Watching the World
Nuclear Explosions Increase
◆ From 1945 to 1963, 440 nuclear explosions were set off by the United States, Russia, Britain and France, most in the atmosphere. This averaged 24 a year. Then in 1963 the United States, Russia and Britain signed a treaty banning all but underground testing of nuclear weapons. However, since that treaty, the United States has exploded 224 nuclear bombs underground, Russia at least 45, and Britain 2. France and Red China, who did not sign the treaty, exploded 41, most in the atmosphere. Thus, since the 1963 test-ban treaty at least 312 nuclear explosions have been set off, an average of about 42 a year, about 75 percent more annually than before the ban.
Military Prestige Plummeting
◆ In its issue of December 21, Time magazine reports: “Largely because of the Viet Nam War, the prestige of the military is plummeting. Many servicemen, including cadets and midshipmen from West Point and Annapolis, try to hide their military connections when on leave . . . Re-enlistment rates have dropped to their lowest levels since 1955. Barely 31% of servicemen of all ranks and branches now volunteer for a second term.” In addition, authorities acknowledge that the military draft has become extremely distasteful to young men. Government officials say they would abandon conscription altogether if an all-volunteer military force could be maintained.
Credit Card Binge
◆ Credit buying, buying now and paying later, is usually done by the use of credit cards. How deeply has credit buying entrenched itself in the lives of people? In the United States there are about 300 million credit cards. That is more than one card for every man, woman and child, since the country has a population of just over 200 million. But many who have bought heavily on credit are now feeling the pinch. Due to the economic recession they do not have the money to pay their bills.
Fantastic Debt Burden
◆ In the fiscal year 1970, the federal debt of the United States rose to $383,427,640,000, the largest debt in the nation’s history. The interest paid on that huge debt for the year was $19,256,821,000, which is more than it cost to run the government for the first 117 years of its history. If the interest alone for the one year could have been made available to other federal agencies, it could have doubled the funds spent on poverty, education, air-pollution control, public assistance and housing, urban renewal and environmental control. Or that interest could have paid weekly wages of over $122 for an entire year to more than three million unemployed workers. Why so much debt? The government spends more than it makes.
Business Failures Mount
◆ In the first ten months of 1970, a total of 8,940 American businesses went into bankruptcy. That was a 17-percent increase over the same period in 1969.
The Shrinking Dollar
◆ In terms of purchasing power, the American dollar of 1942 was worth only 68 cents by 1949. By 1957, its value had shrunk to 58 cents. And in 1970, it would buy only 42 cents worth of goods compared to 1942. Thus in 28 years, the value of a dollar dropped nearly 60 percent, the victim of continued inflation.
Americans Leaving
◆ Growing numbers of people are leaving the United States, moving to other countries. For example, those going to New Zealand increased about 30 percent in one year. Why the drift away? The main reasons are related to the strains and tensions of American life, as well as employment problems.
Streets Unsafe
◆ The streets of major cities in the United States are increasingly unsafe, particularly after dark. New York city reported a 45-percent increase in robberies and muggings in one recent month compared to the previous year. In that one month, there were 6,838 cases reported, an average of more than 200 a day! In Washington, D.C., a tourist from Nevada staying at an expensive hotel said: “I never thought I’d have such an experience in the nation’s capital. Last night at 6:30 a cop stopped me when I was walking near my hotel and told me to get off the street at that hour. It wasn’t safe, he said.”
‘Brain Drain’ Reversing
◆ Years ago, foreign scientists were attracted to the United States because of growing job opportunities there. But now, with many scientists being laid off work, the ‘brain drain’ is beginning to go in the opposite direction. Many are now going back to their native lands or to other countries to look for work.
“Rock” Music Affects Hearing
◆ Doctors are discovering that teen-agers who listen to a steady diet of “rock” music suffer from various degrees of hearing loss. Sound expert Theodore Berland says that “the new sound of music [‘rock’] is thousands of times more epidemiologically dangerous than the old sound.” It has been suggested, not altogether in jest, that all “hard-rock” music records carry the label: “Warning! Modern music may be dangerous to your hearing.”
Mercury Compound Use Questioned
◆ A recent issue of The Medical Letter, published in New York, made this comment on using mercurial compounds as antiseptics: “There is little justification for the use of any of these preparations.” It said that they are not effective against bacterial spores. Among the compounds mentioned were merbromin (Mercurochrome), nitromersol (Metaphen) and thimerosal (Merthiolate). The publication said: “In view of the availability of more effective and less sensitizing antiseptics, however, there is little justification for using them as antiseptics for skin or mucous membranes or as instrument disinfectants.” It noted that minor scratches, scrapes and superficial cuts in relatively clean skin are best treated by washing them with soap and water.
