WEEK IN REVIEW Editorial for May 12-16, 2008

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WEEK IN REVIEW Editorial for May 12-16, 2008

By Informify Staff

At the end of each week, we review the stories we covered and look for connections. This past week we found four major themes:

May: A Month for Natural Disasters

The human race took a beating this month. Many of our stories this past week focused on recent natural disasters around the world.

Myanmar: Cyclone Nargis

Myanmar's military leaders continue to insist they can handle the disaster themselves. Although they readily accepted food and financial aid, they wouldn't allow many international relief teams into the country to distribute these resources. This, of course, led to widespread concern that the aid is not reaching those who really need it. Many governments withdrew or limited their aid for this reason. The United States gave $250,000 in emergency aid directly to Myanmar's government, and President Bush offered more on the condition that an American relief team is allowed into the country. (No word yet on this.)

Meanwhile, between 1.5 million and 2.5 million people risk disease, starvation, and exposure to monsoon storms. While the Myanmar government puts the number of dead at 28,458, international aid organizations believe the actual number is closer to 120,000, with another 80,000 still missing. Myanmar's military junta has clearly stated its priorities-preserve its power over helping its people.

China: Sichuan Earthquake

The biggest story this week was Monday's powerful earthquake in Sichuan Province, China. As of this writing, 12,300 remain buried in rubble and 10,200 are still missing. The number of confirmed dead now exceeds 20,000. Many cities in Sichuan are without water, and strong aftershocks threaten damaged dams and buildings.

Adding to the tragedy, the 7.9-magnitude earthquake hit during the middle of the day, collapsing many school buildings with children still inside. It's significant to note that China's one-child-per-family policy means many parents lost their only child in the quake.

China's government is managing its crisis very differently from Myanmar. It has allowed the international press access, although it still monitors the press' activity. (An Associated Press photographer and reporter were detained for more than three hours after taking photographs of soldiers burying bodies in a large pit.) So far, international organizations have donated $100 million in aid and $10 million in materials. China even put aside its long and troubled history with both Japan and Taiwan to accept aid from those countries.

Chile: Chaiten Volcano

The day before Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar, another disaster began. The Chaiten Volcano in Chile erupted after nearly 9,000 dormant years. The eruption spewed ash 20 miles into the atmosphere, spreading an ash plume across the southern end of South America. The Chilean government evacuated 12,000 residents from the area, and promised financial assistance for their lost homes and livelihoods. The mountain continues to erupt, covering farms, businesses and homes in ash over a 7,400-acre area.

United States: Southeastern Tornadoes

Although much less deadly, the United States suffered its own natural disaster last weekend. Tornadoes struck southeastern states, killing at least 22 people. In Oklahoma alone, six separate thunderstorms produced eight tornadoes.

Bills Kept Politicians Busy

Our elected national representatives kept themselves busy this week. We reported on three major pieces of legislation.

Farm Bill

The first was the Farm Bill, an enormous piece of legislation that Congress must renegotiate every five years. The previous Farm Bill expired in October 2007, but we're happy to report Congress finally passed a replacement bill this week. In fact, even if President Bush disapproves of the bill, there appears to be enough bipartisan support in Congress to override a presidential veto.

GI Bill(s)

Another bill caught our attention this week-a bipartisan proposal to improve educational benefits for military personnel. At $3,000, the current educational benefit amount doesn't cover most state university annual tuitions, but could cover average community college annual tuitions. Sen. Jim Webb's (D-Va.) bill increases the educational amount so veterans could to afford the most expensive public university in their state.

Even though Webb's bill has some Republican support, other Senate Republicans (including presidential candidate John McCain) oppose the measure. Republicans also want to increase incentives for military personnel, but they think rewarding them with educational benefits is the wrong way to go. They've introduced their own GI bill, which enhances benefits for those who re-enlist. The government already spends $4 million a year on recruiting. Republicans say encouraging soldiers to stay in the military makes more sense.

The coming debate on this issue should be interesting, especially as Democrats are likely to attach Webb's bill to Bush's request for additional funding for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Oil Bill

Another important measure came up this week, this time concerning the U.S. oil supply. Also a bipartisan bill, it made it through both the House and Senate. It calls for a temporary end to government stockpiling of oil in the "Strategic Petroleum Preserve" (SPR). The SPR is at 97% capacity, and stores more than 700 million barrels of oil for emergency situations. The administration has, up until now, refused to curtail adding to the SPR. Congressional Democrats and Republicans passed this bill to eliminate the government's demand on a waning oil supply.

Don't expect to see much of a price change at the gas pump, though. But as summer approaches-and higher gas prices with it-this bill's true purpose may be to remind us that our representatives are thinking about us. Very few professional politicians want to vote against a measure that improves public approval rates, especially one with virtually no downside.

Healthy Matters: Studies Reveal Obese & Uneducated Die More Often, and Courts Consider Autism-Vaccine Link

Parents Argue Vaccines Triggered Dormant Autism Gene

In our most popular health story this week, the U.S. Federal Claims Court began hearing the next round of cases from parents who believe that childhood vaccines caused autism in their children. Under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP), the court can award financial damages if it determines a vaccine may have caused harm, but it cannot rule who is at fault.

The court cases have been continuing on a fairly regular basis since July 2002 as plaintiffs try various approaches. Earlier cases focused on vaccines preserved with thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative. As our reader YDomings from Merrimac, Mass., commented, "I have long felt that the focus on thimerosal has caused such a frenzy that other hypotheses are being over looked."

In this new round of vaccine-autism cases, expect to see three new hypotheses from the parents:

A combination of measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccines plus vaccines containing thimerosal can cause autism.
MMR vaccines with no thimerosal can cause autism.
Thimerosal-containing vaccines alone can cause autism.

The court assigned a different "Special Master" to each argument, and each will hear three cases. The hearing for the first case wrapped up May 12, but the results aren't public yet.

Lose Weight, Live Longer

Now there's another reason to lose weight: Obesity may increase your Alzheimer's risk, according to a study recently published by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. After analyzing 20 years of data from seven studies conducted in various countries, they found two interesting correlations:

Baseline obesity increased the risk of Alzheimer's disease by an average of 80% compared to normal weight.
Being underweight also increased the risk of dementia.

In other research, the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis analyzed 6,814 middle-aged or older Americans and confirmed obesity increases the likelihood of heart disease. The study also found one-third to one-half of white, African American and Hispanic subjects were obese. Good news for people of Chinese descent, though: Less than 5% of Chinese Americans were obese.

Attend College, Live Longer

Going to college may increase life span. A recent study funded by the American Cancer Society and published in the peer-reviewed online research journal, PloS ONE, shows a link between the risk of dying and years spent in the classroom.

The study reviewed more than 3.5 million death certificates for black and white men and women aged 25 to 64. It compared mortality rates from 1993 to those in 2001 for these groups in 43 states and the District of Columbia.

The death rate among the highly educated dropped dramatically during that time period. But for those without a high school diploma, the death rate seems to be getting worse. In 2001, college-educated white women had the lowest mortality rates. Black men without a high school diploma had the highest overall mortality rates.

White men with fewer than 12 years of school were 5.2% more likely to die before the age of 65 than white men with at least four years of college. Interestingly, black women with a high school diploma showed an insignificant increase in death rates-1.9%-compared to black women with at least 16 years of school. The study could not explain why.