text:
Dog Brothers Public Forum
Return To Homepage
. Please
April 25, 2014, 03:46:14 AM
1 Hour
1 Day
1 Week
1 Month
Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search
Welcome to the Dog Brothers Public Forum.
Posts in
Topics by
Latest Member:
Dog Brothers Public Forum
Politics, Religion, Science, Culture and Humanities
Science, Culture, & Humanities
Health Thread (nutrition, medical, longevity, etc)
« previous
next »
Topic: Health Thread (nutrition, medical, longevity, etc) (Read 83054 times)
Power User
Posts: 29669
NY mandatory outpatient treatment for mentally ill
Reply #400 on:
July 30, 2013, 03:18:56 PM »
second post
Power User
Posts: 29669
MExico starts up war on soda
Reply #401 on:
August 29, 2013, 08:38:37 AM »
Education is a good thing.
Power User
Posts: 29669
American foods banned in other countries
Reply #402 on:
September 04, 2013, 11:57:26 AM »
Power User
Posts: 29669
Gut Bacteria, intestinal flora
Reply #403 on:
September 07, 2013, 07:50:29 AM »
Power User
Posts: 3796
The retail pharmacist
Reply #404 on:
September 29, 2013, 07:17:28 PM »
Industrialization/corporatization of pharmacy - I assume it is the same all over the US. When one walks into one of these chain pharmacies one sees an exasperated staff answering calls, taking orders from the drive thru, filling prescriptions, catering to lines of customers, calling doctors, insurers, kept on hold, etc. I feel sorry for them. (In contrast has anyone ever seen a government agency employee work so hard?) I read this and I can relate:
****On Being a Doctor (in this case a pharmacist)| 3 September 2013
A Day in the Life of a Corporate Retail Pharmacist
David D. Dore, PharmD, PhD
Ann Intern Med. 2013;159(5):366-367. doi:10.7326/0003-4819-159-5-201309030-00014
It was the Tuesday after Memorial Day and my fourth consecutive 13-hour day in the pharmacy. Having just passed the boards, I landed a job as a floating staff pharmacist. It was my first time working at this store and my third store in as many days. I did not know what to expect except that, as usual, I would be the only licensed pharmacist working here today. This fact struck me as a microcosm of my profession's ineffectualnessan ineffectualness resulting from misaligned objectives and poor processes of care, afflicting first pharmacists and, ultimately, patient care.
Today's store was small and old, the mirror against the wall a vestige of the soda fountain of years past. The fibrous carpet, with its familiar gray-square pattern, was the same as that at the two megastores where I worked over the weekend. Familiar, too, was the impending tumult of the day, which was as disruptive to the 20-year veteran pharmacist who managed this store as it was to me.
Arriving at the pharmacy, I entered the alarm code and raised the dusty gate. I prepared the cash register and logged into the ancient computer system, wondering when the pharmacy technician was due to arrive. Fifty new refill requests awaited. I preferred to arrive early for busy shifts, especially on a Tuesday after a holiday, but it was against corporate policy.
I answered the telephone. Jim, this is Rocco. I need my orange pills and my inhaler, the caller said.
Sir, Jim has the day off. I'm filling in for him. Let me see whether I can help you. What is your last name?
He hung up. I answered a second call. It was the practice nurse from one of the local primary care providers responding to a question left on voicemail the previous evening. Prescriptions with pending problems are conventionally left in plain sight, but I found no note or other evidence of the situation. Perhaps the permanent pharmacists would have known of this issue, though not through any evident record-keeping system. No two systems were alike.
I'm sorry, but I'l have to call you back, I said.
She hung up, wasting no time on pleasantries. My anxiety grew.
Standing alone in the pharmacy, I turned my attention to the now 60 prescriptions waiting. I spent the next 10 minutes processing the prescription orders, overriding the many warnings that popped up on the computer screen, thinking of the alarm fatigue that my colleagues at the hospital experience with medical equipment. The whirling of the laser printer drowned out the overhead music.
The first technician arrived 15 minutes late and began counting tablets on a small plastic tray by using a spatula that resembled a butter knife. Meanwhile, I was caught in a proxy battle with an insurance company. They no longer paid for olmesartan. A patient would have to use an alternative drug that her insurance company now preferred.
I called the physician's office to request a substitution, cursing the fact that I could not make the substitution without a physician's approval. After waiting on hold for several minutes, I left a message requesting a prescription for valsartan. I made a note to call the customer, who had not yet learned that her prescription was changing.
