To the uninitiated, protection is something young men carry about in their wallet. But wait, the Government has moved beyond this "do-it-yourself" in an attempt to assure all of us a quality of life quite beyond what we deserve. Take for examples, protection against the dangers of asbestos, lead paint and lead in our drinking water, and radon gas. Now no one wants to take risk that are avoidable but if the current trend in governmental intervention continues, we will be protected against all those things we call dear in food, housing, clothing and life in general.
Remember, the Government through its many agencies has issued alerts against; strawberries, cranberries, bacon, beef, apples, peanut butter, &c. Maybe you can add a few. If this continues we will be reduced to a diet of bread and water. But wait, there is ergot hidden in the wings that may infect the wheat so the bread may be unsafe, and we all know that our water is contaminated by pesticides if well water, and chlorinated organics if from the river or lake.
Judge the wisdom and effectiveness of the agencies. Have we been protected against chemicals in the environment? For starters let's list, diethylstilbesterol (DES) which was used to aid women through difficult periods of pregnancy, then there is the Dalkon Shield another of science's marvels in controlling pregancy, dioxin a plant chemical that appears in paper products, 111,trichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenly)ethane (DDT) which almost freed the world of malaria but also of a few species of birds as well. Maybe the regulatory agencies will see fit to regulate out of existance DHEA in the near future? Now that's just a list of "D" that comes to mind, and there are 25 other letters of the alphabet to go.
From a practical standpoint, and a statistic that you can yourself develop, count the number of people who wash their hands after going to a public bathroom. If my observations are correct, not three out of ten wash their hands. The old saw; "a chemist washes his hands after going to the bathroom, a microbiologist before and a farmer both before and after". Now we can add, and the products (students(?)) of our current educational system, never.
The bottom line is, if you want it all, you have to take risk and if you are unwilling to think for yourself, someone else will do your thinking for you, and provide regulations for you to follow. Sort of like having everyone, men and women, adults and children, wear a size 8 shoe, regardless.
ABOUT Joe Wortham