Watching the World

Scientists Can Be a Menace

◆ In a speech given by Stewart Udall, former Secretary of the Interior, the science establishment was accused of failing to warn the nation years ago of the growing environmental crisis. Those persons who tried to were attacked as “unscientific upstarts.” Mr. Udall observed: “To put it briefly, some leaders of science have seemed to assert that their profession merits public support without public accountability, public support without any assurance of value returned, public support without any guarantee that such largesse will be used in the long-term national interest. There is no doubt that in the main, science has returned good value in terms of scientific results. But as we all know today, science, lacking any foresighted ethical or social vision, can be a menace to man as well as a beneficence.”

Doctors Condemn Smoking

◆ The Royal College of Physicians in Great Britain stated that smoking had created a “holocaust” in Britain because it has been responsible for the death of 27,500 men and women annually. The physicians stated: “Cigarette smoking is now as important a cause of death as were the great epidemic diseases such as typhoid, cholera, and tuberculosis that affected previous generations in this country.” They also said: “There is no doubt that smoking during pregnancy retards the unborn baby’s growth. It has been found that mothers who smoked during pregnancy were more likely to have a miscarriage, to have a still-born baby, or one which died soon after birth.”

Blood of Smokers Deficient

◆ At a hospital in Gainesville, Florida, investigators discovered that blood taken from people who smoke does not carry sufficient oxygen to make the blood of any value for transfusion purposes. They urged rejection of blood donors who smoke. Heart surgeon Dr. Grady Hallman observed that “any patient receiving a transfusion runs the risk of getting hepatitis or having a reaction leading to shock.” It is not uncommon for death to result from a blood transfusion.

Aborting Live Fetuses

◆ Since the abortion law went into effect in New York state twenty-six fetuses have been aborted alive. One weighed two and a half pounds and has survived. It was to be put up for adoption. The other twenty-five survived for only a few minutes, showing such signs of life as heartbeat, gasps and muscular movements.

A Doctor Looks at Abortion

◆ In a letter published by The News-Sentinel of Fort Wayne, Indiana, December 28, 1970,, a doctor expressed a frank view of abortion. He said: “Regarding abortion, the basic question really is whether or not the act is murder. This in turn hinges upon whether or not the fetus is human, because there is no civilized society in which law or morals permit one recognized human to be destroyed for the convenience of another, and in many societies even punitive execution is forbidden. . . . While we may not accord a fetus certain legal rights . . . to deny that it is human, for any reason, is simply an avoidance of fact, and to destroy him willfully, even though he came into being under the most distasteful of conditions, or for any other reason, meets all the criteria of murder just as certainly as it is murder willfully to turn off the heat in the incubator of a 1-1/2 pound premature baby.”

Towel Found in Patient

◆ After a 68-year-old man died following an operation in the Toronto General Hospital, an autopsy revealed that a towel nearly one yard long had been left in his abdomen.

Troublesome Hearts

◆ Every year 600,000 Americans die from heart disease and an additional 200,000 die from disorders of the arteries. Most of them are men. In view of these facts the Inter-Society Commission for Heart Disease Resources recommended a reduction in the daily intake of cholesterol. This means fewer eggs, less butter and high-fat cuts of meat as well as cream, ice cream and foods fried in deep fat. The panel also condemned smoking and even recommended the phasing out of the entire cigarette industry.

War Crimes

◆ The New York Times of December 30, 1970, observed that the “United States has engaged in activities in Vietnam for which Germany and Japan were prosecuted after World War II.” It then quoted Professor George Bunn, law professor of the University of Wisconsin, as saying that the destruction of civilian crops is a violation of three international agreements. The massacre of men, women and children in My Lai, Vietnam, by American troops was compared in a letter to the Minneapolis Tribune of December 14, 1970, with the killing of all men in the village of Lidice, Czechoslovakia, by Nazi troops during World War II. The United Nations Committee for investigating war crimes tried and sentenced the Germans responsible for that massacre.

Mangrove Forest Destroyed

◆ According to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, sprays used by the military for defoliation in Vietnam have destroyed a fifth of the 1.2 million acres of mangrove forest in South Vietnam. There are doubts that the jungle can recover. The forests have remained dead for six years after being sprayed.

Girls Encourage Sex Crimes

◆ One of the reasons given for the mounting sex crimes in Hong Kong is the sexually suggestive clothes girls are wearing. This was the opinion of Yan Chi-kit, President of the Hong Kong and Kowloon Joint Kainfong Research Council. He feels that the temptation of suggestive clothes is often too much for young men.

