Watching the World
In Search of a New World Order
For the first time in more than 40 years, the United Nations is being revived as an instrument of collective security. On January 31, New York City was the scene of a historic gathering of the high and mighty and the small and poor as heads of governments opened the first UN Security Council summit meeting. This unique one-day assembly of the Security Council was to search for what world leaders have called a new world order to replace the dangers of Cold War confrontations. British prime minister John Major called the summit a “turning point in the world and at the United Nations.” The world leaders want to enhance the UN’s peace-keeping capacity. Thus, the summit meeting’s declaration states: “The members of the Council agree that the world now has the best chance of achieving international peace and security since the foundation of the United Nations.”
“Baby Killers”
Respiratory illnesses, such as bronchitis, pneumonia (even when caused by minor disorders like the common cold), are the “number one killers of children under the age of five,” United Nations statistics show. “Eight children die every minute because of these illnesses, making a total of four million infant deaths each year,” reports the weekly supplement Corriere salute. The solution? According to the experts, “earlier use of antibiotics, and, in addition, building up the children’s defenses, improving their diet, and making more widespread use of vaccination.”
Breast-Feeding and AIDS
“Mother’s milk could soon become a leading killer of children in the Third World,” warns Time International magazine. Again, AIDS is to blame. According to limited research done in central Africa and reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, 8 out of 15 babies who contracted AIDS during the study were infected at their mother’s breast. Should this research be confirmed, health officials will face a dilemma: Should they promote bottle-feeding, which under unsanitary conditions increases infant mortality by 500 percent, or should they continue to encourage breast-feeding with its risk of passing on the AIDS virus? Dr. Jean Mayer, an expert on nutrition, lamented: “There is no good solution . . . This is a catastrophe of the first order.”
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AIDS
On the Brink of Nuclear War
Thirty years ago the world teetered on the brink of nuclear war, according to information disclosed last January by a high-ranking Soviet military officer at a closed-door conference in Havana. During the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, Cuba had nuclear weapons with warheads equivalent to between 6 thousand and 12 thousand tons of TNT. The Soviet Union had shipped nuclear-tipped missiles to Cuba and had authorized their use in case of an American military attack on the island. According to The New York Times, Robert S. McNamara, U.S. secretary of defense under President John F. Kennedy, indicated at the meeting that there was no question that “Kennedy would have ordered nuclear retaliation on Cuba—and perhaps the Soviet Union—if nuclear weapons had been fired at United States forces.” The world breathed easier when the Soviets agreed to withdraw the intermediate-range missiles. In retrospect, Philip Brenner, a professor at American University and a participant at the conference, commented: “We came closer to nuclear war than anyone had ever imagined.”
Immune System Helped by Therapy
Evidence appears to be mounting that the mind influences resistance to cancer once it develops, reports The Harvard Mental Health Letter, a publication from the Harvard Medical School. For example, in one study a group of women with advanced breast cancer had weekly group therapy for a year to help them face their fears and communicate better with their families, while similar women received only standard medical care. “The outcome was remarkable,” says the report. “Women in the support groups not only felt less anxiety, depression, and pain but lived on the average almost twice as long—37 months versus 19 months.” In another study, this time with patients in an early stage of malignant melanoma (skin cancer), not only did those in a six-week support group feel less tired, confused, and depressed but “their immune functioning also improved more by several measures” than did that of similar patients who received standard medical attention.
Brazilian “Killer Bees”
How dangerous are Brazilian “killer bees”? Although descendants of 26 African queen bees were released by accident in 1956, Newsweek reports that “Brazilians have reached a modus vivendi with the Africanized bees . . . Honey production—which hovered around 3,000 tons annually before the Africanized bees moved in—totaled 42,000 tons last year.” Seemingly, the secret is to “educate beekeepers how to safely handle the Africanized bees and teach the public how to stay out of harm’s way.” The magazine claims: “While it is true that they kill hundreds of livestock a year, humans appear to be in no greater danger than anywhere else.”
The Bountiful Neem
“God’s gift to mankind” is what some have dubbed the tropical neem tree and for good reason! Among the varied products mankind has derived from the neem tree are tooth powder, toothpaste, edible oils, a cattle-worm powder, insecticides, skin-disease remedies, and medicines for diabetes and malaria. Neem oil is used in making soap, hair tonic, and insect repellents. Recently, according to New African magazine, researchers in Kenya have conducted studies to see what further medicinal and insect-repellent properties may be reaped from the remarkable neem.
Ozone Depletion Increasing
Research shows that the depletion of the ozone layer is escalating in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres. According to The Diplomatic World Bulletin, new findings by a panel of 80 scientists from 25 countries indicate a 3 percent ozone loss over Europe and North America during the last ten years. An additional loss of 3 percent is expected by the end of the century. The loss of ozone over Antarctica, which once occurred only in winter, has now extended to other seasons also. Scientists believe that ozone depletion, caused mostly by human activity, could result in significant climate change, damaged crops, and increased cases of skin cancer.
Violent Education
Five students at the Kobe Municipal Industrial Technical College in Japan have been failed after their first year of studies. The college is forcing them to stay in the same grade because they refused to participate in kendo fencing exercises. According to The Daily Yomiuri, the students “said it would violate the Bible’s teachings for them to participate in fighting sports.” The students, who are Jehovah’s Witnesses, have filed a lawsuit claiming that “the school decision to flunk them defies the constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion,” reports the Mainichi Daily News.
Spanish Church Chided
Does the Roman Catholic Church give satisfactory guidance for dealing with problems related to family life? Only 35 percent of Spaniards believe that it does, according to a recent survey carried out by the Centro de Investigaciones sobre la Realidad Social (Center for the Investigation of Social Attitudes). How about satisfying the spiritual needs of the people? Just 42 percent of those persons polled consider that the church fulfills this responsibility. On the other hand, the Bible—a book that does satisfy spiritual needs and that gives clear guidance on how to enjoy a happy family life—is regularly read by only 4 percent of the population.
Airplane Evacuation Questioned
What are your chances of injury if you are forced to evacuate an airplane in an emergency? Airline critics say that they are getting worse and that the problem is increasing as airlines squeeze more seats into their planes. For instance, one airline flying a 747 from Los Angeles, U.S.A., to Sydney, Australia, has seats for 378 passengers, but another using the same plane between Osaka and Tokyo, Japan, seats 533 passengers. Although statistics show that air travel is 19 times safer than automobile travel, the potential for disaster increases as the planes are crammed with passengers. A recent evacuation test to determine if a McDonnell Douglas MD-11 aircraft could safely hold 410 seats instead of the normal 287 left one woman paralyzed from the neck down when her spine was broken; 46 others were injured—6 suffered broken bones. Current U.S. government standards require aircraft manufacturers to show that their planes can be evacuated in 90 seconds with half of the exits blocked.