The technician was also on the telephone, and four customers arrived at the counter in rapid succession. The first woman tapped her keys on the counter, apparently to ensure that we noticed her. I smiled at her while my anxiety mounted.
After hanging up the telephone, I greeted the woman at the counter. She handed me a prescription for isotretinoin, for which the Food and Drug Administration required a special program for therapeutic risk management. I had to call a telephone-based registry system before filling the prescription.
I have a new insurance card, she said, handing me a card that had no information that could be used for billing a pharmacy claim.
You should have received a separate card for your pharmacy coverage, I told her. Do you have it?
I didn't get it.
I'l call the insurance company, I said.
How long will it take?
About 30 minutes.
But your advertisement says that prescriptions will be filled in 15 minutes or less.
She was right.
I'm sorry, but that is not feasible at the moment. I'l finish it as soon as possible, I said.
She walked away with an angry look. I didn't notice, but that day I had not yet used any knowledge of pharmacotherapy that was the focus of my training.
The next customer was an overweight, out-of-breath woman in her mid-70s named Mrs. da Silva, who arrived with her daughter. Mrs. da Silva was a regular customer who spoke only Portuguese. Translating, the technician told me that Mrs. da Silva was just discharged from the hospital for what I inferred was an acute myocardial infarction. I had no access to her actual diagnosis or medical records. Mrs. Da Silva handed me 12 prescriptions written by the hospital's housestaff.
In subsequent moments, I prioritized the filling of Mrs. da Silva's prescriptions; her pale appearance suggested that she would be better off resting at home than sitting on a bench next to the pharmacy. The chaos of the routine prescription-filling circled just beyond my attention.
As the technician translated, I began counseling Mrs. da Silva on the importance and logistics of taking the medicines. I realized quickly that she learned very little about the medications from her doctors at the hospital, which came as no surprise. During the inpatient rotations of my training, I learned how hectic hospital life could be for medical interns and residents.
Then, a second technician whose arrival I barely noticed interrupted to tell me that I had to take an urgent telephone call from a cursing customer. The caller was a man irate about the copayment for the prescription that his daughter had just picked up. When I returned to the counter, Mrs. da Silva was gone. I contemplated calling her when she arrived home but was interrupted by a beeping noise indicating that a car was at the drive-through pharmacy window.
She just wanted to go home, said the technician who had translated.
I do not know why I allowed my conversation with Mrs. da Silva to be interrupted except that a typical day at a corporate pharmacy involves being understaffed and overworked, resulting in the need to address one urgency after another. Technician help is scarce, not because there are too few technicians but because corporate overseers allocate staffing resources.
Moreover, prompt responses are expected in retail, even if I have no influence over the physician's choice of drug or the insurance company's coverage policies. The large corporate pharmacies limit staff in favor of profit and promise convenience instead of health care. I also know that continuity of care after discharge from the hospital is imperfect and that community pharmacists are the most accessible health care providers.
As a community pharmacist, I cannot be expected to be a patient's primary care provider; indeed, physicians must follow their sickest patients closely. However, it seems that improving the patient-centeredness rather than profit-centeredness of pharmacy care would prevent lost opportunities for patientprovider dialogue, such as that with Mrs. da Silva.
Reflecting on the reasons why I went to pharmacy school, I recall that in my precollege years I had simply wanted a future career where I could help people. Although I considered a range of options, the college of pharmacy's recruitment materials touted the effect that one could have after completing the required doctoral-level training. Perhaps in a different practice setting that effect could be realized.
I spent the remainder of the day filling the 400 prescriptions that were waiting for my attention, talking to customers and physicians offices on the telephone, and answering routine questions at the counter, all the time being rushed by the incessant flow of work. Yet, when I walked away from Mrs. da Silva, I knew that I had missed the most important opportunity that day to provide real pharmaceutical care.
Several months later, I was back at the same pharmacy working with the same technicians when Mrs. da Silva's daughter came in to tell us that her mother had died. With sad eyes, she told us that it was unexpected, because Mrs. da Silva had made a promising recovery from the first heart attack.
When I opened her pharmacy record to document that she was deceased, I noticed that Mrs. da Silva had never refilled her 12 prescriptions. My heart sank. To this day, I wonder whether Mrs. da Silva died of a diseased heart or a broken pharmacy system.****
Power User
Posts: 29669
WSJ: Hey Doc! Have you washed your hands?
