The Propaganda for Reform in Proprietary Medicines, Vol. 1 of 2Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry (American Medical Association)
Science
The Propaganda for Reform in Proprietary Medicines, Vol. 1 of 2
Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry (American Medical Association)
Patent medicines
Phecolates, Phecolax, Phecozymes and Phecotones were submitted by F.
Waldo Whitney, New York, with “literature” indicating that they are
designed to form parts of a system of treatment founded on the theory
of autotoxemia, which they are supposed to prevent by their action
on the functions of the intestinal canal. The different preparations
consist in the main of mixtures of well-known remedies. The basic
preparation is Phecolates, which contains bile salts in combination
with phenyl salicylates and benzo-naphthol in about one-eighth the
regular doses and hence not likely to be of any real service. Since the
proportions of these ingredients ought to be regulated by the physician
according to the needs of the individual patient, they should not be
combined in fixed proportions. The name is not so framed as to indicate
the principal ingredients.
Phecolax contains, in addition to the ingredients of Phecolates,
phenolphthalein and cascarin, of each one-half grain.
Phecozyme is made more complex than Phecolax by the introduction of
additional phenyl salicylate and of pancreatin.
Phecotone contains ten ingredients.
Extravagant claims such as the following are made:
“Our Health is governed by our bowels; Our bowels are governed by
our nerves; Our nerves are governed by our digestion; our digestion
is governed by Phecolates.”
The Council voted to refuse recognition to Phecolates, Phecolax,
Phecozymes and Phecotones as unscientific articles with objectionable
names.--(_From The Journal A. M. A., Nov. 21, 1914._)
PHENOL SODIQUE
Report of Examination by Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry
and Comments
An examination of this article by a subcommittee of the Council on
Pharmacy and Chemistry revealed unscrupulous claims which are a
positive menace to public health. In view of this the Council has
directed the publication of the following comments.
W. A. Puckner, Secretary.
COMMENTS
Phenol Sodique was not submitted to the Council by the manufacturers,
but was taken up because it is advertised to both physicians and the
public. Some advertisements state: “Phenol Sodique was the standard
antiseptic thirty years ago. It’s the same today.” If this were true,
it would be high time to call a halt; for the unscrupulous claims made
for this nostrum, and the effrontery with which they are pushed, are
only rivaled by those of the most shameless “patent medicines.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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