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I am glad that writer Helen Epstein is catching up on the research
literature about the effects poverty and stress have upon health that first
appeared in the writings of Rudolph Virchow and Frederich Engles in the mid
19th century. But the problem is far worst than simply Americians in the
ghetto becoming ill becuase of terrible living conditions.  The USA has the
greatest proportion of its population earning low wages of any
industrialized western nation, the highest rate of poverty among its
children and the greatest income gap between rich and poor. It should not
be surprising then that the USA has also one of the worst health profiles
-- life expectancy, infant mortality, and deaths due to childhood injuries
--- among these advanced nations. The "miasma" infects virtually the entire
nation -- except for the 10% of millionaires who are at the top and even
then, the USA doesn't seem to be a great place to live even if you are a
millionaire!


Dennis Raphael, PhD
Associate Professor and Undergraduate Program Director
School of Health Policy and Management
Atkinson Faculty of Liberal and Professional Studies
York University
4700 Keele Street
Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3
tel: 416-736-2100, ext. 22134
fax: 416-736-5227
email: [log in to unmask]
website: http://quartz.atkinson.yorku.ca/QuickPlace/draphael/Main.nsf/

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