2353. Action to enjoin and restrain the Interstate shipment of 'West's Imported
Sea Vegetable Tablets and various other drags. U. S. v. Mineralized
Foods, Inc. (Sea Vegetation Import Co.), and Nathan S. West. Consent
decree granting injunction.    (Inj. No. 167.)
COMPLAINT FILED : November 21,1947, District of Maryland, against Mineralized
Foods, Inc., also trading as the Sea Vegetation Import Co., Baltimore, Md., and
Nathan S. West, president and general counsel of the corporation.
NATURE OF CHARGE : That the defendant had been from time to time introducing
and delivering for introduction into interstate commerce quantities of drugs
?See also No. 2352.
in combination with drug chemicals and vitamins, and marketed under the
names of West's Imported Sea Vegetable Tablets, West's Sea-Vo-Kra Tablets,
West's D-X Tablets, West's Kalseom Tablets, West's Sodeom Tablets, Ferrolene
Tablets, F Y A Tablets, West-Aid Tablets, WestJLax, West's Sea Vegecene
{Powder), Mar-Glo Tablets, Ten In One, West-Co, West's Vi-Unn (Choc.
Flavored), West's Vi-Linn (Banana Flavored), West's Imported Sea Vegetation
Vitaminized, and West's Pro-Pi-Pa Tablets. The products were misbranded
within the meaning of Section 502 (f) (1), in that their labeling failed to bear
adequate directions for use, since their labeling contained no statement or ref-
erence to diseases or conditions for which they were to be used and failed to
bear adequate directions for use in all conditions for which they were recom-
mended and suggested in their advertising. The advertising referred to
was disseminated and sponsored by the defendants and consisted of a series
of lectures conducted by Nathan S. West throughout the United States, and
the distribution of the booklet "Excerpts from 'Diet Daily or Die Early'"
and other media, in which he recommended and suggested the drugs for
use in the treatment, prevention, or cure of arthritis, neuritis, angina pectoris,
apoplexy, heart diseases, cerebral hemorrhages, arteriosclerosis, high and
low blood pressure, pain in the bones and bone marrow, brain and nerve
disturbances, lassitude, nausea, vomiting, headache, sleeplessness, loss of
appetite, damage to teeth, cancer, tooth decay, rickets, scurvy, softening
of the bones, hairlessness, paralysis, bone and joint disease, malnutrition, leg
weakness, roup, stiff neck, beriberi, black tongue, ulcerated gums, falling teeth,
sores, dropsy, rheumatism, heart condition, nervousness, frequent colds, kidney
conditions, constipation, migraine headache, skin conditions, poor eyesight,
hay fever, asthma, sinus infection, continual tiredness, underweight and over-
weight, stomach and intestinal ulcers, anemia, general weakness, diabetes, pain-
ful and irregular menstruation, dropsy, swollen limbs, gall bladder conditions,
supersensitivity, brittle fingernails, stiff joints, poor memory, poor circulation,
mucous condition, low energy, glandular disturbances, varicose veins, epilepsy,
palsy, cataracts, catarrhal conditions, tooth malformation, excessive acid,
stomach trouble, and other degenerative diseases; for use as an aid in length-
ening life; for providing resistance to infection and epidemics; for improving
the health of people suffering from a wide variety of nutritional diseases; for
helping nutritionally to relieve, ease, and lessen excessive acid pains in arth-
ritis ; for increasing resistance to the causative factors of disease; and for
aiding in preventing flu, such as was prevalent in the 1918 epidemic.
The complaint alleged also that the defendants had been repeatedly in-
formed that the drugs manufactured and distributed in interstate commerce
by them were misbranded; that this information had been imparted to the
defendants through a number of seizure actions, as well as by opportunities
afforded them to present their views in respect to alleged criminal violations
as provided for in Section 305 of the Act; that there had been much corre-
spondence and numerous interviews between the defendants and officials of
the Food and Drug Administration involving the labeling of the drugs; that
at the inception of. the defendants' operations, Mineralized Foods, Inc., through
its president, Nathan S. West, sought to promote the sales of the drugs in
question through false and misleading representations placed on the labels of
the drugs; that as the result of regulatory action these representations were
removed from the labels and incorporated in booklets accompanying the ar-
ticles when shipped in interstate commerce; and that continued seizures of
the articles misbranded in such manner had resulted in the defendants turning
to the promotion of sales of the drugs by means of the stated oral advertising
and the distribution of the above-mentioned booklet and other media.
PKATEE OP COMPLAINT : That the defendants he perpetually enjoined from com-
mission of the acts complained of.
DISPOSITION : March 15, 1948. The defendants having filed an answer denying
the allegations of the complaint, but having consented subsequently to the
en trip of a decree, the court issued an order enjoining the defendants from
directly or indirectly introducing or delivering for introduction in interstate
commerce, any drug the labeling of which omitted in whole or in part the
disease or condition and the directions for use for the disease or condition for
which the drug was intended to be used, recommended, or suggested in the oral
or written advertising disseminated or sponsored by or on behalf of the defend-
ants, or any drug which was otherwise misbranded within the meaning of
Section 502 (f) (1).