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The Number of People Who Died at Three Mile Island and Other Scares from Days Gone By
Arguably, the favorite hobby of Americans is scaring themselves to death over phantom risks. Cracked.com ("America's Only Humor & Video Site") is featuring a great list of some oldies but goodies in this category. Take a walk down memory lane with "The 5 Most Ridiculously Over-Hyped Health Scares of All Time," including, cranberries, Three Mile Island, cyclamates, schoolhouse asbestos, and of course, DDT.
Bonus quote: "In 1979, Three Mile Island killed fewer people than ... robot attacks."
Enjoy all the thrills and chills of yesteryear's bogus scares here.
|3.27.08 @ 10:58AM|#
I saw that this morning. Good stuff. Cracked.com is much better than the old magazine!
|3.27.08 @ 11:01AM|#
Old bumper sticker:
"More people died in Ted Kenndy's car than at Three Mile
Island"
_____
And what about ALAR?
|3.27.08 @ 11:15AM|#
"When spraying of DDT stopped in Ceylon (present day Sri
Lanka), malaria cases rose from 17 in 1963 to 2.5 goddamn million
in 1969, an increase of approximately a bajillion fofillion
percent."
Wowsers.
Episiarch|3.27.08 @ 11:15AM|#
Don't eat at all, because all food contains toxins/carcinogens of one sort or another, in varying amounts.
Episiarch|3.27.08 @ 11:17AM|#
"When spraying of DDT stopped in Ceylon (present day Sri
Lanka), malaria cases rose from 17 in 1963 to 2.5 goddamn million
in 1969, an increase of approximately a bajillion fofillion
percent."
Wowsers.
That's a whole, whole lot of blood on the environmentalists'
hands.
|3.27.08 @ 11:21AM|#
That's a whole, whole lot of blood on the environmentalists'
hands.
Yes, I believe the environmentalists do have a great deal of blood
on their hands, not the least of which from the DDT ban. But I
wouldn't go around citing statistics sourced from Cracked.
|3.27.08 @ 11:23AM|#
Warren,
Can you refute Cracked.com's "bajillion fofillion" figure? Didn't
think so.
First Little Pig|3.27.08 @ 11:31AM|#
If I recall correctly, during the congressional hearings about 3 mile island there was one scientist who came in to the hearing chamber with a Geiger counter and flipped it on. Reading the level he noted to the assembled worthies that that room that they were in had a higher level of radiation than the gate at TMI and that the congresspersons were exposed to that every single day, day after day. Apparently the stone used to build all those buildings continues to decay radioactively ....
Jozef|3.27.08 @ 11:33AM|#
That's a whole, whole lot of blood on the environmentalists'
hands.
I once wrote an article for the largest newspaper in Slovakia,
calling Rachel Carson (the author of Silent Spring) to be the
largest mass murderer of all times (the article name was "Worse
than Stalin", even though I acknowledged that Mao killed more
people than Stalin). It created a very minor controversy, revolving
primarily around my accusation that the EU is still actively
killing people in Africa by threatening economic sanctions against
countries who consider using DDT. Nobody seemed to mind, though, my
description of the Silent Spring environmentalists as mass
murderers.
|3.27.08 @ 11:41AM|#
I saw that this morning. Good stuff. Cracked.com is much
better than the old magazine!
Only two or three magnitudes better. The old mag was just a lame
version of Mad.
|3.27.08 @ 11:43AM|#
Come on, can't we come up with more than Alar and Swine
Flu?
Since the point is to illustrate peoples inclination to hysteria
over things that clearly posed no danger, anything still ongoing
like GM food or Climate Change should not be put on the list. What
about Mad Cow? We still worried about that? Someone stick a
hamburger under Oprah's face.
Kolohe|3.27.08 @ 11:45AM|#
Apparently the stone used to build all those buildings
continues to decay radioactively
Exactly. The amount of radiation to which most people are exposed
to is pretty much taken for granite.
[*ducks*]
|3.27.08 @ 11:47AM|#
Warren,
Mad cow is a legitimate threat in Europe. They had to kill
thousands of herds and ruin any number of farmers over it and
people actually did die in Europe. Same goes with hoof and mouth
disease.
