On Verge of Swine Flu Pandemic; It’s Time to Play “What if” to Protect Ourselves.
As the swine flu circles the globe with the deadly precision of a carefully orchestrated military attack, questions abound as to just how bad this near-pandemic will get.  While world health officials attempt to answer this and many other questions, I think it’s also time for us to hunker down and consider the potential devastation the world could face if this virus were to mix with the avian flu, which is commonly known as the bird flu.
This outbreak points to a larger problem: With as far as we have come scientifically in identifying health threats posed by these illnesses, precious little data exists that can conclusively help us stop these epidemics and pandemics from circling the globe and changing life as we know it.
Only two deaths in the United States can be linked to this latest outbreak of swine flu: a young Mexican national last week and a pregnant Texas schoolteacher who lived along the border.  Health officials stressed that a variety of underlying health conditions may have played a factor in the death of the school teacher. 
At this point, one of the best tools we have at our disposal is disease prevention.  Frequent hand washing and avoiding contact with the mouth and nose can help prevent the spread of the swine flu and other similar illnesses.  In addition, if you feel symptoms coming on or you have a fever, you should avoid contact with others.  This means staying home from work or school and avoiding others while infected.
We can only hope that this will be a temporary magic bullet that can buy us the time we need to devise effective treatments that can stop – or at least slow – the progression of the flu into a much more sinister disease which has the potential to end human life on planet Earth.
What we know at this point is that this scenario is theoretically possible.  How probable is it?  There’s no true way of quantifying a statistical model that will hold up under any real scrutiny because there are simply too many variables that come into play.  Whatever the odds, things happen every day that defy logic – and mathematical odds.
The swine flu is a witch’s brew of never-before-seen viruses, most notably strains of human, avian, and swine flu.  What is different this time is that it has mutated slightly and is resistant to some known drug therapies.  If this particular strain is somehow reintroduced to another strain of avian flu – in nature or by some other means – there is simply no way of knowing with any degree of certainty the potential for human illness or death.
This latest rendition of the swine flu has proven to be transferable from pigs to humans and back again.  Each time it makes the leap, it at least has the potential to become more virulent.  As Juan Lubroth, of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, stated when asked about the possibility of the swine flu becoming even more virulent, “Could it gain virulence? Yes.”
He went on to say, “It could also become milder.  It could go in both directions.”
Lubroth’s comments are particularly disconcerting, considering the fact that most swine flus are confined to the upper respiratory tract.  As a result, he said the chances of humans catching the swine flu are “probably 10 or 1,000 times less.”
The avian flu tends to affect multiple organs, blood, and tissue, so if it somehow makes the leap to humans it could be a deadly mix that could kill untold millions of people.  The problem I see with this scenario is that Mexico is ground-zero for this new swine flu – and there is a major bird migration area, known as Bird Rock – located between Mexico and San Diego.
What is the possibility that this could happen?  Nobody knows.  But we simply can’t discount the possibility that it could happen.
Let us hope that it isn’t too late.

Because life has no reset button, think safety!

Yovette Mumford

Hi,

For safety’s sake, America think about who our next President should be.
I, for one, do not want a President whose convention mantra is “Fight, fight, fight! Nor do I want a Vice President who compares herself to a “Hockey Mom that is a PitBull with lipstick” anywhere near the children or more importantly near the minds of our children. Perhaps we should honor Mr. McCain by allowing the next Republican President to select him as Secretary of Defense. I believe that America needs a President who is a veteran at defending our inalienable rights as outlined in the U.S. Constitution not necessarily a veteran at defending the rights of proud corporations of our nation.

On my walk this morning, I listened to a song “Too Young to Die” by Jamiroquai. Some of the words were:

Everybody, don’t want no war. No, No No,
We are too young to die!!
So many people all around the world have seen their brothers FRY!
What is the motive? Madness? I wish I knew.
So Politicians, this time, better keep your distance.
‘Cause our backs are up against the wall.
Say it LOUD, We are too young to DIE!!!
Say it LOUD, We are too young to DIE!!!
People can you decide
‘Cause when it falls it’s gonna take us all.

Barak Obama has become the Democratic Party Nominee for President of the United States. Obama is not just a statesman, but an icon for renewed American values; an icon for a multicultural voice; and an icon for America’s vision of her future as a melting pot for all the cultures of the world.

As Obama preaches with his modulated baritone voice, he speaks of a future formulated to convey mesmerizing tones of self reliance and an openness to listen to others. McCain’s high pitched voice bellows “Fight, Fight, Fight and wars for 100 years”.

