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Watching the World

Largest Atom Smasher

◆ What is claimed to be the largest atom smasher in the world began to operate recently near Chicago, Illinois. Its main ring is four miles long and twenty feet below the surface of the ground. This $250 million instrument is designed to accelerate protons to a speed that will produce 200 billion electron volts when they smash into a target. This is said to be nearly three times as powerful as any machine operating at present. It is believed that the energy capacity of the machine can be increased to 500 billion electron volts. The next most powerful accelerator is near Moscow, reportedly producing 76 billion electron volts. These machines are used for doing basic research on the atom.

A Sinking and Rising City

◆ The Chinese city of Shanghai subsided more than seven feet in some areas during the period from 1921 to 1965. The sinking was due to water pumped from the more than one thousand wells sunk during the past century for industrial use. The subsidence is now being stopped by using concentrated injections of water pumped simultaneously into many wells. This replenishes the underground water, causing sections of the city actually to be lifted. Consequently the city is a bit higher than it was a few years ago. When the injection of water is discontinued, the land sinks again, as factories continue to draw water out of the wells, but reinjection of water brings it up again. The water pumped into the wells is obtained from rivers and creeks flowing through the city.

Plastic Pollution

◆ Scientists investigating the Sargasso sea, which is a vast region in the Atlantic Ocean, have found countless bits of plastic objects floating there. They are spread over an area of several thousand square miles with a density of about 9,000 bits per square mile. Some of the objects are cigar holders, syringe needle shields, jewelry, button snaps and so forth. Bits of plastic in the form of small spheres have also been found in the waters of Long Island Sound. Since plastic does not break down under the action of bacteria, it accumulates in the environment.

“Canned Sermons”

◆ There are approximately a dozen companies that are producing sermons for clergymen, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. One company charges $25 for fifty-two bland sermons that go to 5,500 subscribers on a weekly basis. The company is owned by a Catholic lawyer. Another company is owned by a former sportscaster. He charges approximately $2.00 apiece for his sermons. Thus a clergyman who lacks the initiative to produce his own sermons can buy “canned” ones.

TV Violence

◆ The United States government sponsored a study of the effects of TV violence on children. After the study was completed the twelve-member advisory committee announced that the study indicated only a “modest relationship” between TV violence and aggressive behavior. But scientists who worked on the study disagree with this summary of the findings. They contend that the study actually established a positive, clearly defined and unquestionable link between violent TV shows and the subsequent behavior patterns of children who watched the shows. Dr. John Murray observed: “There’s no question in my mind that normal children watching a large amount of TV violence will become more aggressive.” The scientists also found that there is evidence that TV violence aimed at adults can have the same effect on them.

Hospital Infections

◆ Dr. John Bennett, chief of the U.S. center for Disease Control’s bacterial disease branch in Atlanta, estimates that of all the people who are hospitalized in the country, about one out of every 20 picks up an infection at the hospital. Since about 30 million people are admitted to hospitals annually, this could mean that about 1.5 million hospital patients are felled by infections they did not bring with them. Half of the infections are of the urinary tract, another quarter are surgical and about one eighth are respiratory.

Drifting Pesticides

◆ It was found that some particles of a widely used pesticide traveled up to 84 miles from where it was sprayed by airplane, although the spraying was done at an altitude of ten feet in a barely perceptible wind of three miles per hour. Concern has been expressed that such pesticides and other pollutants are damaging unborn children. In the magazine Obstetrics and Gynecology, Dr. John Hobbins states: “A recent study covering 13 states found that 52 of 68 randomly selected autopsy specimens from stillborns or neonates who survived just a few hours contained variable amounts of chlorinated hydrocarbons. Presumably these came from maternal contact with pesticides.”

Problems with Sewage Sludge

◆ Experiments have been made in using sewage sludge as a fertilizer on farmland, but now this does not seem to be advisable. It has been found that toxic metals in sludge show up in dangerous amounts in edible plants grown on ground fertilized by it. This was disclosed by the Cornell University Pesticide Residue Laboratory.

Mercury Poisoning

◆ Up to 400 persons in Iraq have been reported as dying from eating flour made from mercury-treated wheat that was to be used only for planting. Beef was also a source of poisoning when cattle fed the grain were slaughtered and sold for beef as soon as symptoms of mercury poisoning showed up in them. Still another source was fish taken from the Tigris River, where farmers dumped the seed when the government announced that trafficking in the seed would be punishable by death.

