Word: baumol
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1952-1952
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Bonny, bouncing François Lejeune, six months old, was one of those babies whose pink bottoms are easily irritated. Like many other French mothers, Mrs. Lejeune sprinkled the tender parts with Baumol baby powder. But instead of getting better, tiny François got redder, ran a fever and cried incessantly. The doctor said it was 1) colic, 2) teething, 3) oversensitive skin. Mrs. Lejeune rocked the baby, carried him about, bathed him and dusted him with Baumol. But one day poor François' skin burst out into big abscesses. Rushed to the hospital, he was given...
...doctors, casting around for a cause of the illness, advised mothers to stop using this or that medication. But it was pure luck that finally pointed to the cause. Three Breton doctors with a dozen sick babies on their hands noted that all the babies had been treated with Baumol. They reported their suspicions to the ministry of health, which visited the Baumol makers, the respected Daney Laboratory in Bordeaux. Samples of Baumol taken from the factory, when analysed by the ministry, proved to be harmless. But the Brittany doctors had spread the word about Baumol far & wide. A village...
...alarm went out all over France. Police began confiscating retail stocks, while local constables in remote hamlets rolled their drums to bring out the villagers, then solemnly read them a warning about Baumol. Jacques Cazenave, 52, director of the Daney Laboratory and father of two children, was arrested and charged with manslaughter. His explanation: One of his drug suppliers must have sent him arsenic acid anhydride instead of zinc oxide. But the next question on many lips was: how many babies in the eleven months since the death of François Lejeune had been hurt by the poisoned Baumol...