Rich vs. Poor Health
The following timeline was created to help illustrate how potential and/or cumulative influence and/or events can impact [for good or for bad] upon individual human health. In some places, bold type highlights were added for quick summary review. [E.M. / D.R.D.]
21st Century
2003 - Financial Distress / Pittsburgh - December 30th, 2003: "The state declared Monday [12/29/03] that Pittsburgh was financially distressed, opening the way for the appointment of an outside overseer who will draw up a recovery plan for the Steel City. [....] Pittsburgh is projecting a $42 million deficit for next year, and its credit rating hit junk-bond status in October. The city has laid off hundreds of employees in the past few months and closed swimming pools and police stations." [News Services]
2004
2004 - Research / Gulf War Syndrome - July 20th, 2004: "Researchers have found that veterans of the 1991 Gulf War are more likely to suffer from chronic symptoms, including memory and thinking problems, debilitating fatigue, severe muscle and joint pain, depression and rashes. But the cause has proved elusive. Theories include stress, bacterial infection, chemical or biological weapons, pollutants from burning oil fields, depleted-uranium munitions, and vaccinations for anthrax and other potential biological weapons." [News Services]
2004 - Trivia / Memory and Stress - October 29th, 2004: "Stressful situations in which the individual has no control were found to activate an enzyme in the brain called protein kinase C, which impairs the short-term memory and other functions in the prefrontal cortex, the executive-decision part of the brain, says Dr. Amy F.T. Arnsten of Yale Medical School. [....] The PKC enzyme is also active in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, and Arnsten notes that a first psychotic episode can be precipitated by a stressful situation, such as going away to college for the first time or joining the military. [....] 'These new findings may also help us understand the impulsivity and distractibility observed in children with lead poisoning,' she said. 'Very low levels of lead can activate PKC.' " [A.P.]
2005
2005 - Trivia / A "Broken" Heart - February 10th, 2005: "WASHINGTON - As Valentine's Day approaches, scientists say they have confirmed the lament of countless love sonnets and romance novels: People really can die of a broken heart. And the researchers now think they know why. A traumatic breakup, the death of a loved one or even the shock of a surprise party can unleash a flood of stress hormones that can stun the heart, causing sudden, life-threatening heart spasm in otherwise healthy people, they reported Wednesday [02/09/05] [....]" [Based on: Washington Post]
2005 - Trivia / Americans Overworked? - March 16th, 2005: "NEW YORK - One in three American workers is chronically overworked, with job-related stress varying significantly by age, employment situation and demands at home, a new survey shows. The survey by the Families and Work Institute largely echoes one done by the group in 2001. It also found that a third of employees are highly overworked. [....] The survey, done by telephone in October and November, has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points." [Based on: A.P.]
2005 - Trivia / Antibiotics in Meat - April 15th, 2005:
Last week, a coalition of public health and environmental advocates petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to ban the routine use of antibiotics in factory farms. A ban will go into effect in the European Union next year. Two years ago the World Health Organization recommended a worldwide phase-out.
Two-thirds of all antibiotics in the United States are used in factory farms to promote the animals' growth and to contain infectious diseases induced by extreme crowding and stress. [....][Based on: article by Steven Kroit [St. Louis], Letters To The Editor section, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, p. C8, 04/15/05]
2005 - Critical Opinion / Echinacea - July 28th, 2005: "LOS ANGELES - Echinacea, the popular herbal remedy for fighting the common cold, does not ward off runny noses, sore throats or headaches, nor does it help speed recovery from cold symptoms, according to a new study. The findings are from a broad clinical trial being reported today [07/28/05] in the New England Journal of Medicine. [....] 'We find no evidence that it actually does anything to common cold symptoms,' said Dr. Ronald B. Turner, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Virginia School of Medicine and the study's lead author. 'If that's the reason you're buying it, then you're wasting your money.' [....] No less an authority than the World Health Organization recognized echinacea as a treatment for colds in 1999. Americans spent $153 million on echinacea products last year [2004], making it one of the five best-selling herbs in the country, according to the Nutrition Business Journal, an industry publication based in San Diego. [....]" [Based on: Los Angeles Times article by Karen Kaplan, p. A1, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 07/28/05]
2005 - Riots Trivia / Paris, France - November 6th, 2005: "The unrest that triggered scores of arson attacks on targets from the Mediterranean to the German border reached into Paris overnight. Police said early Sunday [11/06/05] that 13 cars were burned in the French capital. [....]" [Based on: A.P. article, p. A10, S.L.P.D., 11/06/05]]
*Trivia: "[....] The corrosive gap between America's whites and its racial minorities, especially African-Americans, is the product of centuries: slavery, followed by cycles of poverty and racial exclusion that denied generation after generation the best that the United States could offer. France, on the other hand, is only beginning to struggle with a much newer variant of the same problem: the fury of Muslims of North African descent who have found themselves caught for three generations in a trap of ethnic and religious discrimination. [....] So far, although hundreds of cars and buses have been burned and dozens of businesses destroyed in violence that has spread to at least a dozen towns, most rioters appear to be teenage boys bent more on making the news than making a coherent political statement. Oliver Roy, a French scholar of European Islam, said the danger was a long-range one. So far, he said, the attacks on the police and the torching of cars have less the character of a religious war than of 'a local sport, a rite of passage.' [....] Mayor Manuel Valls of Evry, a Paris suburb that has seen violence in recent days, said, 'We've combined the failure of our integration model with the worst effects of ghettoization, without a social ladder for people to climb.' " [Based on: New York Times article by Craig S. Smith, p. A10, S.L.P.D., 11/06/05]
*Trivia: "[....] France's worst civil unrest in decades entered a 12th night Monday [11/07/05], as rioters in the southern city of Toulouse set fire to a bus after sundown and pelted police with gasoline bombs and rocks. [....] The Les Tilleuls youths noted that France had welcomed their parents as laborers years ago, often to do menial jobs most French did not want. Now, there are no jobs - or no one willing to give them one, they said. 'This isn't good for anything,' says Farid, 20, angrily shaking his French identity card. He and the others refused to give their surnames, saying they fear repercussions from police or in the community. [....] In terms of material destruction, the unrest is France's worst since World War II - and never has rioting struck so many different French cities simultaneously, said security expert Sebastian Roche, a director of research at the state-funded National Center for Scientific Research. [....] Villepin said 'organized criminal networks' are backing the violence and that youths taking part are treating it as a game, trying to outdo one another. He did not rule out the possibility that radical Islamists are involved, saying: 'That element must not be neglected.' France's community of Muslims, at about 5 million, is Western Europe's largest. [....] Nearly 600 people were in custody Monday night, and fast-track trials were being used to punish rioters. [....]" [Based on: A.P. article, p. A9, S.L.P.D.]
2005 - Pay Raise / U.S. Congress - November 19th, 2005: "The Republican-controlled Congress helped itself to a $3,100 pay raise on Friday [11/18/05], then postponed decisions on bills to curb spending on social programs and cut taxes in favor of a two-week vacation. [....]" [Based on: A.P.]
*Trivia: "I believe that anyone who works 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year should not live in poverty in the richest country in the world." [Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., arguing - March 2005 - for the Democratic proposal to increase the minimum wage by $2.10 over the next 26 months.]
*Trivia: "The last time Congress [U.S.A.] raised the minimum wage was in 1996. Since that time, the Senate has voted to raise each senator's pay by $28,000. [....] Compassion is at a bare minimum in the new American Congress. So is fair and honest representation. - Steven Oertli, Affton [Based on: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, p. B6, 03/09/05]2005 - "Sick of Poverty" - "New studies suggest that the stress of being poor has a staggeringly harmful influence on health. [....] When you examine socioeconomic status (SES), a composite measure that includes income, occupation, education and housing conditions, it becomes clear that, starting with the wealthiest stratum of society, every step downward in SES correlates with poorer health. [....] Lack of access to medical attention cannot explain the phenomenon, because the U.K., unlike the U.S., has universal health care. Similar SES gradients also occur in other countries with socialized medicine, including the health care Edens of Scandinavia, and the differences remain significant even after researchers factor in how much the subjects actually use the medical services. [....] Instead these psycological stressors involve the anticipation (accurate or otherwise) of an impending challenge. And the striking characteristic of such psychological and social stress is its chronicity. For most mammals, a stressor lasts only a few minutes. In contrast, we humans can worry chronically over a 30-year mortgage. [....] An extensive biomedical literature has established that individuals are more likely to activate a stress response and are more at risk for a stress-sensitive disease if they (a) feel as if they have minimal control over stressors, (b) feel as if they have no predictive information about the duration and intensity of the stressor, (c) have few outlets for the frustration caused by the stressor, (d) interpret the stressor as evidence of circumstances worsening, and (e) lack social support for the duress caused by the stressors. [....] Numbing assembly-line work and an occupational lifetime spent taking orders erode workers' sense of control. Unreliable cars that may not start in the morning and paychecks that may not last the month inflict unpredictability. Poverty rarely allows stress-relieving options such as health club memberships, costly but relaxing hobbies, or sabbaticals for rethinking one's prioroties. And despite the heartwarming stereotype of the 'poor but loving community,' the working poor typically have less social support than the middle and upper classes, thanks to the extra jobs, the long commutes on public transit, and other burdens. Marmot [Michael G. Marmot, University College, London] has shown that regardless of SES, the less autonomy one has at work, the worse one's cardiovascualr health. Furthermore, low control in the workplace accounts for about half the SES gradient in cardiovascular disease in his Whitehall population. [....] Adler's [Nancy E. Adler, of the Univ. of Calif., San Francisco] provocative finding is that subjective SES is at least as good as objective SES at predicting patterns of cardiovascular function, measures of metabolism, incidences of obesity and levels of stress hormones - suggesting that the subjective feelings may help explain the objective results. [....] For example, as Stephen Bezruchka of the University of Washington emphasizes, people in Greece on average earn half the income of Americans yet have a longer life expectancy. Once the minimal resources are available to sustain a basic level of health through adequate food and housing, absolute levels of income are of remarkably little importance to health. Although Adler's work suggests that the objective state of being poor adversly affects health, at the core of that result is the subjective state of feeling poor. [....] Whether considered at the level of cities or states, income inequality predicts mortality rates across nearly all ages in the U.S. [....] Why, though, is this relation not observed in, say, Canada or Denmark? One possibility is that these countries have too little income variability to tease out the correlation. [....] Wilkinson [Richard Wilkinson, Univ. of Nottingham, England] has shown, however that decreased income inequality predicts better health for both the poor and the wealthy. This result strongly indicates that the association between illness and inequality is more than just a mathematical artifact. Wilkinson and others in the field have long argued that the more unequal income in a community is, the more psychological stress there will be for the poor. Higher income inequality intensifies a community's hierarchy and makes social support less available: truly symmetrical, reciprocal, affiliative support exists only among equals. Moreover, having your nose rubbed in your poverty is likely to lessen your sense of control in life, to aggravate the frustrations of poverty and to intensify the sense of life worsening. If Adler's work demonstrates the adverse health effects of feeling poor, Wilkinson's income inequality work suggests that the surest way to feel poor is to be made to feel poor - to be endlessly made aware of the haves when you are a have-not. And in our global village, we are constantly made aware of the moguls and celebrities whose resources dwarf ours. [....] But, by definition, the bigger income inequality in a society, the greater the financial distance between the average and the wealthy. The bigger the distance, the less the wealthy have have to gain from expenditures on the public good. Instead they would benefit more from keeping their tax money to spend on their private good - a better chauffeur, a gated community, bottled water, private schools, private health insurance. So the more unequal the income is in a community, the more incentive the wealthy will have to oppose public expenditures benefiting the health of the community. And within the U.S., the more income inequality there is, the more power will be disproportionately in the hands of the wealthy to oppose such public expenditures. According to health economist Evans [Robert G. Evans, Univ. of British Columbia], this scenario ultimately leads to 'private affluence and public squalor.' This 'secession of the wealthy' can worsen the SES/health gradient in two ways: by aggravating the conditions in low-income communities (which account for at least part of the increased health risks for the poor) and by adding to the psychological stressors. If the social and psychological stressors are entwined with feeling poor, and even more so with feeling poor while being confronted with the wealthy, they will be even more stressful when the wealthy are striving to decrease the goods and services available to the poor. [....] Using a complex statistical technique called path analysis, Kawachi [Ichiro Kawachi, Harvard University] has demonstrated that (once one controls for the effects of absolute income) the strongest route from income inequality to poor health is through the social capital measures - to wit, high degrees of income inequality come with low levels of trust and support, which increases stress and harms health. [....] Of Westernized nations, America has the greatest income inequality (40 percent of the wealth is controlled by 1 percent of the population) and the greatest discrepancy between expenditures on health care (number one in the world) and life expectancy (as of 2003, number 29). [....]" [Based on: Scientific American (December 2005) article (Sick of Poverty) by Robert Sapolsky, pp. 92-99] - [Bold type highlights added and paragraph indents omitted to save space - E.M.]
2005 - Foreigners Finance U.S. Trade Deficit? - November 22nd, 2005: "[....] If foreign investors were to sour on the United States and unload their holdings, the prices of U.S. stocks and bonds could plunge. Interest rates - including those for mortgages - could soar. And the nation could face a financial crisis. [....] America's shortfall on all trade and investment income with the rest of the world mushroomed to a record high of $668 billion last year. This deficit, known as the current account, is expected to set a new record this year. [....] Of the more than $30 trillion in foreign investment tracked by the Bank for International Settlements in the first three months this year, 42.5 percent was in dollars, 39.3 percent in euros, Greenspan noted. The dollar's share was down by 4 percentage points from around three years earlier, while the euro's share was up by 5 percentage points, he noted. [....] Net purchases by foreigners of U.S. stocks, corporate bonds, Treasury securities and other investments totaled $118.1 billion in September, a sharp increase from August, according to the Treasury figures. Of that total, $113.8 billion came from private foreign investors, while foreign governments bought $4.3 billion worth of securities. [....] Japan, followed by China and Britain, is the biggest holder of U.S. Treasury securities. All three increased their holdings from August to September, Treasury data show. Greenspan has said the 'seemingly endless' U.S. ability to finance its trade deficits through foreign investment has confounded experts. He and Bernanke agree it can't go on forever, but both are optimistic the deficits can be curbed without inflicting serious damage. 'I believe that can be done over a period of time.' Bernanke told legislators. 'But it won't happen overnight.' " [Based on: A.P. article by Jeannine Aversa (U.S. relies on foreigners to finance deficit), p. C2, S.L.P.D., 11/22/05] - [Bold type highlights added - E.M.]
