FRAUD FIGHTERS

[Music] Marton deceased was not the only one who had seen that and it also agency its aims to combat filth and fraud in our food products and to guarantee as best it can that medicines and cosmetics not only contain what the makers say they contained but do what the makers claim they'll do and so to a bureau official comes an ad clip from a newspaper relief at last a remedy for diabetes arthritis kidney disorders and well it was a suspiciously long list of guarantees and a matter for the nearest regional office to check into a network of 16 district stations covered and from the New York office in maybe a month sure she'll show him where the elixir X is made is right back in the garage the Food and Drug Administration FDA is constantly ferreting out products manufactured under filthy and unsanitary conditions but at the moment this is not Kennedy's primary objective he subsequently asks a woman for a list of her husband's customers but she insists that she knows nothing about any such list wouldn't even know where to look for one [Music] but inspector Kennedy doesn't wait for his man to return like skinning a cat there is more than one way to rundown evidence so Kennedy sets out on some tedious legwork starting with a local trucking company he tries to uncover shipping orders to distributors or even individual orders which to avoid postal involvement often our sent a bottle or two at a time by Express after going through mountains of Records his patience is finally rewarded he finds half a dozen orders three of which are in his own district now begins the second phase of inspector Kennedy's task the gathering of evidence that will stand up in court if necessary proof that elixir X was bought and used yes she has used it regularly this lady told him in another town best thing she'd found yet for her arthritis matter of fact the Kennedy makes a real strike her husband had been using elixir X regularly said mrs. John Martin but mr. Martin had died three weeks ago he'd been taking elixir X for diabetes had given up his insulin injections for this simplified sure-shot cure-all hadn't consulted his doctor of course Kennedy sealing the remnants as evidence assigns a sample number and identifies the seal with his initials but the word of the wife of the deceased is not enough the chain of evidence must then be linked to include a photostatic copy of the death certificate the official cause of death diabetes [Music] and now the food and drug people want to know what is Alexa Rex what's in it in every district station is a battery of crack chemists and micro analysts who fight the battle against filth and fraud to one of these comes Alexa Rex the magic formula to relieve sickness and pain turns out to be nothing more than a mixture of water and an alcoholic extract of certain herbaceous weeds that grow in profusion in the makers backyard it is instantly clear to the district chief but elixir ex is a flagrant violation of the law but it must be decided officially before he could issue a citation against the manufacturer the evidence must be weighed by medical officers in Washington here food and drug physicians consider the matter from a purely medical view what according to a consensus of the group will this mixture do for any of the following diabetes arthritis or any of the aches and pains and guarantees to cure the answer is a flat unequivocal nothing the law moves swiftly the maker has a chance to show cause while he should not be prosecuted but there is little he can do to refute the evidence the maker receives a year in jail and a stiff fine too late to help John Martin but not too late to protect the lives and health of others and so another result of Bureau vigilance rests among the rogues gallery of typical frauds brought to book two look at this display you would think the nation is susceptible to anything unfortunately there is opportunity to prey on the ignorant and unsuspecting people who cannot afford or who spurn a doctor's advice or easy marks for extravagant claims or weird devices that have as much effect as a spell cast by a witch doctor the inventor of this electrical gimmick claimed great healing qualities for colored lights just bask in the glow your misery calls for and you're as good as new it's almost unbelievable that he sold thousands of these putting violations takes a lot of coordination of Department forces a Planning Division in Washington plots investigations on a geographical and time basis so that representative plants are checked regularly in every area even such things as economic trends play a part a crop failure due to weather for example puts the agency on the alert against inferior products going into canned or bottled goods inspectors are authorized to enter without advance notice a food or drug plant doing interstate business virtually all have college degrees and a science such as chemistry back to nothing takes precedence over FDA in deciding what shall enter the country from abroad a sample of every shipment is examined here olives are being selected at random if there's anything foreign besides the rum and these bottles this candling process will reveal it expert T testers who have devoted a lifetime to their work set minimum standards for all brands in Washington meanwhile is a tremendous laboratory which not only backs up the corps of inspectors but constantly pursues projects of its own here in the division of microbiology are samples of virtually every growing thing known to man through which analysts can determine to almost fantastic lengths what foreign elements may be in a suspected product literally anything can be detected from a microscopic fragment of a fly's wing down to a wispy minuscule of a dandelion but here too they decide on standards for such things as surgical sutures and adhesive tape how sticky should sticky be now one of the marks of our so-called enlightened civilization has been the development and interest in vitamin products but big-time promotion has resulted in possible abuses which the vitamin division seeks to control it is important therefore to determine whether a product is what it alleges to be and will do the job it claims [Music] constant experiments are made not only to certify commercial products but to probe theories of the department scientists here is a test made on white mites from the same litter those which have been getting a certain vitamin grow large and strong those deprived of it are weak and puny consider now the life-saving drugs that deserve the label of wonder or miracle products penicillin and the newer streptomycin these must never be allowed to waver from the knife-edged path of purity and potency every pharmaceutical house that manufactures them must submit for analysis a sample of each batch made before they can be distributed the actual certification is made by dr. Henry Welch who was said to know as much about penicillin as anyone in America the question of standards is indeed widespread and it is almost a full-time concern of the division of food control to what lengths well there's a man who's interested in how tender a top-grade garden pea should be if his teeth won't tell him for sure he's got a gadget that will if it's too hard it isn't top grade and may not be sold as such because the war greatly advanced synthetic chemistry new compounds for crop or soil improvement are in wide use Department experts want to know if flavor and nutritional safety are affected attempt to disclaim that a product will improve upon nature it is just that every beauty preparation in the interstate market must pass a rigid safety test [Music] of great importance is the work done by the color certification division a large percentage of our food drugs and cosmetics are colored by dyes and it is vital to know their derivations coal tar dyes in certain mixtures can be extremely dangerous if not pure or use properly every manufacturer must submit samples for certifications before using them here then is where the real ingredients of satisfaction are determined we're men of science provide factor fallacy for claims and labels that read best by test or finest available not a day goes by when we do not profit confidence or use with greater safety the thousand and one products which go into their daily lives so let these tireless feet be a symbol a symbol of a nation's concern for its consumers and assurance that all its ramparts of safety are able a defendant for this to is part of our heritage this too is a battle that must be waged and won a battle against deceit and fraud and sometimes injure this is vigilance that is attentive best safeguarding the health and welfare of a nation [Music]