Executing SARS Spreaders in China

American Voices

May 21, 2003 | ISSUE 39•19

Last week, China threatened to execute individuals who knowingly spread the SARS virus. What do you think?

Finally, they've hit on a workable method of population control.

Michael Newell
Systems Analyst
We should let the World Health Organization do the executing. They never get to do the fun stuff.

Colleen Matthews
Teacher
People with SARS should not be ostracized. Many people with SARS live happy, productive lives for three days before their lungs fall into their underpants.

Charles Barker
File Clerk
We shouldn't be critical. It's an old Chinese custom to shoot people for no good reason.

Sam Kennert
Mechanic
I've always said the Chinese don't know how to handle a crisis. Have you ever seen their fire drills?

Martin Reed
Investment Banker
SARS has a 90 percent survival rate. That's a higher survival rate than the one for just living in China.

Angie Pulliam
Florist

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A study published in Archives Of General Psychiatry found that middle-aged men who smoked had diminished cognitive skills, the equivalent of having aged an additional 10 years.
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