18483. Misbranding of   Sassafola.    U.   S.  v.  464  Jars,   et  al.,   of  Sassafola.
Default   decrees   of   condemnation,   forfeiture,   and   destruction.
(F. & D. Nos. 25848, 25894.    I. S. Nos. 15897, 20151.    S. Nos. 4084, 4130.)
Examination of a drug product, known as Sassafola, from the shipments 
herein described having shown that the jar label bore statements representing 
that the article possessed curative and therapeutic properties which it did not 
possess, the Secretary of Agriculture reported the matter to the United States 
attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
On January 30 and February 13, 1931, the United States attorney filed in 
the District Court of the United States for the district aforesaid libels praying 
seizure and condemnation of 483 jars of Sassafola, remaining in the original 
unbroken packages at Scranton, Pa., alleging that the article had been shipped 
by the Sassafola Manufacturing Co., from Elmira, N. Y., in part on or about 
December 29, 1926, and in part on or about January 9, 1930, and had been 
transported from the State of New York into the State of Pennsylvania, 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 an ointment with a petrolatum base containing menthol, 
euealyptol, and methyl salicylate.
It was alleged in the libels that the article was misbranded in that the 
following statements appearing on the jar labels, regarding the curative or 
therapeutic effects of the said article, were false and fraudulent: "For Ca- 
tarrh, Quinsy * * * Canker, Cough, Sore Throat and Lungs, Croup, Pneu- 
monia, Tonsilitis, Headache, Earache, Toothache, Rheumatism, Neuralgia, 
Polypus, Caked Breast, Hay Fever * * * Eczema, Salt Rheum * * * 
Piles, Sores, etc. * * * For Catarrh * * * For Quinsy, Tonsilitis, Sore 
Throat and Lungs, Croup, Pneumonia,   *   *   *   etc."
On June 8 and June 9, 1931, no claimant having appeared for the property, 
judgments of condemnation and forfeiture were entered, and it was ordered 
by the court that the product be destroyed by the United States marshal.
AETHUE M. HYDE, Secretary of Agriculture.