I would put Dioxin on the list. Dioxin is some legitimately nasty
stuff, but not at really low levels. We have spent untold billions
cleaning up dioxin at superfund sites making the dirt clean enough
for children to eat for 50 years when we just could have left the
places alone and zoned the land for industrial use only and been
just as safe.
|3.27.08 @ 11:47AM|#
A different kind of panic, but South Park's "Major Boobage"
homage to "Heavy Metal" nailed parental drug panics last
night.
southparkstudios.com
|3.27.08 @ 11:50AM|#
I just skimmed the thread, so maybe I'm late with this....
Did anyone mention mercury in vaccinations = autism?
|3.27.08 @ 11:59AM|#
Come on, can't we come up with more than Alar and Swine
Flu?
Internet child molesters.
|3.27.08 @ 12:01PM|#
True story.
When I was in the Navy back in the mid 80's I was serving aboard a
submarine tender stationed just off the northern tip of Sardinia in
the Mediterranean. We had one department whose job it was to
concern themselves with all things nuclear. One day one of their
dosimeters came in reading a might high. So they took their little
Geiger counters around the ship and started finding "hot spots"
everywhere.
Now letting radio active material get outside of your tight control
is a very big deal. It's an "incident" or something and people from
Washington have to come in and do an investigation. So more than a
few people started stressing hard for a while. They eventually
traced it back to some bags of cement stacked on the deck in the
machine shop. The cement was bought on the local Italian market and
was naturally mildly radio active. When some water leaked into the
machine shop it made a puddle that ran under a couple of those
bags. Guys stepping in that puddle tracked the stuff all over the
gorram ship.
|3.27.08 @ 12:04PM|#
Warren,
Why would you need cement on a sub?
I don't doubt the story, I'm just curious.
|3.27.08 @ 12:05PM|#
Come on, can't we come up with more than Alar and Swine
Flu?
The Meth "epidemic" ?
Reefer Madness?
|3.27.08 @ 12:06PM|#
Come on, can't we come up with more than Alar and Swine
Flu?
Rock and Roll is the Devil's music?
|3.27.08 @ 12:06PM|#
Sex offenders are still an ongoing panic. As is the evils of
drugs.
John
Europe shit their pants over Mad Cow. A couple of people did in
fact die of a disease with Bovine spongiform like symptoms. It is
highly unlikely they contracted it from eating tainted meat.
|3.27.08 @ 12:08PM|#
Dr. Orva: Here, smoke this. And, be sure you get the smoke deep
down into your lungs.
Miles Monroe: I don't smoke.
Dr. Orva: It's tobacco. It's one of the healthiest things for
your
|3.27.08 @ 12:09PM|#
and generation super predators.
I mean Generation Y super predators.
Ya they are whiny bitches who can kick my ass at Halo but seriously
now that they are in their mid 20s they ended up being the least
criminally violent generation in US history
|3.27.08 @ 12:10PM|#
Matt J,
I was on a sub tender. Submarines came to us and we supplied and
fixed them. We were pretty much welded to the pier and only got
underway once a quarter. The cement was undoubtedly for some
project on the pier.
Misty Water Colored Memories|3.27.08 @ 12:12PM|#
Shouldn't our computers not work now?
I thought that civilization was going to collapse due to the Y2K
bug.
|3.27.08 @ 12:13PM|#
Ya they are whiny bitches who can kick my ass at Halo but
seriously now that they are in their mid 20s they ended up being
the least criminally violent generation in US history
It's hard to be a super predator when you're all doughy and
diabetic from playing Halo all day while sucking down Mountain
Dew.
Apteryx|3.27.08 @ 12:23PM|#
Rottweiler attacks.
Oh, and btw, which of these is more likely?
1) The government of Ceylon ends a massive DDT-spraying program
because of a book some foreign hippie wrote a year earlier.
2) The government of Ceylon ends a massive DDT-spraying program
because they're down to 17 malaria cases and they don't want to
spend any more money.
hmm...
HINT: Ceylon resumed spraying DDT in 1972. At that point, hippies
ruled the US, and DDT was banned here. Guess what: Ceylon didn't
give a shit. Moral: Rachel Carson is history's greatest
monster. It's not always about us. (But that still doesn't
mean you should listen to hippies).
|3.27.08 @ 12:34PM|#
ChicagoTom | March 27, 2008, 12:05pm | #
Come on, can't we come up with more than Alar and Swine Flu?
