Poisons and Pharmacy Act, 1908

POISONS AND PHARMACY ACT 1908

CHAPTER LV.

An Act to regulate the sale of certain Poisonous Substances and to amend the Pharmacy Acts. [21st December 1908.]

Be it enacted by the King’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

Amendment of 31 & 32 Vict. c. 121, Schedule A.

1.(1) Schedule A. to the Pharmacy Act, 1868 (which specifies the articles to be deemed poisons within the meaning of that Act), is hereby repealed, and the schedule to this Act shall be substituted therefor.

(2) The schedule to this Act may be amended by adding thereto or removing therefrom any article, or by transferring any article from one part of the schedule to the other in the manner provided by section two of the Pharmacy Act, 1868, for adding to the list of articles deemed to be poisons within the meaning of that Act.

Regulation of sale of certain poisonous substances for agricultural and horticultural purposes.

4 & 15 Vict. c. 13.

2.(1) So much of the Pharmacy Act, 1868, as makes it an offence for any person to sell or keep open shop for the sale of poisons, unless he is a duly registered pharmaceutical chemist or chemist and druggist and conforms to regulations made under section one of that Act, shall not apply in the case of poisonous substances to be used exclusively in agriculture or horticulture for the destruction of insects, fungi, or bacteria, or as sheep dips or weed killers which are poisonous by reason of their containing arsenic, tobacco, or the alkaloids of tobacco, if the person so selling or keeping open shop is duly licensed for the purpose under this section by a local authority, and conforms to any regulations as to the keeping, transporting, and selling of poisons made under this section, but nothing in this section shall exempt any person so licensed from the requirements of any other provision of the Pharmacy Act, 1868, or of the Arsenic Act, 1851, relating to poisons:

Provided that His Majesty may by Order in Council amend this provision by adding thereto or removing therefrom any poisonous substance, and, upon any such Order being made, this provision shall have effect as if the added poisonous substances were included therein and the removed poisonous substances were excluded therefrom.

(2) Before granting any licence under this section the local authority shall take into consideration whether in the neighbourhood where the applicant for the licence carries on or intends to carry on business the reasonable requirements of the public with respect to the purchase of such poisonous substances as aforesaid are satisfied.

(3) His Majesty may, by Order in Council, make regulations as to—

(a) the granting of licences under this section; and

(b) the duration, renewal, revocation, suspension, extent, and production of such licences; and

(c) the keeping, inspection, and copying of registers of licences; and

(d) the fees to be charged for licences and for inspection and copying of registers; and

(e) the keeping, transporting, and selling of the poisonous substances to which this section applies;

and generally for the purposes of carrying this section into effect.

(4) The local authority for the purposes of this section shall, as respects the area of any municipal borough in England having a population of more than ten thousand according to the last published census for the time being, be the council of that borough, and, as respects the area of any royal, parliamentary, or police burgh in Scotland, be the town council, and, as respects any other place, be the council of the county.

(5) An Order in Council under this section shall be laid before both Houses of Parliament as soon as may be after it is made.

Amendment of 31 & 32 Vict. c. 121. ss. 15 and 16.

15 & 16 Vict. c. 56.

3.(1) Any person who, being a duly registered pharmaceutical chemist or chemist and druggist, carries on the business of pharmaceutical chemist or chemist and druggist shall, unless in every premises where the business is carried on the business is bonâ fide conducted by himself or some other duly registered pharmaceutical chemist or chemist and druggist, as the case may be, and unless the name and certificate of qualification of the person by whom the business is so conducted in any premises is conspicuously exhibited in the premises, be guilty of an offence under section fifteen of the Pharmacy Act, 1868.

(2) The provisions of section sixteen of the Pharmacy Act, 1868, which enable the executor, administrator, or trustee of the estate of a deceased pharmaceutical chemist or chemist and druggist to continue his business so long as such business is bonâ fide conducted by a duly qualified assistant, shall be construed as enabling such executor, administrator, or trustee to carry on the business if and so long only as, in every premises where the business is carried on, the business is bonâ fide conducted by a duly registered pharmaceutical chemist or chemist and druggist, as the case may be, and the name and certificate of qualification of the person by whom the business is so conducted in any premises is conspicuously exhibited in the premises.

(3) A registered chemist or druggist may, notwithstanding anything in section fifteen of the Pharmacy Act, 1868, take, use, or exhibit the name or title of pharmacist.

(4) A body corporate, and in Scotland a firm or partnership, may carry on the business of a pharmaceutical chemist or chemist and druggist—

(a) if the business of the body corporate, firm, or partnership, so far as it relates to the keeping, retailing, and dispensing of poisons, is under the control and management of a superintendent who is a duly registered pharmaceutical chemist or chemist and druggist, whose name has been forwarded to the registrar appointed under the Pharmacy Act, 1852, to be entered by him in a register to be kept for that purpose, and who does not act at the same time in a similar capacity for any other body corporate, firm, or partnership; and

(b) if in every premises where such business as aforesaid is carried on, and is not personally conducted by the superintendent, such business is bonâ fide conducted under the direction of the superintendent by a manager or assistant who is a duly registered pharmaceutical chemist or chemist and druggist, and whose certificate of qualification is conspicuously exhibited in the shop or other place in which he so conducts the business.

A body corporate, and in Scotland a firm or partnership, may use the description of chemist and druggist, or of chemist or of druggist, or of dispensing chemist or druggist, if the foregoing requirements as to the carrying on of the business are observed, and if the superintendent is a member of the board of directors or other governing body of the body corporate, or of the firm or partnership, as the case may be.

Subject as aforesaid, section twelve of the Pharmacy Act, 1852, and sections one and fifteen of the Pharmacy Act, 1868, shall apply to a body corporate, and in Scotland to a firm or partnership, in like manner as they apply to an individual.

