Having just watched a TV programme on a commercial channel,
I was struck by the fact that a very high percentage of the ads were for
cleaning products, cosmetics and processed food. I had a thought.
We have evolved from ancient hominoid to modern human over a
span of millions of years. I doubt it will take as long for the next stage in
our evolutionary process to reach maturity. First our skin will turn to plastic, and then
the complex arrangement of bone, tissue, neural systems and organs will be
supplanted by noxious chemicals, starting at the feet and filling our bodies
inch by rapid inch. And when we’ve all turned into inert plastic bags of toxic
waste, the gorillas can have a go and maybe make a better job of being human.
2 comments:
What's interesting is that the increase in human life-spans, something I think denotes progress in the human race, is decreasing in some countries. I think the US life-spans are lower for the generation after me than they are for me (which is great for me because I'm at the top of the curve). So whatever we're doing: too many commercial products, overeating, whatever... we're declining. Perhaps.
I think the relationship between lifespan, diet and incidence of incurable illness is a complex one. I'm often surprised when I look at headstones in churchyards (2-300 years old) and find that those who avoided things like TB and other diseases routinely lived well into their eighties. Nobody in my recent family ever got beyond eighty two.
I do wonder, though, whether the chemicals we're subjected to in everything from furniture to cleaning products to processed food amount to a time bomb waiting to go off.
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