THE MEDICINE MAN UNDER THE EAGLE'S EYE
Blatnik, John A.
The Medicine Man under the Eagle's Eye by JOHN A. BLATNIK When Thetis dipped her son, Achilles, into the River Styx, that much-touted wound-proofing lotion had an unadvertised shortcoming. Since...
...It will never do any harm but it certainly won't help reduce...
...Such statements as 'No-Diet Reducing Wonder Drug' are a deliberate falsehood in my opinion...
...J. Murray Steele of the New York University School of Medicine, the chairman of a study group of New York's Academy of Medicine, told us that his committee, in 1956, found the literature "extravagant and distorted" and that it encouraged "indiscriminate use" of these drugs...
...Then and only then will the consumer—and the FTC—have a fighting chance of filtering out the truth from the murky haze of cigarette advertising...
...Kent, 30 per cent...
...Dr...
...But are these claims true...
...The Post Office has successfully proceeded against more than 40 phony weight reducers since 1955...
...A legislative change might make mail fraud orders issued by the Post Office Department binding in FTC proceedings, so as to avoid a retrial of the same issues...
...The law says: no drug advertisement shall be deemed false if (1) it is directed only to the medical profession, (2) contains no false representation of a material fact, and (3) includes the formula of the drug's composition...
...It was not until after our hearings that the FTC moved to halt some of these deceptions...
...R.D.X...
...So sales sky-rocket, at least until the sobering second thought occurs, and when the dust has settled, one or two new drug concerns have come to the top of the heap...
...The Subcommittee concerned itself with FTC efficiency in the field of false and misleading advertising of weight-reducing preparations, dentifrices, prescription tranquilizing drugs, and filter-tip cigarettes...
...What is the consumer to believe...
...Toothpastes are appreciated professionally because of their abrasive and detergent action and their pleasant taste, but beyond this., Dr...
...A study of 6,000 overweight people showed that 72 per cent suffered from anemia, 18 per cent from diabetes, 22 per cent from heart disease, 37 per cent from nervous or psychogenic disorders, and seven per cent from gall bladder disease...
...FTC has stood idly by for 20 years while the professional medical advertising provision of its "charter" has remained unclear and unused...
...You will lose weight on that whether you take the tablets or not...
...As editors we delight in the revenue from their adventures in competitive advertising, even as we seek to put restraints on its ultra-persuasiveness and keep it within the bounds that medical propriety and a sense of service to humanity have set...
...Surely the Federal Trade Commission, we feel certain, will protect us from unscrupulous advertisers who would capitalize on our longing for the slender form, decay-proof teeth, peace of mind, or harmless cigarettes...
...The stiff competition between the various cigarette brands to reclaim their share of the falling market resulted in extreme claims for the effectiveness of the filter, claims that seem to have reassured the smoker, if rising sales are a criterion...
...I think they are entitled to it...
...Weight-Reducing To weigh less, you must eat less...
...Furthermore, masking mouth odor may be a health hazard if a potential disease situation is also masked —like using perfume when you really need a bath...
...When our hearings were held, the FTC had not proceeded against any falsely advertised weight-reducing preparations in more than twelve years because in 1946, a U. S. Court of Appeals had decided against the FTC in a proceeding concerning Ayds, a caramel candy which is still widely advertised...
...From time to time, a break-through occurs which promises mankind relief from some hitherto unconquered suffering...
...Direct application in the toothpaste, as far as we know, has not been tested...
...What the dentist uses in his office is usually a two per cent solution of fluoride (as compared to about one-tenth of one per cent in Brisk) and it is applied under completely different circumstances and conditions in a manner that has been demonstrated repeatedly by respected scientists in the Public Health Service to give a substantial benefit in the form of decay protection...
...Now the average dose of methyl cellulose is a heaping tablespoonful, not just a small amount...
...Only Brisk Toothpaste gives you the same fluoride dentists use...
...Kalb reports...
...Medical experts appearing before the Subcommittee cited the following instances of deceptive advertising of tranquilizing drugs: (1) Failure to cite known side effects...
...There is no evidence available that a single daily brushing with any of the dentifrices that use this approach in their advertising "fights tooth decay all day...
...This preparation has been on the market in one form or another ever since I was a little boy...
...If this typifies the FTC position on deceptive advertising, then we are at the mercy of every unscrupulous huckster...
...There is "no scientific evidence," he states, that the fluoride used in toothpaste, the amount, and the method of application will save teeth from decay...
