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Wednesday, August 31, 2022

Pink disease (mercury poisoning) and William A. Hammond

 Hammond was the Surgeon General in 1863 and knew good and damn well the mercury wasn't helping, and in fact was making things worse.  He banned the use of mercury, so he was of course framed and removed from office by fraud.  His scientific understanding could have prevented Pink disease, almost a hundred years before the "medical experts" realized they were poisoning children.  There is no article for Pink disease on Wikipedia.


On 4 May 1863 Hammond banned the mercury compound calomel from army supplies, as he believed it to be neither safe nor effective (he was later proved correct). He thought it dangerous to make an already debilitated patient vomit.[2][26] A "Calomel Rebellion" ensued,[27] as many of his colleagues had no alternative treatments and resented the move as an infringement on their liberty of practice. Hammond's arrogant nature did not help him solve the problem,[28] and his relations with Secretary of War Stanton became strained. On 3 September 1863 he was sent on a protracted "inspection tour" to the South,[29] which effectively removed him from office. Joseph Barnes, a friend of Stanton's and his personal physician, became acting Surgeon General.[30]

Hammond demanded to be either reinstated or court-martialed. A court-martial found him guilty of "irregularities" in the purchase of medical furniture (Stanton "used false data").[31][32] Hammond was dismissed on 18 August 1864.[10][29]



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