[ale] OT: OT OT OT and very long! Anybody sick today?

[Charles Shapiro]

You right of course. Must be all that Holistic Medicine we use today.
It's much more common now than it was before all those sinister drug
companies started using science and technology in health care. Heck,
witch doctors had far happier patients than today's impersonal, painful,
dangerous medical technologists. Of course, a lot more of those 
patients died.

Actually, the CDC (I know, a bunch of suspect government scientists) 
attributes American lifespan improvements to several factors, including
better and more abundant food, better medical care, fewer workplace
accidents, and more floridation. The link is at
http://www.cdc.gov/epo/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00056796.htm.  

As for cancer being a disease of late life, I can refer you to
http://www.iongen.com/iongen-engl/html/MarketFacts_4_29.html. Some
cancers do of course manifest themselves early in life, but over half
the folks diagnosed with cancer in the United States are over 65, while
about 1 in 6 are younger than 50.


I'm getting bored with this and should probably stop.


-- CHS

On Tue, 2003-12-30 at 13:52, Robert Reese wrote:
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> On 12/30/2003 at 1:29 PM Charles Shapiro wrote:
> 
> >Human life expectancy at birth in the United States in 1901 was
> >about 50.
> >A baby born in 2003 will probably live into his or her 70s. Late 70s
> >if it's a she.
> >
> >Before about 1950, most people ate primarily fresh fruits,
> >vegetables, and natural grains. Meat was a luxury item until quite
> >recently.
> [snip]
> >Off hand, those artificial flavors, colors, and other chemicals seem
> >to be doing most people more good than harm.
> 
> I would attribute the longer life longevity (redundant?) to advances
> in medical research, analysis, and treatment.  Not chemistry of diet.
>  The reverse would more likely be true: with today's and tomorrow's
> medical advances *and* with a proper diet, I would think that life
> expectancy of today's infants could well exceed 100 years.
> 
> 
> >Cancer is a disease of late life.
> 
> I wish that were so...  :(
> 
> Cheers,
> Robert Reese~
> 
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