HON301K Oct 13 - 17, Bethel College, St. Paul, MN Fall 2003

Why as we have developed economically and technologically do we spend more effort, time, money, and technology in trying to stay "healthy" and yet as Tenner points out, while we are doing better, we are feeling worse? Is there any truth in the health arena or do we just have to wait until we can be all AIs in cyborg bodies (must wait for Tom and Na to answer this question). Why as we get more and more technology, do we continue to find that there are severe health impacts that "bite back". Shouldn't more knowledge and more technology lead to better health?

And an added question # 6: What is what we should be doing with health care technology to make it good technology???

Wilmouth, JR. 1998. The Future of Human Longevity: A Demographers Perspective. Science 280(5362): 395 - 397 http://demog.berkeley.edu/~jrw/ (In the Bethel Library)

What are the major impacts on Health Care today and how are they related to Science, Technology, Truth?

environment

Technological health hazards
- Cell Phone senility
  - Cellphones and new wireless technology could cause a "whole generation" of today's teenagers to go senile in the prime of their lives, new research suggests.
    The study - which warns specifically against "the intense use of mobile phones by youngsters" - comes as research on the phones' effects on health is being scaled down due to industry pressure.
    It is likely to galvanise concern about the almost universal exposure to microwaves in Western countries by revealing a new way in which they may seriously damage health.
    Leif Salford, the professor who headed the research at Sweden's prestigious Lund University, says: "The voluntary exposure of the brain to microwaves from hand-held mobile phones" is "the largest human biological experiment ever".
- Magnetic Fields http://infoventures.com/osh/abs/ofce0005.html
  - INCREASED INCIDENCE OF CANCER IN A COHORT OF OFFICE WORKERS EXPOSED TO STRONG MAGNETIC FIELDS
    The possibility that a group of office personnel developed cancers due to strong magnetic fields emitted by a three transformer 12 kilovolt substation, located 14 floors below their office, was examined. Magnetic field readings taken in the office were as high as 190 milligauss (mG) at floor level, and 90mG four feet above the floor. After bus bars were lowered, the highest magnetic field levels were 32mG at the floor and 12mG at chair level; magnetic fields generally average 2mG or less in office buildings. A cohort of 243 men and 143 women employed between 1980 and 1994 were studied. Eight invasive cancers were observed, five in men and three in women, compared with 4.2 expected, giving a standardized incidence ratio of 190. Seven cancer cases occurred in workers employed two years or more. Limiting the cohort to those employed more than two years, five cancers were observed in men compared to 1.3 expected, and two cancers occurred in women compared to 0.5 expected. For both sexes, seven cancers were observed versus 1.8 expected, giving a standardized incidence ratio of 389. A positive trend of cancer cases with duration of employment was found for males and females. The cancers diagnosed in men included malignant astrocytoma, lymphoma, and malignant melanoma, and in women, breast cancer, colon cancer and malignant melanoma. The author concludes that cumulative magnetic field exposure could be of etiologic importance in the incidence of cancer in these workers.
    American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 30(6) :702-704, 1996. (9 references)

Endocrine disruptors and sperm count

Fisch, H, ET Goluboff, AH Olson, J Feldshuh, SJ Broder and DH Barad. 1996. Semen analyses in 1,283 men from the United States over a 25-year period: no decline in quality. Fertility and Sterility 65(5): 1009-1014.
Fisch et al. examined sperm counts of men in three US metropolitan areas (New York NY, Roseville MN and Los Angeles CA) and found no decline in any of the cities over the 25-year data span. Mean counts varied highly among locations, with New York, Roseville and Los Angeles averaging 131, 101 and 73 million sperm per milliliter, respectively. Each of these studies was based upon men volunteering sperm before vasectomy. This introduces biases into the samples, as men volunteering for vasectomy are known to have sperm counts higher than the population average.

Endocrine disruptors and sperm count

Irvine, S, E Cawood, D Richardson, E MacDonald and J Aitken. 1996. Evidence of deteriorating semen quality in the United Kingdom: birth cohort study in 577 men in Scotland over 11 years. British Medical Journal 312: 467-471.

Irvine et al. report a signficant decline in sperm counts of Scottish men over a 20-year period. Sperm concentrations dropped at a rate of 2.1 percent a year with year of birth. This study is also notable in the sperm trend literature because of the lengths to which Irvine et al. went to avoid sampling biases. The Irvine team recruited the men broadly through several different methods and did not do any sort of screening that would select only for men of proven fertility or exclude those in particular occupations. "Our findings support previous reports that the quality of human semen seems to be falling. In particular, we have observed a decline in sperm concentration and the total number of sperm and of motile sperm in the ejaculate in association with a later year of birth, such that men born in the 1970s are producing some 24% fewer motile sperm in their ejaculate than are men born in the 1950s.

Climate Change and Human Health

Climate Change Health Impacts
- Direct

cardiovascular and respiratory morbidity and mortality

Population growth in the future may inevitably be one of our greatest "health technology" problems that we must solve

Paper "summaries" and comments from 10/15/03 Class Session – Current Health Care Technologies and Truth
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herbal technology – traditional use vs the science
ethnobotany – uses of the natural
we like the “tested” and lab based evidence
we like to create and not use natural (the OPEC syndrome)
pedocal – regulation is an issue in health care
health technology assessment – via models looking at new technologies
intersections of technologies – internet technologies increase communication and access
religion and health care – JW and transfusions – What is a proper intersection of beliefs and technology.
Disease detection especially in early pregnancy – genetic testing etc – risks of tests vs benefits vs ethics
cell to tissue generation – organ growth
accuracy of diagnoses
fix your personality with drugs – brain research
vs counseling and person to person solutions
med tech to make a perfect happy society
The Issues in Health Care
Fixing technologies and not diagnostic and preventative technologies
The mentality of the technological consumer is what is driving the health care costs.