page_title: United States v. 11 1/4 Dozen Packages of Articles Labeled in Part Mrs. Moffat's Shoo-Fly Powders for Drunkenness
section_title: Legal case and opinion
hierarchical_section_title: United States v. 11 1/4 Dozen Packages of Articles Labeled in Part Mrs. Moffat's Shoo-Fly Powders for Drunkenness / Legal case and opinion
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: 500 mg selbst hergestellter Brechweinstein
context_page_description: United States v. 11 1/4 Dozen Packages of Articles Labeled in Part Mrs. Moffat's Shoo-Fly Powders for Drunkenness, 40 F. Supp. 208, was a 1941 US federal court case heard in the United States District Court for the Western District of New York, alleging the misbranding of a putative cure for alcohol intoxication. The action's unusual name results, in part, from the customs of cases with in rem jurisdiction, and refers to 135 packages of the containers used to hold the powder. This case was one of the first actions taken by the United States Food and Drug Administration.
context_section_description: The FDA seized the packages following their shipment from the manufacturer in Philadelphia to Buffalo, New York in November, 1940. On November 27, the United States Attorney for the Western District of New York filed suit in district court under the FFDCA.
  District Judge John Knight presided at trial.  During the trial, the manufacturer was allowed to intervene in the case, and, during the trial, argued that the product had been sold for over 60 years, and despite annual sales of over 50,000 packages, no complaints had allegedly been received.  The manufacturer's statements were stricken as hearsay.
  A panel of five physicians testified to the toxicity and side-effects of tartar emetic, with the opinion summarizing their testimony in part:
  tartar emetic taken through the mouth irritates the lining of the stomach and intestines, produces various injurious effects on various other organs of the body; that it is cumulative in its effect; that when taken in increased doses it causes nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and retching; and after absorption affects the liver and kidneys and increases the heart rate; that through the loss of the control of the muscles of the stomach the vomitus may be swallowed causing pneumonia.
  The court ruled that the phrase "for Drunkenness" suggested that the powder was a cure or antidote for alcohol intoxication, with the judge concluding:
  the articles in question are misbranded, since the labels thereon are false and misleading, because antimony and potassium tartrate in the dosage of 3.2 grains (the average in the articles analyzed) is not a "cure, mitigation or treatment" for drunkenness as purported to be and also that it is misbranded, because the use of the drug in the dosage of 3.2 grains is dangerous to health.
  Another issue in the case was the question of whether the FFDCA, 21 U.S.C. § 352, required an intent to "deceive and defraud"; Knight's ruling set a lasting precedent that such intent was not required to win condemnation under the Act.
  The "11 1/4 dozen packages" were condemned and later destroyed.
caption: Mrs. Moffat's Shoo-Fly Powders contained tartar emetic, the substance shown here.
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