Despite some exceptions we nations of the world seem to be working together to combat a common enemy: the novel coronavirus. That’s a good thing. Maybe working together to combat other of our common enemies is also a possibility.
What are some of our other common enemies? Heart disease (15.2 million deaths in 2016); cancer (9.6 million deaths in 2017); chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (3 million deaths in 2016); diabetes (1.6 million deaths in 2016); dementia (262,000 deaths in 2017); lower respiratory infections (3 million deaths in 2016); HIV/AIDS (1 million deaths in 2016); road crashes (1.4 million deaths in 2016); homicides (400,000 deaths per year); starvation (9.1 million deaths in 2014); war (378,000 deaths each year between 1985 and 1994). Thus far worldwide, 67,249 people have died as a result of the novel coronavirus.
So if we’re going to band together to fight common enemies, we have a long list to choose from, and we need to know what causes each one. Here are just a few examples: A diet rich in meat fats and drugs such as alcohol are among the leading causes of heart disease; chemicals found in plastics, cigarettes and herbicides are among more than 400 cancer-causing agents found in our environment; a diet rich in refined sugars is a major cause of diabetes.