*Trivia: "[....] The Masonic bankers during the last 25 years have lent money to the governments of the industrial nations, which find it harder and harder to repay their enormous debt. The private sector has become exactly that much richer. This monetary power has enough money to stop any intransigent politicians. Popularly elected politicians no longer have any means of conducting the policies they wish. They cannot take back their power until the debts are paid. For every dollar borrowed, the politicians relinquish more power. The developing countries are in much worse situation. They are not even able to pay interest on their loans.
"During 1982-1990 the banks of the industrial nations received $1,345 trillion in interest and annuity from these poor countries [....]." [Based on: article by Juri Lina, The Barnes Review, September/October 2004, p. 13] - [Bold type highlights added - E.M.]
2005 - American Indian Compensation Plan? / Canada - November 25th, 2005: "Indian chiefs and Inuit leaders sat down Thursday [11/24/05] with Canadian officials to hash out a multibillion-dollar plan to fight poverty and disease on native reserves and settle damage claims for mistreatment. Prime Minister Paul Martin is taking part in the two-day meeting, as are the premiers of Canada's 13 provinces and territories. Martin got a jump on the talks Wednesday by proposing a $1.7 billion payment for aboriginal victims of sexual and psychological abuse during forced Christian schooling. About 100,000 children were required to attend such residential schools over the past century. The sad history of their abuse has long been cited by Indian leaders as the root cause of epidemic rates of alcoholism and drug addiction on reserves. Native reserves also are short 20,000 to 35,000 housing units. Their high school graduation rate is just over half the national average. And life expectancy for Indians is five to seven years lower than for other Canadians. [....] In the Canadian edition of Time magazine this week, Phil Fontaine - national chief of the Assembly of First nations and one of the key negotiators at the meeting - wrote, 'Canada has a Third World in its front yard and back alleys.' [....] If the school abuse deal is approved in court, survivors of rape, beatings and cultural isolation probably will be paid by the end of next year. The compensation plan is open to more than 80,000 former students. They can apply to get a minimum of $8,535, plus $2,560 for each year spent in the forced schooling." [Based on: A.P. article (Talks focus on redress for canada's Indians), p. A15, S.L.P.D., 11/25/05]
2005 - Expectation and Health - November 30th, 2005: "Your medicine really could work better if your doctor talks it up before handing over the prescription. Research is showing the power of expectations, that they have physical - not just psychological - effects on your health. Scientists can measure the resulting changes in the brain, from the release of natural painkilling chemicals to alterations in how neurons fire. [....] 'Your expectations can have profound impacts on your brain and your health,' says Columbia University neuroscientist Tor Wager. 'There is not a single placebo effect, but many placebo effects,' that differ by illness, adds Dr. Fabrizio Benedetti of Italy's University of Torino Medical School, who is studying those effects in patients with Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease and pain. [....] Doctors have long thought the placebo effect was psychological. Now scientists are amassing the first direct evidence that the placebo effect actually is physical, and that expecting benefit can trigger the same neurological pathways of healing as real medication does. [....]" [Based on: A.P. article (Medicine studies hail expectation), p. A6, S.L.P.D., 11/30/05]
2005 - Looming Funding Crisis? / British Pension System - December 1st, 2005: "The British government said Wednesday [11/30/05] it would consider raising the retirement age as high as 69 as recommended by a panel commissioned to avert a looming funding crisis in the state pension system as people live longer and have fewer children. The Pensions Commission, appointed by Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2002, also said the state pension should be increased and proposed creating a National Pension Savings System in which every worker would be enrolled automatically. [....] But Hutton [Work & Pensions Secretary, John Hutton] said changes have to be made. He noted there will be 50 percent more pensioners by 2050 and said nearly 10 million people of working age are not saving enough for their retirement. Britain's state pension, currently [2005?] paid to women beginning at age 60 and men at 65, is $138 a week." [Based on: A.P. article (Britain may raise retirement age), p. A9, S.L.P.D., 12/01/05]
2005 - Greenspan Speaks - December 3rd, 2005: "Outgoing Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan on Friday [12/02/05] warned anew that the exploding U.S. budget deficit and a protectionist backlash against trade deficits could disrupt the global economy. [....] He said U.S. deficits are set to soar with the pending retirement of 78 million baby boomers. He suggested that Congress trim Social Security and Medicare benefits because the government probably has promised more than it can afford. If something isn't done to trim benefit costs, the resulting budget deficits would 'cast an ever-larger shadow' over the future living standards of Americans, Greenspan said. [....]" [Based on: A.P. article by Martin Crutsinger (Greenspan again sounds alarm over trade and budget deficits), p. A32, S.L.P.D., 12/03/05]
2005 - Blue Cross Bank? - December 5th, 2005: "The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association wants to start a bank that will administer its consumer-directed health plans. [....] The bank would be an independent entity based in Salt Lake City. Health savings accounts are high-deductible insurance plans. Employees deposit money into a tax-free savings account that can be used for medical expenses and rolled over like 401(k) retirement plans." [Based on: News Services article (Blue Cross organization plans to establish Bank), p. A3, S.L.P.D., 12/05/05]
2005 - "Tis The Season" / U.S.A. - December 5th, 2005: "The holiday shopping season has begun and financial experts and store owners are eagerly anticipating the sales reports from the stores. Will it be a good holiday season? Defining that is easy for them, because it all comes down to one question: Will people spend more money this year than last? [....] Ever since shopping became America's national pastime, the quality of the retail worker's job has deteriorated. In the quest for ever more sales dollars, it's the retail worker who pays the price in a society that demands that stores be open round the clock. The result has been longer and longer shifts and less and less time off between shifts. Seven-day, 70-hour weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas are not unusual in the retail workplace. And in many cases, these workers are classified 'salaried workers,' making them inelligible for overtime. [....] Now factor in relatively low pay and clueless executives who may never have worked a single shift on a sales floor or behind a cash register, and the working environment can become downright dsyfunctional. No wonder the service can stink. [....] I wouldn't suggest asking sales clerks for autographs the next time you're out shopping. But it wouldn't kill us customers to let them know we realize how hard they work under very demanding circumstances. There's no reason good will and holiday cheer can't go both ways in the retail marketplace." [Based on: Other Views page article by Tim Hollenbach, p. B9, S.L.P.D., 12/05/05]
2005 - Financial Condition / Delta Air Lines Inc. - December 6th, 2005: "Delta Air Lines Inc., the No. 3 U.S. air carrier, won't be able to fully repay creditors the $28.3 billion they're owed, a company lawyer on Monday [12/05/05] told a bankruptcy judge in New York. Delta detailed its financial condition for U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Prudence Carter Beatty to persuade her to authorize cuts in pilot's pay, Delta wants to save $325 million a year as part of a plan to reduce expenses by $3 billion." [Based on: Business page article (Delta says it can't fully repay its creditors), p. C2, S.L.P.D., 12/06/05]
2005 - Push to Protect Pensions? / George W. Bush - December 6th, 2005:
President George W. Bush said Monday [12/05/05] that American companies must honor promises to their retired workers. He urged Congress to pass tough legislation to protect retirees' pension checks. "In our society, we've had some companies - big companies - go bankrupt, and workers at those companies know what I'm talking about," Bush said. 'And so my message to corporate America is: 'You need to fulfill your promises.' " [....]
[Based on: A.P. article by Deb Reichmann (Bush pushes for tough law to protect pensions), p. A2, S.L.P.D., 12/06/05]
*Trivia: "The House is abandoning plans to move soon on legislation to shore up the financially troubled employer-based pensions systems, a Republican leader said Tuesday [12/07/05]. Acting majority Leader Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said there was 'really no likelihood' that the House would vote any time soon on a bill to overhaul traditional defined-benefit pension plans. Last month, on a 97-2 vote, the Senate approved its version of the legislation. [....]" [Based on: A.P. article (House drops effort to act soon on pensions legislation), p. A5, S.L.P.D., 12/07/05]
2005 - Managers Pensions Freeze? / Verizon Communications - December 6th, 2005: "Verizon Communications, the nation's second-largest phone company, said Monday [12/05/05] that it would freeze the guaranteed pension plan covering 50,000 of its managers and expand their 401(k) plans instead. In freezing the plan the company will pay workers the benefits they have already earned but will not let them build up additional benefits. Verizon also said that it would contribute less to the health care benefits of those managers when they retire. Over all, the company hopes to save about $3 billion over the next decade by taking these steps. The moves are part of a broader effort by Verizon to overhaul its pension and health care plans to keep up with rival cable and technology companies that typically pay lower salaries and provide fewer benefits. [....] Verizon's 200,000 retirees and its 105,000 current union employees will not be affected by the change. But in cutting retirement benefits for about a quarter of its work force of 215,000, Verizon may be setting the stage for concessions it may hope to gain from its unionized workers during their next round of negotiations. The company's decision to scale back benefits for some employees echoes similar steps taken in recent months by other big technology companies, including Hewlett-Packard Co., IBM Corp. and Motorola Inc. Businesses across America have been trying to find ways to reduce their pension burdens and contain health care costs that are spiraling upward." [Based on: New York Times article (Verizon will freeze manager's pensions), p. C2, S.L.P.D., 12/06/05]
2005 - Economic Recovery? / U.S.A. - December 7th, 2005: "Falling gasoline prices have led to some improvement in consumer confidence over the past few weeks. But the public remains deeply unhappy about the state of the economy. According to the latest Gallup poll, 63 percent of Americans rate the economy as only fair or poor; 58 percent say economic conditions are getting worse, not better. [....] Family income data for 2004 released by the census bureau in August showed a remarkable disconnect between overall economic growth and the economic fortunes of most American families. It should have been a good year; the economy grew 4.2 percent, its best performance since 1999. Yet most families actually lost economic ground. Real median household income (adjusted for inflation) fell for the fifth year in a row. And one key source of economic insecurity got worse: The number of Americans without health insurance continued to rise. We can't have comparable data for 2005 yet, but its pretty clear that the results will be similar. Behind the disconnect between economic growth and family incomes lies the lopsided nature of the economic recovery that officially began in late 2001. Corporate profits have risen more than 50 percent, even after adjusting for inflation, but real wage and salary income is up less than 7 percent. Wealthy Americans who derive a large share of their income from dividends and capital gains on stocks have benefited, but these people constitute a small minority. For everyone else, the sluggish growth in wages is the real story. And much of that growth took the form of rising payments to executives and other elite employees. Average hourly earnings of nonsupervisory workers, adjusted for inflation, are lower now than when the recovery began. So there you have it. Americans don't feel good about the economy because it hasn't been good for them. Most people are falling behind. [....] Wages and median family income often lag behind profits, but not this far behind, and not for so long. Nor is there any easy way to place more than a small fraction of the blame on Bush administration policies. At this point, the joylessness of the economic expansion for most Americans is a mystery. But advisers who believe Bush can repair his political standing by telling the public how well the economy is doing misunderstand the situation. The problem isn't that people don't understand how good things really are. It's that they know things really aren't that good." [Based on: Other Views page article (Most people haven't benefited from the improved economy - No wonder they're not happy about it.) by Paul Krugman, p. C13, S.L.P.D., 12/07/05]
2005 - Trivia / 3rd-Quarter Debt, U.S.A. - December 9th, 2005: "U.S. consumer, business and government debt increased at a faster pace in the third quarter than in the previous three months, and hosehold net worth rose to a record, Federal Reserve figures showed. Non-financial debt, which excludes borrowing by banks, rose at a 9.1 percent annual rate from July through September, after an 8.1 percent increase in the previous three months, the Fed said in a report Thursday [12/08/05]. The acceleration reflected the biggest jump in household borrowing in 18 years. Government borrowing also accelerated, while business debt rose at a slower pace. Third-quarter household debt rose at an 11.6 percent rate, the fastest pace since the second quarter of 1987." [Based on: Business page article (Consumer, government, business debt increases), p. E2, S.L.P.D., 12/09/05]
2005 - "Equal Rights for All Workers?" / Ireland - December 10th, 2005: "More than 70,000 labor union members brought Irish cities to a standstill Friday [12/09/05] to protest a plan to replace ferry workers with low-paid Eastern Europeans. More than 40,000 trade unionists and their supporters marched down Dublin's main thoroughfare to Parliament, carrying a banner that read 'Equal Rights for All Workers.' Smaller protests in at least eight Irish cities blocked major roads, and many buses and trains were delayed or canceled. Two weeks ago, Irish Ferries began hiring new laborers - most of them from Latavia - for $4.25 an hour, less than half of Ireland's minimum wage. Union chiefs seized control of two of the company's four ships, forcing it to shut down service at a daily loss estimated at $2.5 million. 'There is a threshold of decency below which the Irish people will not accept anyone being dragged,' David Begg of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions told the crowd in Dublin on Friday. In September, Irish Ferries offered the 543 unionized workers on its main Britain-Ireland routes a total of $30 million if they quit voluntarily. Labor tension has been rising in Ireland since last year, when the country joined Britain and Sweden in admitting workers from Eastern European countries newly admitted to the European Union. More than 150,000 immigrants have come to work in bars and restaurants and on construction sites and farms, often for less than the minimum wage. Most are from Poland and Latavia. Irish Ferries insists it is legal for an international shipping company to ignore Ireland's minimum wage. The company has applied to register its ships in Cyprus." [Based on: A.P. article (Union protests paralyze Irish cities), p. A32, S.L.P.D., 12/10 /05 - Saturday paper]
2005 - Wounds Heal Slower for Troubled Couples - December 12th, 2005: "Stress may slow physical healing a lot more than doctors already believed, according to a new study. It's this severe: The stress a typical married couple feels during an ordinary half-hour argument is enough to slow their bodies' ability to heal from wounds by at least one day. Moreover, if the couple's relationship is routinely hostile, the delay in that healing process can be doubled. The study was aimed at identifying and explaining the ways psychological stress can effect human immunity. The findings may effect everything from long-term therapy to surgery and even insurance costs, researchers said. The new study was published in a recent issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry. The research focused on a group of 42 married couples who had been together an average of at least 12 years." [Based on: News Services article (Wounds heal slower for troubled couples), p. H2, S.L.P.D., 12/12/05] - [Paragraph indents removed to save space - E.M.]
