LONDON
(From Our Regular Correspondent)July 6, 1935.
Bill to Check the Advertisement of Nostrums
The misleading, not to say fraudulent, claims made for nostrums, otherwise termed "patent medicines," in the advertisements of newspapers have long been a scandal. Some years ago the British Medical Association tried to deal with the evil by publishing a book on Secret Remedies, disclosing their composition and showing how most vaunted preparations consisted of very ordinary ingredients quite incapable of fulfilling the claims made for them. But the many millions of dollars spent on these advertisements shows that the evil is unchecked. At the house of commons the minister of health, Sir Kingsley Wood, received a deputation from the parliamentary committee on food and health, which also represented a number of important bodies, commercial as well as professional: British Medical Association, Pharmaceutical Society, National Pharmaceutical Union, Society of Medical Officers of Health, National Association