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One of my biggest fears has been TB. My roommate in college at one point had been diagnosed with TB, although I believe he had an inactive version. I made the mistake of not going to the doctor immediately (why wasn't the rest of the dormitory informed at the time?) Later I took a test and found that I was okay. Still, recently a friend of mine from Japan who obtained a green card was diagnosed with the disease. When I asked him about the beginnings of the problem, he kinda accused me of when it happened. I was shocked as I had been in good health at that point, even taking a physical a year before. Still things could happen. The latest news is how antibiotic resistant strains of TB may become a global epidemic. Most of this occurs in poorer countries. However, I've been suspicious of Japan especially Tokyo because of the subway system and the insane crowdedness. Jokingly, I've called Tokyo's subway system the virus pellets because essentially it's easy to catch something while on those things. And despite having one of the better healthcare systems in the world, I don't fully trust the Japanese government, hospitals and such when it comes to screening diseases. Those fears aside, the issue of TB on the rise is, indeed, a cause of worry. Part of my reason for moving back to LA asap is to avoid being in a crowded city like Tokyo. People say that LA is dangerous because of the guns, but as I've replied it depends on the areas you travel to. Tokyo has its own dangers, one I believe is disease. I've gotten sick more times in the last 2 1/2 years than I have in LA since college. I'm of course hoping that most of my sickness is the common cold, but it always freaks me out since the language is different and getting good help can be frustrating. Still though what made me write this blog up was my concern that we don't spend enough money into medical research. I'm a huge fan of biological and genetic research. Ever since having a hardcore biology research roommate in college, I've been fascinated with the genome project. Of great achievement was the completion of the human genome mapping in 2003. Still I feel we're still a long ways off from utilizing this progress. I've tended to think that much of our progress has been hindered by politics and ethics (a kind of subpolitic). Obviously, people can abuse such knowledge but if the intent is to resolve world epidemics like AIDS and TB, why prohibit it? I'd hate to think some politician or some guy on a farm in Nebraska has more say on the world's future than a trained researcher. Within the next 10 years we should have progressed enough in medical sciences to squelsh these epidemics along with cancer since they've long been our foes. But why don't we hear more of promising progress rather than politics on these subjects? That to me is utterly frustrating especially when your life is at stake. What's more disturbing is how the government (especially the US) is willing to spend more money on defense than on medical research and technologies that aim to help the human race rather than destroy it. Think of all the jobs that can be created through all the defense funds if we placed them into medical research and technology. Plus we could contribute to poor nations by providing them the technology and science to help create awareness and lower the rate in which these things are spread. Are people just avoiding this because of fear of overpopulation growth? If that's the case, then we shouldn't even debate about our future. I mean, if overpopulation growth is a real fear, why not put more money into space exploration and human habitat on other worlds? I think there needs to be an increasing amount of privatization for this stuff as well. Competition and business seem to be the only driving forces outside of money. Also, they need to curb patent infringement for the private sector when it comes to medical applications since they (hopefully) are there to benefit mankind. There really shouldn't be much of a debate when it comes to one's health. Healthcare should be a right not an option some CEO corp turk can take advantage of on the populace.