WEBVTT - A Spoonful of Sugar

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<v Speaker 1>You're listening to American Shadows, a production of iHeartRadio and

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<v Speaker 1>Grimm and Mild from Aar and Manky.

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<v Speaker 2>It was the way they moved that caused so much alarm.

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<v Speaker 2>They were mostly men, middle aged, vagrant types of many

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<v Speaker 2>with no control over their hands, and many having trouble walking.

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<v Speaker 2>They stumbled like marionette dolls and bending a knee up

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<v Speaker 2>to raise a floppy foot before planting it down on

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<v Speaker 2>the ground again. Then the next leg, as more of

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<v Speaker 2>them came, the doctors at an Oklahoma City hospital started

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<v Speaker 2>making phone calls. A strange scourge was affecting people across

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<v Speaker 2>the country. The doctors initially thought it might be a

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<v Speaker 2>polio outbreak, but quickly realized they were wrong. They had

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<v Speaker 2>been witnessing a lot of strange and scary things during Prohibition.

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<v Speaker 2>It was a time of loopholes. People could no longer

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<v Speaker 2>get alcohol from stores or bars, but they could own it.

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<v Speaker 2>This led to a lot of bootlegging, sure, but also

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<v Speaker 2>a lot of trips to the pharmacy. You see throughout

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<v Speaker 2>history many medicines had some kind of alcohol in them.

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<v Speaker 2>Even during Prohibition, doctors were allowed to prescribe alcohol in

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<v Speaker 2>good faith when he was in New York City, Winston

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<v Speaker 2>Churchill famously suffered a minor blow when hit by a car.

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<v Speaker 2>The cure eight fluid ounces of liquor per day, according

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<v Speaker 2>to his doctor. These prescriptions were quick and easy income

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<v Speaker 2>for those doling them out and for those who couldn't

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<v Speaker 2>get a script, and there weren't too many. Over the

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<v Speaker 2>counter options were a popular salve. Jamaican ginger, which was

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<v Speaker 2>mostly just ginger flavored alcohol, was a national favorite for

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<v Speaker 2>all kinds of everyday ailments. But with the Prohibitionary Volstead

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<v Speaker 2>Act came the order for the makers of the tonic

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<v Speaker 2>to reduce the amount of alcohol and double the ginger.

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<v Speaker 2>The result was a sticky, bitter black syrup that in

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<v Speaker 2>no way quenched anyone's palate. Two enterprising men set out

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<v Speaker 2>to fix this. Harry Gross and Max Riseman, two brothers

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<v Speaker 2>in law from Boston, chose a chemical known as triortho

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<v Speaker 2>creusal phosphate or the brand name Lindall to spike and

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<v Speaker 2>repackage the syrup. With the compound was odorless and tasteless,

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<v Speaker 2>but used as an additive in manufacturing laquers, not liquors. However,

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<v Speaker 2>the manufacturer assured them it was safe for human consumption.

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<v Speaker 2>They marketed the product as ginger Jake, but because Lindall

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<v Speaker 2>was in fact a slow acting neurotoxin, a sweeping sickness began.

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<v Speaker 2>In a few months time. From Kansas to Georgia, nearly

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<v Speaker 2>fifty thousand adults were struck by an onset of neurological symptoms.

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<v Speaker 2>They reported numbness, paralysis, and that same strained walk, and

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<v Speaker 2>the latter got nicknamed jake leg, jakefoot, and gingerfoot and

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<v Speaker 2>then some The Food and Drug Administration could do little.

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<v Speaker 2>They were underfunded and understaffed. The investigation was handed over

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<v Speaker 2>to the Treasury Department, which went on to arrest scores

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<v Speaker 2>of bootleggers and pharmacists. At the end of it, Harry

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<v Speaker 2>and Max were discovered to be the culprits of the

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<v Speaker 2>epidemic and arrested for, of all things, misbranding a product.

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<v Speaker 2>But their sentences were suspended and they more or less

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<v Speaker 2>got a stern talking to, and the Ginger Jake survivors

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<v Speaker 2>they lived out the rest of their days bearing the

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<v Speaker 2>physical consequences of Max and Harry's greed. I'm Lorn Vogelbaum.

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<v Speaker 2>Welcome to American Shadows. When we talk about snake oil.

