Quote:
Originally Posted by bfisher
Well said! Your comments are big takeaways from this book for me.
We seem to have forgotten many of the hard-learned lessons of the early industrial age. As we were discussing this book, I note two events over the past week - the announcement of the proposed rail bypass for Lac Megantic and the start today of the Grenfell Tower hearings. We learned a long time ago how to run a cargo train safely and how to construct and maintain a fire-proof high rise; there are well-established standards for these things, and we used to have organizations to enforce them. But now we seem to rely on profit-centered organizations to self-police. That didn't work well in the past. I fear that relearning that is going to be a very painful and costly process.
I applaud the choice of this book; it was a great fit for the theme.
|
Another ongoing story which seems especially relevant since it's about women's health is the Irish cervical cancer scandal, where over 200 women received false negatives on their cervical cancer screens between 2010 and 2014; the lapse was identified in 2014 but only recently came to light as the women started dying from cervical cancer. To date, 18 of the women have died and more have months to live. The lab tests were outsourced to a Texas laboratory; it's another case where the interests of business and government coincided at the expense of women's lives. The tests were publicly funded; the government has said it can't confirm the cause of deaths, although the Health Service chief has now resigned.