On 08/06/07, Tom McCabe <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
That would be nice, but unfortunately it's unrealistic. Just look at what medical science has done over the past millennium: 1. Totally wiped out smallpox, a huge killer. 2. Effectively wiped out many more diseases, such as measles, mumps, rubella, typhus, diphtheria, cholera, tetanus and many others (in the first world anyway). 3. Came up with a huge range of antibiotics for bacterial infections of every kind. 4. Came up with a huge range of vaccines for viruses of every kind. 5. Increased the life expectancy of first-world humans by several decades. 6. Developed surgery under anesthesia for the cure of bazillions of internal diseases.
I don't have the reference, but I have seen the claim that 90% of the improvement in health over human history is due to better living conditions, 9% due to vaccination, and 1% due to the rest of medical science. It sounds about right. -- Stathis Papaioannou ----- This list is sponsored by AGIRI: http://www.agiri.org/email To unsubscribe or change your options, please go to: http://v2.listbox.com/member/?member_id=4007604&user_secret=7d7fb4d8