2006
2006 - Minimum Wage Trivia / U.S.A. - January 5th, 2006: "The governator of California plans to ask for a $1-an-hour increase in the state's minimum wage. Some fellow Republicans might view this as girly-man behavior, unbecoming of a fellow who is supposed to stand for self-reliance and free enterprize. But the fact is that Arnold Schwarzenegger is a smart guy who can read polls. [....] For those at the bottom, it's a matter of survival - even with the proposed $1-an-hour raise. The national minimum wage has been stuck at $5.15 an hour since 1997. It has lost 17 percent of its buying power since then. In the past half century, there has been only one year, 1989, when the minimum wage brought less than it does today. [....] California's minimum wage is $6.75 an hour. Mr Schwarzenegger's one-buck proposal is, in fact, an effort to head off something more generous. A ballot referendum would raise the state minimum wage to $8.75 an hour and link it to the cost of living. That's a fair and humane proposal. Polls show the referendum passing handily. In fact, 17 states with more than a third of the nation's population now have minimum wages higher than the federal minimum. The Illinois legislature raised its minimum wage to $6.50 per hour in 2003. Since then, the Mississippi River bridges have not been clogged with jobless busboys and floor-moppers seeking work in Missouri, where the minimum remains at $5.15 an hour and is very unlikely to change. It's hard to sort out the net effect of minimum wage hikes from all the other factors pushing employment up or down. But researchers who tried have found the job loss to be too small to notice. This makes sense. The vast majority of low-wage jobs are in service industries, and a burger-flipper's job can't be outsourced to India. In any case, slight job losses are overwhelmed by the positive effect of rising income on the lives of the working poor. About 6 percent of American workers would get a direct raise if the minimum were raised to $7 an hour, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Only a quarter of those workers are teenagers; more are adults trying to support families. About 44 percent work full-time. Another 6 percent would get a raise indirectly. Many employers already pay a bit above the minimum in order to attract better workers. Keeping that premium would mean higher pay for the $8-per-hour worker as well. About 59 percent of those workers are full-time employees. A great wave of prosperity swept over America during the past quarter century. But the working poor largely were left behind. Adjusted for inflation, American families in the bottom fifth saw their incomes rise just 4 percent between 1979 and 2003. By contrast, the wealthiest 5 percent of Americans saw their incomes rise 42 percent during the same period. The poorest 4 percent subsisted on $24,000 a year, while the richest averaged $170,000 a year. That ever-widening gap holds the seeds for much human misery, intractable social and economic problems, entrenched inequalities and political unrest. Fair and humane public policy would be to give the working poor a leg up, and a higher minimum wage is a good place to start." [Based on: Opinion Page article (Time for a raise), p. B8, S.L.P.D., 01/05/06] - [Paragraph indents not transcribed - E.M.]
2006 - Trivia / Placebo Effect - January 9th, 2006: "[....] Here are some tidbits about the mind-body connection that science refers to as the 'placebo effect': * 'Placebo' is Latin for 'I shall please.' In medieval times it was the name for a prayer chanted over the dead, and became a derogatory name for mourners hired to do the chanting. * By the early 19th century, a medical dictionary defined placebo as 'any medicine adopted more to please than benefit the patient.' * The term 'placebo effect' was coined by Harvard anesthesiologist Dr. Henry Beecher. He studied placebos after witnessing wounded World War II soldiers receive injections of salt solution instead of morphine when supplies had run out. The patients experienced considerable relief, as if they had received a drug. [....] * Researchers have reported that a placebo is better at easing symptoms of depression, anxiety, pain, asthma and moderate hypertension. It's poor at alleviating symptoms od schizophrenia or obsessive-compulsive disorders. * There are a few reports of patients becoming addicted to placebo pills. * Belief can foster ill effects as well as good ones: People who think a treatment will give them side effects can suffer nausea, rashes, headaches and pain from what is actually a placebo. In pain studies, the placebo effect is stronger if a patient has previously been given the real drug - presumably because he or she experienced relief and thus expects it again. Conversly, if a patient is first given a placebo (believing it's a painkiller), the real drug administered later isn't as effective at alleviating pain." [Based on: Los Angeles Times article ('Placebo effect' plays games with the mind), p. H2, S.L.P.D., 01/09/06]
2006 - Health Care Costs / U.S.A. - January 12th, 2006: "Americans spent nearly $1.9 trillion on health care in 2004. That's about 16 percent of the nation's gross domestic product, a new record. It works out to $6,280 for every man, woman and child in the country. The good news is that health spending grew at a slower rate than at any time since 2000. The bad news is that the rate of growth, 7.9 percent, was about two-and-a-half times the rate of inflation. That means health costs are growing faster than revenue for local governments, individuals and some companies. [....] Out-of-pocket spending for health care grew by about 5.5 percent in 2004, to a total of $237.7 billion. Between 2000 and 2005, the amount patients paid out-of-pocket increased by just over 22 percent. [....] But at the same time drug spending was slowing, hospital spending was growing - by 7.5 percent between 2002 and 2003, and by 8.6 percent in 2004. The cost of hospital care has climbed by 56 percent between 2000 and 2004, to $570.8 billion a year. Spending on doctor's services climbed 38.5 percent during the same period, to $399.9 billion a year. As long as we're throwing around mind-numbing numbers, here's another one: $136.7 billion. That's what Americans spent on insurance company overhead in 2004. That's an increase of a whopping 68 percent since 2000. And that number represents just a fraction of what the American health care system spends on overhead. What those numbers don't say is what Americans get, comparatively, for our $6,280-per-person investment. Not as much as Japan, which spends less but has lower infant mortality and higher life expectancy. Not as much as Finland or France or the United Kingdom. Not as much as Spain or Sweden or Switzerland. [....] The World health Organization reports that the average American can look forward to living almost as long as the average Slovenian. We can still boast of a longer average life expectancy than Iraqis. But since 2003, everyone in Iraq has had health coverage. That's something 46 million Americans are still doing without." [Based on: Opinion Page article (Playing the numbers), p. B8, S.L.P.D., 01/12/06]
2006 - Give yourself some happy talk - January 16th, 2006: "[....] Researchers at the Mayo Clinic reviewed the records of people who completed the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory in the early 1960s. Three decades early, they found that pessimists, as compared to optimists, had an increased risk of death. The more pessimistic the personality, the greater the risk. In a follow-up study, optimistic people had better health in all areas. [....]" [Based on: News Services article (Give yourself some happy talk), p. H2, S.L.P.D., 01/16/06]
2006 - Trivia / Dumping Toxic Chemicals, U.S.A. - January 16th, 2006: "About 51,000 tons of toxic chemicals were dumped or released in Missouri during 2003. More than 66,000 tons were released or disposed of in Illinois. Next year? There's no indication that production or disposal of toxic chemicals will change, but the public's right to know about them may. [....] More information about chemical emissions is available on the toxics release inventory web site at http://www.epa.gov/tri/. Under the administration's proposal companies would report every other year instead of every year and could release 10 times more pollution before being required to report a change in emissions. Companies that work with small amounts of chemicals such as lead and mercury that can accumulate to unhealthy levels in people exposed to them would no longer have to provide as much detail in their reports. [....]" [Based on: Opinion Page article (Who's dumping what, where?), p. B8, S.L.P.D., 01/16/06]
2006 - Exodus? / American Jobs - January 19th, 2006: "John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO, on Wednesday [01/18/06] decried the exodus of millions of good-paying American jobs. [....] Labor's top leader blamed a 'corporate-driven strategy to compete in the global marketplace' by pitting American workers against those in the Third World and shipping jobs to emerging economies in India and China, where workers can be paid low wages in a 'merciless race to the bottom.' U.S. tax and trade policies encourage such practices, Sweeney said, and help explain why the labor movement has lost membership. Though the AFL-CIO has organized 500,000 workers a year in the last five years, 3 million good-paying manufacturing jobs have left the United States in that period, he said. [....]" [Based on: Post-Dispatch Washington Bureu article (Leader of AFL-CIO decries loss of well-paid jobs in U.S.), p. C1, S.L.P.D., 01/19/06]
2006 - Domestic Criticism of George W. Bush & Homeland Security - January 22nd, 2006:
Entertainer Harry Belafonte compared the Homeland Security Department to the Nazi Gestapo on Saturday [01/21/06] and attacked the president as a liar. "We've come to this dark time in which the new Gestapo of Homeland Security lurks here, where citizens are having their rights suspended," Belafonte said in a speech to the annual meeting of the Arts Presenters Members Conference.
"You can be arrested and not charged. You can be arrested and have no right to counsel," said Belafonte.
President George W. Bush, he said, rose to power "somewhat dubiously and ... then lies to the people of this nation, misleads them, misinstructs, and then sends off hundreds of thousands of our own boys and girls to a foreign land that has not aggressed against us."
Belafonte's remarks - part of a 45-minute speech on the role of the arts in a politically changing world - were greeted with a roaring standing ovation.
Spokesman at the Homeland Security Department and the White House officials could not be reached for comment.[Based on: News Services article (Belafonte lambastes Bush, Homeland Security actions), p. A4, S.L.P.D., 01/22/06] - [Event title heading, brackets text, and bold type highlights added - D.R.D.]
2006 - Trivia / Lobby Reform?, U.S.A - January 23rd, 2006: "Sen. John McCain said efforts by both Democrats and Republicans to reduce the influence of lobbyists are not addressing the core of the problem. Appearing on 'Fox News Sunday,' the Arizona Republican renewed his criticism of 'earmarks,' late editions to bills that often provide millions of dollars for lawmakers' pet projects. 'If we don't fix the earmarking, then I can assure you the corruption will go on,' McCain said. he described an 'earmark' as 'a single provision in a line that nobody's ever seen or heard of, and most times we don't find out until days or weeks afterwards. Then you've got a process that breeds corruption,' he said." [Based on: News Services article (Lobby reform misses target, McCain says), p. A4, S.L.P.D., 01/23/06] - [Bold faced type added - D.R.D.]
2006 - What a life is worth - January 23rd, 2006:
I was angered while reading about the recent U.S. missle attacks in Pakistan that killed civilians. The extra-judicial strikes and assassination attempts that have occurred in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraqi since the invasion began illustrate our nation's often inconsistent sense of justi [< typo? missing letters?]
I can't conceive of a believable scenario in which we as Americans would accept a strike on our soil by another nation in order to take out a person another nation deemed a threat, let alone a strike that needlessly kills innocent civilians.
The only way we can rationalize ending an innocent life to protect another life is that we believe - consciously or subconsciously - these Pakistani lives are worth less than those of Americans.[Based on: Opinion Page article (What a life is worth), by Jeremy Finney [St. Louis], p. B8, S.L.P.D., 01/23/06] - [Brackets text added - D.R.D.]
2006 - Trivia / Lead in Humans, U.S.A. - January 23rd, 2006: "[....] Here are some disturbing facts: *About a quarter of the nation's children are exposed to lead at home, and more than 400,000 children are found each year to harbour amounts of lead deemed hazardous to normal mental and physical development. *Environmental exposure to lead in early childhood is a prelude to a host of societal ills. It is associated with an increased risk of reading problems, school failure, delinquency and criminal behavior. *There is no safe threshold for lead levels in the blood. In other words, any amount of lead is a potential hazard to a developing child. *Studies have shown that half the amount of lead deemed acceptable by the U.S. government can inflict notable damage. *Risks associated with lead exposure begin in the womb, and not just from lead acquired by pregnant women. During pregnancy, lead stored in a woman's bones can leach out, get into her blood and injure the fetus. *A child need not be poor to be exposed to lead. Children can be harmed by lead in toys, for example. Lead paint was banned for indoor use in 1978, so those living in homes built before then can be contaminated by lead in dust when windows are opened or when renovations are done. *Children are not the only ones whose health is endangered by lead. In adults, whose bodies may have stored lead from exposures incurred decades earlier, lead is associated with such problems as cardiovascular disease, tooth decay, miscarriage, kidney disease, mental decline and cataracts. [....] The National Safety Council said leaded paint can be found in about two-thirds of homes built before 1940, half of homes built from 1940 to 1960, and a smaller number built from 1960 to 1978. Last year [2005], thousands of homes in the nation's capital were found to have unsafe levels of lead in their water, a result of leaching from lead pipes when ammonia was added to the water supply to strengthen the purification ability of chlorine. Also, last year, the Consumer Product Safety Commission recalled more than 150 million pieces of toy jewelry that were contaminated with lead. The commission cited several cases of high blood levels in children who swallowed or repeatedly sucked on the jewelry items. [....] Lead is not biodegradable. Long after the ban on leaded gasoline, soil near streets and roads can remain contaminated. Also, lead from outdoor house paint and paint on fences and railings can leach into the soil around homes and in parks where children play. While the use of lead in pipes, solder and other components of public water systems was restricted by Congress more than two decades ago, the water supply in many older communities and homes passes through lead pipes and brass fixtures and copper pipes soldered with lead. [....]" [Based on: Personal Heath article (Lead continues to be a health hazard for kids) by Jane Brody, p. H6, S.L.P.D., 01/23/06] - [Paragraph indents not transcribed - D.R.D.]
