The quality and purity of the drinking water supply has a dramatic influence on the public’s health. What if a sub-population is known to be negatively affected by something artificially added to the water … should city government stop adding that substance, or at least warn the people so that they can make an […]
Category: Health & Social Policy
Our national debt is $14.2 trillion, which is more than our gross domestic product. Currently we borrow 43 cents of every dollar that we spend. Both Republicans and Democrats are concerned about our growing debt, yet both parties have exacerbated the problem. President Bush Jr. more than doubled military spending during his presidency, from […]
Fluoride History: Sixty years ago the U.S. Center for Disease Control proposed that fluoride be added to drinking water to prevent cavities. In December 2009, the Austin Environmental Board recommended that city council evaluate the costs and benefits of water fluoridation. In July 2010, Austin Health and Human Services warned mothers not to give […]
Recently, the Republic of Congo reported more than 150 deaths from polio, as well as more than 200 cases of paralysis due to polio. This comes as a shock to members of developed countries in which polio remains just a story of older generations. To the progressively more vaccine-averse generations of the United States, polio […]
The Centers for Disease Control and the American Dental Association call water fluoridation one of the top 10 health advancements of the 20th century. Cavity rates have declined in the United States since fluoridation began in the 1940s, but is fluoridation the reason dental health has improved in this over the last 60 years? When […]
Sex trade is a flourishing industry that continues to thrive despite the current economic recession. As of 2006, the State Department believes as many as 17,500 people are trafficked into the United States each year. Most women are trafficked into the United States from developing countries and end up in prostitution traps because of abysmal […]
The Supreme Court of the United States heard arguments in a very interesting case concerning health care on Tuesday. This case has nothing to do with President Obama’s new health care plan, but is nonetheless important. The case centers on the very specific question of whether a 1986 law establishing a no-fault compensation system for […]