Druggists in Square Sell Vitamins Despite Warning

Three Harvard Square pharmacies are still selling a high potency vitamin pill despite a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ruling that the drug contains dangerous amounts of vitamin A.

The FDA ruled recently that vitamins containing more than 10,000 units of vitamin A can no longer be sold over the counter.

"Myadec," a Parke-Davis vitamin pill which was available yesterday afternoon at three of the four major local drug stores, contains 25,000 units of vitamin A. The FDA's recommended adult dosage is 5,000 units.

However the pharmacies are not in technical violation of the ruling since it permits them to deplete their stocks of drugs labeled before October 1.

Recent FDA research using high dosages of the vitamin produced brain damage in test animals. In addition, hemorrhages and loss of hair have afflicted patients receiving in excess of 100,000 units a day. But the condition, known as Hypervitaminosis A, is rare according to medical journals.

Local stores which are carrying the drug include College House Pharmacy on Mass Ave next to the Harvard Square Theatre, Billings and Stover, Inc. and Colonial Drug in Brattle Square. Chester A. Baker, Inc., next to the University Health Services, no longer carries the vitamins.

Yesterday afternoon College House Pharmacy was offering Myadec at discount prices in a special "back to school" sale of several multiple vitamins. No warning accompanied the vitamins, which were being sold in special packages of 130.

William Scollings, chief druggist at the pharmacy, said late yesterday afternoon that he had less than a dozen unsold packages of the drug. The other two pharmacies also reported that only a few bottles of Myadec vitamins remained on the counter.

"I would take them myself without any qualms," Scollings said. He said he didn't think it was necessary to include a warning with the drug despite the FDA's findings.

However Francis A. Boyle, a student in the joint GSAS-Law School program, said yesterday that he is going to file a complaint against College House Pharmacy with the City police and the FDA.

He called the pharmacy's behavior "highly unethical. In effect, they were having a clearance sale," he concluded.