The Meth "epidemic" ?
Reefer Madness?
J sub D | March 27, 2008, 12:09pm | #
Reefer Madness.
Fucking copycat!
Taktix®|3.27.08 @ 12:47PM|#
Mad cow is a legitimate threat in Europe. They had to kill
thousands of herds and ruin any number of farmers over it and
people actually did die in Europe. Same goes with hoof and mouth
disease.
That's because those dumb motherfuckers actually eat the brains of
animals, where (along with the spinal cord) the Mad Cow virus
thrives.
We in America use brains and spines for fed, so it has a likelihood
to spread from animal to animal...
The Wine Commonsewer|3.27.08 @ 12:49PM|#
Then there's the real stuff, like the 10,000 people who died of
Cholera in 1991 because the Peruvian government decided to stop
chlorinating the water based upon an EPA study linking chlorinated
water to cancer.
Man, that Cracked stuff was funny, I wasted a lot of time LOL this
morning. Thanks Ron Bailey, now send me a check.
The Wine Commonsewer|3.27.08 @ 12:50PM|#
that's because those dumb motherfuckers actually eat the
brains of animals
Jamie Kelley, you crack me up. Wait....
Oh sorry, Taxtix.
|3.27.08 @ 12:51PM|#
Y2K! Yes. Good one Babs.
Apteryx, I think Pitt Bull attacks works better.
And:
Crack Babies!
Chuck|3.27.08 @ 12:58PM|#
Come on, can't we come up with more than Alar and Swine
Flu?
The Meth "epidemic" ?
Reefer Madness?
Don't forget the "recovered memories of child abuse" scares in the
1980s/90s.
|3.27.08 @ 1:00PM|#
ChicagoTom | March 27, 2008, 12:05pm | #
Come on, can't we come up with more than Alar and Swine Flu?
The Meth "epidemic" ?
Reefer Madness?
J sub D | March 27, 2008, 12:09pm | #
Reefer Madness.
Fucking copycat!
Nah, I just naturally skip over any post authored by this Chicago
Tom character. He rarely has anything intelligent to
contribute.
Just kidding, mea culpa.
|3.27.08 @ 1:01PM|#
If you buy a Pinto, you will die horribly, in a gigantic
ball of flame!
Runaway acceleration in Audis.
Apteryx|3.27.08 @ 1:06PM|#
Good point, Warren.
How about SARS? That was supposed to be the next big thing, before
Asian Bird Flu came along.
|3.27.08 @ 1:15PM|#
Warren,
I had never heard that about Peru. I remember when it happened the
media here said it was caused by people eating seafood that was
swimming in water that had raw sewage in it. That explanation never
really sat with me. Your explination makes a lot more sense. Why am
I not surprised that the media never reported the actual cause.
|3.27.08 @ 1:20PM|#
Did anyone mention mercury in vaccinations =
autism?
John McCain said something about it in one of his speeches a few
weeks ago. And no, he wasn't debunking it (after it had been proven
to be false).
|3.27.08 @ 1:34PM|#
Just kidding, mea culpa.
J sub D,
No need...I was kidding.
In fact, the reefer madness scare was so dumb it warranted
repeating
Salvius|3.27.08 @ 1:34PM|#
Crime/horror comic books are turning our youth into juvenile
delinquents!
And the modern equivalent of the same scare:
Violent video games are turning our youth into mass-murderers!
The Wine Commonsewer|3.27.08 @ 1:34PM|#
John, I know Warren is a good looking guy and all (like me) and
we do look a lot alike, but still....you should be able to tell us
apart. He's the one that has the hots for Kerry. I'm the one that's
married to Mrs TWC.
:-)
That was the media spin, and the original contamination came from a
tanker that dumped it's bilge in Peruvian waters. I remember
National Geographic sidestepping the chlorination issue and me
screaming and throwing the magazine across the room. Their focus
was the irresponsible ship captain who caused all this havoc. True
enough, but compounded by the fact that drinking water spread the
contamination.
