By the Numbers
— According to Johns Hopskins University School of Public Health, nearly half a billion people around the world face water shortages. By 2025, the number will explode five fold to 2.8 billion—or 35% of the world’s projected total of 8 billion.
— A team of University of Georgia microbiologists led by U.G. professor William Whitman has made the first direct estimate of the total number of bacteria on Earth—from those that cause illness to those that fix nitrogen in the soil. Their findings: not only are bacteria the dominant life form on our planet, they top the heap at a whopping five million, trillion, trillion, or 5,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, far more than anticipated. The team also reportedly found the total carbon content of bacteria to be nearly equal to that of plants—an important finding for scientists studying cycles of carbon on the planet.
— In a recent AP article warning against the consumption of unpasteurized apple cider, the FDA was quoted as estimating that unpasteurized fruit juices sicken up to 48,000 Americans each year, and that in 1996, a child died of complications from drinking apple cider tainted with a deadly strain of E. coli bacteria. In the article, Les Bourquin, an assistant professor of food science and nutrition at Michigan State University, noted that children are particularly suceptible to any associated illness. “If you’re a healthy adult, it’s probably an acceptable risk to drink unpasteurized cider,” Bourquin said. “But if a busload of kindergartners pulls up to a cider mill, I’d think twice.” Pasteurization of apple cider is reportedly accomplished by heating the fruit juice to at least 160 degrees for six seconds.
— An editorial appearing in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune cited government sources who claimed that contaminated food causes an annual toll of 9,000 deaths and 81 million illnesses, and that scientists have found that food poisoning costs America up to $37 billion a year in medical treatment and lost work time. Meanwhile, say Tribune editors, the Clinton Administration is requesting a mere $101 million to reform the nations food-safety program, and prior to the August recess, the U.S. House of Representatives had approved a paltry $16.8 million of the administration request.