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<v Speaker 2>Today we think of hucksters and fraudsters and their colorful claims,

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<v Speaker 2>But snake oil, the real snake oil, was a legitimate

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<v Speaker 2>product until Clark Stanley showed up. He called himself the

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<v Speaker 2>Rattlesnake King, saying that he learned of the snake's healing

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<v Speaker 2>secrets from a Hope medicine man. In actuality, he ripped

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<v Speaker 2>his inspiration from the Chinese immigrants working on the Transcontinental Railroad.

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<v Speaker 2>They brought with them a salve made from the oil

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<v Speaker 2>of the Chinese water snake, used for its anti inflammatory properties.

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<v Speaker 2>Clark knew that he couldn't make a buck selling potions

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<v Speaker 2>and promises to unsuspecting customers. All he needed was a

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<v Speaker 2>good pitch. He was no doctor, but being a salesman

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<v Speaker 2>got him a long way. Once upon a time, folk

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<v Speaker 2>medicine and common sense were used to treat most ailments.

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<v Speaker 2>People took care of their loved ones, but in the

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<v Speaker 2>dire cases a country doctor who may also be a

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<v Speaker 2>pastor or a veterinarian in a spare time might be called.

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<v Speaker 2>But with the Civil War came a great leap in

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<v Speaker 2>medical technology. For a long time, battlefield surgeons and medics

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<v Speaker 2>tried to keep up, but they simply didn't have the tools, knowledge,

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<v Speaker 2>or people power to care for all the troops. Hundreds

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<v Speaker 2>of thousands of soldiers died, but their deaths wouldn't be

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<v Speaker 2>in vain, though not for the patriotic and principled reasons

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<v Speaker 2>you might imagine, as it would end up twice as

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<v Speaker 2>many soldiers died from disease as from battle wounds, and

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<v Speaker 2>because of this there were more bodies at the disposal

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<v Speaker 2>of curious minds than ever before. The Surgeon General called

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<v Speaker 2>for his officers to collect and send over any bits

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<v Speaker 2>and pieces of battlefield epemera of body parts ballistics that

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<v Speaker 2>might be worth studying. Out of these specimens, an Army

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<v Speaker 2>medical museum was created for educational purposes. And as for

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<v Speaker 2>the people who made it home from the battle front,

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<v Speaker 2>they were pitched into the throes of what would become

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<v Speaker 2>America's first opioid crisis. This was no push drummed up

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<v Speaker 2>by big pharma. It was instigated by the Union itself.

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<v Speaker 2>The Army had doled out nearly ten million opium pills

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<v Speaker 2>to its soldiers and almost three million ounces of powdered

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<v Speaker 2>opium and tinctures. The goal was to alleviate suffering, especially

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<v Speaker 2>for those experiencing the long lasting physical effects of war,

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<v Speaker 2>and when those pills ran out, the veterans turned to morphine,

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<v Speaker 2>a drug that was readily available in almost every doctors satchel.

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<v Speaker 2>It was used for everyday ailments, and by the eighteen

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<v Speaker 2>nineties it's estimated that one in two hundred Americans were addicted,

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<v Speaker 2>and many of the people struggling with addiction were, much

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<v Speaker 2>to the establishment's chagrin, women. People were becoming aware of

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<v Speaker 2>how dangerous opiates were, but because they were such a

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<v Speaker 2>profitable source of income, many doctors were slow to cease

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<v Speaker 2>writing scripts. One German pharmaceutical company offered their own sell

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<v Speaker 2>to the epidemic, a Coff's present and chemical modification of

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<v Speaker 2>morphine they called heroine, and as we know by now,

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<v Speaker 2>people took to it in ways they never could have imagined.

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<v Speaker 2>Clark Stanley, with his rattlesteak oil, wanted in on this

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<v Speaker 2>market of people searching for cures. He showed up at

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<v Speaker 2>the eighteen ninety three Chicago World's Fair with a gruesome

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<v Speaker 2>marketing pitch. The captivated audience watched as he snatched a

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<v Speaker 2>live snake from a bag, slid it open and tossed

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<v Speaker 2>it into a boiling pot. He then skimmed the oil

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<v Speaker 2>off the top, packaging it right up, and selling it

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<v Speaker 2>from his platform to the clamoring audience. In actuality, this

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<v Speaker 2>poor snake had no healing properties, and neither did its oil.

