Tag Archives: salvarsan

Peace measures

In 1917, in the United States, six million people suffered from syphilis. The only drug that offered some relief at the time was an arsenic compound made in Germany called salvarsan. The United States entered the first world war against … Continue reading

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A century of reaping enormous profits at the expense of sickness and misfortune, 1

In June 1917, the United States had just entered the first world war against Germany, and a German chemical maker through its American subsidiary Farbwerke-Hoechst held U.S. patents on salvarsan, a medicine used to treat syphilis. Along letters written on … Continue reading

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