Bird flu returned to southern Vietnam this week after an absence of two months, and officials warned farmers of more outbreaks as the weather cools.
Tests performed at a laboratory for the Mekong delta region confirmed the H5N1 virus in the samples taken from ducks at the farm in Tra Cu district in Tra Vinh province, Tien Phong (Vanguard) newspaper said. At least five ducks were dead among 300 at the farm, officials said.
Folic acid, found in leafy vegetables, can cut drastically arsenic levels in the blood of people who have suffered long-term exposure to the poison in groundwater, a new study in Bangladesh has found.
Arsenic is a toxin naturally present in some soils and water. Chronic arsenic poisoning occurs after long-term exposure to such tainted drinking-water and it has been linked to skin, liver and bladder cancers, skin lesions and cardiovascular disease.
MARION, Ill. - Bob Shank was in good spirits as he awaited gallstone-removal surgery at a veterans hospital in August, laughing as he handed his wife his false teeth for safekeeping.
Nelson Garcia
KUSA*TVFri, 12 Oct 2007 07:39 UTC
In an effort to combat the problem of childhood obesity, the Denver Public School District is sending home student health reports to keep parents informed. However, one parent says it should not have been sent home in her daughter's backpack because she read it.
Debra Sherman
ReutersThu, 11 Oct 2007 15:55 UTC
Johnson & Johnson, Wyeth and other makers of infants' nonprescription cough and cold products are recalling certain medicines in the United States because of the danger of overdose, the Consumer Healthcare Products Association said on Thursday.
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| ©REUTERS/Handout
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| A selection of the recalled products are shown in this undated handout photo.
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Karen Jacobs
ReutersFri, 12 Oct 2007 07:39 UTC
Lipsticks tested by a U.S. consumer rights group found that more than half contained lead and some popular brands including Cover Girl, L'Oreal and Christian Dior had more lead than others, the group said on Thursday.
The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics said tests on 33 brand-name red lipsticks by the Bodycote Testing Group in Santa Fe Spring, California, found that 61 percent had detectable lead levels of 0.03 to 0.65 parts per million (ppm).
Lipstick, like candy, is ingested. The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, a coalition of public health, environmental and women's groups, said the FDA has not set a limit for lead in lipstick.
Comment: Oh, and we should trust the word of the makers of lipstick, that it is safe. Why is it always needed to add some poison into most products, when it is wholly unnecessary? They wouldn't want to kill us, would they?
Shastry V Mallady
The HinduFri, 12 Oct 2007 02:06 UTC
Madurai, India - A high-level medical team from the Institute of Child Health (ICH), Chennai, will be here on Thursday to investigate the mysterious 'tongue blisters' that have claimed the lives of two children at O. Alangulam, about 20 km from here.
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| ©K. Ganesan
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| EXAMINATION: P. Padmanaban (left), Director of Public Health, looking at an affected boy at O. Alangulam near Madurai on Wednesday.
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GRONINGEN, Netherlands -- Smoking has been overrated as an important factor in spurring multiple sclerosis progression and disability, researchers here said.
Smoking was not associated with primary or secondary MS progression on any measures except for some weak associations with disability, found Marcus Koch, M.D., of the University Medical Center Groningen here, and colleagues, in a large cohort study in the Oct. 9 issue of Neurology.
Researchers at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) have clarified the link between alcohol consumption and the risk of head and neck cancers, showing that people who stop drinking can significantly reduce their cancer risk.
According to CAMH Principal Investigator Dr. Jürgen Rehm, existing research consistently shows a relationship between alcohol consumption and an increased risk for cancer of the esophagus, larynx and oral cavity.Dr. Rehm and his team analyzed epidemiological literature from 1966 to 2006 to further investigate this association and their results, published in the September issue of the International Journal of Cancer, showed that:
Kim Ridley
AlterNetThu, 11 Oct 2007 13:11 UTC
Visiting the hospital is supposed to heal people, but it's hard to get better in a place that uses toxic chemicals and serves processed food. Is change on the way?
The minute you're admitted into the hospital, you confront a disturbing paradox: Most hospitals aren't particularly healthy places. As a patient, you're likely to encounter toxic chemicals, eat lousy food, breathe unhealthy air and suffer stress triggered by an often-dismal and alienating environment. Even worse, you may find yourself at the mercy of drug-resistant "super bugs" or overworked staff members who make mistakes -- all in a place that's supposed to help you heal. It's enough to make you sick. And sometimes it does.
Comment: Oh, and we should trust the word of the makers of lipstick, that it is safe. Why is it always needed to add some poison into most products, when it is wholly unnecessary? They wouldn't want to kill us, would they?