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Pastimes : THE SLIGHTLY MODERATED BOXING RING
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To: Dayuhan who wrote (11838)5/3/2002 2:17:04 AM
From: Rick Julian  Read Replies (1) of 21057
 
Consider that the human population that exists today would be significantly smaller if it weren't for the efficacy of many traditional medicines. "Forest peoples originally discovered the medicinal use of 3/4 of all plant derived drugs in current use.  In the Northwestern Amazon alone, indigenous people use 1,300 plant species to create their own “wilderness drugs.”

(Sometimes fans of applied science don't appreciate how indebted it is to "native" intelligence.)

I lived in Panama for a number of years and have traveled widely. I also have an appreciation that sheer numbers as they relate to life expectancy don't tell the whole story. Many people who would die in more primitive cultures due to certain afflictions live longer in our culture because our medical institutions are able sustain lives far beyond what many would consider a "good" quality of life. While many infants whom our medicines save mature and live happy, "normal" lives, many have long lives of misery and pain. What portion of institutionalized people and the infirm help skew the average life expectancy upward?

Life is more than a quantitative exercise, quality, IMO, is supremely important, and the mortality rates don't address this component.
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