Frauds and Quackery Affecting the Older Citizen
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FRAUDS AND QUACKERY AFFECTING THE OLDER CITIZEN HEARINGS BEFORE THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON AGING UNITED STATES SENATE EIGHTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION Part 1.-Washington, D.C. JANUARY 15, 1963 Printed for the use of the Special Committee on Aging U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 94703 WASHINGTON: 1963 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington 25, D.C. -Price 40 cents SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON AGING PAT McNAMARA, Michigan, Chairman GEORGE A. SMATHERS, Florida EVERETT McKINLEY DIRKSEN, Illinois CLAIR ENGLE, California BARRY GOLDWATER, Arizona HARRISON A. WILLIAMS, JR., New Jersey FRANK CARLSON, Kansas MAURINE B. NEUBERGER, Oregon WALLACE F. BENNETT, Utah WAYNE MORSE, Oregon JACOB K. JAVITS, New York ALAN BIBLE, Nevada WINSTON L. PROUTY, Vermont JOSEPH S. CLARK, Pennsylvania FRANK CHURCH, Idaho JENNINGS RANDOLPH, West Virginia EDMUND S. MUSKIE, Maine EDWARD V. LONG, Missouri WILLIAM G. REIDY, Staff Director JACK MOSKOWITZ, Counsel JOHN Guy MILLER, Minority Counset Part 1.-Washington, D.C., January 15,1963. Part 2.-Washington, D.C., January 16, 1963. Part 3.-Washington, D.C., January 17, 1963. II CONTENTS CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF WITNESSES Page Walsh, Jerry J., executive director; Dr. Ronald W. Lainont-Havers, na- tional medical director; and Dr. Russell L. Cecil, consulting medical director of the Arthritis and Rheumatism Foundation----------------- 3 Dorman, Dr. Gerald D., member of the board of trustees, American Medical Association, accompanied by Dr. Robert E. Shank, chairman, council on Food and Nutrition; Dr. Philip L. White, secretary, Council on Food and Nutrition; Oliver Field, director, department of investigation; and Paul R. M. Donelan, legislative department, American Medical Association--- 26 STATEMENTS Dorman, Dr. Gerald D., member, board of trustees, American Medical Association, accompanied by Dr. Robert E. Shank, chairman; Dr. Philip L. White, secretary, Council on Food and Nutrition; Oliver Field, di- rector, department of investigation, and Paul R. M. Donelson, legisla- tive department, American Medical Association-------------------- 26 Miller, Clinton R., assistant to. the president, National Health Federation, prepared statement------------------------------------------------- 123 Murphy, Dr. Emmett J., director of industrial relations, National Chiro- practic Association, Washington, D.C., prepared statement…------------ 118 Shank, Dr. Robert E., chairman, Council on Foods and Nutrition, Amer- ican Medical Association----------------------------------------- 36 Walsh, Jerry J., executive director, Dr. Ronald WV.Lamont-Havers, na- tional medical director, and Dr. Russell L. Cecil, consulting medical director, Arthritis and Rheumatism Foundation--------------------- 3 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Articles entitled: "A Therapy of Chaos," by Jack Kaplan, from Today's Health, Janu- ary 1963_------------------------------------------------------ 28 "A Harvest of Dollars, Lies, and Death," from Medicine at Work, October 1961_------------- ------------------------------------- 132 Attachment 1.-Disciplinary Action by judicial council------------------ 51 Attachment 2.-Rules of the Court------------------------- 53 Exhibit 1.-Basic facts about the American Medical Association_------- 54 Exhibit 2.-Ads from the Chicago Tribune, January 8, 1953_------------ 62 Exhibit 3.-Laxatives: A $148 million fraud, from Today's Health, Oc- tober 1960_-------------------------------------------------------- 63 Exhibit 4.-America's Laxative Addicts, by J. D. Rateliff, in Today's Health, November 1962_-___________________________________________ 66 Exhibit 5.-A frank statement to tired men and women who are over 35, by Victor H. Lindlahr, noted food authority heard over ABC radio network-- 69 Exhibit 6.-Ads published in American Legion magazine, December 1958__ 70 Exhibit 7.-Ads published in Miami (Fla.) newspapers----------------- 71 Exhibit 8.-Coleman Clinic News-------------------------------------- 72 Exhibit 9.-Biscayne Clinic News-------------------------------------- 79 Exhibit 10.-Ad in Tampa (Fla.) newspaper-------------------------- 86 Exhibit 11.-Facts about prostate glands, from the Bragg Clinic, Tampa, Fla-- ____________________________----______ 87 Exhibit 12.-Chiropractic ferrets out the underlying cause of ill health, from Spears Free Clinic and Hospital for Poor Children, Denver, Colo__ 88 Um IV CONTENTS Page Exhibit 13.-Ad in the Chicago Daily Tribune of May 2, 1960_----------- 91 Exhibit 14.-What you should know about phony arthritis remedies, from Today's Health, July 1961_--------------- 92 Exhibit 15.