Cancer be damned, kids wanna tan “I know I might get cancer, but sometimes you want to look good no matter what. I’d rather look good that worry about what could happen to me–looks are more important to me sometimes than my health.” (Maclean’s Magazine) Perhaps cancer is ‘natural selection’ at work trying to weed out all of societies undesirables from the gene pool. I for one think we could do without people this stupid.
posted on Jun 23, 2005 - View this thread

Is circumcision an AIDS weapon? To cut or not to cut? Does circumcision prevent the transmission of HIV? It was deemed "An acceptable strategy for HIV prevention" in Bostwana and a study looking at the magnitude of females who get infected with HIV/AIDS/STDs through circumcision
posted on Jan 9, 2005 - View this thread

His name is Leroy Bailey, and he was once briefly famous. The legacy of war for one Vietnam veteran. Part of an excellent series in the Chicago Sun-Times, previous article linked here.
posted on Dec 22, 2004 - View this thread

Conscience Clauses and Health Care --"Yes, we need to respect individual freedom of religion. But at what point does it cross the line of not providing essential medical care? At what point is it malpractice?" she asked. "If someone's beliefs interfere with practicing their profession, perhaps they should do something else." The Protection of Conscience Project feels differently: Protection of Conscience Laws are needed because powerful interests are inclined to force health care workers and others to participate, directly or indirectly, in morally controversial procedures, while NARAL says: ... Many of these clauses go far beyond respecting individuals' beliefs to the point of harming women by not providing them with full information or access to medical treatment. Medicine, not ideology, should determine medical decisions.
posted on Sep 17, 2004 - View this thread

After reading that beef has been recalled from my local grocery store, I spent some time reading Mad Cow USA a book written back in 1997 but not widely published because of fears of repercussions under the Texas food disparagement act. AlterNet has an article written by one of the book's authors summarizing some of the key points of the book. Some claim that only ground beef is infected, while others claim that's bull. mad-cow.org has a lot of good information on the topic, and it seems the powers that be are going to blame Canada.
posted on Dec 30, 2003 - View this thread

"Bring 'Em On:" A Certain Four Horsemen Rein Up to Inquire of The Taunt -- or "The Health and Environmental Costs of War on Iraq (PDF)." An independent survey just released by the UK global health charity Medact, finds that "the war on Iraq and its aftermath exacted a heavy toll on combatants and civilians, who paid and continue to pay the price in death, injury and mental and physical ill health. Between 21,700 and 55,000 people died between March 20 and October 20, 2003." According to the BBC, the report says that the "conflict and its aftermath have put the most vulnerable in society - women, children and the elderly - at risk", and "there has been a reported increase in maternal mortality rates, acute malnutrition has almost doubled from 4% to 8% in the last year and there is an increase in water-borne diseases and vaccine-preventable diseases."
posted on Nov 12, 2003 - View this thread

The war on drugs is unfairly targeting doctors who prescribe legal pain medication to their patients who suffer from chronic pain, according to a spokeswoman of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. She was speaking at a press conference of patient and physician advocacy groups, sponsored by the Pain Relief Network, in support of Dr. William Hurwitz. Dr. Hurwitz has been indicted and imprisoned for prescribing high doses of opioid pain relievers, as have other pain-management doctors. But these crackdowns may end up doing more harm than good to patients in chronic pain. [More inside.]
posted on Oct 13, 2003 - View this thread

They fixed my boo-boo. (warning - graphic pix)
Did you ever see this picture? It makes the email forwarding rounds ever so often, and is a fixture in the pro-life community. Taken in 1999, it shows a tiny hand touching the finger of one of the doctors involved in a spina bifida corrective operation. At the time, the fetus was 21 weeks old. Late last month, Samuel Armas (the boy the fetus became) testified briefly before a subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee examining scientific and medical advances in prenatal surgery. [more inside]
posted on Oct 8, 2003 - View this thread