Pregnant Children

◆ According to the director of a medical clinic in Richmond, Virginia, teen-age pregnancies in the United States are increasing in a “tragic fashion.” The director also observed: “Alarming is the number of pregnancies among girls under 15 who face serious educational, medical and social problems.” Such girls are more susceptible to toxemia, vaginal infections and long, premature labor due to the pelvis not being fully developed.

Deteriorating Family Life

◆ With a growing number of young people living together without marriage and in communes, and with a climbing divorce rate, as well as changing attitudes about the usefulness of families, there is a growing concern about the family. Dr. Paul Popenoe, who founded the American Institute of Family Relations, observed: “No society has ever survived after its family life deteriorated.”

Priest Approves Violence

◆ In Brazil Archbishop Helder Câmara has condoned violence by saying: “I respect those who in full conscience, choose revolutionary violence. I am not here to condemn anybody. . . . The Latin-American Church cannot condemn the use of force. The duty of the Church is to interfere.” This statement appeared in the magazine O Cruzeiro of September 22, 1970, pages 20 to 22.

Catholic Deacons

◆ Two hundred and seventy-five men are being trained to become the first permanent deacons of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States. They will continue in their regular secular jobs while serving part time as deacons. They will engage in all the functions of a priest except saying mass, hearing confessions and anointing the sick. The reason for this appointment is a shortage of priests.

Churches for Sale

◆ Shifting populations and withering congregations are causing many churches to be put up for sale. They are being converted into homes, theaters, warehouses, supermarkets, gas stations, TV repair stores and recreation centers. A New York radio station bought one and converted it into a radio studio and music store. Another church was made into a discotheque with rock music being played on its organ. Some people are using the stained glass from the windows in their bathrooms.

Evidence of Impalement

◆ Upon examining some skeletons found in one of several cave tombs northeast of Jerusalem, a team of Israeli scholars discovered a skeleton whose two heel bones were pierced by a single, large iron nail. The skeleton dates back to early Christian times and is the first evidence ever found of impalement in Biblical times. Over 3,000 Jews were executed in this manner by the Romans in 66 C.E. The nail had hit a knot in the wood and had bent in such a fashion that it could not be withdrawn. It appears that he was impaled with his legs together and his knees and feet pointing in the same direction. The legs had been broken as was also the case with other skeletons found there.

Man’s Inner Clock

◆ Your body functions according to a biological clock that is based on a twenty-four-hour cycle. Researchers have found that you are not the same in the morning as you are at night. Persons who tried to live on twelve-, eighteen-, and even forty-eight-hour days became cranky, error-prone and disoriented. Not until they returned to a twenty-four-hour cycle did they return to normal. Researchers have found that tissues continued to show this rhythm when removed and placed in a nutrient solution.

Earthquake Warning

◆ In the San Francisco Bay area, twenty-nine hours before a minor earthquake struck a town twenty-five miles away, the entire Bay area tilted in the direction of the quake’s center. Scientists hope that this finding will prove to be a means of giving advance notice when earthquakes will occur.

Well-fed but Poorly Nourished

◆ Medical studies show that you may eat plenty of food but be poorly nourished. Reporting on the situation The Wall Street Journal of January 6, 1971, stated: “Dietary habits may be at least partly responsible, nutritionists suspect, for a variety of common health complaints ranging from hypertension (too much salt on your food) to irritability, insomnia and anxiety (all attributable in some cases to vitamin shortages).” Dr. Robert Mendelsohn, professor of pediatrics commented: “In general, advertising promotes foods nobody needs and which are no good for you.”

Two Galaxies Found

◆ Two huge galaxies that have been obscured by interstellar dust were detected by California astronomers. Most galaxies are a very great distance from us. What is outstanding about these newly discovered galaxies is that they are relatively close, only about three million light-years away. One is believed to be larger than our own galaxy, the Milky Way, as well as that of the Andromeda galaxy, which is a neighbor of ours.

More Deadly than Snakes

◆ If you see a small octopus (arm spread of only three or four inches) with bluish patterns on its yellowish-brown body in the waters off Australia do not touch it. It is probably a blue-ringed octopus and is more deadly than the most venomous snake. A soldier who was exploring rock pools near Sydney found one and placed it on his arm. He died ninety minutes after being bitten.

Living in Fear

◆ In large cities there are many elderly persons who are afraid to venture out of their homes because of street crime. The Special Senate Committee on Aging reported: “It has become clear that the elderly, in increasing numbers, stay at home behind locked doors after dark and even during some daylight hours.” Another report regarding New York city said that “of 137 elderly interviewees, each had been mugged at least once.”