...Stopping mouth odor with a dentifrice is practically impossible because of the many things introduced into the mouth during the day, and there is no evidence that Gardol provides an "invisible shield" in the first place...
...2) Extension of Post Office powers to all fraudulent uses of the mails —not only those involving money solicitation...
...We admire their scientific foundations and their genuine philanthropies and appreciate their cocktail parties, where our cups runneth over, but we stand a little in awe of the sinews that they have acquired...
...3. Adequacy of using a dentifrice "only once a day...
...And what are the standards for measuring and controlling the potentially harmful elements in tobacco, and the truthful advertising of this information, of such vital concern to so many millions of citizens...
...Dr...
...If the Congress desires to buy for the public adequate protection in the dental product advertising field, it has it in its power to do so...
...But many of the filter tipped cigarettes of today actually contain more of these elements than they did when they first came on the market...
...Lyons conceded that mouth odors may be caused by decomposition of food, he pointed out that other causes are chronically infected sinuses, infectious or other lung conditions, nasal infections, gastrointestinal disorders, and diabetes...
...The Commission stands ready to carry out the required testing program, but lacks resources to do so...
...The doctor may fear that if he refuses, some colleague may not...
...But when hearings of the Subcommittee on Legal and Monetary Affairs of the House Committee on Government Operations, over which I presided, recently examined four areas of FTC activities, it found the FTC wanting in all four...
...A single brushing with Stripe with Hexachlorophene will protect you against the cause of decay...
...and Lucky Strike, six per cent less...
...S. William Kalb of Newark, New Jersey, a specialist in treating obesity, gave our Subcommittee a medical expert's view of various types of over-the-counter reducing preparations: • Regimen, a product of Drug Research Corp., advertises "No-Diet Reducing...
...The significance of this goes beyond tranquilizers...
...Such a burden of proof is comparable to the proof required by the Food and Drug Administration before a new drug may be released and is preferable to the present burden of proof on the FTC to prove the falsity of a claim...
...3) Reference to lengthy bibliographies which appear to, but do not, substantiate the advertised claims...
...It is made from powdered skim milk with a little lemon juice added to it...
...Stevenson said that "when we are dealing with something as important as good health and the difference between living and dying, we are dealing with something different from shoes and automobiles and trips to Bermuda...
...For example, Lb M, produced by Liggett & Myers, in 1955 contained 1.5 milligrams of nicotine and 11 milligrams of tar...
...But in order to offset the taste, they use a little more cream in this candy, so calorie for calorie this caramel is just about four, five or six calories more than the ordinary caramel that you buy on the stands...
...Housewives, athletes, and students get wind of this solution to their problem and demand the "goof ball...
...The assurance of elimination of bad breath by use of a dentifrice creates a false sense of security and may be misleading...
...This confuses everyone, including the FTC...
...Brushing the teeth after each meal is a prime requisite for good oral hygiene...
...Crest and Gleem with GL-70 (Procter & Gamble...
...Besides being useless as weight reducers, those preparations containing drugs may be dangerous to the health of many stout people who suffer from other ailments without being aware of them...
...advertising to the contrary, it was said, can only lead to poor dental health...
...The FTC, on the other hand, has jurisdiction over deceptive advertising through the mails (and elsewhere) regardless of money solicitation...
...R.D.X., a product of Pharmaceuticals, Inc., advertises "Lose Ugly Fat, Yet Eat Plenty...
...Just one brushing destroys decay—and odor causing bacteria...
...the industry has gained a few million dollars, and doctors and patients have gained—or suffered—in experience...
...The suggested legislative changes should give an effective degree of protection to consumers...
...Lyons said dental decay cannot be avoided merely by the use of a dentifrice, and the false promise of immunity held out by dentifrice advertisers encourages neglect of the teeth...
...Several medical authorities testified that this presumption is not entirely warranted...
...5) One instance of out-and-out deception, where the company warned of drowsiness in the literature on its tranquilizer, but claimed "no impairment of physical efficiency" in the advertisements...
...Drugs and other methods may be an aid, but the primary method is diet...
...Of 17 brands tested, eleven produced less tar than L 6- M (King Sano, 40 per cent less...
...The purchasers of bezoar stones lived in the age of "Caveat Emptor" (Let the Buyer Beware), but we have grown accustomed to the protection of Uncle Sam and assume that he will not permit us to be deceived by modern alchemists and purveyors of witchcraft...