I could be mistaken, but I think that I knew about the story
because Reason Mag did an article about it. Few others did.
|3.27.08 @ 1:36PM|#
Instapundit published several very informative e-mails from
doctors relating experiences dealing with parents about
vacinations.
Sorry for the length of the post but they are worth reading
ANOTHER UPDATE: Dr. William Schmidt emails:
I'm an emergency physician. In the past week I treated two kids who
weren't vaccinated at all (2 and 4 years old). The first child's
parents seemed marginally educated and not well-off (living in a
trailer park, on an extended vacation). The second child was from
California, had very long hair, and his parents seemed like they
came right right from the "stuff white people like" blog. They were
young, likely very well-educated, wore trendy expensive clothes,
and were uncomfortable when I inquired as to his vaccination
status. Somewhat amusingly, he had some cold symptoms and they were
worried he might be ill because of the lack of previous
vaccinations (they were apparently deathly afraid of the pertussis
vaccine).
I agree with the criticism of the "free rider" theory. I don't know
anyone in the medical profession personally who disbelieves in
vaccinations (unlike claims made on certain websites). And, in
response to Michelle Malkin, many pediatricians don't have time to
waste in their very busy day discussing the "risks" of vaccinating
one's children. From personal experience, many parents, especially
in the Google age, have just enough knowledge to turn this into a
5-10' conversation and will often continue to disagree with you
afterwards. Ten minutes may not seem like much to the soccer mom
who thinks that noted autism researcher Robert Kennedy is
infallible, but it is to the pediatrician who would rather spend
that time doing something more useful (like seeing another
patient).
I'm hearing this kind of thing a lot from my physician readers. And
Chuck Simmins emails:
Glenn, as an EMT and highly interested in not dying, I favor
vaccination in general. I got the Hep vaccine, for example, since I
am exposed to blood borne pathogens. I got the pneumonia vaccine
because I had pneumonia shortly before I did it, and pneumonia is
the number one killer in a flu epidemic. I got the mumps vaccine
because I never had it as a child and I love my parts that could be
affected.
The whooping cough vaccine is about 70% effective. Other vaccines
also vary in effectiveness.
That said, several years ago we say a world-wide polio outbreak
that was traced to Nigeria. Muslim teachers told their people to
refuse the vaccine. One or more of them went to Mecca, and suddenly
we saw outbreaks throughout the Moslem world including countries
that had been polio free for a decade or more.
Parents, like Michelle, in the West do not have two choices, i.e.
take the vaccine or risk the illness. By and large the risk of
contracting most of the diseases we vaccinate against in the West
is non-existent. So, Michelle's choice is to risk her child having
a reaction, a small but clearly definable risk, or to do without. I
understand that thought process.
Medical doctors do a lousy job of explaining risks. For the most
part, I suspect, it's because they don't have a clear understanding
themselves. The companies that make and sell vaccines do as little
as required. So, Michelle and other parents are trying to do their
best in a world where information either comes from kooks or from
experts who aren't really expert.
I have no answers. When asked, I generally point out that there are
loads of people we see every day in urban America who may not have
the best health because they are poor or immigrants. Unless your
child is never around anyone who could have been exposed to a given
disease, you should give serious consideration to vaccination. As
witness, this post on leprosy and TB in a small community in
Arkansas.
Indeed.
MORE: Dr. Kevin Fleming emails:
I am a physician and I very much doubt any connection between
autism and vaccines. However.
Medicine is famous for being dogmatic about things that turn out to
be wrong later. For example, the "globus" phenomenon, the sensation
you have something in your throat, used to be called "globus
hystericus" because it was felt to be anxiety or hysteria. Now it's
often thought to be sign of esophageal reflux, to be treated with
Prilosec.
Not too long ago, medicine used to believe in frontal lobotomies
for the mentally ill. Since I have been in practice, estrogen
therapy has been in then out then in then out of favor as a
treatment after menopause. But never was there any doubt expressed
at the time.
Bruno Bettelheim, the University of Chicago child psychologist
favored the now-discredited "refrigerator mother" theory of autism,
which blamed autism on mothers who did not want their children to
live. Around 1967, he told my mother that she had rejected my
autistic older brother "in the womb" and that was why he was
autistic. My folks followed his advice and left him on a farm in
Illinois. He almost starved to death there. (My dad rescued him as
we left the state, but that's another story).
