The Cost of Diabetes (religous right becomes ANTI-LIFE)

[berni_mccoy]

It's obvious that the religious conservative movement has lost sight of morality. They choose political power over the moral solution. It's easy to see this if you look at the cost of just one disease that has a high likelihood of being cured through stem cell research.

(Sources: CDC and JDRF)
Mortality
As of 2002, Diabetes is the 6th leading cause of death in the U.S.
In 2002, 224,092 deaths were attributed to diabetes or complications from diabetes.
Death from diabetes is undereported by as much as 60% due to the death from complications

Prevalance
20 million people have diabetes in America
These 20 million people will suffer some terrible complication
These 20 million people will live 15 years less than average
Type 1 diabetes is the fastest growing chronic childhood disease

Complications
Heart disease and stroke
* Heart disease and stroke account for about 65% of deaths in people with diabetes.
* Adults with diabetes have heart disease death rates about 2 to 4 times higher than adults without diabetes.
* The risk for stroke is 2 to 4 times higher among people with diabetes.

High blood pressure
* About 73% of adults with diabetes have blood pressure greater than or equal to 130/80 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) or use prescription medications for hypertension.

Blindness
* Diabetes is the leading cause of new cases of blindness among adults aged 20-74 years.
* Diabetic retinopathy causes 12,000 to 24,000 new cases of blindness each year.

Kidney disease
* Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure, accounting for 44% of new cases in 2002.
* In 2002, 44,400 people with diabetes began treatment for end-stage kidney disease in the United States and Puerto Rico.
* In 2002, 153,730 people with end-stage kidney disease due to diabetes were living on chronic dialysis or with a kidney transplant in the United States and Puerto Rico.

Nervous system disease
* About 60% to 70% of people with diabetes have mild to severe forms of nervous system damage. The results of such damage include impaired sensation or pain in the feet or hands, slowed digestion of food in the stomach, carpal tunnel syndrome, and other nerve problems.
* Almost 30% of people with diabetes aged 40 years or older have impaired sensation in the feet (i.e., at least one area that lacks feeling).
* Severe forms of diabetic nerve disease are a major contributing cause of lower-extremity amputations.

Amputations
* More than 60% of nontraumatic lower-limb amputations occur in people with diabetes.
* In 2002, about 82,000 nontraumatic lower-limb amputations were performed in people with diabetes.

Dental disease
* Periodontal (gum) disease is more common in people with diabetes. Among young adults, those with diabetes have about twice the risk of those without diabetes.
* Almost one-third of people with diabetes have severe periodontal disease with loss of attachment of the gums to the teeth measuring 5 millimeters or more.

Financial Impact
Annual cost as of 2002: $132 billion

Diabetes is just ONE DISEASE that can be cured with stem cells. Please visit http://www.jdrf.org/index.cfm?page_id=101979 to learn more about the JDRF's PATHS TO A CURE.

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. Lost sight of morality? Hell, they know where it is - to actively avoid it

like the plague, and to run in the entirely antithetical direction, they have to know precisely where it is at all times so that they don't accidentally stumble into it and do something moral or ethical, and break their perfect record.

[LynzM]

2. Yeah, and us Type 1 diabetics?

Rip-shit pissed off, let me tell you. :grr: Like I couldn't hate him any more, I was wrong. I do.