illegal immigration and diabetes--need medical answers here, please!

[niyad]

Okay, I admit it-- I hadn't had nearly enough caffeine or protein today, and made the mistake of tuning in on lou dobbs for a moment, windblown (why is he wearing a suit on the beach???) as he telecasts from cancun. according to lou, one of the reasons we need to be afraid of illegal immigrants is because they are bringing deadly diseases into the country, and nothing can stop that. Apart from the map showing that some of the higest incidences of tb are in ny and indiana (prime relocation centers for illegals, I guess), his guest mentioned a list of other diseases that the illegals are bringing in, which are posing such a tremendous health hazard (maybe because we didn't get seriously upset about the so-called avian flu pandemic with which they have been trying to scare us to death for months now??) What caught my attention, and why I am seeking the help of the resident DU experts (I KNOW someone is!!) is the mention of diabetes on the list of diseases, which included such things as herpes, hiv/aids, leprosy, etc. Now, the last I checked, diabetes was NOT an infectious disease. My "brother" has it, several of my friends have it, others I know have it, and yet, I have never "caught" it. am I immune, or is this just more bs from the scientifcally ignorant and fear-mongering jerks in the administration?

anybody who can clear this up for me, I assure you I will be most appreciative.

[niallmac]

1. Diabetes is not infectious just expensive. Is that their worry? n/t

[mandyky]

2. He said tuberculosis

I did not hear him say diabetes.

[niyad]

5. DOBBS did not say diabetes, the woman guest did, as I made quite clear

in my OP.

[Fridays Child]

3. As red herrings go, this one has got to be about as dumb as they get.

If I'm in error here, someone please correct me but, like you, I don't see how diabetes figures into the debate, in any sort of meaningful way, at all. The only connection I can come up with is that, as a group, Hispanics have a higher than average rate of diabetes.

So, maybe Lou is suggesting that, because of their higher rate of diabetes, Hispanics represent an even bigger burden on public health care resources than Americans may be aware of. And I suppose that, from there, the argument could be made that sick workers equal reduced output--the ultimate point being that "guest workers" are no good to us, if they use more resources than they produce.

Could that be the point he's trying to make? If it is, it sounds pretty racist to me.

[niyad]

6. no, the whole thrust of the segment was that the infectious diseases

are spreading rapidly, particularly throughout the "porous" border counties (although why ny and indiana would be included is beyond me)

[Fridays Child]

7. From the transcript, which is up, now...

...it appears that diabetes is mentioned only once by a correspondent he interviewed--a Christine Romans. And it seems to have been lumped in with tuberculosis and hepatitis, as diseases burgeoning along the border. It was a cheap shot scare tactic, from what I can tell. Totally inappropriate.

And, of course, neither Lou nor Christine mentioned two very nasty diseases running rampant north of the border: ignorance and greed.

Transcript: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0603/30/ldt.01.html

On edit: I emailed Lou, asking what diabetes has to do with this issue. We'll see if he responds, although I won't hold my breath.

[niyad]

8. I know, I heard it mentioned within the list of infectious diseases, and

wondered how many people had caught that little detail.

let's see--the colour-coded terralerts aren't working, the madcow disease scare isn't working, the bird flu thing doesn't seem to be having quite the fear-generating factor they hoped for, and now they are fanning flames of ignorance and hate regarding illegals.

do they NEVER stop?

I hope everyone understood that I KNOW that diabetes isn't infectious--I was just stunned to hear it brought up in that context (and people wonder why I don't watch the corporate media whores)

honestly. . . .

ps. if you do hear from him, could you email me and let me know, as I am calling it a night here? thank you.

[Fridays Child]

9. Yes, I'll follow up with you, if I get anything back.

Nighty night. :hi:

[Zookeeper]

11. "burden on public health care resources"

that is the only possible reason for lumping diabetes in there, and that would be Type 2, simply because Type 2 is somewhat of a "lifestyle" disease and increasingly common. Type 1, an auto immune disease usually diagnosed in childhood, is a lot less common, requires insulin injections and is permanent. (At least until our American theocrats' objections to stem cell research can be squashed.)

I can't imagine there are still a lot of people who think either Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes is contagious.

[FloridaPat]

4. Mexico has free health care! Why are sick people coming in?

As for HIV, last I heard it was not stopping people from coming in legally.

[kineneb]

10. as to TB

Last I heard, the hot spots for TB are in Eastern Europe and Russia; I doubt many of them come in as "illegals."