Under the present federal laws there does not seem to be any way in which the federal government can do more than is being done at present. It is a case in which the physician becomes the sole guardian of the patient committed to his care. He is the one and the only responsible individual. He cannot throw the blame for bad results back to the manufacturer. When he subjects his patient to the possibility of harm by the use of these unscientific and dangerous preparations, the physician assumes the responsibility, whether he wants to or not.
If physicians would report their failures when these vaccines are used, and especially report the fatalities consequent on their use, with the name of the manufacturer of the particular product used, we are quite sure there would result lessening in the enthusiasm of the purveyors of these products.
When tempted by the optimistic statements of the interested manufacturer of these mixtures to give them a trial the physician should remember that the warnings of disinterested scientists are of far more value than uncritical clinical reports put out under commercial auspices.
This we quote from a recent book by Victor C. Vaughan,[119] President of the American Medical Association:
“Every time an unbroken protein is introduced into the body it carries with it, and as a part of it, a poison. From the very careless, rash, and unwarranted way in which ‘vaccines’ of most diverse origin and composition are now used in the treatment of disease, this matter certainly cannot be understood or its danger appreciated by those who subject their patients to such risk. It should be clearly understood that all proteins contain a poisonous group—a substance which in a dose of 0.5 mg. injected intravenously kills a guinea-pig. This poison is present in all the so-called ‘vaccines’ now so largely used, and it is not strange that death occasionally follows the use of ‘Phylacogen’ or similar preparations. Not only do these proteins contain a poison, but when introduced parenterally the poison is set free, not in the stomach, from which it may be removed, but in the blood and tissues. It is possible that vaccine therapy may become of great service in the treatment of disease. Even now there are occasional brilliant results which are reported while the failures and disasters are not so widely advertised.”
Such a warning as this quotation contains, from a man so eminent as Dr. Vaughan, merits and should receive the careful attention of medical men; at least it should have as much weight as the “clinical evidence” spread broadcast among our profession by commercial houses.—(From The Journal A. M. A., Aug. 29, 1914.)
THE DANGER IN PROTONUCLEIN, A PREPARATION CONTAINING THYROID
Protonuclein was the subject of a little article in our Queries and Minor Notes Department, Nov. 16, 1912, page 1812. Dr. Reid Hunt, Washington, D. C., writes:
“To the Editor:—I have been requested by a physician to call your attention to certain statements which might well have been added to your reply to J. A. C. in regard to Protonuclein. Dr. Seidell and I examined several samples of Protonuclein some time ago[120] and by chemical and physiologic tests found that they contained the equivalent of 10 per cent. thyroid of 0.1 per cent. iodin strength (the actual amount of thyroid may have been greater or less for we did not know the percentage of iodin in the thyroid used). The dose recommended on the bottle was 6 to 12 grains every three or four hours; this represents from 0.6 to 1.2 grains of some of the commercial thyroid powders, and is sufficient to cause pronounced thyroid effects in many conditions. Protonuclein was advertised as a ‘perfectly harmless antitoxin, tissue-builder,’ etc., although the dose of thyroid did not differ materially from that in ‘Rengo’ and ‘Marmola,’ two anti-fat nostrums which we examined at the same time. We called attention to the danger of using thyroid, the most powerful tissue-destroying drug known, in cases of typhoid, phthisis, etc., for which protonuclein was recommended, though these are conditions in which the physician is supposed to be exerting every effort to build up the tissues.