Should Your Child Still Have A Polio Shot?

There was a time in the United States in the middle of the 20th century when the disease known as Poliomyelitis was a real fear. Polio is an infectious disease. It is a virus that usually enters the body through the throat and or the intestinal tract and spreads through person to person contact with oral and nasal secretions. In its mildest forms it would usually show flu like symptoms and probably lay you out for about the better part of 10 days after which one would recover. This is what occurred in most cases. In its most severe form it would lead to paralysis and death. This result would occur in about 1% of those afflicted. Perhaps its most famous victim was Franklin Roosevelt who acquired the disease about 10 years before he became president and lost his ability to walk. By 1949 the disease had reached it zenith in the U.S. with over 42,000 cases reported that year. With the introduction of the Polio vaccine by Doctor Jonas Salk in 1955 the occurrences of the illness declined quickly over time and was nearly wiped out in only one generation. By 1979 the number of annual cases in the U.S. has dwindled to only 8. From 1980 - 2006 there had been only 2 confirmed cases of the disease. It has for all practical purposes been wiped out in the United States. Yet despite this fact nearly every child born in America is still vaccinated against a disease that no longer poses a serious threat. Over 95% of new Born's are given the Polio vaccine today. Some have questioned why this is the case considering that Polio is all but gone from the American landscape. Some have suggested that the answer to the question is money. Depending on where you live a Polio vaccine shot can cost anywhere from $25 - $85 each and that 4 shots are "suggested" before the age of 6 for a new baby. Some have stated the belief that continuing to "recommend" to new parents that their babies be protected with these shots rakes in billions for the pharmaceutical industry annually. Usually when a war is won what happens next naturally is that you stop fighting. Polio has been beaten in the United States yet big pharma is still acting like we are in the middle of the Polio war and that there is no end in sight because it serves its economic interests to do so and say so. Of course whether a new parent decides to vaccinate their new child against this disease is a totally personal choice that should be left up to the parents and there is nothing wrong with preferring to be safe rather than sorry. To many it seems like a case of overkill to vaccinate over 95% of the children born in the U.S. against a disease that has shown only 2 confirmed cases since 1980.

The Trouble With Bottled Water

There is no doubt about how convenient bottled water can be. The millions in sales each year is testament to the fact that the general public likes it and keeps buying it despite the fact that they can acquire the product virtually for free from their home faucets. There is however a price to pay for that convenience and the price in the view of some for society is too high. First of all there is the cost. A small bottle of water such as Aquafina or Dasani can cost in excess of $3 in New York City and contain the same amount of water in a typical glass which you could get out of your tap for literally pennies. The source of the water is often the same. The people that market and make bottled water are the same companies that make soda such as Coke And Pepsi and they go the great strides to portray the image of bottled water as pure as if it comes from a mountain stream. About 35% of the bottled water found in the U.S.A. comes from a municipal water supply which is the same place your tap water comes from. They just run it through a water purifier to enhance it a little more and make it fresher tasting. One of the strategies that the bottled water companies initially undertook to promote interest in their product was to scare the public into believing that their tap water was somehow polluted and unsafe to drink and that their pure product would be better for you and safer which is actually not the case considering that the water very often comes from the same place. Then there is the problem of the garbage that it is generating. All of those plastic bottles that people dispose of after they consume their bottled water ends up eventually in city landfills because while much of it is recycled these days not all of it is and the stuff ends up taking centuries to break down and when it does can sometimes, depending on the type of plastic the bottles are made of, emit dangerous chemicals over time such as Bisphenol (BPA) which has been linked in studies to an increased risk for the development of Breast cancer and Prostate cancer for those who are excessively exposed to the chemical.

Hispanics Gaining Big In U.S. Census

Probably the best reason to undertake a census count, other than the fact that is mandated by the U.S. Constitution, is to get a good idea about what kind of changes take place in the population over time. One of the items that is always looked at in an effort to glean this kind of information is to look at the most popular surnames in the census and to determine what ethnicity's are growing in the country and what others are not. Here below is a list of the ten most common surnames taken from the U.S. Census of 2000, the number of people in the country with that surname, and then the rank of that particular surname in the U.S. Census from 1990 in order to indicate an increase or decrease over time. The largest increase has occured with Hispanics as the chart below indicates:

