PATENT POISONS.
The full test of the recent lecture in. which Dr Mason succeeded, we hope, in opening the ©yes of the public to the trade in evil or worthless drugs under the guise of patent "cure-alls,' 1 will he found in another portion of this issue. We anticipate that it will be widely read, not only by those sensible people to whom it will be of interest as a surprising commentary upon human credulity and the parasites who live, upon it, but also by many to whom it will come as a startling dan-ger-signal. Thor© are two points to which wo would draw particular attention. t Dr Mason, in his vivacious “expose” of the vendors of harmful and dishonest compounds, was careful to make it clear that there are upon the market many excellent “patent medicines” of genuine value. He did not enumerate them,- hut in any legislation which may be introduced in the public interest he may be relied upon, m hia capacity as chief of the State Health Department, to suggest such a scheme
of action as will permit the desirable patents to continue in popular use. The other point to be emphasised is tho relation of the “patent poisons” to infantile mortality. Tho bulk of the output is consumed by women and children, _ Women nro almost instinctively modicine-users, and they rely as largely upon drugs for their infants as for themselves. In tho Federal Parliament, a few days ago, Dr Salmon gave some alarming evidence concerning the diameter of the drugs in vogue amongst mothers, a point only incidentally: touched upon hy Dr Mason. One infant’s medicine contained 42 per cent, of proof spirit, and not 0 per cent, of any other solid constituent. This mixture was to bo given to infants three times a day. A much-' advertised “syrup” was composed of senna, ginger, and podophyllin—the last-named being such an active poison that a Melbourne man succumbed the other day to the effects of an overdose. It is easy to exaggerate the responsibility of each freshly-discovered contributing cause of infant mortality, and wo by no moans wish it to be understood that anything can compare with improper feeding as an infantioidal agency. There is, nevertheless, extraordinary possibilities for evil in the drugging of infants, and while the quack nostrum menaces only the health and tho pocket of the adult, it spells death to the'bahy.'
PATENT POISONS.
New Zealand Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 5981, 18 August 1906, Page 4
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