Letter to the editor: World's other deadly current pandemics

As the world goes through the coronavirus pandemic, with severity forecasts constantly changing because of imprecise data, the only known constant is that if you are a senior citizen and have health problems, you have a greater potential of succumbing to the disease.

With this in mind, it might be enlightening to alert the world that there are other pandemics going on right in front of our eyes, constantly, which we have come to accept as just daily occurrences. Some examples of deaths worldwide (Jan. 1-April 6, 2020, according to statistics at www.worldometers.info) include: more than 9.5 million abortions, more than 2.4 million from starvation, more than 2 million from cancer, more than 1.1 million from smoking- related causes, more than 581,000 from alcohol-related diseases, more than 391,000 from HIV/AIDS, more than 314,000 from traffic fatalities, more than 249,000 from suicide, more than 225,000 from malaria and more than 113,000 from seasonal flu.

In my opinion, many of these pandemics could be avoided. The universal law of cause and effect states that for every effect, there is a definite cause. Likewise for every cause, there is a definite effect.

Joseph Krill

Murrysville