THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 29, 1996 TAG: 9609260156
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: TO YOUR HEALTH
SOURCE: Jack Dempsey,[Correspondent]
LENGTH: 92 lines
What was the most important innovation in the health field during the 20th century?
Some likely choices will be the polio vaccination, antibiotics and organ transplants.
Others, however, will argue that it wasn't a technological advance at all - but an idea.
Introduced in the latter half of the century, the idea holds that health and illness are largely within the control of the individual, not the health establishment.
In this regard, physician and Rockefeller Foundation president John Knowles noted in his 1977 book that profound improvements in the health field had not produced comparable improvements in people's health.
The reason for that, Knowles contended, lies in the irresponsible behavior of individuals.
People can't overeat, under-exercise, abuse substances, drive recklessly, mismanage stress, engage in promiscuous sex and smoke, then expect the medical profession to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.
Only altered lifestyles can rid society of diseases caused by unhealthy lifestyles.
Controversial at the time but accepted today, Knowles' idea was too late, too negative and vastly ignorant of the history of health consumerism.
The health field enjoyed one spectacular victory after another during the century and a half before World War II. Jenner published the technology of smallpox immunization in 1798. Snow traced London's wave of cholera epidemics to pollutants in the Thames River in 1854. Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928. And dozens more discoveries enjoyed widespread acceptance.
Post-war America reveled in the advances of hi-tech medicine and believed cures for everything would appear in the near future. All the individual needed was a doctor.
With hindsight, we know those rosy expectations floundered. Major problems such as cancer and heart disease actually increased in frequency this century. Where did the fault lie?
Enter Knowles and his condemnation of the irresponsible individual.
What Knowles' idea failed to acknowledge was that countless individuals already had come to the same conclusion and already had taken direct control of their health. In unprecedented numbers, people jogged, dieted, demanded low salt and low fat products at the supermarket, bought water filtration systems, took stress management seminars and enrolled in smoking cessation programs.
The number of such persons is evident from their ability as unorganized consumers to compensate for a deficiency in the medical establishment with virtually no assistance from it.
Some call it the herbal movement.
Herbs had been a mainstay of medical practice from antiquity into the 20th century. Aspirin came from the bark of the white willow tree. Digitalis was extracted from the foxglove plant. Quinine came from the cinchona tree. Penicillin was produced by a fungus.
Pharmaceutical firms, however, encountered an economic problem with herbal medicines. It takes years and millions of dollars to test a drug to the satisfaction of the Food and Drug Administration. Why should they bother when people can grow many of those herbs in their own back yards?
Instead, pharmaceutical firms pursued synthetic drugs which can be patented with 17 years of protected monopoly. Expectedly, the cost of prescription drugs rose dramatically. Herbal medicine nearly became a lost art.
Outraged at the cost of an examination and prescription for even minor ailments, responsible individuals sought less expensive alternatives that were within their own control. One by one, they found herbs from grandma's day and cumulatively made herbs a thriving business.
At the time of Knowles' classic work, therefore, the bad habits of a large segment of society were flooding the health sector with lifestyle diseases. At the same time, however, an entirely different segment of society had long been practicing what Knowles preached.
Many of their efforts, such as jogging, were intended to enhance health - the wellness movement.
Others focused on self-treatment of everything from dandruff to athlete's foot.
Individuals even asserted their independence by consuming service outside the medical establishment from new practitioners such as acupuncturists, massage therapists and proponents of Ayurveda - an ancient form of medicine that originated in India.
Taking all of these developments into consideration, one idea seems central to the field of health as it prepares for the 21st century: For better or worse, the individual is largely responsible for his wellness or ill health and only he controls his help-seeking behavior. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
ABOUT THE EXPO
The Twenty-First Century Health Awareness Expo will be held at
Kill Devil Hills Holiday Inn on Sept. 28 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Features include informational exhibits on herbs, nutritional
supplements, pure water systems, new health practicioners and
natural products.
For more information, call Edith May (919) 771-8128. by CNB