We already knew that frequent masturbation might cut prostate cancer risk. But it turns out that this is not a message fit for American families. The details of the Lewinsky episode splattered across front pages of the US and abroad come to mind, but also Nancy Reagan pleading for stem research.
posted on Sep 8, 2003 - View this thread

In lieu of today's posts on GM foods and meat, Trans Ova Genetics is pharming cows in hopes of creating one capable of adminstering human antibodies.
posted on Aug 25, 2003 - View this thread

Welcome to self-policing corporate responsibility. A division of the pharmaceutical company Bayer (Expertise with responsibility) sold millions of dollars of blood-clotting medicine for hemophiliacs - medicine that carried a high risk of transmitting AIDS - to Asia and Latin America in the mid-1980s while selling a new, safer product in the West.
posted on May 22, 2003 - View this thread

Matthew's Eye has been healing ever since he got a nasty shot from someone. His site shows the process through a series of photos, one taken per day.
posted on May 16, 2003 - View this thread

'Bionic eye' breakthrough can allow the blind to see. One by one the miracles of Jesus are replaced by science.
posted on May 8, 2003 - View this thread

WHO lifts Toronto travel ban. And Health Canada Recommendations: Health Canada continues to strongly endorse travel into and throughout the GTA [Greater Toronto Area] as safe and encourages travellers to maintain their business and/or personal travel plans to the GTA.
That's just great. What, a week after banning all travel to Toronto because of SARS, it's on again?

That's bloody irresponsible, considering the damage it has done and will continue to do so to travel to Canada no less Toronto. [s'more inside]
posted on Apr 29, 2003 - View this thread

Snoring causes headaches..... according to recent research. I post this as I recall from a previous thread that some interest was generated from a post on migraine. I drove my GP mental then, trying to tell her how to do her job based on some contributions to mefi. Now I will be starting all over again.
posted on Apr 22, 2003 - View this thread

The other war. Dispatches from the trenches, in the middle of the Hong Kong SARS outbreak. [may be annoying popups] [more inside]
posted on Mar 21, 2003 - View this thread

A scientist discovers that scorpions make two types of venoms. Cool. But he made the discovery while attempting to find a toxin that he wants to put into a common cold virus, in order to kill insects that catch the cold? Shouldn't we be worried about this?
posted on Jan 21, 2003 - View this thread

Quick break for a Public Service Announcement:
How to talk someone down from a bad trip.
posted on Dec 10, 2002 - View this thread

Educate. Prevent. Practice Safer Sex. Insist On Needle Exchange Programs. End HIV/AIDS Discrimination. Demand Adequate Treatment for Low Income HIV+ Persons. (And fight like hell against those who drag their feet on public health issues for the sake of ideology.)
posted on Dec 1, 2002 - View this thread

White House Wages Stealth War on Condoms The government is waging a covert war on condoms. Fact sheets on the effectiveness of condoms in preventing the transmission of the AIDS virus have disappeared from government sites. Right wing activists have been appointed to the the presidential AIDS panel. Government audits of AIDS activist groups who protest these policies have begun. So, apparently only evil-doers have sex outside of marriage, and they deserve to die horrible deaths.
posted on Nov 20, 2002 - View this thread

Keys of Nutrition You may not be familiar with Ancel Keys, but his discoveries about nutrition and health are behind much of the dietary advice people now receive. Have you ever wondered who proved that the amount of cholesterol in food did not influence the amount of cholesterol in the blood? Do you know what causes high cholesterol? Do you like olive oil but need a good rationalization to keep using it? (hint: there is one) What dietary advice has most fascinated you, or helped you the most?
posted on Oct 22, 2002 - View this thread

