In the early 1960s, Norman Cousins, editor-in-chief of the Saturday Review, went to the USSR where he acted as an unofficial representative of the United States in negotiating what eventually became the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. The schedule was tight and the pressure was high. In addition to the stress, Cousins was exposed to diesel exhaust while on the tarmac waiting to board a flight. He returned home extremely ill with mysterious symptoms that were eventually identified as connective tissue disease and ankylosing spondylitis. The prognosis was bad.