Reply #405 on:
October 01, 2013, 03:11:58 PM »
It's a simple enough request, but for patients and families who feel vulnerable, scared or uncomfortable in a hospital room, the subject can be too intimidating to even bring up with a doctor or nurse: Have you washed your hands?
Hospitals are encouraging patients to be more assertive, amid growing concern about infections that are resistant to antibiotics.
Strict hand hygiene measures are the gold standard for reducing infections associated with health care. Acquired primarily in hospitals but also in nursing homes, outpatient surgery centers and even doctor's offices, they affect more than one million patients and are linked to nearly 100,000 deaths a year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC aims to engage both patients and caregivers in preventing dangerous hospital infections.
Yet despite years of efforts to educate both clinicians and patients, studies show hospital staff on average comply with hand-washing protocols, including cleansing with soap and water or alcohol-based gels, only about 50% of the time. Two new studies show patients aren't much more comfortable today than a decade ago with the idea of asking doctors and medical staff to lather up.
Hospitals have reduced certain infections over the past four years with measures such as removing unnecessary catheters and washing a patient's skin before surgery with antibacterial soap. Some have lifted hygiene compliance to nearly 100% with strict "wash in, wash out" protocols, and some have designated unidentified staffers to secretly monitor co-workers. Some hospitals link merit increases to compliance and temporarily suspend clinical privileges of doctors who ignore the rules, says Gina Pugliese, vice president of the Safety Institute at hospital purchasing alliance Premier Inc. According to a 2010 study, a disciplinary program at the University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington that included suspending doctors' privileges led to improved compliance rates.
More hospitals have turned to electronic sensors, thermal imaging and video cameras to monitor hand hygiene, and some are issuing badges that wirelessly record staffers' use of hand hygiene stations before entering a patient room. Some monitoring systems emphasize patient engagement and sound an electronic alert to remind patients to speak up when a staffer enters the room.
The CDC has provided 16,000 copies of a video, titled "Hand Hygiene Saves Lives," to be shown to patients at admission. In one scenario, a doctor comes into a room and the patient's wife says, "Doctor, I'm embarrassed to even ask you this, but would you mind cleansing your hands before you begin?" The doctor replies, "Oh, I washed them right before I came in the room." The wife says, "If you wouldn't mind, I'd like you to do it again, in front of me."
After patients at 17 hospitals run by Cincinnati-based Catholic Health Partners watched the video, there was a rise in both the proportion of patients asking staffers to wash their hands, and physicians and nurses reporting that they were asked, according to a 2010 study. "Hand hygiene is probably the most important thing health-care workers can do to protect their patients from infection," says John Jernigan, director of the CDC's hospital infection-prevention efforts who appears in the video. When patients speak up, it helps create "a culture of safety," he says.
The nonprofit Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology is kicking off a campaign this month including posters mailed to 15,000 hospitals with tips on how patients can take an active role. It suggests asking staff about hand hygiene and requesting that hospital rooms be cleaned if they appear dirty.
"We've been focusing on intensive interventions to improve hand hygiene among health-care workers for decades, yet we've really shown very little progress," says Carol McLay, a Lexington, Ky., infection prevention consultant and chair of the committee that designed the campaign. "We are trying to empower patients and families to speak up and understand their role."
At some hospitals, posters, bedside placards and buttons for staffers say, "Ask me if I've washed my hands." Susan Coffin, a pediatric infectious disease physician at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, says while many efforts are made in good faith, they are "insufficient to overcome some of these barriers." She is co-author of a study, published in June in the American Journal of Infection Control, which found that 84% of parents were aware of infection risk yet only 67% would remind a health-care worker to wash their hands, most often because of concern about appearing rude or undermining authority. Yet 92% of parents said if a health-care worker invited reminders, they would be more likely to do so. The hospital is "trying to make it a more active conversation," Dr. Coffin says. Admission packets offer detailed information on hand hygiene and nurses tell families that staffers welcome questions about hand washing.
In a study published in September in the journal Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, one-third of patients surveyed at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center said they observed doctors failing to wash their hands, but nearly two-thirds said nothing to their doctor about hand hygiene. Most didn't believe it was their role to do so and said they felt embarrassed or awkward and worried about reprisal.
Patients are more likely to ask nurses about hand hygiene, says Gregory Bump, associate professor of medicine. "There is something about the white-coat barrier that makes them reluctant to challenge doctors." Physicians may resist assertive patients and seem unreceptive or even hostile to a question about hand washing, he says.
