• picture
  • picture
  • picture
  • picture
Public Radio's Environmental News Magazine (follow us on Google News)

The Living on Earth Almanac

Air Date: Week of

Facts about...vaccinations.

Transcript

CURWOOD: Two hundred years ago an English physician, Edward Jenner, administered the first vaccination against smallpox to an 8-year-old boy. It was the first step in the eventual eradication of the disease around the world. The last known case was reported in 1977. Smallpox still remains in 2 places: the laboratories of the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, and its Russian counterpart in Moscow. The microbes are scheduled for destruction in 1999, though there's a debate among scientists about the wisdom of doing this. Some say we should keep the virus for research. Others fear accidental releases if the samples are not destroyed. The World Health Organization hopes 2 other viruses will be eradicated next. Polio has already been vanquished from the Western Hemisphere, and the WHO hopes to eradicate it worldwide by the year 2000. The organization also expects measles to be gone by the year 2010. And for this week, that's the Living on Earth Almanac.

 

 

Living on Earth wants to hear from you!

Living on Earth
62 Calef Highway, Suite 212
Lee, NH 03861
Telephone: 617-287-4121
E-mail: comments@loe.org

Newsletter [Click here]

Donate to Living on Earth!
Living on Earth is an independent media program and relies entirely on contributions from listeners and institutions supporting public service. Please donate now to preserve an independent environmental voice.

Newsletter
Living on Earth offers a weekly delivery of the show's rundown to your mailbox. Sign up for our newsletter today!

Sailors For The Sea: Be the change you want to sea.

Creating positive outcomes for future generations.

Innovating to make the world a better, more sustainable place to live. Listen to the race to 9 billion

The Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment: Committed to protecting and improving the health of the global environment.

Contribute to Living on Earth and receive, as our gift to you, an archival print of one of Mark Seth Lender's extraordinary wildlife photographs. Follow the link to see Mark's current collection of photographs.

Buy a signed copy of Mark Seth Lender's book Smeagull the Seagull & support Living on Earth