Obama uses former President Lincoln’s image as an icon to conjure our imagination about his candidacy. I think this is a very powerful icon to project his state of mind and Presidential mission. I call the image to your left an icon for “The Thinking American”. This image of Obama, sitting in Rodin’s “The Thinker” position, engulfed in the Bald Eagle, in a reflective pool that illuminates Lincoln came to me while thinking about Obama’s historic Presidential campaign.

An icon is a graphic representation of concepts and psychological symbols that represent a common consciousness of many men in any culture. Both the Bald Eagle and Obama are thinking about an America’s vision of a future without fear, fossil fuel dependency, famine, refugees, or the continuation of fighting on every front. Both are icons of America’s values, voice and vision!

Art has always been a very powerful tool as a communication medium to ignite change and ideas to our consciousness, whether in song or painting.

This icon is offered to help communicate to the international community that most Americans disagree with the practices of the Bush administration and now the possibility of a McCain Presidency. America has to show the world that we are intellectuals and not bullies. We seek to communicate in such a way that keeps America a safer place not just from another attack like 9/11 but also from domestic violence as well. The increase in domestic violence has always been directly associated with the health of any nation’s economy. The Obama Presidency is an icon of the new American voice and vision.

This new icon sends a message to the rest of the world that Americans really want to listen to the concerns of other countries and do not support the current Republican administration’s unilateral aggressions and the protection of multi-national corporate greed and oppression.

I believe that the Barack Obama’s Presidency and team of new officers could be more effective in keeping us safer for the following reasons:

1. His Presidency is an icon for our American values. These are not new values but values that never gets propagandized or celebrated enough in our art or other mediums, especially to the world. The international community, it seems from the many interviews I have heard with representatives of countries such as Germany, France, Switzerland, Brazil, Jordan, Iran and Iraq, are willing to trust the Obama icon and consider new dialogue with America, which exemplifies a difference from the old and existing approach to international affairs. Obama represents America, both black and white, foreign and domestic (Kenya and Kansas) by his own heritage. It is perceived that his blood line represents many of the same issues the majority of the world’s oppressed have endured. He is borne of an American Christian mother and an African Muslim father. He has been educated in both extreme parts of the world. He is an icon for the melting pot of the world; a product of interracial harmony, reflections of America. He represents an America that is cunning but not cold, savvy or sour but rather strong yet not overbearing.

2. Obama is an icon for our new American voice. When he speaks his voice is mesmerizing. America! He expresses such energy and confidence that his passion illuminates his being. America! He is ardent yet sensitive. America! America’s voice should be heard around the world in harmony with other voices in the international community. Obama is an icon for character that is for family values, community concerns and global human rights.

3. Obama’s agenda for the new American vision? Just like the Bald Eagle, which has the longest vision clarity of any animal on earth, he sees the necessity of treating our international neighbors as equals; America! He embodies the iconic strength of the Democratic Party for the distinguished agendas of global warming, universal health care, and many others.

Obama said in his acceptance speech “what the Republicans don’t understand is that this campaign is not me; it is about YOU, America!” This is a very important statement for us to take note of and reflect upon. We would make a big mistake idolizing Obama, the man.

We need to stay focused on being active in our own American safety issues. We need to elect thinking Americans who have good judgment on how to help keep us safe in an ever more lethal world. Former President Clinton stated it formally “Americans must lead in the world by ‘example’ as power not ‘power’ as the example.”

These kinds of idioms, put into practice, will keep us safer. We can not keep electing politicians that are the icons of intimidation or multinational corporations. They are the icons that send a message to the international community that says Amercia is responsible for nuclear proliferation. They are the icons with the message of double standards in the world; one for Americans and another for the rest of the world. They have made themselves icons that send the message that our military does whatever it takes to manipulate others to believe in corporate America’s own agenda. It is time for the American people’s agenda to become the icon for the world!

Perhaps it is images of Dennis Haysbert as President of the U.S. on the HBO Hit series “24” or Morgan Freeman as God in the movies that have most of America well adjusted and even enthusiastic about electing an African American President. I am sure it is a combination of many things converging at this time. Whatever it is, let Americans think about their choice for the next President with great diligence. Remember that Ground Zero in New York is now an icon for the disaster of September 11, 2001. Remember when you walk into the voting booth that OIL is the icon for this administration that has Americans being damaged in wars on too many fronts, for all the wrong reasons.