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<v Speaker 2>But soon Clark's oil was all over the market, thanks

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<v Speaker 2>to door to door salesmen and boots at county fairs,

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<v Speaker 2>and nothing more than a blend of beef, fat, turpentine

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<v Speaker 2>and red pepper. In its own way, the world of

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<v Speaker 2>food and medicine was the wild West. It was an

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<v Speaker 2>unregulated landscape marked by hucksters and frauds and no oversight.

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<v Speaker 2>People could claim what they wanted, sell what they wanted,

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<v Speaker 2>and tell people exactly what they wanted to hear. The

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<v Speaker 2>general public was privy to this, and though they wanted

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<v Speaker 2>to believe in these products, they had to be skeptical

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<v Speaker 2>and their lives depended on it. In the early nineteen hundreds,

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<v Speaker 2>concerned citizens, led by women, banded together in favor of

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<v Speaker 2>a pure food bill, lobbying for the safety of their families.

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<v Speaker 2>A moment of triumph came with the passing of the

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<v Speaker 2>Pure Food and Drug Act of nineteen o six with

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<v Speaker 2>the creation of what would eventually become the US Food

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<v Speaker 2>and Drug Administration. It seemed like things were going to

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<v Speaker 2>get better, but in actuality this would take a very

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<v Speaker 2>long time, and with more lives lost along the way.

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<v Speaker 2>Francis sat at her desk, ready to tackle the applications

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<v Speaker 2>in front of her. She had her notepads and her

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<v Speaker 2>pile of pens. She had the confidence of her mentor

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<v Speaker 2>and the US government. Her tenacity and intellect had long

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<v Speaker 2>guided her, and it had gotten her thus far. Even

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<v Speaker 2>though she didn't have a uniform or a badge. She

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<v Speaker 2>was on the front line of defense and the clock

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<v Speaker 2>was ticking and unforgiving. Sitting in her office at the

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<v Speaker 2>Food and Drug Administration, Francis was under the gun, and

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<v Speaker 2>she knew the consequences could be deadly. For centuries, drug

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<v Speaker 2>producers had been getting away with big claims. Their products,

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<v Speaker 2>known as patent medicines, were in effect brilliant exercises in

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<v Speaker 2>the seductive power of marketing. They were advertised on posters

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<v Speaker 2>in newspapers and magazines and flyers. They were pushed by

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<v Speaker 2>travel lling vaudeville style shows and door to door salesmen.

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<v Speaker 2>These drug makers leaned heavily into the world of spectacle

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<v Speaker 2>and miracles, and they often bulked at the most basic

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<v Speaker 2>of safety measures, such as listing ingredients on their labels,

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<v Speaker 2>testing their products, or not flagrantly putting toxins into the

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<v Speaker 2>mouths of unsuspecting people. Such was the world that Francis,

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<v Speaker 2>born in nineteen fourteen, had grown up in. She had

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<v Speaker 2>always known that she had wanted to become some kind

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<v Speaker 2>of scientist. She was applying to pH d programs just

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<v Speaker 2>as the Great Depression hit, and knew that many schools

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<v Speaker 2>were terribly inclined to take women. Still, she applied to

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<v Speaker 2>the new pharmacology department at the University of Chicago and

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<v Speaker 2>received an acceptance letter back addressed to a mister Francis Oldham,

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<v Speaker 2>and she took the posting. She arrived in Chicago in

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<v Speaker 2>nineteen thirty seven, right on time to take on a

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<v Speaker 2>new wonder drug named Elixirs self nildamined, which was suspected

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<v Speaker 2>of causing the deaths of more than one hundred people,

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<v Speaker 2>and most of those dead turned out to be children.

