PROTECTING THE PUBLIC.

Evening Star, Issue 24326, 15 October 1942, Page 4

PROTECTING THE PUBLIC.

In Lae House of Representatives yesa Bill was introduced by the -Government thb purpose of which is to control medical advertisements, particularly those relating to patent medicines. The Minister of Health said that in this matter New Zealand was behind other countries, and the aim of the measure was to .bring this Dominion into line with them. ’The credulity of sections of the public in matters relating to health is proverbial. People with imaginary ailnients are prone to rush to the medicine bottle, and as a consequence the purveyors of various preparations do a lucrative trade. But it is not only individuals whose troubles lie in the imagination who resort to patent medicines. Persons who suffer from minor physical discomforts use them, and with advantage in many cases. The Bill does not-(propose that there shall be interference in this direction. It is designed to prevent extravagant claims in advertisements, sqch as an assertion that some simple preparation, the contents of which, of course, are known to the medical profession, will cure chronic diseases of long-standing or others of an oven more serious nature. Under the Bill, it is proposed that the control of all advertisements is to be in the hands of a medical advertisements board, the composition of which will be of a nature that will have the confidence of the public. One of the functions of the-board will be to demand proof to its satisfaction of any claim or statement which is contained or implied in any advertisement, and provision is made for the control of testimonials appearing in an advertisement. This is a measure to which no reasonable exception can be taken. The protection of the public is its guiding principle, and the Medical Advertisements Board’s authority will be exercised on lines that have been found necessary and effective in big centres of population overseas.