WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: How Did Botox Come from Bad Sausages?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff, Lauren Vogel Bomb here with a classic brain

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff episode for you. Some beauty sector experts are predicting

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<v Speaker 1>that the United States is heading toward post COVID boom

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<v Speaker 1>and elective treatments like botox. So today let's explore the

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<v Speaker 1>weird history of this treatment and what it has to

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<v Speaker 1>do with toxic sausage. Hey brain Stuff, Lauren vogel Bomb here.

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<v Speaker 1>Do you have brown lines crow's feet? Now you can

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<v Speaker 1>make them disappear with the blink of a injection. Botox

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<v Speaker 1>has become a popular cosmetic treatment. And while it's pretty

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<v Speaker 1>common knowledge at this point that botox works thanks to

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<v Speaker 1>a carefully controlled toxin, what's less well known is that

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<v Speaker 1>we know about that toxin thanks to a batch of

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<v Speaker 1>killer sausages. In the early eighteen hundreds, it was this

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<v Speaker 1>perfectly poisonous tube pork medley that justin this Kerner, a

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<v Speaker 1>German physician, first suspected as the source of the potentially

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<v Speaker 1>deadly muscle relaxing bochulinum toxin. Sausage of questionable freshness was

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<v Speaker 1>not uncommon in turn of the nineteenth century Germany, but

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<v Speaker 1>after mysterious outbreaks of sausage poisoning during the Napoleonic Wars

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<v Speaker 1>repeatedly killed scores of people. Kerner got wise to the

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<v Speaker 1>cause after rigorous testing of hundreds of sausages and self

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<v Speaker 1>injections of the suspected toxin. He became the first to

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<v Speaker 1>identify and publish a clinical description of the toxin and

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<v Speaker 1>its effects. Food born botuli is um is caused when

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<v Speaker 1>the things we eat are infected with spores of Claustrodium

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<v Speaker 1>bachu linum microbes, a nearly bulletproof bacteria commonly found in

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<v Speaker 1>soil around the globe. When the microbe contaminates meat and

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<v Speaker 1>occasionally produced, it flourishes provided the environment is oxygen depleted.

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<v Speaker 1>This makes it the perfect deadly pairing with poorly preserved

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<v Speaker 1>foods and salted meats. Bachu linum toxin in the wild

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<v Speaker 1>can cause vision problems, difficulties swallowing, vomiting, and severely weakened muscles,

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<v Speaker 1>but people are so resourceful that they've figured out a

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<v Speaker 1>way to harness the toxin and focus its effects in

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<v Speaker 1>specific ways. Case in point the popularity of a wrinkle

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<v Speaker 1>raising serum known by the brand name botox. The use

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<v Speaker 1>of which has jumped by more than seven percent since

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<v Speaker 1>the year two thousand, according to the American Society of

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<v Speaker 1>Plastic Surgeons, and this increase only reflects cosmetic use. Botulinum

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<v Speaker 1>toxin is quite useful for a range of medical maladies,

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<v Speaker 1>including excessive sweating and migraines, and it can also relax

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<v Speaker 1>the perpetually contracted muscles of people who have cerebral palsy.

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<v Speaker 1>The art of looking good, just like botulinum toxin, has

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<v Speaker 1>a long and dubious history. Ancient Egyptians painted their eyelids

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<v Speaker 1>with a toxic cocktail of copper or in lead, and

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<v Speaker 1>the exposure lead to insomnia and brain damage. Greeks smeared

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<v Speaker 1>their faces with a lead based cream, which eventually caused madness.

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<v Speaker 1>Going to these great lengths may seem a bit ridiculous,

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<v Speaker 1>especially when one considers sacrificing health for beauty, but it's

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<v Speaker 1>not as far removed as you may think. We still

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<v Speaker 1>use mercury and some eye cosmetics as a preservative, all

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<v Speaker 1>though some states have banned the element, and in the

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<v Speaker 1>U two thousand, one third of thirty three red lipsticks

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<v Speaker 1>examined by a Safe Cosmetics advocacy group were found to

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<v Speaker 1>contain lead. As of sixteen, the US Food and Drug

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<v Speaker 1>Administration doesn't have a set limit for lead in cosmetics.

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<v Speaker 1>We do have a set of standards for commercial cure

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<v Speaker 1>to meat production, however, making most cases of botulinum toxin

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<v Speaker 1>poisoning a thing of the past. Though, just to be safe,

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<v Speaker 1>avoid any canned food that's bulging outward or that has

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<v Speaker 1>a dent along one of the cans seams, and don't

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<v Speaker 1>give honey to babies under one year of age. Yep,

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<v Speaker 1>that is a botulism safety precaution to Today's episode was

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<v Speaker 1>originally produced by Tristan McNeil and is based on the

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<v Speaker 1>article Ridiculous History Toxic German sausages are responsible for botox

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<v Speaker 1>on how stuff works dot com, written by Laurie L. Dave.

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<v Speaker 1>Brain Stuff is production of I Heart Radio in partnership

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<v Speaker 1>with how stuff works dot Com and it's produced by

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<v Speaker 1>Tyler Klang. Or more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit

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