§ Order for Second Reading read.
§ MR. WARTON, in moving that the Bill be now read a second time, said, that in bringing the subject of patent medicines before the House he had two objects in view. In the first place, he wished to point out that the Government stamp gave undue prominence to patent medicines, all of which contained more or less of poison, and induced people to take that which was injurious to them. Many people who read patent 802 medicine advertisements believed that both Houses of Parliament had in some way sanctioned and almost sanctified those medicines. He submitted that it was very wrong for the Government to derive any revenue from such an unworthy source. When this question was last before the House the Under Secretary of State for the Homo Department said he could not make any promise as to what the Government would do in the matter; but he hoped that some better system than that now in force would be adopted. The Government, however, had done nothing at all; and when he looked at their conduct in regard to the Contagious Diseases Acts and other things, it appeared to him that they were more anxious to spread disease than check it. He desired earnestly to press on the Government that it was their duty to bring forward a measure dealing with this subject, as on the fiscal portion they alone could give up this shameful source of revenue and prevent people being imposed upon by the Government stamp. He was indebted to the hon. Member for West Aberdeenshire (Dr. Farquharson) for allowing his name to be put on the back of this Bill; but it was right, in justice to the hon. Member, to say that he (Mr. Warton) drew this Bill himself, and that he did not know exactly how far the hon. Member agreed with the special provisions of the Bill. The second object he had in view was to show that patent medicines contained poison. Many persons had died through taking those medicines. The man who recklessly sold them was little better than a murderer, and the Government who failed to take measures to alter such a state of things could be charged with conniving at murder. The Coroner of Bury had written him to say that he had held an inquest on a strong, healthy boy of nine years, who had died from having had a patent medicine called "Indian Tincture" administered to him. On analysis the tincture or elixir was found to contain 30 per cent of methylated spirit, resin, capsicum, cayenne pepper, and a tincture or brew made from Indian hemp. What was the use of analyzing those medicines when a poor child—for children were generally the victims—or a poor woman was dead? What he wished was that some feeling should be shown for these poor women 803 and children so as not to have them poisoned by quacks. By the Pharmacy Act of 1868, the Pharmaceutical Society had the power of declaring what were poisons, and when any new drug with poisonous properties was brought to light of including it in the list. The Society was to pass a resolution to the effect that a certain drug was a poison, that resolution was to be submitted to the Privy Council, and if the Privy Council approved it was to be published in The London Gazette, and thenceforth the article so named became a poison under the Act of 1868. The effect of that was that any person going to a chemist's shop and asking for arsenic or any other drug in the list of poisons had to give his or her name and address and answer a variety of questions. But one might buy patent medicines in bottles 18 in. high and 12 in. wide containing an immense amount of poison, and the curious part of the Pharmacy Act was that the rights of the proprietors of patent medicines were carefully preserved. Now, he was for preserving vested interests; but there was one vested interest he would not preserve, and that, was the vested interest in poisoning people. At present one might buy these poisonous medicines by wholesale, not only in the shops of chemists, where there were generally gentlemen of education and responsibility, but in grocers' and petty village shops. His Bill, which he asked the House to read a second time, provided that any person who was the owner or part proprietor or who claimed to be the proprietor of a patent medicine might have his medicine analyzed by the Pharmaceutical Society; and so in like manner any respectable chemist who sold patent medicines, or persons who bought them, might have them analyzed by the Pharmaceutical Society. If it was found that the medicine contained poison let the Pharmaceutical Society pass a resolution similar to that provided by the 2nd section of the Act of 1868, and let them state that "this elixir"—for that was the favourite word—contained poison, and the resolution having been approved by the Privy Council, lot it be published in The London Gazette, and after that the medicine became a poison subject to the restrictions of the Act. Except the hon. Member for Gateshead (Mr. W. H. James), who appeared on behalf of the poisoning 804 interest, he believed they were all agreed that something should be done to protect the life and health of the people. He thought, therefore, that the Government might put aside their political nostrum of the Reform Bill for a time and attend to the lives and health of the people. He begged to move the second reading of the Bill.
§ Motion made, and Question proposed, "That the Bill be now road a second time."—(Mr. Warton.)
