This is cheerful. Health authorities want people to lead such prescriptive lives. They simply don't understand that people might want to enjoy themselves.
Record numbers of people are developing "avoidable cancers" because of their lifestyle, despite warnings.....Figures released yesterday show soaring levels of cancers caused by excessive sunbathing, obesity, alcohol and smoking.....The latest figures show almost 9,000 cases of malignant melanoma were diagnosed in 2004 - up from fewer than 6,000 in 1995.....Experts blame the rise in cheap flights to the sun for increased melanoma rates.
So stay home in the dreary English weather. Don't drink to drown your sorrows or over-eat to compensate for being cold. Don't dare have a fag to relieve the stress of it all. Exercise by walking through the endless, sameness of suburbia. And make sure you have these holiday breaks so as not to overwork.
The thing is there are no guarantees. They could still drop dead tomorrow. What is certain is they are alive right now and they are damn well going to make the most of it while it lasts.
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I have to admonish you Lindsay. Walking is bad for the environment as has been proven recently. You better take the car, that's more environmently friendly.
Berend, exhaust fumes cause cancer. We're stuffed either way. That's why you may as well enjoy yourself.
You know, I would love to exmine the lives of the peole who come out with these things. I wonder what sort of people they are. I have visions of Mark Prebble types in grey suits, with grey lives, trying not to distracted by the sight of a tanned breast.
Brian Smaller
Sex, drugs and rock'n'roll.
I must say I was surprised to see that the highest frequency of sun induced melanoma occurred on the west coast of the south island ... what is this?? ... I thought the ozone hole was over the hawke's bay??
Also why is asthma differentiated from respiratory problems in the health statistics? An inflammatory reaction such as asthma is a respiratory problem.
You know this stuff, Lindsay??
& also why was augie auer so against NIWA? Was it because they got into modelling & this without having good basic data to input in to their models ... i.e. are these people simply peddling nonsense under the pretence that it is scientific??
Beware Lindsay.
The do-gooders and killjoys of New Zealand (and they are galore in our country) will be ready to excommunicate you, for promoting the idea of enjoying life, freedom of choice and individual responsibility.
Some people believe asthma is over-diagnosed. A label wrongly given to any inflammation or irritation of the airways. I ought to remember more as I was once a pharmacy rep for Glaxo. But 'true' asthma is a disease of the immune system. It can have atopic and ectopic causes. i.e. an allergic reaction to something internally (eg food) or external (eg cat dander). Whereas other respiratory diseases can be caused by avoidable things like smoking. Chronic diseases like emphysema see the airways gradually closing down irreversibly - hence it ultimately kills people. Whereas asthma sees a reversible closing of the airways. If the reversal doesn't occur (usually through medicating) a severe attack can also kill, but these days asthma attacks are rarely fatal. Children born with asthma often outgrow it. As they do eczema, which is inflammation of the skin as opposed to inflammation of the airways.
So the statistical differentiation is mainly about outcomes.
Don't know anything about NIWA. Try PC.
Apologies if it sounds unrelated but I couldn't help quoting the paragraph below from a book I'm reading at the moment. Marvellous.
“all that dreary tribe of high-minded women and sandal-wearers and bearded fruit-juice drinkers who come flocking towards the smell of ‘progress’ like bluebottles to a dead cat.....If only the sandals and the pistachio-coloured shirts could be put in a pile and burnt, and every vegetarian, teetotaller and creeping Jesus sent home to do his yoga exercises quietly!”
Who is the author Manolo?
The quote is from 'The Road to Wigan Pier' from Orwell, found in an excellent biography by Jeffrey Meyers (courtesy of the Wellington City Library).
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