Smart Talk: Bone marrow donors harder to find for minorities; 70 MPH speed limit in PA

What to look for on Smart Talk Tuesday, July 21, 2015:

Every 3 minutes a person in the United States is diagnosed with a blood cancer or disease such as leukemia, lymphoma, or sickle cell. Thousands will require a bone marrow transplant to treat their disease, meaning a matching donor has to be found.

Unfortunately, finding a bone marrow donor is not an easy task. Unlike blood, in which there are only four main types, bone marrow tissue has millions of different variants, some being more common than others.

Because of the large number of different tissue types, approximately 75% of patients looking for a bone marrow transplant do not have a matching donor in their family. These patients must rely on volunteer donors.

Joining us on Tuesday’s Smart Talk are Aimee Haskew, a community engagement representative of the Be The Match Registry, an organization that connects patients with donors and Fritz Spence, an unsuccessful transplant recipient still looking for a donor match.

Anyone interested in becoming a donor can visit join.bethematch.org. 

Also, state policy makers are still studying the impact of 70 mile-per-hour speed limits on Pennsylvania interstate highways. For the last year, there have been test zones in effect on sections of interstates 80 and 380, and on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

According to a Penn State study of crash and speed data, the change in the speed limit has led to a 33% drop in the number of vehicles going faster than the posted speed limit.  

Joining us on Tuesday’s Smart Talk to discuss the future of the higher speed limit is Rich Kirkpatrick, press secretary with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.