“In its annual report on U.S. mortality, the CDC [Centers for Disease Control] said a condition known as pneumonitis had replaced murder as a leading cause of death in the country,” Reuters reports. “The drop in deaths by homicides was expected. Last month, the FBI released a preliminary report on U.S. crime rates for 2010 that showed a 7.1 percent drop in murder between January and June, part of a wider drop in violent crime despite the country’s ongoing economic troubles.” I wonder if the dramatic increase in gun sales and concealed carry has anything to do with the drop in crime and homicides—despite the media’s fondness for linking hard times with hard crime? Correlation does not imply causation. But still. Make the jump for the new top 15 killers and wonder (again) why bleeding heart gun grabbers don’t spend their time on more statistically significant, more preventable causes of death?
Of the more than 2.4 million deaths the health agency studied, the top 15 killers in 2010 were:
1. Heart disease (595,444 deaths)
2. Malignant neoplasms (573,855)
3. Chronic lower respiratory diseases (137,789)
4. Cerebrovascular diseases (129,180)
5. Accidents (118.043)
6. Alzheimer’s disease (83,308)
7. Diabetes (68,905)
8. Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis (50,472)
9. Influenza and pneumonia (50,003)
10 Suicide (37,793)
11. Septicemia (34,843)
12. Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis (31,802)
13. Essential hypertension and hypertensive renal disease (26,577)
14. Parkinson’s disease (21,963)
15. Pneumonitis due to solids of liquids (17,001)
[h/t to Brian for the link]