2006 - Trivia / Mercury in Humans, U.S.A. - January 23rd, 2006: "[....] Those wondering whether they've been exposed to mercury from seafood or pollution can find out. Scientists at the University of North Carolina-Asheville are collecting hair samples from volunteers across the nation for the largest mercury-exposure study done in the United States. [....] Mercury accumulates in the body most commonly by eating seafood, especially shark, swordfish, king mackerel and golden snapper. Fetuses are especially susceptible to its effects, and the metal has been blamed for birth defects such as cerebral palsy and mental retardation." [Based on: health Notes article (Test on hair can reveal your mercury exposure), p. H2, S.L.P.D., 01/23/06]
*Trivia: "How mercury gets into humans: Mercury, mainly from the smoke of coal-burning power plants, is a harmful pollutant that is found in fish-eating humans and wildlife [....]" [Based on: heading for Health Notes illustration p. H2, S.L.P.D., 01/23/06]
2006 - Can be Harmful to Kids? / Violence on Tevelision, U.S.A. - January 23rd, 2006: "Violence on television can be harmful to your kids [....] A study found a connection between watching violent TV programs from ages 6 to 9 and committing violence later in life. [....]" [Based on: Healthy & Fit page article Title & illustration caption, p. H8, S.L.P.D., 01/23/06]
2006 - Environmental Pollution / PFOA - January 26th, 2006: "The Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday [01/25/06] that it was asking all U.S. companies to cut way back on public exposure to a toxic chemical used to make Teflon and thousands of other products. Although the effort is voluntary, the federal government has rarely taken such a sweeping, accelerated action against an industrial compound. The eight companies that use it to make an array of nonstick and stain-resistant products are expected to cut releases from their plants and products by 95 percent over the next four years and completely soon after that. DuPont manufacturers Teflon and has used the compound for more than 50 years. The company pledged to meet the deadlines. Although the voluntary action will not end the sale of Teflon and other products, its aim is to curtail the release of the chemical into the atmosphere. That chemical is a perfluorinated acid called PFOA. It has contaminated the bloodstream of most Americans and is polluting the environment throughout much of the world. [....] Last month, the EPA fined DuPont $16.5 million for hiding data on the toxicity and health effects of PFOA for more than 20 years and contaminating the drinking-water supply in the Ohio Valley, next to a DuPont plant in West Virginia. The seven other companies that use PFOA and its related substances are 3M/Dyneon; Arkema Inc.; AGC Chemicals/Asahi Glass; Ciba Specialty Chemicals; Clariant Corp,; Daikin; and Solvay Solexis. They were asked to respond by March 1. [....] The companies are being asked to reduce the amount of PFOA released into the environment and the PFOA content of their products by 95 percent by 2010, measured against amounts found in 2000. They are asked to eliminate all such sources of public exposure no later than 2015 - not just in the United States but at all their global operations. Included are all chemicals that are precursors to PFOA or break down into it in the environment. For decades, the chemical has been considered essential in making nonstick and stain-resistant fluorotelomers and is an unintended byproduct in fluorotelomer products. In addition to Teflon cookware, fluoropolymers are used by the aerospace, transportation, textile and electronics industries in clothing, car fuel systems, computer chips and telecommunications equipment, electronic wiring and other products. Fluorotelomers are used in firefighting foams and in textiles, paper and other surfaces to make them stain-, oil- and water-resistant. DuPont representatives have said their products are safe, and EPA officials have agreed, saying there is no need to stop using Teflon products." [Based on: Los Angeles Times article (EPA wants to curb exposure to chemical used to make Teflon) by Marla Cone, p. A7, S.L.P.D., 01/26/06] - [Paragraph indents not transcribed - D.R.D.]
2006 - Negative Savings Rate / U.S.A. - January 31st, 2006: "Americans' personal savings rate dipped into negative territory last year, something that hasn't happened since the Great Depression. Consumers depleted their savings to buy automobiles and other big-ticket items. [....] The savings rate has been negative for an entire year only twice before - in 1932 and 1933 - years when the country was struggling with the Great Depression, a time of huge business failures and job layoffs. [....] The central bank meets today, when it is expected it will boost interest rates for a 14th time. However, many economists believe those rate increases are drawing to a close with perhaps another quarterpoint hike at the March 28 meeting as the central bank is starting to see the impact of the previous rate increases in a slowing economy. A negative savings rate means that Americans spent all their disposable income, the amount left over after paying taxes, and dipped into previous years' savings to finance their purchases. For the month, the savings rate fell to 0.7 percent, the largest one-month decline since a 3.4 percent drop in August. [....]" [Based on: A.P. article (Rise in spending turns savings rate negative), p. C3, S.L.P.D., 01/31/06]
2006 - Record Borrowing / U.S. Treasury - January 31st, 2006: "The government expects to borrow a record $188 billion in the January-March quarter, even more than it anticipated three months ago, the treasury Department announced Monday [01/30/06]. The total will surpass the old mark of $146 billion set in the first quarter of 2004, a year in which the federal budget deficit hit an all-time high in dollar terms of $413 billion." [Based on: Article (Treasury borrowing will hit a quarterly record), p. C2, S.L.P.D., 01/31/06]
2006 - Trivia / $2.77 Trillion Budget, U.S.A. - February 7th, 2006: "President George W. Bush sent Congress on Monday [02/06/06] a $2.77 trillion budget that favors tax cuts and national security and squeezes domestic programs. [....]" [Based on: Knight Ridder Newspapers article (Defense, debt continue to grow), p. A1, S.L.P.D., 02/07/06]
*Trivia: "The $2.77 TRILLION budget that President George W. Bush presented to Congress Tuesday [02/07/06] represents $9,233 in spending for every man, woman and child in the United States. What are you getting for your nine grand? Based on a breakdown supplied in the 2006 federal budget, the biggest share of your money, about $1,976, is buying Social Security for older Americans. Another $1,071 will pay for their health care; $711 will pay for health care for the poor and disabled. You'll pay about $646 in interest on the national debt and about $1,228 for other mandated programs such as food stamps and pensions. So far, 61 percent of your money is spent, and unless your entitled to a government benefit, you haven't received anything but the warm feeling of having helped your fellow citizens. But now the government's going to spend $1,828 to buy you the protection of the most powerful military force in the history of the world, although the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are being carried off the books. With your last $1,728, you're getting everything else the federal government provides, from air traffic controllers and the FBI to a program for combating whirling disease in Montana trout. [....]" [Based on: Opinion Page article (The president already has it on cruise control), p. B8, S.L.P.D., 02/08/06]
2006 - Trivia / Borrowing Rate, U.S. Consumers - February 8th, 2006: "Consumers, weighed down by high debt loads and low savings rates, increased borrowing last year by the smallest amount in 13 years, the Federal Reserve reported Tuesday [02/07/06]. [....] The Fed report showed the increase last year in credit card debt and other types of revolving credit was just 2.6 percent, the smallest in 23 years." [Based on: Article (Borrowing rate rises by smallest figure in years), p. C2, S.L.P.D., 02/08/06]
2006 - Risks for Partner? / Spouses Illness - February 16th, 2006: "A husband or wife with a debilitating illness can hasten your own death, a new study suggests. The researchers blame the stress and the loss of companionship, practical help, income and other support when a spouse gets sick. 'You can die of a broken heart not just when a partner dies, but when your partner falls ill,' said the chief researcher, Dr. Nicholas Christakis of Harvard Medical School. The study was done at Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania and appears in today's issue [02/16/06] of The New England Journal of Medicine. [....] Past research has shown that the spouses of sick people face higher risks of illness and death themselves - a phenomenon sometimes called 'caregiver burden' or the 'bereavement effect.' [....] If the sick spouse dies, the partner's risk of death - whether from accidents, suicide, infections or pre-existing conditions, such as diabetes - shoots up fivefold, rising by 21 percent for men and 17 percent for women, the researchers said. [....] Hospitalization for dementia and psychiatric problems were particularly bad, raising the risk of death 47 to 58 percent for a male partner and 38 to 77 percent for a female partner." [Based on: A.P. article (Spouse's illness has risk for partner, study finds), p. A4, S.L.P.D., 02/16/06]
2006 - Trivia / Projected Health Care Costs, U.S.A. - February 22nd, 2006: "Within a decade, an aging America will spend one of every five dollars on health care, government analysts say. The nation's total health care bill by 2015 will total more than $4 trillion, they say. Consumers will foot about half the bill, the government the rest. [....]" [Based on: A.P. article (Health care cost put at $4 trillion by 2015), p. A3, S.L.P.D., 02/22/06]
*Trivia: "Overall health care spending in the United States will double over the next ten years to more than $4 trillion in 2015, according to a new snapshot prepared by the federal government. That's $4 trillion, with a T. At that rate, it would account for about $1 of every $5 in the economy. That's untenable. If preliminary government figures are correct, our national heath care bill for 2005 will be $6,700 for every man, woman and child. Even so, about 45 million people were uninsured. Per person spending is projected to rise to $12,300 by 2015. [....] To put those staggering figures in perspective, consider that American health spending didn't reach $1 trillion until 1996. Over the course of 20 years, with aging boomers needing more and more health care, it will be quadruple. [....] American business should be leading the charge for a national health plan. Instead, many companies have joined state and national politicians trying to shift more and more of rising health costs onto the shoulders of workers. Millions of retirees will have no company-paid health care at all. [....]" [Based on: Opinion Page article (Future shock: $4,000,000,000,000 in 2015), p. C12, S.L.P.D., 02/24/06]
2006 - Trivia / U.S. Average Incomes Drop - February 24th, 2006: "After the booming 1990s, when incomes and stock prices were soaring, this decade has proven less of a thrill ride for most families. Adjusted for inflation, average income fell from 2001 to 2004, and the growth in net worth was the weakest in a decade, the Federal Reserve said Thursday [02/23/06]. [....] The comprehensive look at household balance sheets is issued every three years. [....] Weak incomes and the stock market decline early in the decade, which wiped out $7 trillion of paper wealth, had an adverse impact on family balance sheets. [....] The 2001-2004 performance was the worst since net worth declined by 9.9 percent in the 1989-1992 period. [....] The gap between the very wealthy and other income groups widened during that period. The top 10 percent of households saw their net worth rise by 6.1 percent to an average of $3.11 million while the bottom 25 percent suffered a decline from a net worth in which their assets equaled their liabilities in 2001 to owing $1,400 more than their toatl assets in 2004." [Based on: Title for A.P. article (Average incomes adjusted for inflation drop for 2004), p. B3, 02/24/06]
2006 - "Course on Happines" / Harvard College - March 12th, 2006: "The most popular course at Harvard this semester teaches happiness. [....] Among the research findings that support the idea that happy people function better: A study of aging nuns found that those with a positive outlook in their 20s lived as much as a decade longer than those with a negative outlook, and people who were asked to keep a diary every night for six months, recording things that had gone well that day, fared better in measures of happiness, optimism, and physical health than those who did not. [....] It certainly does not hurt that Ben-Shaher, 35, raised in Israel and educated at Harvard, tells deeply personal stories to illustrate points. On Tuesday, he described how, in his senior year at Harvard, he won his dream fellowship, only to start worrying the next day about why he hadn't won a better one instead. The moral: How you see things can matter more than what actually happens. [....] He [Tal D. Ben-Shahar, the lecturer who teaches Harvard's course] proposed that perhaps a single glorious, estatic experience could change a person for the better for life - and went on to describe how students might increase the likelihood of such an experience and its aftermath, from cultivating a sense of gratitude for the beautiful things in their lives to taking the time to really listen to music." [Based on: Boston Globe article (Students flock to course on happiness) by Carey Goldbert, p. A6, S.L.P.D., 03/12/06]
2006 - Warns of Budget Deficit Dangers / U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman - March 15th, 2006: "Persistent large budget deficits need to be curbed because they pose risks to the country's long-term economic health, says Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. 'The prospective increase in the budget deficit will place at risk future living standards of our country,' Bernanke said. 'As a result, I think it would be very desirable to take concrete steps to lower the prospective path of the deficit.' [....]" [Based on: A.P. article (Bernanke warns of budget deficit dangers), p. C3, S.L.P.D., 03/15/06]
*Trivia: "[....] The National Debt [U.S.A.] has continued to increase an average of $2.14 billion per day since September 30, 2005! [....]" [Based on: http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/]
2006 - Trivia / Yucca Mountain Nuclear Dump, U.S.A. - March 23rd, 2006: "Nevada sued the federal government Wednesday [03/22/06], accusing it of witholding documents that show the planned Yucca Mountain nuclear dump cannot safely hold the nation's radioactive waste. The complaint, filed in Reno, is the fourth federal lawsuit the state has pending against the plan to bury 77,000 tons of nuclear waste in the desert 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas." [Based on: News Services article (U.S. witheld data on dump, Nevada says), p. A3 (lower left hand corner), S.L.P.D., 03/23/06]
2006 - Personal Bankruptcies Hit Record / U.S.A. - March 25th, 2006: "Personal bankruptcies soared 30 percent to a record high last year as financially stressed people rushed to file before new restrictions took effect Oct. 17. Bankruptcy petitions filed in federal courts totaled 2.04 million in 2005, up from 1.56 million in 2004, according to data released Friday [03/24/06] by the Administrative office of the U.S. Courts. [....]" [Based on: A.P. article (Personal bankruptcies hit record high in 2005), p. A37, S.L.P.D., 03/25/06]
2006 - Trivia / Nuclear Dumping, U.S.A. - April 5th, 2006: "The federal government wants to bury tens of thousands more tons of nuclear waste at the Yucca Mountain dump in Nevada than is now allowed. Legislation unveiled Tuesday [04/04/06] proposes lifting the 77,000-ton storage cap on the dump, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, and allowing as much waste as the mountain can safely hold. That figure has been estimated by federal environmental impact studies at 132,000 tons. Some 55,000 tons of nuclear waste are already sitting at utility reactors around the country. Lifting the waste limit would postpone indefinitely the need for the Energy Department to find a site for a second nuclear waste dump, the department said. [....] Yucca Mountain was approved by Congress in 2002, and officials wanted it to open in 2010. Energy Department officials now say they hope to open it by 2020, but they won't give an exact date." [Based on: News Services article (Bill would expand nuclear dumping), p. A3, S.L.P.D., 04/05/06]
2006 - Trivia / Uninsured in America - April 27th, 2006: "Two of five Americans with incomes from $20,000 to $40,000 a year (41 percent) were uninsured for at least part of the past year. More than half of adults earning under $20,000 a year (53 percent) spent time uninsured in the past year. Of the estimated 48 million adults who spent any time uninsured in the past year, 67 percent were in families in which at least one person was working full time. More than half of uninsured adults (51 percent) reported medical debt or problems with medical bills. Of those, nearly half (49 percent) used up all their savings to pay their medical bills. Two of five were unable to pay for basic necessities like food, heat or rent because of their medical debt. 59 percent of uninsured adults who had a chronic illness, such as diabetes or asthma, did not fill a prescription or skipped their medications because they could not afford them. More than a third of uninsured adults (35 percent) who had a chronic condition went to an emergency room or stayed overnight in the hospital in the past year because of their condition - about two times the rate of people with chronic conditions who had insurance all year." [Based on: Article (Uninsured in America), p. A13, S.L.P.D., 04/27/06 - Source: The Commonwealth Fund] - [Paragraph indents untranscribed - D.R.D.]
