Watching the World
Peace Assembly Undisturbed
◆ The “Peace on Earth” Assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Surinam, January 14-18, was well attended despite downpours of rain. During the night of January 16, the rain fell as it had not since 1902. Whole sections of Paramaribo were inundated. Even the business section was flooded in water running 10 to 20 inches high. The platform in the Surinam Stadium, where the assembly was held, was submerged by water. The main road to the stadium was covered with water 20 inches deep. But the Witnesses went to work and moved the assembly platform to dry ground. They rented a bus to transport people to the immediate vicinity of the assembly grounds. Many Witnesses took off their shoes and walked through the muddy water. More than 1,200 people attended the sessions every night! Twenty-six persons were baptized in symbol of their dedication to do God’s will and thus manifest themselves as Jehovah’s witnesses.
Marketing Chickens with Cancer Virus
◆ What would you think if someone fed you chicken that had a cancer virus? A United States government panel of scientists stated that there is nothing wrong with that. In fact, it recommended that chickens with cancer virus be allowed on the market, providing the birds looked good to buyers. It was even suggested that if tumors were detected on the wings of a chicken, the wings could be cut off and used in products such as hot dogs, and the rest of the bird could be sold as cut-up chicken. Officials say there is scientific evidence that there is no link between cancer virus in chickens and disease in humans. However, scientists outside the Agriculture Department have expressed reservations about the recommendations. Dr. J. Spencer Munroe, a New York University professor who injected a leukosis virus into monkeys in 1963 and found that the monkeys developed tumors, said he felt that the subject needed more research. A former government official stated that the recommendation represents giving in to pressure from the poultry industry. Rodney E. Leonard, who was administrator of the consumer and marketing services under President Johnson, said: “The industry expects the program to adjust to the economic needs of the industry rather than the health needs of consumers.”
Prices Up All Over
◆ The International Labor Organization said that consumers in all parts of the world are paying more for their goods this year than last year. The French housewife is paying substantially more for everything she buys, from wine and meat to clothes for herself and her children. Consumer price rises ranged from 5 to 10 percent in 22 countries and territories. Increases of more than 10 percent were recorded in 15 countries. As one housewife complained: “Nothing is ever cheaper.”
Crime in Schools
◆ Based on reports from 110 school districts, the Senate Juvenile Delinquency Subcommittee disclosed that in city after city, teaching “has been reduced to a level of keeping discipline.” During the past five years, the survey shows, there has been a massive increase in crime, with the rise often caused by dropouts, those who formerly attended those schools. Violence caused by dropouts alone increased from 142 cases in 1964 to 3,894 cases in 1968, in cities surveyed. Most of the violence, the study found, is not racially directed, but involves violence by whites against whites or Negroes against Negroes. The Subcommittee chairman, Senator Thomas J. Dodd, said: “Harassed by parents, teachers, students and outsiders, the school principal—and indeed the entire school system in many cases—has reduced teaching to the level of keeping discipline.” Teachers often carry guns to protect themselves, the study pointed out. New York city has been forced to hire 170 special school guards at a cost of $500,000.
“Menticide”—What Is It?
◆ Any person taking any form of hallucinogenic acid or drug is taking an “uncalculated” risk. Doctors in Canada have stated that a number of persons who have taken hallucinogenic drugs have become invalids and are beyond medical and psychiatric help. “These people—mostly in their late teens or early 20s—look like chronic schizophrenics,” said Dr. Conrad Schwarz, consulting psychiatrist at the University of British Columbia. “They are completely unable to take care of themselves. There is a new medical term which is becoming popular in relation to these cases. It’s menticide, meaning mental suicide.” Dr. Schwarz said these patients do not respond to external stimuli and cannot make decisions. “They just create a feeling of helplessness in me as a medical doctor and psychiatrist,” Dr. Schwarz said. “We just don’t know what to do with them.”
TV and Violence
◆ The National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence stated that television violence is a contributing factor to violence in the real world. The Commission noted that children and adolescents spend one-fourth to one-half of their time watching television. It said that parents often use TV as an “instant baby-sitter.” These children, the Commission said, often see the television world as an extension of their own and believe what they see to be accepted adult behavior. Wise parents will be selective as to what programs their children see.
A Small Bible
◆ Generally speaking, the Bible is not a small book, but a library of considerable size consisting of sixty-six books. The King James Version of the Bible, for example, consists of 773,746 words. In one standard edition these words are printed on 1,245 pages. Yet, it is possible today to reproduce this entire Bible on a film clip less than two inches square. The image reduction is 62,500 to 1. The words can be read under an ordinary student microscope of 100x or greater power. This feat of micro-image reduction is possible through the use of microfilm.
