Quack medicine ..vintage and current

[whitehall]

I picked up a vintage old medicine bottle in a pile of stuff at an estate auction nearby and it intrigued me enough to do some research. It originates before 1904 and probably in the late 1800's. "Dr. D. Fahrney & Son Hagerstown Md. Teething Syrup for Babes". Did it work? You betcha. The stuff contained about 9% alcohol and substantial amounts of chloroform and morphine. I bet it quieted some babes for good. When Teddy Roosevelt's food and drug legislation cracked down on the narcotic drug stuff back then it seems that Dr Fahrney was fined about $200 by the federal government.
Today we have the same stuff marketed to a wider audience. The FDA requires that the on the air ads for prescription drugs list the "side effects" so we get glitzy ads about miracle cures for (minor) pain and unsightly skin psoriasis problems and a quick verbal FDA mandated warning about "fatal events". Say what? We only get one fatal event. Prescription drugs that address nerve damage attributed to diabetes also produce "thoughts of suicide" (murder?) and even stop smoking remedies are alleged to produce "thoughts of suicide (murder)> I add the parenthesis about murder simply because the drug czars ignore the connection between doing away with your own life to taking someone down with you.

 

[Bill Angel]

I'm confused about the purported connection between dangerous medications from the early 20th century and modern medications heavily advertised on TV for psoriasis (Enbrel and Humira). But it is interesting that one can still discover instances of advertising for bogus treatments for serious afflictions. These sign was in the window of a jewelry store in Baltimore.

Advertising for Bogus Medical Treatments

 

[Two Thumbs]

I'm confused about the purported connection between dangerous medications from the early 20th century and modern medications heavily advertised on TV for psoriasis (Enbrel and Humira). But it is interesting that one can still discover instances of advertising for bogus treatments for serious afflictions. These sign was in the window of a jewelry store in Baltimore.

Advertising for Bogus Medical Treatments

actually those work

But to make money they are poorly constructed so they have to be replaced often.

 

[Oddball]

I picked up a vintage old medicine bottle in a pile of stuff at an estate auction nearby and it intrigued me enough to do some research. It originates before 1904 and probably in the late 1800's. "Dr. D. Fahrney & Son Hagerstown Md. Teething Syrup for Babes". Did it work? You betcha. The stuff contained about 9% alcohol and substantial amounts of chloroform and morphine. I bet it quieted some babes for good. When Teddy Roosevelt's food and drug legislation cracked down on the narcotic drug stuff back then it seems that Dr Fahrney was fined about $200 by the federal government.
Today we have the same stuff marketed to a wider audience. The FDA requires that the on the air ads for prescription drugs list the "side effects" so we get glitzy ads about miracle cures for (minor) pain and unsightly skin psoriasis problems and a quick verbal FDA mandated warning about "fatal events". Say what? We only get one fatal event. Prescription drugs that address nerve damage attributed to diabetes also produce "thoughts of suicide" (murder?) and even stop smoking remedies are alleged to produce "thoughts of suicide (murder)> I add the parenthesis about murder simply because the drug czars ignore the connection between doing away with your own life to taking someone down with you.

Yet we also have a thriving black market in recreational drugs, which have comparatively fewer side effects and don't kill nearly as many people, all with exactly zero regulations.

Sorta makes you wonder what role agencies like the FDA and DEA are really playing in American society.

 

[Bill Angel]

I'm confused about the purported connection between dangerous medications from the early 20th century and modern medications heavily advertised on TV for psoriasis (Enbrel and Humira). But it is interesting that one can still discover instances of advertising for bogus treatments for serious afflictions. These sign was in the window of a jewelry store in Baltimore.

Advertising for Bogus Medical Treatments

actually those work

But to make money they are poorly constructed so they have to be replaced often.

Medical studies don't support your assertions.
See Magnet therapy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Magnet therapy, magnetic therapy, or magnotherapy is an alternative medicine practice involving the use of static magnetic fields . Practitioners claim that subjecting certain parts of the body to magnetostatic fields produced by permanent magnets has beneficial health effects. These pseudoscientific physical and biological claims are unproven and no effects on health or healing have been established. Although hemoglobin , the blood protein that carries oxygen, is weakly diamagnetic (when oxygenated) or paramagnetic (when deoxygenated) the magnets used in magnetic therapy are many orders of magnitude too weak to have any measurable effect on blood flow.

Advertising for Bogus Medical Treatment

 

[g5000]

Anyone who believes magnetic soles or bracelets work deserves to be lied to.

Homeopathy, reiki, ionic bracelets, acupuncture. The shelves and storefronts offer a wide range of useless potions, devices, and treatments.

The most evil ones are homeopathic medications for infants and pets.

People forego efficacious treatments for these quack remedies, putting their health and their very lives at great risk.