I'm sure someone said that 20-30 years ago.
I’ve noticed how people tend to stress on the main functions of body organs, while ignoring minute, hitherto-unknown ones. Doctors are ready to lop off parts of the intestine, looking at them as if they are some sort of plumbing inside the body, and just that.
For long, they said the appendix was a useless vestigal organ, until it was found recently that it provides a reserve for probiotic agents.