•Life Expectancy •Drastic changes over the last century. oAverage 30-35 years throughout the last 6000 years. o82 years old in Canada (2009) omost major improvements have taken place in the last 150 YEARS oCanadians live in a special time in History, high life EXPECTANCY. • •Causes of death •1900’s oLife expectancy – approx. 44yo oPneumonia, Tuberculosis, Influenza oTendencies last till the 1950’s •2004 oLife expectancy – approx. 82yo oHeart, Cancer, Stroke, Lower Resp. Infections, Road accidents, DIABETES. • •Quality of life •Quality of life diminishes with the occurrence of disease.
•Improved health is due to ; improved sanitation, clean water, REFRIGERATION, VACCINATIONS & ANTIBIOTICS. •Improved sanitation; Better waste management (adequate sewer SYSTEM), LESS INTERACTIONS WITH THE DEAD – LOWER INFECTION RISKS, LESS WATER TRANSMITTED PATHOLOGIES – GUINEA WORMS. •Clean Water; Chlorination and main water supplies prevent many FOREIGN BACTERIA FROM REACHING THE HUMAN BEING. •Refrigeration; Better way of preserving foods, Ice-Box is no longer USED AFTER THE INVENTION OF THE REFRIGERATOR. •Pharmaceuticals; Vaccines and Immunization have proven to be SUCCESSFUL FOR VIRAL DISEASES – I.
E. SMALL-POX (ELIMINATED IN 1977) AND POLIO (FEWER THAN 1000 CASES IN 10/11 COUNTRIES) •Antibiotics; Administered for bacterial infections, i. e. Penicillin (REDUCED THE INCIDENCE RATE OF MATERNAL DEATHS DRASTICALLY) • •The North-American Drug Market •Prescription drugs ; 300 billion $ •OTC drugs ; 25 billion $ oUS – 49. 1% ^ (Can – 3. 8%)
• •Medical Treatment •Surgical treatment; Removal (trad. ) or modification of the affected BODY PART. •Medicinal treatment; use of chemical compounds to treat illness. • • •Plants used as a source of drug, humans use poisons created by THESE PLANTS WHICH THEY USE TO PROTECT THEMSELVES (DUE TO SEDENTARITY)
•Drugs – Produce beneficial effect, poison produce harmful biological EFFECT •Dose makes the poison, beneficial dosage vs. harmful dosage •We assume – low dose = beneficial, high dose = harmful .. but not ALWAYS THE CASE. (EX. WATER INTOX. ) •Drugs were discovered by observations and experiment (people OBSERVED THE EFFECT) AND BY PHILOSOPHY (BELIEF, SUPERSTITION, MAGIC RELIGION) (ONLY AS GOOD AS THE INFORMATION ITS BASED ON)
•By observation: strong poison = easily identified, low dose makes THIS A DRUG, WEAK POISON = LARGE QUANTITY NEEDED FOR EFFECT. oDates back a long time; ex. Papyrus Ebers, Hippocrates (PROMOTED OBSERVATION REJECTED SUPERSTITION ETC. ) oEx. Opium for pain ?Toxic in high doses, drug in low oEx. Cocaine for pain and stimulant oQuinine for malaria?
oThe problem with observations is that the human brain is CONSTANTLY SEARCHING FOR PATTERNS (APOPHENIA –PATTERNS WHERE THEY DON’T EXIST) (PAREIDOLIA – PERCEPTION OF SOUNDS AND IMAGES AS SOMETHING ELSE), ANECDOTAL EVIDENCE IS HIGHLY UNRELIABLE (COINCIDENTAL, PLACEBO, LIES), “EVIDENCE” IS HARD TO CONTRADICT WHEN FOUND (PARENT COLD REMEDIES – CRAP) oOnly experimental evidence is reliable; such as statistical EVIDENCE FROM LARGE EXPERIMENTS.
•Herbal remedies; poor control over dose, the plant produces VARIABLE AMOUNT OF ACTIVE INGREDIENTS = LACK OF CONSISTENCY, VARIATIONS IN PREP. AND ADMINISTRATION, WITH NO INSTRUCTION = IMPRECISE •Philosophy; cure arrived by reasoning, healing connected with MAGIC AND SUPERSTITION. oEx Doctrine of Humours, earth = 4, human = 4 ?E (earth, air, fire, water) H (blood, phlegm, yellow bile, BLACK BILE) ILLNESS = HUMOURS OUT OF BALANCE. HEALING =BALANCE TO HUMOURS ?