Extension of powers of Pharmaceutical Society to make byelaws.

55 Geo. 3. c. 194.

4. The power of making byelaws conferred by section two of the Pharmacy Act, 1852, on the council of the Pharmaceutical Society shall be deemed to include the power of making byelaws for all or any of the following purposes (that is to say):—

(a) Requiring persons desirous of presenting themselves for examination by the said society to produce evidence satisfactory to the council of the society that they have received a sufficient preliminary practical training in the subjects of the examination;

(b) Providing for the registration, upon payment of the prescribed fee, as pharmaceutical chemists or chemists and druggists under the Pharmacy Acts, 1852 and 1868, without examination, of any persons holding colonial diplomas or of qualified military dispensers or certified assistants to apothecaries under the Apothecaries Act, 1815, who produce evidence satisfactory to the council of the society that they are persons of sufficient skill and knowledge to be so registered;

(c) Providing for periods of time and courses of study in connexion with the qualifying examination, and dividing such examination into two parts.

Restrictions on sale of certain poisonous substances.

5.(1) It shall not be lawful to sell any substance to which this section applies by retail, unless the box, bottle, vessel, wrapper, or cover in which the substance is contained is distinctly labelled with the name of the substance and the word “Poisonous,” and with the name and address of the seller of the substance, and unless such other regulations as may be prescribed under this section by Order in Council are complied with; and, if any person sells any such substance otherwise than in accordance with the provisions of this section or of any Order in Council made thereunder, he shall, on conviction under the Summary Jurisdiction Acts, be liable for each offence to a fine not exceeding five pounds.

(2) The substances to which this section applies are sulphuric acid, nitric acid, hydrochloric acid, soluble salts of oxalic acid, and such other substances as may for the time being be prescribed by Order in Council under this section.

Application to Ireland.

38 & 39 Vict. c. 57.

53 & 54 Vict. c. 48.

6.(1) The provisions of section two and section five of this Act shall apply to Ireland, with the following modifications:—

(a) For the reference to the Pharmacy Act, 1868, there shall be substituted a reference to the Pharmacy Act (Ireland), 1875, and the Pharmacy Act (Ireland) (1875) Amendment Act, 1890, and the reference to regulations made under section one of the first mentioned Act shall not apply;

(b) For references to Orders in Council by His Majesty, or to Orders in Council, there shall be substituted references to Orders in Council by the Lord Lieutenant;

(c) The reference to a duly registered chemist and druggist shall include a reference to a registered druggist.

(2) Save as provided by this section, the foregoing provisions of this Act shall not apply to Ireland.

Continuation of business on death of chemist and druggist or registered druggist in Ireland.

7. Upon the death of any person registered under the Pharmacy Act (Ireland) (1875) Amendment Act, 1890, as a chemist and druggist or registered druggist and actually in business at the time of his death, it shall be lawful for any executor, administrator, or trustee of his estate to continue such business if and so long only as such business is bonâ fide conducted by an assistant being a duly registered pharmaceutical chemist or licentiate apothecary, or duly registered chemist and druggist, or duly registered druggist.

Short title, commencement, and extent.

8. This Act may be cited as the Poisons and Pharmacy Act, 1908, and shall come into operation on the first day of April nineteen hundred and nine.

SCHEDULE.

Part I.

Arsenic, and its medicinal preparations.

Aconite, aconitine, and their preparations.

Alkaloids— all poisonous vegetable alkaloids not specifically named in this schedule, and their salts, and all poisonous derivatives of vegetable alkaloids.

Atropine, and its salts, and their preparations.

Belladonna, and all preparations or admixtures (except belladonna plaisters) containing 0 · 1 or more per cent. of belladonna alkaloids.

Cantharides, and its poisonous derivatives.

Coca, any preparation or admixture of, containing 1 or more per cent. of coca alkaloids.

Corrosive sublimate.

Cyanide of potassium, and all poisonous cyanides and their preparations.

Emetic tartar, and all preparations or admixtures containing 1 or more per cent. of emetic tartar.

Ergot of rye, and preparations of ergots.

Nux vomica, and all preparations or admixtures containing 0·2 or more per cent. of strychnine.

Opium, and all preparations or admixtures containing 1 or more per cent. of morphine.

Picrotoxin.

Prussic acid, and all preparations or admixtures containing 0·1 or more per cent. of prussic acid.

Savin, and its oil, and all preparations or admixtures containing savin or its oil.

Part II.

Almonds, essential oil of (unless deprived of prussic acid).

Antimonial wine.

Cantharides, tincture and all vesicating liquid preparations or admixtures of.

Carbolic acid, and liquid preparations of carbolic acid, and its homologues containing more than 3 per cent. of those substances, except preparations for use as sheep wash or for any other purpose it connection with agriculture or horticulture, contained in a closed vessel distinctly labelled with the word “Poisonous,” the name and address of the seller, and a notice of the special purposes for which the preparations are intended.

Chloral hydrate.

Chloroform, and all preparations or admixtures containing more than 20 per cent. of chloroform.

Coca, any preparation or admixture of, containing more than 0·1 per cent. but less than 1 per cent. of coca alkaloids.

Digitalis.

Mercuric iodide.

Mercuric sulphocyanide.

Oxalic acid.

Poppies, all preparations of, excepting red poppy petals and syrup or red poppies (papaver rhæas).

Precipitate, red, and all oxides of mercury.

Precipitate, white.

Strophanthus.

Sulphonal.

All preparations or admixtures which are not included in Part I. of this schedule, and contain a poison within the meaning of the Pharmacy Acts, except preparations or admixtures the exclusion of which from this schedule is indicated by the words therein relating to carbolic acid, chloroform, and coca, and except such substances as come within the provisions of section five of this Act.