How Progress Makes Us Sick
opinionated Essay
1200 words
How Progress Makes Us Sick
By now, Im sure nearly everyone has heard of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome). If youve watched all news channels like CNN or Fox News over the past month with their alternating images of people hurrying through airports wearing surgical masks and bombs exploding over Baghdad, youd think there were only two news stories worth reporting: the growing body counts created by SARS and the Iraq war. However the attention that has been focused on SARS has startled people rather than educated them about the disease. Lack of information leads to fear. According to J. Michael Bishop in Enemies of Promise: We live in an age of scientific triumph. Science has solved many of natures puzzles and greatly enlarged human knowledge. And the fruits of scientific inquiry have vastly improved human welfare. Yet despite these proud achievements, science today is increasingly mistrusted and under attack. The parade of frightening new maladies continues, each on confirming that our species, for all its cleverness, still lives at the mercy of the microbe.
In May fifths issue of Newsweek, Geoffrey Cowley states: Many of the advances that have made our lives more comfortable have also made them more dangerous. Some thirty new diseases have cropped up since the mid-1970scausing tens of millions of deaths. What exactly is SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome? It is a respiratory illness that has recently been reported in Asia, North America, and Europe. SARS begins with a fever greater than 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit. Some others symptoms may include headache, an overall feeling of discomfort, body aches, and sore throat. After two to seven days SARS patients may develop a dry cough and have trouble breathing. S...
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...the natural world. In consequence, we are admired but also feared, mistrusted, even despised. We offer hope for the future but also more conflict and ambiguous choice. The price of science seems large, but to reject science is to deny the future. Will there ever be an answer for SARS? Will there ever be a cure? Science is a process and I think that is what most people dont see. In order to make the right decisions, there is a process that scientists have to follow. Sometimes that process takes time. We cant unplug from what we believe, but we can meet somewhere in the middle and work together as a team.
Works Cited
Bishop, Michael. Enemies of Promise. The Presence of Others. Marilyn Moller. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2000, 237-243.
Shih, June. A City Masked in Fear and Distrust. U.S. News. May 5, 2003.
Cowley, Geoffrey. SARS. Newsweek May 5, 2003.
In this essay, the author
- Opines that the attention that has been focused on sars has startled people rather than educated them about the disease.
- Explains that sars, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, is a respiratory illness that has recently been reported in asia, north america, and europe.
- Opines that science is the best way to learn how the world works.
- Opines that people who are afraid of science are unaware of what's going on or don't understand it. the risk of catching sars appears slim.
- Concludes that science has begun the quest well, by building a method of ever-increasing power, which can illuminate all that is in the natural world.
- Analyzes bishop, michael, and marilyn moller's enemies of promise. the presence of others.
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In this essay, the author
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- Explains that the outbreak in hong kong led to people taking the disease more seriously. an outbreak occurs in vietnam, tracing back to a man admitted in hanoi hospital for high fever and sore throat.
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In this essay, the author
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- Explains that the 2003 sars outbreak incited new laws and policies regarding epidemics in the countries affected.
- Explains how the revision of the people's republic of china on the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases (ptid) addressed the immediate problems surrounding the national sars outbreak.
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