A Brief History On August 7, 1962, a reviewer from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Frances Oldham Kelsey, was recognized by President John F. Kennedy with the President’s Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service. Digging Deeper Kelsey had previously denied the use of the drug, Thalidomide, for use in the US after it had been used in West Germany since 1957 for a wide range of symptoms, including morning sickness in pregnant women. Dissatisfied with the safety research and record to date, Kelsey turned down the drug for the US, ultimately saving untold hundreds or even thousands of…
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A Brief History On August 5, 2015, Colorado found out the hard way that the Federal Government is capable of massive blunders even when they are trying to “help,” when the EPA managed to spill three million gallons of wastewater and heavy metal tailings from the Gold King Mine into the Animas River. Digging Deeper Tasked with keeping our air, water and land safe, the Environmental Protection Agency was created in 1970. In the Gold King Mine disaster, the EPA was working with a private company, Environmental Restoration LLC, to minimize environmental damage from toxic waste created by the closed…
A Brief History On August 1, 2004, about 400 people died and another nearly 500 were injured when a supermarket in Asunción, Paraguay, caught fire. Managers had fire exits blocked to prevent theft, which resulted in the mass casualties. Digging Deeper Something as mundane as grocery shopping can be deadly, and here are some ways incidents prove the point: In 1967, an F-4 fighter jet crashed into an Arizona grocery, with 15 feared dead and 12 injured. In 2013, a store in Riga, Latvia, suffered a roof collapse, burying people under tons of debris, leaving 54 dead and 41 injured.…
A Brief History On July 28, 2018, Australian yacht skipper Wendy Tuck made sailing history by becoming the first female skipper to win the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race. Held every two years, this epic boat race is run by Clipper Ventures that supplies 11 identical yachts to skippers and crews to compete in since 1996, with only 2004 skipped. Digging Deeper A real test of skill and endurance, all participants are required to undergo a four-week training program before the race. The same year that Wendy Tuck made sailing history, British skipper Nikki Henderson became the youngest person…
A Brief History On July 26, 2016, engineer André Borschberg and psychiatrist and balloonist Bertrand Piccard, both from Switzerland, made history with their solar powered airplane, Solar Impulse, when they completed the first circumnavigation of the Earth by a solar powered fixed wing aircraft. Digging Deeper Solar Impulse was the second plane of that name, sometimes called Solar Impulse 2. A single seat monoplane with four electric motors each powering a propeller fed by electricity from photovoltaic cells on the wings, the plane is capable of cruising at 56 mph, slowing to 37 mph at night, with a max speed…