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Date: | Thu, 5 Jul 2007 11:19:32 -0500 |
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One of the most amazing pieces of early American "investigative journalism"
was a series of articles exposing the patent medicine frauds. These appeared
in Colliers Magazine in a series of articles published serially in
1905-1906. They had such an impact against quackery and for scientific
medicine that the articles were collected and re-published in a pamphlet
distributed (for only a nominal fee that barely covered postage) by the
American Medical Association. It is not unfair to say that this series of
articles catalyzed the American public's outrage that eventually led to
enactment of the Pure Food and Drugs Act several years later (and the
concomitant sweeping-away of many of the popular nostrums and "patent"
medicines of the late 19th century). The myriad interconnections of the
prohibition/temperance movement with patent medicines were especially
fascinating (and previously unknown) to me (one brand of whisky even
converted itself to a medicine WITHOUT even changing its name, and then got
an endorsement from 3 prominent pastors/churchmen as being beneficial to
health). A copy of the AMA re-publication can be downloaded here:
http://books.google.com/books/pdf/The_Great_American_Fraud.pdf?id=oH0xqp0M-U0C&output=pdf&sig=ZTIhPGLDzsank85oti3HKTiyakU
The chapter beginning on about p 143 discusses the unscrupulous
trade/sale/rental/brokerage of medical testimonial letters; the table on p
145 reveals C. E. Gauss' large participatory role in it (he provided 79,000
letters from customers for his catarrh cure, one of the largest
dealers/collections cited in any category).
After reading this, you will have a clearer understanding of the origins of
the venal nature of the American pharmaceutical industry ...
Bob Skiles
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"There is also an artificial aristocracy founded on wealth and birth,
without either virtue or talents ... The artificial aristocracy is a
mischievous ingredient in government, and provisions should be made to
prevent its ascendancy."
- Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
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