§ DR. FARQUHARSONsaid, the House must congratulate the hon. and learned Member for Bridport (Mr. Warton) that, he had now entered upon direct legislation. They might, perhaps, look on this as an expiatory offering for the many Parliamentary innocents he had helped to massacre, and might hope that the softening influences of parental responsibility would induce him in the future to look with a more indulgent eye on the offspring of others. There was little need for saying much to urge upon the House the necessity for legislation of this kind, as the Government themselves had shown their appreciation of the importance of the subject by the announcement of their intention to bring in a Bill dealing with the question, and he was sure they would bring it in as soon as possible. Moreover, it was not necessary to point out to the House how very absurd it was in the abstract that, while the sale of ordinary poisons was fenced round with all kinds of restrictions, anyone could, by putting a Government stamp on the bottle, sell any farrago of poisonous stuff. Great loss of life and health was caused by the sale of these patent medicines, as was shown by the Registrar General's Report. In 1881, there had been 20 deaths from the use of chloral hydrate, two from Godfrey's Cordial, one from anodyne cordial, eight from chlorodyne, one from aniseed, one from Statham's Soothing Syrup, and 51 from patent medicines, the names of which were not stated. It was certain, moreover, that these deaths could not possibly indicate the amount of loss of life caused by these deleterious substances. Since teetotalism became so fashionable there had been a great sale for these chlorals, pick-me-ups, and cordials, which people bought not only in chemists', but in chandlers' shops. Chlo- 805 rodyne was used as a stimulant by those persons who wore the blue ribbon, and there was no doubt that an enormous quantity of chloral was consumed by ladies and persons in high stations in London in consequence of its soothing properties. It was impossible altogether to check the sale of these patent medicines, although he himself would like to see a sweeping Bill on the subject. All medical men detested secret remedies; but, of course, it was impracticable to suggest any sweeping measure. There were great vested interests in the way, and the British public was fond of domestic medication, and even of a little quackery. What they had to do, then, was to regulate the sale of these medicines as best they could. This Bill was founded on French lines. In that country a medicine could not be stamped until it had been officially analyzed; but the regulation was frequently evaded—in fact, unless the analysis were repeated every week or so, it would be of little use. he would suggest one or two alterations in the Bill. The word "proprietary" should follow "patent," so as to include unstamped mixtures, frequently containing deleterious ingredients, which were sold, to a large extent, in villages where there were no druggists' shops. Then there was the difficulty, as to the analysis of the Pharmaceutical Society, that it would only refer to statutory poison, without including preparations which, without being absolutely poisonous, were on the borderland. Clark's Blood Mixture, for example, contained 10 grains of iodide of potassium in each dose. Some people might take that with impunity; on many it would act as a poison. Another objection was that the sanction thus given by the Pharmaceutical Society would largely increase the use of these patent medicines. He would recommend that the Government should harden their hearts and give up the patent medicine stamp, which brought in £154,000. This might, in his opinion, be made up by an increased charge on the licences for the sale of these drugs. Under the present system the Government stamp implied to many ignorant persons a direct sanction and a patent which did not exist. The stamp might be used for any preparation composed of more than one ingredient, and recommended for some specific purpose which was 806 only liable under the Excise Laws. A second recommendation which he would make would be that every proprietor of a patent medicine containing poison should be obliged to put a label with the word "poison" on the bottle and wrapper, with a direction that such medicine must be prescribed with caution. This caution might be extended to substances of injurious, if not directly poisonous, nature, such as teething powders, which contained mercury and opium. Then, again, the innocent seller should have a remedy against the proprietor and manufacturer. If the proprietor failed to put the word "poison" on the bottle, the Pharmaceutical Society might be called on to analyze the medicine, the cost to be paid by the proprietor in the event of its being found to contain poison, with penalties recoverable under the Pharmacy Act. The most important part of the Bill was the 5th section, which enacted that a patent medicine should be put under the same restrictions as regards sale as other medicines. At present, although chloral could only be sold by chemists, Hunter's Solution of Chloral, which was double the strength, could be sold by any shopkeeper or huckster in the street who chose to take out a licence. There was one point he should like to refer to before he sat down. He thought it rather an anomalous thing that, whereas druggists were not allowed to sell a poisonous substance unless it were registered, any co-operative store was allowed to sell those substances in any quantity when labelled as patent medicines. That was an anomaly which, he hoped, would soon be swept away. He further submitted that powers should be vested in the Local Authorities, to enable them to undertake prosecutions under the Pharmacy Act as under the Adulteration of Food Acts. Those prosecutions at present were undertaken by the Pharmaceutical Society, thereby bringing upon it on occasions unmerited obloquy. In conclusion, although he had not been able to coincide or agree with all the provisions of the Bill, he thought they owed the hon. and learned Member for Bridport (Mr. Warton) gratitude for having brought it in, for he thought it was very desirable that they should turn aside occasionally from Party discussion to consider questions of domestic legislation which were of in- 807 terest to many sections of the general community.
