Watching the World

Personality Change

◆ According to a report that appeared on United Press International of August 18, 1970, the daughter of Philip Blaiberg said that he had experienced a complete personality change after undergoing a heart-transplant operation. Blaiberg was one of the first to receive a transplanted heart. His daughter observed: “I don’t know if it was the drugs or just the transplant, but he was a different man.”

Moral Disintegration

◆ In reply to a comment to the effect that more liberal prescribing of contraceptives is needed to prevent illegitimate pregnancies, Dr. Lindsay R. Curtis replied in the Sunday Denver Post of August 16, 1970: “According to a government survey made during 1964-66, fully one-third of all first-born children in the United States are conceived out of wedlock. About 14 per cent of these children are, in fact, born out of wedlock. Significantly enough, most of the mothers involved are under age 20 . . . Perhaps the time has come for an ‘agonizing reappraisal’ of our whole basic value system. This nation is undergoing a moral disintegration that can scarcely be allayed by artificial devices of any form.” Would it not be more effective if parents would teach their children to respect a high standard of morals?

Educated Unemployed

◆ Thousands of well-educated scientists, engineers and technicians with one or more degrees are looking desperately for employment in the United States. Some are cutting lawns, digging ditches, driving taxicabs or receiving unemployment checks. This is the result of cutbacks in government spending on defense and aerospace projects. They are specialists who are no longer needed. An employment advertisement in a Los Angeles newspaper may draw replies from as many as 300 or 400 of such men. These are experienced men in their fields. One, for example, had twenty-five years of experience with one company and was earning $20,000 a year when he lost his job two years ago. His wife observed: “All his experience and education​—it’s such a waste.”

Churches Finance Guerrillas

◆ On September 3, 1970, the World Council of Churches announced that it was allocating $200,000 to groups fighting racism, and that includes guerrilla groups in Africa. Four of the groups are fighting the Portuguese in Angola. Can it truthfully be said that this organization represents the “Prince of Peace”?

Warning on Birth-Control Pills

◆ The more than 8.5 million women who use birth-control pills will now find a warning accompanying the pills. It points out that oral contraceptives “can cause side effects in some users and should not be used at all by some women.” It goes on to say that the “most serious known side effect is abnormal blood clotting, which can be fatal.” Doctors have been provided with a brochure that lists in detail the possible side effects from taking these pills.

Clergymen Aid Abortions

◆ A group of Detroit clergymen have set up Michigan headquarters for arranging abortions in New York, where they are legal. Two hundred Michigan women a week make use of the service. The clinic that handles these women will accept only those who are referred to them by Michigan clergymen. How different is the action of these clergymen from the commands in the Bible that are designed to safeguard the life of an unborn child.​—Ex. 21:22, 23.

Assassination Attempt

◆ The people of Cameroon, in West Africa, were shaken recently by the arrest of Monseigneur Albert Ndongmo, Bishop of Nkongsamba, who was charged with being part of a rebel movement that plotted the assassination of President Ahidjo. Reporting the incident, the Paris newspaper Le Monde of August 30-31, 1970, said: “Mr. Sabal Lecco declared, ‘In May, 1969 our security services discovered a plot aimed at the assassination of the Head of State. Interrogation of the conspirators gravely implicated Mgr. Ndongmo and particularly revealed his role as leader of the plot. In spite of these denunciations, the President of the Federal Republic gave orders that Mgr. Ndongmo not be disturbed pending further information. A few days ago in the Mungo, came the capture of the Chief Rebel Earnest Ouandié. His declarations during the interrogation as well as the documents found on his person having made it possible to clearly establish the many long years of active complicity of Mgr. Ndongmo with the rebellion, the government decided to arrest the Bishop and to bring him before the courts where he will have to answer for his acts.’”

Pocket Laser

◆ A pocket-size laser that has been reported reliable and versatile has been developed by scientists at the Bell Telephone Laboratories. It can operate continuously at room temperature and can be powered by the batteries of a flashlight. Other semiconductor lasers require large amounts of energy and generate so much heat that they can be operated for only a fraction of a second at a time.

Dreaded Cholera Reported

◆ It has been reported by the World Health Organization that cholera has killed 60 persons in Guinea, West Africa. Cases have also been reported in Liberia, Libya, Israel, Lebanon and the Soviet Union. The bacteria of cholera cause a severe intestinal infection. The severe diarrhea and vomiting resulting from it can dehydrate a person so quickly that he may die within six hours. The disease is spread by contaminated water. For this reason tourists who travel to countries where cholera has been reported need to use care when drinking local water. It should be boiled. Also, raw foods should be avoided.

