Lemony Amore
Some old pre-Blogspot.com posts, recycled.
Monday, December 29, 2003
Where are they today? Scientific breakthroughs that have vanished into limbo.
I've just picked up a book that's been in my bookshelf for a LOOONNNGGG time - written sometime in the Seventies, it's titled 'Breakthroughs' by one Charles Panati. In the first few dozen pages, I've already found enough material to keep my curiosity motor ticking over at hyper rates.
In the section on dental care, for example, he mentions 'Lauricidin' - go ahead, Google it if you like, there are results to be had - but here's the mystery - you tell me what happened here, I'd be most grateful:
You see, Lauricidin is lauric acid and glycerine. And Mr Panati goes to the trouble of mentioning that it has great antibacterial properties against the bacteria which cause tooth decay and caries, is tasteless, and just undergoing approval by the FDA for use as an additive in foods and motuhwashes and whatever, in order to lessen the chances of these bacteria forming plaques on teeth.
Where is it now? Why are there still dentists making money hand over hand over our teeth? Why does Lauricidin apparently now have a bad taste when in the 70's it was definitely 'tasteless'? Someone needed a reason not to put it into general use? WTF is going on here?
There are a variety of diet things mentioned, and one in particular I remembered, after reading about it again, that I'd heard about it again in the early Nineties, when it was said (on several of the better news magazine shows on TV at the time) that it was only a matter of a few years before we'd see a cheap weight reduction treatment from it. The material was perfluorooctyl bromide, a chemical which was also used in some underwater breathing experiments some 10 - 20 years ago. The stuff has large molecules that we can't easily absorb trhrough alveoli or stomach linings, so it's ideal for carrying oxygen into lungs or blocking food and passing it through the stomach.
Nowadays I find that it seems to be used as a contrast agent for xrays and microscopy, and not much else. And instead of the (and I quote Panati) 'expensive - about $50 a quart' bromide, the latest fad 'fat pill' is more like $500 a month's course, and comes laden with safety warnings and caveats and you try getting a doctor to prescribe them.
Sucrose Polyester - turned out to be a flop. Think Olestra, stomach cramps, etc. But that was in development when Panati wrtoe his book, and it has gone right through all the stages and become first a publicised breakthrough and then a PR disaster. But if it got developed, approved, and then shitcanned in the intervening 20 years, why didn't some of the other products?
These are random blog posts I recently rescued from a text dump of my earliest recorded blog posts from Ye Good Ole Days of writing stuff in Notepad and using some weird software that basically uploaded your entire blog every time you added a new article or edited an old one.
I'm shamelessly adding that little mini-banner graphic with links for you to donate, check my newsletter site, and generally get more entangled in my weird world.
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