Watching the World
Sunlight and Health
◆ A recent test at Cornell University revealed that students who studied under simulated sunlight were less fatigued and enjoyed greater visual acuity than those using regular artificial lighting. Also, in another study two groups of elderly men at the Chelsea Soldiers’ Home near Boston, Massachusetts, stayed indoors during daylight hours for several weeks. One group employed bulbs that simulated sunlight (by the addition of ultraviolet rays), whereas the other used regular fluorescent lighting. The result? Those using simulated sunlight were found to be in better health than the other tested group. For one thing, the bodies of those using simulated sunlight utilized calcium more efficiently. So, being out-of-doors daily for at least some time during the daylight hours evidently is a good idea.
Fewer Blood Transfusions
◆ During a five-year observation period in the Kiel University obstetrics department there was a definite decline in the frequency of blood transfusions, particularly in cases of anemia. So indicates a recent report by Dr. H. Anger of that West German university. Basing its remarks on that report, the Medical Tribune World Service also stated: “The risk of sensitization through blood transfusions ought to instigate a rigorous control of indications particularly with women of childbearing age. A review of transfusion indications in 527 female patients in the Kiel University obstetrics department showed that only about 63% of the transfusions effected were absolutely necessary.” Of course, to a person governed by the Holy Scriptures, there never is an ‘absolute necessity’ to have a blood transfusion, for this procedure violates God’s Word.—Gen. 9:3, 4; Acts 15:28, 29.
Dangerous Combinations
◆ A study undertaken in the U.S. by the Federal Drug Abuse Warning Network highlights the peril of drinking alcoholic beverages while taking such drugs as tranquilizers. Alcohol combined with drugs is responsible for the highest number of drug-related sicknesses and deaths, the 24-city study revealed.
Pollution Ruining the Ruins
◆ Tourist buses are to be banned from the Acropolis hill in Athens, Greece. Sightseers will have to walk to its summit. Also, the caryatid porch there will be covered with transparent plastic until the structure’s marble columns, actually statues of women, are taken to a museum. Copies will replace them at the original site. Automobile exhaust fumes, combined with the moisture present in the air, have produced sulfuric acid, which results in flaking of the marble. So, the renowned porch of the fifth century B.C.E. has not escaped the effects of modern-day pollution.
Nursing One’s Baby
◆ Just 20 percent of the women in Western lands nurse their babies, and only about 6 percent do this for more than six weeks, reports Parade magazine. It points out that “apart from the nutritional advantages in breast-feeding, most pediatricians agree that it helps the emotional development of the infant.”
Smoking a Factor
◆ Almost 55 million Americans are cigarette smokers. Writing in Reader’s Digest, Sydney S. Field remarks that each day some 800 persons die because of smoking. He also states: “During the past ten years, the number of deaths in which cigarette smoking was a causative factor totaled at least two million.” It was pointed out that the number of deaths from emphysema, mainly a cigarette smoker’s malady, have risen 100 percent in the U.S. in fifteen years. Moreover, the coronary heart disease death rate for persons who smoke is reportedly twice that of individuals who never have smoked. And, whereas fewer than 3,000 persons died of lung cancer in 1930, Field comments: “Today, that figure is fast approaching 84,000. The major cause of lung cancer: cigarette smoking.”
Catholic Tally
◆ The number of Roman Catholics in the United States now stands at nearly 49 million. According to the official Catholic directory of 1976, it rose by 180,037 persons from 1974 to 1975. In citing these figures, Parade magazine indicates that Catholics constitute 22.78 percent of the country’s populace.
Black Death Strikes Again
◆ The Center for Disease Control has reported that during 1975 there were 20 confirmed cases of plague in the United States. Called the Black Death in the Middle Ages, it is spread by rodents that are infected with the plague bacteria. During the past decade there has been an upswing in the number of cases affecting humans in the southwest. At least 8 persons already had been stricken in 1976 by the start of the peak plague season of June to August. It is possible to treat plague successfully with antibiotics, but the disease can kill a person in a short time if left untreated.
An Earthworm Industry
◆ The raising of earthworms recently has become a small industry in the U.S. Some 90,000 farmers reportedly raise and sell them. Purchasers include fishermen, who use the worms as bait, and organic gardeners, who find the worms’ excrement, or “castings,” to be excellent fertilizer. Earthworm sales are estimated at $50 million annually. The journal Newsweek reports that in one test 5.6 million worms were let loose on a 10-ton pile of garbage, from which glass, metal and rubber had been removed. Within 45 days the number of worms had doubled, but the garbage had disappeared, with 3 tons of castings in its place.