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<v Speaker 2>The public was incensed, and Francis had a new assignment

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<v Speaker 2>figure out where this drug was going wrong. Francis launched

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<v Speaker 2>headlong into her lab work and meticulously splice in part

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<v Speaker 2>the chemical compound. What she found was surprising. In its

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<v Speaker 2>original form, the drug was supremely effective in fighting off

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<v Speaker 2>bacterial infections, but the makers had misstepped when they created

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<v Speaker 2>a liquid, cherry flavored children's version. The Francis and her

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<v Speaker 2>lab mates realized, to their horror that a compound found

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<v Speaker 2>in that version of the elixir was usually used as

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<v Speaker 2>an anti freeze and is a deadly poison. The drug's

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<v Speaker 2>manufacturer was slapped with a fine, not for the resulting

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<v Speaker 2>deaths of consumers, but for mislabeling their product. You see,

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<v Speaker 2>they were not required to demonstrate the products safety before

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<v Speaker 2>it hit the market, but because an elixir by definition

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<v Speaker 2>contained alcohol, and there was no alcohol present in this

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<v Speaker 2>liquid drug, they were caught on a technicality. The general

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<v Speaker 2>public was outraged. In nineteen thirty eight, the Food, Drug

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<v Speaker 2>and Cosmetic Act was signed into law by Franklin Delano Roosevelt,

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<v Speaker 2>which allowed the FDA to require pre market approval of

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<v Speaker 2>all new drugs. This was a huge success for the

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<v Speaker 2>lab and the feather in Francis's cap. Now they just

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<v Speaker 2>needed to figure out how this would work in practice.

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<v Speaker 2>For many years to come, the FDA would be understaffed

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<v Speaker 2>and underfunded. Francis Oldham Kelsey, married to another scientist in

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<v Speaker 2>nineteen forty three, was later invited to join the FDA's

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<v Speaker 2>new Pharmacology Center in nineteen sixty. She was known to

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<v Speaker 2>be a talented analyst and was tasked with reviewing reams

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<v Speaker 2>of applications from pharmaceutical companies a new drugs they wanted

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<v Speaker 2>to sell, But her team was small. She was one

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<v Speaker 2>of just seven full time reviewers whose job it was

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<v Speaker 2>to keep the general public safe from predatory, money hungry

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<v Speaker 2>drug companies. But the greatest kink in the process was time.

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<v Speaker 2>The Francis and her team had a sixty day window

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<v Speaker 2>for approving or rejecting a drug, and if they couldn't

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<v Speaker 2>work fast enough, the drug would automatically go to market.

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<v Speaker 2>In her office, she stared down at an application for

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<v Speaker 2>a drug called by the brand name Kevidon. It was

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<v Speaker 2>German in origin, having first appeared on the European market

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<v Speaker 2>under a couple of other brand names, but the drug's

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<v Speaker 2>generic name was belittamide. She had heard of it before.

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<v Speaker 2>It had been used for sleeplessness and upset stomach over

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<v Speaker 2>the counter even since the nineteen fifties. Some of you

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<v Speaker 2>have probably heard of it too, But this drug's dark

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<v Speaker 2>backstory and what it was capable of would take decades

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<v Speaker 2>to unravel. The company that produced the litamide, Richardson Merrill,

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<v Speaker 2>wanted FDA approval, and they wanted it badly. Their warehouses

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<v Speaker 2>were stockpiled with the stuff waiting for the green light

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<v Speaker 2>to go to market. They assumed that the approval would

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<v Speaker 2>come fast and easy, and that they'd make good money

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<v Speaker 2>in the process. The application for the lidamine was glowing.

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<v Speaker 2>It included scores of rave reviews touting all the healing

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<v Speaker 2>properties that a wonder drug could hold, and was especially

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<v Speaker 2>popular for treating morning sickness during pregnancy. Richardson Merrill promised

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<v Speaker 2>that the drug was non addictive, non toxic, and had

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<v Speaker 2>absolutely no side effects. That last claim, bold and brash,

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<v Speaker 2>was immediately suspect for Francis. The company couldn't have thrown

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<v Speaker 2>up more red flags if they'd tried. It was a

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<v Speaker 2>tale as old as advertising, big claims and empty promises.

