YouTube has been broadcasting a number of adverts from the British Heart Foundation. I normally sigh and hover my cursor over the skip button when ads appear on that video sharing platform, but with these I paused. The ads are all twenty to thirty seconds long, and are sad and shocking. They are narrated by a teenager or young adult describing his or her hopes and dreams for their life with optimism and excitement; their plans to become sporting stars or go on holiday. But then there's a pause and he or she adds "...til I died." This is accompanied by the sound of a cardiac monitor losing the trace. Then another voice explains how twelve young people a week are lost to heart disease in the United Kingdom. The Foundation is running a campaign to raise funds for research into this tragic epidemic. These ads have been broadcast on TV and in cinemas, and there are audio versions for the radio. Here's an example:
. Heart diseases are the world's biggest killer. Ischemic heart attacks account for 13% of all deaths globally. If you look at an age distribution bell curve graph you'll see there is a massive hump in the seventies and eighties age range. If you can reach ninety the risk goes down and you'll probably die from something else. It's only in the last few years that we've seen medical charities like the BHF initiating campaigns aimed at people outside the high-risk age bracket. I've also found an article about the increasing risk of heart disease among young women. It gives a list of risk factors; diabetes, obesity, family history, unhealthy diet, lack of exercise, excessive drinking. Source: https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/heart-attack/heart-attacks-striking-younger-women. But young women have suffered those factors for generations. What has changed in the last few years to increase the rate of heart disease now? Why are young footballers now having murals painted of them because they died of a heart attack? The elephant in the room is a certain medical treatment. These news articles, medical papers and campaigns are gingerly tiptoeing round it like a landmine; but nobody can stop it detonating. A medical scandal is coming that will make Thalidomide look like a box of out-of-date aspirin. It is a part of the general trend towards transparency and disclosure we are seeing related to all kind of subjects. I look forward to it. Hopefully after that young people will never be tempted or cajoled into putting something in their bodies that might kill them.
See here for background: https://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2021/02/coronavirus-portal.html.
(This article is too hot for Blogger and will not be posted there.)