1855 United States Tycoon

After the Panama Canal started again, there has been no news of yellow fever. Every day, the Panama Canal Company will hold a press conference on time to introduce the progress of the project to the media. To be honest, the reason why many media are concerned about the canal project is largely to wait for news such as the outbreak of yellow fever. Well, it is a tragedy and a nightmare for many people. For the news media, it is the most eye-catching news. Well, it’s like the lawyers hope that every family is busy making divorce, the doctor hopes that every family is busy getting sick, and the coffin shop owner hopes that every family is busy with dead people. These reporters are also looking forward to the Something unexpected happened.

The second excavation of the Panama Canal did have a big accident, but it was an accident that most reporters, well, at least most reporters except United States and Panama would not want to see. This accident is: this project has not happened too many, too big accidents.

Of course there are workers who are sick, but none of them are yellow fever. There are also workers with death, but the number of deaths has been kept within a reasonable range. It is especially important that almost none of them died because of diseases such as yellow fever or malaria. Every day’s press conference is only news that everything is progressing normally, or that the progress is faster than expected.

However, I did not wait for news related to the disease on the canal side, but there was big news in New York.

On May 20, 1871, all the major media in New York City received an invitation letter. This invitation letter was sent by the famous McDonald Chemical and Pharmaceutical Company. The content was nine o'clock tomorrow morning. The Macdonald Chemical and Pharmaceutical Company will disclose a major discovery to the public.

The reporters arrived at the meeting early the next morning. At this time, the press conference had not yet started, and most of the reporters were familiar with each other, so they started talking.

"Soupy, come here early!" Soupy just took his own seat (as a reporter for an innocent tabloid newspaper, Soupy's seat was arranged far and remote, completely in the corner of the house. This way. Then, at the press conference, Soupy hardly has the opportunity to ask questions. But Soupy has been used to this for a long time), and someone greeted him.

Soupy turned around and saw a fat face smiling at him. He recognized that this was a reporter named Collilai who worked for a tabloid like him.

"Colilai, hello." Subi said, "are you sitting next to me again today?"

"Yeah!" Collilai sat down beside Souby, "Souby, what news do you think will be today?"

"How do I know this?" Colliley said, "The guys sitting at the front may know something, but they will never tell us... Maybe it's because MacDonald has some epoch-making new drugs. Has it been invented? Oh, yes, didn’t Mr. Macdonald published a paper not long ago claiming that the existing antiseptic drugs have no effect on what is called a “virus”? Could it be that McDonald has invented something that can be dealt with 'Virus' drugs?"

"It shouldn't be so fast, right?" Suby said, "Mr. MacDonald said in his new paper in The Lancet that reasonable immunization methods will be used for a long time to come. Cutting off the transmission of the virus is the most effective way to deal with the virus. I think it is impossible to have such a breakthrough in such a short period of time, right?"

"I think so too." Collilai said, "what news will it be?"

"I don't know either. Oh, Collier, I found a very strange thing. Since yesterday afternoon, I can't buy'heroin' in the McDonald's drugstore..."

...

At 9 o'clock in the morning, the press conference officially began.

Mr. Sahaf, the spokesperson of the Macdonald Chemical and Pharmaceutical Company, walked onto the stage with a gloomy expression. He first looked around the scene, and then said:

"Before publishing this news, please allow me to inform you about some of the disciplines of this press conference:

1. During the press release, please do not ask questions or interrupt.

two. After the release, we will arrange a period of time for questioning. But when asking questions, please keep your order and raise your hands first and then ask questions.

three. Due to time constraints, it is impossible for us to accept questions from all reporters. Please forgive me. "

"It really seems like something has happened." Subi said to Collilai.

"Well, you see that Mr. Sahaf's face is so dark, it's probably not a good thing." Collilai replied.

"Shhh, stop talking, Mr. Sahaf has started." Subi whispered.

"I am authorized to inform you of this incident. The following content was drafted by the chairman of the company, Mr. Scrooge McDonald, and approved by the company’s board of directors: Two days ago, Professor Li Te of the University of Cleveland gave our company I sent a letter stating that he found morphine in the liver of animals that had taken the heroin produced by the company. So he conducted several experiments and finally confirmed that the heroin produced by the company is effective The component diacetylmorphine is reduced to morphine in the liver of animals. Therefore, the use of heroin is the same as the direct use of opium. It will be reduced to morphine in the liver." Sahaf, a spokesperson for McDonald's Chemical and Pharmaceutical Company, read the eulogy aloud. The general tone said the above words.

