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KF5JRV > TODAY 06.03.19 14:29l 47 Lines 2342 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 32251_KF5JRV
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Mar 06
Path: IW8PGT<IR2UBX<IZ3LSV<IK6ZDE<VE2PKT<N9PMO<KM8V<KE0GB<KF5JRV
Sent: 190306/1222Z 32251@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ6.0.18
Now the most common drug in household medicine cabinets, acetylsalicylic
acid was originally made from a chemical found in the bark of willow
trees. In its primitive form, the active ingredient, salicin, was used
for centuries in folk medicine, beginning in ancient Greece when
Hippocrates used it to relieve pain and fever. Known to doctors since
the mid-19th century, it was used sparingly due to its unpleasant taste
and tendency to damage the stomach.
In 1897, Bayer employee Felix Hoffman found a way to create a stable
form of the drug that was easier and more pleasant to take. (Some
evidence shows that Hoffman’s work was really done by a Jewish chemist,
Arthur Eichengrun, whose contributions were covered up during the Nazi
era.) After obtaining the patent rights, Bayer began distributing
aspirin in powder form to physicians to give to their patients one gram
at a time. The brand name came from “aö for acetyl, “spirö from the
spirea plant (a source of salicin) and the suffix “in,ö commonly used
for medications. It quickly became the number-one drug worldwide.
Aspirin was made available in tablet form and without a prescription in
1915. Two years later, when Bayer’s patent expired during the First
World War, the company lost the trademark rights to aspirin in various
countries. After the United States entered the war against Germany in
April 1917, the Alien Property Custodian, a government agency that
administers foreign property, seized Bayer’s U.S. assets. Two years
later, the Bayer company name and trademarks for the United States and
Canada were auctioned off and purchased by Sterling Products Company,
later Sterling Winthrop, for $5.3 million.
Bayer became part of IG Farben, the conglomerate of German chemical
industries that formed the financial heart of the Nazi regime. After
World War II, the Allies split apart IG Farben, and Bayer again emerged
as an individual company. Its purchase of Miles Laboratories in 1978
gave it a product line including Alka-Seltzer and Flintstones and
One-A-Day Vitamins. In 1994, Bayer bought Sterling Winthrop’s
over-the-counter business, gaining back rights to the Bayer name and
logo and allowing the company once again to profit from American sales
of its most famous product.
73 de Scott KF5JRV
Pmail: KF5JRV@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA
email: KF5JRV@ICLOUD.COM
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