Washington Views

President Dwight D. Eisenhower has proclaimed October 24, 1956, as United Nations Day and urges all citizens of the United States to demonstrate their faith in, and support of, the United Nations by means of community programs. Leonard A. Scheele, Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Health Service, has resigned effective August 1 to assume the Presidency of Warner-Chilcott Laboratories, Inc., Morris Plains, N.J. In accepting Dr. Scheele's Resignation, President Eisenhower warmly praised the Surgeon General for his outstanding services. By a record vote of 393 to 3, the House passed H.R. 1840 (identical with H.R. 11), a bill to strengthen the RobinsonPatman Act and amend the Anti-Trust Law prohibiting price discrimination. So far no action has been taken by the Senate. An amendment to a bill (S.3430) to locate the National Library of Medicine in Chicago was defeated. The Library will be located near the U.S. Public Health Service of HEW in Washington or Bethesda, Md. According to recent statistics from the Commerce Department, about 25% of the health and medical care costs for the civilian population of the U.S. is borne by Federal, State, and local governments. The Bureau of the Census estimates the total population of the U.S. on May 1, including Armed Forces serving overseas, was 167,649,000. Such estimates are now based upon a sample consisting of about 35,000 interviewed households located in 330 different areas of the U.S. On June 15, Spain became the 18th nation to ratify or accede to the United Nations Protocol for limiting and regulating the cultivation of poppy plants and protection, trade, and use of opium. Bubonic plague (Black Death) has invaded the U.S. for the first time in five years and has resulted in one death, a retired Navy Chief Petty Officer, Andrew Paul Sakacs, Jr., who is believed to have been bitten by a plague-infected flea on a fishing trip. A national meeting to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Basic National Pure Food, Drug, Cosmetic, and Meat Inspection Laws in the U. S., organized by the Food Law Institute, the Assoc i ation of Food and Drug officials of the U.S. and the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists, in co-operation with the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare (FDA) and the 428

Vol. XVII, No. 7

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and last-minute news _ __

U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (Meat Inspection Branch) was held in Washington, D.C., June 27. The Commissioners of the District of Columbia have announced that Morris Bortnick was named a member of the District of Columbia Board of Pharmacy on July 1 to succeed F. Royce Franzoni, a Past President of the American Pharmaceutical Association and of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy. Mr. Franzoni has completed 10 years of service as a member of the D.C. Board of Pharmacy and at the time of his retirement from the Board was its President. Retail sales in pharmacies and drug stores are expected to set a new record high in 1956. In spite of an increasing number of strikes, tightened money policies and President Eisenhower's health, total national sales promise to be the biggest in history. Ewan Clague, Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, says that we can look forward to expanding business and industry between now and 1965, with 9,000,000 jobs being added to the present total. The APMA and ADMA are currently considering establishment of a single new association to represent the pharmaceutical industry (see page 433). Carefully planned publicity was released early in July for Warner-Chilcott's Releasin, a water-soluble extract of the ovaries of pregnant hogs, to be used parenterally (7 ampuls at $15 each) in premature labor (28th to 36th week) or abnormally timed uterine activity. Dean Curtis H. Waldon is leaving the Detroit Institute of Technology to succeed retiring Dean Charles E. Poe at the University of Colorado College of Pharmacy. Dr. Jacob Kulowski of St. Joseph, Mo., reports in the July issue of the Journal of the American Dental Association that nearly half the victims of automobile accidents suffer serious injury to their faces, including damaged teeth and jaws. During 1956 nearly 12,000 new babies are expected daily, which will mean 86 new babies for each drug store in the U.S., on an average. The National Opinion Research Center, in co-operation with the Health Information Foundation, found that 80% of the people interviewed endorsed the idea of an annual physical check-up, but only 29% of this group followed their own advice, it was brought out during the AMA convention in June. July, 1956

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