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News & Views - June, 2002 Issue
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ALCOHOL EXCESS OF DUBIOUS PROOF
(April 18, 2002) Steven Milloy, publisher of JunkScience.com,
and adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute wrote for the Washington Times that recent news about excessive college drinking
is “another shocking example of statistical deception by shameless activists manipulating a media panting for sensationalism.” The
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism’s report, “A Call to Action: Changing the Culture of Drinking at U.S. Colleges,”
claimed for example, that 500,000 colleges students are injured while under the influence of alcohol, 600,000 are assaulted and 400,000
had unsafe sex. However, no analysis is presented; it only references a study done by Ralph Hingson of the Boston University
School of Public Health, who is also on the board of directors of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). Milloy states the
data shows the actual difference between college students and non-college students is too small to be reliably detected using Hingson’s
method of data analysis.
DATA SHOWS FORGIVENESS IS GOOD FOR YOU
(April 20, 2002) An article by Washington Post reporter, Roxanne Roberts, that appeared in the Spokesman-Review,
summarized a variety of studies demonstrating the physical and emotional benefit of forgiveness. Research by Everett Worthington,
Chairman of the Psychology Department at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, suggests unforgiving people have
elevated levels of cortisol, a hormone released from the adrenal glands in response to stress, that can lead to heart attacks, coronary
disease and strokes, ulcers, colitis and immune system problems. Fred Luskin, a family and marital therapist and specialist
in health psychology, measured Irish families who experienced the murder of their family members. A six-month follow- up on
those who participated in an eight-day forgiveness training showed a 50% reduction in stress, a 15% reduction in general anger, and
an increase in optimism. A second group of participants showed decreases in depression, stress and anger with a “huge increase in
physical vitality”. “A lot is a matter of timing, Worthington says. If you forgive prematurely or too forcefully coerce someone into
trying to forgive, then that can cause people to react negatively with anger, guilt or depression.
STUDY: MOST SCHOOL SHOOTINGS PREVENTABLE
(May 16, 2002) CNN reports an Associated Press article that “most
school shooters felt bullied or threatened by someone else just before they went on a rampage,” according to a recent study by the
Secret Service. Also, “virtually all shooters reported having difficulties coping with a relationship or a falling out among peers.”
The agency’s new training manual, to be distributed to school and law-enforcement personnel states, “schools should pay more attention
to students’ social problems, listen to their complaints, urge classmates to report problems and watch out for depressed, suicidal
teenagers if they want to head off school shootings like the one at Columbine High School in 1999. “Rather than building a
profile of an attacker with a set of personality traits, schools should focus on behavior and motives and encourage students to speak
out about students who are threatening violence, researchers have said.”
A NEW WEB SITE LAUNCHES TO HONOR EVERYDAY HEROES
(June 13, 2002) A new web site, HeroList, a free web site that allows
people to post a picture of their hero and let everyone know why they are special. A Detroit physician and numerous volunteers
created the site in order to recognize all the unsung heroes in the world, a “way of helping to recognize those people that touch
our lives everyday." Users can post their personal hero by uploading a picture and entering a brief tribute that is available
to the general public. A list of charities is provided to allow donations to be made in honor of one’s hero and/or send a customized
greeting card announcing the registration on Herolist. (Courtesy of Internet Wire)
EVIDENCE SHOWS HUMAN BRAIN CAN GROW NEW NERVES
(June 2002) E. Kiester, Mr., & W. Kiester write for Smithsonian Magazine that neurobiologist Fred Gage
of the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California has recently found evidence of nerve cell re-growth in the human brain. They also quote
Fernando Nottebohm, an Argentina-born biologist, who demonstrated two decades ago that the brain of a male songbird grows fresh
nerve cells in the fall to replace those that die off in summer. He sates that 95% of scientists now believe in neurogenesis. “The
discovery that neurons can arise from stem cells in the brain fires hopes of a potentially limitless material for repairing damaged
brain tissue. But researchers caution that, for now, it’s mere speculation that stem cells capable of becoming neurons can be used
this way. In 1998, researchers reported that neuronal growth occurs in the adult human brain. However, “until scientists establish
that new, functioning nerves also appear in the cerebral cortex, where higher thoughts are processed…[they] remain skeptical that
adult neurogenesis makes much difference to actual brain function.”
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA BOASTS MILITARY-STYLE CHARTER SCHOOL
(June 18, 2002) National Public
Radio reported Oakland Mayor, Jerry Brown, is “staking his reputation as a public school reformer on a military-style
charter school for the Oakland Public School System that was beset by low test scores and demoralized teachers and a 25% drop
out rate. Brown's vision of a military academy -- emphasizing rigorous academic study and tight discipline -- encountered fierce local
resistance by both city and county school boards, who voted to deny his proposal for a charter arguing they needed to make all of
the district's 54,000 students a priority. Undeterred, Brown received a charter from the state Board of Education and $3 million
from the U.S. Department of Defense and the California National Guard. Since enrollment was open to any local student,
“plans to launch an aggressive college prep curriculum were shelved in favor of remedial education.” As for those who ask whether
he thinks inner city kids need more discipline, Brown told KQED-TV, "If I had been sent to a military academy like my
parents threatened to do, I believe I would have been president a long time ago."
STUDY: TEENS WITH PIERCINGS/TATTOOS MORE LIKELY TO PARTAKE IN RISKY BEHAVIOR
(June 18, 2002) According to a study published in the June issue of Pediatrics and reported by Linda Marsa for the Los
Angeles Times, “Young people who sport tattoos or have their noses, tongues, eyebrows or bellybuttons pierced are more likely
to have sex, smoke cigarettes or marijuana, use drugs, binge drink, skip school, get into fights and receive poor grades.” Elizabeth
B. Myhre, one of the study co-authors says, “They’re a marker that these kids are prone to risky behaviors. While there’s nothing
inherently wrong with body piercing or tattoos, they are a wake-up call to parents and physicians that there might be something else
going on with these teens.” Also, “the younger both genders were when they got their body art, the more likely they were to be involved
with gateway drugs.”
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