40 Percent of Deaths Linked to Environment
| Tue Sep. 11, 2007 11:53 AM PDT
Hmmm... Maybe it's not so bad to drink Dr. Pepper after all. A recent Cornell University study has found that nearly half of deaths worldwide are caused or exacerbated by environmental pollution, including water pollution.
David Pimentel, the Cornell professor of ecology and evolutionary biology who conducted the research, links 62 million deaths each year to organic or chemical pollutants, placing these factors alongside long-known killers such as heart disease.
Increasing rates of Malaria, E. coli, Salmonella, AIDS, and Tuberculosis all are linked to environmental degradation, according to Pimentel. "In the United States alone, 76,000 people are in the hospital each year, with 5,000 deaths, just due to pollution of air, food, or water," he said. "Cancers are increasing in the U.S., and AIDS is on the rise."
Continues Below
Continued From Above
Comments
Submitted by Cash (not verified) on Tue Sep. 11, 2007 4:54 PM PDT.
You use a URL link for the word study which then points to a student newspaper article on the same subject. That doesn't really make me think you did your research.
The actual study is in Human Ecology. Link: http://www.springerlink.com/content/101592/
His research is a lot more complex than you make it sound and Mother Jones readers are pretty smart so it's okay not to simplify it like this.
This is an insult. "Smart, Fearless Journalism"? Really?
Aids is caused by enviromental degradation? Wow.
There are 3 kinds of lies...Lies...DAMNED Lies....and STATISTICS.
This is pure associative crap. All death is linked to BIRTH.
Ok, first off, Dr. Pepper has Sodium Benzoate in it. This changes your DNA.
Secondly, Diet Dr. Pepper has aspartame in it, this causes depression and creates formaldehyde in your brain. This sweetener is in all diet colas, and some gum, breath strips, etc. (splenda or sucralose is also not proven safe)
Thirdly, water is all filled with toxic 'fluoride', and so is your toothpaste. Alcoa sells their toxic waste to water companies rather than paying to get rid of it. The government DOES NOT CARE ABOUT YOUR TEETH. Fluoride lowers IQ, messes up your pineal gland, causes premature puberty in females, and can cause dental and bone fluoridosis.
Lastly, Milk is filled with cancer causing agent called IGF-1 (insulin like growth factor 1), it's levels have doubled since the UNNECCESARY injection of rGHB into cows. Milk is produced in excess, why cause mastisis of the udder (requiring more anti-biotics) to cause more cancer?
Don't even get me started on the FDA's BSE/MadCow "testing".
Don't be suprised if you wake up with vCJD from all your delicious wendy's hamburgers.
The CIA (CFR tool) came up with AIDS and is responsible for the spread of many(not all) of the others as part of the Trialateral Commission and the Bilderbergers plot to reduce our population. You better believe that many of our problems are man made and too many of them point directly to the above mentioned organization.
Submitted by Misanthropic Scott (not verified) on Sat Sep. 22, 2007 3:45 PM PDT.
There's a minor misquote from the article in the statement above. I have now searched the source for all references to AIDS. The closest quote I came up with from the source was this:
To help prevent infectious diseases, people need to be educated, especially in dealing with water pollution and AIDS. For AIDS control, condoms and other protected sex have proven highly effective.
Unless I am reading the above horribly incorrectly, it does NOT link AIDS to environmental issues.
Ha Ha....
Wow, I love to see peoples dumb responses to this article...
People forget that 1/3 of the earths population is located close to the equator. Just do a quick search on Google Earth and see what areas of the world live in these areas....And try to use that 4th grade math knowledge to calculate how many people die in these areas due to unsafe, unclean, or lack of drinking water...
I dare anyone who disaggrees with this article to fly over to central africa and or south america and grab a quick drink right out of a stream or river!
Maybe then you will have a better appreciation for Dr. Pepper.....
Chris, "FLY over to..." Why yes Chris, you are right. But we Americans are narcissistic fat fart machines. We think that our world ends at the borders. The third world just laughs at us(when I am there, I laugh along with them). Flies are part of the family in the third word. They do not get excited about them like the self absorbed Americans. Americans are just such big babies.
Submitted by Steve (not verified) on Thu Sep. 27, 2007 4:49 AM PDT.
I've always thought that environment was a pretty big factor, thanks for bringing us the actually percent stat.
Submitted by Misanthropic Scott (not verified) on Thu Sep. 27, 2007 9:17 PM PDT.
The Toad & Chris,
For the record, I did not dispute the numbers. I merely pointed out that in the original source of this article, AIDS is listed as a common cause of death. However, there is no mention of the deaths from AIDS increasing due to environmental concerns or of deaths from AIDS being counted in that 40%. There had been some discussion previously about this, so I checked.
I would say that the 40% is likely correct. It is also likely to grow dramatically as we find that we have overharvested our resource base. As it we bump up against the limits of the planets resources, the deaths from environmental concerns will rise.
Remember, we are past peak grain production. All three of our staple crops are already in decline year over year. We are also past peak ocean fisheries output. A billion people rely on sea food for their primary source of protein. But, despite improved technology, the catch has been declining year over year since 1983.
People are made of food.
We cannot continue to increase population on declining food production.
Read Plan B 2.0, which is well footnoted, for the source. It's freely downloadable at the following link.
Submitted by Misanthropic Scott (not verified) on Sat Sep. 29, 2007 6:41 PM PDT.
Veggie,
It's a good point that a veggie lifestyle will support more people than a beef one. However, it is actually more efficient in terms of land use to grow grains like corn, wheat, and rice and feed them to carp, tilapia, and catfish than it is to grow soy. So, for protein, some fish may be the answer.
However, the planet cannot support billions, let alone billions more. We must reduce our population. Going gay is a good way to go, if one believes people have a choice in such matters. For the rest of us ...
Got vasectomy?
BTW, I really do not believe we can sustain anywhere near our current numbers. I think that Malthus was wrong two ways. I think he overestimated the carrying capacity of the planet by quite a bit. I also think he underestimated the degree to which humans would steal from their children to feed themselves.
I'd be curious what you think of this blog post topic of mine.
http://misanthropicscott.wordpress.com/2007/09/13/what-is-the-sustainabl...