*Tivia: "Once upon a time, (not so very long ago), not having health insurance was a problem for the working poor. Increasingly, it's a problem for workers on the next rung up the economic ladder, those who earn $20,000 to $40,000 a year. [....] The numbers are telling. In 2002, about 28 percent of the uninsured were people making $20,000 to $40,000 a year. Last year, they comprised 41 percent of the uninsured; that's a 46 percent increase in just four years. During that time, the number of uninsured Americans rose from 41 million to nearly 46 million. And, as insurance premiums continue to rise, there's no end to this trend in sight. [....]" [Based on: Opinion Page article (The new uninsured: The middle-class), p. D12, S.L.P.D., 05/04/06]
2006 - Economic Collapse? / Zimbabwe - May 14th, 2006: "Zimbabwe's annual inflation rate topped 1,000 percent for the first time, underlining the economic collapse of the country. Moffat Nyoni, director of the Government's Central Statistical Office, said the inflation for the 12 months to April 2006 was 1,042.9 percent, according to a state radio report Saturday [05/13/06]. A package of the cheapest candy costs 57,000 Zimbabwe dollars and a loaf of bread 100,000 Zimbabwe dollars. But the maximum denomination note is 50,000 Zimbabwe dollars, forcing shoppers to carry bags full of money for basic daily purchases." [Based on: News Services article (Annual inflation rate tops 1,000 pct.), p. A10, S.L.P.D., 05/14/06]
2006 - Linked to Stress / Virtually Every Major Disease? - May 15th, 2006: "[....] ... Virtually every major disease, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, arthritis, obesity and even cancer, has been linked to stress through mainstream medical research, says Dr. Vern Cherewatenko, author of 'The Stress Cure' (HarperResource, $13.95). Cherewatenko offers seven steps to de-stress, including eating right, exercising, getting enough sleep, building strong relationships and practicing mindful living. [....]" [Based on: Chicago Tribune article (5 ways to improve your health) by Julie Deardorff, p. H8, S.L.P.D., 05/15/06]
2006 - Salt Reduction? / U.S. Foods - June 13th, 2006: "The American Medical Association is expected to call this week for a 50 percent reduction in salt in processed foods and restaurant meals. The goal: reducing high blood pressure - and ultimately, cardiovascular disease, the No. 1 killer of men and women. [....]" [Based on: Chicago Tribune article (What we eat is too salty, AMA says), p. A1, S.L.P.D., 06/13/06]
*Trivia: "[....] Processed foods and restaurants account for 75 to 80 percent of the daily intake of sodium, says the AMA. And medical experts note that even if people stopped salting their food in restaurants, that would reduce the salt intake only by about 10 percent. The rest is in the food. [....] The National Restaurant Association says Americans will spend $511 billion in restaurants this year. [....] Health organizations including the AMA and the American Heart Association say eating prepared foods accounts for up to three teaspoons of salt per day, three times the maximum needed by humans. The Heart Association says Americans need no more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium per day - about half of the volume of a teaspoon of salt. The chemical name for salt is NaCl, which means half sodium, half chloride. In other words, half a grain of salt is sodium, the other half is chloride. Too much salt in a diet can lead to hypertension - high blood pressure. [....]." [Based on: Article (Cut the salt, keep the flavor / Restaurants and customers can work together to ensure a meal is healthy.) by Harry Jackson Jr., p. H1, S.L.P.D., 06/26/06] - [Paragraph indents untranscribed - D.R.D.]
2006 - Humans Need New Home? - June 14th, 2006: "The survival of the human race depends on its ability to find new homes elsewhere in the universe because there's an increasing risk that a disaster will destroy Earth, world-renowned physicist Stephen Hawking said Tuesday [06/13/06]. Humans could have a permanent base on the moon in 20 years and a colony on Mars in the next 40 years, the British scientist told a news conference. 'We won't find anywhere as nice as Earth unless we go to another star system,' added Hawking." [Based on: News Services article (Humans need new home, Hawking says), p. A10, S.L.P.D., 06/14/06]
2006 - Blocked / Minimum Wage Increase, U.S.A. - June 22st, 2006: "The Republican-controlled Senate smothered a proposed election-year increase in the minimum wage Wednesday [06/21/06], rejecting Democratic claims that it was past time to boost the $5.15 hourly pay floor that has been in effect for nearly a decade. The 52-46 vote was eight short of the 60 needed for approval under budget rules and came one day after House Republican leaders made clear they do not intend to allow a vote on the issue, fearing it might pass. The Senate vote marked the ninth time since 1997 that democrats there have proposed, and Republicans have blocked, a stand-alone increase in the minimum wage. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said a worker paid $5.15 an hour would earn $10,700 a year, 'almost $6,000 below the poverty line for a family of three.' " [Based on: News Services article (Republicans block minimum-wage increase), p. A4, S.L.P.D., 06/22/06]
*Trivia: "[....] A full-time minimum wage worker makes only $10,712 a year. For a single mom with two children, that is nearly $5,000 below the poverty line. [....]." [Based on: Other Views page article (Working poor need a living wage) by William G. Sinkford & Charlie Clemens, p. B9, S.L.P.D., 06/26/06]
2006 - Need A Cooker? Use Your Cell Phone - June 28th, 2006: "[....] Recently, new media has reported a study showing the radiation from cell phones is so full of energy they can be used to cook eggs. [....] Children should be forbidden from cell phone use because they still grow their brains and are particularly vulnerable to radiation."
© 2004-2005 by foodconsumer.org unless otherwise specified
[Based on: rense.com article (Need A Cooker? Use Your Cell Phone) by Sue Mueller, 06/28/06]
*Link: http://www.rense.com/general72/cellcook.htm
2006 - Distractions Can Impair Ability to Learn - July 25th, 2006: "Your parents were right, don't study with the TV on. Multitasking may be a necessity in today's fast-paced world, but new research shows that distractions affect the way people learn, making the knowledge they gain harder to use later on. The study, in Monday's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, also provides a clue as to why it happens. [....] The problem, Poldrack [psychology professor Russell A. Poldrack] said, is that two types of learning seem to be competing with each other, and when someone is distracted, habit learning seems to take over from declarative learning. 'We have to multitask in today's world, but you have to be aware of this,' he said. 'When a kid is trying to learn new concepts, new information, distraction is going to be bad, it's going to impair their ability to learn.' " [Based on: A.P. article (Distractions can impair ability to learn, study says), p. A2, S.L.P.D., 07/25/06]
2006 - Medication Nation / U.S.A. - July 26th, 2006:
America has become a nation of pill-poppers, a trend that only will increase as the population ages. In 2004, Americans spent $188.5 billion on prescription drugs and billions more on over-the-counter medicines, vitamins and supplements.
Most of what we took made us healthier. But some of it had the opposite effect.
According to a landmark study released last week by the national Institute of Medicine, more than 1.5 million Americans are harmed by medication errors each year. About a third of those mistakes - which added at least $3.5 billion to the nation's already sky-high health care bill - were preventable, according to the study.
Medication errors have become a major focus of study in recent years, beginning with another of the Institute's studies called "To Err is Human," published in 1999. It looked at medical errors of all sorts, including medication mistakes. That report concluded that nearly 100,000 people a year may be dying from preventable errors in hospitals. [....][Based on: Opinion Page article (Medication Nation), p. B8, S.L.P.D., 07/26/06]
2006 - High Levels of Pesticide? / PepsiCo & Coca-Cola India - August 6th, 2006:
India's top court has asked Coca-Cola and Pepsi to describe the ingredients in the soft drinks they sell here [India] amid allegations the drinks contain high levels of pesticide.
The Supreme Court notice on Friday [08/04/06] came days after a New Delhi-based independent research body said it found samples of Coke and Pepsi contained pesticide residue that was 24 times above the limits set by the Bureau of Indian Standards.
The Center for Science and Environment in New Delhi said it carried out tests on 57 samples taken from 11 soft drink brands made by Coca-Cola India and PepsiCo India.
Offices of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo were closed Saturday [08/05/06] and none of their officials could be reached for comment.
Both companies denied the charges earlier in the week.[Based on: News Services article (Court says soda makers must disclose ingredients), p. A14 (last page, last article in section "A" of the Sunday paper), S.L.P.D., 08/06/06]
2006 - Approved for Making Cold Cuts Safer / Virus Spray? - August 19th, 2006: "[....] Consumers won't be aware that meat and poultry products have been treated with the spray, Zajac [Andrew Zajac] added. The Department of Agriculture will regulate the actual use of the product [the president & CEO of manufacturer Intralytix Inc. is John Vazzana]." [Based on: A.P. article (Virus spray is approved for making cold cuts safer to eat), p. A25 (Saturday paper), S.L.P.D., 08/19/06] - [Brackets text added for clarity - D.R.D.]
2006 - Shows Up??? / Unapproved Genetically Altered Rice, U.S.A. - August 19th, 2006: "Unapproved genetically altered rice [LLRICEE 601] shows up [trace amounts found 07/31/06 in samples taken from commercial samples of long-grain rice harvested in 2005]" [Based on: Article (by Rachel Melcer) Title, p. A30 (Saturday paper), S.L.P.D., 08/19/06] - [Brackets text added for clarity - D.R.D.]
*Trivia: "The European Union on Monday [08/21/06] asked the U.S. government to supply details of an unapproved, gene-modified rice made by Bayer CorpScience AG that was found in U.S. rice supplies and may prompt an EU import ban. [....] Bayer field-tested the modified rice from 1998 to 2001, and it tainted the 2005 crop. In response to a similar incident last year, the EU banned U.S. corn imports. Meanwhile, the Japanese government on Saturday [08/19/06] banned imports of U.S. long-grain rice after the announcement late last week of the gene-modified rice. Japan was the second-largest buyer of U.S. rice in the last five years, trailing only Mexico. [....] Mochan [EU spokeswoman Antonia Mochan] said she did not know whether the taineted rice had been exported to Europe. Last year, the EU blocked U.S. imports of corn animal feed for 10 days after Syngenta AG said it had accidentally sold an experimental engineered corn that was planted on 37,000 acres in four U.S. states. In 2004, the EU ended a six-year moratorium on approving gene-altered crops, overriding consumer concerns that biotech crops may harm human health and the environment. [....] In 2005 the U.S. exported 224,000 metric tons of rice to the 25-nation EU, worth about $82 million, 198,000 tons of which was long-grain rice, the European Commission said. The Agriculture Department and the Food and Drug Administration concluded there are 'no human health, food safety or environmental concerns associated with the rice,' Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said Friday [08/18/06]." [Based on: News Services article, p. D2, S.L.P.D., 08/22/06]
2006 - Cancer-Causing Benzene? / U.S. Soft Drinks - August 26th, 2006: "Coca-Cola Co. was sued Friday [08/25/06] as part of an effort to force soft-drink makers to eliminate ingredients in their products that can form cancer-causing benzene. The complaint against the soft drink giant came as two smaller companies settled a lawsuit over benzene, which is linked to leukemia. [....] Benzene can form in soft drinks containing vitamin C, also called ascorbic acid, and either sodium benzoate or potassium benzoate. Scientists say factors such as heat or light exposure can trigger a reaction that forms benzene in the beverages. According to the suits, independent laboratory tests found benzene in the drinks at levels above the federal limit for benzene in drinking water. [....] FDA officials say their is no safety concern and that levels are relatively low compared with other sources of exposure to benzene." [Based on: A.P. article (Coke is sued over its soft drink ingredients) by Libby Quaid, p. A33, S.L.P.D., 08/26/06]
2006 - Mercury Fillings / "What is it Doing in our heads?" - September 8th, 2006: "[....] 'If we don't want it in our fish, we don't want it in our thermometers, what is it doing in our heads?' said Moore-Hines [consumer activist Sara Moore-Hines]. By weight, silver fillings are about 50 percent mercury that is joined with silver, copper and tin. Dentists have used amalgam to fill cavities - and have argued about its safety - since the 1800s." [Based on: A.P. article (Report on mercury-laden dental fillings has many holes, health advisers say), p. A4, S.L.P.D., 09/08/06]
2006 - Infected Consignments / GE Rice, European Union - September 13th, 2006: "[....] Josten [Bayer CropScience spokeswoman, Annette Josten] stressed that the protein in LLRICE 601 was not dangerous, saying even though the rice had not been approved for human consumption, the same protein is in other foods that have been approved. [....]" [Based on: A.P. article (EU finds genetically altered rice in shipments from U.S. / Infected consignments will be destroyed or returned; farmers concerned about crops' marketability.), p. C2, S.L.P.D., 09/13/06]
2006 - Trivia / U.S. Trade Deficit - September 19th, 2006: "America's trade deficit increased in the spring to the second-highest level in history, reflecting a big jump in payments for foreign oil and a deterioration in the country's investment position. The deficit in the U.S. current account rose to $218.4 billion in the April-June quarter, an increase of 2.4 percent compared with the first three months of the year, the Commerce Department reported Monday [09/18/06]. [....]" [Based on: A.P. article (America's trade hole got deeper in the spring), p. C3, S.L.P.D., 09/19/06]
2006 - FDA Isn't Prepared to Ensure Safety? / Nanotechnology, U.S.A. - October 6th, 2006: "The U.S. Food and Drug Administration isn't prepared to ensure the safety of products made with nanotechnology, the emerging science that uses materials the size of molecuels or atoms, a former agency official said in a report. [NP] The FDA lacks funding and regulatory power to adequately oversee nanotechnology and may miss potential safety problems or spot them too late to prevent harm, said Michael R. Taylor, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and a former deputy commissioner of the FDA." [Based on: Article (FDA isn't prepared, former official says), p. B2, S.L.P.D., 10/06/06]
2006 - Trivia / Ten Worst-Polluted Cities - October 19th, 2006: "More than 10 million people are at risk for lung infection, cancer and shortened life expectancy because they live in the 10 worst-polluted cities in the world, according to a report [by the Blacksmith Institute] issued Wednesday [10/18/06]. [....] 'Living in a town with serious pollution is like living under a death sentence,' the report said. 'If the damage does not come from immediate poisoning, then cancers, lung infections, mental retardation, are likely outcomes.' [....] One of the towns is La Oroya, Peru, where a lead smelter has contaminated the city. [....] Three Russian cities are among the most polluted - Dzherzhhinsk, Norilsk and Rudnaya Pristan. The other cities are Linfen, China; Haina, Dominican Republic; Ranipert, India; Mayluu-Suu, Kyrgyzstan; Chernobyl, Ukraine; and Kabwe, Zambia. [NP] According to the report, the cities are reminders of an early industrial era, with most pollution stemming from relics such as unregulated lead and coal mines." [Based on: A.P. article (Pollution puts 10 million at risk in 10 cities), p. A9, S.L.P.D., 10/19/06]
2006 - Gets OK / Mercury-Based Preservative, U.S.A. - October 25th, 2006: "Federal health officials won't put new restrictions on the use of a mercury-based preservative in vaccines and other medicines, denying a petition that sought the limits because of health concerns. [NP] A group called the Coalition for Mercury-free Drugs petitioned the Food and Drug Administration in 2004 seeking the restrictions on theh [< typo? Should read "the"] preservative, thimerosal, citing concerns that it is linked to autism. In a reply dated Sept. 26 and made public Tuesday [10/24/06], the FDA rejected the petition." [Based on: News Services article (Mercury-based preservative gets OK), p. A3, S.L.P.D., 10/25/06] - [Brackets text added for clarity - D.R.D.]
