Archive for October 2009

The skin of a pumpkin skin may scare away germs

Pumpkins are the universal symbols of Fall and Halloween. But now, researchers have found that the skin of that pumpkin you carved into a Jack-o’-Lantern contains a substance that could put a scare into microbes that cause millions infections in adults and infants each year.

Don’t kiss or shake or H1N1 can get you

Many French, Eastern Europeans and Italians have stopped kissing each other on the cheeks when they meet. Same goes for many living in Quebec, Montreal and some Islamic and South American countries. Also, doctors say, the ever popular air kiss is being done from a greater distance.

The chemical industry hides behind touchy-feely name and Obama’s OMB acts a lot like it did under Bush.

The Coalition for Chemical Safety sounds like just the kind of group to which environmental activists would swarm.

Copper kills hospital superbugs, could save thousands of lives

Centuries ago alchemists proclaimed copper a life-saving metal. Some Native American shamans and Amazonian jungle healers use potions and trinkets of copper to treat hundreds of maladies. Millions of people wear copper bracelets to ease the pain of arthritis. And late-night hucksters and Internet spammers claim copper can cure everything from ruptured Achilles tendons to [...]

Local lawmakers move to ban California’s killer rock

California has a killer state rock.

Pig brain splatter confirmed as cause of illness in slaughterhouse workers.

After two years of research, health investigators have reported that slaughterhouse workers that suffered debilitating diseases of their nervous system were exposed to microscopic particles of pig brain.

You can always count on a disaster to bring out the con artists. Why should a pandemic be any different?

The internet has become an open door for modern snake oil salesmen trying to profit on the public’s fear of the H1N1 flu.

Your body odors could send you to prison or to the head of the line for medical care

There is nothing on this planet that doesn’t have its own unique odor. Some are enticing, seductive, even wondrous. Others are revolting, stomach-turning or repulsive.

Federal agencies gang up to handle lethal drugs in the home.

The EPA is worried about drugs getting into the water supply. DEA is concerned about drugs getting into your kids. And the FDA – the agency responsible for legal drugs – has finally decided to weigh what to do with all the extra medications lying around most homes.

Contaminates in sugar substitute may be killing bees and could harm humans.

Government researchers have found that high-fructose corn syrup, which is used as a sweetening agent in thousands of products, creates potentially dangerous levels of a toxic substance when heated.