As was the case with Charles Ross's Packaging of Pharmaceuticals
published by the UK Institute of Packaging in 1975 it is assumed that
the reader of this book already has a broad understanding of the basics
of packaging. If not the Packaging Users Handbook and the Handbook of
Food Packaging are recommended. The packaging needs of pharmaceuticals
are different in degree only from those of other perishable products
such as processed foods. Because the required action of a medication can
be nullified by any deterioration in its active principles the
protection required from its packaging is at least an order of magnitude
greater than that needed by foods for example. Functional efficiency is
therefore of prime importance. Conversely the need for the packaging to
'sell' the medication is much less, hence the graphics required need
only provide the right 'image' for the product when presented for use in
hospital or surgery. Even when on sale at the pharmacy the 'appeal'
required is that of providing hygiene and confidence more than anything
else. Thus, the textual requirements are paramount including
traceability (batch numbers, date-coding etc) in case of recall; while
striking appearance to attract customer attention is in lower key. And
with the increase in malicious tampering nowadays recall is more
frequent.