Blood

Sixty-three percent of SUNDIAL respondents, representing 195 of 308 callers, say they do not donate blood, while 113 callers, or 36 percent, say they do.Of 190 non-donors who explained their position, 26 (13.6 percent) said they fear "contracting AIDS, etc." Twenty callers (10.5 percent) said they do not feel a compelling reason to give blood. Seven callers (3.6 percent) said they object on religious grounds, and 137 callers (72.1 percent) said they have other reasons."It's Your Call" represents a sampling of opinions from certain segments of the community, but it is not balanced demographically, as a scientific public opinion poll would be.

One doesn't have to be an admirer of mass rape to experience a sick, sinking feeling at the prospect of U.S. intervention in Bosnia.Well, perhaps one does feel a sneaky bit of respect for the Serbian militiamen, who have managed to take the somewhat forbidding institution of genocide and deindustrialize it, bringing it down to human scale and potentially within reach of every neighborhood council and block committee.For what man has not, at some point, gazed upon his neighbor's house or car or wife, and thought: Jeez, a couple rounds of automatic fire and all that could be mine, with the power saw thrown in!

Large doses of Vitamin C may moderately reduce blood pressure, Johns Hopkins researchers have found. But the scientists don't recommend people start taking large amounts of the vitamin. Researchers led by Dr. Edgar "Pete" R. Miller, an associate professor in the division of general interal medicine at Hopkins, reviewed and analyzed data from 29 previous  clinical trials and found that taking 500 milligrams of Vitamin C daily, or five times the recommended amount, could lower blood pressure by 3.84 millimeters.

Newborn babies begin life with dozens of man-made chemicals in their blood, according to a report released yesterday by the Environmental Working Group in Washington. Blood from the umbilical cords of 10 infants born in U.S. hospitals in 2004 showed an average of 200 industrial compounds, pollutants, pesticides and other chemicals, according to the study. Newborn blood has been analyzed before, but never for such a broad array of chemicals, said Jane Houlihan, the group's vice president for research.

Reacting to a critical blood shortage, state National Guard officials yesterday urged Guard members and other state residents to donate blood during the holiday season.Within the next two weeks, the blood demand in the Baltimore-Washington area will be 4,000 pints greater than the supply, according to the Red Cross. Gov. William Donald Schaefer joined Red Cross and National Guard officials in launching an emergency blood drive dubbed "Operation Give Life.""We need people to donate blood immediately, or people's lives will potentially be in jeopardy," Mr. Schaefer said during a news conference at Baltimore-Washington International Airport.

The American Red Cross, throughout its lifetime one of the nation's most respected emergency relief services, is also one of its largest independent health agencies. Among other things, its 53 blood centers collect and process 1 million containers of blood products a month, half of the nation's blood supply. It is a vitally needed resource.But all has not been healthy in the 53 Red Cross blood centers. The worldwide AIDS epidemic caught blood bank officials everywhere flat-footed, precipitating a vociferous behind-the-scenes debate among doctors concerned about how to detect the insidious virus and stop its spread.

Shame on the senators who defied public opinion and voted to defeat the Manchin-Toomey bill to expand background checks for gun purchases ("Senate rejects expanded checks on gun purchases," April 18). There is blood on the hands of those who voted to kill this bill. Patriotic Americans will move heaven and Earth to make certain they are defeated at the polls when they stand for re-election. Sen. Harry Reid doesn't get away scot free in this incident. He had an opportunity early in the session to modify or eliminate the filibuster rule that has caused so much harm to the nation, and he declined to do it. Without that rule , the measure would have passed.

Nashville, Tennessee. -- Ayoung news executive asked me for my reaction to that ''Bell Curve'' book about the genetic &L inferiority of black people.I laughed. Confused, he said, ''I thought you'd be angry and call it a dangerous book.''''It is useless, damaging and dangerous in these times of deep racial troubles in America,'' I said.I was laughing because I was reminded of the funny ways in which claims of black inferiority have graduated from the crude and comical to elitist pseudo-scientific.

Red Cross leaders urge Anne Arundel citizens to give blood at its Glen Burnie center, 30 Greenway Ave. N.W., Suite 4, or at one of several blood drives.Hours of operation for the Glen Burnie center through the end of the month are:Today, -- 1 to 8 p.m.Saturday -- 8 am. to 1 p.m.Monday, and Tuesday -- 2 to 8 p.m.Wednesday -- 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.Thursday, Sept. 19, -- 2 to 8 p.m.Saturday, Sept. 21 -- 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.Monday, Sept. 23, and Tuesday, Sept. 24 -- 2 to 8 p.m.Wednesday, Sept. 25 -- 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.Thursday, Sept.