EVILS OF PATENT MEDICINES.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXIX, Issue 7731, 26 February 1909, Page 1

EVILS OF PATENT MEDICINES.

At the .lumuaJ conference of the New Zealand branclF.of 'the British Medical Association,- ■ begun at Napier on Monday last, the president (Dr. T. C. Moore), m his address to the members, devoted a good,deal of time to a dissertation mi the eviU of patent and proprietary medicines. The following from the iiawke's .Hay Herald is an amplification of a Press Association message on the matter. Dr. Moore said that it was clearly evident that a* recognition of the detrimental and dangerous character of this trade had been growing of late years m many parts of the world. In America a series of articles m Collier's Weekly roused almost as much attention as the exposure of the Chicago neat scandals. The promising part of this movement against quackery and fraud was that it was being promoted, especially m the States and on the Continent, by persons not connected with the medical profession. After reference to the apathy of the profession, and the unscruplousness of certain quacks (as reported m a previous message from Napier), the president went on to explain that patent medicine vendors might be divided into two classes —those who possibly believed m the efficacy of tfye nostrums, and those vvlio.set out deliberately and consciously to dcccive —tl|ose who, knowing well that their cure-ills could not possibly iceomplish what; they promised, gave their whole attention to telling effective stories m the most plausible manner. To the first class, said Dr. Moore, belonged the makers of the numerous aperient pills on the market. No doubt tae.3o pills were .successful to some ex':ent, but why should people buy these Patents when they, could get 'a prescription lo'suit their special case from i doctor or a chemist ? As a medical body, continued the oresident, we do not believe that the sale of these nostrums injures us financially; many thought to the contrary. As for the comparative silence of the profession on the evil, he believed that that was due to the thought that their motive would be sure to be misinterpreted and misrepresented.