The point is, medicine is often dogmatic about things which are as
yet unproven or unknown. Do vaccines cause autism? Probably not,
for there is very little evidence to support that theory of origin.
On the other hand, the market speaks, and many consumers are
rejecting vaccines. Are they all wrong? Probably, but the perceived
relationship may be a clue. Medicine cannot fully reject the theory
when there is no real idea what causes autism in the first place.
(Prenatal ultrasounds, mercury exposure from eating fish, and
genetics are also blamed.) Are answering "almost certainly not" and
"there is no evidence" sufficient for parents wishing to avoid a
devastating developmental disorder?
My own kids got their vaccines. What would a libertarian do?
http://instapundit.com/archives2/016909.php
Kolohe|3.27.08 @ 1:41PM|#
Crime/horror comic books are turning our youth into juvenile
delinquents!
And the modern equivalent of the same scare:
Violent video games are turning our youth into
mass-murderers!
Don't forget the 70's/80's bridge between these two, D&D.
|3.27.08 @ 1:45PM|#
John,
I don't want to get into a debate with you about vaccinations. But
I do want to point this out...
From
this link.
After years of insisting there is no evidence to link vaccines
with the onset of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the US government
has quietly conceded a vaccine-autism case in the Court of Federal
Claims.
Furthermore, do you know how many vaccine related deaths/illnesses
occur each year? Me neither. Because the government doesn't keep
track. Isn't that something that they should be keeping track of
considering how many more people have concerns about vaccines? In
fact, if they were to keep and publicize the stats they could show
how rare it is?
It's easy to just poo pooon people who have doubts/concerns/fear
but the reality is that there are legitimate questions that people
have, and people should definitely be able to say "no thanks, ill
pass" vaccinating their children.
|3.27.08 @ 1:53PM|#
Sorry for the length of the post but they are worth
reading
Links, people, links.
After years of insisting there is no evidence to link vaccines
with the onset of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the US government
has quietly conceded a vaccine-autism case in the Court of Federal
Claims.
I can think of a dozen reasons for the feds to settle out of a
case, none of which require that the underlying claims be
legitimate.
people should definitely be able to say "no thanks, ill pass"
vaccinating their children.
Kudos on the "ill pass" typo.
Still, real public health (as in, the prevention of epidemics) is
one of the areas where I struggle with my libertarian reflexes.
There's a definite free rider problem here, and as the number of
unvaccinated kids declines, the risk of a disease outbreak that can
affect lots of people increases.
|3.27.08 @ 1:56PM|#
Whatever the risk from vaccinations, the risk presented by
disease is much. much greater. Our pediatrician also noted that
today's vaccines are much less questionable than they once might've
been.
Mercury in fish is still an issue, isn't it? Just not a total
terror. The health benefits of fish are great enough to offset
entirely the risk of mercury consumption, provided that one doesn't
eat too much fish that contains mercury (e.g., don't eat too much
tuna).
|3.27.08 @ 2:00PM|#
All I know is that I want that little Three Mile Island cartoon for my next album cover...
|3.27.08 @ 2:02PM|#
I recently was treated to a lengthy dissertation on parasites in salt water fish, particularly farmed salmon. It included a fabulous anecdote about worms in a swordfish steak rising up out of the flesh as heat was applied, "like blades of grass."
|3.27.08 @ 2:10PM|#
Let's assume there is a autism risk with vaccinations.
If I vaccinate my kid there is a slight chance she'll develop
autism.
If I don't vaccinate my kid there is a huge risk she'll get
measles, mumps, rubella, polio or any number of horrible diseases
that still lurk the earth, but we rarely see anymore due to mass
vaccinations.
I'll take vaccinations with a slight risk of autism please.
|3.27.08 @ 2:18PM|#
I can think of a dozen reasons for the feds to settle out of
a case, none of which require that the underlying claims be
legitimate.
RC -- read the article...this wasn't an "it's cheaper to settle"
decision.
From the article:
In its written concession, the government said the child had a
pre-existing mitochondrial disorder that was "aggravated" by her
shots, and which ultimately resulted in an ASD diagnosis.
