In American society we really have one major problem: self-inflicted disease.

- Cardiovascular Disease (CVD), Cancer, and Diabetes to be specific. In 2004, the American Heart Association estimates 79.4 million people suffer from some form of CVD, killing almost 875,000 people (36.3% of deaths in this country). The leading causes for Cardiovascular Diseases are obesity and poor diet, according to a study by the Texas Heart Institute.

- According to the American Diabetes Association, almost 1/4 million people officially died in 2002 from Diabetes, while 20.8 million people are suffering, and a staggering 54 million people are estimated to be in the early stages of Diabetes. It is believed, however, that because only some deaths due to Diabetes are reported as being so caused, many other deaths caused by Diabetes-related complications go unreported. What are the leading causes of Diabetes? Simple: poor diet and obesity, to start with.

- According to the American Cancer Society, [PDF] almost 135,000 people died this year from digestive system cancer in America, and over 271,000 were diagnosed.*

Adding those statistics up (forgiving the fact that they were not all compiled in the same year) you have about 1.25 million deaths a year from those three (and rising).

Now I would like to bring up Germaphobia. Statistics on this problem are difficult to come by, but it should be noted that "Constant, irrational worry about dirt, germs or contamination" is listed number one for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) symptoms by the Anxiety Disorders Association of America (ADAA), so we're not just talking about the "specific phobia" of germs, but also of OCD. 2.2 million people suffer from OCD in America, and 19 million suffer from specific phobias, again according to the ADAA. Like I said, statistics are difficult to come by, because it's so difficult to track a problem like this. However, I say we look at the capitalist market in America to tell us just how prevalent the fear of germs really is: Purell (R), "a touchable world" (TM), Lysol (R), "disinfect to protect" (TM), or even just Google it and check the 3.45 million results yourself, or 7.16 million results for "germs". Or, how about a self-sanitizing door knob... Now, it's true that you can easily find over 7 million results for "Eat healthy", but is this proportional to the problem at hand? Let's check it out.

According to the Center for Disease Control's Leading Causes of Death page, CVD and Cancer take up the top 3 positions. In fact, "germ" related problems make up only 5% of the causes of death in this country, while CVD & Diabetes make up over 47% of deaths. That's almost 10 times more deaths from CVD & Diabetes than from the leading "germ" related problems! Shouldn't we expect to see 10 times more results on Google for eating healthy than for preventing disease?

So why is Germaphobia so prevalent? Some might claim that it is because of Germaphobia that "germ" related deaths are so low... On the contrary, actually! The problems with all these disinfectants are numerous. Let me begin with one thing most people don't realize: many products claim to kill "99.9999999999999%" (add as many 9s as you like) of germs... But what does that really mean? On a biological playing field, micro organisms compete mainly for space. When you kill 99.999...% of germs, you're clearing the field for that last 0.00001% of germs to grow, and the dead organisms might as well be considered food - so now instead of killing 99.9999% of germs, you're providing ideal conditions for other germs to grow. You should also know that the 99.9999% of germs you're killing are the most common, most susceptible germs, and you are leaving behind the stronger, heartier germs.

So let's recap, that Lysol you just used did the following: removed weak, susceptible germs and made space for the stronger, heartier germs to grow and multiply faster.

What else have you done? Well, now that your kids have grown up, never having been exposed to these germs in the small, mostly harmless doses, their immune systems have never been given a chance to build up an immunity to these diseases. So in addition to biologically fortifying your counter-top infestation, you've just doomed your children to live with a weak immune system. That'll come in handy when they grow old and their immune system starts to decline anyway!

The other thing these ever-present, totally useless disinfectant products do is create waste, pollution, and lots of it. How many cans of disinfectant spray, sanitizing solution, or other "99.9999%" effective products do you throw away ever year? Multiply that by the millions of households in America, and think of the waste. Inorganic materials like plastic and rubber, as well as metals that are used in these products wind up in landfills - since America is too busy to recycle properly - and never break down, just wasting space, destroying soil, killing plants and animals, and contaminating the water. Another great fact is that some of these products use propellants that are bad for the atmosphere and/or environment. The last great fact about these products is that they are made in CHINA! Our favourite country! By the way, have you ever thought about how much petroleum (read: gasoline) it takes to ship a million cans of Lysol from China all the way to America? Yes, that's right, those container ships you see are carrying your great products over here from Asia, and they run on PETROLEUM! So, think about this the next time you complain about gas prices: how much gas have you wasted by buying pointless, Chinese made products? Every product you buy is adding to the price of gas (it's all about supply and demand - the more you buy, the greater the demand, the greater the price).

So, think about this the next time you drench your body in Purell because you touched a magazine: not only are you actually helping to promote bacterial growth, you're polluting the environment, and wasting your money (and time). Perhaps you should be more concerned with what you're eating.

*Note: I'd like it to be known that I don't feel like their is sufficient definitive proof to support the claim that digestive cancers are caused by poor diet, I think there have been many positive links found and that the definitive proof is on the way, as well as common sense telling us that cancer happens in those areas because of the chemicals and inappropriate nutrients contained in our foods which come into direct contact with these parts of our bodies, but I have no scientific proof on hand to support this claim. If you wish to do your own research, feel free. I should also mention that I was able to find one article that discusses a positive link between digestive cancer _prevention_ and drinking Green Tea, so it seems natural that if what we eat can prevent these problems, the opposite *can* also be true.