Ontarians wait up to 30 weeks for key tests
Waiting lists for common exams to detect major diseases are growing at an alarming and outrageous pace in Ontario, says the National Post. The Waiting lists are longest ever, One million people waiting for medical treatments, A Hostpital with no nurses or beds, and, Medical errors killing thousands. Over the pond... more bad news. 36-hour hospital wait for 87-year-old , and worse yet, Woman dies 'after hospital wait'.
Bad news for govt. run health care, or media hype?
posted on Oct 2, 2002 - View this thread

Oh No - Not the O-Zone Layer AGAIN! It seems that our wonderful ozone hole over the Earth has split in two... Now you don't need to wear 100 sunblock just on Australia and Antarctica. But scientists *sound* a little happier, or perhaps I'm just reading into it a little too much.
posted on Sep 30, 2002 - View this thread

If you can spare a moment from histrionic rhetorical arguments about far away places you have no real experience with to involve yourself with practical ways to stop the trend toward a fundamentalist totalitarian corporate dictatorship in this country and step by small pragmatic step reclaim democracy, a good first step is to support Oregon's Measure 23, to promote comprehensive universal health care using a single payer public finance mechanism, or support healthcare for everyone in your state.
posted on Sep 30, 2002 - View this thread

A bill is currently being pushed through Congress that will give health care providers, including those that are federally funded, the right to refuse to perform abortions or administer contraceptive medication for personal moral reasons. Next week: firefighters allowed to let houses burn down because they hate the color of the curtains.
posted on Sep 25, 2002 - View this thread

Man awakens from 7-year coma. Peter Sana of Honolulu, Hawaii, finally began responding to human interaction last month after slipping into a Meningitis-related coma in 1995. Peter, we've got some good news... aaaaaaaaaand some bad news...
posted on Sep 11, 2002 - View this thread

Is this the big one? With some 18,000 sick and over 700 people having died of the flu in a country the size of France over the past couple of months, I find it odd that the media seems obsesessed with the US / Iraq thing and missing children. The 1918 flu epidemic killed some 675,00 Americans alone, with a global tally in excess of 20 MILLION killed. Some of the photos taken back then are pretty grim. It seems the power of influenza is that it (ahhem) mutates and thats why it could once again be a big killer. Cynical as it might sound, as a race maybe we need something like this to teach us that we've got a lot more in common with each other than skin colour and religion might otherwise lead us to believe. ObDisclaimer: I'm unemployed right now, have maybe six months of canned goods in the flat; if this hits London, I ain't opening my door to nobody.
posted on Aug 30, 2002 - View this thread

The barbie drug, brown and hard anyone?
posted on Aug 1, 2002 - View this thread

"We think of an orange as a constant, but in reality it's not." Canadian study finds that fruits and vegetables have lost much of their nutritional value in the last decades--potatoes, for example, have lost 100% of their Vitamin A. The reason, it appears, is mass production and a market that values appearance over substance. Is this symptomatic of deeper problems within a system where produce travels so far before reaching the consumer? Here in B.C., for example, the stores are full of California produce, despite the fact that we grow much the same fruits and vegetables locally.
posted on Jul 6, 2002 - View this thread

What would you do to live to 150? (more inside)
posted on Jun 3, 2002 - View this thread

Homeless street kids in 3rd world countries adapt to survive and are actually healthier and more likely to survive than are their peers who grow up in poor but intact families in agricultural villages. Experts confounded.
posted on May 4, 2002 - View this thread

Power Company Buys Entire Village American Electric Power is buying the Gallia County village of Cheshire, Ohio for $20 million after years of complaints from residents about pollution from AEP's massive Gen. James M. Gavin power plant, located along the Ohio River on the edge of the village.
Two months ago federal health experts reported that blue sulfuric clouds from the Gavin plant endangered the village last summer, particularly residents suffering from asthma. I'm not sure what to think about such an odd plan.
"I think the town just had enough of the company's experimentation," said Dale Heydlauff, AEP's senior vice president for environmental affairs. Note: Registration required to read full story .
posted on Apr 16, 2002 - View this thread

