We Let Them Suffer, We Let Them Die
I want to thank my friend and adversary Bill Gillen for inspiring this blog. Lately he has shown his more human side and I respect that.
We sit back and type on our laptops and PCs and based on our political wing either left or right rant about the evil that the other does. Our pantry is full of food, we have air conditioning when it’s hot and furnaces when it’s cold. Most, though not all, can go to our doctor when we get sick. We decide what is right or wrong in the world.
When babies die in underdeveloped nations in the world we blame the other side. Whether the death is from starvation, aids, malaria, civil unrest, it doesn’t matter. If you are on the right you blame the left, if you are on the left your blame the right. We are all to blame.
We complain about the use of DDT when it does save lives in the underdeveloped nations. We say that genetic altering of plants are wrong even though they can feed the starving.
Most have never visited a country or even a section of their own country that suffers.
I, for one, suffer when any child suffers. I suffer with every death regardless of the cause.
Good blog, John. Can’t find any disagreement in there.
John,
I’ve spent too much time railing about topics in a way that looks like I’m heartless. Which I’m not heartless…until it comes to the rich. The Corporate Welfare is much more upsetting to me than people realize…and I’m trying to focus more on that.
We have an obligation to take care of those who cannot take care of themselves…to defend those who cannot defend themselves. Our Veterans at the top of the list…the Elderly next…and then everyone else. But we need to stop enabling people that are healthy and should be working to at least try to make their lives better.
We agree on many more things as time goes by…and one thing I’m sure of…if we ever met in person we’d both respect each others views and be civil towards each other. We are both men of character…and we both fight with more passion than most people can understand. peace. heart
Allah,
“Most have never visited a country or even a section of their own country that suffers. ”
it doesn’t take away the necessity for AWARENESS.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a millionaire like Christina Aguilera or Bill Gates, you can still HELP like THEY do by raising awareness and becoming a part of the effort to curb these problems.
If only poor people were allowed to “talk about it”, then nobody would receive awareness. Poor people dont have computers to get help messages across the world instantly.
Be GLAD that it is all of use “well to do” people that actually HELP by “talking about it”.
Here comes your friendly antagonist 🙂 to disagree that genetic engineering helps to feed the starving. I used to work for an NGO that worked to restore Mozambique after 17 years of civil war in which all the farmers seed stocks were destroyed. Normally farmers would produce their own seed to replant crops each year but the war destroyed all that. So they needed new seed to get their farms going again. And what did they get? They were sold Monsanto genetically engineered sterile seeds. They did not understand that they would not be able to generate fertile seeds to replant the following year. How could they? They knew nothing of genetic engineering. Now they have to buy more seeds each year. That does not help the starving. It merely squeezes more money out of the already impoverished.
Hello! Back again! 😀
Did you read Silent Spring by American biologist Rachel Carson? It details the effects of poisons on our environment, wildlife and our own health.
http://www.edf.org/article.cfm?ContentID=4407 details the devastating effects of DDT and the limitations of its effectiveness in dealing with mosquitos:
The pesticide DDT was banned in the United States in 1972 because it contributed to the near extinction of birds, including the bald eagle and the peregrine falcon. DDT is a persistent chemical that becomes concentrated in animal tissues, rising in concentration in animals that are higher in the food chain. It is particularly toxic to fish, aquatic invertebrates and insects (including some that are beneficial). While not immediately toxic to birds, DDT causes long-term reproductive problems by causing eggshells to weaken and crack, threatening the survival of many bird species. Because of its chemical nature, once DDT is applied in a field or other environment, it remains in an active form for decades. People throughout the United States still carry DDT and its metabolites in their bodies, 30 years after the pesticide was banned in this country. Most other developed countries have also banned DDT, but it is still used in many developing countries.
Since the nationwide ban took effect, there has been a gradual decline in DDT levels in humans and in wildlife. There has been no resurgence of malaria or any of the other diseases that DDT was used to fight in the United States. Moreover, farmers have found effective alternative means to control insect pests. The DDT ban is one of the very few actions directly responsible for the recovery of species once in danger of extinction, including the peregrine falcon, the bald eagle and the brown pelican. It also has clearly helped other bird species that were not yet endangered but whose populations were declining due to DDT. As Russell Train, chairman emeritus of the World Wildlife Fund put it, “The banning of DDT was one of the most important legal victories ever won for wildlife.”
Chronic low dose DDT exposure has been shown to be associated with premature birth and low birthweight in babies who were exposed before birth, and with decreased duration of milk supply in nursing mothers. Most of what we know about DDT’s toxicity to humans (as with many chemicals) is derived from laboratory-animal studies, which have demonstrated that DDT is likely to cause cancers and other health problems.
Prior to the bans on DDT in the U.S., Europe and other developed countries, mosquitoes were already becoming increasingly resistant to DDT. As a result, mosquito control experts in those countries were already searching for more effective alternative pesticides and other mosquito-control measures. Recent articles in Science magazine document that mosquitoes throughout the developing world are also now increasingly resistant to DDT. Thus, its effectiveness is limited, and its use will not accomplish public health goals in the absence of a comprehensive pest management program.
Okay, Martha. Some of these solutions may not be perfect solutions. I am quite sure that the World Health Organization took the hazards of DDT into consideration before determining that it could be used as a temporary measure. We must do what we can, sometimes using imperfect solutions, until a more permanent solution can be found. What we cannot do is do nothing.