WEBVTT - Botox Exists Thanks to Bad Sausages

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from how Stuff Works. Hey, brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren voc obamb Here, do you have brown lines crow's feet?

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<v Speaker 1>Now you can make them disappear with the blink of

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<v Speaker 1>a injection. Botox has become a popular cosmetic treatment, and

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<v Speaker 1>while it's pretty common knowledge at this point that botox

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<v Speaker 1>works thanks to a carefully controlled toxin, what's less well

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<v Speaker 1>known is that we know about that toxin thanks to

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<v Speaker 1>a batch of killer sausages. In the early eighteen hundreds.

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<v Speaker 1>It was this perfectly poisonous tube pork medley, that justin

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<v Speaker 1>Is Kerner, a German physician, first suspected as the source

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<v Speaker 1>of the potentially deadly muscle relaxing botulinum toxin. Sausage of

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<v Speaker 1>questionable freshness was not uncommon in turn of the nineteenth

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<v Speaker 1>century Germany, but after mysterious outbreaks of sausage poisoning during

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<v Speaker 1>the Napoleonic Wars repeatedly killed scores of people, Kerner got

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<v Speaker 1>wise to the cause. After rigorous testing of hundreds of

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<v Speaker 1>sausages and of injections of the suspected toxin, he became

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

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<v Speaker 1>the toxin and its effects. Food born Botulism is caused

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

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<v Speaker 1>Claustrodium botulinum 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. Boche 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>rasing 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. Bochuallinum

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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 bochuainum 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 in 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>year 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 twenty sixteen, the US Food and

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

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

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<v Speaker 1>cure to meat production, however, making most cases of bachulinum

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

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<v Speaker 1>be safe, avoid any canned food that's bulging outward or

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<v Speaker 1>that has a dent along one of the cans, seems,

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<v Speaker 1>and don't give honey to babies under one year of age. Yep,

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<v Speaker 1>that is a batual is M safety precaution to Today's

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<v Speaker 1>episode was written by Laurie L. Dove and produced by

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<v Speaker 1>Tristan McNeil and Tyler Clang. For more on this and

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<v Speaker 1>lots of other tight topics, visit our home planet, how

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff Works dot com