Why do humans risk it?
There are so many physical diseases to contract, so many ways to get infected--and I don’t mean just the sexually transmitted kind--but we often do it to ourselves. Maybe it was an impulsive tattoo someone just had to have from a less than sanitary provider…and Hepatitis C just tagged along. Surprise! Maybe our true love or our sweet child was sick and we kissed them anyway…I’m sure lots of moms kissed their little ones during the times of the plague and caught it from them. Not so much a surprise! Maybe the risk you take is of the smoking-related kind. (Lung cancer, COPD, etc.) As a bartender and someone who like the occasional drink herself, I’m a little more familiar with the drinking kind of disease-roulette, so here's a bit of statistical info to think about.
· Alcohol use is very common in our society. Drinking alcohol has immediate effects that can increase the risk of many harmful health conditions.
· Excessive alcohol use, either in the form of heavy drinking (drinking 15 or more drinks per week for men or 8 or more drinks per week for women), or binge drinking (drinking 5 or more drinks on an occasion for men or 4 or more drinks on an occasion for women), can lead to increased risk of health problems such as liver disease or unintentional injuries.
· According to the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey, more than half of the adult U.S. population drank alcohol in the past 30 days. Approximately 5% of the total population drank heavily, while 17% of the population binge drank.
· According to the ARDI application, from 2006–2010 there were approximately 88,000 deaths annually attributable to excessive alcohol use. In fact, excessive alcohol use is the 3rd leading lifestyle-related cause of death for people in the United States each year.
· Alcohol use poses additional problems for underage drinkers and pregnant women.
From: http://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/data-stats.htm
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