The Future (87 page)
Authors: Al Gore
430
experts on all sides point out, between longevity and aging
Roger B. McDonald and Rodney C. Ruhe, “Aging and Longevity: Why Knowing the Difference Is Important to Nutrition Research,”
Nutrients
3 (2011): 274–82.
431
to slow or reverse unwanted manifestations of the aging process
Gretchen Voss, “The Risks of Anti-Aging Medicine,” CNN, March 30, 2012,
http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/28/health/age-youth-treatment-medication/index.html
; Dan Childs, “Growth Hormone Ineffective for Anti-Aging, Studies Say,” ABC News, January 16, 2007,
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/ActiveAging/story?id=2797099&page=1#.UGDZ3Y40jdk
.
432
most prominently, testosterone
“Anti-Aging Hormones: Little or No Benefit and the Risks Are High, According to Experts,”
ScienceDaily
, April 13, 2010,
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100413121326.htm
.
433
genetic factors that can be used to extend longevity in others
Barzilai et al., “The Place of Genetics in Ageing Research.”
434
over the last century have come from improvements in sanitation
Robert Kunzig, “7 Billion: How Your World Will Change,”
National Geographic
, November 1, 2011.
435
about one extra year per decade
Curtsinger, “Genes, Aging, and Prospects for Extended Life Span.”
436
Much of this work is now focused on malaria, tuberculosis
United Nations, Millennium Development Goals Report 2011.
437
HIV/AIDS, influenza
George Verikios et al., “The Global Economic Effects of Pandemic Influenza,” paper prepared for the 14th Annual Conference on Global Economic Analysis, Venice, June 16–18, 2011,
https://www.gtap.agecon.purdue.edu/resources/download/5291.pdf
.
438
viral pneumonia
Olli Ruuskanen, Elina Lahti, Lance C Jennings, and David R Murdoch, “Viral Pneumonia,”
Lancet
377 (2011): 1264–75.
439
and multiple so-called “neglected tropical diseases”
Dr. Lorenzo Savioli, World Health Organization, “Neglected Tropical Diseases: Letter from the Director,” 2011,
http://www.who.int/neglected_diseases/director/en/index.html
.
440
In 2012, the number fell to 1.7 million
Deena Beasley and Tom Miles, “AIDS Deaths Worldwide Dropping as Access to Drugs Improves,” July 18, 2012, Reuters.
441
reduce the infection rate continue to be focused on preventive education
Avert, “Introduction to HIV Prevention,”
http://www.avert.org/prevent-hiv.htm
.
442
the distribution of condoms in high-risk areas
United Nations Population Fund, Preventing HIV/AIDS, “Comprehensive Condom Programming: A Strategic Response to HIV and AIDS,”
http://www.unfpa.org/hiv/programming.htm
.
443
and accelerated efforts to develop a vaccine
Beasley and Miles, “AIDS Deaths Worldwide Dropping as Access to Drugs Improves.”
444
Malaria has also been reduced significantly
United Nations, Millennium Development Goals Report 2011.
445
Although an ambitious effort in the 1950s to eradicate malaria
“Malaria Eradication No Vague Aspiration, Says Gates,” Reuters, October 18, 2011.
446
did succeed in eliminating the terrible scourge of smallpox in 1980
Katie Hafner, “Philanthropy Google’s Way: Not the Usual,”
New York Times
, September 14, 2006.
447
succeeded in eliminating a second disease, rinderpest
Donald G. McNeil Jr., “Rinderpest, Scourge of Cattle, Is Vanquished,”
New York Times
, June 27, 2011.
448
chronic diseases that are not communicable
Ala Alwan, World Health Organization, “Monitoring and Surveillance of Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases: Progress and Capacity in High-Burden Countries,”
Lancet
376 (November 2010): 1861–68.
449
massive effort to create a “Cancer Genome Atlas”
Gina Kolata, “Genetic Aberrations Seen as Path to Stop Colon Cancer,”
New York Times
, July 18, 2012.
