Alcohol's not the only thing harmful to your health.
Posted on 06/19/2005 10:40:03 AM PDT by XEHRpa
Death Rate Casts Shadow over Russia ----- Since Soviet Union's fall, life expectancy has fallen, and so has the birth date ----- Is the country dying of despair? ----- By Douglas Birch, Sun Foreign Correspondent
OIMYAKON, Russia - A few years ago, a retired math teacher named Tamara I. Vasileve began poring through diaries and records of births and deaths in this Siberian village of 950 people...
But in the 1960's, as the Soviet Union's economy began to stagnate, the number of people in their 70's, 80's or 90's began to shrink...
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, life expectancy here has plummeted...
A Russian man's risk of dying of stroke is seven times higher than for men in the United States. He is 12 times more likely than an American to die of alcohol poisoning. He is seven times more likely to suffer a fatal stomach cancer, and 78 times more likely to contract tuberculosis. Only citizens of Columbia and El Salvador are more likely to die a violent death...
In a world in which national wealth depends on people with specialized skills, imagine a country with declining numbers of engineers, doctors and scientists...
The Catostrophe
...Then came the catastrophe. As the Soviet Union broke apart in the late 1980's and 1990's, life expectancy in Russia plummeted by six years...
During the Communist era, Soviet citizens lived in a society that guaranteed them all an income, no matter how small; a place to live, now matter how crowded; a job, no matter how poorly paid. Now all that was gone...
Perhaps Russia was, in part, dying of despair...
(Excerpt) Read more at baltimoresun.com ...
Of course, I should have known better... this is the Baltimore Sun, after all. The article was a poor excuse for an apology for Soviet Communism... with a secondary slam at alcohol (despite the lack of positive correlation between alcohol and the cited Russian problem of heart disease). Now that they've demonized tobacco, alcohol is next in the left's sights, I'm sure.
Anyhow, I tried to excerpt pieces of the article that revealed the true leanings of the Sun's author. It was not difficult to do, there was so much to choose from.
And I should have pointed out that an examination of the graphical data shows that the age expectancy actually rose in the late 80's, no doubt with the anticipation of change in the air.
Following the fall of communism, and all the unanswered dreams, the expectancy merely fell, dramatic though it was, back to the original declining trajectory that dated back to the mind 1960's.
Forget about safety precautions, the government just gave everyone at the plant early retirement at 40 because it was thought that if they worked longer than this in these conditions it would be fatal.
It is sad to meet young smart good looking men who seem as though they should have it all but can't hold a job because they are always drunk.
There was a family I had dinner with whose mother, who is a doctor, found she had a tumor in the last six months since I was there, she is probably 45. Another young woman doctor at her clinic who my girlfriend knows has blood cancer. It just seems as though I know too many people who have these strange ailments. It is frightening.
It isn't as though I know a HUGE amount of people there. It seems too many people are sick. Now it seems they are being hit by AIDS.
It is sort of funny, the medical treatment is crazy there. My girlfriend broke her foot, she went to the hospital and they put a cast on it. Then they just sent her out the door without giving her crutches, a wheel chair or anything. She had to hop home. The bank where her sister works in Moscow keeps a pair of crutches at their office for employs how break bones. They all share the crutches when they need them. It seems the doctors don't think to offer this. Now her mom broke her foot and this old lady is hopping around the apartment
It does seem the people in Moscow are doing okay.
My theory is that the Soviet Union valued women as an economic asset moreso than a family asset. By this I mean, her value to the State was paramount over her role in the maintainance of a stable family, insofar as it was possible to have a stable family in such a repressive system. Abortion was encouraged, because it kept a woman working, and it enhanced her economic value to the State. Birth rates fell, and may now be at disastrous levels. They may be at levels which cannot further sustain Russia as a nation.
That being said, I have argued against abortion, and against homosexual marriages with the reasoning that a nation has a compelling, indeed survival motivated, interest in supporting stable families. It is from stable families that the future of the nation is derived. It is from stable families that the doctors, police, scientists, farmers, teachers, and other adhesive occupations ultimately depend. A nation which places artificial or economic value on the child producing segment of its population deserves ultimately, oblivion.
I am not arguing for the DENIAL of the rights of women to fairly compete for ecomonic or political goals.
There is nothing wrong with alcohol, BUT alcholism is a major problem in Russia. All you have to do is live in Moscow for a few months to see that alcoholism is literally killing people in large numbers.
Alcohol's not the only thing harmful to your health.
No can do. On FR we deal only with facts, not theory or opinion. :-)
My analysis of the long article is different from the poster's and the data do support your theory indirectly. The data destroy nearly all the left's pet theories about the environment, smoking, drinking, and national healthcare. I was amazed that this came from the Baltimore Sun but perhaps they saw it the same as the freeper who posted it.
My conclusion, as well as the author's and the researcher's to a degree, was that attitude had the most to do with their conditions. The author and researchers blame the deaths of middle age men, the largest group with the most dramatic reduction in life expectancy, on depression and hopelessness due to the inability to get jobs and care for their families. They gave vodka drinking its due but showed that had only a minor effect. They also skewered the health care system but noted that also had a negligible effect on the death rate. The same with smoking, pollution, etc.
