Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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All Major Drug Compa FTC: Drug From The Charlotte Observer "Today there is still nothing faster .. . nothing more effective . . . than good old genuine Bayer Aspirin," says the announcer in one of Sterling Drug Co.'s tele vision commercials. "A combination of pain reliever and a' sedative provides greater relief than either medication alone," says a commercial for Cope, another Sterling headache remedy, which uses aspirin as a pain reliever. "Your headache deserves extra strength and you deserve gentle buffers," say the ads for Sterling's Vanquish, which contains buffered aspirin. "In relieving pain, buffered aspirin isn't any faster or gentler than Bayer," other Sterling commercials insist. If this sounds contradictory to you, it sounds the same way to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which included such inconsistencies in a series of compaints it officially filed last week against Sterling and two other major marketers of aspirin or aspirin-combination pills. Ad Admissions If the FTC has its way, the companies would have to devote 25 per cent of their advertising budgets over a two-year period to admitting such things as: "It has not been established that Anacin is more effective for the relief of pain than aspirin ..." "Bufferin will not relieve nervous ten sion, anxiety, irritability, or enable persons to cope with the ordinary stresses of everyday life." "It has not been established that Excedrin is more effec.tive for the relief of minor pain than aspirin or any other nonprescrip tion internal analgesics...." "It has not been established that Bayer Aspirin is more effective for the relief of minor pain than any (standard) aspirin. REFEI SGA Constitution Article IV The Judicial Section 2 The Supreme Court D-2 Powers and Duties "Original Jurisdiction of the S involving a student governme all cases in which a residence a the Student Government of the and all election disputes resul this Constitution." D-2 shall be amended to read: Court shall include all cases ir who has been impeached anc government may be a party acj government of another resider D-6 shall be added to Section Cour t shall have appeliate juris ing from the elections conduc BACKGROUND: The Senate p revision board to handle elet petitioning quicker and less ari jurisdiction to the board and board they have the right to a; need for this type of Board I the supreme court together, I court has already. Article lil The Legislature Section 3 The Election of Stu< flies Involved Ads Need( And so on through a list that includes Sterling's Bayer Aspirin, Bayer Children's Aspirin, Cope, Vanquish, and Midol; Bristol-Myers Co.'s Bufferin, Excedrin, and Excedrin PM; and American Home Products Corp.'s Anacin and Arthritis Pain Formula. Worse than that for the companies, perhaps, is the commission's demand that in all their advertising the companies stop referring to mysterious ingredients like "the strong pain reliever doctors recom mend most" or exotic "mood brighteners," if they are talking about plain old aspirin as they are in all the complained-about pro ducts or about caffeine as they are in Ana cin, Cope, Vanquish, Midol, and Excedrin. Bristol-Myers would have to stop assert ing that Bufferin and Excedrin are faster or more effective than aspirin. American Home Products would have to stop saying that Anacin is more effective than a recom mended dose of any other painkiller. Claims that Bayer is better than any other aspirin or that Anacin is recommended by many doctors could not be made unless they were true. The FTC is already satisfied, the complaint said, that these and many other claims are questionable or not based on "reasonable" evidence. Sterling and Bristol-Myers said they would defend the accuracy of their advertising claims. American Home did not comment. Long Legal Battle All this may add up to an Excedrin headache for the legal departments of the three drug companies, but it doesn't mean fast, fast relief for the confused consumer. The FTC has been locked in languid legal battle with the same companies over similar advertising claims for more than a decade. Even if the FTC's latest effort is successful, commission staffers predict it will be three to five years before it changes any of the commercials on which each of the companies now spends at least WENDUM APRI upreme Court shall include all cases nt officer who has been Impeached, rea government may be a party against government of another residence area, ting from elections conducted under "Original jurisdiction of the Supreme ivolving a student government officer all cases in which a