Subway Etiquette
◆ Encouraging politeness among subway riders in Tokyo is the object of thousands of posters put up in stations there. The hope is that the campaign will move people to yield their seats to the elderly, quit crowding into overloaded cars and stop smoking. On one of the posters an actress was shown giving her seat to an aged, tired grandmother. The posters caption read: “Man grows too soon old and too late smart. Yield the seat you will want 50 years from now.”
‘Either Dishonest or Incompetent’
◆ Recently, television sets certified as being in good condition except for minor, easily seen defects, were taken to 21 television repair shops in New York city. Commenting on this random test, Consumer Affairs Commissioner Elinor Guggenheimer was reported as saying that a high proportion of television repairmen in the city were “either highly dishonest or extraordinarily incompetent.” Fifteen shops out of the 21 reportedly distorted their charges for services. For instance, one shop claimed that a particular set required two tubes, as well as renovation of its tuner, and wanted to charge $73.19. But all that was needed was reinserting an unplugged cable into its receptacle. Four of the test TV sets were returned with greater damage than they previously had.
CB Thefts
◆ Citizens band radio sets have become major objects of thievery. Hence, auto insurers either are dropping them from regular coverage or desire to raise their rates. The companies want to add anywhere from $20 to $70 in extra insurance charges, depending on the value of the CB sets.
City Life—Good or Bad?
◆ Experts of the World Health Organization have reported that urban living reduces the life expectancy for men and increases it for women. Citing possible causes, they say that men smoke more and get less exercise in the city than they do when working on the farm. But, according to the researchers, women are not discriminated against as much in the city as they are in the rurals, where it is said that they frequently are underfed and overworked.
Slide Rules Yielding
◆ Long have students, engineers and others employed slide rules in making calculations. Today, however, low-priced pocket calculators are replacing the slide rule, with its logarithmic scales and moving centerpiece. In fact, the most noted slide-rule maker in the U.S. has consigned to the Smithsonian Institution the machine it has used to carve the logarithmic scales into slide rules.
Costly Computer Blunders
◆ In July auditors for the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare reported that computer problems had left the Social Security Administration with a system of accounting that had failed to “adequately record, classify or summarize” payments to 4.2 million elderly, blind and disabled individuals who are aided through the Supplemental Security Income program. Resulting overpayments amounted to at least $662 million.
All Cats Ashore!
◆ The General Council of British Shipping has given ships’ crews until March 1977 to dispose of their cats. Peter Needham writes in The Guardian: “The giant rats that plagued wooden merchantmen in the eighteenth century have long found alternative accommodation and the mechanical and containerised technology of modern shipping has meant that the original function of nautical cats and dogs—the destruction of rodents—has been superseded.” The ship’s cat is viewed as a rabies risk. These pets are to be removed while the ships are in port, possibly to start life anew on land.
U.S. Vital Statistics
◆ During 1975 in the United States the leading causes of death were heart disease, cancer, stroke and diseases related thereto, and automobile accidents. Cancer deaths rose 2.3 percent above 1974, and this was the highest increase ever, according to provisional figures reported by the National Center for Health Statistics. The average life expectancy for babies born during 1975 is 72.4 years. For girls it is 76.4 and for boys 68.5 years.
Religion in Russia
◆ “Christianity is far from dead in the Soviet Union, and currently it is showing remarkable vitality,” reports the journal Newsweek. Among other indications of this, the magazine remarks that “even in prison, draft-resisting Jehovah’s Witnesses meet clandestinely to pray and read miniature copies of [their Biblical journal] The Watchtower.” Jehovah’s Witnesses are not ‘draft resisters’ and do not interfere with any nation’s efforts to conscript manpower for military purposes. But they themselves follow the principle at Isaiah 2:4 and have been imprisoned in various lands for their adherence to the Bible and strict Christian neutrality. (John 15:19) Yet, when imprisoned for this reason in Russia or elsewhere, they do not cease to study the Bible.
Chloroform Banned
◆ The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has banned the future use of chloroform in cosmetics and drugs. Long have certain brands of mouthwash, cough syrup and toothpaste contained chloroform. Though it had no medical value, its sharp nature seemingly led some consumers to think that the products to which it had been added had such value. However, it has been found that chloroform has been a cancer cause in test animals. While FDA Commissioner Alexander Schmidt pointed to a lack of evidence that chloroform caused cancer in humans, he was quoted as stating: “Experience has indicated, with one or two possible exceptions, [that] compounds that are carcinogenic [cancer-causing] in humans are also carcinogenic in one or more experimental animal bioassay systems.”
Record Budget Deficit
◆ During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1976, the U.S. federal government had a $65.6 billion budget deficit. This was the largest deficit for any single fiscal year in its history.