Award-winning author and scientist Laurie Garrett flashed a photo of a large plume of smoke over New York City on Sept. 11, 2001. That smoke contained a chemical soup unlike any ever seen before on earth that was breathed by New York's inhabitants for three full months, Garrett said.
We have no idea what those (chemicals) may do to those of us who breathed significant quantities of this
she said.
Garrett spoke to a crowded Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium about the implications of the lack of a proper health infrastructure in the United States and around the world.
The United States' public health infrastructure is unprepared to deal with a catastrophic health event like the one presented on Sept. 11, and the general public is still fearful of future attacks, Garrett said.
Slides of statistics and photos, some taken by Garrett, frequently punctuated her lecture.
It was quite impressive all the figures she gave said Neelam Singh, an Ohio University graduate student. She managed to deliver the message with those figures.
Garrett's message also focused on the HIV epidemic and unbalanced spending for HIV and other diseases.
Nine nations in the world control nearly three-quarters of all global wealth. In fact
the truth of the matter is most of it is in the hands of just four nations: the United States
Japan
Germany and the United Kingdom
Garrett said. Programs that actually fundamentally affect health cannot be financed by these countries by themselves. We in the wealthy world have got to pay some dues.
OU sophomore Janada Fane saw the lecture advertised on OU's Web site and was intrigued.
It was fascinating
she said. She made a lot of good points on the AIDS virus.
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