Vitamins Down

DRUGS

Perhaps three out of every four U.S. citizens consume vitamins; in 1943 the vitaminded citizenry swallowed some $200 million worth of the colored pellets. Last week they got good news. Vitamin prices were slashed in some cases by 75%.

Sample items: B2 tablets came down from $3.25 to $1.39 per 100; B1 tablets were cut from $2.49 to $1.43.

Said a spokesman for an institution supply agency: "What the OPA was unable to accomplish . . . the manufacturers themselves have done with a bang."

But the technical decision still went to OPA Boss Chester W. Bowles. His OPA had fought the vitamin barons last November, threatening them with an order that would cut retail vitamin prices 15%. Producers argued that there was no inflationary element in their prices; OPA's order was illegal; it was profit control rather than price control. OPA never formally issued the order, but the industry nevertheless sought a court injunction against the possibility. When the injunction was denied, the industry filed an appeal. The problem was still in the courts when the voluntary price reductions began last week. No one could guess exactly whether the industry's sudden price cut was a jump out of the way of a falling ax.

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