Religious Cards Unpopular
◆ Reflecting the general trend away from religion, many stores dealing with greeting cards report that religious cards are the least popular. One company said that the trend away from religious greeting cards was nation wide in America.
United Church’s Financial Woes
◆ The United Church of Canada has joined the growing list of religions having financial problems. It announced that because donations have fallen its activities must be cut. The basic problem is low church attendance, which results in low contributions. A spokesman said: “Until we get the people coming back to church, we will have money problems.” But people are not going back. Instead, more of them abandon the churches each year.
Who Is to Blame?
◆ A large portion of Brazilian youth does not go to church. They pay no attention to religious matters. Who is to blame? São Paulo’s Roman Catholic archbishop, Don Paulo Evaristo Arns, admitted: “We are to blame if the youth is at fault. Youth, if given great ideals, will make an intense effort to reach them, but, if not given such ideals, will look for them, will reach others, even bad ones.” Since Catholic youths trained from childhood in their religion do not have great ideals, the archbishop placed the blame in the right place—with the religious leaders who have not taught them the truth.
Woman Directs Parish
◆ There are many Catholic churches without a priest in Brazil. In one case, the Vatican has granted a woman living in Salvador, in the state of Bahia, permission to be the director of a parish of some 40,000 Catholics. She is not a nun, but is of the laity. To win approval of her parishioners, who are mostly colored, she substituted the white figurine of Jesus Christ in the Nativity scene with a colored one.
Rare Case of Progeria
◆ A rare disease called progeria results in premature old age. Attacking children, the skin becomes wrinkled, hair turns gray, and body tissues become like those of very old persons. Such a case has been reported in northeastern Brazil. A girl of ten looks as if she were eighty years old. Josefa da Luz, the young child, is so weak from ‘old age’ she can hardly stand. While her voice is that of a child, her skin is full of wrinkles. The disease is thought to be related to the pituitary gland, but this is not certain. About forty such cases have been reported throughout the world.
Misuse of Blood
◆ A special committee of the National Academy of Sciences has criticized the way some doctors misuse blood. Medical World News of December 18, 1970, reports: “The panel complains that although preparing patients for surgery with a blood transfusion is not necessary, many doctors continue to do it.” Attitudes toward blood transfusions are changing, but slowly.
Hepatitis Outbreak in Japan
◆ A survey conducted by Japanese doctors, led by Professor Nobukatsu Shimada of Keio University, revealed that one out of every five patients surveyed who were given blood transfusions in 1969 later contracted serum hepatitis. Tokyo’s Daily Yomiuri stated: “The report also noted a sharp increase in hepatitis cases since 1968 despite increased use of donated blood for transfusions instead of blood bought from volunteers.”
Hazardous-Drug List Ignored
◆ The Food and Drug Administration issued a list of 369 drugs found to be hazardous or ineffective. The New York Times relates that the list “apparently is being ignored by a large number of doctors and their patients across the country.” In fact, the manager of one drug firm in Detroit reports that “as soon as the F.D.A. comes out with a list of drugs they’ve banned, we get a run on them.” Evidently, the warning simply did not mean much to some people.
Thalidomide Trial Ends
◆ The drug thalidomide was introduced in West Germany in 1957 as a tranquilizer. It became very popular, especially with pregnant women. But it proved to be a disaster to babies in many countries. About 6,000 have since been born deformed or limbless, 4,000 of them to German parents. In West Germany, the company that produced the drug was taken to court and a long trial ensued. In December, the company agreed to pay $27 million in damages to the 2,000 surviving German children, about $19,000 apiece. Also, 800 adults who suffered nervous disorders due to the drug were compensated. And in Britain, more than $2.4 million has been paid to deformed and limbless “thalidomide children” by the British firm that marketed the drug.
Smoking’s High Death Rate
◆ Evidence continues to mount that cigarette smoking damages health and shortens life. Dr. Samuel Preston of the University of California found that cigarette smoking appeared to be the major cause of what he called “excessive” mortality among older men in seventeen Western countries. From the ages of 40 to 69 death rates of smokers were 88 percent greater than those of nonsmokers. Nations where people smoke the most have suffered the largest setbacks in mortality of older men.