The Winnipeg Sun, Final ed.
  Editorial/opinion, Tuesday, November 6, 2001, p. 8

  Letter of the day

  LETTER OF THE DAY COLUMN

  I am pleased columnist Charles Adler (Nov. 3) became aware of my report --
  Inequality is bad for our hearts ...

  He seems upset about my finding that close to a quarter of all premature years
 of life
  lost in Canada are due to cardiovascular disease. He proudly points out that
he grew
  up in difficult circumstances and pulled himself up to achieve a higher
status.

  But he misses the point that his disadvantaged childhood puts him at two to
three times
  the risk of developing cardiovascular disease regardless of his present adult
status.

  This is why reducing child and family poverty should be a priority for our
policy
  makers. Ridiculing my findings only assures that more children will eventually
 face the
  same increased risk of heart disease as Adler does.

  Dennis Raphael

  Associate Professor of Health Policy and Management

  York University

  Toronto


The Winnipeg Sun, Final ed.
  Editorial/opinion, Saturday, November 3, 2001, p. 11

    In the continuing hunt to make every poor person in this country look like
an unwitting
  victim of society's lack of compassion, a professor in Toronto has concluded
that
  poverty is bad for your heart.

  Dennis Raphael of York University claims that one of every four people who die
  before reaching 75, have been killed off by their income level.

  The report he wrote for the North York Hearth Health Network concludes that
heart
  disease is particularly plentiful among the poor. Why, if only the poorest
fifth of the
  population had the equivalent income of the richest fifth we'd have nearly
6,400 fewer
  deaths in Canada each year.

  This is the kind of intellectual sophistry that makes the Alexa McDonoughs of
this
  world orgasmic. Remember, folks, dumb behavior doesn't kill people. Incomes
do.
  You don't have to take it from me. You can subsidize professors with your tax
dollars.
  They will be only too happy to have your kids sniff this stuff.

  Hey, professor. Have you ever met a person who crawled out of poverty and made
 a
  middle class life for themselves? There are millions of them in this country.
I know
  because I am one of them, as are my parents and everyone else who grew up in
my
  working-class neighborhood.

  The good news for them is that their hearts were never touched by your
research. May
  they all live to a ripe old age and keep their children and grandchildren far
away from
  your classroom.

  Category: Editorial and Opinions
  Uniform subject(s): Amerindian and native peoples; Court and administration of
  justice; Laws and regulations; National politics and governments
  Length: Medium, 644 words





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