BMJ  2007;334 (20 January), doi:10.1136/bmj.39099.504583.3A

Editor's Choice

US editor's choice

Milestones, tombstones, and sex education

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Over the past several weeks, the BMJ has been conducting a poll of readers to determine the world's greatest medical milestone since the journal began publishing in 1840. Experts provided 15 candidate advances, ranging from immunizations to birth control pills to x-rays, and more than 11,000 readers voted. In addition to this week's regular journal, we are publishing a supplement with articles about each of the candidates and why they deserved to be the number one milestone (http://www.bmj.com/content/vol334/suppl_1/).

But there can only be one winner, and it is—drum roll, please—sanitation (10.1136/bmj.39097.611806.DB)! Doesn't sound too sexy, but as Johan P Mackenbach points out (http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/334/suppl_1/s17), crowding and disease actually led to a decrease in life expectancy in Britain in the first half of the 19th century until sewage disposal and clean water systems arrived to reverse it.

Also in the news section this week is a . . . [Full text of this article]

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    StumbleUpon    Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Articles

Sexual health in adolescents

Trevor Stammers
BMJ 2007 334: 103-104. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

BMJ readers choose the "sanitary revolution" as greatest medical advance since 1840

Annabel Ferriman
BMJ 2007 334: 111. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

What have we learnt from Vioxx?

Harlan M Krumholz, Joseph S Ross, Amos H Presler, and David S Egilman
BMJ 2007 334: 120-123. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Impact of a theoretically based sex education programme (SHARE) delivered by teachers on NHS registered conceptions and terminations: final results of cluster randomised trial

M Henderson, D Wight, G M Raab, C Abraham, A Parkes, S Scott, and G Hart
BMJ 2007 334: 133. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Ready for blind?

Dan A Say
bmj.com, 19 Jan 2007 [Full text]

Online poll

Find out more here>> and here>>