IL
lustrated, he said, bv the recent
death of the dean of the Washing
ton Cathedral from a l5-fold too
large dose of a powerful drug.
The cost of some of the simplest
drugs. as illustrated in his own
practice. DR.. Yater said. often is
"astounding,' and this may drive
people to buy cheaper substitutes.
At the same session there was
considerable "debunking" of vita
minis, which account for so much OF
the Standardization trade.
Careful tests at the Hillman Hos
pital at Birmingham tAlao center
of vitamin research have shown that
these substances have no direct re-
lationships with various anemias. 1t
was reported by Dr.. Gail V. Moore
of St. Louis
The Alabama tests showed that
the anemias could be improved or
cured by iron extract alone and the
vitamin preparations played no part
whatsoever The role of iron in the
life process. however, is somewhat
similar to that of the B vitamins
and DEFICIENCIES of both are likely to
occur in the same poor diets.
Gets Similar Results.
The same findings with respect to
arthritis were reported by DR.. r. H.
Freyberg Of the University of Mich
igan. He and his colleagues tried
out, one by one. all the vitamins and
most of the hormones on arthritic
patients without getting any clear
cut beneficial results.
Discovery of trigger points in
the shoulder muscles which become
inflamed by unknown causes and
result in almost unendurable pain
in the shoulders and arms was re-
ported by DR.. J. G. Travell OF New
York.
This condition often is mistaken
for arthritis and victims sometimes
are seriously disabled Complete
relief can be obtained in 80 per
cent Of such cases in Is minutes
by injection of procain into these
trigger points. the physician said
Shape, sex and personality of
human beings is strongly affected by
the weather at the time of their
conception.
This theory based on examination
OF thousands Of records, was pre-
sented to the association by Dr.
William F.. Petersen of the Univer-
sity of Illinois.
An examination of more than