0:15:09.320 --> 0:15:13.000
<v Speaker 2>She dove in. What she saw in the application, or

0:15:13.400 --> 0:15:17.760
<v Speaker 2>rather bidn't see, was cause for alarm. There just wasn't

0:15:17.880 --> 0:15:22.160
<v Speaker 2>enough information there about any clinical trials to substantiate these

0:15:22.160 --> 0:15:26.720
<v Speaker 2>big claims. There were no physicians reports, just glowing praise

0:15:26.840 --> 0:15:31.200
<v Speaker 2>from supposed users. In fact, there was nothing objective to

0:15:31.240 --> 0:15:34.920
<v Speaker 2>be had, so she denied the application and sent back

0:15:34.920 --> 0:15:39.000
<v Speaker 2>her request for more information. In short order, she received

0:15:39.040 --> 0:15:42.760
<v Speaker 2>back another stack of paperwork from Richardson Merrill, but the

0:15:42.760 --> 0:15:48.000
<v Speaker 2>additional information they provided was simply more testimonials. Francis simply

0:15:48.040 --> 0:15:52.200
<v Speaker 2>rejected them again. That's when the trouble began to brew.

0:15:53.360 --> 0:15:56.840
<v Speaker 2>Richardson Merrill refused to take no for an answer. They called,

0:15:57.000 --> 0:16:00.200
<v Speaker 2>they wrote, they visited her lab. They put the pressure on.

0:16:01.240 --> 0:16:04.800
<v Speaker 2>She rejected their application a third time, pressing them on

0:16:04.840 --> 0:16:08.680
<v Speaker 2>the question of potential side effects during pregnancy. They assured

0:16:08.680 --> 0:16:11.680
<v Speaker 2>her the drug was safe, and after going over her

0:16:11.760 --> 0:16:15.040
<v Speaker 2>head to the boss, made the concession of allowing warning

0:16:15.120 --> 0:16:18.520
<v Speaker 2>labels to be put on the pills bottles. But to

0:16:18.600 --> 0:16:22.120
<v Speaker 2>Francis this was a meaningless concession. She didn't want to

0:16:22.120 --> 0:16:25.520
<v Speaker 2>take their word for anything. It was when she came

0:16:25.560 --> 0:16:28.040
<v Speaker 2>across a letter in the British Medical Journal that she

0:16:28.080 --> 0:16:31.320
<v Speaker 2>knew she was on the right track. The letter was damning,

0:16:32.200 --> 0:16:36.000
<v Speaker 2>writing about his concern a doctor reported painful pins and

0:16:36.040 --> 0:16:39.560
<v Speaker 2>needle sensations frequently experienced by those he had prescribed the

0:16:39.600 --> 0:16:43.400
<v Speaker 2>drug to. Long term, then came a trickle of similar

0:16:43.440 --> 0:16:48.320
<v Speaker 2>reports documenting cases of bodily numbness, in patience, and severe

0:16:48.360 --> 0:16:53.360
<v Speaker 2>birth defects in their babies. The pharmaceutical company knew about

0:16:53.400 --> 0:16:56.560
<v Speaker 2>the potential for nerve damage, but then neglected to do

0:16:56.680 --> 0:17:00.000
<v Speaker 2>any studies in pregnant patients or even in pregnant animal

0:17:00.280 --> 0:17:03.960
<v Speaker 2>other than humans, and what little they did know, they

0:17:04.040 --> 0:17:08.600
<v Speaker 2>hid and pushed the drug to market. Even darker still,

0:17:08.800 --> 0:17:13.240
<v Speaker 2>belitamide has roots in the Holocaust. In the shadow of

0:17:13.280 --> 0:17:17.200
<v Speaker 2>World War II, twin brothers Hermann and Alfred Wurtz created

0:17:17.200 --> 0:17:21.119
<v Speaker 2>a company called Kemy Grunenthal. It became a haven for

0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:24.480
<v Speaker 2>Nazi scientists who had spent the last few years experimenting

0:17:24.520 --> 0:17:29.560
<v Speaker 2>on captives at concentration camps. The brothers hired Martin Stemler,

0:17:29.880 --> 0:17:32.800
<v Speaker 2>who was a lead thinker on the Nazi population policy

0:17:33.000 --> 0:17:36.760
<v Speaker 2>and racial hygiene program. A fancy way of saying he

0:17:36.840 --> 0:17:40.760
<v Speaker 2>got to choose whether people lived or died. They also

0:17:40.800 --> 0:17:44.200
<v Speaker 2>brought in Heinrich Muktar, an expert on anti typhus work

0:17:44.480 --> 0:17:47.639
<v Speaker 2>and single handedly responsible for scores of deaths across the

0:17:47.680 --> 0:17:53.240
<v Speaker 2>concentration camps and ghettos. And finally there was Otto Ambrose,

0:17:53.440 --> 0:17:57.320
<v Speaker 2>who had been given the nickname the Devil's Chemist. He

0:17:57.400 --> 0:18:00.760
<v Speaker 2>was Adolf Hitler's chief chemical weapons engineer and was brought

0:18:00.800 --> 0:18:06.199
<v Speaker 2>on as the chairman of Grunenthal's advisory board. Ambrose was

0:18:06.240 --> 0:18:08.760
<v Speaker 2>known for his work with a nerve toxin called serin.

