Death Un-Donne

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee 

Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so . . .

John Donne

How right was the great poet, and it was shown the other day. Death—mighty and dreadful though it appears to be—will be obliterated by a stroke of the pen:

E.P.A. Plans to Get Thousands of Deaths Off the Books by Changing Its Math                   NY Times*

According to the story, the Trump Environmental Protection Agency (an oxymoron, if ever there was one) will finagle some figures to make it seem that “the 1,400 additional premature deaths per year that the E.P.A. had initially forecast as a result of eliminating the old climate change regulation” will not occur. 

Take that, old Grim Reaper! The sleight of hand of a new modeling method will foil you.

The Times continues:

The new modeling method, which experts said has never been peer-reviewed and is not scientifically sound, would most likely be used by the Trump administration to defend further rollbacks of air pollution rules if it is formally adopted.  But the proposed change is unusual because it relies on unfounded medical assumptions and discards more than a decade of peer-reviewed E.P.A. methods for understanding the health hazards linked to the fine particulate matter produced by burning fossil fuels.

*

Today in my mailbox the daily Pacific Standard newsletter contained two links to stories relevant to the ongoing pollution crisis. The first story tells of the dangerous levels of air pollution in Mexico City, which have caused authorities in Mexico City to declare 

an environmental emergency on Tuesday after pollution reached potentially hazardous levels. . . .
On Thursday, the Mexican government took steps to limit residents' exposure by closing primary schools and limiting public works projects, according to the [Washington] Post. Authorities advised parents to close windows and keep children indoors.**

 The second article is even scarier. The headline reads:

AIR POLLUTION MAY NEGATIVELY AFFECT 'EVERY ORGAN' IN THE HUMAN BODY

The sub-head explains:

A new report finds that inhaling air pollution doesn't just impact the heart and lungs: It can damage all parts of the body, and cause or worsen diseases.***

The article notes that in addition the damage caused to the heart and lungs, pollution also causes damage to “the brain, bladder, and skin” and that various other health conditions “such as diabetes, dementia, cancer, and brittle bones, may be caused or worsened by air pollution as well.”

***

So you may experience everything from rashes to tumors, but never fear: the E.P.A. has you covered. In the US, at least, you won’t die because of pollution. Maybe in Mexico—but then again, when did Trump ever care about Mexicans?

***

      * https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/20/climate/epa-air-pollution-deaths.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

     

      ** https://psmag.com/news/hazardous-levels-of-pollution-in-mexico-city-in-photos?      utm_source=Pacific+Standard&utm_campaign=eb3d4ebec4-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_05_20_05_39&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_a4fd1bcb7e-eb3d4ebec4-76426913

      *** https://psmag.com/news/air-pollution-may-negatively-affect-every-organ-in-the-human-body?utm_source=Pacific+Standard&utm_campaign=eb3d4ebec4-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_05_20_05_39&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_a4fd1bcb7e-eb3d4ebec4-76426913

Also here: 

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2019/may/17/air-pollution-may-be-damaging-every-organ-and-cell-in-the-body-finds-global-review

The Living End

The results of probably the most important research project of the last decade have just been released. The project, entitled De Morti Hominum, is a meta-analysis by Szabo, Fincke, and Fischetti of 1,117 studies in 28 languages of human deaths published over the last five decades. A baker’s dozen of major findings of the meta-analysis, sometimes surprising, are summarized below.

1)     Ubiquity—The presence of death was so widespread that it covered all the continents and non-continental areas (such as Polynesia).

2)     Concentration—Although death was ubiquitous, an interesting trend was discovered, which Szabo et al. have termed the “National Concentration Effect” (NCE). For example, most deaths of Chinese people happened to occur on the Asian continent, while most Brazilians died in South America.

3)     Racial Factors—Apparently, race played no part in the avoidance of death, there being records of the mortality of members of all racial groups. Strangely, however, in some areas of the globe the deaths of certain races seemed to be over-represented and others under-represented (e.g., members of the Caucasian race versus the Negroid in Lapland). Szabo et al. suggest introducing more members of the Negroid race into Lapland for a controlled longitudinal study of this phenomenon.

4)     Religious Factors—Another anomaly was noted in studying deaths by religion. In every decade many more Christians and Muslims died than Jews.

5)     Age Factors--Death was no respecter of age; deaths were recorded of humans of all ages from neo-natals to centenarians.

6)     Occupational Factors—The belief that an active life (contrasted with a sedentary one) would render one immune to death was disproved when statistics showed that persons in active professions (such as athletes, lumberjacks, and firefighters) were subject to death like those in sedentary ones (such as accountants, computer hackers, and newscasters).

7)     Indoor/Outdoor—Similarly, there was no escaping death whether one worked outdoors (like a farmer) or indoors (like an elevator operator).

8)     Body and Exercise—The study showed that the shape of one’s body did not determine one’s death outcome. Persons of all body shapes from the obese to the anorexic were subject to mortality. And no exercise regime—from yoga to Pilates, from weightlifting to stationary biking—increased one’s chances of ultimately avoiding death.

9)     Verticality—Height also showed no statistical probability of avoiding death, as records from different parts of the world evidenced the mortality of dwarves and giants, although most persons who died were between 152 and 188 centimeters.

10) Eating Habits—The belief that abstaining from eating certain foods (such as meat) would immunize one from death was also shown to be erroneous, as vegetarians and vegans did not avoid death in any great numbers.

11) Gender Issues—Nearly half those who experienced death were female and nearly half were male. The researchers were unable to determine the exact percentages of each gender because of “Nomen Ambiguity” (NA), the uncertain status of persons with given names such as Kelly, Stacy, and Morgan.

12) The Crucial Factor—The only statistically-relevant factor discovered in the study was the all-important one: the cause of death. Records from all countries (of deaths of persons of all races, religions, occupations, etc.) showed that all deaths were caused by cessation of cardiacal activity (in layman’s terms, the heart stopped). Prior to this cessation, the only thing all of the decedents had in common was life. Thus it can be concluded that life is the major contributor to death.

13) The Major Anomaly—The study showed that for decades prior to bodily death, political commentators had already been brain-dead.