The 1960s Medicine and Health: Overview

Great advances were made during the 1960s in the areas of medicine and health care. Viruses were isolated, and vaccines to combat a host of diseases, from measles to meningitis, became available. A range of products and procedures were developed or newly marketed. Among them were breast implants; soft contact lenses; home kidney dialysis machines (which remove poisons from the blood of patients suffering from kidney failure); cryosurgery (surgery by freezing); oral birth control pills and intrauterine devices, also known as IUDs (which allow women control over their bodies' reproductive cycle); fertility drugs and artificial insemination (which allow childless couples to become parents); and Valium (a drug that battles anxiety). Limb reattachments and liver, lung, and heart transplant operations were completed successfully. Efforts were made to develop an artificial heart that could be used during surgery. Coronary artery bypass surgery was also initiated. Patients may have lamented that fewer doctors packed up their medical bags and visited them in their homes when they were ill. However, the development of new machines and drugs that allowed physicians to more accurately treat illnesses made visits to the doctor's office far more practical from the standpoint of detecting and curing disease.

While the research and development of wonder drugs alleviated, and in some cases cured, a variety of ailments, other drugs and chemical additives proved to be highly dangerous, and even deadly! Cyclamates, a commonly used artificial sweetener, were found to cause cancer and birth defects. Triparanol, marketed as a blood-cholesterol controller, was discovered to cause baldness and blindness. Chloramphenicol, used to combat minor bacterial infections and more severe illnesses, was found to cause aplastic anemia, a life-threatening ailment. Since the 1950s, thalidomide had been marketed in countries across the globe as a cure for morning sickness in pregnant women. Before it was approved for use in the United States by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), it was discovered that thalidomide also caused birth defects. Unfortunately, thousands of sample thalidomide tablets already had been dispensed nationally by doctors to patients, with tragic results for many children who were born with underdeveloped limbs and other physical anomalies as a result of exposure to the drug.

Other medical and health-related challenges were faced during the decade. They included combating a rubella (German measles) epidemic that swept across the country; making affordable medical care available to the nation's poor and elderly; acknowledging and publicizing the health risks, including contracting cancer and heart disease, which were associated with use of tobacco products; and recognizing the threat of environmental pollution to the future of civilization. Before the decade ended, a rubella vaccine was perfected. An attempt to offer health care to all Americans came with the introduction of the federal Medicare and Medicaid programs. Efforts were made to begin educating the public about the health risks linked to tobacco and the importance of eliminating industrial pollutants from the environment.