Fishbein, Morris

English

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THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION'SWORK FOR CONSUMER PROTECTIONMoRIs FIsHBEIN*An intelligent and enlightened consumer is a safe consumer. The whole purposeof the work of the various councils and committees of the American Medical Asso-ciation is not persecution or prosecution of the promoter and the quack, but educa-tion of the public as to what is sound in the field of medicine.The first of the councils of the American Medical Association was the Council onPharmacy and Chemistry. It was established primarily to advise the editor of Thejournal relative to advertisements for proprietary medicines submitted to The Journal,with a view to limiting such advertising to products of known composition andestablished merit. As a result of this work, it became necessary to establish a lab-oratory to investigate the products so as to check the composition claimed bymanufacturers. As the work grew, it became possible to publish each year a bookcalled "New and Nonofficial Remedies," describing the products that had beenaccepted by the Council and which were therefore considered suitable for advertisingin the publications of the Association.Since, however, the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry dealt only with ethicalproprietary preparations sold to the medical profession the Bureau of Investigationwas established to consider the claims made for nostrums and patent medicines soldto the public, and the laboratory of the American Medical Association was used toascertain the composition of secret remedies, so that the claims made for themmight be considered in relationship to their composition.As this work of the Association developed, new councils and bureaus were grad-ually established. The Council on Medical Education and Hospitals has begun to bea rating agency for medical colleges and for hospitals, and also for laboratories whichsupply diagnostic tests and for roentgen-ray laboratories.The Council on Physical Therapy was established to consider devices in the fieldof physical therapeutics, such as ultraviolet, diathermy, and hydrotherapy apparatus.Finally when it became apparent that increasingly foods were being prescribedin the practice of medicine, when it became obvious that the new discoveries con-* B.Sc., University of Chicago, i91o; M.D., Rush Medical College of the University of Chicago, 1912.Editor, Journal of the American Medical Association, Hygeia. Contributor to numerous periodicals;author of Handbook of Therapy (with Oliver T. Osborne) (1915); Medical Follies, (1925); Doctors andSpecialists (930), and many other works.THE AMERICAN MEDICAL AssOCIATION'S WORK FOR CONSUMER PROTECTION 51cerning mineral salts and vitamins would be exploited to the public by manufacturerswho would not hesitate to exaggerate the qualities of their wares in order to increasetheir sales, the Committee on Foods was established to do a similar work in this field.Unquestionably this philanthropic work on the part of the American MedicalAssociation has meant vast savings in health and life, and a saving of money to theAmerican people. Much of the work of the Consumers' Research and similarorganizations is based on this pioneer work by the American Medical Association.It should again be emphasized that no manufacturer is permitted to pay one cent inrelationship to the examination of his product and that no member of the public isever charged for the information that is supplied. The money necessary to carry onthis work is made by the publications of the American Medical Association, includingprincipally The Journal of the American Medical Association.Moreover, from the first, the work of these councils and bureaus has been givenadequate support through the publicity department of the American Medical Asso-ciation, through all of its periodicals, and through the absolutely consistent refusalto accept the advertising of any products that could not meet the standards of thevarious committees and councils.It must be realized that the Food and Drugs Act protects the consumer so far asthe package of the product is concerned, but bears no relationship to advertisingseparate from the package. This arrangement has made necessary the work of thesecouncils. It is conceivable that the passage of new food and drugs legislation likethat now proposed, which plans to control claims made in advertising as well asclaims made on the package, will give the consumer the protection needed.THE WORK OF THE BUREAU OF INVESTIGATIONARTHUR J. CRAMP*The Bureau of Investigation of the American Medical Association is an outgrowthor by-product of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry, although the Bureau hasno connection with the Council. The Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry wasbrought into being in i9o5 for the purpose of subjecting to scientific scrutiny theinnumerable proprietary medicines that were offered to the medical profession forprescription purposes and passing on to the profession the results of such investiga-tions. As the medical profession awoke to the way in which it had been deceivedand humbugged by the exploiters of unscientific proprietaries, they began also to takean interest in those crude proprietary medicines known colloquially but incorrectlyas "patent medicines"--that is, package medicines, usually of secret composition, soldto the public for the self-treatment of self-diagnosed ailments. Repeated and in-sistent requests for information coming first from physicians and later from theaM.D., x9o6, Wisconsin College of Physicians and Surgeons. Director of Bureau of Investigation,American Medical Association. Author of Nostrums and Quackery (i92i).

The American Medical Association’s Work for Consumer Protection

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The American Medical Association’s Work for Consumer Protection

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