"The vaccinations received on July 19, 2000, significantly
aggravated an underlying mitochondrial disorder," the concession
says, "which predisposed her to deficits in cellular energy
metabolism, and manifested as a regressive encephalopathy with
features of ASD."
Mercury in fish is still an issue, isn't it? Just not a total
terror.
Yes it is. And certain types of fish have higher levels than
others. And for a healthy adult with a properly functioning immune
system they reccomend eating high mercury fish only once a week.
For children and pregnant women they reccomend avoiding them
altogether.
An infant has a very susceptible immune system. Their risk of
mercury exposure is higher than yours and mine.
D.A. Ridgely|3.27.08 @ 2:20PM|#
You all laugh now but you'll feel differently someday when you have Jennifer's children.
|3.27.08 @ 2:20PM|#
Let's assume there is a autism risk with
vaccinations.
Autism isn't the only risk. There are cases where the vaccination
in fact causes a sever onset of the disease you are vaccinating
against.
Not saying it's common or probable, but it happens. The issue is
more than just autism.
|3.27.08 @ 2:24PM|#
If you're middle aged, ask your parents about sending kids to school and polio fears. It was a damned legitimate fear. For parents who neglect to vaccinate their offspring, I'm all for flogging in the public square. And sterilization because they're too stupid to be cluttering up the gene pool.
|3.27.08 @ 2:28PM|#
There's a definite free rider problem here, and as the
number of unvaccinated kids declines, the risk of a disease
outbreak that can affect lots of people increases.
Polio, (one of the more famous successful vaccine examples) was
actually on the decline in significant number (oer 40% decline) for
the two years PRIOR to the vaccine being available.
Sorry I don't have links for this. I am going by memory of a book I
am reading about vaccines and children -- it has documented it's
sources for the statistics.
And again..I want to be clear. I am not advocating against
vaccinations, but there is a dogmatic element on both sides of this
issue. My wife is expecting, and this is an issue I am trying very
hard to get as much good information as possible.
And I find it rather odd that many of the same people who accuse
Global Warming scientists and supporters of being "cult-like" tend
to ridicule those have the same skepticism towards the dogmatic
pro-vaccine community.
|3.27.08 @ 2:36PM|#
ChicagoTom,
Don't forget the horrors of the pre-vaccination world. Vaccines may
have issues, but their net benefit has been so huge that we can
comfortably debate those issues today. The pandemics we're avoiding
through vaccination are a dim memory for most Americans. That
doesn't mean we should blindly ignore negative effects associated
with vaccination, but it does mean that vaccination in general has
some excellent supporting history. Unless you read Kevin Trudeau, I
suppose.
|3.27.08 @ 2:39PM|#
True story.
When I was in the Navy back in the mid 80's I was serving aboard a
submarine tender...
Warren - You were a tender puke too! I was on the Holland &
Hunley as a squid and the Hunley and Simon Lake as a tech
rep.
As I write this I am looking at a picture of the Hunley with four
subs along side and the Los Alamos (AFDB-7) with sub in it. I slept
soundly near all of those nuclear power plants, but would hate the
idea of living anywhere near a coal fired power plant.
LarryA|3.27.08 @ 2:45PM|#
Bonus quote: "In 1979, Three Mile Island killed fewer people
than ... robot attacks."
And I'm one of them. We lived in Lebanon, PA at the time, about 30
miles downwind.
If you buy a Pinto, you will die horribly, in a gigantic ball
of flame!
Wimp. I learned to drive on a Corvair. "Unsafe At Any Speed."
Jazz Music! (And pretty much every style before and after.)
First Little Pig|3.27.08 @ 2:46PM|#
I did a paper in grad school on the Peruvian Cholera experience
(mostly on the public sector reaction).
While the low levels of chlorination in Lima and Cuzco drinking
water was an issue the reality is that most rural Peruvians do not
have access to municipal water sources, use ground and surface
water for most needs, do not have adequate sewage treatment (much
human waste goes into surface water) and farmers often use
contaminated water for crops. In fact, since cholera had been
absent from South America for about 100 years, the use of waste
water on crops is fairly common.
The cholera did come from ship sewage initially and quickly spread.
