Watching the World
Infected Hemophiliacs Compensated
Charging them with “omission of vigilance and control” and “delay in the withdrawal of [infected] products,” the Rome Civil Court has ordered the Italian Ministry of Health to pay compensation to 385 hemophiliacs who contracted hepatitis or the AIDS virus from infected blood products. A third of them have already died. According to attorney Mario Lana, president of the Italian Forensic Union for the Safeguard of Human Rights, “this sentence recognizes a precise causal relation between the culpable and imprudent conduct of the Italian State and the damages suffered by the hemophiliacs.” In Italy, some 2,000 hemophiliacs have contracted the AIDS virus, and almost 5,000 have got hepatitis C. As a result of being administered these infected blood products, 1,246 Italians have died.
Deadly Cholera Outbreak
A deadly outbreak of cholera in February forced the city council of Lusaka, Zambia, to place a ban on “street vending of all fresh foods,” reports the Times of Zambia. Additionally, hotels and restaurants were placed on “24-hour surveillance as the cholera death toll in the capital shot to 42,” says the report. Health officials expressed concern that the diarrheic disease had also “continued to increase in other parts of the country.” To combat the problem, officials for the Health and Education Ministry set up a cholera task force to hire more garbage collectors and to chlorinate shallow wells, which are easily contaminated by groundwater. Daniel M’soka, a spokesman for the Lusaka City Council, said: “Our aim is to reduce the scourge of cholera.”
Neglected Hearts
“Instead of taking steps to improve their health, Canadian women are doing an abysmal job of taking care of their hearts,” says the newspaper National Post. A recent survey of 400 Canadian women aged 45 to 74, sponsored by the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, found that “only 30% maintained a healthy weight, 36% were physically active, and 74% reported being under stress because of the multiple roles they now juggle.” Foundation spokeswoman Elissa Freeman concluded that “women are taking better care of the men in their lives than they are of themselves.” According to the report, “heart disease and stroke account for 40% of women’s deaths—more than 41,000 annually.”
Male Fertility Dropping
“The average sperm count of men in the United States and Europe has plummeted by more than 50 percent since the late 1930s,” reports World Watch magazine. “The finding fuels ongoing concerns that male reproductive health may be deteriorating, and that environmental pollutants may be the cause.” This conclusion is based on 61 studies that have been published since 1938, involving more than 14,000 participants. It is thought that certain environmental chemicals disrupt the body’s endocrine system and interfere with its ability to control growth, development, and reproduction. About 60 chemicals are known to cause such disruptions. However, “only a tiny fraction of the estimated 80,000 manufactured chemicals in use today have been screened for endocrine-disrupting effects,” says World Watch.
An “Invisible Disease”
“An estimated 15 to 18 million children in developing countries are affected by high levels of lead in their blood,” reports the Environment News Service. In India, for example, a link has been established between children’s intellectual capacity and the amount of lead they have consumed. According to Dr. Abraham George, children “lose their intellectual capacities . . . as protracted exposure to lead affects their brain,” reports The Indian Express. The main source of lead poisoning in Indian cities is automobiles that still use leaded gasoline. Because lead poisoning has a relatively low profile compared with such problems as poverty and hunger, Dr. George calls it an “invisible disease.”
Influenza Still Killing
Over 300 leading experts on influenza recently gathered at the World Health Organization (WHO) headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, to discuss how to combat the deadly disease. Despite major strides over the past 50 years, influenza continues to kill hundreds of thousands of people a year, reports the United Nations Department of Public Information. In order to improve influenza prevention and control, WHO will publish a plan designed to help prepare for what it calls “an eventual influenza pandemic.” The director-general of WHO, Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, said: “Time to react may be very short—from the first recognition of a new subtype and the onset of a full-blown pandemic.”
Monarch Butterfly Threatened
Every autumn millions of monarch butterflies migrate more than 2,000 miles [3,200 km] from Canada to their wintering grounds in California and the Sierra Madre mountains of central Mexico. Recently, however, the monarch’s sanctuaries in Mexico have been threatened by erosion and the illegal logging of the oyamel fir tree (a timber tree of the Abietaceae family). As a result, “over the past two years, the number of monarchs wintering here has diminished by 70 percent,” reports The News of Mexico City. While tourism provides income for some of the local people, others have been making a living by hauling away truckloads of the protected trees at night. “If the destruction continues,” The News says, “North America’s summer monarchs could virtually disappear.”
Child Abuse Awareness Growing?
According to El Universal, a newspaper of Caracas, the percentage of sexually abused children in Venezuela has increased from 1 out of every 10 children in 1980 to 3 out of every 10 children today. In 1980 the average age of an abused child was between 12 and 14. Today the majority are under three years of age. Who are the main perpetrators of such horrific crimes? The idea that they are furtive strangers lurking around school playgrounds waiting to tempt children with candies is simply not realistic. El Universal explains that 70 percent of the offenders are relatives or family friends. Over half of that number are stepparents, and the remainder are generally someone in authority, such as an older brother, a cousin, or a teacher.
Car Crazy
According to the American Automobile Manufacturers Association, the United States recently reached the one hundred million mark in the production of motor vehicles. “It took 25 years to turn out the first million machines,” reports Compressed Air magazine. Today, however, “current production is at the rate of 30 passenger cars and ten trucks and buses per minute every working day.” If you take into account assembly plants, parts factories, sales and service people, and professional drivers, the automotive industry in the United States employs about 1 out of every 7 wage earners. It is estimated that about 40 million vehicles are currently operating in the United States.
Education Crisis
“The developing world is facing an education crisis with 125 million children, mostly girls, not in school and a further 150 million dropping out before they can read or write,” reports England’s News Unlimited. Presently, in developing countries, 1 out of every 4 adults, or 872 million people, are illiterate. Moreover, the education crisis is compounded when countries with high illiteracy rates borrow money from wealthier countries. Why? Because money that is badly needed for education is often diverted to pay off debts. Thus the cycle of illiteracy is repeated, which perpetuates poverty.