2006 - Safe for Babies and Toddlers? / Flu Vaccine, U.S.A. - October 25th, 2006: "The biggest study ever to look at the side effects of flu shots in children confirmed that the vaccine is safe for babies and toddlers. [....] Flu vaccine has a good safety record, the researchers wrote, though some formulations have been linked to Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare paralyzing disorder. [NP] With the shots now recommended for all children younger than 5, the findings are reassuring, said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious-disease specialist at Vanderbilt University who was not involved in the study. [....] The federally funded study appears in today's [10/25/06] Journal of the American Medical Association. [NP] Nine of the study's 19 co-authors reported financial ties to vaccine manufacturers; the industry had no direct role in the study." [Based on: A.P. article (Flu shots safe for toddlers, study finds), p. A2, S.L.P.D., 10/25/06] - [Brackets text added for clarity - D.R.D.]
2006 - Overhead Costs / Iraq - October 25th, 2006: "Overhead costs have consumed more than half the budget of some reconstruction projects in Iraq, according to a government estimate released Tuesday [10/24/06], leaving far less money than expected to provide the oil, water and electricity needed to improve the lives of Iraqis. [NP] The report by a federal oversight agency provided the first official estimate that in some cases, more money was being spent on things such as housing and feeding employees, completing paperwork and providing security than on actual reconstruction. [NP] In some cases those costs have eaten up 55 percent or more of the budget, according to the report by the Special Inspector-General for Iraq Reconstruction. On similar projects in the United States, those costs generally run to a few percent. [NP] The highest proportions of overhead were incurred in oil-facility contracts won by KBR, the Halliburton subsidiary formerly known as Kellogg, Brown & Root, which frequently has been challenged by critics in Congress and elsewhere. [NP] The actual costs for many projects could be even higher than the estimates, the report said, because the United States has not properly tracked how much such expenses have taken from the $18.4 billion of taxpayer-financed reconstruction approved by Congress two years ago. [....]" [Based on: New York Times article (Overhead costs eat up rebuilding budget in Iraq, report says) by James Glanz, p. A6, S.L.P.D., 10/25/06]
2006 - Surprising Differences / Human Genome Map - November 22nd, 2006:
LONDON (Nov. 22) - One person's DNA code can be as much as 10 percent different from another's, researchers said on Wednesday in a finding that questions the idea that everyone on Earth is 99.9 percent identical genetically. [....] Instead of showing single variations in human DNA that make people unique, the map looks at differences in duplications and deletions of large DNA segments known as copy number variants or CNVs, which can help explain why some people are susceptible to illnesses such as AIDS and others are not. [....] Scientists from more than a dozen centers around the world identified about 3,000 genes with variations in the number of copies of specific DNA segments. The changes can affect gene activity, including susceptibility to diseases. [....] "We estimate this to be at least 12 percent of the genome, similar in extent to SNPs. This has never been shown before," said Dr. Matthew Hurles of Britain's Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. [NP] He said that resistance to infection by HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is determined in part by multiple copies of the gene CCL3L1, which cannot be seen on an SNP map." [Based on: Reuters article (New Human Gene Map Shows Surprising Differences) by Patricia Reaney, 11/22/06]
http://articles.news.aol.com/news/_a/new-human-gene-map-shows-surprising/20061122180809990012?ncid=
NWS00010000000001 - [Note: "NP" = New Paragraph]2006 - Banned? / Artificial Trans Fats, New York City - December 6th, 2006: "[....] New York's measure, unanimously approved by the city Board of Health [12/05/06], requires restaurants to stop using most frying oils containing artificial trans fat within 6 months and to keep it out of all foods by July 2008. [NP] The ban does not apply to grocery stores or the foods restaurants serve in sealed original packaging. It also does not include naturally occurring trans fats found in small amounts in some meat and dairy products. [....]" [Based on: Title for Cox News Service article (New York is first U.S. city to ban artificial trans fats [ban approved), p. A2, S.L.P.D., 12/06/06]
2006 - American E-Waste / Africa - December 18th, 2006: "Near a computer market in Lagos, Nigeria, discarded computers, televisions and other electronic waste get mixed with garbage in a dump. African officials say e-waste from the United States is a growing problem that poses health threats from lead, cadmium and other contaminants in computers." [Based on: picture caption by Bill Lambrecht, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, P. A1, 12/18/06]"
*Trivia: "An estimates 20 million computers are retired annually in the United States. The federal government disposes of 10,000 computers weekly. [Based on: Article (Pollution piles up in Africa courtesy of Discards from America) by Bill Lambrecht, Post-Dispatch Washington Bureau Chief, S.L.P.D., 12/18/06]
2007
2007 - Trivia / Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - January 2nd, 2007: "Study links post-stress disorder in older vets to heart ailments" [Based on: Title for A.P. article by carla K. Johnson, p. A6, S.L.P.D., 01/02/07]
2007 - World Social Forum / Kenya - January 21st, 2007: "More than 80,000 people gathered Saturday [01/20/07] at an annual anti-capitalist conference, held this year in Kenya's capital, marching on Nairobi's largest slum to protest global policies that they say hurt the poor. [NP] Thousands of protestors marched from Kenya's sprawling Kibera slum to downtown Nairobi. About a third of Nairobi's total population, at least 700,000 people, lives in a single square mile, with little access to running water and other basic services. [NP] The slum stands in sharp contrast to Nairobi's many elegant homes and hotels. [NP] The World Social Forum was first held in Brazil in 2001 [01/3101-02/05/01] and coincides each year with the World Economic Forum of business leaders and politicians in Davos, Switzerland." [Based on: News Services article (Marchers protest globalist capitalism), p. A14, S.L.P.D., 01/21/07]
2007 - U.S. Savings Rate / Worst Since the Great Depression - February 1st, 2007: "People are saving at the lowest level since the Great Depression, and that could be a problem for the millions of baby boomers getting ready to retire. [NP] In fact, the Commerce Department reported Thursday [02/01/07] that the nation's personal savings rate for all of 2006 was a negative 1 percent, the worst showing in 73 years. [....] The 1 percent negative savings rate in 2006 came after a 0.4 percent negative rate in 2005. There have been only four years in history that the savings rate has fallen into negative territory. The other two were 1932 and 1933 during the Great Depression, when as many as one in four people were out of work, households were exhausting savings in order to pay the rent and buy food. [....]" [Based on: A.P. article (U.S. savings rate skids to worst showing in 73 years) by Martin Crutsinger, pp. B1 & B3, S.L.P.D., 02/01/07]
2007 - Autism Trivia / U.S.A. - February 9th, 2007: "About one in every 150 children in the United States has autism [560,000] or a closely related disorder - a figure higher than most recent estimates - according to a federal survey released Thursday [The results are the first to come out of the CDC's Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network] 02/08/07], the most thorough ever conducted. [....]" [Based on: Washington Post article (Rate of autism in U.S. is put higher / But the CDC survey offers no clues about what causes autism.), p. A5 S.L.P.D., 02/09/07]
2007 - Trivia / Human Microbiomes - February 13th, 2007: "[....] 'The skin is home to a virtual zoo,' said Blaser [Martin J. Blaser, of New York University School of Medicine], a microbiologist who last week published online the first molecular analysis of the bacteria living on one small patch of human skin. 'We're just beginning to explore it.' [NP] The analysis revealed that human skin is populated by a diverse assortment of bacteria, including many previously unknown species, offering the first detailed peek at this potentially crucial ecosystem. [....] Virtually every orifice and the digestive tract are swarming with bacteria, fungi and other microbes. By some estimates, only one out of every 10 cells in the body is human. [NP] Scientists suspect these microbes play important but poorly understood roles, assisting crucial bodily functions and potentially helping prevent or cause many diseases. [NP] 'This type of work is setting the stage for a second human sequencing project - one that examines our microbiomes' - the genes of the microbial communities populating our bodies - Jeffery Gordon, of Washington University in St. Louis wrote in an e-mail. Gordon reviewed Blaser's paper for publication by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. [NP] Such a project could lead 'to new ways of defining health, new ways for predicting disease predilection, and new ways for treating illnesses affecting various components of our body, including the skin.' [NP] Blaser's team swabbed an area of skin on the right and left forearms of three healthy men and three healthy women. They then used molecular techniques to analyze fragments of bacterial DNA captured by the swabs. [NP] The analysis revealed 182 species, the researchers reported. Of those, 30 had never been seen. They identified an additional 65 species when they sampled four of the volunteers eight to ten months later, including 14 new species. [NP] The next step will be to try to characterize the organisms' functions. 'We're interested in understanding how we interact with these organisms and how they are communicating with human cells and vice versa,' Blaser said." [Based on: Washington Post article (Human body is mostly itsy-bitsy microbes, new research finds) by Rob Stein, p. A5, S.L.P.D., 02/13/07]
2007 - Pollution Threat? / WW II German Submarine, Norwegian Coast - February 14th, 2007: "A German submarine that was sunk off Norway at the end of World War II will be buried in special sand to protect the coastline from its cargo of toxic mercury, the government announced Tuesday [02/13/07]. [NP] The U-864 submarine was found by the Royal Norwegian Navy in March 2003. The boat is believed to have about 70 tons of mercury on board. [NP] The U-864 had been headed for Japan when it was sunk Feb. 9, 1945, about 2 1/2 miles off the island of Fedje. The sub now lies in about 500 feet of water." [Based on: News Services article (Special sand may counter pollution threat from sub), p. A12, S.L.P.D., 02/14/07]
2007 - Bird Flu / Russia - February 18th, 2007: "A strain of bird flu [H5N1] found near Moscow [Odintsovo & Domodedovo districts]" [Based on: Title for News Services article, p. A11, S.L.P.D., 02/18/07]
2007 - Giving Gives Good Vibes - February 20th, 2007: "[....] Giving affects the same part of the brain stimulated by sex, drugs and money [the part that is activated by reward reinforcement] , according to researchers at the National Institutes of Health [In a paper published in the fall]. [....] Opposing a cause sets off part of the brain tied to anger and moral disgust, researchers found." [Based on: MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS article (Giving gives brain good vibes like sex, researchers show), p. A1, S.L.P.D., 02/20/07]
2007 - Trivia / Gasoline Leaks, U.S.A. - February 23rd, 2007: "It will cost at least $12 billion to clean up contamination from tens of thousands of gasoline storage tanks that are leaking underground, congressional auditors say. [....] Some 117,000 faulty tanks still await cleanups, according to the latest figures current as of September 2005; 1,386 are in Missouri and 7,870 in Illinois. [....] Every time a motorist pays for a gallon of gas, a tenth of a penny goes into a trust fund to remove the contamination. The fund now has about $2.6 billion and is expected to reach $3 billion before the end of 2008. [NP] Congress has appropriated only a frqaction of this amount every year, in part to help counter federal budget deficits. [NP] leaking underground tanks have been blamed for much of the methyl tertiary-butyl ether, or MTBE, found in drinking water supplies in at least 36 states." [Based on: A.P. article ($12 billion cleanup / Estimate for gasoline leaks exceeds allocation), p. A6, S.L.P.D., 02/23/07]
2007 - Misses Every Energy Deadline / U.S. Government - March 2nd, 2007: "The government has missed all 34 deadlines sety by Congress for requiring energy efficiency standards on everything from home applications to power transformers, government auditors said Thursday [03/01/07]. [....] Because of the failures, consumers and corporations stand to pay tens of billions of dollars more for energy than they would have if the deadlines had been met, the Government Accountability Office said. [....]" [Based on: News Services article (Government misses every energy deadline), p. A6, S.L.P.D., 03/02/07]
2007 - Greenhouse Gases Trivia / U.S.A. - March 4th, 2007: "By 2020, the United States will emit almost one-fifth more gases that lead to global warming than it did in 2000, increasing the risks of drought and scarce water supplies. [NP] That projection comes from an internal draft report from the Bush administration that is more than a year overdue at the United Nations. The Associated Press obtained a copy Saturday [03/03/07]. [NP] The United States already is responsible for about one-quarter of the world's carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that scientists blame for global warming. [NP] The draft report, which still is being completed, projects that the Bush administration's climate policy would result in the emission of 9.2 billion tons of greenhouse gases in 2020, a 19 percent increase from 7.7 billion tons in 2000. [....]" [Based on: A.P. article (U.S. projected to spew more greenhouse gases) by John Heilprin, p. A1, S.L.P.D., 03/04/07]
2007 - May Pose Danger? / Bisphenol A Plastics - March 5th, 2007: "[....] Bisphenol A was originally developed in the 1930s as an estrogen for birth control, said vom Saal [Fredrick S. vom Saal, of the Univ. of Missouri-Columbia]. It was never used for that purpose because scientists quickly discovered that multiple molecules of bisphenol A could link together to form clear, hard plastics, vom Saal said. More than 6 billion pounds of bisphenol A plastics are made globally each year, vom Saal said. [....]" [Based on: Article (Everyday plastics may pose danger, some say) by Tina Hesman Saey, pp. A1 & A9, S.L.P.D., 03/05/07]
