Bad for your brain, apparently.

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I keep telling people but nobody listens:
Mobile phones could kill far more people than smoking or asbestos, a study by an award-winning cancer expert has concluded. He says people should avoid using them wherever possible and that governments and the mobile phone industry must take “immediate steps” to reduce exposure to their radiation.
The study, by [...]

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I kind of suspected this. I know it’s true for myself.

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Eww.
Patients undergoing heart surgery routinely receive blood that has sat on a refrigerator shelf for two weeks or longer, a practice that appears to heighten their risk of infection, kidney failure, and even death, according to a major new study.
The sweeping report in today’s New England Journal of Medicine found that the age of donated [...]

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Fascinating story of a brain scientist describing her own stroke. (Thanks, K!)

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Yep. I’ve been talking about this for years - we’ve reached immunological overload.

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Oh yeah, and we’ve tainted the water supply, too.

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I almost bought this last week. I think I’m going to stop buying processed food, it’s getting too risky:
H.J. Heinz Co. is recalling approximately 40,000 cases of Boston Market brand lasagna with meat sauce after discovering that the beef was part of a major recall.
The lasagna contains ground beef that was among the 143 million [...]

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Years ago, people used to make fun of me for my allergies - that is, the ones who didn’t tell me it was all in my head and treat me as if I simply had a weak character. (I never believed it. I always saw myself as the canary in the coal mine.) Ironic, that [...]

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Weird. I feel really light-headed, like I’m going to pass out - even when I’m sitting down.
I was thinking how bad it was for my ex-husband before he died. After he had his stem-cell transplant, he developed fever and chills that lasted six months. Even though he knew his liver was already compromised, he kept [...]

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Lutton was nice enough to go get some chicken noodle soup for me, and I managed to eat some - which meant I could finally take some ibuprofen for the fever. (He said he had the same thing a few weeks ago and says it takes three days before you can function again.)
There goes the [...]

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Vegan strip club. Only in Portland. Sigh. Someday I’ll move there…

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I’m not saying that no one should ever take anti-depressants. I’m saying these are powerful chemicals that actually affect the way the brain works, we’re not sure of their mechanism and they only work for less than half of the people who take them.
And they need to be much more closely monitored, especially in the [...]

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But if we had national health insurance, you might have to wait six months before you get a knee replacement!
ATLANTA — A nationwide study has found that the uninsured and those covered by Medicaid are more likely than those with private insurance to receive a diagnosis of cancer in late stages, often diminishing their chances [...]

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No, not Bluetooth - it’s just as bad:
Heavy mobile phone use may be linked to an increased risk of cancer of the salivary gland, a study suggests.
Researchers looked at 500 Israelis who had developed the condition and compared their mobile phone usage with 1,300 healthy controls.
Those who had used the phone against one side of [...]

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Don’t worry, President McCain will make it all better:
The Agriculture Department has ordered the largest meat recall in its history — 143 million pounds of beef, a California meatpacker’s entire production for the past two years — because the company did not prevent ailing animals from entering the U.S. food supply, officials said yesterday.
Despite the [...]

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So, so sad. This poor kid. And this one.

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I’ve had several people describe this to me as a side effect:
Cognitive side effects like memory loss and fuzzy thinking aren’t listed on the patient information sheet for Lipitor, the popular cholesterol-lowering drug. But some doctors are voicing concerns that in a small portion of patients, statins like Lipitor may be helping hearts but hurting [...]

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They’re testing Ecstasy for the treatment of PTSD. Results are promising.

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Still not health food.

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Come on, guys, it’s the only vice I have left!
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Cutting down on caffeine could help people with the most common form of diabetes better control their blood sugar levels, researchers said on Monday.
Giving caffeine to a small group of people with type 2 diabetes caused their levels of the blood sugar [...]

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People aren’t going to be too happy over this:
In a study published in the journal Epidemiology, the team compared the dietary habits of 465 people with chronic kidney disease and 467 healthy people. After controlling for various factors, the team found that drinking two or more colas a day — whether artificially sweetened or regular [...]

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I was thinking about this last night and wondering what role prescription medication played in Heath Ledger’s death. Apparently the possibility isn’t as off the wall as they used to insist:
After decades of inattention to the possible psychiatric side effects of experimental medicines, the Food and Drug Administration is now requiring drug makers to study [...]

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Somegirl sent this to me, presumably because of my recent insomnia, but I don’t put my cell phone to my head - I always use a wired earpiece. But you may be different:
Radiation from mobile phones delays and reduces sleep, and causes headaches and confusion, according to a new study.
The research, sponsored by the mobile [...]

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Well, you know, it’s cheaper to pretend they’re fine:
WASHINGTON — An Army task force found major gaps in the care of traumatic brain injury last year, but officials say they are moving rapidly to correct the problems.
A task force study — completed last May but not made public until Thursday — found fault with several [...]

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For those of us trying to cut back on toxic chemicals:
HARRISBURG, Pa. - The Pennsylvania Agriculture Department announced Thursday it was loosening a rule that would have prevented dairies from labeling milk as free from artificial growth hormones.
The labeling rule drew a backlash from producers and marketers who said they wanted to give customers a [...]

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Less organic.

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Now, I’m not saying there’s anything dangerous about meat from cloned animals because I just don’t know. But I’m not dumb enough to believe the FDA knows, either. After all, they say the same thing about genetically modified food that most European countries have banned:
A long-awaited final report from the Food and Drug Administration concludes [...]

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Next thing you know, they’ll be telling us cats can’t be trusted to babysit canaries!
A clinical trial of Zetia, a widely used cholesterol drug, has raised questions about its effectiveness and the behavior of pharmaceutical companies that conducted the study.

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With La Chola. (h/t Natasha)

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