"a huge victory for breathers" of course industry "experts" beg to differ: "EPA tends to overstate health concerns," said Dan Riedinger, a spokesman for the Edison Electric Institute.
posted on Mar 27, 2002 - View this thread

Cannabis is given health all clear in UK
posted on Mar 23, 2002 - View this thread

Man dies before boarding an airplane? Or did he die in midflight? "Authorities disagree on whether Walsh, who had a history of heart- and kidney-related health problems, died midflight or before he boarded the plane." What really gets me is: how could he get on the airplane if he was already dead? Wouldn't the people helping him onto the plane notice?
posted on Mar 18, 2002 - View this thread

New Scientist article about the Anthrax attacks. "After months of bungled investigation, it now looks certain that America's anthrax attacks came from within. The implications are terrifying".
posted on Feb 21, 2002 - View this thread

Convict Heart Transplant A 31 year old 2 time felon just got a heart transplant, costing tax payers close to $1 million dollars. With an annual additional cost of $15,000. Right? Wrong? I'm not so sure.
posted on Jan 30, 2002 - View this thread

Norfolk Island wants to ban anyone with HIV or hepatitis from visiting or living on the island. I can't see how they can get away with this.
posted on Jan 17, 2002 - View this thread

Feeling Blue?
posted on Jan 14, 2002 - View this thread

The dying wish of terminally ill 15-year-old has sparked debate over whether it was appropriate that it be granted. His wish: to lose his virginity before he died. His friends arranged for a prostitute to grant his wish outside of hospital grounds earlier this month without the knowledge or consent of his parents. He died last week.
posted on Dec 22, 2001 - View this thread

Rodney Dangerfield Suffers Heart Attack: As this article illustrates, the man is a national treasure - here's hoping he makes a swift recovery.
posted on Nov 25, 2001 - View this thread

It's not germ warfare... and it's not terrorism, but it is the strongest argument to put off that Hawaiian vacation this winter to date. Nothing like a little tropical disease to take the shine off of paradise. I wonder what else is passing underneath the radar with this whole war on terror thing.
posted on Oct 15, 2001 - View this thread

Sharon Stone hospitalized for brain ailment. I don't want to snicker, but I can't stop.
posted on Oct 1, 2001 - View this thread

Edible berry contains possible cancer-fighting agents. Elaeagnus umbellata, or the Autumn Olive, has been found to contain eighteen times the amount of lycopene that is found in tomatoes.
posted on Sep 14, 2001 - View this thread

You're Never Too Old to Get HIV!! People over 50 account for 13.4% of 1999 newly diagnosed AIDS cases. But because seniors, who don't think they're at risk to begin with, don't get tested -- the problem may be much bigger than number suggest.

Misconceptions about STDs, multiple partners, and the belief that condoms aren't necessary since pregnancy isn't possible, (and perhaps Viagra?) are contributing to the escalating rate.
posted on Jul 17, 2001 - View this thread

President Lincoln narrowly avoids insanity. Had he not changed his medication early in his presidency, Lincoln might have conducted the war very differently.
posted on Jul 17, 2001 - View this thread

Compulsory HIV testing: Hadn't considered that
See also: This, or this ... What's up?
posted on Jul 14, 2001 - View this thread

Shark bites off boy's arm and it's reattached! I know it's a Yahoo! link, but this seems incredible. The boy's uncle wrestled the shark to the beach where it was shot and the limb was retrieved from the shark's mouth. Is there anything science and strong uncles can't do?
posted on Jul 8, 2001 - View this thread

Health Care For Youngest Americans...or Sneak Attack On Pro-Choice Lobby? Interesting proposal from HHS...guaranteed to fan the flames of what has been called the "most divisive issue in modern America." Should a fetus be classified as a "beneficiary" of health care benefits under the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP)? If this proposal is approved, will it forever change the debate?
posted on Jul 7, 2001 - View this thread

