Friday, July 29, 2005

Comparative spending

Due credit to the National Post for this article:
Ottawa has allotted more than $10 billion for enhanced public safety since the 9-11 attacks in New York, while thousands die from air and water pollution.

"I think we're investing a lot of money on feel-good programs, that we could be saving a lot more lives in some of our environmental problems," said David Schindler, a prominent ecology professor at the University of Alberta.

He said far more people are killed by air and water pollution than by terrorism, citing an estimate by the American Microbiological Society that 100,000 Americans die annually due to waterborne disease.

"That translates into about 10,000 (Canadians) sickened by plain old pathogens, nothing that a terrorist puts into our water supply. The terrorists are us, you might say."

Stop by and leave a comment - this is in the "Sound Off" section, and right now the comments are about evenly split between those approving of such obvious truths, and those putting in a stubborn effort to avoid any sense of proportion.

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