Watching the World
THE YEAR OF THE UN
The United Nations surprised most of its critics by stringing together a number of major achievements last year. Although it did not end any war, the UN acted as a peacemaker in conflicts in Afghanistan, the Persian Gulf, southwestern Africa, Western Sahara, Cyprus, and Kampuchea. In addition, its peacekeeping forces won the Nobel Prize for Peace last September. Also, in December the UN made substantial cuts in its budget for the years 1990 and 1991, much to the pleasure of the superpower members. Sir Bryan Urquhart, recently retired under secretary of the UN for peacekeeping, said: “The rigors of the Cold War no longer paralyze the United Nations. It even seems possible humanity could take the great step forward towards a community of nations.”
HANDGUNS AND SUICIDES
Based on a study in Sacramento County, University of California medical researcher Garen J. Wintemute concludes that handguns may account for nearly 70 percent of firearm suicides committed in the United States, instead of the generally accepted figure of 45 percent. He estimated that 50 percent of the nation’s households have one or more firearms in their possession. Wintemute gave several reasons why the handgun is “the weapon of choice” for suicides. One is that since they are most often owned for self-protection, they are more apt to be loaded and within easy reach. He said that “easy access” to handguns is likely a “major contributing factor” in suicides for those who act on impulse.
THINGS LEFT UNSAID
A university professor in California, U.S.A., feels that Americans miss out on many news stories they really need to hear. So he has a group of experts—prominent magazine and newspaper editors, TV producers, economists—choose the year’s most underreported stories in the U.S. media. Some of the items for 1987 were: some 250 nuclear reactor accidents; U.S. government funding of university research in developing deadly organisms for biological warfare; rapid acceleration of the extinction rate, with perhaps a thousand species now vanishing each year; and the question of who owns the media. These went largely untouched in the U.S. media. The name of the group? Project Censored.
SMOKING TOLL RISES
Smoking remains the “single most important preventable cause of death” in the United States, proclaims a recent federal report on smoking, released on the 25th anniversary of the first such report. In fact, the report estimates, smoking may cause 30 percent more deaths than previously believed. The U.S. surgeon general says in its preface: “The critical message here is that progress in curtailing smoking must continue, and ideally accelerate, to enable us to turn smoking-related mortality around. Otherwise, the disease impact of smoking will remain high well into the 21st century.” The surgeon general estimates that cigarette smoking is accountable for more than one out of every six deaths in the United States today.
GARBAGE PILING UP
In the Federal Republic of Germany, the cost of disposing of private and industrial garbage, including toxic waste, amounts to an estimated 5.5 to 6.5 billion dollars (10 to 12 billion W. German Marks) each year, according to figures published at the environmental fair “Entsorga 1988” held in Essen. In the last few years, private homes alone produced 30 to 32 million tons of garbage yearly—that amounts to about 800 pounds [360 kg] per person.
AIDS CRISIS IN AFRICA
Cases of infection by the deadly AIDS virus are skyrocketing in Africa, reports a bulletin from WHO (World Health Organization). WHO estimates that as many as one fourth of the people between the ages of 20 and 40 living in some central African cities have the AIDS virus. Epidemiologist Rick Mathias of the University of British Columbia believes that the AIDS virus infections have not yet leveled off in Africa because of the widespread practice of polygamy in many African countries. The WHO bulletin also singled out blood transfusions as another reason for the spread of AIDS in Africa.
RELIGIOUS VALUES WANE
For three years, residents of Takarazuka, Japan, have blocked the building of a Buddhist temple, saying that the chanting of sutras and funeral ceremonies will upset the peace of their neighborhood. Since learning that the previous temple was to be relocated about a half mile [800 m] nearer to them, the residents have been insisting that temples should be built in more “suitable places” that are remote from residential areas, such as mountainous regions, reports the Mainichi Daily News. The temple’s priest, Tetsuhide Sato, laments: “The good old days are gone when people gathered at temples in adoration.”
GANGLAND WAR IN BOMBAY
The streets of Bombay, India, are becoming more and more like a battlefield than a peaceful city scene, reports the magazine India Today. Gangland warfare between rival underworld thugs has soared as they battle for supremacy. And the stakes are high: control of smuggling, narcotics, illicit alcohol, prostitution, and all the wealth that such vices rake in. Last year 13 gangsters died in shoot-outs.
CERVICAL CANCER THREAT
South Africa may be on the verge of a cervical cancer epidemic, warns Dr. Basil Bloch, head of Oncology and Colposcopy at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town. He described the cancer as primarily a sexually transmitted disease and told delegates at a conference on sexuality held in Cape Town that it may pose as serious a threat to health as AIDS. What type of women are at risk? Those who were sexually active early in life, married early, had numerous sexual partners, and smoked. “If all patients had routine pap smears, the incidence of cervical cancer could be decreased by 80 to 90%,” Dr. Bloch said. “It is a preventable disease.”
BABY CAFFEINE ADDICTS
The list of those endangered by excessive caffeine use includes babies and people with anxiety and depression disorders. The newspaper The Australian reports from Sydney that “one pregnant woman drank 15 cups of coffee and two litres of cola a day. Another pregnant woman told her doctor she only drank five cups of coffee a day but forgot to mention that each cup had five spoons of instant coffee in it. The result was the same—these babies were born caffeine addicts and went through even longer periods of withdrawal than babies born addicted to heroin.” Furthermore, a report in the American Journal of Psychiatry claims that caffeine will increase sensitivity in people with anxiety or panic disorders. It may also make victims of depression feel increased anxiety.
EUROTUNNEL UNDER WAY
If all goes according to plan, England and France will finally be joined by tunnel in 1993. The idea is not new. The first of some 27 attempts to join the nations by tunnel was approved by Napoleon 187 years ago. The British, fearing a French invasion, were against it. One tunnel, begun in the 1880’s, was more than a mile long on both ends before it was abandoned. The last attempt came to naught in 1975. This latest venture, dubbed Eurotunnel, seems assured of success. Eurotunnel will consist of two 26-foot-wide [7.9 m] tunnels and one 10-foot-wide [3 m] tunnel running between them for service and rescue operations. Using huge tunnel-boring machines, workers have already made headway, especially on the service tunnel—about two and a half miles [4 km] from the England side and a quarter mile [0.4 km] from the France side. The English and French tunnelers expect to meet in 1991 and hope to miss by no more than a few inches.
LIFE UNDERGROUND
Scientists had long assumed that nothing lives in the earth below the topsoil, the domain of earthworms, grubs, and plant roots. They were wrong. Four holes recently dug in South Carolina, U.S.A., revealed some 3,000 species of microorganisms living as far as 1,800 feet [550 m] below the topsoil. Many of the microscopic bugs were previously unknown to science. Living in a dark world with little air or food, the microbes that need oxygen get it from the local groundwater. They generally make up for the sparseness of food by living very slow, hibernationlike lives. Scientists are currently investigating how the tiny creatures got to live where they do, and whether they can be harnessed for human uses such as purifying polluted wells.