More Nanny State rubbish!

[peterd]

And yet recorded life expectancy goes up and up, I wonder what it was that was killing all those people, especially children, all those years ago?

usually things like whooping cough, scarlet fever, measles, chicking pox, polo, tb, very rearly going out and getting dirty and eating a butty with dirty hands, as most of the above were transmitted person to person and having poor drugs or no drugs to fight them with.

[snoopysue]

And yet recorded life expectancy goes up and up, I wonder what it was that was killing all those people, especially children, all those years ago?

usually things like whooping cough, scarlet fever, measles, chicking pox, polo, tb, very rearly going out and getting dirty and eating a butty with dirty hands, as most of the above were transmitted person to person and having poor drugs or no drugs to fight them with.

Industrial accidents etc were one cause of early death, many of my relatives worked in various metal industries, and there are many diseases that are associated with them. Children starting work at the age of 13 or 14, they wouldn't understand all the dangers of the work place! Now health and safety is everywhere!
Another thing about life expectancy is our understanding of disease, being able to diagnose it quick, and the ability to treat effectively. In the future this will be hampered by the overuse of antibiotics. In the developed world, our standard of living also means that we are better able to fight off illnesses like the flu, so even though many people contract it, few die in comparison with a hundred years ago.
I believe that things like AIDS, SARS, ebola etc are natures way of trying to reduce our population, and our mobility helps transmit virus's etc very quickly over large distances.

[dudleytaylor]

As a child I was always ill, I had whooping cough as a baby, and in 1956 I was rushed to the children's hospital in Birmingham with suspected meningitis. I remember it very well due to the fact i had a antibiotic injection every day . Mom was never told what was wrong with me ,and i expect it was because i never washed my hands .

[SRD]

Some of those diseases are literally picked up and transferred by contact to mouth not just by being in the air. Some are transferred by insect bite, some through food and drink, and yes, improvements in medical treatment has considerably improved our lot, especially vaccination (a much safer way of building resistance than a mouthful of dirt), but so has improvement in water supply and improvement in hygiene practices, all introduced by the State.

As someone who suffers from a severe allergy I spoke at length with my specialist, who recently died in his 90s, he always said that it was a myth that that there were more allergies nowadays, just better diagnosis, many children who died of 'fits' (not something that happens much nowadays) were probably allergic reactions and that he could remember when allergies were treated by the GP by firstly removing the allergen from the patient then slowly re-introducing it in ever larger quantities. That was stopped in the 60s and transferred to specialist units as so many patients were dying of anaphylactic shock.
When I had my first severe attack (ending up in A&E after collapsing in a shopping centre) I was first diagnosed as epileptic then, when that had been ruled out, as suffering from 'unspecified fits brought on by heavy drinking', if it hadn't been for my particularly persistant G.P. (funded by the State) I wouldn't have been properly diagnosed, and this was in the 1990s! But we have a history of allergy in the family; my maternal grandfather couldn't eat red tomatoes, he was fine with yellow and green ones, and he was born in the 19th century!

[Antie Em]

My sister contracted polio when she was about 5. She was in hospital at Hayley Green in Halesowen for ages. My mom said the doctors at that time couldn't understand where she had picked it up from and the only thing mom could think of was that she'd been playing with her friends outside (in the days when it was safe to let you kids near the road). Mom found them with a piece of string tied to a stick "fishing" in the drain.

So sorry everyone - I don't think it is too safe for kids to get "dirty". Dad had to go to work, so Father Matthews, the priest from St Michael's in Tividale, came up every day to help her to walk again.

We also lived next door to a farm, and used to play in the fields where the animals were kept. Washing our hands was an absolute rule when we came home, but needless to say, we often said we had when we hadn't. I'm a big believer in not wrapping up kids in cotton wool, but for all of the kids we know who didn't become ill from playing in places where they shouldn't have been, there must have been loads of kids that did.

And, going back to the beginning of being able to take in home made cakes to a nursery - you wouldn't been keen on this if ever you had sat by your child's bed in hospital for 48 hours, not knowing whether they were going to live, after eating something they were allergic to.

[feral-underclass]

And yet recorded life expectancy goes up and up, I wonder what it was that was killing all those people, especially children, all those years ago?

usually things like whooping cough, scarlet fever, measles, chicking pox, polo, tb, very rearly going out and getting dirty and eating a butty with dirty hands, as most of the above were transmitted person to person and having poor drugs or no drugs to fight them with.

Industrial accidents etc were one cause of early death, many of my relatives worked in various metal industries, and there are many diseases that are associated with them. Children starting work at the age of 13 or 14, they wouldn't understand all the dangers of the work place! Now health and safety is everywhere!
Another thing about life expectancy is our understanding of disease, being able to diagnose it quick, and the ability to treat effectively. In the future this will be hampered by the overuse of antibiotics. In the developed world, our standard of living also means that we are better able to fight off illnesses like the flu, so even though many people contract it, few die in comparison with a hundred years ago.
I believe that things like AIDS, SARS, ebola etc are natures way of trying to reduce our population, and our mobility helps transmit virus's etc very quickly over large distances.

i remember when i worked in a foundry getting paid a hour's overtime looking for the tips of someones fingers. didnt find em

[mikleed]

At the age of 11 I had Rheumatic Fever and you never hear of it now....Think it was put down to Air Raid shelters being damp etc.
Mike

[dudleytaylor]

My mom had Polio when she was a child, she never spoke of it very much . It left her with a leg shorter and thinner than the other. She did have a operation on it ,and she had to wear a leather and metal leg calliper as a child. She was suppose to wear a shoe higher than the other, but she always refused to have shoes made . She said she wanted to be the same as everyone els. When the jab came out for Polio ,she was so pleased.

[mikleed]

Well Auntie Em........Halesowen was where I was born !!
Mike.

[Antie Em]

Well Auntie Em........Halesowen was where I was born !!
Mike.

Do you remember that hospital Mike - I remember going there to see my sister, I could only have been about 7, but I do remember the big green gates

[mikleed]

Yes I do very well!
Mike

[MarkCDodd]

There is an undeniable connection between children getting dirty and developing natural immunity and the sanitized children of today falling victim to asthma.

For millions of years we survived without a daily bath or soaps or deodorants or disinfectants.

It was over crowding and the bad sanitation that logically followed that caused the premature deaths of 18th, 19th and early 20th century industrial England.

The same diseases that killed in such huge numbers have always been around but it was the living conditions, not how much dirt the kids played in, that caused the deaths.

Australia probably has the most sanitized and over washed kids in history. We also have the highest rate of asthma.

Let kids play in the dirt and mud. Let them get filthy and have fun. As long as it is not on an industrial estate, what possible harm can come to them?

[Antie Em]

http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/Funding/Techn ... tAodMHIAyg

[dudleytaylor]

My daughter and grandson both suffer from asthma. My daughters asthma is brought on by animal hair mainly dogs and cats.

[Antie Em]

There is an undeniable connection between children getting dirty and developing natural immunity and the sanitized children of today falling victim to asthma.

For millions of years we survived without a daily bath or soaps or deodorants or disinfectants.

It was over crowding and the bad sanitation that logically followed that caused the premature deaths of 18th, 19th and early 20th century industrial England.

The same diseases that killed in such huge numbers have always been around but it was the living conditions, not how much dirt the kids played in, that caused the deaths.

Australia probably has the most sanitized and over washed kids in history. We also have the highest rate of asthma.

Let kids play in the dirt and mud. Let them get filthy and have fun. As long as it is not on an industrial estate, what possible harm can come to them?

http://petside.co.uk/health/the_dangers ... faeces.php