Super Pills : The Prescription Drugs and How We've Been Trained to Love Them

Steven Manners

Raincoast Books gratefully acknowledges the ongoing support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the British Columbia Arts Council and the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP). [...] We are all waging the good fight, from the war on cancer to the battle of the bulge. [...] The first magic bullets were the antibiotics — hailed as the triumph of modern medicine when they first appeared in the 19305. [...] The U. S. Congress reacted quickly to the scandal, replacing the 1906 Food and Drug Act with the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1938. [...] More importantly, as dozens of companies started manufacturing penicillin in the 19403, the market was soon flooded and competition drove down the cost of the drug by 90 percent.5 Prices continued to fall into the 19505, prompting many companies to get out of the antibiotics business.