Avoiding Heart Attacks
◆ There are primarily six things to watch, which things, if avoided, can greatly reduce the danger of heart attacks. Dr. Jeremiah Stamler of the Health Research Foundation said the six factors are: High blood pressure, current use of cigarettes, weight 25 percent or more above normal, high blood-sugar level, an electrocardiogram that shows pronounced irregularity, and high cholesterol levels of the blood. When none of these factors is present, said Dr. Stamler, the chance of sudden death in the age range of the 60’s and 70’s is “remarkably low.” Dr. Stamler advised seeing a physician first before rushing into an exercise program to take off weight quickly. Exercise should be “gradual, progressive, frequent and regular,” he said.
Perils of Carbon Monoxide
◆ Carbon monoxide is an odorless, colorless gas that is produced when carbon-containing substances, such as gasoline and tobacco, are burned. In large doses, it is deadly. In low doses it may also have adverse effects. Dr. John R. Goldsmith of California’s Department of Public Health pointed out that in New York city each day automobile traffic alone dumps 8.3 million pounds of carbon monoxide into the air. In Los Angeles, he added, the daily output of carbon monoxide from motor vehicles is more than 20 million pounds. The carbon-monoxide intake levels reached by the average smoker are said to be about twice that of the driver in heavy downtown traffic.
“A Safety Valve”
◆ There are a lot of sicknesses that need immediate attention, but many of them can be avoided if people just rest more. Dr. Ronald Gibson, chairman of the British Medical Association Council, said the best treatment for people subjected to overstress and overstrain or chronic aggravation is a couple of days in bed. “Just drop out of things,” Dr. Gibson advises. “Pop into bed for a few days and stay there. Relax, read, listen to the radio. It’s a safety valve and a good one.”
Avalanche Disasters
◆ About 50 miles northeast of Tehran, Iran, an avalanche of snow swept 16 cars and buses into a ravine and, on January 29, 37 persons were found frozen to death in one of the buses. The avalanche was about one and one-fourth miles wide. Rescue operations were hampered by intense cold.
Earlier in the month, five young climbers were presumably buried by an avalanche on 10,488-foot Mount Cleveland in Glacier National Park, Montana.
Then on February 10 an avalanche of snow ripped through the French Alpine resort of Val d’Isère, killing at least 39 young skiers. It was believed to be the worst avalanche disaster in French history.
Drug Abuse in the U.S.
◆ In his message to Congress on narcotics, President Nixon said: “Within the last decade the abuse of drugs has grown from essentially a local police problem into a serious national threat to the personal health and safety of millions of Americans.” Since 1960 the number of arrests for drug violations has increased by 329 percent. Drug arrests for persons under 18 rose by 1,860 percent during this period. Total weight of all drugs confiscated in 1968 hit 35 tons. The costs run from $5 for a bag of marijuana to as high as $50,000 for a pound of heroin.
Garbage and Trash
◆ A survey of a 3.2-square-mile section of central Philadelphia, which included residential and industrial buildings, showed that the total annual mountain of trash for the area was 253,000 tons. It surprised some to find out that some office buildings generate more garbage than restaurants do.
3,000,000,000,000 Phone Calls
◆ By the beginning of 1970, more than three trillion—that is 3,000,000,000,000—phone calls had been completed over the Bell System circuits since Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1875. This figure works out to an average of 1,000 calls per second spread over the past 95 years.
The Rat Problem
◆ Rat-spread diseases are said to have killed more people than all the wars in history. The stored grain that they eat and ruin each year could feed the 200 million people in the United States. It is also suspected that they start one of every four fires of unknown origin. They are accused of causing $1,000,000,000 of damage yearly in America. More than 14,000 Americans are bitten by rats each year, most of them children. Rats are prolific breeders. They can breed at any month of the year, producing up to 17 young per litter.
Big Government Fears
◆ How big is big government? The United States government takes in and spends close to $200,000,000,000 each year. The government’s real estate alone includes land equivalent to more than five countries the size of France. The control of its assets requires that its employees use more than one trillion pieces of ordinary writing paper a year in the course of their duties. One out of every 13 Americans works for the government. Their pay is $39,000,000,000 a year and is rising. The government spends $350,000 a minute, and the rate is increasing. That is over $3,500,000,000 a week or about $184,000,000,000 a year. And all of those dollars come from the taxpayers’ pockets. Some now fear that government is so big that it is out of hand and too immense to manage with any degree of efficiency.
TV Fire Hazard
◆ The National Committee on Product Safety, a Federal fact-finding agency, called on eleven television manufacturers to repair or replace 122 models of color television sets because they were extraordinary fire hazards. About 22 million color television sets are now in use in the United States. The committee estimates that 7,000 to 10,000 catch fire each year.