Elixir sulfanilamide

(Although the first case of a fatality from the related ethylene glycol occurred in 1930 and studies had been published in medical journals stating DEG could cause kidney damage or failure, its toxicity was not widely known prior to the incident.

[6] Frances Oldham Kelsey assisted on a research project that verified that the DEG solvent was responsible for the fatal adverse effects.

The owner of the company, when pressed to admit some measure of culpability, infamously answered, "We have been supplying a legitimate professional demand and not once could have foreseen the unlooked-for results.

[7] A woman wrote to U.S. President Roosevelt and described the death of her daughter: "The first time I ever had occasion to call in a doctor for [Joan] and she was given Elixir of Sulfanilamide.

The Massengill Company paid a minimum fine under provisions of the 1906 Pure Food and Drugs Act, which prohibited labeling the preparation an "elixir" if it contained no ethanol.