450
possibilities for shutting off the blood supply to cancerous cells
Erika Check Hayden, “Cutting Off Cancer’s Supply Lines,”
Nature
, April 20, 2009.
451
dismantling their defense mechanisms
Nicholas Wade, “New Cancer Treatment Shows Promise in Testing,”
New York Times
, June 28, 2009.
452
to identify and attack the cancer cells
Denise Grady, “An Immune System Trained to Kill Cancer,”
New York Times
, September 9, 2011.
453
that involve proteomics—the decoding
Henry Rodriguez, “Fast-Tracking Personalized Medicine: The New Proteomics Pipeline,”
R&D Directions
, 2012,
http://www.pharmalive.com/magazines/randd/view.cfm?articleID=9178#
.
454
all of the proteins translated by cancer genes
Danny Hillis, “Understanding Cancer Through Proteomics,” TEDMED 2010, October 2010,
http://www.ted.com/talks/danny_hillis_two_frontiers_of_cancer_treatment.html
.
455
it is actually more akin to a list of parts or ingredients
Ibid.
456
reprogramming cells to restore the health of heart muscles
Leila Haghighat, “Regenerative Medicine Repairs Mice from Top to Toe,”
Nature
, April 18, 2012.
457
for combating chronic diseases is to make changes in lifestyles
World Health Organization, World Health Statistics, 2011, p. 19.
458
spreading from North America and Western Europe to the rest of the world
Pedro C. Hallal et al., “Global Physical Activity Levels: Surveillance Progress, Pitfalls, and Prospects,”
Lancet
380, no. 9838 (2012): 247–57; Gretchen Reynolds, “The Couch Potato Goes Global,”
New York Times
, Well blog, July 18, 2012,
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/18/the-couch-potato-goes-global/
.
459
from conditions linked with physical inactivity than die from smoking
Pamela Das and Richard Horton, “Rethinking Our Approach to Physical Activity,”
Lancet
380, no. 9838 (2012): 189–90; Reynolds, “The Couch Potato Goes Global.”
460
ten deaths worldwide is now due to diseases caused by persistent inactivity
For various articles on physical activity and inactivity see issue of
Lancet
380, no. 9838 (2012): i, 187–306; Matt Sloane, “Physical Inactivity Causes 1 in 10 Deaths Worldwide, Study Says,” CNN, July 18, 2012,
http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/18/health/physical-inactivity-deaths/index.html
.
461
apps that assist those who wish to keep track of how many calories
David H. Freeman, “The Perfected Self,”
Atlantic
, June 2012.
462
some new headbands
Mark Bowden, “The Measured Man,”
Atlantic
, July/August 2012.
463
Mood disorders
“Counting Every Moment,”
Economist
, March 3, 2012.
464
genetic analyses designed to improve their individual nutritional needs
April Dembosky, “Olympians Trade Data for Tracking Devices,”
Financial Times
, July 22, 2012.
465
Personal digital monitors of patients’ heart rates
Gary Wolf, “The Data-Driven Life,”
New York Times Magazine
, April 28, 2010; “Counting Every Moment,”
Economist
, March 3, 2012; Freeman, “The Perfected Self.”
466
reporting information on a constant basis
Sharon Gaudin, “Nanotech Could Make Humans Immortal by 2040, Futurist Says,”
Computerworld
, October 1, 2009; Bowden, “The Measured Man.”
467
“Constant monitoring is a recipe”
Bowden, “The Measured Man.”
468
resulting interventions were apparently doing more harm than good
Gardiner Harris, “U.S. Panel Says No to Prostate Screening for Healthy Men,”
New York Times
, October 7, 2011.
469
seen as highly valuable to insurance companies
“Do Not Ask or Do Not Answer?,”
Economist
, August 23, 2007.
470
and employers
Adam Cohen, “Can You Be Fired for Your Genes?,”
Time
, February 2, 2012.
471
fear that they will lose their jobs and/or their health insurance
Amy Harmon, “Insurance Fears Lead Many to Shun DNA Tests,”
New York Times
, February 24, 2008.