residence area iainst the Student Government or the ice area." 2 of Article IV to read: "The Supreme fiction over all election disputes result ted under this Constitution." assed several bills creating an election tion matters, making the process of 'ibigious. The referendum simply gives even if petitioner is unhappy with the >peal afterward to supreme court. The as arrisen in that it is difficult to get mot to mention the load the supreme lent Senators onsistenCy $50 million a year. The same companies, and the makers of St. Joseph Aspirin, were charged with false advertising in a 1961 FTC complaint that mentioned examples like Anacin's "fast . ..fast ... incredibly fast relief," the claim that "Bufferin acts twice as fast as aspirin," and Bayer's "fastest, most gentle to the stomach relief you can get." This legal effort failed and was aban doned in 1967 in favor of an attempt to impose a general rule forbidding false advertising of headache remedies. The legalizing of this rule-making procedure had to be fought to the Supreme Court. The High Court finally gave the FTC the go-ahead in 1970. Three months later the commission decided to abandon the rule making effort in favor of the case-by-case approach and began investigations aimed at another batch of company-by-company complaints. That investigation resulted in "proposed complaints," translated into offi cial complaints last week. First Witness Attorneys say it will probabjy be another year before an FTC "administrative law judge" hears the first witness on the com plaints. His decision will probably be appealed to the five FTC commissioners. Their opinion should emerge about 1975. That decision may be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals and then to the U.S. Sup reme Court. If the FTC successfully jumps all these legal hurdles, the commission will then be free to ask the Justice Department to pro ceed against companies that continue to vio late the restrictions that the FTC seeks in its complaint. The Justice Department may file suit in a U.S. District Court. If the com pany loses in that court and later loses its appeal, it will face fines of up to $5,000 for each violation. TO BE H L 18 Paragraph C "The Student Senators of Si officers appointed by them in the legisla in good conduct their respective offices f the inauguration of the President in the of the new President the following spring Paragraph C will be amended to read Senators of Student Government and all in the legislative branch shall maintain in tive offices for a term of one year. BACKGROUND: The cohstitution was writ tions for certain senate seats (Ex. off camp dum simply clears up the period of time a The referendum will be held Wednesday the referendum you must present your who will check your name off on a comn the referendum ballot on a sheet of pa; will be open from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Polls will (1) Russell House-Golden Spur for residents of the Roost, Preston, Woodros married students housing. (2) Capstone (3) Bates (4) South Building for South Tower, S< Quad rang le. (5) Towers The election commission urges everyone 18 APRIL! Spring Thing Activities Open As the warm weather engulfs us all, students come down with a com mon disease known as Spring Fever. If you want a sure cure for this ail ment, take part in Spring Thing '73. Activities are open to all students and most of them are free, accord ing to Michael Tucker, co-chairman of the special events committee of the University Union, in a direct attempt to involve everyone. Activities for Spring Thing '73 will run April 5-7 and include con certs, an all-night coffee house with student acts, comedy entertain ment, a luau and a student auction in which students can sell anything they wish. The schedule for Spring Thing '73 is as follows: Thursday: 2:00-7:00 craft fair on Russel House patio 5:00-7:00 luau in front of undergraduate lib rary 7:00-8:30 "Silver-nan" on the patio 8:30-9:30 Portable Circus (satire-comedy group) on the patio Friday: 7:30-12:30 concert in Township -\uditoriu'n featuring Brewer and Shipley. Ji'nmy Spheeris. and Silver-nan - $1.50 for stu dents 12:30-4:00 a.n. coffee house in the Golden Spur in the Russell House ELD udent Government and all tive branch shall maintain >r a term of one year from spring to the inauguration ts follows: "The Student >fficers appointed by them iood conduct their respec en prior to having fall elec us freshmen). The referen senator will serve. 18 April. To participate in I.D. card to a poll worker puter sheet, then sign for er at the polls. The polls be located at: ill off campus student and v Tenements (Horse-shoe), >uth Building and Women's to vote in the referndrum,