Treatments ; ex. Bloodletting (drain blood), purges, ENEMAS ?Based on made-up incorrect ideas ?Treatments were often painful. ?The earth isn’t only made of 4, humans either. oEx. Doctrine of Signatures ?Walnut looks like brain, use for brain ?Clues tell us how to use stuff. ?Ex. Shark cartilage, Boneset stems, Chlorophyll, MANDRAKE, RHINO HORNS, MERCURY FOR PURGE (HIGHLY TOXIC) ?Doctrine of signatures – pure crap, remedies are HARMFUL, NO RATIONALITY OR PROVING EVIDENCE PURELY LUCK RELATED REMEDIES. •Surgical treatment oAmputations used to be done without sedation?
Alternatives; alcohol ?Had to be done quickly. oAmputation was learned experimentally (v shapes incision vs. STRAIGHT INCISION) oDavy – Nitrous Oxyde for surgery, anaesthetic –makes you FORGET. oMorton – Ether for surgery, anaesthetic-unconscious, no MOVEMENT. oDiscoveries like these make modern surgery possible oSurgery – had less than 30% survival rate, due to unsanitary WORK CONDITIONS. oLister – Phenol (used as deodoriser) killed bacteria’s on people DURING SURGERY SPRAYED IN CARBOLIC SPRAYER (SPHERE)- UPPED THE SUCCESS RATE OF SURGICAL TREATMENT.
?Phenol – discovered to be toxic in high doses, doctors STARTED USING GLOVES AND DISINFECTED OPERATING THEATRE WITH PHENOL. oRoddick – Antisepsis, first to bring to Canada, still quite risky oListerine – household product (cleaning), dandruff, these days DOES NOT CONTAIN PHENOL, BUT THYMOL – WITH SIMILAR MOLECULE STRUCTURE.
•Drugs in the 1800’s oNo regulations, big industrialisation, opportunity for fraud. ?False advertisement, toxic products sold for household USE oScience made people trust claims such as “scientifically PROVEN” AND “PATENTED” – ANYONE CAN USE THESE TERMS, oScience made it easier to identify fraud.
oHuman experiments – common until WW2 (Nazi CC doctors) oPatent medicine – means nothing, contained random SUBSTANCES (ALCOHOL, RADIOACTIVE WATER (TOXIC)… ) oBailey – Radithor; radiation kills cancer cells, radioactive water WAS MARKETED TO PROMOTE INTELLIGENCE. ?Byers- jaw removed due to damage from radiation, died SHORTLY AFTER. oMedicine from the death’s laboratory; harmful chemicals COMMONLY ADDED, ENSUED DEATH. •Board of Food and drug Inspection o1907 – labelling only, no regulations and safety testing.
oPatent medicine is still sold today, ineffective •Sulfanilamide oFirst commercialized antibiotic, sold in powder form, used in WW2 oMassengill – Expand market to children –Elixir (powder DISSOLVED IN ANTIFREEZE, SWEET TASTE) oElixir is highly toxic due to its compounds, killed many CHILDREN. oNo laws in 1932, ethically wrong but no laws. oElixir = dissolved in ethanol not ethylene glycol •FDA 1932 oEnsure safety of drugs oAnimal testing, clinical trials, and directions for proper use IMPLEMENTED oStill some problems arose oThalidomide ?Sedative -1957 ?Pregnant mothers and anxiety, caused MAJOR birth DEFECTS (SEAL BABY)?
Tested in rats, who reabsorb defective foetus’, which ISN’T THE CASE FOR HUMANS. oModern safety standards – safety testing MUST be done on at LEAST TWO SPECIES (ONE BEING A PRIMATE), BIOAVAILABILITY, RELEVANT DOSES MUST BE USED DURING TESTING. •Drugs today oGenetically engineering – reduces animal testing and FACILITATES DISCOVERY oHumulin ; proteins in diabetics, highly beneficial for diabetics oNew drugs ; 800’000’000 , 8 years or more, high risk oMost drugs are synthetic (54%) oAnimal and natural based are risky and inefficient oDrugs are found by random screening often-times •.