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Watching the World

The Pesticide Peril

◆ Can DDT be a threat to life? Dr. Lamont C. Cole of Cornell University, according to U.S. News & World Report, tells this story: “The World Health Organization sent DDT to Borneo to kill mosquitoes. It worked fine. But it didn’t kill roaches, which accumulated DDT in their bodies. Lizards which lived in the thatched huts ate the roaches. The DDT slowed the lizards. Cats then easily caught the lizards. But the cats died​—as the story goes. With the cats gone, rats came, carrying a threat of plague. And, with the lizards gone, caterpillars multiplied in the huts, where they fed on the roof thatching. Then the roofs started caving in.”

Drop in Seminarians

◆ The number of candidates for the priesthood entering French Catholic seminaries in 1968 was 810. In startling contrast, the 1969 figure was 475, a 41-percent reduction.

A Woman Head

◆ Mrs. Cynthia Clark Wedel on December 5 became the first woman to occupy the highest post in American Protestantism: president of the National Council of Churches. As president of the council for the next three years, Mrs. Wedel will head an organization that is sharply divided over race and other issues. Said one associate: “She knows who controls the money in the council. She also knows who’s willing to spend it and when.”

Animal Blood to Food

◆ It is estimated that more than 2,000,000,000 pounds of animal blood was thrown away last year. Many persons who do not respect God’s law against the use of blood call this an enormous waste. (Lev. 17:10-14) Two scientists in America have discovered how to turn animal blood into a substance that looks like powdered milk. In fact, it is said to taste a little like powdered milk and is 50 percent protein. The substance is so new that the scientists who developed the product have yet to name it. If it comes into general use, you may have to read your food labels carefully in order to avoid it.

Aid Deserters

◆ A group of American clergymen opposed to the war in Vietnam planned a series of services in four cities on December 17, after which the proceeds would go to assist United States draft resisters who are living in Canada. The drive is being sponsored by Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam, which is said to be the first such effort to date by any group involved in aiding men who refuse military service.

World’s Refugees

◆ There are now said to be 17,318,320 refugees in the world, almost double the 1964 number. Refugees are generally defined as “homeless​—victims of war, intolerance and social unrest.” The report, prepared for the National Conference on World Refugee Problems, stated that 1,052,088 refugees are living in the United States. Seventy-five percent of the refugees were in Asia and Africa.

Thieves Take Valuables

◆ In mid-November the souvenir shop of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome was robbed. Valuable Vatican stamps and coins and an unspecified sum in cash were stolen. The New York Times stated that the burglary followed by twelve days reports by some Italian newspapers​—which reports were denied by the Vatican—​of the theft of valuable paintings from the private apartment of Pope Paul VI in the Vatican Palace. In another recent incident, the Times says, Vatican guards arrested a young German tourist who had smashed the marble hands of a statue of Pope Pius VI near the high altar. The young man reportedly stated that he acted in protest against the Roman Catholic Church’s “alliance with nuclear powers.”

An Animal’s Worth

◆ A bankrupt California zoo auctioned off an orangutan for $10,000, a lady hippo for $3,000, a Bactrian camel for $26,700 and a chicken for $1.50.

Chaos or Partnership?

◆ Governor Rockefeller of New York was asked, What would happen in Latin America if the Nixon administration failed in implementing its new policies? His answer was simple. “Utter chaos,” he said. Rockefeller believes that Latin Americans stand at the “crossroads.” The time has come, he said, to face squarely the basic economic policies, also health and educational issues that may mean the difference between rational development and stagnation for 250,000,000 Latin Americans. The United States will have to face in the hemisphere the basic choice: Chaos or partnership, he said.

Belief in God

◆ German-born space scientist Dr. Wernher Von Braun reportedly said he finds it as difficult “to understand a scientist who does not acknowledge the presence of a superior rationality behind the existence of the universe as it is to comprehend a theologian who would deny the advances of science.” “Manned space flight is an amazing achievement,” he said. “But it has opened for us thus far only a tiny door for viewing the awesome reaches of space. Our outlook through this peephole at the vast mysteries of the universe only confirms our belief in its Creator.”

“Blood Substitute”

◆ Dr. Leland C. Clark, Jr., of the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, has developed a “blood substitute” that may be of great help to surgeons sometime in the future. Said Today’s Health for November 1969: “The man-made blood substitute can carry up to 20 times as much oxygen as plasma dissolves. Use of the new fluid can eliminate the risk of hepatitis and other infections and does not require tissue-typing or cross-matching, Doctor Clark says.” The substitute reportedly is inexpensive to produce and can be stored.

