Lonan3 Posted January 19, 2007 Share Posted January 19, 2007 LINK Public sanitation — and with it the flushing lavatory — has been voted the greatest medical breakthrough since 1840. Sewage disposal and clean water supplies, among other aspects of sanitation, were chosen over 15 key medical advances named in an international poll by the British Medical Journal (BMJ). A shortlist of 15 discoveries was narrowed down to antibiotics, anaesthesia, vaccines, DNA and sanitation before the winner was announced yesterday at an awards ceremony held in London, where leading doctors and scientists championed each milestone. Doctors and members of the public, who were among the 11,000 voters, were divided on which discovery they considered most significant. Sanitation eventually won with a total of 1,795 votes. However, medical professionals rated anaesthesia as more important, while the public voted for antibiotics — which came second overall with 1,642 votes. John Burn, Professor of Clinical Genetics at the University of Newcastle, who championed the discovery of DNA as the greatest breakthrough, said that the poll “could look very silly in 50 years time”. But... Waterborne disease, through inadequate sanitation and hygiene, is responsible for about 80 per cent of all sickness in the world, killing around 14,000 people each day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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