0:18:09.680 --> 0:18:12.880
<v Speaker 2>If you recall the horrifying stories of the gas chambers

0:18:13.040 --> 0:18:16.159
<v Speaker 2>used to execute millions at these camps, then you know

0:18:16.280 --> 0:18:21.680
<v Speaker 2>this chemical an antidote was developed, and this drug, later

0:18:21.760 --> 0:18:24.919
<v Speaker 2>claimed by Grunenthal to have been created before World War II,

0:18:25.880 --> 0:18:29.840
<v Speaker 2>was Deldamite. In a potential effort to cover up the

0:18:29.880 --> 0:18:33.239
<v Speaker 2>drug's dark past, the company didn't release records of its

0:18:33.240 --> 0:18:37.080
<v Speaker 2>early trials, but documentation from the camps later revealed its

0:18:37.080 --> 0:18:41.800
<v Speaker 2>extensive testing. They knew it was an effective sedative and

0:18:42.000 --> 0:18:45.439
<v Speaker 2>also calmed upset stomachs, so they brought it to market

0:18:45.640 --> 0:18:49.119
<v Speaker 2>in dozens of countries in the mid nineteen fifties, But

0:18:49.240 --> 0:18:53.600
<v Speaker 2>soon a wave of birth effects began appearing. Doctors were

0:18:53.600 --> 0:18:57.920
<v Speaker 2>seeing underdeveloped or missing limbs and defects in the internal organs.

0:18:58.880 --> 0:19:00.840
<v Speaker 2>It would later be found to the pill was enough

0:19:00.840 --> 0:19:03.919
<v Speaker 2>to harm i fetis, and some mothers were taking several

0:19:03.920 --> 0:19:07.320
<v Speaker 2>a day. The first child thought to be affected by

0:19:07.320 --> 0:19:11.240
<v Speaker 2>this drug was in fact born to a Kemi Grunenthal employee.

0:19:12.640 --> 0:19:16.879
<v Speaker 2>It didn't stop until nineteen sixty one, another concerned doctor

0:19:17.000 --> 0:19:20.000
<v Speaker 2>published a bombshell letter in the medical journal The Lancet

0:19:20.400 --> 0:19:24.960
<v Speaker 2>linking the lidamide to these horrific birth defects. Grunenthal could

0:19:24.960 --> 0:19:27.720
<v Speaker 2>no longer deny the claims, and the company removed the

0:19:27.760 --> 0:19:31.240
<v Speaker 2>drug from the market that year, but no one was

0:19:31.280 --> 0:19:35.320
<v Speaker 2>ever charged. It's believed that over eight thousand babies with

0:19:35.440 --> 0:19:39.760
<v Speaker 2>severe delamide birth defects were born worldwide. No one knows

0:19:39.800 --> 0:19:42.240
<v Speaker 2>how many tens of thousands more died in the womb

0:19:42.480 --> 0:19:47.000
<v Speaker 2>or shortly after birth. Seventeen of these claims were confirmed

0:19:47.040 --> 0:19:50.360
<v Speaker 2>to be linked to Richardson Merrill, who was so excited

0:19:50.400 --> 0:19:53.440
<v Speaker 2>to get their wonder drug de litamide to market, prematurely

0:19:53.480 --> 0:19:58.200
<v Speaker 2>distributed the pills to doctor's offices. If Francis didn't get

0:19:58.200 --> 0:20:00.600
<v Speaker 2>a chance to deny the application for a four worth time,

0:20:00.760 --> 0:20:04.800
<v Speaker 2>because Richardson Merrill withdrew it once and for all, the

0:20:04.840 --> 0:20:08.320
<v Speaker 2>link between this drug and this harm came too late

0:20:08.680 --> 0:20:12.600
<v Speaker 2>for tens of thousands of families, but Francis had quietly

0:20:12.640 --> 0:20:16.560
<v Speaker 2>saved thousands more by asking questions about what lay in

0:20:16.600 --> 0:20:30.160
<v Speaker 2>the shadows. Francis's career was ascendant. She became the new

0:20:30.200 --> 0:20:33.240
<v Speaker 2>head of the Investigational Drug branch of the FDA and

0:20:33.320 --> 0:20:36.320
<v Speaker 2>worked at the organization until she was ninety years old.

