Aspirin and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are about 80 times more deadly than terrorism if you live in North America.
According to this paper published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in 1997, NSAIDs are estimated to kill 7,965 people every year in the US and Canada. This is shocking when compared with the terrorism statistics published in the MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base, which reveal that only 3,576 people have died in North America as a result of terrorism since 1968 (and most of those were in the World Trade Center).
In fact, aspirin and related drugs kill far more people in the US and Canada every year than terrorism kills in the entire world, including the middle east. And guess what's even more dangerous than aspirin? That's right: cars.
Kinda' makes you wonder why terrorism is such a big deal, doesn't it?
Update: The original version of this post claimed aspirin was 8,000 times more deadly than terrorism. A reader pointed out that there's a big difference between 8,000 times and 8,000 percent, which is what I actually meant. In fact, aspirin is only about 80 times as deadly as terrorism. Sorry about that.
Comments
Re: Aspirin is 8,000 times more deadly than terrorism
I think it's obvious what must be done. I am writing my congressman demanding that anti-Aspirin and anti-car legislation be drafted and hopefully passed as soon as possible.
Re: Aspirin is 8,000 times more deadly than terrorism
Aspirin doesn't have the potential to become exponentially more deadly if left unchecked in it's bottle. However, if terrorism left unchecked causes things like, well, September 11th.
Re: Aspirin is 8,000 times more deadly than terrorism
Aspirin killed thousands more people in 2001 than the 9/11 attacks, but nobody's afraid of aspirin. Society is collectively shitting its pants over terrorism, when in reality it's such a miniscule threat that it's not even worth worrying about.
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Therein lies the difference.
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Check out the linked paper. Those statistics aren't from people overdosing on aspirin, they're from people taking normal doses prescribed by doctors and dying from the side-effects (like gastrointestinal bleeding).
Anyway, I'm not saying aspirin equals terrorists; I'm just saying the world is in the grip of a completely irrational fear and is overreacting as a result.
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http://www.zefrank.com/theshow/archives/2006/08/081006.html
Not True.
Asprin is linear growth. The death rate will rise with the number of people who take it - with no new restrictions or government oversight. Terrorism without controls will continue to grow at a much faster pace.
Re: Not True
What kind of controls seem to reduce terrorism? Can you show that lack of "controls" over the last (say) 50 years has led to a nonlinear increase in terrorism? I don't really think there is much evidence for what you claim, terrorism seems to be pretty constant to me.
Nice post wonko. Very amusing.
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Perhaps we should stop trying to combat terrorism, and see if it increases then. ;)
which is it?
Being a geek, your language should be more precise. But then you've never been very bright.
Re: which is it?
Either one works, since I'm approximating anyway. A more precise statement is "84 times as deadly", but I saw no need to imply precision and mislead people when I'm really just doing some very rudimentary math on statistics that may or may not be reliable.
You could have taken 10 seconds and done the math yourself; I gave you all the numbers.
Love your website, by the way. Very minimalist. The white/green text on black boldly states, "I am a rebel! I will not conform! Also I am cool!"
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It's only the default theme, and it's DEMANDED by my userbase. You know, those loyal dozens who have been using my site for almost 10 years. A good developer mixes what his customers want with what they actually need. In the area of aesthetics, the customer gets more say.
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Wired posted today a nice chart of some major causes of death from 1995 to 2005. According to their sources, one is more likely to be killed walking down the street than by an act of terrorism.