Too Many Tires

◆ Australia is trying to find a solution to the problem of what to do with old automobile tires that are accumulating at the rate of 150,000 a year. Pollution laws will not permit them to be burned, and a growing number of towns will no longer accept them at their dumps. Some are being used for constructing underwater reefs. Others are being ground up and mixed with pigments and adhesives for the manufacturing of artificial lawns. Other possible uses for them are also being explored.

Protecting Property by Etchings

◆ A program called Operation Identification is now being sponsored by numerous police departments and service organizations. The program provides electric engraving instruments on a lending basis to private citizens. They use the instruments to etch the number of their driver’s license on their TV sets, cameras, jewelry and so forth. A decal is then put on a window that reads: “We have joined Operation Identification.” Since burglars know that it is difficult to sell marked items and that possession of such items may easily mean arrest, some prefer to avoid houses with these decals. In one area where 6,000 homes did not take part in the program, there have been 2,000 burglaries since 1963. In another area of 5,000 homes that took part in it, there have been only 20 burglaries during the same period.

Increasing Drug Addiction

◆ Until recently heroin addicts in the United States were estimated to number about 300,000. Now the unofficial estimate is about 650,000, with 300,000 addicts living in New York city. The average age of drug addicts receiving treatment in this city during the early 1960’s was 25. The age dropped to 21 four years ago. Now the average age is 17. Approximately 25 percent of the addicts receiving treatment in New York are under 15. A spokesman at the Kings County Hospital Center in Brooklyn observed: “In a family, [heroin addiction] is very contagious. We’re seeing third- and fourth-generation addicts now.”

Dirty Money

◆ Louisville School of Medicine researchers analyzed coins and paper bills of small denominations. Their study revealed that 13 percent of the coins and 42 percent of the bills were contaminated with disease-producing bacteria. The smaller denominations of coins and bills were more contaminated due to their greater use.

Methadone Babies

◆ Some cities have programs where heroin addicts are issued methadone, an inexpensive synthetic narcotic, as one step in their treatment. It has long been known that babies born to female heroin addicts are often found addicted to heroin and undergo withdrawal symptoms. Until recently it was not thought that there was any danger in the case of newborn babies whose mothers had been taking methadone. But now it has been learned that about two thirds of the babies born to methadone mothers have withdrawal symptoms, which include irritability, poor sleeping habits, sucking with great anxiety, scratching their faces and not eating well. A doctor in Washington, D.C., said of their crying: “It is a piercing, high-pitched cry as if the baby is in pain. They are suffering.” What a high price is paid by these innocent victims of adult foolishness.

Warning on Tranquilizer

◆ A gynecologist in Sydney, Australia, was one of the first to expose the dangers of the drug thalidomide, responsible for many birth defects. Now he warns that another widely prescribed tranquilizer may also cause deformed births. Dr. William McBride identified the drug as imipramine, sold under various brand names. Further research is being undertaken.

Abortion on Demand Rejected

◆ The Prime Minister of Canada rejected the demand of a representative of a woman’s liberation movement for abortion on demand. Although this government has liberalized abortion laws so women can have what are termed “abortions for therapeutic reasons,” he expressed the view: “At some points an abortion is killing. . . . It is your body, but the fetus is not your body. It’s somebody else’s body. And if you kill it you have to explain.”

African Names

◆ On February 13, 1972, the president of Zaïre Republic in Africa exhorted his people to reject Western culture in favor of African culture. In harmony with this, a governmental decree ordered all Zaïre citizens to change the Western names in which they were baptized in their churches. They must now use African names. The names given at baptism may be written in brackets after the new ones. Newly born children may no longer be given names after saints of the Roman Catholic Church but must be given African names.

Dog and Cat Population

◆ A ‘population explosion’ is being experienced in animal pets. John Hoyt, president of the Humane Society of the United States, says: “We have figures that show that there are 10,000 puppies and kittens being born every hour in this country. It is just impossible to have a home for all of these animals.” As a result, about $460 million a year is being spent “putting animals to sleep.”

Third-Largest Diamond Found

◆ On February 14, 1972, the third-largest diamond ever found was discovered in Yengema, Sierra Leone. Named the “Star of Sierra Leone,” it is about the size of a hen’s egg. It weighs 968.8 carats, which is close to half a pound. It is a gem diamond of rare color.

Long Hair a Hazard

◆ Because they view long hair on a man as being generally associated with drug addiction, the town council in a suburb of Manila in the Philippines has proposed an ordinance authorizing the jailing of any male resident with long hair.