§ MR. W. H. JAMESobserved, that as the hon. and learned Member for Bridport had Notices of opposition down to nine out of 19 Orders of the Day, he would, perhaps, not think Hint he (Mr. W. H. James) was abusing his rights as a Member of Parliament if he offered a few observations against the Bill. In his opinion, the statement in the Preamble of the Bill, that many deaths had occurred from the use of patent medicines, had not been made out. He did not dispute that deaths were sometimes caused by poisons in patent and proprietary medicines; but he was credibly informed that during the last two years not more than seven deaths had arisen from the use of these medicines, against 152 deaths caused by drugs sold by chemists, the use of which resulted in death by suicide, misadventure, and other causes. A boy died last year who had been taking Coil's Whooping Cough Specific; but the medical man admitted that he merely guessed that death was due to the effects of antimony contained in it, and it was almost impossible to say whether death was caused by the antimony or by natural causes, he did not deny that legislation was required on the subject of patent medicines; but the matter was too serious and far-reaching to be treated in a private Bill; if it was taken up at all, the Government should deal with it. The present Bill was utterly unworkable, and would inflict great hardship on an immense number of persons. There were no less than from 800 to 1,000 owners of these- proprietary medicines, and 19,000 people wore employed in their manufacture or sale. [Mr. WARTON: So much the worse.] As already stated, the revenue from the Government stamp amounted to over £150,000, and during the last two years no less than 30,000,000 packets of patent medicines had been sold. If this Bill were carried into law, it would injuriously affect a very respectable body of men, and would dislocate a very considerable and important trade. A licence to sell these medicines could be obtained for 5s. by any shopkeeper; and to numbers of persons who might not be within reach of a doctor or a chemist, or who might prefer to apply their own remedies, it was a great advantage to be able to make use of these homely remedies. Many other patent medicines supported 808 the widows and families of deceased proprietors, and their property ought not to be arbitrarily interfered with. The 4th clause provided that until a patent medicine had been analyzed by the Pharmaceutical Society it should be deemed to be a poison within the meaning of the Pharmacy Act; and thus a great many patent medicines which were absolutely harmless, such as Fruit Salt and Magnesia, would be put in the category of poisons. He believed that, however well intended were the efforts of the hon. and learned Member for Bridport, this Bill would have precisely the opposite effect to that which the hon. and learned Member intended. From the facts he (Mr. W. H. James) bad quoted, it was obvious that these medicines were very largely used. If the Bill, as it was now drawn, were carried into law, society would be divided into two classes. There would be the class who would on no account touch any thing labelled "poison," and who would, therefore, be afraid of many of those preparations which contained only infinitesimal quantities of poison. On the other hand, it would render another set of people perfectly regardless and careless of articles and ingredients which were absolutely poisonous and dangerous; and, so far from the hon. and learned Member for Bridport preventing the sale of poisons, he would render himself in history even more notorious than he was already—be becoming almost a Poisoner General. Under these circumstances, he did not think the Bill ought to be supported by the House; and he, therefore, moved that it be read that day six mouths.
§ MR. HOPWOOD, in seconding the Amendment, said, ho did not base his objection on the ground of the injury which would be inflicted on vested interests, for if those interests were sustained by the sale of that which was injurious to the public it was only right that they should suffer. He doubted whether any legislation of this character had been productive of any real benefit to the community. He believed the Sale of Poisons Act had done no good. It had done nothing to prevent either suicide or poisoning. The effect of such legislation was only to delude the public, and to vex a number of honest men in their employment. Such legislation further tended to create a monopoly in the Medical Profession and enable medi- 809 cal practitioners to raise their fees, the result being that people of the lower classes were compelled either to seek gratuitous medical aid or rely upon quack nostrums. Something of the feeling of trades' unionism might be detected in the hostility shown by Coroners and medical gentlemen towards patent medicines when the deceased had been shown to have lately used them. The principle of law which he would apply to this subject was already in force — namely, that if any person sold any deleterious substance which tended to cause the death of another he should be held answerable through the Common Law. No doubt some patent medicines had produced benefit to the poor; but he objected to the Bill because its only effect would be to give the stamp of Government authority to all nostrums, and insure for them an increased sale.