Church Raided

◆ What is a church party like? A “Las Vegas” or gambling party attended by some 400 persons at St. Callistus Roman Catholic Church was raided by police. They confiscated a truckload of gambling equipment and a large sum of money. Sgt. D. G. Antoine said they had “a real operation going,” that is, a gambling operation. “There also were two large bars operating at the church, serving mixed drinks and beer,” Sgt. Antoine said. “The bars were operating in violation of state liquor laws. They were not licensed.” According to officers, there were four regulation-size dice tables, several blackjack tables and several chuck-a-luck tables being used at the church. One of the classrooms was being used exclusively for bingo and the other for poker, officers said.

Hard to Tell

◆ Police in Atlantic City admitted that they had failed to separate a girl from the boys. A prisoner that was identified as Charles Albert Nehus, who was tossed in the men’s part of the Atlantic City prison on theft charges, turned out to be seventeen-year-old Phillis Kachur. Police Capt. Albert Wilson merely said: “Well, it’s hard to tell these days.” The sex revelation was made after eight days during an examination of the prisoner in Atlantic City Hospital.

Churches in Trouble

◆ Churches in Pacifica, California, are having very rough times, a local newspaper said. Congregations are not growing, pledges are low. There is not enough money for mortgage payments, ministers’ salaries, overseas missions and payments to the archbishop or central headquarters. Some Lutheran churches are experimenting with the following: doing away completely with paid clergy and with formal church buildings; allowing only people actively engaged in social action to become church members; meeting in stores, banks and theaters; letting the people of the congregation give the sermons and hold services; letting the minister get a regular job like everybody else. If these changes cannot be implemented, small local churches may well become a thing of the past, they believe.

Thrive at High Altitudes

◆ An estimated half of Peru’s 12 million people live at altitudes of 15,000 feet or higher. Almost all the people of Bolivia live at similar heights. The Indian population who live high in the Andes are able to work in copper mines at altitudes up to 17,000 feet, where other people can hardly breathe, much less swing a pick. They play soccer and do heavy work and are able to perform as well at high altitudes as other people do at sea level. Heart attacks are practically unheard of among the millions of Peruvians who live at altitudes of 15,000 feet or more. At these heights many pilots use oxygen. Outsiders often get intense headaches, vomit, have nosebleeds and shortness of breath.

“G” Rating

◆ The Motion Picture Association of America, the industry’s self-censoring or self-regulating body, has given a recent movie a “G” or “General” audience rating. This classification means that the film is considered to be wholesome entertainment for every member of the family, from grade-school child to grandmother. Reviewers generally have heaped high praise on the picture. Newsfront magazine reportedly stated that within the first five minutes of the picture a man is shot. Then follows a triple hanging, a mutilation, a knife murder, a multiple ambush, another shooting, a skull-crushing, a gunfight on horseback, another ambush, a snake bite and a final shooting. If this won a “G,” what are the “X” (restricted) movies like?

A “Suicidal Course”

◆ Ecologist Dr. Barry Commoner, of Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, warned that the United States was “approaching the point of no return” in its disruption of the chemical balances of man’s environment and had only about one generation in which to reverse its “suicidal course.” Dr. Commoner referred to the natural nitrogen cycle, bacterial problems in New York Harbor and the contaminated rivers of Illinois as symptoms of the potentially fatal “violence” done.

Family Still Popular

◆ A family, by general definition, consists of a father and a mother and some children. In the United States, with a population about 200,000,000, there are approximately 50,000,000 family groups, about 5,000,000 more families than there were in the country at the time of the 1960 census. The year 1968, which produced the largest number of marriages in recent years, saw the forming of 2,100,000 new families. This figure was surpassed only once before​—in 1946. More than 92 percent of all Americans, and 99 percent of those under 18 years, lived in families in 1967. The American family now averages 3.7 persons related by blood or marriage.

Disorders Costly

◆ The disorders that took place in Montreal, Canada, in 1969 during the strike by police and firemen were costly. Some have estimated that the cost of extra police activity and loss in property damage totaled about $11,600,000. Most costly in property damage was the siege of Sir George Williams University by students. Police were called in and the occupying students responded. When the battle was over, property damage was estimated at more than $3,000,000.

Aliens to Report

◆ During the month of January, aliens in the United States must report their current addresses to the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Persons who are out of the country at that time should file their addresses on their return. The ruling applies to all aliens except diplomats and some members of organizations to which the United States belongs, such as the United Nations and the Organization of American States. Forms for this purpose can be obtained at any office of the Immigration and Naturalization Service or in any post office.