658. Misbranding of Voltamp Battery No. 7. TJ. S. v. 1 Voltamp Battery if?. 7.
Default decree of condemnation. Product ordered delivered to Govern-
ment.     (F. D. C. No. 4822.    Sample No. 69056-E.)
This device consisted of a case containing batteries, an electric coil, and attach-
ments for applying electric current to the body. It wasP accompanied by a cir-
cular in which it was recommended for use in conditions involving paralysis and
would be dangerous to health when used in such conditions. The circular also
bore false and misleading claims regarding its efficacy in an enormous number
of disease conditions.
On May 24, 1941, the United States attorney for the Northern District of New
York filed a libel against one Voltamp Battery No. 7 at Schenectady, N. Y., alleg-
25, 1941, by the Vol tamp Electric Manufacturing Co. from Baltimore, Md.; and
charging that it was misbranded.
The article was alleged to be misbranded in that it would be dangerous to
health when used with the frequency or duration prescribed, recommended, or
suggested in the labeling for the following diseases: Amaurosis; aphasia, apo-
plexy, atrophy and non-development, muscular atrophy, backache, lame back, lame-
ness, Bell's palsy, paralysis of bladder; blindness; cramps in bowels, catalepsy,
trance; cramps, myalgia, cramps in muscles; general debility; difficulty of speech,
dysphagia; paralysis of eye muscles, facial paralysis, fainting, syncope; hemi-
plegia; infantile paralysis, poliomyelitis; soreness, tired feeling; languor, list-
lessness, ennui; lockjaw, tetanus; loss of sensation, loss of voice, aphonia; menin-
gitis, spinal meningitis; muscular contractions; neuralgia, sciatica, tic doulou-
reaux; neuralgia of scalp; neuritis; numbness, general pain, shaking palsy,
facial paralysis, paraplegia, throat paralysis, ptosis, failing of the eyelids; facial
spasm, spasm of eyelid; vertigo, dizziness.
It was alleged to be misbranded further in that statements in the labeling which
represented that it would be efficacious in the treatment of the above-named and
the'following disease conditions-pendulous abdomen; abscess, boils, furuncles,
inflammation; alopecia, baldness, falling hair, dandruff, seborrhea sicca, other
troubles of the scalp, acne, blackheads, comedones, pimples, chloasma, eczema,
herpes zoster, shingles, hives, urticaria, nettle rash, itch, face wrinkles, amblyo-
pia, failing sight, blindness, cataract, conjunctivitis, inflammation of eyes, spasm
of eyelid, paralysis of eye muscles; amenorrhea, retention of the menses, dys-
menorrhea, painful menstruation, menorrhagia, excessive menstruation, falling
of the womb, prolapsus uteri, ulceration or inflammation of uterus; anemia,
poverty of the blood, chlorosis; aphonia, hoarseness, stammering; paralysis;
ascites,  dropsy, asphyxia, asthma, hay fever;  atrophy and non-development,
? soreness, lumbago; poor circulation of blood, cold feet, cold extremities, corns,
bunions, irritable bladder, cystitis, urinary calculus, enlarged prostate, pros-
tatitis, spasm of bladderTstone in the? blaidder, hyperaestMsia urethra, retention
of urine, incontinence of urine; brain fag, cephalalgia, headache, headache ac-
companied by distress in the region of the stomach, liver and bowels, hypochon-
driasis and melancholia, hysteria, nervousness, insomnia, sleeplessness, tired
feeling,  migraine,  nerves,  neurasthenia;  Bright's  disease,  kidney  disorders;
catarrhal jaundice, liver spots, cirrhosis of the liver, congestion of the liver,
jaundice, hardening of the liver, torpid liver, liver troubles; cholera morbus,
colic, nausea, sea sickness, constipation, enteralgia, cramps in bowels, chronic
diarrhea, dysentery, flatulence, gastralgia, pain in the stomach, gastritis, indi-
gestion, dyspepsia, loss of appetite, hysterical vomiting, vomiting of pregnancy,
ehorea, St. Vitus' dance, dysphagia, dizziness, vertigo; cold in the head, coryza,
catarrh; consumption, coughs, croup, bronchitis, pleurisy; myalgia, cramps in
muscles, crick in the neck, wry neck, torticollis; deafness, earache; diabetes;
diphtheria; seminal emissions; spermatorrhea, functional sexual impotence, loss
of vitality of the organs; enlarged glands, glandular tumors; epilepsy, catalepsy,
trance; exophthalmic goiter; fever; frostbite, chillblains; hemorrhoids, piles,
rectal prolapsus; hernia, Tupture; persistent hiccough; -enlarged, sprained joints,
rheumatism, sprains, stiff joints, weak ankles, gout; lockjaw, tetanus; locomotor
ataxia; malaria, ague, enlarged spleen; nose bleed, epistaxis; obesity; quinsy,
sore throat, tonsillitis, enlarged tonsils; sunstroke; toothache, dontalgia; vari-
cocele, varicose veins; whooping cough, pertussis; that it possessed a wonderful
power to alleviate pain, cure disease, and save life; that it would increase the
supply of mother's milk; would relieve afterpains, remove superflous hair, and
rid one of all kinds of skin blemishes, that it would produce local anesthesia,
would develop the bust and other shrunken parts, and would relieve constipation
permanently, were false and misleading, since the device would not be efficacious
for the purposes recommended. '
On July 31, 1941, no claimant having appeared, judgment of condemnation
was entered and the product was ordered delivered to the Food and Drug
Administration.