Bush's Surgeon General Advises Common Sense Approach to Sex Ed. Be still my heart - the SG swims against the abstinence currents and addresses sex education with rational and realistic guidelines.
posted on Jun 28, 2001 - View this thread

Someone else's Religion or your health? How the Catholic church is manipulating medical research in the United States. Stem cell research offers some exciting opportunities for medicine but the Pope doesn't think so.
posted on Jun 21, 2001 - View this thread

Don't fear the reaper. Can this really predict my final days!!
posted on Jun 14, 2001 - View this thread

Spam is killing Micronesians. The kind in a can. Spam, not Micronesians. (via Arts & Letters)
posted on Jun 4, 2001 - View this thread

Death toll from nCJD passes 100. Is it me, or were we expecting a lot more than that? SEAC called for more post mortem examinations to be conducted on elderly people who die with suspected dementia, in case vCJD is being misdiagnosed as Alzheimer's or senility. Seems unlikely that a diagnosis of Alzheimer's or dementia could be made *without* a postmortem, but there ya go.
posted on May 25, 2001 - View this thread

Scientific breakthrough of the century.
posted on Apr 18, 2001 - View this thread

Mmmm, stickers in my colon. Next time I'll be sure to wash the apple, doc. (see bottom pick).
posted on Apr 11, 2001 - View this thread

Second hand smoke doesn't cause cancer I am shocked that an organization would withhold information that is damaging to their cause.
posted on Mar 26, 2001 - View this thread

The Andromeda MIR Strain. Russia pushed back the MIR deorbit dates by another two weeks on Tuesday. Meanwhile, questions have surfaced about whether the mutant micoorganisms that inhabit the station will survive the fiery decent. Just another sci-fi story? Or should we be worried both about the ISS and Biosphere One (a.k.a. Earth)?
posted on Mar 8, 2001 - View this thread

Why bother with insurance forms--go to the Luxury Hospital. And they're helping Medicare costs stay low too!! (?)
posted on Feb 4, 2001 - View this thread

shades of microserfs: man locked himself in his parents bathroom two years ago and refuses to come out. is fed by flat food slipped under the door.
posted on Jan 5, 2001 - View this thread

Rumours about Saddam Hussein's health. According to a report from Sky News, the Iraqi dictator may have suffered a major stroke or may be dead.
posted on Jan 3, 2001 - View this thread

'Gulf War Syndrome' cause? An interesting potential link (via thewebtoday).
posted on Nov 15, 2000 - View this thread

Eric is fat! After a month of gorgeing himself for The Fat Project, Eric has finally achieved his goal of 30 lbs. in 30 days. Nicole, on the other hand, isn't faring so well. Updates every few hours today.
posted on Oct 30, 2000 - View this thread

It's about time. (More inside)
posted on Sep 28, 2000 - View this thread

Another chink in the armor of anti-fat bigots, haters and discriminators: Scientists discover common virus appears to cause obesity. Interestingly, it also seems to lower cholesterol at the same time.
posted on Jul 27, 2000 - View this thread

As someone who has at least one migraine a day, this intrigues me. If any of you suffer them as well, maybe help is at hand.
posted on Jun 13, 2000 - View this thread

personal accountability for the failures of managed care -- an odd take on mental health advocacy.
posted on Jun 1, 2000 - View this thread

speaking of anorexia... "ministers are so concerned about the obsession of teenage girls with being thin that they are considering regulations aimed specifically at the fashion industry. the department of trade and industry is looking to draft regulations that would be designed to halt the "use and abuse" of those suffering from eating disorders and could force modelling agencies to use people with normal body shapes."
posted on Apr 10, 2000 - View this thread

When you reach an error page on this manic-depressive server's site, you get some very interesting results. This is not your typical 404, it's a whole lot more.
posted on Feb 25, 2000 - View this thread

An insect a day keeps the doctor away. Yuck.
posted on Jan 21, 2000 - View this thread