PHARMACY BOARD.

Evening Post, Volume LXXX, Issue 62, 10 September 1910, Page 2

PHARMACY BOARD.

The monthly meeting of the Pharmacy Board of New Zealand was held at the board-room yesterday, the following being in attendance : — Messrs. F. Castle (president), G. Bagley, J. Baillie, and A. Hobson. Dr. Findlay's proposed amendments to the Public Health Act were discussed as the result of a letter from a chemist in the country. A resolution was carried that the board, as representative of the chemists of New Zealand, was opposed to the inclusion of chemists in the provisions of the Bill rendering it compulsory to notify such cases to the Health Department. It was recalled that some years ago forms were distributed among chemists which were required to be sent in by them in connection with contagious diseases as came under their notice, and penalties were provided for omission or neglect. Those requirements imposed on chemists obligations which they should not be called upon to attempt to undertake, that of diagnosing complaints, and the same objection applied to the present proposals. Chemists would probably find that persons, to avoid the results of being the subject of notification, would resort to subterfuge to hide the nature of their complaints, and resort to a more liberal application of patent medicines and self-treatment, and be tempted to refer to quacks. The niembers also discussed the Herbalists Bill, recently introduced into the House, and providing for the legal recognition of herbalists.