Sharp Increase in Syphilis

◆ According to 1970 figures from the American Social Health Association, new cases of syphilis were up 8.5 percent at the end of June from corresponding figures for 1969. For just the month of June itself the increase was 27.3 percent over June of 1969. One of the reasons the association gave for this sharp rise was “more sex, especially among the young people.” It also mentioned “more indiscriminate sex.”

Inebriated Birds

◆ If you see birds staggering about your yard, perching on tree limbs at odd angles, falling off the limbs, or flying into closed doors, do not become excited. The birds may be drunk. In the fall of the year many birds eat berries that have become fermented. The alcohol in the berries soon makes them tipsy. The cedar waxwing gets drunk in the south on pyracantha berries and in the north on wild cherries. Commenting on these birds, a biologist for the Audubon Society said: “I’ve seen them sitting on telephone wires, just leaning against each other.”

U.S. Population

◆ Results of the 1970 census show that the United States population has grown to more than 200 million persons. The state of California grew the fastest, with an increase of nearly 4 million. With a population of 19.7 million it has passed New York and now stands as the most populous state in the Union.

Floods in the Philippines

◆ Three days of heavy rain caused floods to sweep over many parts of Luzon Island, including the area around Manila. Twenty-four persons have been reported killed by the floods and thousands are homeless. Amphibious vehicles, army trucks, boats and rafts were used to rescue stranded people.

Change in Communion

◆ Catholic restrictions that prevented laymen from taking wine at communion have been lifted by the Vatican. Until now only the priests drank the wine while the laity partook only of wafers. In June of this year Pope Paul VI issued instructions that permit Catholics to receive communion “under both kinds.” John Huss advocated this in the fifteenth century and it was included with the charges against him that brought about his excommunication as a heretic.

Air Piracy

◆ On Sunday, September 6, 1970, armed members of a militant Palestinian commando group attempted to hijack four airliners flying on international routes out of Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Zurich. Only one of these attempts failed​—the Israeli airliner out of Amsterdam on its way to New York. A Pan Am jumbo jet was forced to fly to Cairo, where the hijackers blew it up two minutes after removing the passengers. The other two planes, one belonging to T.W.A. and the other to Swiss-air, were directed to a landing strip twenty-five miles outside of Amman, Jordan. On Wednesday a hijacked B.O.A.C. plane joined the other two in Jordan. Passengers were held as hostages in exchange for members of the commando group that are held in jails in various countries. On Saturday the commandos blew up the three airliners.

Peaceful Assemblies

◆ In contrast with the violent episodes that troubled the world during the months of July and August, Jehovah’s witnesses in Great Britain enjoyed eleven peaceful district assemblies. There are 62,902 Witnesses in the British Isles, but more than 83,000 persons heard the public talk “Saving the Human Race​—in the Kingdom Way.” The conduct of the Witnesses did not go unnoticed by the public. A landlady in Ireland remarked: “I don’t know you personally, but I know that Jehovah’s witnesses have high standards. So let us say that I am prejudiced in favour of Jehovah’s witnesses because of their conduct.” This came from a land where religious prejudice against the Witnesses has been frequent. After touring the Leicester assembly grounds a city official exclaimed: “What an organization! Why can’t the rest of the world be like this?” There are many people who want to be part of this organization, as was indicated by the 1,388 who were baptized at these eleven assemblies.

Mercury Pollution

◆ Abnormal amounts of mercury are being found in fish, game birds and water throughout the United States. Evidences of this have been found in at least thirty-three states. The principal sources have been industrial plants that have released mercury along with other wastes. Like DDT it moves along the food chain from water to plants to fish, birds and humans, the concentration of it increasing as it moves. Even in small amounts mercury can have frightful effects on the body, causing blindness among other things.

Dangerous Blood

◆ With blood for transfusions in chronically short supply in many American cities, newspapers have begun acknowledging that a high percentage of the blood used for transfusions comes from commercial blood banks that pay donors. Among those who sell their blood are drug addicts, alcoholic derelicts and military men with malaria-infected blood. Patients given such blood get the diseases of the donors. In New York city, for example, it has been estimated that 60 percent of the blood used for transfusions comes from commercial blood banks. Commenting on this, the New York Times of September 5, 1970, said: “The result is a sort of ‘transfusion roulette’ on a national scale, for commercial blood has a higher risk of causing such infections as hepatitis or malaria, and doctors have no way of knowing for sure which pint of blood may be contaminated.” This paper also reported that at least 1,500 Americans die each year from “transfusion-associated hepatitis.”