Harry Flash
October 14th, 2004, 05:47 AM
A lot, some of it salutary. In the 1920s, German scientists correctly picked up on x-rays as a possible source of genetic damage. In the same decade they also launched a huge campaign against tobacco, condemning it as a "plague" and "lung masturbation", according to Robert N Proctor, the historian, in his book The Nazi War on Cancer. The catch is that these scientists were eugenicists and were worried about the corruption of German germplasm. Smoking, for instance, was "unGerman" and a vice propagated by Jews.
A decade later, Nazi scientists identified the dangers of organochlorine pesticides such as DDT before anyone else, and launched campaigns to discourage alcoholism. German scientists of the period made the link between asbestos and lung cancer and developed the first high-powered electron microscope. They also pro moted breast self-examination to detect tumours at an early stage. Nazi leaders backed all these campaigns. Hitler was a vegetarian. Heinrich Himmler lectured the Waffen-SS on the importance of vitamins, minerals, whole foods and fibre in their diet.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/thisweek/story/0,12977,1326269,00.html
A decade later, Nazi scientists identified the dangers of organochlorine pesticides such as DDT before anyone else, and launched campaigns to discourage alcoholism. German scientists of the period made the link between asbestos and lung cancer and developed the first high-powered electron microscope. They also pro moted breast self-examination to detect tumours at an early stage. Nazi leaders backed all these campaigns. Hitler was a vegetarian. Heinrich Himmler lectured the Waffen-SS on the importance of vitamins, minerals, whole foods and fibre in their diet.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/thisweek/story/0,12977,1326269,00.html