ZIRATOL

Report of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry

Ziratol (Bristol-Myers Company, New York), in compliance with the federal “insecticide law,” is declared to contain 32 per cent. water and 30 per cent. glycerin as inert constituents. Regarding its active constituents the manufacturer makes the following and meaningless statement:

“Ziratol is prepared from Phenols of the Naphthalene series and consists of a solution of such Phenols in a mixture of soap, water and glycerin.”

In response to inquiry, the A. M. A. Chemical Laboratory examined Ziratol and reported that its essential constituent appears to be alpha-napthol,[120] and that it has, essentially, the following composition by weight: Alpha-napthol 18 per cent., soap 20 per cent., glycerin and water sufficient to make 100 per cent.

A Ziratol advertising circular gives a tabulated report of germicidal tests, said to have been made according to the method of the Hygienic Laboratory of the U. S. Public Health Service. When this work was done is not stated. According to these tests Ziratol possesses a phenol-coefficient of 13.66. The claim that Ziratol is ten times more efficient than carbolic acid (phenol) is evidently based on this report.

These claims of high germicidal value are contradicted by an examination made for the Council. A specimen purchased in the open market was examined independently by two operators, to determine the Hygienic Laboratory phenol-coefficient. One observer found the phenol coefficient to be 2.54. The other reported it to be 3.09. Evidently the germicidal value of Ziratol is greatly exaggerated in the advertising claims and, in fact, does not exceed that of the official compound solution of cresol (Liquor Cresolis Compositus, U. S. P.) for which a phenol-coefficient of about three has been established. (See New and Non­official Remedies, 1917, p. 82.) The claim that Ziratol is “the Universal Antiseptic and Germicide” is manifestly an unwarranted exaggeration.

The referee in submitting this report to the Council recommended that Ziratol be held in conflict with Rule 1 (secrecy of composition) and Rule 6 (unwarranted and exaggerated claims). After the report had been submitted, it was found that a new advertising circular, accompanying a trade package, no longer contained the claim that “Ziratol is ten times more efficient than Carbolic Acid.” The older circular made the following statement:

“1. Strong Activity.—Compared with the bactericidal action of Carbolic Acid by the method of the Hygienic Laboratory of the Marine Hospital Service, Ziratol has the Carbolic Acid Coefficient of more than TEN, that is, Ziratol is TEN times more efficient than Carbolic Acid,—a strength unapproached by any other of its class. Ziratol in dilution of 1:1400 kills the Typhoid Bacillus in 21⁄2 minutes, thus proving that it is strongly active even in very weak solutions.”

The new advertising circular reads:

“1. Strong Activity—Extensive bacteriological investigations on many pathogenic organisms, conducted in the Lederle Laboratories of New York, prove conclusively the high bactericidal value of Ziratol in extremely dilute solutions. (A copy of the complete report will be mailed upon request.)”

In response to a request, the Bristol-Myers Company sent a copy of the bacteriologic investigations of Ziratol, said to have been made by the Lederle Laboratories. The organisms employed for these tests were Staphylo­coccus aureus, Staphylo­coccus albus, Strepto­coccus, Green pus bacillus, B. coli, and saliva. No tests are given with the typhoid bacillus. The conclusion is reached that “in all the tests the solutions of Ziratol have several times greater killing efficiency than those of phenol.” The “coefficients” or comparative values which can be calculated from the results after exposure of 15 minutes to the disinfectants range from 2.0 to 4.0. This is in substantial accord with the referee’s findings as regards the phenol-coefficient with B. typhosus as the test object. While the new advertising circular avoids the former claim that Ziratol is ten times more efficient than carbolic acid, in germicidal value, it still makes the unwarranted claims that Ziratol is the “universal disinfectant.”

The Council declared Ziratol inadmissible to New and Non­official Remedies (1) because its composition is secret (Rule 1); (2) because the phenol coefficient, determined according to the method of the Hygienic Laboratory, U. S. P. H. S., is not stated on the label (Rule 2); (3) because the label and the circular accompanying the trade package advises its use by the public as a “vaginal douche” (Rule 3); and (4) because the claim that Ziratol is the “universal disinfectant” is exaggerated and unwarranted (Rule 6).

Before authorizing publication of the preceding report the Council submitted it to the Bristol-Myers Company in order to give that company the opportunity of revising its method of marketing Ziratol. In reply the company enlarged on its withdrawal (on “our own initiative”) of the claim that Ziratol had a phenol-coefficient of over ten when this claim was shown to be incorrect “by authoritative sources.” One wonders whether this is a euphemistic reference to the proceedings of the federal authorities under the Insecticide Act against the Bristol-Myers Company, just made public,[121] because of the false claims made for the germicidal efficiency of Ziratol. This prosecution resulted in the seizure and condemnation of two lots of this proprietary which had passed in interstate commerce.

The Bristol-Myers Company in replying to the Council’s report made no offer to declare the exact composition of Ziratol, to state the actual phenol-coefficient, or to remove the other objections pointed out in the report of the Council. In other words, the Bristol-Myers Company has abandoned a definite but false claim of high germicidal power—a claim which subjected the firm to federal prosecution—and has substituted therefor indefinite statements which do not define the actual germicidal efficiency of Ziratol.—(From The Journal A. M. A., Oct. 6, 1917.)