Michelle Lee Moore, age 14, of San Diego, Calif., for her question:
WHEN WERE DRUGS FIRST USED?
Almost all of our important drugs were unknown before the 1900s. Polio vaccine, for example, was not introduced until 1955, At that time, between 30,000 and 50,000 Americans were struck with polio each year. With the use of vaccine drugs, by 1960 the number of new polio cases each year was cut to less than 3,000. Drugs have also helped extend the length of a person's life.
Modern drugs are included among the most valuable tools of the medical profession today. But doctors give this warning: no drug is absolutely safe. Proper use of drugs is beneficial but improper use is extremely harmful.
Even before the earth's first civilizations arose, prehistoric peoples were probably using drugs. Ancient records show that certain plants, if eaten when a person did not feel well, would help to return good health.
Oldest known written record of drug use is a clay tablet from the ancient Sumerian civilization of the Middle East. The tablet, made about 2000 B.C., lists a dozen drug prescriptions. And an Egyptian scroll from about 1550 B.C. names more than 800 prescriptions containing about 700 drugs.
The ancient Chinese, Greeks and Romans also used many drugs. The Romans opened the world's first drugstore.
Some ancient drugs were effective and others were not. The Egyptians used caster oil as a laxative, for example, and the Chinese prescribed liver to cure anemia. These were good, but not too effective was the ancient Egyptian prescription as a cure for blindness that called for a mixture of honey, pig's eye and other ingredients to be poured into the patient's ear.
A drug revolution began in the 1800s. At this time doctors and scientists discovered the cause of many diseases and determined how drugs worked.
There were few drug companies before the 7800s. And it took the start of the present century to introduce many of our most important drugs. Sulfa drugs and antibiotics, for examples did not come into use until the late 1930s and the early 1940s. Today they are our greatest germ fighting drugs. Before they were introduced, about 25 percent of all pneumonia victims in the United States and Canada died of the disease. The death rate today is extremely low.
Drugs offer a challenge for the future. Men of science are sure that drugs will help us cure cancer, cardiovascular diseases and other crippling and deadly disorders. Drug researchers are presently increasing their efforts to find such cures.
Someday, having controlled disease with drugs, scientists are confident they will develop drugs that lengthen life by slowing the aging process.