My theory is the dearth of spirituality and the concentration on the here and now, the emphasis on the obstacles they faced, and the feelings of hpelessness, lack of self worth, and the attending attitudes brought all this about. Casting their futures to the wind, after years of state support no matter how meager, leads naturally to a feeling of despair and depression. It is the old optimism, pessimism scenario and in such bleak circumstances it is easy for pessimism to get the upper hand.
Circumstances are what they are. Attitudes toward them are internally controlled. In turn, attitudes affect health, even life span and birthrates.
I think a good dose of spirituality, in any form but Islam, would do wonders for Russia and get them back on the right track. A proper and reasoned relationship with a Supreme Being is the ultimate form of freedom and the feeling of freedom is what they lack most. Some still long for the prison of security but that is about all they know.
Oh well, this is about to get out of hand length wise so I had better stop but I am sure you understand my theory.
LOL - I like your post. Good one.
btrl
Actually, it is killing *men* in large numbers. Women don't seem to have the problems with alcohol that men do.
Go to any search engine and type up "Russian brides" and see how many hits you get. There is good reason for this. The women outnumber men by considerable margins because the men die so early. Something like 135 females to every 100 males. And the men all feel obliged to keep mistresses.
Russian women are fleeing because there is a shortage of men.
Sorry for my delay... busy have I been.
I recall seeing the evidence of tragedy all about too. To me, it was a land of extremes. Extremely rich and extremely poor; extremely honest yet extremely corrupt. The beggers there looked nothing like the often well fed American beggers. The Russian beggers were prematurely old, looking 60 yet having a young child in tow; missing many teeth and not in bath in quite a while. It was very sad to witness.
It seemed that, in many ways, Russia should be more like America than Europe, in terms of the challenges it faces. Vast undeveloped spaces with concentrated population centers, diverse populations, and we didn't detect any religious hostility as one does in Europe.
As far as the weird hospital behavior you cite, I gather that doctors are held in low esteem there, and are certainly not well paid. Perhaps that might have something to do with the crutch situation... they just didn't have any.
Anyhow, I keep the Russians in my prayers. The people we dealt with were phenomenal. Poor as they were, I get the impression they'd give you the shirt off their back. But the corruption elsewhere was quite visible.
You make a good point in post #4
We did witness the effects of alcoholism in much larger numbers than here in the States. However, I would be surprised if it made that big a "direct" impact on the demographic trends.
"Indirectly" however, the effects could be huge, in terms of having whole generations of dysfunctional families, and the poverty and despair that brings.
Secondly, they get up every morning, but gobs of butter on bread, stack some cheese and sausage on top of that, and then eat it with a helping of salt fish. Then if you smoke and drink very hard liqueur day and night something eventually is going to fail.
The doctors I know there earn about $80 a month. Tatiana, our friend, has to rent out her sons apartment and have him live with her just to survive. I am sure they don't have crutches. When medical care is completely free to all, but the money has to come from somewhere and the government just doesn't have enough. They are proud that medical care is free, but it is the craziest medical care I have ever seen.
It is interesting to know when you were there, because I found that things had improved from what I had been told by people who visited in the early and mid 90s. Poor people on the street weren't so obvious when I went in the last two years. Or maybe it is a question of where you went. I understand that it is still pretty bad in the east.
I agree with you regarding the environmental disaster that communism wrought over there. And while we might look on their bravado as needless, if only the government spent a little effort to prepare for problems, the reality is that when Chernobyl melted down, there was no sane backup plan, and so the bravado of those workers who exposed themselves to lethal radiation to cover the melted pile in concrete was not a false bravado, but likely saved the lives of countless others from the contamination.
When we were there (2002), our host family tried to cook American style the first day, and I have to say it is no wonder that other adopting parent complain of the meals. Fortunately, in our case, we asked Natasha to cook authentic Russian meals thereafter, and it was some of the best cuisine we've ever had. I even acquired a taste for red cavier (naturally, served on bread slathered with butter, and chased with a shot of vodka).
Our travels were limited to downtown Moscow and Tula. Tula was seeming to suffer, though quite a lot of poverty (by American standards) was evident in Moscow too.
The only difference is that in Russia the middle class, if there is one, lives in decay, and here mostly minorities do.
I love Moscow, if you still have any connections in Russia you should spend some time there for pleasure. There is a great series of books by DK publishing, www.dk.com which have beautiful maps and listings of out-of-the-way museums and attractions of various cities around the world.
I would mark on the map every night a route and we would start from one subway station and walk all the way through the city going from one place to the next. This was in January so it was usually snowing, but we saw most of the city. There is always a subway entrance close for when you are tired. Of course it is best if you know someone who speaks the language.
I find that all cities have their own distinct flavor, regardless of how rich or poor they are, and there definitely is a charm to Moscow. St. Petersburg is a must see also, which also has a book from DK.
Wouldn't it stand to reason that if the population was decreasing that the need for engineers, doctors and scientists decrease also in direct proportion???
Tis true, reporters were never noted for their mathematical skills of deduction.
Thanks for the tips.
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