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Old February 9th 04, 11:16 AM
Paul F. Dietz
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Default Why send latest Mars Rovers?

Earl Colby Pottinger wrote:

Many americans starve each year. They suffer from anorexia. Most do not
create headlines when they die.

Anorexia is distressingly common in the elderly, btw.



But that was from thier own choice of actions. Not because they were taxed
to the point of not being able to feed themselves. Also with the elderly it
most often is because they choose the wrong foods or don't know where to go
to get help if they are low income.


This has been a tangent, but your statements here really aren'y true. Anorexia
is a neurohemical disorder. It's not a conscious choice on anyone's part.
These victims literally cannot force themselves to eat enough -- the underlying brain
circuitry that controls satiation and disgust won't let them. This is no
more a choice than (say) Alzheimer's disease.

Politically-induced starvation is, of course, a different category entirely, but
the claim being addressed was that "a person truly starves to death in the USA
or Canada it is considered a major news story." This claim was not qualified
so as to exclude anorexia.

Paul