The curious thing about “polio” is that the polio virus has existed for thousands of years, but people did not get polio until the late 19th century and it vanished by the 1960’s. That’s odd, isn’t it?

 
What’s important to understand is that there’s confusion between the polio virus and “polio” the medical condition, being paralysis of the lower body. Poliomyelitis is the condition, caused by inflation of the spinal cord.

 
“Polio”, the condition, was first described in the medical literature in 1894 when in Rutland County, Vermont 18 children died and 132 became paralyzed. Rutland County had many large apple orchards.  

 
In the late 1800s a popular insecticide started being used called Paris Green and it contained a large amount of arsenic. Farm animals consumed this insecticide as well and the result is that they became paralyzed in their hind quarters.

 
While there are a number of viruses and bacteria that can damage nerves, they couldn’t previously get into the nervous system until industrial poisons like this cause spinal lesions.  

 
Polio particularly effected children who at the time were given calomel to ease the pain of teething, and we now know that calomel contained high amounts of toxic mercury.

 
In 1892 codling moths became an increasing problem in orchards and another new pesticide was used that contained lead acetate. So here you have kids consuming large amounts of lead, arsenic and mercury. Things would only get worse with the introduction of DDT.

 
DDT use was so wide spread it was regularly sprayed all over people. People were doused with the stuff. But by 1952 it’s use started being pulled back and polio cases declined.  

 
In 1955 a polio vaccine was withdrawn from the market because the vaccine itself caused paralysis, in what became known as the Cutter Incident. Wide spread use of the polio vaccine only happened in 1961 and by then it wasn’t needed because polio had all but vanished.  

 
Recommended reading:

 
http://www.amazon.com/Dissolving-Illusions-dp-B095L17H5S/dp/B095L17H5S?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=&linkCode=sl1&tag=deerooathom-20&linkId=e10751ce1620342d010bb2b129809958&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl

 
http://www.amazon.com/Moth-Iron-Lung-Biography-Polio/dp/1717583679?&linkCode=sl1&tag=deerooathom-20&linkId=15a11f532d2adc4eee72616a6ae63ebc&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl