The Education of Me

I'm currently watching a new series of interviews with hundreds of doctors about the effectiveness (or not) of chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments for cancer.

I'm only a third of the way through the first two hour long episode and have already learnt some interesting facts.

You know that I've written about how doctors are branded as 'quacks' if they speak up against any medical treatments. Today, I discovered that George Washington actually died as a result of 'blood letting' which was recommended and performed by a number of medically qualified doctors.

I did a bit of a search to find information to back this story and found this ...



I also discovered that the first doctor who recommended that surgeons wash their hands prior to performing surgery, was branded a quack, as a result of this suggestion. Really?

Here are some facts that completely astounded me. In the early to mid 1900s, a group of pharmaceutical companies, including Bayer, Hoechst and BASF formed 'IG Farben Industries' and used inmates from the German concentration camps in WWII as slave labor to build their industrial plants. They rotated the inmates every 3 months, killing each retiring crew in the gas chambers.

They also manufactured and provided the gas to the Nazis for the gas chambers as well as actually building the extermination camps and gas chambers (using slave labor).

Of the twelve tribunals that were conducted after the war, this pharmaceutical group were the 6th to be tried and it was proven that they were responsible for, among other things, building the camps and conducting torturous experiments.

They were never punished for these atrocities.

More of my searches uncovered this! and this!

If they were capable of committing these horrendous acts back then, in the name of money and profits, what makes anybody believe that they are not capable of doing the same thing in a more modern and secretive way in this day and age? (especially if they were never punished back then)

To finish my blog on a more happy and pleasant note, I got a little peek at one of the chicks in the Tawny Frogmouth nest today! It was very brief and not very clear, but at least I know that there is at least one chick and maybe more will be revealed as time goes on!

I have to say that it's a beautiful day and I'm looking forward to spending a couple of hours with Woman of Many Talents this afternoon.

Later: I enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine with my friend and today has been a good day :)

Nite all.