Drug Store Drugstore and Pharmacy History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Drug Store Drugstore and Pharmacy History - Essay Example One such elixir was labeled â€Å"Soothing Baby Syrup† designed to be a deterrent for the crying baby (Drugstore Museum, 2004). This formula actually met up with its promises, however the baby would become addicted to opium which was the main ingredient. The most significant problem with patent medicine is that the individuals developing and marketing these products usually maintained no solid educational or research credentials. Instead, independent entrepreneurs would establish unsupervised â€Å"compounding† facilities, where development of these elixirs and formulas would occur. These medicines were then advertised in many magazines, retail stores and sales catalogs. Even Wards and Sears devoted a great deal of catalog space for the sale of these products which brought both firms considerable profit from interested buyers. In fact, the 1900 census indicated that consumers all over the country spent a combined $59 million on patent medicines (eNotes, 2012). Comparatively, in today’s economy, this would represent expenditures of approximately 1.5 billion dollars (Friedman, 2010). Clearly, patent medicine was very big business both for the seller and the various retailers distributing these products. Right around 1905, many journalists began to publicize the potential health risks of patent medicines in order to inform the public. This was a very courageous activity since there were many people in society that not only trusted in these products, but also had much profit potential at risk because of this negative publicity. At the same time, major respected retailers were making significant sales revenues on patent medicine and had much power in society. However, these journalists worked as the catalyst for establishing the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906 which established regulations in labeling of patent medicines to prevent fraud or inaccurate promises that could not be justified through the