below the poverty line. They suffer from malnutrition and other
poor conditions that cause very high mortality rates—and, if they
survive, they have very severe health problems all through their
lives.
The New England Journal of Medicine pointed out a couple of
years ago that black males in Harlem have about the same mortality
rate as people in Bangladesh. That’s essentially because of the
extreme deterioration of the most elementary public health
conditions, and social conditions.
Some people have linked the increase in breast cancer and prostate
cancer to environmental degradation, to diet, and to the increase of
additives and preservatives. What do you think about that?
It’s doubtless some kind of a factor. How big or serious a factor
it is I’m not sure.
Are you at all interested in the so-called natural or organic food
movement?
Sure. I think there ought to be concerns about the quality of
food. I would say this falls into the question of general public health.
It’s like having good water and good sewage and making sure that
people have enough food and so on.
All these things are in roughly the same category—they don’t
have to do with high-technology medical treatment but with
essential conditions of life. These general public-health issues, of
which eating food that doesn’t contain poisons is naturally a part, are
the overwhelming factors in quality of life and mortality.
Crime and punishment
There’s been a tendency over the last few years for local TV news
programs to concentrate on crimes, rapes, kidnappings, etc. Now
this is spilling over into the national network news programs.
That’s true, but it’s just a surface phenomenon. Why is there an