As soon as Sahaf's voice fell, the whole venue broke up with a bang. All the reporters ignored the so-called conference discipline and started talking. Anyone, even if they don’t know much about technology, understands what it means. Everyone knows that opium cigarettes can become addictive. It has become a consensus of the whole society over the years that smoking opium will harm people's physical and mental health. (Ironically, in the process of opposing opium and pushing the United States legislation to ban the opium trade, MacDonald Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals played a very important role.) And the reason why opium is addictive is that Because there is still a large amount of morphine in opium, in fact, using a certain dose of morphine can also cause addiction. For a long time, McDonald's Chemical and Pharmaceutical Company has been propagating that "heroin" as a substitute for morphine not only has a better analgesic effect, but also does not cause addiction. But now it seems that since "heroin" will be reduced to morphine in the liver, there is no possibility that it will not cause addiction.

"Damn it, Subi, you found the big news yesterday!" Colliley said.

"Damn it!" Sobi said, "I didn't take it seriously yesterday! I didn't expect that heroin would also turn into morphine, but it is strange that I have been relying on heroin to treat migraines, so why didn't I become addicted?"

"After receiving this letter, our company immediately carried out relevant experiments in accordance with the method mentioned in the letter, and confirmed Professor Li Te's point of view. Diacetylmorphine will indeed be reduced to morphine in animal liver. Therefore, from theory Above all, diacetylmorphine is as addictive as morphine, and if used in large amounts, it will also cause harm to the human body." Sahaf continued to read to the manuscript.

"'All for the health of the patient, all for the needs of the patient' This is the principle that our company has always adhered to, so our company has made the following decision:1. From now on, our company will completely stop the production and sales of ‘heroin’ and take back all goods on sale from all sellers.

2. For all drugs sold, consumers can go to our company for a full refund with the sales invoice.

3. All patients who have used ‘heroin’ and have symptoms of addiction can get our company’s free ‘withdrawal treatment’.

Our company feels extremely sad for such an error. We hereby express our sincere apologies to users who have supported us for many years. Although such an error is not our original wish, on this issue..."

Soon, Sahaf finished reading the manuscript. He raised his head and bowed to everyone with a sorrowful and guilty expression that would make the tiger feel soft when he saw it. Then he whispered: "Now everyone can ask questions."

Although Sahaf's expression is very sympathetic, the question is still to be asked. In an instant, a forest of arms was raised in the house.

"This reporter," Sahav said, pointing to a reporter in the center of the front row.

"Hello, this is Associated Press reporter Arthur. I want to ask, did your company conduct addictive experiments when developing'heroin'?"

This question is a bit sharp and difficult to answer. If the answer is not carried out, then you will definitely be asked questions such as "Does your company treat the safety of drugs that can affect the health of countless people?" and the answer is carried out, then you will be asked "Why is there no such thing in the trial?" Discovering such a problem, is it because your experiment is perfunctory" and so on, and then it will naturally lead to such things as "What is this company?

"Of course our company has carried out relevant experiments." Sahaf replied, "but because the efficacy of diacetylmorphine far exceeds that of morphine, the amount of diacetylmorphine we need in each pill is very small, so A small amount of diacetylmorphine is not enough to cause addiction, just as we all know that arsenic is toxic, but if the dose is too small, it will not have any effect on people. When we do related experiments, we even The used dose of Ascension reached about six times the normal dose, and still no symptoms of addiction were found in experimental animals. Nor was we able to find morphine in the anatomical analysis of experimental animals. In fact, we were afterwards taking the dose of experimental animals. Only after the increase to twenty times did they find obvious signs of the presence of morphine in their liver. For this reason, our company has decided to increase the upper limit of the dose of all drugs for side effects testing to thirty times the normal dose from now on. . I hope to reduce the occurrence of such incidents as much as possible."

"Thank you for your answer!" Arthur said to Sahaf. Regardless of other things, at least, Sahaf, and the McDonald Chemical and Pharmaceutical Company he represents, have a candid attitude in dealing with problems, which still makes people feel good.

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