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This is quite distressing, showing how our quality of life has actually regressed by some metrics rather than improved as is normally assumed. Americans of the
by anonymous48 11y ago
This is quite distressing, showing how our quality of life has actually regressed by some metrics rather than improved as is normally assumed. Americans of the 1960s did not have to worry about Chagas, Malaria, or Bed Bugs. These were parasites that had been eradicated. It even seemed possible then that TB, a scourge on humanity for centuries, might soon, at least in the US, meet a similar fate. Now it, like the parasites, has come back full force.
Though neither the author nor the posters here will identify the culprit, I think it should be obvious to all but the most deluded progressive that this is a consequence of unchecked mass immigration to the US--a consequence I doubt economists factor into their models when trying to justify conclusions about its benefits.
- khnd 11y agoor travellers. you know.
- anonymous48 11y agoOr tens of millions of immigrants, "documented" or otherwise.
- saryant 11y agoBed bugs are back because we realized the pesticides that kept them at bay had lots of unwanted consequences so we stopped using them. Actually, they would've resurged anyways as there's evidence bed bugs were becoming resistant to many pesticides. Considering they don't actually carry disease, they're just creepy, I'd hardly put them in the same category as serious tropical diseases. Buy yourself a PackTite and relax.
- anonymous48 11y agoBed bugs were eradicated in the US, not kept at bay. They only came back through their reintroduction by foreigners.
- saryant 11y agoBed bugs were never eradicated in the US. In any case, you're just as likely to run into them in a five-star Manhattan hotel as you are a fleabag motel in the Deep South.
- scythe 11y agoIf it's a consequence of immigration then why doesn't it happen in Florida and New York? Do you know at all how vectors work? We'll develop better pesticides (and alternative vector control) as soon as people are willing to pay for it. Not before.
- refurb 11y agoJesus, you act like we haven't made any progress at all. In the late 1800 more than half of the US had malarious areas.[1] [1]http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about/history/elimination_us.html http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about/history/elimination_us.html
- anonymous48 11y agoI think you misread my post. I compared the prevalence of certain parasites and infectious diseases in the 1960s with the present and observed a regression. I said nothing about the state of affairs in the 19th century.