0:20:36.880 --> 0:20:38.520
<v Speaker 2>She passed away at the age of one hundred and

0:20:38.520 --> 0:20:43.840
<v Speaker 2>one in twenty sixteen. The latamaide and meanwhile is still around.

0:20:45.080 --> 0:20:48.080
<v Speaker 2>In nineteen sixty four, a desperate doctor was trying to

0:20:48.080 --> 0:20:52.119
<v Speaker 2>find relief for his leprosy patients. No painkillers were working.

0:20:52.960 --> 0:20:55.520
<v Speaker 2>He knew the littemi hade caused birth defects, but no

0:20:55.560 --> 0:20:59.520
<v Speaker 2>one could deny its tranquilizing properties. He was surprised to

0:20:59.560 --> 0:21:02.720
<v Speaker 2>see that, within three days of administering the drug, all

0:21:02.760 --> 0:21:07.400
<v Speaker 2>of his patient's skin lesions had healed. By the nineteen seventies,

0:21:07.440 --> 0:21:10.040
<v Speaker 2>the drug was approved on an experimental basis by the

0:21:10.119 --> 0:21:14.520
<v Speaker 2>FDA to treat inflammatory skin conditions. Since then, it's been

0:21:14.600 --> 0:21:20.480
<v Speaker 2>used for symptoms related to HIV, IBS, arthritis, and lupis. Recently,

0:21:20.600 --> 0:21:24.280
<v Speaker 2>it's been found successful in treating multiple myeloma blood cancer.

0:21:25.840 --> 0:21:29.240
<v Speaker 2>Philidamide is finally doing some good in the world. Now

0:21:29.280 --> 0:21:33.040
<v Speaker 2>that it's finally undergoing the research the Kemi Grunenthal neglected

0:21:33.280 --> 0:21:42.200
<v Speaker 2>so many decades ago, There's more to this story. Stick

0:21:42.240 --> 0:21:44.840
<v Speaker 2>around after this brief sponsor break to hear all about it.

0:21:52.440 --> 0:21:55.800
<v Speaker 2>Jeffrey Sherman was one of the lucky kids. He was

0:21:55.920 --> 0:21:58.639
<v Speaker 2>just five years old and so excited to tell his

0:21:58.720 --> 0:22:02.439
<v Speaker 2>dad about what had happened at Scoll that day. Just

0:22:02.480 --> 0:22:04.960
<v Speaker 2>a few years earlier, people had been living in fear

0:22:05.119 --> 0:22:08.920
<v Speaker 2>of the virus. They were getting sick and staying sick.

0:22:09.800 --> 0:22:13.239
<v Speaker 2>Every summer brought with it about of new outbreaks, and

0:22:13.480 --> 0:22:17.560
<v Speaker 2>parents couldn't help but worry. Kids were especially susceptible to

0:22:17.600 --> 0:22:22.320
<v Speaker 2>the havoc the polio wrought. The virus, made famous by

0:22:22.320 --> 0:22:26.160
<v Speaker 2>President Franklin D. Roosevelt, was thought to be a childhood disease.

0:22:26.880 --> 0:22:30.359
<v Speaker 2>While many children ended up being okay, others would suffer

0:22:30.400 --> 0:22:32.760
<v Speaker 2>the rest of their lives from damage to their central

0:22:32.760 --> 0:22:38.119
<v Speaker 2>nervous system. Some were permanently paralyzed and some died. But

0:22:38.400 --> 0:22:42.200
<v Speaker 2>by nineteen fifty four a solution had finally been found.

