Christine,
Going back over this thread (just an eeny bit)I saw you mention the 12th anniversary of Chernobyl. Yes, I agree with you that it was a terrible tragedy.
The numbers. Yes, some people have published big numbers (hundreds of thousands, or even millions for those with what scientist call the outliers), but most of the mainstream estimates are the tens of thousands.
It's really impossible to know for sure how many cases of cancer will result from this accident, since attributing responsibility for each case of cancer in a population is beyond our knowledge.
One thing is clear though, to most of the people who make up those numbers--big and small. This accident was completely devastating to a very large region. Beyond the area immediately affected, there were very severe social/political and economic impacts that lasted for many years, affecting most of the European population in at least some way.
We have in the U.S. approximately 120 commercial power reactors. Some of these are sited near urban areas. If a Chernobyl-scale accident were to occur at one of these urban reactors, the social/economic impacts on the U.S. would, IMHO, be comparable to being engaged in major war with an enemy country.
Also, I wanted to post my latest finding on flea control. And, BTW,
after 7 days of professional flea treatment, Tina appears to be flea-free. From MEDLINE:
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TITLE: Comparison of flea control strategies using imidacloprid or lufenuron on cats in a controlled simulated home environment.
AUTHOR: Jacobs DE; Hutchinson MJ; Fox MT; Krieger KJ
AUTHOR AFFILIATION: Department of Pathology and Infectious Diseases, Royal Veterinary College, University of London, North Mymms, Hatfield, Herts, United Kingdom.
SOURCE: Am J Vet Res 1997 Nov;58(11):1260-2
NLM CIT. ID: 98027982
ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVE: To compare the effect of monthly treatments with imidacloprid (an adulticide) or lufenuron (an insect development inhibitor) for protecting cats against Ctenocephalides felis felis in a simulated home environment.
ANIMALS: 3 matched groups of 4 cats each.
PROCEDURE: A self-propagating flea life cycle continuously exposing cats to 'natural' infestation was established in 3 pens. Small artificial infestations were later superimposed to mimic the effect of a cat roaming outdoors and acquiring extraneous fleas. One pen housed an untreated control group, and the other 2 pens housed cats treated every 28th day with an imidacloprid spot-on formulation or lufenuron suspension, respectively. Flea counts were performed at 14-day intervals for 112 days.
RESULTS: Flea numbers increased on control cats around day 42 when mean counts on cats in the imidacloprid and lufenuron groups decreased by 100 and 86.8 percent, respectively. Fleas were not found on any imidacloprid-treated cat, but lufenuron-treated cats were consistently parasitized.
CONCLUSIONS: Imidacloprid administered at monthly intervals maintained flea burdens below the limit of detection, whereas clinically important flea populations developed in the lufenuron treatment pen.
CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Results from this experimental model suggest that flea populations within a home may be controlled by carefully timed on-host treatments with potent long-acting insecticides such as imidacloprid.
MAIN MESH SUBJECTS: Benzamides/*ADMINISTRATION & DOSAGE/PHARMACOLOGY/THERAPEUTIC USE
Cat Diseases/DRUG THERAPY/*PREVENTION & CONTROL
*Fleas/DRUG EFFECTS
Imidazoles/*ADMINISTRATION & DOSAGE/PHARMACOLOGY/THERAPEUTIC USE
Insect Control/*METHODS
Insecticides/*ADMINISTRATION & DOSAGE/PHARMACOLOGY/THERAPEUTIC USE
ADDITIONAL MESH SUBJECTS: Administration, Cutaneous
Animal
Cats
Comparative Study
Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
Environment
Female
Housing, Animal
Male
Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Time Factors
PUBLICATION TYPES: CLINICAL TRIAL
JOURNAL ARTICLE
RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL
LANGUAGE: Eng
REGISTRY NUMBERS: 0 (Benzamides)
0 (Imidazoles)
0 (Insecticides)
103055-07-8 (fluphenacur)
105827-78-9 (imidacloprid) |
