Watching the World

WORLD HEALTH REPORT

Twenty percent of the world’s population​—about a thousand million people—​suffer from severe health problems, according to the Report on World Health issued by WHO (World Health Organization). The most serious are childhood diseases, respiratory infections, diarrheal diseases, sexually transmitted diseases (including AIDS), tuberculosis, schistosomiasis, and malaria. The greatest health problems are said to be in the nations of sub-​Saharan Africa, where 160 million people are afflicted with AIDS, parasitic diseases, malaria, and other maladies; and in southern and eastern Asia, where 40 percent of the population, about 500 million people, suffer from disease and malnutrition. Many are caught in a downward spiral in which poverty brings on disease that in turn results in increased poverty and sickness. Annual health expenditures in the poorer countries average less than $5 per person. According to Dr. Hiroshi Nakajima, director general of WHO, increasing this by only $2 per person would allow for immunization and successful treatment with drugs for most of the diseases.

POPE SUPPORTS GALILEO

“Pope John Paul II has acknowledged that the Roman Catholic Church was ‘imprudent’ to have condemned Galileo for asserting that the earth was not the center of the universe,” reports The Christian Century. Galileo was condemned by the church in 1633 for advocating the Copernican view that the sun, rather than the earth, is the center of the universe. Belatedly, in 1979, a commission was appointed by the pope to investigate the case. Its initial report, in 1984, said that Galileo had been wrongly condemned. Speaking in Pisa, the scientist’s birthplace and site of his famous experiments on gravity, the pope acknowledged Galileo’s work as “an essential stage in the methodology of research . . . and in the path toward understanding the world of nature.”

MAKING DECISIONS

When do you make your best decisions​—when you are standing or when you are sitting? According to a study by the University of Southern California, “people under pressure make difficult decisions about 20% faster if they stand instead of sit,” reports American Health magazine. The study involved a series of questions flashed on a computer monitor, with the participants responding from a sitting and then a standing position. Standing brought the best results. Those older and more sedentary improved the most when making decisions while standing. This is not surprising, as the heart rate increases about ten beats a minute when you stand, stimulating the “brain areas that control arousal.” Standing and stretching regularly during the workday is recommended for sedentary office workers.

AIDS VIA BLOOD SUPPLY

As many as 40 percent of Soviet AIDS victims have contracted the virus through contaminated blood, reports The Toronto Star. Calling the situation “extremely alarming,” Valentin Pokrovsky, head of the Soviet Academy of Medical Sciences, admits: “We have an intolerably high percentage of cases of the AIDS virus being transferred via blood during surgery.” In the southern cities of Elista and Volgograd, AIDS outbreaks have been traced to contaminated needles used in hospitals. At least 81 children have been infected with the virus there.

NATURAL FARMING ENCOURAGED

“The National Academy of Sciences has found that farmers who apply little or no chemicals to crops can be as productive as those who use pesticides and synthetic fertilizers,” reports The New York Times. “The study by the nation’s pre-​eminent body of scientists is perhaps the most important confirmation of the success of agricultural practices that use biological interactions instead of chemicals.” Until recently, farmers had been taught to use generous amounts of chemical fertilizers and pesticides to produce the largest output of crops, and natural farming methods were considered inferior. But as insects and weeds developed resistance to the chemicals, farmers made greater use of chemicals, thereby increasing the danger to human health. The study showed that by rotating crops and by using a diversified crop and livestock system, farmers were often able to increase their yields and reduce costs, as well as preserve the environment. However, the natural practices did take more work.

“ICE” THREAT

“Even as the U.S. struggles with crack cocaine,” says Time magazine, “a more chilling drug has appeared: ‘ice.’” Like crack, ice is not a new drug. It is a smokable version of crystallized methamphetamine, known since the 1960’s as speed. Like crack, it is addictive and also brings on severe depression, paranoia, and convulsions. But while the high from crack lasts less than 30 minutes, that from ice lasts for eight hours or more. Already the top drug problem in Hawaii, ice is “making serious inroads across the U.S.,” says Time.

MICROWAVE-​COOKING CONCERNS

Foods placed in microwave ovens are bombarded with high-​energy rays that convert the food’s water molecules to steam, heating the food rapidly. Better safety standards and design have reduced the risk of radiation leakage. “Yet microwave ovens pose safety problems that conventional ovens do not,” states an article in The New York Times. One question is whether the cooking is always thorough enough to kill the harmful organisms that may be found in foods, such as trichinae in pork and salmonellae in chicken. Part of the problem is that microwave ovens heat foods unevenly, with some parts undercooked while others are well done, and that the air in the oven may be too cool to kill organisms on the surface of the food. Another question is whether it is safe to use plastics in such ovens, since the plasticizer used in some wraps can migrate to the food, especially if the plastic rests upon it. It is claimed that most of the problems are solvable if cooking guidelines are strictly followed.

NON-​OZONE-​DEPLETING AEROSOL

An inventor in Tasmania, Australia’s island state, has produced an aerosol device that uses neither chlorofluorocarbons nor hydrocarbons, both of which are damaging to earth’s ozone layer. His aerosol uses nitrogen instead, which makes up four fifths of the atmosphere. Besides availability, the costs involved in using nitrogen are low, and the gas returns harmlessly to the atmosphere after use. Nitrogen had previously been ruled out as a propellant because injecting sufficient amounts of the gas into an aerosol can would have required expensive can strengthening. The inventor overcame this, reports the newspaper The Australian, by using a small gas cylinder connected to a specially designed valve inside the can. The design has only one moving part, will not burn or explode, and is said to comply with all world aerosol standards. It is expected to be on the market by early next year.

EARTHQUAKE SYNDROME

Earthquakes cause stress to both humans and animals. Last summer, when thousands of major and minor tremors shook Itō, Japan, many people began to complain of digestive disorders, diarrhea, and, in particular, insomnia. Doctors were “reluctant to prescribe a full dose of tranquilizers, for fear their patients might not awake should the series of tremors recur,” explained The Daily Yomiuri. Itō animal hospitals reported that local pets also suffered from earthquake syndrome: dry coats, hair loss, itching, vomiting, loss of appetite, lack of vigor, and fever​—all symptoms of stress.

GLOBAL WILDERNESS INVENTORY

How much of the world is still wilderness, relatively untouched by man? Roughly a third of the planet’s land mass​—about 18.56 million square miles [48.07 million sq km]—​say environmental policy analyst J. Michael McCloskey and geographer Heather Spalding, who researched the matter for 18 months. Poring over aerial navigation charts, “they ignored regions showing roads, settlements, buildings, airports, railroads, pipelines, power lines, dams, reservoirs and oil wells,” says Science News. They also “limited their tally to land tracts including at least 1 million acres.” Heading the list, with total wilderness, is Antarctica. Then comes North America (37.5 percent); the Soviet Union (33.6 percent); Australasia, which includes the southwest Pacific islands (27.9 percent); Africa (27.5 percent); South America (20.8 percent); Asia (13.6 percent); and Europe (2.8 percent). Less than 20 percent of the world’s wilderness areas are legally protected from exploitation.