2007 - ADHD Worldwide? - March 7th, 2007: "[....] Whereas most mainstream scientists are on board with the diagnosis, a very vocal minority has argued that ADHD is a mase-up disorder designed to pump up profits for pharmaceutical companies - $2,4 billion was spent on ADHD drugs worldwide in 2003. [....]" [Based on: Contra Costa Times article (ADHD is found to be worldwide) by Betsy Mason, p. A11, S.L.P.D., 03/07/07]
2007 - Dire Warnings / Global Warming - March 11th, 2007: "The harmful effects of global warming on daily life are already showing up, and within a couple of decades hundreds of millions of people won't have enough water, top scientists will say next month at a meeting in Belgium. [....]" [Based on: Title for A.P. article (Global warming stirs dire warnings), p. A5, S.L.P.D., 03/11/07]
2007 - Trivia / U.S. Industry & Environmental Research - March 11th, 2007: "In a stinging criticism of agencies responsible for protecting Americans from dangerous drugs and chemicals, a senior National Institutes of Health scientist has charged that pervasive industry-funded research is used to delay and block government action. [NP] James Huff, an associate director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, said chemical manufacturers, drug companies and others had spent huge sums to compromise government agencies and even universities and scientific journals. [NP] The strategy generates industry-friendly conclusions that are used to influence government decisions, Huff said in an article published in the International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, a peer-reviewed scientific journal published quarterly in Burlington, N.C. [NP] 'Industry's wealth and limitless global reach now extends into all aspects of academia, government and industry-fronted nongovernmental organizations.' he said. [NP] The result, he said, consists of 'wrong-headed industry-posed deceits and fabrications' that distort government regulation of drugs and toxic chemicals in the environment and workplace. [NP] Huff even criticized his own agency, which he said accepted industry money and often bowed to pressure from industry representatives. [NP] Huff, who did not respond to requests for an interview, is not the first to complain about the role industry is allowed to play in the scientific underpinnings of the regulations with which it must comply. [NP] For several years, public interest organizations, academic groups and environmentalists have grown increasingly vocal in criticizing often obscure roles of industries in decisions affecting their own regulatory requirements. [NP] A report issued two years ago by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, said that EPA and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences had failed to properly evaluate conflicts of interest in its agreements with the American Chemistry Council, trade group of the chemical manufacturing industry. [NP] The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has for several weeks been locked in a dispute with the White House Council on Environmental Quality over access to records. The committee's chairman, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., says the records could link companies such as ExxonMobil to alleged White House interference in government research on climate change. [NP] Huff's agency announced this week that it would review its ties to an industry-linked company, Sciences International, which is paid to help manage the agency's Center for the Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction. [NP] The consulting firm's private clients include manufacturers of bisphenol A, a common ingredient in plastic that has been linked to prostate and breast cancer and reduced fertility, according to a report released by the nonprofit Environmental Working Group. [NP] In his article, Huff called on others to 'more forcibly speak out about the wrongs being perpetrated by industry and industry apologists.' " [Based on: Cox News Service article (Agencies, drug firms may blur lines / Scientist charges that the flow of money compromises research.) by Jeff Nesmith, p. A2, S.L.P.D., 03/11/07] - [Note: my brackets (NP = New paragraph). Paragraph indents untranscriped to save space. - D.R.D.]
2007 - Add to Diabetes Risk / Sugar-Loaded Soft Drinks - April 2nd, 2007: "Sugar-loaded soft drinks add to risk for diabetes [The article will appear in the April edition of the American Journal of Public Health.]" [Based on: Title for article, p. H2, S.L.P.D., 04/02/07]
2007 - Global Warming [Warning?] - April 7th, 2007: "GLOBAL WARMING [slash] WARNING / U.N. REPORT - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change consulted 2,500 scientists / IT WON'T TAKE MUCH - A few degrees' increase in average world temperatures could have dire impact / HORRIFIC VISIONS - Global warming would bring famines, floods, extinctions and more, report predicts / WHITE HOUSE SKEPTICAL - Administration aide says U.S. won't be stampeded" [Based on: Title and Subtitles for Front Page article, p. A1, S.L.P.D., 04/07/07]
*Trivia: "Preview of coming catastrophes / Fires, floods and famine, extinctions, droughts and hurricanes" [Based on: Title for Los Angeles Times article, by Alan Zarembo & Thomas H. Maugh II, p. A25, S.L.P.D., 04/07/07]
*Trivia: "Area [St. Louis region] can expect more heat waves and floods" [Based on: Title for St. Louis Post-Dispatch Washington Bureau article, by Grant Slater, p. A25, S.L.P.D., 04/07/07]
2007 - Trivia / Nerve Agent Disposal, U.S.A. - April 13th, 2007: "The Army plans to ship chemical waste from the destruction of deadly VX nerve agent stockpiled in Indiana through Illinois and Missouri to Texas for incineration. [NP] The plan's opponents strongly oppose incinerating the VX hydrolysate in favor of treating and disposing of it on-site. [NP] The Army's project to destroy the Newport Chemical Depot's stockpile of the VX is expected to produce about 2 million gallons of hydrolysate. [NP] Army spokesman Greg Mahall said the first trucks carrying the residue could leave next week, traversing Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Missippi, Louisiana and Texas." [Based on: News Services article (Army will ship out chemical waste), p. A4, S.L.P.D., 04/13/07]
2007 - Ineffective? / Chondrotin Sulfate - April 17th, 2007: "Arthritis supplement is ineffective, study [published in the Annals of Internal Medicine] finds [... no better than a placebo for reducing pain, researchers reported Monday - 04/16/07]" [Based on: Title for News Services article, p. A5, S.L.P.D., 04/17/07]
2007 - Cancer Risk Confirmed / Hormone Therapy - April 19th, 2007: "Higher cancer risk from hormone therapy is confirmed" [Based on: Title for A.P. article, p. A3, S.L.P.D., 04/19/07]
2007 - Trivia / Pet Food Recall - April 21st, 2007: "Latest pet food recall [a third company on Friday - 04/20/07] linked to rice product [made with an imported Chinese ingredient] / Ingredient [rice protein concentrate] was tainted with industrial chemical similar to wheat ingredient from earlier recalls." [Based on: Title for A.P. article, p. A22, S.L.P.D., 04/21/07]
2007 - Compound shown to block HIV - April 21st, 2007: "Compound ['virus inhibitory peptide'] shown to block HIV [reported Friday - 04/20/07 - in the journal Cell] / Team [German researchers] looks to test synthetic version of blood peptide in people [the peptide targets a viral protein called gp-41 fusion peptide, which plays a crucial role in entry of the virus into cells.]." [Based on: Title & Subtitle for Los Angeles Times article by Thomas H. Maugh II, p. A24, S.L.P.D., 04/21/07]
2007 - Trivia / Declining U.S. Dollar - April 22nd, 2007: "To the delight of U.S. exporters and the dismay of U.S. tourists, the dollar touched a 26-year low last week against the British pound and was less than a penny from an all-time low against the euro." [Based on: Cox News Service article (Declining dollar: Two sides of the coin / U.S. travelers to Europe will feel the pinch, but exporters are smiling.), p. A9, S.L.P.D., 04/22/07]
2007 - 700 Percent Increase in price of Corn / Zimbabwe - May 2nd, 2007: "In Zimbabwe, staple's price [corn] rises 700 pct." [Based on: Title for A.P. article, p A13, S.L.P.D., 05/02/07]
2007 - On Hold / 20 Million Chickens, U.S.A. - May 5th, 2007: "20 million chickens [U.S.A.] are put on hold [because their feed was mixed with pet food containing an industrial chemical]" [Based on: Article title, p A33, S.L.P.D., 05/05/07]
2007 - Bird Flu Treatment / Human Antibodies? - May 29th, 2007: "Blood donated by four survivors of bird flu seems to harbor a potent protection against the deadly virus. [....] The reasearch started when four Vietnamese adults who survived bouts of H5N1 in 2004 agreed to donate blood to the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. [....] Monday [05/28/07], researchers reported the first evidence - from tests in mice - that it really may work. [....] The work is reported Monday in the online journal PloS Medicine." [Based on: A.P. article (Antibodies from bird flu could offer treatment), p. A2, S.L.P.D., 05/29/07]
2007 - Workers Strike / South Africa - June 2nd, 2007: "[....] About 1 million workers are involved in the current strike, described as the biggest since the onset of multiracial democracy in 1994. [....] Protestors are particularly angered that top government officials were awarded raises of more than 50 percent earlier this year. [....]." [Based on: A.P. article (S. African workers stage largest strike since apartheid / Tens of thousands in the public sector demand a 12 percent pay raise.), p A24, S.L.P.D., 06/02/07]
2007 - Trivia / Stem Cell Research - June 7th, 2007: "Three teams of scientists said Wednesday [06/06/07] they had coaxed ordinary mouse skin cells to become what are effectively embryonic stem cells without creating or destroying embryos in the process. The advance, if it works with human cells, could revolutionize stem cell research and defuse one of the hottest bioethical controversies of the decade. [....] The new experiments reveal the remarkable degree of control that scientists have recently gained over the highly complex inner workings of living cells. [....]" [Based on: Washington Post article (Embryonic stem cells - without the embryo) by Rick Weiss, p A1 & A9, S.L.P.D., 06/07/07]
2007 - Unintended Pregnancies / United States - June 8th, 2007: "The lead House sponsor of the Prevention First Act, Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., promoted the bill Thursday at the National Press Club - declaring that it would 'give women the tools they need to make the best possible decisions for themselves.' [....] Statistics cited by Slaughter indicate that the United States has one of the highest rates of unintended pregnancies among industrialized nations - roughly 3 million a year, or nearly half the total number of pregnancies. While many women give birth to babies they did not plan on, about 1.3 million a year have abortions. [....]" [Based on: A.P. article (Abstinence only vs. contraceptives / States, Congress, liberals and conservatives battle over measures to reduce unwanted pregnancies.), p A5, S.L.P.D., 06/08/07] - [ my bold faced highlighted text - D.R.D.]
2007 - Trivia / Alzheimer's Disease - June 10th, 2007: "More than 26 million people worldwide have Alzheimer's disease, and a new forecast says the number will quadruple by 2050. [NP] At that rate, one in 85 people will have the brain-destroying disease in 40 years, researchers at Johns Hopkins University say. [NP] A recent U.S. study estimated that this nation's Alzheimer's toll will reach 16 million by 2050, compared with more than 5 million today." [Based on: Title for News Services article (Alzheimer's cases expected to rise sharply), p A3, S.L.P.D., 06/10/07]
2007 - Infections Trivia / U.S. Hospitals - June 25th, 2007: "A dangerous drug-resistant staph germ may be infecting hospital patients at about 10 times the rate officials had previously estimated, according to a new study. [NP] At least 30,000 U.S. hospital patients may have the superbug at any given time, according to a survey released today [06/25/07] by the Association of Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology. [NP] The superbug, known as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, cannot be tamed by certain common antibiotics.Past studies have looked at how common it is in specific patient groups, such as emergency-room patients with skin infections in 11 U.S. cities. [NP] The new study was different in that it sampled a larger and more diverse set of health care facilities. The researchers concluded that at least 46 out of every 1,000 patients had the bug." [Based on: News Services article, p. A3, S.L.P.D., 06/25/07]
2007 - Linked to Liver Health? / Coffee - June 25th, 2007: "[....] The formula is simple: For every 2 cups of coffee per day, researchers found a 43 percent reduced risk of liver cancer. [NP] The findings are in the most recent journal of Gastroenterology." [Based on: Health Notes article (Coffee is linked to liver health), p. H2, S.L.P.D., 06/25/07]
2007 - Trivia / Distress & Absent-Mindedness - June 25th, 2007: "People prone to being distressed have more memory problems that [<typo?] easy-going people. [NP] A study of the journal Neurology has found that people who experience bad emotions, depression and anxiety a lot were 40 percent more likely to develop 'mild cognitive impairment,' fancy words for absent-mindedness. [NP] Mild cognitive impairment can also be the transitional stage between normal aging and dementia. But with the new findings, researchers believe that memory problems may not be as tightly tied to dementia as once thought. Problems also can be tied to being stressed out. [NP] 'People differ in how they tend to experience and deal with negative emotions and psychological distress, and the way people respond tends to stay the same throughout their adult lives,' said Robert S. Wilson of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. 'These findings suggest that, over a lifetime, chronic experience of stress affects the area of the brain that governs stress response. Unfortunately, that part of the brain also regulates memory.' " [Based on: Health Notes article (Distress is linked to absent-mindedness), p. H2, S.L.P.D., 06/25/07]
*Commentary: "Gotta love those researchers. How much time and money did it take to figure that one out? New findings? Where do these researchers go to school?" D.R.D.
