STANDARDS FOR MEDICINES— COOK 449 



under the Food and Drugs Act. This is the "New and Nonofficial 

 Remedies" of the American Medical Association. 



Tliis book Hsts mostly proprietary medicines, but only those which 

 comply with rigidly established rules which are enforced by the 

 council on pharmacy and chemistry of the American Medical Asso- 

 ciation. These rules require the elimination of all secrets as to 

 identity and composition. They also regulate the type of advertising 

 which may be used for nonprofessional publicity. All false or mis- 

 leading claims must be avoided and the title must be acceptable to 

 the council and nmst not suggest its use in treating disease through 

 self-medication. 



The force of this pubUcation resides in the desire of the owner of 

 the product to occupy a favorable position before the physicians 

 of the country and in this respect it has rendered an important service 

 to the medical world through the maintaining of high standards of 

 purity and promotion for many medicines which could not be con- 

 trolled by the Food and Drugs Act under the U. S. P. or N. F. 



Still another publication should be given recognition in the field of 

 medical standards. Tliis is the Official and Tentative Methods of 

 Analysis of the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists. This 

 is a compilation of standards and analytical methods published by 

 the A. 0. A. C. and accredited by the Secretary of Agriculture of the 

 United States for use in the enforcement of food and drug standards 

 in actions before the courts. The methods for testing were primarily 

 for food, but methods for testing unofficial drugs and preparations, 

 especiall}^ tablets, have been added and thus establish an additional 

 basis for the standardization of modern medicines. 



THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS 



An explanation of the observations of the so-called Brussels 

 Conference has already been made. This first met in 1902 and a 

 second session in 1925. The international character of this conference 

 is indicated by the fact that in 1925 the representatives of 32 nations 

 participated. As has been explained, the Brussels Conference agreed 

 upon uniformity in standards for potent medicines, also upon the parts 

 and varieties of the drugs to be used and established international 

 titles. These recommendations were left to voluntary adoption by 

 the participating nations in their forthcoming standards. Needless 

 to say, they have been widely accepted. 



A new step in international standardization was brought about 

 through the establishment of a Health Organization as a division of 

 the League of Nations. This group has been particularly interested 

 in the establishment of international standards for a class of medicines 

 which are evaluated by testing on animals. It has undertaken the 



