'Cold Cure Pills Warning', 1950.

A photograph of a box of Anthasian tablets, taken by an unknown photographer for the Daily Herald newspaper. This anti-histamine drug 'Anthisan', produced by May and Baker, caused saftey concerns at the time. Medical authorities thought it might be dangerous, especially to children. Anti-histamines have been used since the 1930s and continue to be an effective way to deal with the problems of allergies. The introduction of 'wonderdrugs' such as penicillin during the middle of the twentieth century led to a belief that drugs would eventually be able to treat a wide variety of ills, both physical and mental. Although great advances were made some drugs proved to be of little use whilst others proved to be dangerous or addictive.