17904. Misbranding of   Grimault   &   Co.'s   syrup   of   hypophosphite   of   lime.
IT.  S. v. 50 Bottles  of  Syrup   of Hypophosphite  of  Lime.    Default 
decree of condemnation, forfeiture, and destruction.     (F. & D. No.
25835.    I. S. No. 5741.    S. No. 4048.)
Examination of a sample of a drug product, known as Grimault & Co.'s 
syrup of hypophosphite of lime, from the herein-described shipment having 
shown that the label bore claims of curative and therapeutic properties that 
the article did not possess, the Secretary of Agriculture reported the matter 
to the United States attorney for the District of Porto Rico.   '
On January 30, 1931, the United States attorney filed in the District Court 
of the United States for the district aforesaid a libel praying seizure and 
condemnation of 50 bottles of syrup of hypophosphite of lime, alleging that 
the article had been shipped by E. Fougera & Co. (Inc.), New York, N. Y., 
on or about December 20, 1930, to San Juan, P. R., and that it was being 
sold and offered for sale in Porto Rico by J. M. Blanco (Inc.), San Juan, 
P. R., and charging misbranding in violation of the food and drugs act as 
amended.
Analysis of a sample of the article by this department showed that it con- 
sisted essentially of calcium hypophosphite, morphine hydrochloride (one 
twenty-second grain per fluid ounce), sugar, and water.
It was alleged in the libel that the article was misbranded in that the 
following statements appearing on and within the package containing the said 
article, regarding its curative or therapeutic effects, were false and fraudulent, 
since the article contained no ingredient or combination of ingredients capable 
of producing the effects claimed: (In English and their equivalent in French, 
Spanish, and Italian) " Employed with success in Pulmonary Phthisis, Asthma, 
Affections of the Lungs, Liver, Spleen, Etc. Etc. For a long time, physicians 
and chemists have been on the lookout for a medicine capable of combatting 
the terrible disease that is known under the name of Pulmonary Phthisis; 
thousands of prescriptions and new combinations have been proposed succes- 
sively but useless; * * * one of them wrote the following: ' I started 
my tests with half a grain of hypophosphite of calcium, and slowly, I took 
six grains at a time without feeling any inconvenience.' * * * ' Convinced 
of its harmless character at this dose, I tried it for the first time on March 
13, 1885, on a young woman of nineteen, suffering from acute tuberculosis 
as a result of parturition. The two lungs were infiltrated with tubercles in 
a softening state; there existed swelling of the abdomen with acute pains on 
pressure, intense fever, extreme prostration, in fact, all the symptoms ot a 
peritonitis tending rapidly towards a fatal end. Thanks to the hypophosphite 
of calcium, the patient was able to rise at the fourth day and asked to eat. 
The change was so rapid and the improvement of all the symptoms in general 
so surprising, that even I myself did not believe it. The second case that I 
treated * * * Immediately I subjected the patient to the hypophosphite of, 
calcium treatment, which rapidly calmed all the symptoms. She continued to 
take it for several months later, at the end of which I confirmed that there 
existed in the patient no traces of the general symptoms nor of the physical 
signs which I encountered at the beginning.' * * * The sure means of 
preventing the diseases of the chest is by the use of the hypophosphite of 
calcium; * * * The nervous and functional disorders, such as, torpidity 
of the digestive tract, disappear at the same time. * * * 'In an old man 
of sixty-five who had been suffering for two years from violent attacks 
of asthma, as a result of an acute bronchitis and that was in an advanced 
state of cachexia, which almost made it impossible for him to come to my 
house in a coach, a treatment of six weeks was enough to cause all the 
symptoms to disappear, and to give him the aspect and vigor of a man of 
fifty-five years. No matter what the cause may be, the richness of blood 
increases considerably, the cough and expectoration disappear immediately 
or is modified in a noticeable way, sometimes in twenty-four hours.' As 
hypophosphites vary in their composition and nature * * * we have 
thought it our duty in order to remedy this, to offer to the public, under the 
seal of guaranty of our firm, a preparation of constant quality and agreeable 
taste."
On March 6, 1&J1, no claimant having appeared for the property, judgment 
of condemnation and forfeiture was entered, and it was ordered by the court 
that the product be destroyed by the United States marshal.
ABTHXTB M. HYDE, Secretary of Agriculture.