Dr. Kemmerer brought up an excellent point in her post to the FML today:
why have lifespans increased so greatly in the last century?
 
I think the answer to that has to do with at least three things, which
also relate to why our domestic ferrets live so much longer than their
wild "relatives" (like the black-footed ferret):
 
1. Life has gotten a lot safer.  In terms of the ferrets, life has
gotten a lot safer living in a house without predators or threat of
starvation/freezing to death, allowing the domestic animals to achieve
lifespans exceeding lifespans in the wild by several times.
 
In terms of people ... look how much safer life has gotten in just the last
century!  In the 1890's, children labored in factories and were routintely
injured and killed there, and OSHA laws didn't exist to protect adult
laborers, either.  President Harrison observed in 1892 that "American
workmen are subjected to peril of life and limb as great as a soldier in
time of war".  In his book on poverty, historian Robert Hunter put the
yearly total of killed and injured workers in the U.S. at one milion.  In
the railroad industry alone, 1 out of every 306 laborers was killed every
year, and one out of every 30 was seriously injured.
 
2. Nutrition has improved.  In terms of ferrets, we see the difference
that just moving the animal from a cheap grocery store cat food to a good
ferret food like Totally Ferret can make.  Tom Willard and others in his
field have gone a long way in improving nutrition, and thereby increasing
the lifespans of our pets.
 
The same can be seen to have happened in humans in the last hundred years.
Harper's Magazine observed in the late 1890's that "we are indifferent
(of food) to a degree that is almost criminal ... If you pass out of the
narrow range of millionairs, you find a superabundance of bad, hasty
cooking, indigestible hot bread, tough beefsteaks, and greasy potatoes."
Food was also routinely adulterated, as proven by the Embalmed Beef
Scandal, which revealed that soldiers in the Spanish-American War were fed
from tin cans containing decayed meat.  Today, such a practice would be
highly illegal and unlikely to occur due to tighter inspection procedures..
and there is a far greater emphasis on good nutrition, low fat eating, etc.
 
3. Improved healthcare.  In terms of veterinary care, I think we've all
see the great strides that veterinary medicine has made in just the last
few years .. let alone the last century!  I remember how little my vet.
know about ferrets when I presented her with my first ferret in 1987, and I
see how much is known about ferrets today.  Also, now several knowledgable
texts exist written specifically about the species ..  whereas I don't
believe any existed just a decade ago.  This can only help to increase the
lifespan of our little critters.
 
In terms of humans, healthcare has come a long way in the past hundred
years, too!  For one thing, many doctors one hundred years ago did not
attend accredited medical schools, but were able to receive their degrees
through "diploma mills", and set up practice.  According to historian Otto
Bettman, in the latter half of the nineteenth century, there were 460
"medical schools" in the U.S., most of them private enterprises.  Many of
them required the students to take only two terms of 4-6 months each, the
second term a verbatim repeat of the first.  These doctors then went out to
practice medicine.  Hospitals were similarly horrible in those days; a Dr.
Dudley in 1899 described New York's Harlem Hospital as "crowded at times as
the lowest tenement ... it is not unusual for us to have from two to six
patients sleeping on canvas stretchers on the floor".  In these conditions,
epidemics flourished, and many patients passed away who could have been
saved in more sanitary conditions.
 
Source for historical information:  Bettman, Otto L, "The Good Old Days -
They Were Terrible!", Random House, 1974.
 
Yes, I agree with your comment, Dr. Kemmerer, that the simple fact that
something has been in use for thousands of years does not necessarily PROVE
that it is good.  That is why I took such care to explain how colloidal
silver works, and support my statements with clinical study reports from
UCLA Medical School and other reputable institutions.  I hope this
information may help someone who otherwise wouldn't have access to the
information.
 
- Ela
 
   (000)___(000)        Ela Heyn
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[Posted in FML issue 2563]