Heroin, radium and 5 other deadly drugs that were once sold in pharmacies

Asbestos lotion and heroin for babies? In our age of general paranoia, when people look askance even at the hematogen, such things seem wild. And yet it is a fact: once deadly substances were freely sold in pharmacies and even prescribed by doctors.

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Source: www.maximonline.ru

1. Truth in Lead

The ancient Romans made full use of lead, shoving it into the paint for painting plates, then into the water pipes, despite the numerous warnings of Caesarean engineers. And they even added lead acetate to the wine to make it sweeter. Understandably, they were poisoned in large quantities - such that now historians are speculating whether the reason for the fall of the empire was the mental disorders that lead causes when it enters the body.

2. Elders must be listened to

The Roman historian Pliny the Elder believed that clothing soaked in asbestos "protects against all slander, even those that the magi let loose." It would be nice to have one Pliny. All Romans impregnated tablecloths with asbestos so that they would not burn. (It is easy to clear the table: put the tablecloth into the fire, and took out a clean one.) It is interesting that Pliny at the same time did not advise buying slaves who worked in asbestos quarries. “They die early,” he wrote.

3. Opium for the people

Medieval physician Paracelsus prescribed opium throughout Europe as an anesthetic. And since he was also strong in marketing, he renamed opium into "laudanum" - "in health." They treated them like aspirin, everything from a runny nose to diarrhea. Ch. Dickens even resorted to it when he composed poorly. The insidiousness of opium was talked about only in the 18th century, and even then due to the fact that several people were poisoned by taking it along with camphor.

4. Breakfast for idiots

Robert Loibl, the head of the company that produced DDT, was so sure of the harmlessness of the pesticide that he even undertook to prove it himself. For three months he stuffed himself and his wife with it, noting the complete absence of negative effects and even experiencing a surge of energy. Later studies have shown that DDT is indeed non-toxic: it only causes cancer and delayed neurological damage.

5. Heroin to the masses

Young mothers in 1898 bought up bundles of heroin from Bayer for their children - as an excellent remedy for SARS. It was soon approved even by the American Medical Association as a non-addictive substitute for morphine. Oh what a misapproval! When alarms began to come in, Bayer admitted its mistake and discontinued the drug in 1913. But for another 10 years, heroin pills, candies and elixirs continued to be sold to everyone.

6. Speaking of camphor

In the middle of the 19th century, it was believed that camphor helped against hysteria, cholera and gout. Then, however, doctors figured out that camphor is toxic, and she had to make a career in the fireworks industry. However, even today, camphor is found in various massage ointments and creams that soothe itching, on the packaging of which there is an inscription: "Swallowed - immediately run to the washing department!"

7 Grave of the Fireflies

What does radium not cure! In the 1920s, it was added to tooth powder, soap, and even contraceptives. There was even a longevity elixir called Raditor. Steel magnate Eben Byers drank about 1,400 bottles of the drug over several years and died after an operation to remove his jaw, when the bones in his body began to decompose. Fortunately, because of him, the popularity of the drink was drastically shaken, and many radium lovers managed to survive.

8. Reverse Example: Practice Soft Typing

Fluorine, a by-product of aluminum production, was discovered in the 1930s. It was considered a terrible toxin, which terribly did not like the people from Alcoa, who knew about the disinfectant properties of fluorine. Advertiser Edward Bernays came to their aid. He persuaded one publisher to include the term "fluoridation" in the dictionary: they say, all over the world this is the name for the saturation of tap water with fluorine. And then he slipped the dictionary to the mayors: let's also fluoridate the water!