0:22:42.880 --> 0:22:48.000
<v Speaker 2>That year, mass andoculations proved to be highly successful. By

0:22:48.040 --> 0:22:51.440
<v Speaker 2>August of nineteen fifty five, more than four million doses

0:22:51.480 --> 0:22:54.359
<v Speaker 2>had been given, and one of the best ways to

0:22:54.400 --> 0:22:56.720
<v Speaker 2>get these shots into the arms of kids was to

0:22:56.720 --> 0:23:00.400
<v Speaker 2>give them in school, as if pop quizzes weren't scared enough.

0:23:01.520 --> 0:23:06.080
<v Speaker 2>Doctor Albert Saban, though, had a less fearsome solution. He

0:23:06.160 --> 0:23:08.560
<v Speaker 2>was working on an oral vaccine, one that would be

0:23:08.640 --> 0:23:12.120
<v Speaker 2>able to be administered more easily. When Jeffrey got back

0:23:12.160 --> 0:23:15.679
<v Speaker 2>from school, he had a story, but his dad was distracted.

0:23:16.280 --> 0:23:20.000
<v Speaker 2>Work wasn't going well. Robert Sherman was in the midst

0:23:20.000 --> 0:23:23.000
<v Speaker 2>of a crippling bout of writer's block, brought on by

0:23:23.040 --> 0:23:27.320
<v Speaker 2>the high stress of meeting a perfect deliverable. His boss

0:23:27.320 --> 0:23:29.600
<v Speaker 2>had hand picked him for the job, and no one

0:23:29.680 --> 0:23:35.040
<v Speaker 2>wanted to disappoint Walt Disney. Humoring his son, Robert asked

0:23:35.080 --> 0:23:37.800
<v Speaker 2>him to tell him about getting the shot, and Jeffrey

0:23:37.880 --> 0:23:40.239
<v Speaker 2>quickly corrected him, but he told his dad that it

0:23:40.320 --> 0:23:43.080
<v Speaker 2>wasn't a shot. Instead, the nurse gave him a little

0:23:43.080 --> 0:23:45.520
<v Speaker 2>sugar cube with a drop of medicine on it, and

0:23:45.560 --> 0:23:49.720
<v Speaker 2>he got to eat it. Robert abruptly halted. It came

0:23:49.760 --> 0:23:53.920
<v Speaker 2>to him he had an idea. He quickly called his brother,

0:23:54.240 --> 0:23:57.520
<v Speaker 2>a fellow songwriter working on the New Disney movie. One

0:23:57.520 --> 0:23:59.840
<v Speaker 2>of their tunes had been scrapped and they couldn't figure

0:23:59.880 --> 0:24:03.840
<v Speaker 2>out how to replace it. Nothing was landing. Mistakes forgetting

0:24:03.840 --> 0:24:08.120
<v Speaker 2>this new film right were very, very high. Robert got

0:24:08.160 --> 0:24:10.879
<v Speaker 2>back to work. He started scratching at a piece of

0:24:10.920 --> 0:24:16.639
<v Speaker 2>paper and beget a masterpiece. Mary Poppins arrived in theaters

0:24:16.680 --> 0:24:20.040
<v Speaker 2>in nineteen sixty four. She brought with her an iconic

0:24:20.119 --> 0:24:24.120
<v Speaker 2>parasol in words of wisdom, including if you can remember

0:24:24.680 --> 0:24:27.800
<v Speaker 2>the idea that just a spoonful of sugar helps the

0:24:27.840 --> 0:24:28.840
<v Speaker 2>medicine go down.

0:24:42.200 --> 0:24:46.119
<v Speaker 1>American Shadows as hosted by Lauren Vogelbaum. This episode was

0:24:46.119 --> 0:24:50.000
<v Speaker 1>written by Robin Miniature, researched by Ali Steed, and produced

0:24:50.000 --> 0:24:54.359
<v Speaker 1>by Miranda Hawkins and Trevor Young, with executive producers Aaron Mankey,

0:24:54.640 --> 0:24:58.119
<v Speaker 1>Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. To learn more about the show,

0:24:58.240 --> 0:25:02.760
<v Speaker 1>visit Grimminmile dot com. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit

0:25:02.800 --> 0:25:06.560
<v Speaker 1>the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your

0:25:06.560 --> 0:25:07.280
<v Speaker 1>podcasts