I was under the impression that the lack of adequate chlorination
was a government incompetence or lack of funds issue rather than a
cancer scare and I really doubt that Peru in the 1980's early 90's
would have given a crap about cancer risks considering the economic
and political crises they were going through. I had Sendero
Luminoso (or Tupac Amaru) bombs going off blocks from where I was
staying, there was massive inflation, the country had defaulted on
its debt .... I mean really, worried about cancer risks from
chlorine?
|3.27.08 @ 2:49PM|#
ProLib,
I don't disagree.
But like I said upthread....if polio was already on the decline in
significant numbers prior to the availability of the vaccine, then
maybe something else also had a hand in curbing polio. (Maybe
hygiene, cleaner drinking water, safer food preparation/handling?
)
Also, the number of ailments being vaccinated for is increasing
even when there are no pandemics they are addressing. It does give
me pause, personally.
Unless you read Kevin Trudeau, I suppose.
I don't. But that doesn't meant that there aren't home remedies
that have an efficacy rate equal or better than the products you
find at the pharmacy (and with less side effects to boot)
The Wine Commonsewer|3.27.08 @ 2:52PM|#
The Peruvian government took the environmentalists and the EPA seriously. Peruvian bureaucrats bought the rhetoric wholesale and greatly reduced the chlorine pumped into the country's water supply.
This action set the stage for horror when, Pan American Health Organization officials suspect, a Chinese freighter released its cholera-contaminated bilge water into Lima's harbor. Eventually the bacteria made its way into open wells, which hadn't been chlorinated, and to other fresh water supplies in which chlorine levels had fallen too low to kill the germ.
Yer a spinner Pig! :-)
http://www.reason.com/news/show/29905.html
TallDave|3.27.08 @ 3:05PM|#
I can't wait for the 2050 version, when we all have a good chuckle over that "Global Warming" silliness.
TallDave|3.27.08 @ 3:05PM|#
Or, are breathing through genetically engineered gills. Really, either one works for me.
First Little Pig|3.27.08 @ 3:21PM|#
TWC:
I stand partially corrected...
But even your excerpt states: "Eventually the bacteria made its way
into open wells, which hadn't been chlorinated, and to other fresh
water supplies in which chlorine levels had fallen too low to kill
the germ." Which supports my recollection. Wells are almost never
chlorinated and "fresh water supplies" are not either... in fact no
one ever chlorinates rivers or lakes.... That's just silly. While I
was wrong about the municipal chlorine reduction, I remain correct
on how it spread rurally - where the real problems took
place.
So there :)
|3.27.08 @ 3:28PM|#
ChicagoTom,
No snark intended with the Kevin Trudeau remark. He just came to
mind as the ungood extreme of the anti-medicine view. I think
doctors do still tend to pay short shrift to preventative medicine,
although the claims made for some forms of that are extremely
inaccurate.
|3.27.08 @ 4:17PM|#
Satanic cults performing human sacrifices in the 80s and
early 90s.
There you go!
And how did we forget:
Your Daycare is molesting your toddler while you work.
|3.27.08 @ 4:26PM|#
Listening to Judas Priest can cause suicide?
Everything of the "Kids today are going to hell in a hand basket"
nature, is eternal. However, specific scares that came up empty
like:
If you listen to Judas Priest backwards it says "Worship
Satan",
should be on the list.
Heavy metal induces suicide?... Hmmm OTOH the establishment is
always going to bitch about the music of the youth, general
allegations of "devil's music" are out. OTOH suicide!
OK it's in!
|3.27.08 @ 4:32PM|#
I'm still going to play the odds and get my kid
vaccinated.
And I will support your decision whole heartedly, and refrain from
judging you or your decision :)
Like I said...I am not advocating for or againt vaccines. My main
point of even talking about it is to just ask that people whose
initial response is to mock/ridicule those of us who are struggling
with/questioning the status quo to be a bit more open-minded about
decisions that others make -- even if they do go against the
conventional wisdom.
|3.27.08 @ 5:06PM|#
An infant has a very susceptible immune system. Their risk
of mercury exposure is higher than yours and mine.
