Author: Staff (Page 80 of 157)

The Safety of Fracking Has Health Groups Concerned

January 10, 2012 / Staff

Environmental concerns over fracking have heightened as the practice has grown to address the nation’s demand for fossil fuel.

Fracking involves injecting water mixed with sand and chemicals into shale formations at high pressures to extract fuel.
The recent spread of fracking has raised concerns among environmentalists, public health advocates and some neighbors of shale wells who worry about issues such as water contamination and increased truck traffic. Some have also linked earthquakes to disposal of waste water from shale wells.

Quality Control, Research, Wellness

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Aspirin Therapy Under Review

January 9, 2012 / Staff

An aspirin a day used to be the recommendation for stroke and heart attack patients for preventative measures.

However the risk of heavy internal bleeding is worse than the potential benefits, especially to healthy people.

The message seems to be that aspirin therapy causes more harm than it’s worth.

Currently, U.S. guidelines all recommend aspirin for primary prevention as long as the benefits outweigh the harms, an equation that depends on baseline risk. This advice is backed by an editorial accompanying the new report.

Health Care Policy, Quality Control, Research, Wellness

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Antibiotic Use in Livestock Coming Under Scrutiny

January 9, 2012 / Staff

The Food and Drug Administration is calling for restrictions in use of antibiotics in animals.

Crowded and filthy conditions call for the use of the drugs to prevent illness in the animals which could be passed on to humans.

However, it seems that the antibiotics are indeed being passed on to humans and helping to create super-bugs which are becoming increasingly drug resistant.

Some 80 percent of antibiotic drugs in the United States were sold for use in food animals, according to the FDA. Many of those are used to help animals grow faster and prevent infections from breaking out on big farms. Today’s announcement on cephalosporins doesn’t affect those antibiotics in feed.
Still, the more the cephalosporins are used, the greater the chances that they will stop working because bacteria can become resistant to them.

Quality Control

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Raising a Rebellious Teen May Be A Good Thing

January 8, 2012 / Staff

Who would have thought that arguing with your teen was a good idea?

As emotionally exhausting as it can be it is also the training ground of real life.

Yo don’t want your kid to be a push over and learning to communicate and negotiate effectively are valuable skills in all aspects of life.

Allen says almost all parents and teenagers argue. But it’s the quality of the arguments that makes all the difference.
“We tell parents to think of those arguments not as nuisance but as a critical training ground,” he says. Such arguments, he says, are actually mini life lessons in how to disagree — a necessary skill later on in life with partners, friends and colleagues on the job.
Teens should be rewarded when arguing calmly and persuasively and not when they indulge in yelling, whining, threats or insults, he says.

Research, Wellness

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Dioxin Guidelines Under Review

January 8, 2012 / Staff

Farmers and the food industry are asking the Obama administration to ease coming federal guidance that will advise consumers to minimize their intake of dioxins, chemicals that may be harmful at certain levels.

The standards would, for the first time, set a limit on how much dioxin Americans can be exposed to and still be safe. The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to release the guidelines in January.

Dioxins are a byproduct of paper, metal and cement production, but the primary source of exposure for people is food. Meat and dairy products in particular absorb the chemicals, which are ubiquitous.

Quality Control, Research, Resources

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