Comment
Comment
re: #71 Anymouse
The FDA did its first big recall shortly after the agency was formed … they went after Massengill for a formulation of sulfanilamide as an elixir.
The problem wasn’t that sulfa was a bad drug (it is used today), or elixirs (alcohol preparations of medications are common).
It was that the drug was dissolved not in alcohol but in diethyline glycol (automotive antifreeze).
It was that raid on stocks sold to pharmacists and physicians that caused the government to move to regulate the safety and efficacy of medications.
Massengill’s chief chemist, one Harold Watkins, claimed not to have known that diethylene glycol was poisonous, despite considerable evidence in medical literature. He committed suicide while awaiting trial. Young Frances Kelsey of later thalidomide fame was involved in this case. Elixir sulfanilamide
There is a very extensive case history of the misuse of DEG, since it is a cheap and easily available counterfeit for glycerine in many formulations and has a sweetening effect.
