An Iowa Garden

As long as we're talking about the toxic site that we used to call our medicine cabinet, how about Bromo Seltzer? As opposed to mercurochrome, Bromo Seltzer is still sold, but it's a shadow of its former self... the real Bromo Seltzer's active ingredient was sodium bromide, as opposed to the wimpy acetaminophen that is in it now. Bromide salts (sodium and potassium) were in widespread use in this country from the late 1800's to the mid-1900's, possessing a sedating, calming effect, and being cheap. Isaac Emerson, a chemist by training, in 1888 formulated Bromo Seltzer, an effervescent form of sodium bromide, calling it therefore, Bromo Seltzer. He was one of the first manufacturers to heavily advertise and market his wares, and Bromo Seltzer, in its deep blue bottle, became a staple of the medicine cabinet. I can very well remember the old Bromo Seltzer ads on the radio, called "the talking train", where a train was imitated, going "BromoSeltzer BromoSeltzer BromoSeltzer". Emerson became one of the wealthiest men in the country, erecting the Bromo Seltzer Clocktower, in Baltimore, which still stands today. It originally had a revolving 51 foot tall blue Bromo Seltzer bottle on top of it, which had to be removed in 1936, because of structural problems. The clock faces on the tower read B-R-O-M-O-S-E-L-T-Z-E-R, instead of the hours. Emerson Chemical Company went on to invent another classic of my childhood, Fizzies, a tablet you'd dissolve in water to make a particularly cloying form of soda pop, that was probably worse for you than bromine. Bromide preparations became a public health problem in the early 20th century, with thousands of people over-taking them, and some developing what came to be called bromism. It was characterized by sedation, confusion, unsteady gait, and acne like skin rashes and skin discoloration. It is documented that bromism was one of the commonest diagnoses in people entering mental health institutions at that time, with the symptoms gradually fading away after getting off bromides. It was also felt, however, that bromism could lead to chronic, irreversible dementia, and I can remember reading that at one time it was felt that bromism was one of the most common causes of chronic dementia in nursing homes. Even in 1978, when I started my medical practice, one of my first patients, who was badly demented, carried a diagnosis of bromism. However, current medical thought holds that bromism in fact rarely causes chronic dementia, and that these folks more likely were suffering from some unassociated problem, like alzheimer's. It wasn't until 1975 that bromides were banned from over the counter medications. Now, if we can just get rid of miniature marshmallows in Jello and salads, we'll be making some real progress!
If you younger folks feel smug about how people used to poison themselves, check out the label on your Mt. Dew: Mmmm... brominated vegetable oil!