The makers of babies' bottles in the US are to remove a controversial chemical from their products, amid growing concern over its possible effects.
The six manufacturers say they are reacting to consumer demand by removing Bisphenol A (BPA) from their bottles.
But they will continue selling bottles containing BPA in the UK, a decision which has angered campaigners.
Health & Wellness
The mammoth manufacturer promises to disclose all ingredients by 2012
A top manufacturer of household cleaners announced plans yesterday to eliminate a controversial plastics additive from its brand and voluntarily disclose all product ingredients.
S.C. Johnson - maker of Windex, Shout and Glade - said that it has begun working with its suppliers to end the use of phthalates, which soften plastics.
The move comes as lawmakers are debating regulations for many industrial chemicals as research suggests potentially serious health impacts. Phthalates, for example, interfere with hormones and have been linked to genetic abnormalities in baby boys.
Congress passed a bill last year banning certain phthalates in toys as part of a broad consumer-protection bill, and some states are considering bans on the chemical in children's products
A top manufacturer of household cleaners announced plans yesterday to eliminate a controversial plastics additive from its brand and voluntarily disclose all product ingredients.
S.C. Johnson - maker of Windex, Shout and Glade - said that it has begun working with its suppliers to end the use of phthalates, which soften plastics.
The move comes as lawmakers are debating regulations for many industrial chemicals as research suggests potentially serious health impacts. Phthalates, for example, interfere with hormones and have been linked to genetic abnormalities in baby boys.
Congress passed a bill last year banning certain phthalates in toys as part of a broad consumer-protection bill, and some states are considering bans on the chemical in children's products
The late Tom Anderson, the family doctor in this little farm town in northwestern Indiana, at first was puzzled, then frightened.
He began seeing strange rashes on his patients, starting more than a year ago. They began as innocuous bumps - "pimples from hell," he called them - and quickly became lesions as big as saucers, fiery red and agonizing to touch.
They could be anywhere, but were most common on the face, armpits, knees and buttocks. Dr. Anderson took cultures and sent them off to a lab, which reported that they were MRSA, or staph infections that are resistant to antibiotics.
He began seeing strange rashes on his patients, starting more than a year ago. They began as innocuous bumps - "pimples from hell," he called them - and quickly became lesions as big as saucers, fiery red and agonizing to touch.
They could be anywhere, but were most common on the face, armpits, knees and buttocks. Dr. Anderson took cultures and sent them off to a lab, which reported that they were MRSA, or staph infections that are resistant to antibiotics.
© Stockphoto/Ron Hohenhaus
Recent study suggests that antioxidants in green tea may help reduce periodontal disease.
Recent study suggests that antioxidants in green tea may help reduce periodontal disease.
A study recently published in the Journal of Periodontology, uncovered yet another benefit of green tea consumption. Researchers found that routine intake of green tea may also help promote healthy teeth and gums. The study analyzed the periodontal health of 940 men, and found that those who regularly drank green tea had superior periodontal health than subjects that consumed less green tea.
Brown Recluse Spider
"I closed my eyes and then I was spinning like a flying saucer," explains David Blancarte.
A motorcycle accident almost killed David 21 years ago. At the time he might have wished he was dead.
"I asked my doctor, 'Sir what happened? I can't feel my legs'," said David.
Ever since, David's been relying on his wheelchair to get around. Then the spider bite. A Brown Recluse sent him to the hospital, then to rehab for eight months.
"I'm here for a spider bite. I didn't know I would end up walking," says David.
A group of nine FDA scientists has sent letters to top politicians, accusing agency managers of intimidating and coercing scientists into changing or suppressing scientific data. In October, the scientists sent a letter to the House Energy and Commerce Committee. In early January, they sent another to then-president-elect Barack Obama.
The medical device review process, in particular, has been "corrupted and distorted by current FDA managers, thereby placing the American people at risk," the letter to Obama reads.
The medical device review process, in particular, has been "corrupted and distorted by current FDA managers, thereby placing the American people at risk," the letter to Obama reads.
© Stock.xchng/Dikmorales
Regular keyboard practice has been found to improve manual dexterity and discrimination of sounds.
Regular keyboard practice has been found to improve manual dexterity and discrimination of sounds.
Scans of the brains of child musicians before and after musical training have yielded compelling evidence that proficiency and skill relies on hard graft, not innate genius.
Earlier studies have shown that adult musicians have different brains to adult non-musicians. But the latest results settle arguments about whether the brain differences were there from birth, or developed through practice.
"This is the first paper showing differential brain development in children who learned and played a musical instrument versus those that did not," says Gottfried Schlaug of Harvard Medical School.
Schlaug's team tested musically untrained six-year-olds from the Boston area, 15 of whom then received weekly keyboard lessons for 15 months, and 16 of whom didn't. When they compared magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans taken before and after for both groups, they found that auditory and motor areas of the brain linked respectively with hearing and dexterity grew larger only in the trainee musicians.
Washington -- If the global economy were a 100-yard dash, the U.S. would start 23 yards behind its closest competitors because of health care that costs too much and delivers too little, a business group says in a report to be released Thursday.
The report from the Business Roundtable, which represents CEOs of major companies, says America's health care system has become a liability in a global economy.
Concern about high U.S. costs has existed for years, and business executives -- whose companies provide health coverage for workers -- have long called for getting costs under control. Now President Barack Obama says the costs have become unsustainable and the system must be overhauled.
The report from the Business Roundtable, which represents CEOs of major companies, says America's health care system has become a liability in a global economy.
Concern about high U.S. costs has existed for years, and business executives -- whose companies provide health coverage for workers -- have long called for getting costs under control. Now President Barack Obama says the costs have become unsustainable and the system must be overhauled.
Hyperbaric Chamber Merits Further Study, Say Researchers; Some Remain Skeptical
To battle her son's autism, Kazuko Curtin did more than look into a treatment -- she started a clinic for it.
Twelve years ago, Curtin was told by doctors that her son had autism. In subsequent years, attending conferences, she heard about treatment in a hyperbaric chamber, where pressure is increased in an attempt to boost the amount of oxygen in the child's brain.
Curtin bought a machine, and today a hyperbaric chamber is one of the treatments offered by the CARE Clinics in Austin, Texas, and Tampa, Fla., which she opened last year.
To battle her son's autism, Kazuko Curtin did more than look into a treatment -- she started a clinic for it.
Twelve years ago, Curtin was told by doctors that her son had autism. In subsequent years, attending conferences, she heard about treatment in a hyperbaric chamber, where pressure is increased in an attempt to boost the amount of oxygen in the child's brain.
Curtin bought a machine, and today a hyperbaric chamber is one of the treatments offered by the CARE Clinics in Austin, Texas, and Tampa, Fla., which she opened last year.
Long-term exposure to concentrated smog significantly raises the risk of dying from lung disease, a new study shows.
The study, published today in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that the risk of dying from respiratory disease is more than three times higher in metropolitan areas with the most concentrated ozone -- a precursor of smog -- than in those with the lowest ozone concentrations.
The study, published today in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that the risk of dying from respiratory disease is more than three times higher in metropolitan areas with the most concentrated ozone -- a precursor of smog -- than in those with the lowest ozone concentrations.