We are all too young to die as individuals or as a nation. As the song goes once the nukes drop, it takes us all out. Life has no reset button!!!

~ Yovette Mumford

safetyissues.com

Hi,
In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court on Thursday ruled the Second Amendment does protect an individual’s right to bear arms, striking down the Washington, D.C, ban on handguns. This is a historic decision that we have to wonder what kind of an impact it is going to have on the already over-the-top problems we have with gun violence in this country today.

The Associated Press reported, “Silent on central questions of gun control for two centuries, the Supreme Court found its voice Thursday in a decision affirming the right to have guns for self-defense in the home and addressing a constitutional riddle almost as old as the republic over what it means to say the people may keep and bear arms.” The Washington Post reports the “landmark 5 to 4 decision split along ideological grounds and wiped away years of lower court decisions that had held that the intent of the amendment, ratified more than 200 years ago, was to tie the right of gun possession to militia service.”

The New York Times reports in a front-page story that the court “rejected the view that the Second Amendment’s ‘right of the people to keep and bear arms’ applied to gun ownership only in connection with service in the ‘well regulated militia’ to which the amendment refers.”

This brings up the question and outrage that has broken out in this country as a result of the ruling; where do we draw the line to protect the safety of the citizens of this country while at the same time protecting ourselves as a country? With so many other methods of self protection available why does the Supreme Court Justice see the need to open the doors to more gun violence?

For self protection, technology has advanced tremendously allowing for many avenues of personal safety without having to carry a gun. For example, we have CCV camera’s to alert us to intruders, we have mace, we have technological advances, like laser guns, light ray guns to temporarily blind an intruder that are safer and less life threatening.

Additionally this puts the police at a greater risk of injury. With so many people carrying guns now, legally, those that work for enforcing the laws and serve to protect us are now in a battle zone people who could be under the influence of drugs and alcohol with legal personal handguns. Domestic violence is a huge problem with this handgun law in affect. Clearly this ruling has enormous ramifications for the safety of the public.

The second amendment states, “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” The Supreme Court, in its ruling, says that means it’s every American’s right to keep a gun for self-defense.

But what will the consequences be and is this what it really means? I believe that more violence, more killings, more road rage, more police shootings, more families ripped apart by violence is going to the aftermath of this Supreme Court Decision. I for one, believe that the Forefathers of this nation, Authors of the words of the Constitution, wrote for a community that were still hunters and conquerors of a new land. They had no consciousness of the new nonlethal weapons and surveillance technology we have today. Perhaps our Present fathers, the Chief Justices are not up on the viable new technologies either. Hopefully our future fathers will have the fortitude to hold the hand gun regulation in check on a City by City basis or reduce the incidences of employee rage; symptomized by random shutting in the workplace; school shooting; children in the homes while parents are at work accidental shootings; jealous passion shootings by siblings, parents, spouses, partners. As a police walks up the driveway to help in a domestic violence scene, he has to wonder where the shot will come from more vigilantly than ever before.

How do you feel about this ruling? We want to know your thoughts on this historic ruling by the Supreme Court. As always, we are here for your safety and thought provoking comments.

Yovette Mumford,
Safetyissues.com

Hi,

Safety permeates every aspect of our lives so much that we take it for granted. I think we should take “safety” much more seriously. Therefore I am going to write a series of blogs on why we as a society should add to our vocabulary and thus redefine our consciousness on the science of safety. I think we should in fact develop a Science of Safety just as all of the other Science disciplines. Science is defined by Webster’s as, “an area of knowledge that is an object of study.” It goes on to further specify, “Knowledge covering general truths or the operation of general laws especially as obtained and tested through scientific methods.” Safety is defined by Webster’s as, “freedom from danger; security-a protective device.” Thus one could conclude that an area of knowledge that is an object of study is “Safety”. Science of safety would be the discipline of studying all knowledge that is focused on the art and science of safety. I can not understand why safety has not become more of a science discipline of its own.

There is a journal published monthly called Safety Science. This journal serves as an international medium “for research in the science and technology of human safety. It extends from safety of people at work to other spheres, such as transport, leisure and home, as well as every other field of man’s hazardous activities.” Safety Science - Jan. 2008.
The journal is encouraging in its efforts to develop safety as a discipline of science. It covers the physics and engineering of safety with all the aspects, risks and control techniques taken into account to form a science of safety and then publishes articles. It is truly fascinating work and one we are thrilled to see!