-Help from animal cells? by Dr. Paul Nichans, in Time, Sep- ember 13, 1954_---------------------------------------------------- 98 Exhibit 16.-World's most controversial doctor, by Murray Teigh Bloom, in American Weekly of June 28, 1959_-------------------------------- 99 Exhibit 17.-New cells for old, from JAMA, February 13, 1960_----------- 103 Exhibit 18-A.-The oceans' 44 trace chemicals, by Dr. George W. Crane___ 105 Exhibit 18-B.-Chemical smorgasbord-- ___________________________ 106 Exhibit 18-C.-Chemical smorgasbord v. cancer, by Dr. George W. Crane_ 107 Exhibit 19.-New arthritis controversy, by Gerlon Zimmerman and Cath- erine B reslin…------------------------------------------------------- 108 Exhibit 20.-Arthritics warned on using Liefcort, from AMA News, Oc- tober 29, 1962_----------------------------------------------------- 112 Exhibit 21-Vitamin preparation as dietary supplements and as thera- peutic agents, by Philip L. White, Sc. D., secretary, Council on Foods and Nutrition--------------------- ------------------------------- 113 Letters from: Blasingame, F. J. L., M.D., American Medical Association, to Senator McNamara, dated January 23, 1963, containing two attachments and various exhibits ---------------------------------------- 49 Broadnian, Dr. Joseph, New York, to Senator McNamara, dated January 23, 1963_______________________________________________ 118 Compton, Walter A., M.D., executive vice president, Miles Laboratories, Inc., Elkhart. Ind., to: Senator Williams of New Jersey, dated January 25, 1963_------ 119 Senator McNamara, dated: January 24, 1963_---------------------------------------- 120 January 25, 1963_---------------------------------------- 122 Cooke, J. N., president, Bayer Co., New York, to Senator Williams, dated February 20, 1963, containing an enclosure---------------- 134 Howard, Ernest B., M.D., assistant executive vice president, to J. Mark Hiebert, M.D., president, Sterling Drug Co., Inc., New York City, containing disclaimer of an endorsement------------------ 48 Nichols, Joe D., M.D., Ellington Memorial Hospital, Atlanta, Tex., to Dr. Robert E. Shank, dated February 16, 1963__________________ Nichols, Joe D., M.D., national president, Natural Food Associates, Atlanta, Tex., to Senator McNamara, dated February 25, 1963_----- 138 Snmith, Austin, M.D., Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association, Washington, D.C., to Senator McNamara, dated January 31, 1963--- 131 FRAUDS AND QUACKERY AFFECTING THE OLDER CITIZEN TUESDAY, JANUARY 15, 1963 U.S. SENATE, SPECIAL COMMrIrEE oF AGING, Washington, D.C. The committee met, pursuant to call, in room 4230 of the New Senate Office Building, Hon. Pat McNamara (chairman) presiding. Present: Senators McNamara, Williams, Neuberger, Randolph, Carlson, Bennett, and Javits. Committee staff members present: William G. Reidy, Staff Di- rector; Frank C. Frantz, professional staff member; Jack Moskowitz, counsel; John Guy Miller, minority counsel. The CHAIRMAN. The hearing will be in order, please. Ladies and gentlemen, consumer protection has always been a mat- ter of deep concern to many in the Congress, who believe that the Government has a duty to help the people protect themselves from fraud and deception. The need for such assistance was never greater than it is today. We live in the "Era of the Hard Sell." Television and radio bring the glib, persuasive "pitchman" with his often exorbitant, misleading claims into every living room. The reaction to this has been an increasing awareness on the part of many of the need for more consumer protection. President Kennedy has created a Consumer Advisory Council. This is an important first step. My colleague, Senator Hart, of Michigan, has introduced a bill that would prevent deceptive labeling of merchandise. I hope the Con- gress will act favorably upon this legislation. Today, the Senate Special Committee on Aging opens a series of hearings on frauds that particularly affect our senior citizens. We hope, in these hearings, to determine the extent of fraud and deception affecting this age group. We seek-first-information, and a number of expert witnesses will provide us with that information. A later step will be to determine whether additional legislation is needed, or whether the necessary consumer protection of our senior citizens can be met in other ways. Some may ask: Why restrict these hearings to the aged? The reasons are several. In the first place, the problems of the aged are the particular concern of this committee. Secondly, the senior citizen is particularly vulnerable to the spiel of the pitchman. When he is ailing and in pain, for example, he will listen to the glib promoter who has "the sure cure" for arthritis. 1 2 FRAUDS AND QUACKERY AFFECTING THE OLDER CITIZEN Because his income is low, the "quick money scheme" has great appeal. In the third place, the results of fraud upon the elderly are par- ticularly tragic. The young have time to recoup