Hans Selye Quotes
Almost no germ is unconditionally dangerous to man; its disease-producing ability depends upon the body's resistance.
Selye, Hans. The Stress of Life. McGraw-Hill, 1956, p. 158.
This is an amazing quotation and shows that the Ancient Romans who had a very sophisticated medical technology had a notion of germs and microbes. Ancient Rome was the first organized nation for which health, medicine, public health, and medical research were governmental functions unlike Greece and other civilizations where health was a personal function. Roman policy emphasized prevention unlike the Greeks. Sanitation and water supply and quality were government responsibilities and the Roman standard was not reached in the rest of the world until the 18th century. Heath and medicine was also a major military responsibility. The Roman Empire depended on its army, and trained professional soldiers. Disease was a greater risk to the soldiers than were battlefield casualties, and the Romans had a strong vested interest in keeping these highly trained men alive and healthy—not just the wealthy Roman citizens. The Romans were open to techniques that were developed throughout the Empire and beyond and tended to adopt all good ideas and a few bad ones as well While they had advanced surgery, the public health was the strongest aspect of Roman medicine and health and this notion of germs and disease. Remember that the writer was not a medical or scientific man, but was just indicating what was general wisdom of the Roman elite.
This is a historically significant quotation as it shows that Bassi, prior to Pasteur, discovered the germ theory of disease. Pasteur had a portrait of Bassi in his office.
He was one of the few world leaders who publicly decried the racism that was implicit in much of the well-meaning discussion of the AIDS problem in the world in general and Africa in particular. However right about the racism issue me might have been, he allowed that to color and shape his terrible policies regarding AIDS. He argued that those urging the use of antiretroviral drugs were just trying to make more money when they would do no good. Use of condoms was an attempt to diminish the Black world population. He and his Health Minister maintained that AIDS was not caused by a virus—that condoms would not help. And he would not approve any kind of social marketing to try and reduce promiscuous sex or even try and promote pre-marital chastity. Other African nations, with even fewer resources (like Uganda) reduced its AIDS rate of transmission markedly until proper retroviral drug regimens were developed and then used them right away. South Africa instead, relied on traditional herbs and other useless superstitious solutions. The result was a much higher AIDS rate than every other country of the world. Millions of South Africans died needlessly as a direct result of his terrible choice of policies. Like many South African leaders, Mbeki was a brilliant man who had a very limited education as schools were boycotted in the struggle against the apartheid state. He was ignorant about science, and viewed science as a white thing and not part of the black tradition.
This was the first cigarette company that admitted what by then had been known by the cigarette companies for almost 50 years during which they continued to knowingly kill people and deny that there was any harm that could come from smoking.
Influenza, commonly referred to as the “flu”, is a deadly killer. Annual vaccinations are required to prevent getting the Flu, but even today, many people, even in America, do not get their annual vaccine. Each year, 40 Thousand American die of the Flu, even into the 21st century.
János Hugo Bruno "Hans" Selye CC, a pioneering Hungarian-Canadian endocrinologist, conducted important scientific work on the hypothetical non-specific response of an organism to stressors. Although he did not recognize all of the many aspects of glucocorticoids, Selye was aware of their role in the stress response. Charlotte Gerson considers him the first to demonstrate the existence of biological stress.
