Watching the World
Court Rules on Bad Blood
◆ The Louisiana state Supreme Court recently ruled that hospitals are liable for damages from blood-transfusion-induced hepatitis. The court said: “Blood contaminated with hepatitis virus is defective, i.e., unreasonably dangerous to normal use. The risks involved in receiving a transfusion of blood in this condition are certainly greater than a reasonable consumer would expect.” A New Orleans hospital director complained that there is “no known test to man” that can guarantee that blood is hepatitis-free. Hence, one dissenting justice noted that the court’s decision means that “the only way to absolutely insure against hepatitis infection from blood transfusions is to refrain from administering them.”
Dogs Get “Safer” Treatment
◆ Max, a six-year-old German shepherd, severely injured himself on a broken window as he tried to foil a burglary attempt in his master’s Toronto (Canada) home. He almost bled to death. Veterinarians told Max’s owner that there was no blood-transfusion service for dogs. Why not? The president of the Toronto Academy of Veterinary Medicine explained to a reporter for the Toronto Star that ‘cortisone and intravenous fluids are used to treat bleeding dogs in shock because they’re safer, faster and more effective than transfusions.’ Then why don’t humans get the “safer” treatment? Some may feel that dogs are different, but a number of medical authorities also recommend nonblood treatment for humans in shock due to blood loss. For example, the British journal Anaesthesia stated: “Even if an adequate supply of whole blood is available, however, it is doubtful if it is the fluid of choice for the initial treatment . . . of grossly hypovolaemic patients [those who have lost a lot of blood].” Surely a dog’s best friend deserves the “safer” treatment, too.
“Royal” Gift
◆ After the marriage of Britain’s Prince Charles to Lady Diana Spencer, the wedding gifts were put on public display at St. James Palace in London. “This is only a selection, chosen by the gift and not the giver,” said a spokesman. “This is about one-fifth of the total received.” Thousands of spectators, paying an admission fee of about $3 (U.S.), waited in line for hours to see the gifts. After describing gifts from “princes, presidents, kings and queens,” a United Press International report said: “But more endearing are the patchwork tea cozies, a hand-knit camel in green and lavender stripes, . . . Or Exhibit 257, a book called Happiness, How to Find It.” Many thousands of people worldwide have already benefited from the Biblical information in this book, published by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.
Perils in the “Box”
◆ Indonesia reportedly has banned advertising on the gambarhidup (“live picture in a small radio box”), or television. The Sun of Colombo, Sri Lanka, says that the reason for the ban is government concern “that Western-style television will raise people’s aspirations far beyond what the Government can help them attain.” The report explains that “girls no longer wash their hair with a local plant potion. . . . Farmers stay up late watching programs [and are] tired when they go to the fields. . . . Teachers complain of students dozing off in class, and Islamic leaders worry that prayer time is disrupted.”
Morality in Macao
◆ The Portuguese enclave of Macao on the coast of China has long been a gambling paradise for Oriental tourists. Commenting on its increasingly close ties with the People’s Republic of China, the magazine U.S. News & World Report recently stated: “The Roman Catholic Church, which dominated Macao for most of its four centuries, was more tolerant of mortal weakness than are the puritanical Communists in Peking. When China’s unofficial but powerful emissaries in Macao passed the word, brothels and opium parlors soon shut down.”
Making Waste Work
◆ Some European and Far Eastern countries are far ahead of other nations in using garbage to generate power rather than just dumping it or burning it. One recent study reveals that Luxembourg and Denmark lead in processing waste for power. They use an average of about 2.5 pounds (1.1 kg) of waste per person to generate energy every day. Switzerland follows with about two pounds (.9 kg) per day; Hong Kong and the Federal Republic of Germany, 1.2 pounds (.5 kg); and Japan, one pound (.45 kg). On the other hand, the Soviet Union processes less than .1 pound (.04 kg) in this way; the United States and Australia, .2 pound (.09 kg); Great Britain, less than .4 pound (.18 kg); and Canada and Italy, about .5 pound (.23 kg).
High Price to Pay
◆ The list of diseases that have particular affinity for homosexuals is growing longer. According to Science News magazine, a “rare and often rapidly fatal form of cancer” called Kaposi’s sarcoma has been diagnosed among 41 homosexual men in New York and California. Eight of the men had died within 24 months of the diagnosis. Things in common among the victims included “frequent sexual encounters with many different partners,” said the article, and “many had been treated for herpesvirus, cytomegalovirus, hepatitis B virus as well as parasitic infections,” all common to homosexuals.
Meanwhile, reports Medical World News, “epidemiologists here [in San Francisco, California] and in other major cities are searching for clues to why Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia—a life-threatening disease usually associated only with severe immunosuppression—is suddenly turning up in previously healthy young homosexual men.” The medical journal points out that doctors “suspect the common denominator may be some uniquely homosexual practice or an underlying disease picked up through sexual contact.” Such is to be expected when humans ignore the Bible’s clear warning that ‘males with males working what is obscene will receive in themselves the full recompense due for their error.’—Rom. 1:27.
