1896: Active Ingredients Only

|< < Prev Comic #1896 (September 29, 2017) Next > >|

Active Ingredients Only

Title text: Contains the active ingredients from all competing cold medicines, plus the medicines for headaches, arthritis, insomnia, indigestion, and more, because who wants THOSE things?

Explanation

This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: Created by a GUY - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon. If you can address this issue, please edit the page! Thanks.

This comic is a reference to how all medicine typically has one (or a few) "Active" ingredient and many "Inactive" ingredients. This is played against the current trend of advertising food as containing "no additives and no preservatives".

Randall thus presents a pack of cold medicine that jokingly has "Active Ingredients Only", which is the name of the brand as can be seen since it has "™" after the name. It has six active ingredients and no inactive ingredients. All this because We're not here to waste your time, their slogan, which is also trademarked. Interestingly, the slogan is a registered trademark while the product name is a common law trademark. This means that the slogan likely stays the same, while the product name changes from time to time.

Since one of the inactive ingredients in any medicine in tablet form would be binders that keep the tablet together, and keep the active ingredient(s) inside, it could be a serious problem to take this cold medicine. Though this packaging is commonly blister packs, with each dose contained seperately. Opening the box would reveal a mix of various colored powders and no way to ensure you are correctly taking the right dose. In fact, it would be extremely easy to overdose yourself on one or more of the active ingredients. Or to put it in another way, just like additives and preservatives have a real, beneficial purpose in food production, so do the inactive ingredients in medicine. Of course this assumes tablets - the product may use capsules. The package does not specify.

The title text says that it contains the active ingredients from all competing cold medicines, as well as almost every other medicine on the market for headaches, arthritis, insomnia, indigestion and more. Some of these other conditions, but not all, often occur when you have a cold. This is in line with the "don't waste your time" slogan, since you then need to use only one cold medicine. This may be be a follow-up (or a wish from Randall) after 1618: Cold Medicine, where Cueball wishes to try all possible types of cold medicine at once. Note that, with this list, there should be more than those six active ingredients in the medicine than only those listed on the pack. Unless some of the active ingredients cover multiple conditions.

It correctly states that, apart from the cold you are trying to get rid of, you also do not want these "other things". But it is not advisable to take too much medicine, and often you are warned not to mix different types at the same time, or at least should ask your doctor first. This cold medicine violates these rules, which is the main joke.

Another joke is that taking any cold medicine has no effect on the cold itself, but instead treats some of the symptoms. So if you are going to go through all types of cold medicine to no avail anyway, you might as well get it over with by taking them all at once, saving some time.

Transcript

[A picture of a pack of cold medicine. At the top there is a large advert in three lines. In a black line, to the right of the advert, white text states what kind of medicine is in the pack. Below to the left is a square frame listing ingredients. Most of the text inside this frame is unreadable scribbles. To the right of the frame is another advert inside a black frame. On the side of the box are also unreadable scribbles, both at the top and down next to the ingredients list. At the bottom of the box it can be seen how the pack can open up.]

Active Ingredients

Only^TM

We're not here to waste your time®

Cold Medicine

Active ingredients

[Six lines of scribbles, with first a name, then a statement in brackets and finally a column right of this with a short line of scribbles.]

Inactive ingredients

None

No binders!

 add a comment! ⋅  add a topic (use sparingly)! ⋅  refresh comments!

Discussion

Seems Randall has a cold again, like two years ago... :D --Kynde (talk) 12:03, 29 September 2017 (UTC)

Why would taking a medication without binding agents be dangerous? Also, would something like a gelcap count as an inactive ingredient? 162.158.62.153 13:28, 29 September 2017 (UTC)

Yes. If an ingredient is not intended to produce a therapeutic effect on the body, then it is inactive: "Inactive ingredients are components of a drug product that do not increase or affect the therapeutic action of the active ingredient" https://www.google.com/search?q=inactive+ingredient -- Brettpeirce (talk) 14:08, 29 September 2017 (UTC)

Binders hold the tablet together, so that instead of taking a powder and possibly missing some grains that fall away or stick to something (which would be dangerous if you need all the medicine for some life threatening condition) you can take the whole tab and get exactly the intended amount of active ingredient. They are also used to make tabs with minuscule quantities of active ingredient larger so that instead of fumbling with an incredibly tiny tablet it is large enough to be easily held and seen, and since the explanation just says "serious problem" not necessarily "dangerous" I could see having to take a single grain of sand sized medicine as being problematic.108.162.237.100 14:45, 29 September 2017 (UTC)

Could this comic be a reference to this image? [[1]] It was the first thing I thought about when I saw it.

I don't think the "Opening the box would reveal a mix of various colored powders and no way to ensure you are correctly taking the right dose." part is right- it doesn't say no separation in packaging, just that the medicine itself has no binding ingredients, it's just once you open any particular section it would not encourage anything inside of it to stay together. And an additional thought- powders? Some active ingredients may have forms more inconvenient than powders, I'd expect some would form a film on the packaging or other inconvenient behavior, though someone would more knowledge on medicine could correct me on just what raw active ingredients really would be like.162.158.78.220 04:18, 30 September 2017 (UTC)

Isn't this just BC headache powder but for colds? 162.158.79.167 04:57, 30 September 2017 (UTC)

Since a cold takes 7 days or a week, depending on treatment, one could make, market and sell such a thing by just selling empty boxes with this "active ingredients only" label. Seems like a good idea for a joint blackhat/beret guy company... -- 162.158.111.133 07:37, 30 September 2017 (UTC)

Black Beret®? 172.68.58.107 13:37, 30 September 2017 (UTC)

I would believe that in medicines, binders are only used with loose dry ingredients to create a solid tablet form. Otherwise, loose dry ingredients can be dispensed in packets; and both dry and liquid ingredients are commonly enclosed in dissolvable capsules, all without the need for added binders. "No binders" seems like simple advertising hyperbole, similar to putting a "Not Enclosed In Solid Stainless Steel" label on a loose apple. These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For (talk) 03:57, 1 October 2017 (UTC)

There was a time when medicines were not mass manufactured and you would go to your local apothecary (pharmacist) and the medicine would be formulated on the spot and handed to you as powders wrapped in paper. Such powders while not having any mixers would have questionable purity. Rtanenbaum (talk) 13:48, 2 October 2017 (UTC)

An ampoule could contain medicine with only active ingredients. But, very likely, the dose would be very small and getting it out of the ampoule would result in a very imprecise dosage. In real life, medicine in ampoules tends to be very diluted.

Which six ingredients would you choose, to best fulfil the wording on the package?

Acetaminophen, Aspirin, Ibuprofen, Naproxen, maltose, dextrose The first four covers all "competing" code medicines for generalized aches and pains, facial pain, fever, and headache. For this mixture, I would reduce the amounts of ibuprofen and naproxen from commonly seen amounts, as they affecting the same pathways, of course! The last two items on my list are placeholder placebos, to cover any of the other listed ailments which may not be affected by the first four, but perhaps somebody can improve on my list to add some chemicals that don't have bad interactions with the first four. Perhaps Doxylamine and Diphenhydramine, each at dosages reduced from common amounts, to relieve watery eyes, runny nose, coughing, sneezing, and difficult in getting to sleep. If these last two were added, then the medicine would be recommended to be taken a certain time before going to bed, and a warning against driving or operating heavy machinery would appear on the part of the package not shown in the comic.

[Comet] 20:43, 6 October 2017 (UTC) Take two aspirin, and call me in the morning.