We Just Refuse To Follow The Studies

A quick visit to the Society of Environmental Journalists Web site shows we've got plenty to worry about:

Communities Worry That Pollution Proposals Threaten Ohio River

Dermatologists Warn of Skin Cancer Epidemic

Navajo Suffer from Utah Refinery

Contaminants Found in Rural Wells

If you really want overkill, just go to the newsroom page at Center for Science in the Public Interest, where you'll find fats, mad cow, apartame, bio-foods, obesity, killer sodas and other grave threats to our health laid out for all to see ... and worry about.

Yep, doom and distruction caused by our high-tech, chemically dependent society is just raining down on us, making us sick, killing us. My throat gets scratchy and my eyes water just thinking of it ...

... but wait! What's this?

[P]reliminary government figures released Wednesday showed that the annual number of deaths in the U.S. dropped by nearly 50,000 in 2004 – the biggest decline in more than 60 years.

The 2 percent decrease, reported by the National Center for Health Statistics, comes as a shock to many, because the U.S. is growing in population, aging and getting fatter.

The government also reported that a baby born in 2004 could expect to live to nearly 78 – an increase of almost half a year from 2003. Women now have a life expectancy of 80.4, up from 80.1. Male life expectancy is 75.2, up from 74.8.

All the studies in the world can't counter facts, and the fact is we're living longer, and living healthier. This year's numbers may be an aberration, and the final numbers may not be the same as these prelims, but both the life expectency and quality of life numbers are on a long, upward climb.

Just don't expect government regulators, lawyers and enviro activists to pay this set of facts any heed.

Tags: Life expectency, Disease, Death rate