...Following contradictory testimony by FTC officials regarding FTC jurisdiction over "ethical drug" advertising, the FTC commissioner on the stand cut the Gordian knot by remarking that it was a lot easier to find a case elsewhere and that the Commission has just never been active in the field of professional advertising...
...Marlboro, Old Gold, and Parliament, 18 per cent...
...Harry F. Dowling, chairman of the department of medicine at the University of Illinois, College of Medicine, told my Subcommittee that "fundamental knowledge regarding the actions and toxic effects of drugs is needed and this knowledge cannot be acquired by a practicing physician within a short period of time...
...Dowling also said that the rate at which new drugs are introduced is so rapid that the busy practitioner is unable to keep up with them...
...it doesn't make any difference about calories because a doctor can regulate the calories, but when we talk about weight reducing, then it is a fallacy...
...The American Dental Association contends that much of this advertising has discouraged proper dental hygiene and that many of the advertising claims for dentifrices are misleading and may be detrimental to dental and general health...
...Two years later there was a 70 per cent increase in nicotine content and a 33 per cent increase in tar in the smoke entering the lungs...
...The 1939 FTC Act, which invests the Commission with powers to combat false advertising, restricts these powers where a drug is advertised solely to the medical profession...
...Ayds, a product of the Carley division, Campagna Corp., which advertises, "I found Ayds and recaptured my figure...
...Our hearings on cigarette advertising have stimulated the FTC to require from the tobacco manufacturers scientific proof for their technical claims...
...Each of these ills requires a special diet and medical attention...
...Dentifrices In 1957, more than $25 million was spent to advertise 12 toothpaste "best sellers...
...The safeguards provided by FDA are not enough...
...Most importantly, however, untrained as we are in the medical sciences, we succumb to the pseudo-scientific presentation, documented by testimonials from "independent research organizations," consecrated by cleverly worded references to "U.S...
...The claims made for these products include such statements as "Saves Your Teeth from Decay...
...Colgate's with Gardol stops mouth odor all day . . . with just one brushing...
...In June 1958, six prominent brands of cigarettes were all advertising "lowest tar content...
...We assume that the professional-looking man in a white coat who comes into our living room through the TV screen or appears in full color in our favorite magazine would not tell us an untrue story, or, if he did, that he would suffer dire consequences...
...One FTC Commissioner told my Subcommittee that "it takes a person who is really gullible to believe many of these ads...
...What's To Be Done...
...Government approval," bolstered by meaningless comparisons, adorned with empty claims to novelty or exclusivity ("No other product contains this patented ingredient...
...Lyons concluded, "no other merits for dentifrices have been scientifically established...
...While the FTC has failed to protect consumers against these unwarranted claims, a limited consumer protection has been furnished by the Post Office Department, which can proceed only against fraudulent mail solicitation of money...
...Pearlman's analysis of the advertising may be fairly summed up in the Scottish verdict "not proved...
...Certainly this is not a field to be completely ignored by the FTC...
...These are the basic problems which the Commission faces in formal action against manufacturers of dental products...
...Slim Mint, "the delightful aid to appetite control," made by the Thompson Medical Co., which advertises "Take Off Pounds and Inches, REDUCE...
...Harry Lyons, past Association president and dean of the School of Dentistry of the Medical College of Virginia, told us that the "patient contributes to his or her mouth cleanliness chiefly by the skillful and judicious use of a suitable toothbrush, with or without a dentifrice...
...Chairman Gwynne, after citing difficulties of proof, emphasized the lack of funds for testing facilities: "We have never attempted to obtain an actual estimate of the cost that would be involved in such a study because of our budgetary limitations for such purposes but we can easily envision the expenditure of $25,000 to $50,000 in the testing of one or two dentifrices...
...Pep-sodent with Irium and Stripe with hexachlorophene (Lever Bros...
...not more than - milligrams of tar," and that the label should change with every alteration in the blend of tobacco used...
...There exists, then, an area in which the FDA cannot and the FTC will not act...
...the self-medication and diet recommended by the weight-reducing nostrums, not specifically designed for the particular need, is an unnecessary risk to them...
...The Post Office Department in 1940 had barred Ayds from mail solicitation and in July 1957 had obtained agreement from the maker of Hungrex to discontinue objectionable advertising...
...In 1958, a "more effective filter" was widely advertised by L ir M —and the tar content climbed to 17 milligrams...
