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June 27, 2005
Stop the insanity: Close the Oceans
CNN is reporting that two people have been attacked by sharks in Florida this week. How many more people have to die before we close the oceans? Today, anyone can legally wade into the ocean and tempt fate. There is no cooling off period. No age limit. No certification required. It is perfectly legal for any child, of any age, with no experience at all, to wade into the ocean. In a country where it's illegal to tear tags off of polyester pillows, it's perfectly legal for an infant to wade into waters known to be infested with man-eating sharks, sting rays, and Portuguese man-of-wars.
And what states pose the greatest danger? Not Kansas. In Kansas, no one has ever been killed by a shark. Nor has anyone ever been attacked by a shark in Nebraska. Or North Dakota. As it turns out, sharks have only attacked people in states that spend money directly marketing their coasts to tourists. In a brash display of remorseless greed, these contemptible states are peddling death, knowing full-well that people die every year in the oceans. Men. Women. Even young children.
Of all the states in the union, Florida has the worse record for shark attacks. In 2003, Florida had the largest number of shark attacks worldwide, with 30. There were 12 attacks off the coast of Florida last year.
And why do Florida and other states, allow this massacre to continue? Greed. Florida earns billions of dollars each year from tourism, and if a few of them enter the food chain while they're swimming or surfing, then that's just too bad. Florida's Tourism Industry is no less culpable than the murderous moguls of the tobacco industry or the despicable profiteers in the firearms industry.
The killing has to stop. How many more people have to die before we stop the insanity and close the oceans? Can't we at least have some common sense regulations around ocean-related deaths? Like an age limit on drowning deaths? Or a limit on the number of shark attacks per month? What sane person would allow their child to swim in the ocean, where countless people have drowned or been eaten alive? Can't we charge these irresponsible parents with reckless endangerment of a child? If we save the life of just one child, isn't it worth it?
Posted by Peenie Wallie on June 27, 2005 at 3:46 PM
Comments
Oceans are not the only problem. Don't forget the "swimming pool loophole." People are currently allowed to own private swimming pools; places where there is no licensed life-guard on duty. There is no need for people to have their own swimming pool, when there are plenty of municipal pools with specially trained government employees to keep the children safe.
It has long been known that young children are more at risk from drowning than firearms. What is really amazing is that a mainstream media outlet would publish that fact on the front page. A PDF copy of that front page is available at
http://www.azstarnet.com/ss/2005/06/12/frontpage.pdf
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 06.12.2005
Pools: more dangerous for children than guns
A child is 100 times more likely to drown in a pool than be killed by a gun
By Eric Swedlund
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
They're pulled from backyard pools and bathtubs each year, tiny limp bodies, blue and not breathing.
A young life can vanish quickly under water. A survivor can endure a lifetime of disabilities. Either way, families are torn apart by an almost always preventable tragedy.
Standard summer companions in our desert climate, swimming pools can be deadlier for children than guns. A child is 100 times more likely to die in a swimming accident than in gunplay, writes Steven D. Levitt, University of Chicago economics professor and best-selling author.
Levitt analyzed child deaths from residential swimming pools and guns and found one child under 10 drowns annually for every 11,000 pools. By comparison, one child under 10 each year is killed by a gun for every 1 million guns, according to his research, outlined in a new book "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side to Everything," which he co-wrote with journalist Stephen J. Dubner.
In part because they are so familiar, swimming pools are less frightening than guns, Levitt writes.
But the danger is clear - drowning is the leading cause of accidental death for children younger than 5 in Arizona and the second-leading cause of injury-related death nationally among children younger than 15....
Read the rest of the story at http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/specialreports/79388.php
Posted by: Robert on June 27, 2005 at 8:43 PM
Closing the oceans and swimming pools is not enough. See story below.
Gaston County Police Department
CPSC Warns: Pools Are Not the Only Drowning Danger at Home for Kids Data Show Other Hazards Cause More than 100 Residential Child Drowning Deaths Annually
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Young children are irresistibly drawn to water, and tragically, about 350 children under age 5 drown in swimming pools each year. But even if you don't have a pool, your young children may not be safe from drowning.
http://www.co.gaston.nc.us/gastonpd/SafetyTips/DrowningDangers.htm
Posted by: UB on June 28, 2005 at 12:36 AM