The Daring Dufas wrote in news:jkghfd$kqu$2
@dont-email.me:

On 3/22/2012 6:50 PM, Han wrote:
snip
Don't knock mustard gas. It started chemotherapy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History...r_chemotherapy


Let me guess, an observant physician noticed that mustard gas victims
were cancer free? ^_^

At the link:
The beginnings of the modern era of cancer chemotherapy can be traced
directly to the discovery of nitrogen mustard, a chemical warfare agent,
as an effective treatment for cancer. Two pharmacologists, Louis S.
Goodman and Alfred Gilman, were recruited by the United States Department
of Defense to investigate potential therapeutic applications of chemical
warfare agents. A year into the start of their research a German air raid
in Bari, Italy led to the exposure of more than one thousand people to
the SS John Harvey's secret cargo composed of mustard gas bombs. Dr.
Stewart Francis Alexander, a Lieutenant Colonel who was an expert in
chemical warfare, was subsequently deployed to investigate the aftermath.
Autopsies of the victims suggested that profound lymphoid and myeloid
suppression had occurred after exposure. In his report Dr. Alexander
theorized that since mustard gas all but ceased the division of certain
types of Somatic cells whose nature it was to divide fast, it could also
potentially be put to use in helping to suppress the division of certain
types of cancerous cells.[1]


--
Best regards
Han
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