Very true, but I have never read anything regarding an
immunorepsonse to mercury. Rather, at sufficiently high doses, it
can interfere with development, such as myelin sheath growth on
nerve cells.
|3.27.08 @ 5:13PM|#
My official list of Hysteria American Style
The Cracked five:
1 DDT
2 Asbestos in New York City Public Schools
3 The Cranberry Scare of 1959
4 Artificial Sweeteners Circa 60's
5 Three mile island
The list naturally brings to mind
a Asbestos rip-outs in general
b The Alar Scare
c Artificial Sweetener Saccharine
HnR additions:
1 Swine Flu
2 Y2K
3 Crack Babies
4 Satanic Cult Human Sacrifices
5 Heavy Metal Music played backwards causes suicide
6 Daycare Sex Rings
Vaccines, reefer madness, and others didn't make the list because
too many people still believe it.
|3.27.08 @ 5:48PM|#
Kolohe, didn't the alarmists claim D&D would make kids grow up to not be able to distinguish fantasy from reality? I'm not sure I would entirely dispute that. OK, just kidding, but it does destroy your soul, obviously.
|3.27.08 @ 6:05PM|#
Episiarch and Warren, could you guys fix the wikipedia DDT
entry? It's got quotes like:
"Although the publication of Silent Spring undoubtedly influenced
the U.S. ban on DDT in 1972, the reduced usage of DDT in malaria
eradication began the decade before because of the emergence of
DDT-resistant mosquitoes."
and
"Greenpeace, World Wildlife Fund, Physicians for Social
Responsibility and over 300 other environmental organizations
advocated for a total DDT ban, starting as early as 2007 in some
cases."
2007? That really messes with the "environmentalists are
responsible for more deaths than Stalin" narrative.
|3.27.08 @ 6:06PM|#
bigbigslacker,
yes, and I think there's even a made-for-TV movie on the topic,
Mazes and Monsters. Starring an insane Tom Hanks.
|3.27.08 @ 6:07PM|#
Tomatoes ("wolf's peach") are poisonous. That goes back a few
hundred years, though.
And one that's still in vogue: Hormones in milk are causing
early-onset puberty in girls.
|3.27.08 @ 6:09PM|#
Ooh, I know -- has killer bees been mentioned yet?
This also had its own made-for-TV movie.
|3.27.08 @ 6:17PM|#
And one that's still in vogue: Hormones in milk are causing
early-onset puberty in girls.
Then how do you explain my 9-year-old daughter's cock?
Back to work|3.27.08 @ 7:52PM|#
Then how do you explain my 9-year-old daughter's
cock?
Chlorinated drinking water. Duh.
The Wine Commonsewer|3.27.08 @ 8:32PM|#
Satanic cults performing human sacrifices in the 80s and
early 90s.
No joke, my nutcase sister full on believes she was a victim of
this. She spins an outlandish tale that includes city council
members, the police chief, my parents, and includes a number of
other zombie children held under the spell of witchcraft and
sorcery where they were routinely sexually abused, drugged, and
used in deranged satanic worship.
Ed Darrell|3.27.08 @ 11:15PM|#
If fact-free rants are your thing, one is as good as another, I
suppose -- but are you really meaning to suggest that more people
have died from robots than the big cases with the big
payouts?
Or were you just unaware that you're poking fun at real people and
real deaths?
Cracked.com's complaints about DDT are exactly wrong. Is the rest
of their stuff as erroneous? Where does the parody begin? Were they
intending to parody conservatives and Reason.com?
Ed Darrell|3.27.08 @ 11:21PM|#
Legionnaire's disease? No, please don't forget it:
"Each year, between 8,000 and 18,000 people are hospitalized with Legionnaires' disease in the U.S. However, many infections are not diagnosed or reported, so this number may be higher. More illness is usually found in the summer and early fall, but it can happen any time of year."
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/legionellosis_g.htm#1
It killed 34 Legionnaires in 1976. They're veterans - why don't you
poke fun at their deaths, too?
|3.28.08 @ 11:50PM|#
Ed Darrell
You are absolutely the only person to bring up
Legionnaire's disease on this thread. That's right, absolutely the
only one.
I have to ask, why the fuck are you bringing it up when noone else
has and it has nothing to do with the subject at hand? Not
even in some odd tangential way.
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