...The FTC has only two doctors on its staff, who were said by their superiors to be "stacked up beyond any load they can carry...
...PM, Tarey-ton, and Viceroy, 12 per cent...
...Almost every brand of cigarette changes its blend frequently, and the content of harmful tars may go up as well as down...
...The average FTC enforcement process requires two years, in contrast to six to seven months at the Post Office Department...
...This is all the more significant because the Post Office Department in its proceedings must not only prove that the advertising is misleading but (unlike the FTC) must also prove intent to defraud...
...The entire responsibility falls on the doctor who is presumed to have full knowledge of the drug and its effects...
...Such, in recent years, were the sulfa drugs, the antihistamines, the steroids, the antibiotics...
...This division of jurisdiction provides some very anomalous situations...
...Now, if you think a tablet of skim milk and lemon juice is going to help you lose weight, go ahead and take it...
...2) Advertising "no known contra-indications" in the face of documented knowledge to the contrary...
...While my Subcommittee is investigative in scope and has no authority to initiate and consider legislation, I am hopeful that legislative committees of the 86th Congress will consider some of the problems pointed up in our hearings...
...Furthermore, I feel strongly that the law should require cigarette manufacturers to label their products "contains not more than--milligrams of nicotine...
...This encouraging development could well be extended to dentifrices, tranquilizers, or any product where advertising is capable of scientific proof...
...Even where it has taken action against deceptive advertising, the FTC's enforcement record has been one of incredible delays...
...This came out originally for diabetics...
...In 1957, the Post Office successfully barred Regimen from using the mails for its solicitation but could do nothing about newspaper advertisements featuring the copy found objectionable in the Post Office proceeding because it contained no solicitation of money through the mails...
...Nicotine and tar are believed to be the elements in tobacco smoke which are dangers to health...
...Kalb comments: "Inside the package it says 'To weigh less, you must eat less...
...Cigarette Filters Medical men and the U.S...
...And while research to date is not entirely definitive, enough evidence has been unearthed and enough publicity given to the dangers of smoking to prompt smokers to reduce or abandon their use of cigarettes...
...Kalb, "and it tastes very good, too...
...This was the opinion of private and government doctors appearing before our Subcommittee—yet for years the advertising media have resounded with claims of "no-diet reducing...
...To reduce you must restrict your caloric intake.' Yet in their headline they don't say that...
...Now, the Food and Drug Administration also performs duties in this field, but it is limited to supervising the release of new drugs, and continuing surveillance over "labeling" practices, and does not cover advertising in medical journals and through the mails...
...Ian Stevenson, head of the department of neurology and psychiatry at the Medical School of the University of Virginia, complained that the techniques of merchandising have taken over in the field of "ethical drug" advertising...
...To lose weight, we must reduce our food intake in terms of calories...
...The FTC simply has not had the funds, and therefore not the facilities or the personnel necessary to carry out a vigorous enforcement program against false and misleading advertising, especially in the advertising of medical products...
...Tranquilizing Drugs The term "tranquilizer" in its true meaning refers only to so-called "ethical drugs" which cannot be sold without a doctor's prescription...
...The law charges the FTC with that responsibility, and the taxpayer provides it with an annual budget of $6,000,000 to discharge that and other duties...
...The tar and nicotine content of cigarette smoke depends on the tobacco blend as well as on the filter...
...government pretty much agree that there is some relationship between smoking and the incidence of lung cancer and heart disease...
...FTC Chairman John W. Gwynne cited 34 cease and desist orders and 27 stipulations to discontinue objectionable dentifrice advertising...
...For diabetics it is all right...
...The vitamins and minerals are just added as a come-on, and have no therapeutic value...
...These are caramels," Dr...
...In my opinion, the health problem of cigarettes has reached such a point that I believe it imperative to enact legislation empowering the FTC to request an injunction when it deems this action necessary...
...Sholom Pearlman, assistant secretary of ADA's Council on Dental Therapeutics, reviewed the advertising of some specific products, including Super-Ammident with fluoride (Block Drug Co...
...4) Quotation out of context, and omission of unfavorable passages from clinical reports...
...However, the most recent of these orders was handed down in 1951 and the most recent stipulation executed in 1947...
...Ipana with WD-9 (Bristol-Myers Co...
...Look, Mom—no cavities...
