40% is almost half !

[ensho]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070813162438.htm


Pollution Causes 40 Percent Of Deaths Worldwide, Study Finds


About 40 percent of deaths worldwide are caused by water, air and soil pollution, concludes a Cornell researcher. Such environmental degradation, coupled with the growth in world population, are major causes behind the rapid increase in human diseases, which the World Health Organization has recently reported. Both factors contribute to the malnourishment and disease susceptibility of 3.7 billion people, he says.

-snip of study's 4 main points-

At the same time, more microbes are becoming increasingly drug-resistant. And global warming, together with changes in biological diversity, influence parasite evolution and the ability of exotic species to invade new areas. As a result, such diseases as tuberculosis and influenza are re-emerging as major threats, while new threats -- including West Nile virus and Lyme disease -- have developed.

-snip-

"Relying on increasing diseases and malnutrition to limit human numbers in the world diminishes the quality of life for all humans and is a high-risk policy," the researchers conclude.
-----------------------

[Uben]

1. Humans are a virus to the earth....

...the agent on The Matrix was correct. We have infected the water, the air, and the sea. Down with humans!


Hold it. nevermind!

[Little Star]

2. But the good news is, The rich keep getting richer.

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. That's "pollution" is its widest sense - environmental degradation

The abstract of the paper - "Ecology of Increasing Diseases: Population Growth and Environmental Degradation":

The World Health Organization (WHO) and other organizations report that the prevalence of human diseases during the past decade is rapidly increasing. Population growth and the pollution of water, air, and soil are contributing to the increasing number of human diseases worldwide. Currently an estimated 40% of world deaths are due to environmental degradation. The ecology of increasing diseases has complex factors of environmental degradation, population growth, and the current malnutrition of about 3.7 billion people in the world.

http://www.springerlink.com/content/b7r43221531065l3/

[SoCalDem]

5. The earth purges itself every so often

and will probably do it again.. (not in our lifetimes probably)

We are on our way to unsustainability, because of how we live and where we live..

bummer & a half because we take other lifeforms down the drain with us

[Overseas]

4. Sad K&R.