Medicine: Castoria Takes Its Medicine

After 75 years disturbedonly by babies crying for it, Fletcher’s Castoria (soothing, laxative) was last week in the biggest dither in the drug trade. A mysterious emetic had cropped up in some of the medicine and nauseated a few takers. The preparation’s makers, the Centaur Co., a division of Sterling Drug, Inc., temporarily withdrew Castoria from the market.

First warning came when two North Carolina doctors told the Food & Drug Administration that tried & trueCastoria had made their little patients ill. Centaur Vice President Joseph Bohan at once ordered up a bottle, tasted it, got sick. Four assistants tried it. They got sick too.

Centaur’s board of directors met immediately. Though less than 50 complaints had come in, they decided to 1) shut the Rahway plant from which the bad medicine came, 2) sent telegrams to 5,000 U.S. wholesalers offering money back for all Castoria on hand (new and old bottles cannot be told apart), 3) put advertisements in 2,000 newspapers warning consumers and telling them to get their money back through retailers, 4) broadcast the warning and money-back offer.

The radio networks were so impressed they did the broadcasting free of charge. News commentators gave more publicity to Castoria’s plight. Said Assistant Food & Drug Commissioner Dr. P. B. Dunbar: “The action of the Centaur Co. is a splendid example of public spirit which will increase public confidence in the company.

It is in striking contrast to the actions of a company back in 1937 [S. E. Massengill] when a defective sulfanilamide made by it was permitted to cause more than 100 deaths because proper public warning was not given. I suppose anything which causes infants to vomit is dangerous but so far we’ve had no reports of serious results.” The consensus of the publicity-wise was in agreement with Dr. Dunbar — Centaur’s costly action in its nightmarish plight may turn out to be excellent advertising in the long run.

Both Centaur and the Food & Drug Administration were stumped to find the guilty emetic. Company chemists analyzed a sample of Castoria, found only what was to be expected in a compound of alcohol, senna extract, bicarbonate of soda, peppermint, anise and flavoring. But when the chemists confidently took a swig, they presently upchucked too.