| Why are so many more people frightened of | | | | murders are so common that the news media give |
| aeroplane journeys rather than car journeys? The | | | | up reporting them (OK, so there may be some sad |
| risk of being injured in a car is far greater than being | | | | exceptions). |
| injured in an aeroplane. I can offer this theory: it's | | | | One very common problem, and another hidden killer, |
| because aero crashes are so rare and auto crashes | | | | is food poisoning or food infection. Now, back to the |
| are so commonplace. This may sound like strange | | | | litmus test: how many times have you had an upset |
| logic, but it's simple really. Does every car crash get | | | | tummy, brought about, so you suspect, by eating |
| reported on the news? Of course not! There are too | | | | infected food? Was it reported on the news? No, |
| many of them. The carnage and misery from auto | | | | nor were the other millions of cases around us. This |
| crashes is so common that it is rarely reported. Yet, | | | | may shock you, but on average, 234 people die |
| a rare aeroplane incident, even a minor one, can | | | | annually from aeroplane accidents in the U.S. |
| reach the headlines. | | | | compared with 5,000 deaths from food poisoning. |
| This is because news is reported by exception. | | | | The chances of us getting ill from some kind of food |
| Usually, only out-of-the-ordinary events are reported. | | | | poisoning is 1 in 10 and this figure may be |
| In a generally good world (well I think so, anyway) | | | | conservative because food poisoning is often not |
| we are fed mainly bad news stories. Understandable, | | | | reported. |
| as bad news is the exception. Trouble is, this gives us | | | | But who, or what causes food poisoning? Well, there |
| an upside-down view of the world. Some of the | | | | are many reasons, such as poor personal hygiene or |
| greatest killers in our world, such as cigarettes, | | | | mixing cooked and raw meats. And, of course a very |
| automobiles, AIDS and cancer continue to cause such | | | | common cause can be found flying in the air. But |
| mass misery, virtually unnoticed, except by those | | | | these are not aeroplanes; these are disease carrying |
| directly affected. | | | | house flies - a very common source of food |
| Just take this litmus test: how many people do you | | | | poisoning. |
| know who have been involved in an aeroplane crash, | | | | Eliminating this risk requires some simple precautions |
| or even near miss? Now think how many people you | | | | such as personal hygiene and sealing open food when |
| know who have been involved in road traffic | | | | not in use. Oh, and what could be simpler and more |
| accidents. Come to think of it, how many people do | | | | obvious than buying a fly killer machine? Have a look |
| you know that have won the lottery? And that's the | | | | at the fly killers at |
| thing. Your odds of perishing in an aeroplane accident | | | | I know that food infections, fly killer machines and |
| or nearer to the odds of winning the lottery. | | | | the rest will not make front page news, but I would |
| A similar thing could be said of crime. Murders are high | | | | be happy to walk down any street at night or to ride |
| up the news agenda. Why? Because they are the | | | | in any aeroplane, than risk being poisoned by fly |
| exception and not the rule. I think that most of us | | | | infected food. |
| appreciate that we don't live in a society where | | | | |