Safe for Film?
◆ Air travelers who are camera enthusiasts are wary of claims that X-ray machines at airports are “safe for film.” In times past, X-ray equipment at airports gave passenger baggage a heavy dose of radiation. However, as new equipment has been installed the danger usually has been eliminated. Britain’s New Scientist magazine carried out a practical test with film at a modern airport in Japan. Three rolls of film in different types of baggage were subjected to X-ray examination. But another roll of film was carried so as not to be X-rayed. Says the magazine: “All four rolls were subsequently developed at the same time and none showed any sign of fogging. It seems therefore that it really is now safe to believe notices which promise that an X-ray machine is ‘safe for film.”’
Life Saved by Dogs
◆ An elderly woman in Greece fell in a field outside her village. Seriously injured, she was unable to move. However, two dogs guarded her for three days and nights, all the time barking incessantly. Finally, their noise caused a local teacher to investigate, and the 75-year-old woman was found and taken to a Larissa hospital.
Voodoo Scares School
◆ “Witchcraft at Munyati Primary School in Mumbwa is so rampant,” reports the Times of Zambia, “that the school hoists two flags—an official one and another recommended by a witchdoctor.” In fact, said the newspaper, “villagers have agreed to call a witchdoctor to flush out a sorcerer allegedly terrorising teachers” at the school. The headmaster of the school complained that pieces of a dog had been scattered around his house, and the deputy headmaster’s family of six left home and began sleeping in the headmaster’s office. According to the Times, “teachers, Zambia National Union of Teachers (ZNUT) officials, Party leaders and enraged village headmen met to discuss the situation at Munyati.” In the meantime, fearing for their lives, all the teachers paid “a witchdoctor to cut protective marks on their bodies,” said the report.
Illiteracy Increasing
◆ According to UNESCO, the number of illiterates in the world has increased from 742 million in 1970 to 814 million in 1980. If present trends continue, the United Nations agency says, by 1990 the number would reach 884 million. In addition, the number of illiterate women remains greater than that of men, and is increasing. The highest illiteracy rates are usually found in rural areas and also in poor areas near or in cities. “Thus,” states the Ivory Coast newspaper Fraternité Matin, “illiteracy and poverty are intimately linked.”
Soft Drinks Surge Ahead
◆ At one time soft drinks (or, pop) ranked fourth (behind milk, coffee and beer) as the drink preferred by Americans, other than water. However, soft drinks have surged into first place, with beer replacing milk in second place. In 1980, the equivalent of 86 billion (86 thousand million) cans of soft drinks was sold, nearly 400 cans for every inhabitant of the country. Soon consumption is expected to top 100 billion.
Animal Traffic Victims
◆ According to the newspaper Der Tagesspiegel, more wild animals are killed by auto traffic in the Federal Republic of Germany than are killed by the country’s hunters. Reportedly, 80,000 deer, 120,000 rabbits, 3,000 red deer, 2,000 wild boars, 250,000 toads and millions of other amphibians, not to mention reptiles and birds, are traffic victims in Germany each year.
Protein for Reducing?
◆ According to a recent study reported in Science magazine, the high-protein reducing diets so popular in recent years may not be as effective as they are touted to be. A group of rats fed the same number of calories as a second group, but with five times the amount of protein, ended the experiment weighing about 22 percent more than the other group. And almost one fourth of the high-protein group’s weight was body fat, while that of the second group was less than one sixth fat.
Rent-a-Sheep
◆ A sheep raiser in Cornwallville, New York, offered to rent a sheep for the summer to those who did not want to mow their lawns. He advertised, and “my phone rang off the hook,” he said. “I had 95 calls in one hour.” He rented 71 sheep for $50 each. Most customers picked up the sheep, but others paid extra to have the animal delivered.
More Indians
◆ For the first time since records began to be kept in 1890, there are over a million American Indians, according to the 1980 U.S. census. Having grown by 569,000 (72 percent) since the last census in 1970, they now number more than 1,360,000.
Musical “Self-Torture”
◆ The recent fad of walking around listening to music through lightweight earphone systems has helped to relieve harried city dwellers from blaring portable loudspeakers. But many of the people who now “go about their business in a state of sonic immersion,” says the New York Times, are using sound levels that are “clearly injurious.” In New York city, a doctor stopped people with the devices and measured sound levels. She found many above 100 decibels (db) and some as high as 120 db. The doctor noted that “people who listen to 105 db for one hour a day will, over a period of time, develop a permanent hearing loss.” “One can only speculate about what prompts anyone to subject himself to this form of self-torture,” observed the Times.