Let’s look at a specific hypothetical example of the science of safety in action. For example, we all know that if you smoke cigarettes, according to the World Health Organization, your chances of developing lung cancer during your lifetime increase 68% (WHO Feb. 2008) from one who does not smoke. Applying scientific methods to this example, it is clear that by smoking you are increasing your chance of developing lung cancer. This is proven, methodical, factual information.

Another example, if you cross a street without looking both ways, you increase your chance of becoming a victim of an accident; getting hit by a car or truck. If we applied safety scientific methodology to this hypothesis, we would come up with a percentage of times these accidents are likely to happen. We then use safety science methodology to research human behavior and come up with “best practices” to reduce the percentages of such an accident. We would have a factual, proven piece of safety science information to share with the general public to increase their safety awareness and justify on a consistent basis behavior modification techniques to have a safer environment.

Without a doubt, safety is a science. Whether or not it ever becomes a recognized discipline remains to be seen.

Next week….. the politics of safety and safety consciousness in propaganda.

Living safe,
Yovette Mumford

Hi,

The warmth and beauty of summer brings with it safety factors that we want you to consider. As we are more and more outside in nature, we must be aware of our surroundings and the safety issues involved. I was recently on a picnic and found myself within a swarm of bees that were after the same food we were trying to enjoy. It was quite annoying and somewhat nerve racking; knowing that the sting they can put on us all can be extremely painful and to some life threatening.

Bee stings can be dangerous and life threatening to some. Many people are allergic to the venom found in bee stings and can have serious reactions if not treated quickly. There is a theory that by placing a penny or any type of coin on the bee sting, the venom will dissipate. The theory is based on the iron found in our monetary coins. Supposedly the iron “pulls out” the venom from the sting and stops a possible reaction. Certainly not proven by a scientific method, however this theory has garnered enough positive results and evidence to result in being a well-known, widespread conjecture.

Bee stings have been a nuisance since prehistoric times. Drawings of bee’s have appeared on caveman dwellings as found by archaeologists. They biggest factor in their existence is that they are insects that feed on food meant for human consumption. Thus at most cookouts of any type, bee’s can and are usually present.

To avoid attracting bees, try the following:
• Avoid fragrances, including hair spray, scented soaps, lotions, and oils. Bees usually approach children with a sweet scent.
• Don’t wear brightly colored clothing, particularly floral patterns, i.e. don’t look like a flower patch. Bees also see in the ultraviolet range. If the pattern lights up under black light, it is particularly interesting to bees.
• Be very careful with food. Cans of soda are notorious: Bees climb in unobserved, and are frightened into stinging when the child drinks. Something as small as a forgotten raspberry jam stain on a sweater can be a problem.
If a bee does land, take steps to avoid frightening it:
• Hold still. Tell kids to pretend they’re statues. Rapid movement startles the bee and encourages stinging.
• Try blowing gently on the bee. This can encourage it to move on while not startling it.
• Wear shoes. Bees will of course be frightened if you step on or near them. Shoes don’t make them less frightened, but they do protect feet from frightened bees.
• Wear long pants when you know you are going to be in an area that is likely to have bees in it, such as a field.

Keep in mind, the bee’s stinger is barbed. In the act of stinging, the stinger is torn from the bee, along with the venom-filled poison sac and attached muscles. The barbs continue to work the stinger deeper into the flesh for several minutes, while venom continues to be injected. Once stung, doctors recommend removing the stinger by with a scraping motion by using the rigid edge of a credit card or a dull butter knife. Never attempt to pull out the stinger using fingers or tweezers, since this will result in the injection of more venom.

If you are stung, treat the wound in the following ways:
• Remove the stinger with all haste, in whatever manner is most convenient. If you see a little black dot in the wound, part of the stinger is still present.
• Clean the area with soap and water.
• Consider applying an antiperspirant to the site. An ingredient called A aluminum chlorohydrate may reduce the effect of bee venom.
• Apply cold. Use ice or cool water for 10 to 30 minutes after the sting. This blunts the body’s allergic response.
• An antihistamine such as Benadryl, taken by mouth, can give some added relief, and help prevent the reaction from spreading.
• A shake lotion such as calamine can be helpful. A paste made of baking soda and water can have a similar effect.
• Topical hydrocortisone can also provide some symptomatic relief.
• Give acetaminophen or ibuprofen for systemic pain relief.
Cooking outdoors is a big part of summer, but so are bees. Keep this information handy; it will help you prevent and if you fall prey to a bee sting, treat the area in the safest and best way possible.

Safe living,
Yovette Mumford