1. Smith----------- 2,376,206-------------------- 1 (1990 rank)


2. Johnson---------1,857,160-------------------- 2


3. Williams--------1,534,042---------------------3


4. Brown-----------1,380,145---------------------5


5. Jones----------- 1,362,755-------------------- 4


6. Miller----------- 1,127,893-------------------- 7


7. Davis----------- 1,072,335-------------------- 6


8. Garcia------------ 858,289--------------------18


9. Rodriguez-------- 804,240--------------------22


10. Wilson------------ 783,051---------------------8

The Neverending Impact Of Henrietta Lacks

Her name is barely known by anyone yet her impact on the world has been incalculable. Henrietta Lacks was a 31 year old African American mother of 5 who died of cervical cancer on October 4th, 1951 at John's Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. During her 8 month long treatment human cells were removed from her body for purposes of research. The doctors at the hospital soon discovered that her cells not only were growing in their test tubes but were thriving and multiplying. This is a rare occurrence. Most cells that are collected do not continue to grow and replicate indefinitely. Her cells have been used in countless medical scientific research over the decades since her passing. They have been used to develop Dr. Jonas Salk's Polio vaccine, they have been used to test and develop various chemotherapy treatments for cancer patients, and also used to develop in-vitro fertilization techniques among countless other uses. Her cells are still alive and replicating today and continue to be of valuable use and service to the medical research community in order to develop new treatments and medications for the ill. The cell line that she donated is known as the HeLa cell line. Hela represents the first two letters of her first and last names. Her children and other descendants were totally left in the dark about her donation to medical science until about 1973 when a member of her family had a chance encounter with someone who happened to work in a medical lab and mentioned her name in discussion with relation to his work. Despite the countless good that has come from Henrietta Lacks and her contribution (and the countless billions that the pharmaceutical industry and medical community have gained by her) her family has not seen any benefit either economically or in terms of recognition of their mother and grandmother. Ironically some of her children live without health care today because they cannot afford it and some of her children are now in debt because of their medical bills.

U.S. Population Growth Since The Revolution

It is true in the United States as much as it is true everywhere else in the world. The population is exploding in size. At the time of the U.S. revolution there were less than 3 million Americans who existed. It is estimated that by the year 2100 there will be well over 500 million. Here now is a list of the U.S. population growth since the American Revolution which demonstrates just how quickly populations rise:

• 1780 -- 2,780,400


• 1800 -- 5,308,483


• 1820 -- 9,638,453


• 1840 -- 17,069,453


• 1860 -- 31,443,321


• 1880 -- 50,189,209


• 1900 -- 76,212,168


• 1920 -- 106,021,537


• 1940 -- 132,164,569


• 1960 -- 179,323,175


• 1980 -- 226,545,805


• 2000 -- 281,421,906


• 2010 -- 309,162,581 (est.)

"Glassing" Violence Becoming An Expensive Problem In U.K.

The issue of violence in Britain at and around football matches in not a new phenomenon but the increase in the number of incidents over the years is now becoming an expensive issue for the National Health Service there. It is known as "Glassing" and it usually occurs in England in and around sporting matches, bars, and clubs. It is when an individual uses a glass as a weapon and attacks another individual by either throwing it or breaking it first and then using it to cut a victim usually after an argument has ensued about sports or British football.. The result is usually heavy blood loss, permanent scarring, and serious injury. In the U.K. over 87,000 incidents take place now every year. It is now costing The National Health Service over 4 Billion dollars a year to treat these injuries. The cost is becoming so high in fact that the Government is now moving to have all the glassware in British bars and Pubs replaced with glassware that is not breakable such as plastic or even paper cups in an attempt to both reduce the number of these incidents annually and also curb the ever rising costs associated with having to treat such injuries.

The Only Bad Flight In The History Of Concorde

The Concorde was the worlds first super sonic jet plane. The joint effort of both the French and British governments it debuted in 1969 and proved to be a success from the start and a hit with the public. It maintained a perfect safety record for over 30 years until July 25th, 2000 when it suffered its only crash. It took place in Paris, France at Charles Degaulle Airport. Just ahead of it on the runway was a Continental DC-10 which was taking off and heading for Texas. As it lifted up somehow a small piece of metal about 4 inches long fell off during the stresses of takeoff and ended up on the runway. The Concorde being next to takeoff followed its usual procedure and sped up as it made its way down the runway to gather up enough speed to lift into the air. Investigators estimate that it was traveling at about a speed of 200 MPH when her left wheel came into contact with the metal strip left on the tarmac by the previous Continental Flight. The small piece of titanium shredded the tire causing small chunks of rubber to fly up into the air at speeds that were about equivalent to that of a bullet shot from a gun. One of the chunks of rubber flies up and strikes the Concorde on the left side of the jet under its wing where the fuel tanks for the plane are located. The rubber traveling at such a high speed impacts the tank which causes a shock wave that ignites a fire in the wing but the jet still manages to lift off and become airborne. Citizens in Paris witnessed the plane in flight over the city traveling with its left wing engulfed in flames trailing black smoke behind it. The jet remained in the air for about two minutes when it finally came crashing down directly upon a hotel called The Relais Bleu which was located about ten miles outside of Paris. One hundred passengers were killed along with a flight crew of nine and four others on the ground. Most of the passengers on this particular flight were German. They were tourists on their way to J.F.K. Airport in order to connect with a cruise ship that was headed for Ecuador. The Incident marred an otherwise flawless flight record for the Concorde that had been in tact since the inception of the plane 30 years before. After the crash all Concorde flights were grounded for a time. The fleet itself was finally retired in 2003 for economic reasons rather than safety ones. The planes were no longer cost effective to fly because they used excessive amounts of jet fuel that were too costly for their continued operation.