Introduction - Uppsala Monitoring Centre

ear, circumoral numbness, nausea and vomiting, albuminuria and
urinary casts, raised blood urea, pruritus, urticarial rash, eosinophilia
and yellow vision. However, the toxic effects had been reported
previously by the Veteran’s Administration study (MRC, 1948)(see
analysis of marker drugs).
Introduction of chloramphenicol. In 1950 it was found to cause bone
marrow aplasia in between 1 in 58,000 and 1 in 75,000 patients
(Rich 1950), but the pathogenesis has not been fully elucidated. It
was removed from the French market in 1987 but remains on other
markets for very restricted use. It led to the establishment of a blood
dyscrasia registry in 1952. (see under regulatory responses).
Vitamin B12 isolated
Tetracyclines discovered
1949 Henbane still mentioned in The British Pharmaceutical Codex,
London, The Pharmaceutical Press, 1949, p. 425.
The Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota set up a Committee on
Safety of Therapeutic Agents. Staff members who wished to
administer a new substance or therapeutic agent to human subjects
were required to register the material with the committee and provide
them with all the relevant information. If safety and efficacy could not
be proved, the committee would recommend that the use of the
agent be discontinued (Nelson, 1997).
1950 German Drug Commission of the Federal Chamber of Physicians
was established and issued warnings concerning thorium containing
preparations. (see regulatory responses).
Potter’s Cyclopedia of Botanical Drugs and Preparations by RC
Wren. 6 th edition. This book was dangerous and resembles those
produced in the 17 th century. The ‘actions’ of the herbs mentioned
are described in terms which are generalised and some of which are
not known to conventional medicine: 169 alterative, sternutatory,
refrigerant, stomachic, emmenagogue, pectoral, vulnerary, nervine,
deobstruent, and blood purifier. The ‘indications’ are, on the whole,
so general as to be impossible: all kinds of fever, all diseases of the
liver, all cases of jaundice, etc. Adverse effects are mentioned for
169 Alterative = producing alteration, sternutatory = causing sneezing, refrigerant = cools fever, stomachic = for
the stomach, emmenagogue = inducing menstruation, pectoral = relieving disorders of the respiratory tract,
vulnerary= promotes the healing of wounds, nervine = relieving nerve disorders, deobstruent = removes
obstructions and opens up the pores of the body, and blood purifier = No set definition, but rather an all
encompassing phrase that includes ‘cleansing’ the blood and removing ‘toxins’.