2007 - World Wealth Report - June 28th, 2007: "Suppose all of the world's wealthiest people got together and pooled their assets into one lump sum. How much money would that be? [NP] According to the report released Wednesday [06/27/07], the combined wealth of the globe's richest individuals rose more than 11 percent to a grand total of $37.2 trillion last year. [NP] The increase marks the first double-digit increase in seven years. [NP] Thanks to a strong global economy, 9.5 million people held at least $1 million in financial assets - excluding the value of their primary homes - in 2006, up from 8.7 million in 2005, according to the 11th annual World Wealth Report compiled by Merrill Lynch & Co. and the consulting firm gemini group. [NP] Those accumulated trillions give these individuals who represent only 0.14 percent of the world's current population, control of about a quarter of the world's total wealth, or nearly three times the United States' gross domestic product. [NP] If the rich decided to combine their assets and split the money evenly among all 9.5 million of them, they's each be left with more than $3.9 million." [Based on: A.P. article (World's richest now have $37.2 trillion) by Jackie Farwell, p B1 & B4, S.L.P.D., 06/28/07]
2007 - No Link? / Antidepressants & Birth Defects - June 28th, 2007: "Studies find no link in antidepressants and birth defects [two studies - from the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Boston University - appear today in The New England Journal of Medicine]" [Based on: Title for A.P. article, p. A6, 06/28/07]
2007 - Cost of Living Raise / U.S. House of Representatives - June 28th, 2007: "Members of House OK raise ['On a 244-181 vote'] for themselves ['House lawmakers Wednesday voted to accept an approximately $4,400 pay raise that will increase their salaries to almost $170,000.']" [Based on: Title for News Services article, p. A3, 06/28/07]
2007 - Medical Marijuana / New Mexico - July 1st, 2007: "New Mexico has a new medical marijuana law with a twist: It requires the state to grow its own. [NP] The law, effective Sunday [07/01/07], not only protects medical marijuana users from prosecution - as 11 other states do - but requires New Mexico to oversee a production and distribution system for the drug. [NP] The goal is to give patients a safe supply of the drug, advocates say. [....]" [Based on: News Services article (Law gives approval to medical marijuana), p A5, S.L.P.D., 07/01/07]
2007 - Helps Fight Colds / Echinacea - July 2nd, 2007: "After a study nearly two years ago said echinacea didn't help fight colds [See: 07/28/05], a new study says that it does. [....] Studies almost two years ago said it was ineffective. [NP] But this new analysis of 1,600 patients gathered from 14 studies found that echinacea reduced the chances of catching a cold by 58 percent and shaved 1.4 days off the duration of a cold, researchers said. [....] Researchers said previous studies that discredited the herb as having no effect were too small. The new review was larger, researchers said. [NP] Researchers did find that echinacea had less effect on colds caused by the rhinovirus, the most common cause of colds, than on other cold viruses, researchers said. [NP] The findings are in a recent edition of the medical journal Lancet Infectious Diseases." [Based on: Health Notes article (Echinacea helps fight colds, new study says), p H2, S.L.P.D., 07/02/07]
2007 - War in Iraq - July 13th, 2007: "[....] The Iraqi government is achieving only spotty military and political sucess, President George W. Bush's administration conceded Thursday [07/12/07] in an assessment that war critics quickly seized on as confirmation of their dire warnings. Within hours, the House voted to withdraw U.S. troops by spring. [NP] The House measure passed 223-201 in the Democratic-controlled chamber despite a veto threat from Bush, who has ruled out any change in war policy before September. [....] The 25-page administration report was issued in the fifth year of a war that has claimed the lives of more thatn 3,600 U.S. troops and is costing U.S. taxpayers an estimated $10 billion a month. [NP] Bush announced last winter he was ordering thousands of additional troops to the war zone, but the full complement has only arrived in recent weeks. [NP] The report warned of 'tough fighting' this summer as U.S. and Iraqi forces 'seek to seize the initiative from early gains and shape conditions of longer-term stabilization.' [....]" [Based on: A.P. article (Little gain, much failure seen in Iraq / Report fuels revolt by Congress; House votes to bring troops home by spring / "It's sad to say, President Bush is out of touch ... with the reality of the war in Iraq." - Senator Dick Durbin / And Bush adds to the fire "I don't think Congress ought to be running the war.") by David Espo, pp. A1 & A8, S.L.P.D., 07/13/07] - [My bold text - D.R.D.]
2007 - Crimes against democracy - July 17th, 2007:
I recently finished the book "Crimes Against Nature" by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after attending his outstanding presentation in defense of our environment and our democracy at Alberici Headquarters in Overland [Mo.] this May. Mr Kennedy raises a particularly insightful point in quoting from a 1904 book by the intrepid journalist Lincoln Steffens called "The Shame of the Cities," a watershed study of the American political system.
Mr Steffens concluded that the corruption and failures of American democracy stemmed largely from a single source: the control of government by businessmen acting in their own self-interest. This formula amounts to treason, because "the effect of it is literally to change the form of government from one that is representative of the people to an oligarchy representative of the special interests." The American people would be wise to keep these words of wisdom in mind as we exercise our patriotic duty at the voting booth; this understanding could have saved us much trouble and crisis over the past seven years.[Based on: Opinion Page article (Crimes against democracy) by William S. Hart, p. B8, S.L.P.D., 07/17/07]
2007 - How to Eat to Avoid Cancer - July 18th, 2007: "To avoid Alzheimer's, eat like an Italian. This can help prevent cancer too! And an apple a day - or at least an apple PEEL a day - may help keep cancer away. [NP] Researchers have identified a dozen compounds in apple peel that either inhibit or kill cancer cells in laboratory cultures. Food science researcher Rui Hai Liu says, 'We found that several compounds have potent anti-proliferative activities against human liver, colon and breast cancer cells and may be partially responsible for the anti-cancer activities of whole apples.' [....]"
[Based on: Article (How to Eat to Avoid Cancer) @ http://www.unknowncountry.com/news/?id=6337] - T.D. 07/29/07]
2007 - Lung Surgery / Andrew Speaker - July 18th, 2007: "Globe-trotting tuberculosis patient Andrew Speaker underwent surgery Tuesday [07/17/07] to remove infected tissue in his right lung. [NP] Speaker, 31, of Atlanta spurred a health scare this spring that resulted in his forced isolation on his return to the United States in May. [NP] Doctors at the University of Colorado Hospital in Denver removed a tennis ball-size portion of tissue from Speaker's lung. The surgery went well, the hospital said." [Based on: Title for News Services article (Tuberculosis patient has surgery on lung), p. A3, S.L.P.D., 07/18/07]
2007 - Get old, stay smart - July 30th, 2007: "Keeping your mental edge into your winter years takes brain work, the Mayo Clinic says. [NP] Clinicians said recently there's no reason why the brain of older people should lose their sharpness. The key is to exercise mental muscle. [NP] In fact, older adults who work their brains can develop new connections between brain cells, they said. [NP] Research increasingly shows that aging doesn't automatically result in a steady erosion of brain cells. [NP] A brain workout - using the mind in a wide variety of new and challenging ways - can activate cells throughout the brain, says the newest issue of the Mayo Clinic Health Letter. [NP] Here are some ways to have a brain workout: [NP *Work the left brain: Language, number and reasoning activities are considered left-brain activities. Reading, writing, learning a new language, completing number or word games, balancing a checkbook without a calculator and fixing broken objects are left-brain activities. [NP] *Work the right brain: Music, art and using the imagination are considered right-brain activities. Revive your music talent, sing in a choir, knit, quilt or take art classes. [NP] *Break a routine: Your brain kicks in when you change an old routine or habit. Now you'll have to think about it again. [NP] *Be sociable: Conversation and group activities get your brain working." [Based on: Health Notes article (Get old, stay smart), p. H2, S.L.P.D., 07/30/07] - [My brackets. "NP" = New Paragraph. - D.R.D.]
2007 - Tied to Kidney Disease? / Cola - July 30th, 2007: "People who drink more than two servings of cola a day more than double their risk of chronic kidney disease, new research suggests. [NP] But the same study, by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, found no increased risk with other carbonated drinks. [NP] Researchers said they don't believe the risk comes from the sugar of caffeine in colas. They suspect phosphoric acid, which gives cola its flavor and acts as a preservative. [NP] Currently, the association with kidney disease is mostly statistical. Still, the researchers warned people with kidney disease to avoid colas and high-phosphate foods, such as meat. [NP] The report is in a recent edition of the scientific journal Epidemiology." [Based on: Health Notes article (Cola is tied to kidney disease), p. H2, S.L.P.D., 07/30/07] - [My brackets. "NP" = New Paragraph. - D.R.D.]
2007 - Defang the lobby fat-cats - July 30th, 2007:
The greatest enemy of a universal health plan for all Americans is the private health insurers. Their CEOs have bought most Republican senators and representatives and many of the Democrats. The lobbyists run the show in Washington. Until we "defang" them, we'll never get it right with health care, food safety, drug safety, pollution, the environment, jobs, dependency on oil, etc., etc. It's time to put the interests of the American people first. [Based on: Opinion page article (Defang the lobby fat-cats) by Robert Recht, p. B8, S.L.P.D., 07/30/07]
2007 - Scientists Raise Alarm / Bisphenol A - August 3rd, 2007: "In an unusual effort targeting a single chemical, several dozen scientists on Thursday [08/02/07] issued a strongly worded consensus statement warning that an estrogenlike compound in plastic is likely to be causing serious reproductive disorders in people. [NP] The compound, bisphenol A or BPA, is one of the highest-volume chemicals in the world and has found its way into the bodies of most human beings. [....] The statement, published online by the journal Reproductive Toxicology, was accompanied by a study by researchers from the national Institute of Health findining uterine damage in newborn animals exposed to BPA. [....]" [Based on: Los Angeles Times article (Scientists raise alarm on chemical), p A3, S.L.P.D., 08/03/07]
2007 - Linked to Dementia / Acid-Inhibiting Drugs? - August 4th, 2007: "Elderly black people who are chronic users of acid-inhibiting drugs in the family that includes Zantac, Pepcid and Tagamet have 2 1/2 times the normal risk of developing dementia, Indiana University researchers reported Friday [08/03/07]. [NP] The drugs block production of stomach acid by inhibiting histamine-2 receptors; the stomach releases hydrochloric acid when stimulated by histamines. But they also inhibit the brain's cholinergic system, which is involved in memory and cognition. Low levels of Cholinergic activity have been linked to dementia. In the past, there have been hints that the drugs, known as histamine-2 receptor antagonists, might be linked to dementia, but previous studies have come down on both sides of the question, said Dr. John Morris of Washington University in St. Louis, who was not involved in the study. [NP] 'This is certainly not the final word on the potential risk of these drugs,' he said. 'But what it tells us is that, for older adults, drug use should be considered very carefully.' [NP] GlaxoSmithKline, which manufactures Tagamet and Zantac, did not return calls seeking comment. [NP] The study did not look at Caucasians. [NP] The study was published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. It was conducted by Dr. Malaz Boustani." [Based on: Los Angeles Times article (Study ties stomach, dementia), p A18, S.L.P.D., 08/04/07]
2007 - Trivia / "21st Century" Socialism? - August 7th, 2007: "[....] According to an economic blueprint for the next six years, free-market capitalism's influence will wane with the rise of state enterprises and mixed public-private firms called social production companies. The goal is to generate money for community programs. [....]" [Based on: Washington Post article (Chavez puts his own spin on '21st century' socialism) by Juan Forero, p A7, S.L.P.D., 08/07/07]
2007 - Life Span Trivia / U.S.A. - August 12th, 2007: "Americans are living longer than ever, but not as long as people in 41 other countries. [....]" [Based on: A.P. article (Life spans soar, but U.S. falls behind / We're No. 42 - Japan, Europe, small nations do more to improve health.), p A1, S.L.P.D., 08/12/07] - [My bold text. - D.R.D.]
2007 - Introduced for Super Rich / Private Stock Market - August 17th, 2007: "[....] Any private firm can list on Nasdaq's new platform, which is called the Portal Market, and raise money by selling stock to an elite group of shareholders. These companies would remain private and not have to make public their financial statements or submit to federal regulation, such as the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate accountability law. [....] The boom in private money has beome so important to the financial system that major investment banks, including Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers and Citigroup, are setting up rival private stock markets of their own. But none is as large as Portal, which listed the shares of about 600 firms on its first day of trading Wednesday. [....] The private market, Marks [Howard S. Marks, chairman of Oaktree Capital] said, shields companies from regulation and from wild swings in their share prices that are caused by a temporary drop in earnings or a bad rumor. [NP] In just a few years, Nasdaq officials predict, stock offerings on private markets will far exceed IPOs on public exchanges. [....] Portal is the first centralized private stock market for an elite class of investors called Qualified Institutional Buyers, or 'QIBs,' that was created in 1990 by securities rule 144A. This law defined QIBs as investing institutions with at least $100 million in assets. It also allowed private companies to raise money by selling shares only to QIBs and remain exempt from regulatory scrutiny. These firms, however, disclose their financial statements to their investors. [....]" [Based on: Washington Post article (Private stock market is introduced for super rich) by David Cho, p B8, S.L.P.D., 08/17/07]
Pre-1945 / 1945 / 1980 / 2000 / 2009
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