§ Amendment proposed, to leave out the word "now," and at the end of the Question to add the words "upon this day six months."—(Mr. W. H. James.)
§ Question proposed, "That the word 'now' stand part of the Question."
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL (Sir HENRY JAMES)said, that, so far as the Government was concerned, it would not consent to the second reading of the Bill. The object of the hon. and learned Member for Bridport was one with which everybody must sympathize; but it was necessary to look to the means proposed for the attainment of that object; and, doing this, the Government could not accept the provisions of this Bill, which would treat as a poison any medicine containing any poison, however innocuous the quantity might be in the preparation of which it formed part. He did not say but that the sale of poisons might very well be checked and controlled in the interests of the public; but this Bill was so entirely unworkable that he could not assent to its second reading. The Government had the matter in hand, and was prepared to treat it in a much broader souse in a Bill which would be introduced into the other House, and when it reached this House he hoped the desire of the hon. and learned Member for Bridport for legislation on the subject would induce him to stay his obstructive hand, and that his own introduction of a Bill would constitute a sort of implied contract with 810 him for the adoption by him on this subject of a course the novelty of which would be fully appreciated by the House. The Bill of the hon. and learned Member proposed that every patent medicine should primâ facie be regarded as a poison until it had been examined by the Pharmaceutical Society, and that after such an examination, if there was the smallest trace of a poisonous substance, the article should be treated as a poison under the Pharmacy Act of 1868. The effect would be that a person selling, for instance, a cough lozenge, perfectly innocuous and even beneficial, owing to the smallness of the quantity of the poison it contained, would have to label it as a poison, and register the name of the person to whom it was sold, and the purpose for which it was required. To subject the public to legislation of this kind was exactly that harassing legislation which did no good, against which the hon. and learned Gentleman so eloquently argued under all circumstances, but of which he had now produced as flagrant a specimen as could be conceived. In these circumstances he hoped the House would not consent to the second reading of the Bill.
§ MR. ARTHUR O'CONNORsaid, if he approached the consideration of the subject without bias he should be inclined to support the Bill, for he had not boon convinced by the arguments used against it, and it was admitted that illness and deaths were caused by patent medicines. He failed to see that the subject required such large treatment that only the Government could deal with it. If the Bill would be beneficial in its operation, he could not understand why Ireland was to be excluded there-from. Unless, therefore, the hon. and learned Gentleman was prepared to include Ireland within the scope of its operations, ho should vote against it.
§ MR. WARTONsaid, that the reason why he had excluded Ireland was that he did not know what Body in that country would take the place of the Pharmaceutical Society in Great Britain; and he had but followed the wording of the Pharmacy Act. The case of the widows and orphans who wore interested in the sale of patent medicines could scarcely be put forward seriously against the safety of the public. The hon. and learned Member for Stock-port's (Mr. Hopwood's) objections applied 811 not so much to the Bill as to the doctors, whose alleged monopoly, especially as regarded vaccination, he was always opposing; but, as even medical Coroners occupied an independent position, the suggestion that they conducted their inquiries with a bias against patent medicines was an unworthy imputation. With regard to the argument put forward by the Attorney General, he thought they might trust the Pharmaceutical Society not to brand a medicine as a poison unless it was really poisonous. Unless the quantity of the deleterious ingredient which it contained rendered the medicine poisonous, he did not want it to be branded as a poison. He was glad that the result of the Motion which ho brought forward on that subject two years ago had been so far beneficent that the Government were now pledged to introduce into the other House a Bill relating to it; and he hoped that the Chancellor of the Exchequer would consent to abandon as a source of revenue the stamp duty now payable on medicines of that sort, which was supposed to give them the sanction of the State. Unless the Government gave him a positive pledge that they would deal with the fiscal question as well as with the other part of the subject, he should feel compelled to take the sense of the House on that measure, in order to show that that was a question of great importance which had boon too long shelved arid neglected.
§ Question put, and negatived.
§ Words added.
§ Main Question, as amended, put, and agreed to.
§ Second Reading put off for six months.