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posted by cmn32480 on Wednesday August 08 2018, @07:04PM   Printer-friendly
from the seriously? dept.

An amendment from Italy's anti-establishment government that removes mandatory vaccination for schoolchildren is sending shock waves through the country's scientific and medical community.

It suspends for a year a law that requires parents to provide proof of 10 routine vaccinations when enrolling their children in nurseries or preschools. The amendment was approved by Italy's upper house of parliament on Friday by 148 to 110 votes and still has to pass the lower house.

The law had originally been introduced by the Democratic Party in July 2017 amid an ongoing outbreak of measles that saw 5,004 cases reported in 2017 -- the second-highest figure in Europe after Romania -- according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). Italy accounted for 34% of all measles cases reported by countries in the European Economic Area, the center said.

Italy's Five Star movement and its coalition partner, the far-right League, both voiced their opposition to compulsory vaccinations, claiming they discourage school inclusion.

English Language Source: https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/07/health/italy-anti-vaccine-law-measles-intl/index.html


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday August 08 2018, @09:34PM (2 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday August 08 2018, @09:34PM (#719027) Journal

    Curious. Why 500 million? Why not 2 billion, or only 250 million? Is 1/2 billion a magic number or something? If you're somehow referring to the carrying capacity of the land, I suspect that the planet can reasonably support a good deal more than 500 million. 7 billion is too many, 5 billion is probably too many - maybe 3 billion would be alright. But then, we'd have to institute birth control laws to maintain whatever number we decided on.

    Anyways - I still suspect that Mother Nature has some tricks in store for us. Ebola has flared up again. If it keeps trying, it may come back in a more virulent form that takes out half of the world population. Then, there is the flu. During WW1, the flu killed more people than the war killed. Speaking of which - there is always war. It does serve to help control the population, if somewhat ineffectively.

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  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 08 2018, @10:05PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 08 2018, @10:05PM (#719060)

    Carrying capacity like you refer to isn't the right measure. That is like asking why it is a bad thing to run an engine at redline 24/7. I believe 500 million was the sweet spot where human activity wouldn't impact the planet too terribly much and would make it easy enough to weather disasters.

    Restricting freedoms is a dangerous thing, but we may end up with little choice. Hopefully voluntary reductions in child births will work well enough.

  • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday August 10 2018, @01:41PM

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Friday August 10 2018, @01:41PM (#719897) Journal

    Why 500 Million? I don't know. It is a very good question to ask. I suspect someone arrived at this number in a way something like the explanation in the above reply to your question.

    --
    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.