...Once FDA gives a new drug the probationary status which permits its use by doctors, pressures from both manufacturers' agents and patients mount to a degree which many doctors cannot resist...
...But there is a diet enclosed in the package, a thousand-calorie diet...
...3) Enjoining advertising media from carrying any advertising which has been the subject of an FTC order, once they have been notified of such an order...
...Contrary to a popular notion, even the most-widely known tranquilizers are obtainable only on prescription...
...I have already introduced such legislation and plan to re-introduce it next year...
...Solution of these problems is a matter of fundamental economics...
...Such a delay is much longer than the sales effect of the incriminated advertising, and a much more summary action is necessary to stop deceptive advertising...
...The sale of phony weight reducers is big business, grossing an estimated $100 million yearly...
...Overweight stems primarily from over-eating, or from eating fattening foods...
...Winston advertised a blend "specially refined for filter smoking", yet it was one of the strongest cigarettes tested—58 per cent more tar than Rents, 36 per cent more than Parliaments...
...Other areas of legislative change might include: (1) Transferring jurisdiction over all food and drug advertising to the Food and Drug Administration...
...We may be impervious to the "hard sell," yet succumb to the "soft sell," or to the subliminal approach, or to the hidden appeal to subconscious urges...
...Our first duty is to the public, plainly enough, and so is theirs, for whereas much of modern advertising in general is designed to create a desire where there is no need, that of the drug business should still be patterned on the principle of responsibility to humankind...
...2. Elimination of "bad breath...
...counteract the trend by the wholesale adoption of the filter-tip, supposed to remove the elements in tobacco smoke that seem to be a danger to health...
...This has methyl cellulose in it," the medical expert testified...
...What's Wrong with the FTC...
...is a tablet," says Dr...
...Joseph C. Garland, editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, wrote in his publication December 5, 1957: "If I may speak for others as well as myself, we as physicians recognize and appreciate our ancient partnership and our friendly relations with our dynamic friends, the manufacturing apothecaries...
...So the only thing this will do is give you a couple of cavities in your teeth...
...A similar requirement could be the subject of a legislative change: to require food and drug advertisers to prove in FTC proceedings the truth of their advertised claims...
...Let the buyer beware" should hardly be the attitude of the government agency charged with protecting the consumer...
...Since the spring of this year the FTC has instituted proceedings involving these weight reducing products: Pounds-Off made by the General Products Corporation, Hungrex by Allegheny Pharmacal Corp., K-12 by the Practical Research Company, Du-Dol by the Anderson Pharmacal Corporation, and Regimen by the Drug Research Corporation...
...When the sale of cigarettes actually dropped a few years ago for the first time in over a decade, cigarette manufacturers attempted to JOHN A. BLATNIK, Democratic Representative in Congress from Minnesota, headed the recent inquiry into the functioning of the Federal Trade Commission...
...If this chiclet contains a heaping tablespoonful I'd like to see where they put it...
...The FTC itself admitted that the case was "poorly tried...
...So it is that tranquilizers are recommended for the harassed housewife who has "washday blues," for the "difficult" child, for the after-dinner speaker who has "butterflies in his stomach," for the athlete before the meet, and the student before the exam...
...We may smile at the naivete with which people believed in the magic power of bezoar stones or unicorn powder, but promise us a concoction that will remove middle-age spread, assuage our jitters, or prevent cavities in our teeth, and we will run, not walk, to the nearest drug store...
...Brisk and Colgate Dental Cream with Gardol (Colgate-Palmolive...
...The only difference between this and Hershey's is that Hershey uses regular cane sugar in theirs and these people use saccharin, or maybe they use sucryl...
...Since that time, all of us have shown an Achilles' heel to advertising, no matter how sophisticated we may be...
...Just one brushing . . . " is a direct attempt to discourage the sound dental health practice of brushing after each meal...
...The three general themes running through dentifrice advertising are: 1. Arrest of dental decay...
...But the extent of this restriction is not clear...
...The two motivations of relief for the patient and profit for the manufacturer will combine to create, on the part of the manufacturer, a climate of eagerness to promote his discovery, to minimize dangers which are either unknown or ill defined, and on the part of physicians and sufferers an excessive readiness to accept claims as facts...
...Although Dr...
...The power of the Federal Trade Commission is limited in controlling tobacco advertising because it does not have the power to ask a court injunction in this field, as it does in foods, drugs, cosmetics, and devices...
Vol. 22 • November 1958 • No. 11
