Sunday, March 13, 2005

MALARIA RESURGENT -- THANKS TO THE GREENS

Malaria had almost been wiped out before DDT -- one of the world's safest chemicals -- was banned under the pressure of baseless Greenie panic-mongering about a "silent spring"

The number of cases of malaria may be double that previously estimated, a team of researchers has found. A team of scientists, led by Robert Snow, based at the Wellcome Trust Research Laboratories in Kenya found that over half a billion people could be infected with the killer disease.

The research, which has been published in 'Nature', estimated that there were around 515 million clinical cases of malaria in 2002, although the actual figure could be between 300 and 660 million. The study also found that the figures dramatically rose in areas outside Africa, where the new figures were at least three times as high as those previously estimated by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Malaria is caused by a mosquito-borne parasite and it is thought to be one of the world's biggest killers. The new study, which has been published in Nature, used a computer model to construct a detailed world map to demonstrate how many people are likely to be experiencing malaria symptoms.

The team divided the world into regions where the disease is present, excluding areas above a certain altitude, where the parasite would be less able to survive, and extremely built-up areas where there was less clean water in which the mosquitoes could breed. The search was further refined by the addition of population density estimates, the risk of becoming infected from a mosquito bite and medical reports on the likelihood of an infection developing into full-blown fever and other symptoms.

The report has been published as a global effort to tackle malaria is increasing. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which co-ordinates government and private funding, has put œ3.1 billion into researching these diseases since it was established in 2002.

However, public health advisors and advocates have said that more money is needed, mainly because it has already known how to treat malaria, through the use of measures such as insecticide-treated bed nets and drugs.

Experts at the WHO have confirmed that they will be working with Mr Snow's team to refine their own estimates of malaria infection. Eline Korenromp, from the WHO's malaria-monitoring unit in Geneva, Switzerland, said that the organisation's latest figures, due to be published later this year, are between 350 and 500 million and largely overlap with the findings of Mr Snow's team.

Source





ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF HOW GREENIES HURT ORDINARY PEOPLE

One of the many headaches that George W. Bush inherited from his predecessor was the Puerto Rican Island of Vieques. In the waning years of the Clinton administration, protesters demanded that the U.S. Navy abandon bombing and naval gunfire exercises that had taken place on the largely uninhabited island for nearly seventy years. It became a leftist cause. Liberal icons bumped into one another to fly to Puerto Rico, boat over to the island, trespass (but never on a day that there was an exercise scheduled) and get arrested for the benefit of the New York Times or Newsweek. They included the Reverend Al Sharpton, Mrs. Jesse Jackson, Joan Baez, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Edward Olomos, Michael Moore and Ramsey Clark, just to name a few.

Hillary Clinton, then running for the U.S. Senate in New York, chastised the U.S. Navy for not bowing to the "will of the citizens of Puerto Rico," until her husband, a week before the election, issued an executive order to phase out the facility by 2003, despite recommendations to the contrary by his own Secretary of Defense and the Chief of Naval Operations.

In 2002, the bombing exercises were transferred to an Air Force bombing range in central Florida, not far from the Jacksonville and Pensacola Naval Air Stations. In January, many of the protesters were back in Puerto Rico, celebrating the final bombing exercise on Vieques and waved Puerto Rican flags and placards that read "U.S. Navy, get out of Puerto Rico."

On February 21, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announced that the U.S. Navy will close the Roosevelt Roads Naval Air Station in Puerto Rico in 2004, eliminating 1200 civilian jobs as well as 700 military positions. This naval facility is estimated to put nearly $300 million annually into the local economy. The next day a stunned Governor Sila Calderon, held a news conference in San Juan, protesting the base closure as a serious blow to Commonwealth's fragile economy. The governor stated that "The people of Puerto Rico don't now or never did have an interest in closing the Vieques bombing range or the Roosevelt Roads naval base. My government is interested in both staying in Puerto Rico."

When asked, Admiral Robert J. Natter, Commander-in Chief, Western Atlantic Command, said, "Without Vieques, I see no further need for the facility at Roosevelt Roads. None."

Source




CARBON DIOXIDE LEVELS FOLLOW TEMPERATURE CHANGES SO ARE NOT CAUSATIVE

Abstract of a recent scientific paper from the Netherlands:

This paper provides a literature study of the observations on temperature changes and the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. It investigates the cause-effect relationship between these parameters, and makes an alternative interpretation to that given by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The IPCC assumes increased used of fossil fuels is the major cause of the increasing concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. And the increasing carbon dioxide leads to global warming because of infrared absorption by this gas. The following observations are not in agreement with the assumed direct correlation.

1. There is a very gradual increase to the annual human production of carbon dioxide, but the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is not proportional to the human emission. The annual uptake of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is highly variable.

2. The measured average global temperature is also very variable and it is not proportional to the observed concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

The variable amount of carbon dioxide added to the atmosphere each year, follows reasonably well the specific average value of the temperature in that year. This leads to the suggestion that the temperature causes the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (i.e. the opposite of the IPCC's assumption): the annual average temperature varies under various influences, and this causes variable additions of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. These influences can be external (cosmic) or internal (due to inherent instability of the climate system).

The human emission of carbon dioxide may be contributing to the accumulation of this gas in the atmosphere - although we do not know to what extent - but this does not necessarily contribute to an extra temperature rise through infrared absorption. The temperature of the atmosphere is not exclusively determined by the radiation balance, but also by the high circulation rate of water. Evaporation from the Earth's surface absorbs heat and transports it to the higher air layers where condensation releases the heat so cool water returns to the surface as precipitation. This contributes to the pleasant climate on Earth.

The alarming message about a global temperature rise originates from measurements made at weather stations almost all in land areas. Weather balloons did not register this. The temperature of the troposphere has been measured world-wide since 1979. These observations - that include the oceans - do not as yet indicate a significant rise.

Taking into consideration the rapid passage of water through the atmosphere, which is expected to provide for an effective natural and self-regulating thermostat, provides explanation of several observations which are still puzzling in the current IPCC conception.

Climate change is a natural phenomenon that has always happened. It is generally assumed that since ~1870 there has been a trend of slight temperature increase over land. But this trend shows no direct annual relationship with the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere.

Source

***************************************

Many people would like to be kind to others so Leftists exploit that with their nonsense about equality. Most people want a clean, green environment so Greenies exploit that by inventing all sorts of far-fetched threats to the environment. But for both, the real motive is to promote themselves as wiser and better than everyone else, truth regardless.

Comments? Email me here. My Home Page is here or here. For times when blogger.com is playing up, there are mirrors of this site here and here.

*****************************************

No comments: