From: Eric Jablow <ejablow at cox.net>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: botox and the affluent
Date: Thu, 15 May 2003 12:52:47 -0400
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

> Botox is a toxic substance, and from an odd source,
> but so are a lot of other medicines.  Premarin, the
> most common women's hormone pill, is made from the
> urine of pregnant mares; penicillin is from bread mold;

Only when it was first discovered. People worked hard to
find more efficient ways of producing it or even
synthesizing it.  And then, they had to, because overuse
of antibiotics led to the evolution of antibiotic-resistant
bacteria.

Premarin is probably synthesized by now.

I have a book on Florey and his research on penicillin.
Alexander Fleming hardly did anything with it, and yet
he got all the publicity.  Fleming worked hard to make
pennicillin usable.

Remember, natural does not always mean good.  Consider
ephedra versus pseudoephedrine.  You should not be
surprised that natural substances can be used as
medicines, but people can improve on them.

I still think there is a difference between a self-absorbed
penthouse-dweller from the Upper East Side getting Botox
injections to remove his laugh lines and Diane Rehm getting
Botox injections to control her vocal cord problems.

My, I really started a long thread, didn't I?

Eric

Respectfully,
Eric Jablow
"Another Munich we just can't afford/We're gonna send in the Eighty-Second Airborne!" -- Rolling Stones