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<snip>
I was alerted to the problem at a very early age when I saw the movie
_The Andromeda Strain_. So I'm quite aware that the consequences can be
very serious--indeed, potentially life-threatening. (Though Crichton
probably blew it in that specific case. The scientist would probably
have been aware of their own color blindness and taken appropriate
precautions when screening the data. Or is that a misconception? Was
color blindness diagnosed less often several decades ago?)
</snip>
Given that it is almost Friday, I had to share a tale with you about
colour blindness. In about 1960, my brother was eleven or twelve when he
came in from the outside toilet telling my mother that he had been
bitten on the rear end by a spider. She immediately asked what colour it
was and he replied 'brown'.
She did not worry because she thought all the kids knew what a Red-back
spider looked like and would recognise them. (For non-Australians they
are black and have a distinctive and prominent splash or stripe of red
on their back.)
He went off to bed, but my mother checked on him a bit later, and sure
enough he was showing nasty effects from the bite. My father checked and
found a large Red-back on the toilet seat. A quick trip to hospital
followed and he was successfully treated with anti-venom which had not
long been available.
He was then tested for colour-blindness and it showed that he was indeed
colour blind!
Regards,
Kath Bowman
Technical Writer
Saab Systems
21 Third Avenue
Mawson Lakes
Adelaide SA 5095
Tel: +61 8 8343 3865
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