By Seth Boyes,
It’ll still be a few weeks before we know for sure which bills survive the current legislative session in Des Moines, but a good number of bills have come to the end of the road — including one I was glad to see didn’t pass through the so-called funnel.
Senate File 360 would have made it a crime for medical providers to administer mRNA vaccines, such as those used to vaccinate the public against COVID-19, to patients in Iowa.
Most folks probably don’t recall, but it was just a few years ago — 2022 I believe — that now former State Sen. Jim Carlin proposed a bill which would have prevented licensed physicians from being disciplined by their respective boards for prescribing ivermectin or hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 — the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said neither was recommended as a treatment for the virus and both may be dangerous. At the time, Carlin touted the bill, saying if Iowans wanted to use ivermectin over a vaccine “that’s their choice, their body.”
It would seem some lawmakers didn’t feel that sentiment should apply to vaccines which have received FDA approval.
Thankfully neither bill made it very far in the state legislature, but at the same time, neither of them appeared to give much credence to the fact that there’s already a process in place to examine the safety and effectiveness of medications available to the public. That is to say, whichever choice members of the public make regarding treatment and prevention of disease, they’re only choosing from options which won’t harm them — and aren’t complete snake oil.
Take for example something called Syrup of Figs. It was a popular “medicine” in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and it was peddled as a sure-fire cure for all kinds of ills. Advertisements from that era claimed the syrup, in addition to being a natural laxative, “builds up and strengthens weak, puny, underweight children, makes them eat heartily, brings the roses back to their cheeks, makes them playful, energetic and full of life.”
Other ads from the California Fig Syrup Company claimed the product’s benefits were “known to physicians generally, and the remedy has therefore met with their approval.”
You can probably guess, but the syrup company was lying.
That fact — and others — came to light in the early 1900s, during what was initially meant as a copyright case as other companies tried to get a piece of the fig syrup pie. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court in Worden & Company v. California Fig Syrup Company. It became clear figs didn’t make up much of what the California Fig Syrup Company was bottling. The court found that not only was the syrup’s active ingredient an already known treatment called senna, but the company hadn’t been honest about its supposed endorsements from doctors.
“Laws might properly be passed limiting and controlling such traffic by restraining retail dealers from selling such medical preparations, except when prescribed by regular medical practitioners,” the court said in its decision to dismiss the case.
And that’s pretty much what happened.
About three years later, the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 was passed, and various products were found to be less than what they claimed to be. In some cases, they were downright dangerous to consumers. That same year, the act gave way to the Food and Drug Administration — you’ve probably heard of them — which continues to be tasked with ensuring the safety of medications that are available to the public.
Yet, twice in the last few years, Iowa lawmakers have sought to put a measure of that responsibility on the state’s shoulders.
Now, don’t get me wrong. There are a good number of very knowledgeable lawmakers in Des Moines, but I don’t think there are very many who would be qualified to study and understand the chemical and biological effects any given medication might have on the human body — and it’s somewhat disturbing to think where we would be as a state if that’s where the authority were to lie.
Agree with Seth? Think he’s got it completely backwards or he’s missed the point entirely? Let your voice be heard. Letters to the editor may be emailed to editor@decorahleader.com or dropped off at 110 Washington St. Suite 4 in Decorah.
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