Bad Vaccines or Bad Decisions?

I recently read an article that made vaccine’s appear to be evil in a way.  There is talk going around town that vaccines could be linked to Autism, according to Dr. Andrew Wakefield.  He stated that “Refusing to vaccinate a child is dangerous not just for that child but for entire communities.” He relates the idea to people who choose to smoke and purposefully spend money on something that will surely increase their risk of health, whereas vaccines being refused pose a threat on kids, which is why he wants everyone to avoid them.  The idea behind this seems to be that if everyone pitches in, they can beat the system.  It just seems ridiculous.  Why should people be avoiding a preventative over something that wasn’t proven to be true? This is the reason why the insurance premiums have raised – because of people out there that try to make their own rules of what should be left to the Physicians.  I think that if everyone stopped taking all of the vaccines, there would eventually become an increase in diseases that wouldn’t have normally arose.  People should leave the medical decisions to the doctors, and especially not live by an unproven statement. 

Link:

http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/01/20/parikh.childhood.immunizations/index.html

Ads In Bathroom Mirrors

In a recent article I came across, Marketing Executives have been toying with multiple ideas for ways to portray new advertisements in public places.  For instance, some of the ideas were along the lines of security officers at airports wearing jumpsuit style advertisements like the NASCAR drivers do.  Another was the implementation of ads in security bins.  Out of all of these, the one that actually got passed into use is what is referred to as Mirror Ads.  Now, airport restrooms at O’Hare Airport will have mirrors that are actually digital advertisements behind them.  The ads only turn back into mirrors once the person approaches them.  This allows marketing teams to monitor the effectiveness of ads by keeping track of the amount of time the person is standing in front of it. 
I think that this is a boundary that should have not been crossed.  It’s bad enough that ads are distracting us everywhere along the road while we drive and should really pay attention, like a highway, but now to have them in the seclusion of a restroom is really ridiculous.  The fact that we cannot have our 3 minutes away from the media and advertising is not fair in my opinion.  Ads like this are being forced upon people to read, whereas ads that are placed in an open environment are more welcoming because it gives the reader the choice of looking at it or not.  If people feel that the ad is being forced in their faces, I feel that they would be less likely to react to it.  The bottom line is that mirrors need to stay mirrors, and advertisements need to stay advertisements.

Link:

http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/03/06/greene.bathroom.advertising/index.html?iref=allsearch   

Teens Addicted To Tanning

I recently read an article involving teens who are addicted to having tan skin.  More specifically, these teens are addicted to going to the tanning booths that provide them with their dark skin.  Samantha Hessel is a high school that regularly attended tanning booths multiple times a week.  Her reasoning was fairly simplistic in the mind frame of a teenager, who was definitely not considering for a second that there could be risks involved.  However, after multiple times a week and many months, Samantha eventually did encounter a problem – Melanoma, the most serious type of skin cancer. It developed from a mole on her leg.  There is currently a battle between the Indoor Tanning Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics committee.  Should teens be banned from going to tanning booths? It basically concentrated UVA rays which equals more than 10 times the power of sitting outside in the regular sunlight.  There is question as to whether teens are old enough to consider the risks.  I feel that teens should most certainly be banned from attending these booths.  The price of damaging the body over a darker skin color is hardly worth it.     

Link:

http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/02/28/tanning.skin.cancer/index.html