Wednesday, 11 August 2010
I Read The News Today, Oh Boy
Three news articles caught my eye today, and I wanted to share them with you peeps.
First, scientists have apparently found a way to diagnose autism via a brain scan. This could be great news if it means that people can be diagnosed quicker, and thus given help for their condition sooner. However, I am concerned about the "over 90% accuracy" - how much over 90% is it? Because 90% is still not good enough.
A 90% accuracy means 1 in 10 diagnoses are incorrect. As the article states, an estimated 1 in every 100 adults in the UK suffer from autism. The UK population was estimated at 61,792,000 in mid-2009. That means that over 600,000 people in this country are likely to have autism, and if this brain scan was used to assess all these people, over 60,000 would be wrongly diagnosed. I would hope that the scan was made a lot more accurate than that before it started to replace conventional assessments.
Currently, the scan is only useful for diagnosing adults, but the research team are looking into it effectiveness on children. The earlier someone gets an accurate diagnosis the better, so I look forward to hearing more on this.
Another article on BBC News that I read with great interest was about shops and eateries giving their surplus food to the homeless. I am pleased to see that the custom is growing and that even the supermarkets are doing their bit. I know of a few places where I live that offer their surplus food to local homeless drop-ins, and I also know of places that allegedly stopped doing similar services because of health and safety. It's about time common sense prevailed! There are too many people going hungry in this country for there to be so much food wasted - UK shops throw away 1.6m tonnes a year of food, according to the article!
The final news article has given me cause for concern: a Somalian militant group have ordered three Christian aid charities to leave their country. According to the article, an estimated 3.8 million people in Somalia urgently need aid. I hope and pray that the situation is resolved soon and that aid workers in Somalia can assist those in need safely and swiftly.
