DIFFICULTIES OF CHEMISTS

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21806, 11 June 1936, Page 10

DIFFICULTIES OF CHEMISTS

COMMENT ON PROPOSAL BY GOVERNMENT “PUTTING THEIR HOUSE IN ORDER” The assurance that chemists in New Zealand would move heaven and earth to carry out the suggestions of the Government that they should put their house in order was given yesterday by Mr C. A. McKay, president of the Canterbury branch of the Chemists’ Service Guild, when the recommendations embodied in the report of the Industries and Commerce Committee of the House of Representatives were referred to him. He outlined some of the difficulties which chemists faced, and said that one of the biggest problems was that it was often necessary to obtain a quantity of an expensive drug to fulfil a small order. This meant that stocks of drugs, some of which were dated and would be spoiled in keeping, were on the chemist’s hands. A chemist stocked from 3000 to 9000 articles, according to the size of the shop. A very wide range -of drugs was necessary for making up doctors’ prescriptions, he said. One instance was that the firm with which he was associated had to keep nine brands of aspirin to satisfy the requirements of doctors.

Another difficulty was that the ehemist had to give credit where there was no chance of his being paid, as there were cases in which he could not humanly refuse. In other cases where he felt that the circumstances of a customer demanded it, he • felt compelled to charge no more than cost price. At the same time, his knowledge of drugs put him under a moral obligation to supply only the best. Dangers of Monopoly Stated A point raised by Mr B. Owen, a member of the Chemists’ Service Guild, was that the introduction of chain stores would mean a monopoly that would cut out the goods of certain • highly reputable firms, whose products were at present bought by chemists. He attributed the present position *of the chemists to the pirating of the chemist by so many other trades. The chemist had to fall back on his profession, the making up of prescriptions, but to-day medical men had largely departed from the old style of prescribing and were prescribing articles manufactured in commercial laboratories. Mr Owen said that the result of the situation which allowed people to buy drugs anywhere was that the public were risking their health in taking certain articles in too large quan-

titles. The chemist used his discretion and gave customers advice as to how much they should take; he did not merely wish to fill his till by selling as much as possible. . In one instance, a man had asked him for a certain drug, which he refused, as he saw that the man should not take it. He then asked for another, and was again refused. The man was able to go out and buy the article he wanted, and the next morning he was found dead on the riverbank. Lack of Support Blamed He was not taking on any more apprentices, he said, as he felt that the profession was not worth while, under present conditional But the public was throwing away one of Its greatest advantages. If the public supported the chemists, the chemists could sell their goods at half the prices, and at the same time give their professional services free. Chemists had given away gallons of cough mixture during the depression. They also found themselves in the position of having ordered large stocks of remedies during an epidemic ? eeded afterwards. Furthemore. though many goods sold «standard required by the British Pharmacopeia, this was only a standard; the chemist was satisfied merely with conforming with a minimum standard. Mr Owen added that he felt that the young man studying for the pro--5®“?“ ********* in New Zealand should be protected. He felt that it would be- thing if the Govern-. h w o L Pr^L blte *t tb® selling of S* by any others than ehomic^,