Athsma, Diabetes, and other illnesses are increasingly common in the First World...

[A Black Falcon]

There actually has been a noted increase in diseases that were previously nearly eradicated in the first world. What's notable is that the main culprit is parents unable or unwilling to vaccinate their children against said illnesses. The unwilling ones do so out of a fear of the dangers of vaccines. Autism chief among them. This, in spite of a total lack of any evidence that vaccines cause autism, is a fear that's on the rise. It's a sad reality that this irrational fear of autism is outweighing a very rational fear of kids dying from small pox.

This is also very true. How someone could actually think that an almost certainly nonexistent risk of getting autism is worse than maybe having your child die of Measles is beyond me... it's tragic and sad and never had to happen, but some people have let their fear for those diseases cloud their knowledge of the great good that vaccines do. :(

This is a notable issue with a lot of news sources that aren't medical journals, they lack the ability, or the will, to do the research.

What do you think about antibacterial products, though? Or do you just mean that we don't really know because there isn't enough research on the subject...