Immortalised in Australian slang, Bex Powder was as uniquitous in Australia in the 1960s as the proverbial cup of tea. It was a non-prescription drug recommended for headaches, colds and flu, nerve pain and rheumatism, among other indications, even though there was no evidence at all of any medicinal benefit.
I worked in a bank in Canberra at the time of this radio commercial, and you only had to pull open the desk drawer of anyone in the bank to find, either tugged away in a corner or prominently displayed at the front, a blue-and-yellow BEX Powder box. Not that anyone would have admitted it at the time, but it was also highly addictive which made it the pick-me-up of choice for anyone feeling slightly "under the weather".
Much later medical research, particularly by Professor Priscilla Kincaid-Smith, established a strong link between the overuse of Bex Powder and kidney disease, which lead to this painkiller being removed from the market and a subsequent dramatic decline in kidney disease.
I reflected on this when an old colleague who during my days in the bank had tossed down a Bex Powder first thing in the morning and often several more times during the day, passed away last year. He had lived to 85, but it wasn't the quantity but the quality of his life that had no doubt been effected by his frequent use of Bex Powder, as he had spent the last fifteen years on dialysis which required a good lie down three times a week but not in the way this commercial had suggested it.
I wonder how many other commercials which today extol us to take this or do that will later be found to have been detrimental to our health. And don't even wait for your doctor to tell you. He may be the same doctor who smoked CAMELS more than any other cigarette.
Speaking of which, I am off to see my German doctor in Moruya who will burn some more sunspots off my skin which is a perfect excuse for me to ignore all that hooplah that goes with today's Melbourne Cup.
