The New York Times reports that anime-style "Circle" (or "Big Eye") lenses are currently gaining in popularity, thanks to Lady Gaga's Bad Romance video. [more inside]
posted by zarq on Jul 3, 2010 - 59 comments

The House passed H.R. 1256, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act a few days ago. The bill would put regulation of tobacco under the jurisdiction of the F.D.A. Some are critical of this bill, pointing out that Philip Morris is behind it. But the bill does contain many positive elements. Manufacturers would be required to disclose product ingredients to the F.D.A. and marketing to children would be further restricted. [more inside]
posted by formless on Apr 7, 2009 - 35 comments

The new lies about women's health (image slightly NSFW) according to Glamour. More on why every egg is sacred to the Bush administration. [via Wired's Sex Drive Daily]
posted by boost ventilator on Jun 3, 2006 - 90 comments

This is not good news. U.S. health officials have issued a warning about possible birth defects in infants born to women who take the antidepressant Paxil during the first trimester of pregnancy.
posted by lilboo on Sep 29, 2005 - 38 comments

Chemical heads Your hair is drab. Dull. Needs more volume. Needs less frizz. It needs something. Maybe it needs cetyl alcohol. Mixed with a dash of propylene glycol, and how about a little butane, or acrylamide? Once upon a time, people lathered, rinsed, never repeated, and went on their merry bad-hair days. Then, science and chemistry specialized the way folks condition and shine. Companies began creating new compounds so they could design products for specific hair types. Now, some consumer groups worry about the mix of chemicals: they point to incomplete labeling and little government oversight of the cosmetics and hair industry, accusations the Food and Drug Administration does not deny. "The FDA needs to define what is safe to put in these products, and come up with standards," says Tim Kropp, a senior scientist with the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit consumer organization in Washington that helped produce a study on problem ingredients in everyday products. "There are no safety standards in place." (to access main link, a little help from BugMeNot). More inside.
posted by matteo on Oct 4, 2004 - 18 comments

Doctors put spotlight on Plan B pill The American Medical Association voiced its support for over-the-counter sales of morning-after birth control, saying the Food and Drug Administration was wrong to reject such sales and urging doctors to write advance prescriptions.
posted by Postroad on Jun 17, 2004 - 9 comments

The FDA has put the brakes on clinical trials of a promising form of stem cell therapy which uses the body's own stem cells to heal dammage. The procedure was used earlier this year to heal the heart of a teenager who was shot in the heart by a nail gun. Other research is being done with the body's own stem cells on the heart and the spinal cord, and new ways to produce large numbers of adult stem cells have been discovered by MIT and the British company TriStem. With the controversy over embryonic stem cells, I'm glad that adult stem cell therapy is showing promise. [Some links via FuturePundit, who is rather annoyed with the FDA.]
posted by homunculus on Nov 29, 2003 - 11 comments

FDA now officially useless? Well, it's looking that way.. They are now about to allow unverified health claims on food labels. They say this is a good thing. I wonder... What function does the FDA have now if it's not to protect the consumer from wild and potentially false claims on their food products?
posted by eas98 on Dec 27, 2002 - 13 comments

Trans-fatty acids are described as being "a secret killer", and "about as bad as bad gets". The US FDA does not currently require trans fats to be listed on product labels, but that may soon be changing.
posted by atavistech on Aug 16, 2002 - 33 comments