472
prohibits the disclosure or improper use of genetic information
Cohen, “Can You Be Fired for Your Genes?”
473
But enforcement is difficult
Amy Harmon, “Congress Passes Bill to Bar Bias Based on Genes,”
New York Times
, May 2, 2008; Cohen, “Can You Be Fired for Your Genes?”
474
trust in the law’s protection is low
Eric A. Feldman, “The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA): Public Policy and Medical Practice in the Age of Personalized Medicine,”
Journal of General Internal Medicine
27, no. 6 (June 2012): 743–46.
475
employers usually pay for the majority of health care expenditures
Harmon, “Insurance Fears Lead Many to Shun DNA Tests.”
476
fails to guarantee patient access to records
Amy Dockser Marcus and Christopher Weaver, “Heart Gadgets Test Privacy-Law Limits,”
Wall Street Journal
, November 28, 2012.
477
outside of an institutional setting
Freeman, “The Perfected Self.”
478
personalized medicine continues to move forward
Chad Terhune, “Spending on Genetic Tests Is Forecast to Rise Sharply by 2021,”
Los Angeles Times
, March 12, 2012.
479
For example, many health care
Since people sometimes switch from one insurance company to another, companies paying for prevention may end up benefiting a competitor.
480
required coverage of preventive care
“Preventive Services Covered under the Affordable Care Act,”
Healthcare.gov
, 2012.
481
As everyone knows, the U.S. spends
Simon Rogers, “Healthcare Spending Around the World, Country by Country,”
Guardian
, June 30, 2012; Harvey Morris, “U.S. Healthcare Costs More Than ‘Socialized’ European Medicine,”
International Herald Tribune
, June 28, 2012.
482
many other countries that pay far less
Morris, “U.S. Healthcare Costs More Than ‘Socialized’ European Medicine.”
483
still, tens of millions do not have reasonable access to health care
Emily Smith and Caitlin Stark, “By the Numbers: Health Insurance,” CNN, June 28, 2012,
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/06/27/politics/btn-health-care/index.html
.
484
where the cost of intervention is highest
Sarah Kliff, “Romney Was Against Emergency Room Care Before He Was for It,”
Washington Post
, Ezra Klein’s Wonkblog, September 24, 2012,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/09/24/romney-was-against-emergency-room-care-before-he-was-for-it/
.
485
chance of success is lowest
Sarah Kliff, “The Emergency Department Is Not Health Insurance,”
Washington Post
, Ezra Klein’s Wonkblog, September 24, 2012,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/09/24/the-emergency-department-is-not-health-insurance/
.
486
reforms will significantly improve some of these defects
Emily Oshima Lee, Center for American Progress, “How ObamaCare Is Benefitting Americans,” July 12, 2012,
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/healthcare/news/2012/07/12/11843/update-how-obamacare-is-benefiting-americans/
.
487
but the underlying problems are likely to grow worse
U.S. Government Accountability Office, “Federal Government Long-Term Fiscal Outlook: Spring 2012,” April 2, 2012,
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-12-521SP
.
488
The business of insurance began as far back as ancient Rome
LifeHealthPro, “Timeline: The History of Life Insurance,” 2012,
http://www.lifehealthpro.com/interactive/timeline/history/
.
489
and Greece
American Bank, “A Brief History of Insurance,” June 2011,
http://www.american-bank.com/insurance/a-brief-history-of-insurance-part-3-roman-life-insurance/
.
490
were similar to what we now know as burial insurance
Ibid.
491
not offered until the seventeenth century in England
Habersham Capital, “The History of Life Insurance and Life Settlements,” 2012,
http://www.habershamcapital.com/brief-no2-history
.
492
development of extensive railroad networks
“Health Insurance,”
Encarta
, 2009,
http://www.webcitation.org/5kwqZV6V7
.
493
drive costs above what many patients could pay on their own
Timothy Noah, “A Short History of Health Care,”
Slate
, March 13, 2007,
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/chatterbox/2007/03/a_short_history_of_health_care.single.htm
.
