A PUBLIC HEALTH THREAT: INFORMATION STARVATION

WIP06a.html

Press here to go back to WIP06 HOME page

Because the following news article is no longer available as an active link, it is presented below for educational purposes alone, under the "fair use" doctrine.

GUN VIOLENCE

AS A PUBLIC HEALTH THREAT

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Published Friday, February 5,1999, in the San Jose Mercury News

COALITION: `TREAT GUNS LIKE DISEASE' GROUP SEEKS IMPROVED STATISTICS IN FIGHTING FIREARMS VIOLENCE

BY LISA M. KRIEGER Mercury News Staff Writer

Gunshot violence is a public health problem that must be controlled with the same scientific tools used to control diseases such as lung cancer,according to a national report released in San Francisco Thursday by an anti-handgun coalition.

For instance, even in Santa Clara County, which does a relatively good job of tracking data, 46 of 70 firearms-related hospitalizations were caused by ``other and unspecified'' weapons.

``What's behind that? Do the weapons disappear? Are they not identified?'' asked Dr.Katherine Kaufer Christoffel, medical director of Handgun Epidemic Lowering Plan Network, an international network of 122 medical and allied organizations committed to reducing gun violence. ``Why don't we have this information?

``Can you imagine that many hospitalizations due to tainted strawberries -- and no applying public health principles here. .Good health policy decisions cannot be made without good local datA. . . but those data are not available.''

Of the 24 hospitalizations in the county in 1996 where the injurious weapon was identified, handguns were responsible for 18; shotguns, five; and a hunting rifle in one case.

Better statistical data about the design, use and marketing of guns -- as well as risk factors such as alcohol, poverty and domestic violence -- will help curtail the epidemic, the report concludes.

More than one-third of state health departments and about three-fourths of county and local health departments do not collect information surrounding firearms-related injuries and deaths, such as whether the assault was gang-related, suicide or domestic violence, the report said.

The group estimated the cost of instituting tracking at the state and local levels at $4 million per year. Firearms deaths and injuries nationwide cost an estimated $33 billion in 1996, with taxpayers picking up 80 percent of hospital costs.

In Santa Clara County, which had 84 firearms-related deaths in 1997, the Violence Prevention Council has proposed a number of ideas to reduce deaths and injuries due to guns. Those methods include an ``end-user'' sales tax, paid by gun purchasers, that could fund community awareness and education activities.

The local council also urges an ordinance that will reduce the availability of poorly built, easily concealable weapons and restrict the locations of gun sales. The county's board of supervisors is scheduled to vote on some of these issues Feb. 23.

``The reason we want to collect data is to be able to track the rise and fall of firearms-related deaths and injuries to determine the magnitude of the problem,'' said epidemiologist Stephanie Golz of the Santa Clara County Department of Health.

``We need to find out the risk factors so we can prevent these types of injuries,'' she said.

The anti-handgun group compares the current situation to that faced by public health officials in the 1950s when evidence first linked cigarettes to lung cancer.

They also point to research into traffic deaths, which, until the 1960s, were typically blamed on ``the nut behind the wheel.'' But data helped identify unsafe conditions in car design -- leading to the introduction of safety features such as collapsible steering columns, seat belts and shoulder harnesses, among other safety features, noted Roger Hayes, director of the Injury Prevention Program of New York City Department of Health, who is attending the two-day San Francisco conference.

Identifying the underpinnings of violence is a complex undertaking. There are many different types of violence, and many different social, cultural and economic risk factors, the experts said.

But routinely collected data on gun deaths and injuries would make it possible to measure the effect of restrictions, such as waiting periods for gun purchasers, use of trigger locks and other safety devices, bans on assault weapons and litigation by cities to hold gun manufacturers more accountable for their products, they said.

There have been only 137 cases of polio nationwide since 1980 -- yet governments do a better job of tracking the disease than the more pervasive epidemic of gun violence, which claims more than 30,000 lives each year, Christoffel said.

Press here to go back to WIP06 HOME page