HC Deb 13 March 1905 vol 142 cc1204-5
SIR THOMAS DEWAR

I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he proposes to introduce legislation this session to regulate the sale of poisons; and, in view of the deaths which have occurred through the taking of poisons by misadventure, notably a recent case in which a fetal dose of carbolic acid was administered to a patient under the impression that the bottle contained the prescribed medicine, will he take into consideration the advantage to be derived from a clause directing that all poisons shall be sold in bottles of a distinctive shape, so that the risk of bottles of poison being mistaken for medicine may be reduced to a minimum.

*MR. AKERS-DOUGLAS

The Lord President of the Council has under his consideration the question of legislation on this subject, but I am not in a position to make any statement as to the introduction of a Bill. Under the Regulations made by the Pharmaceutical Society under Section 1 of the Pharmacy Act, 1868, and approved by the Privy Council, it is at the present time required that all liniments, embrocations, lotions, and liquid disinfectants containing poison must be sold in bottles rendered distinguishable by touch from ordinary medicine bottles, and that each such bottle must bear a label giving notice that its contents are not to be taken internally.