Great Bastards in History

Edward Jenner 1749-1823

Do the ends justify the means? In 1979, the World Health Organization declared that smallpox had been eradicated. The death toll for the 20th Century alone had been estimated in the 100s of millions. Over the centuries, smallpox had decimated populations, and had left many more blind and/or scarred for life. So what can we say about the man who took the first steps towards the death of smallpox? Our cars should all have "What Would Jenner Do" bumper stickers, right? Edward Jenner was an English country doctor who participated in the practice, common at the time, of variolation. Old, dried fluid from the sores of smallpox patients would be used to vaccinate people in the hopes of preventing smallpox. The variolated patient would develop a mild form of smallpox (usually), survive the disease (usually), and thenceforward be immune to bad-ass smallpox (always). Variolation spelled trouble, however, since the freshly immunized patient could spread the disease to infants and the elderly -- basically, anyone with an imperfect immune system. And, as those 'usuallys' suggest, the process was not always benign. Being a country doc, Jenner knew of the widely held belief that women who milked cows were immune to smallpox. He reasoned that these women were developing cowpox, a similar but far less lethal disease, and that this gave them immunity to smallpox. He took this idea and ran with it. First he experimented on his own son, Edward Jr., using swinepox. Later he would focus on cowpox, and his subjects seemed primarily to consist of women and children. (There were a few men in the bunch, but this article suggests the preponderance of his subjects were children and paupered women.) His methods were always the same: he would vaccinate them cowpox, and later try repeatedly to infect them with smallpox. His theories were sound, his method saved lives, and now, most everyone regards him as a hero. Apologists like Dr. Tom Kerns bend over backwards to prove that Jenner's methods were ethically sound. But the guy experimented on children, and on women who were pregnant or nursing. This bothered the hell out of me when I first learned about it in medical school. It still bothers the hell out of me. I'll ask it again -- do the ends justify the means? If you want to torture yourself with that question, I can't think of a better case than Jenner's. Think about it: he probably put only a few dozen peoples' lives in danger. There are no recorded injuries or deaths from his studies. His work resulted in a far safer means of immunization, making life better for the millions of Europeans who adopted his method. But, did he do the right thing? D. PS: Bare Rump is still MIA in Hollywood, but her lover, Lord Valor, AKA Captain Argh, has updated us on his efforts to rescue her from the clutches of the Rabbit. And you thought I was all serious today ;o)