Wallace F. Janssen

The search for safe and effective drugs is as old as mankind. Nothing is more important to doctors and patients than to have drugs they can rely on. And there are now a host of such drugs. Yet “unproven” drugs still have a fatal fascination. especially drugs for cancer. Laetrile is the latest of literally thousands of supposed remedies for cancer, generally so outlandish that it seems incredible that people once believed in them. In its 70-year history, the FDA has put hundreds of such “cures” out of business. Every decade or so. however. there is one which is promoted so effectively that it attracts a large following and becomes a national issue. It is highly revealing to take a look at some of these …

Never say “never again” is something you learn in FDA. Worthless or dangerous products have an annoying way of cropping up time after time. Even drugs thought to have been banned forever have come back from the dusty pages of history to afflict an unsuspecting public. The chemical 2,4-dinitrophenol is a case in point. Described in a chemical dictionary as “highly toxic” and a “severe explosion hazard when dry,” this substance has been used in dyes, wood preservatives, weedkillers, photographic developers, explosives and, astonishingly, in weight-reducing products for human use. Before 1938 it was legal under federal law to sell dinitrophenol (as it was commonly called) as a diet potion. At that time, drug makers were not required to prove that their products were safe …