Patients, instead of receiving information about infections and hand washing, would prefer having staffers wear a button or light to indicate whether his or her hands had been washed, the study also found. UPMC is developing a system to measure and track hand-washing compliance, as well as computerized verbal reminders to patients to ask the employee to clean their hands when they enter the room.
Michael Gettes, 50, has been hospitalized several times and says he has never had to remind Dr. Bump, his primary physician, to wash his hands. He has asked other hospital staffers to do so. One doctor reacted negatively. "It put our relationship on a bad footing," Mr. Gettes says. "Yes, you run the risk of upsetting someone who has been taking care of you. But it is my life. If they make a mistake I am impacted or I die."
Gail Ulager, a 72-year-old kidney transplant recipient at UPMC, says she worries about the possibility of infection because she is taking drugs that suppress her immune system to prevent rejection of her new organ. She found a way to give the message to doctors, nurses and even her dentist without seeming disrespectful. "I always tell them that the transplant center insists that everyone washes their hands" she says.
Power User
Posts: 3796
Re: Health Thread (nutrition, medical, longevity, etc)
Reply #406 on:
October 02, 2013, 09:15:32 AM »
Yes I have been asked this before.
I tell patients with infections to wash their hands at home to prevent them from spreading to their families or getting something else.
Try washing your hands at home the next time you have a cold every time you touch your eyes your nose your mouth of blow your nose or cough with your hand over your mouth.
See how easy it is.
Power User
Posts: 3796
Cure for Cdiff - eat shit
Reply #407 on:
October 03, 2013, 08:48:02 PM »
As ridiculous as this sounds, despite millions spent on special antibiotics, this of all things, appears to be the giant advance we have been waiting for.
****Pills made from poop cure serious gut infections
Dr. Thomas Louie, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Calgary, holds a container of stool pills in triple-coated gel capsules in his lab in Calgary, Alberta, Canada on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2013. Half a million Americans get Clostridium difficile, or C-diff, infections each year, and about 14,000 die. A very potent and pricey antibiotic can kill C-diff but also destroys good bacteria that live in the gut, leaving it more susceptible to future infections. Recently, studies have shown that fecal transplants - giving infected people stool from a healthy donor - can restore that balance. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jeff McIntosh)
Associated Press
MARILYNN MARCHIONE 10 hours ago
Hold your nose and don't spit out your coffee: Doctors have found a way to put healthy people's poop into pills that can cure serious gut infections a less yucky way to do "fecal transplants." Canadian researchers tried this on 27 patients and cured them all after strong antibiotics failed to help.
It's a gross topic but a serious problem. Half a million Americans get Clostridium difficile, or C-diff, infections each year, and about 14,000 die. The germ causes nausea, cramping and diarrhea so bad it is often disabling. A very potent and pricey antibiotic can kill C-diff but also destroys good bacteria that live in the gut, leaving it more susceptible to future infections.
Recently, studies have shown that fecal transplants giving infected people stool from a healthy donor can restore that balance. But they're given through expensive, invasive procedures like colonoscopies or throat tubes. Doctors also have tried giving the stool through enemas but the treatment doesn't always take hold.
There even are YouTube videos on how to do a similar treatment at home via an enema. A study in a medical journal of a small number of these "do-it-yourself" cases suggests the approach is safe and effective.
Dr. Thomas Louie, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Calgary, devised a better way a one-time treatment custom-made for each patient.
Donor stool, usually from a relative, is processed in the lab to take out food and extract the bacteria and clean it. It is packed into triple-coated gel capsules so they won't dissolve until they reach the intestines.
"There's no stool left just stool bugs. These people are not eating poop," and there are no smelly burps because the contents aren't released until they're well past the stomach, Louie said.
Days before starting the treatment, patients are given an antibiotic to kill the C-diff. On the morning of the treatment, they have an enema so "the new bacteria coming in have a clean slate," Louie said.
It takes 24 to 34 capsules to fit the bacteria needed for a treatment, and patients down them in one sitting. The pills make their way to the colon and seed it with the normal variety of bacteria.
Louie described 27 patients treated this way on Thursday at IDWeek, an infectious diseases conference in San Francisco. All had suffered at least four C-diff infections and relapses, but none had a recurrence after taking the poop pills.
Margaret Corbin, 69, a retired nurse's aide from Calgary, told of the misery of C-diff.
"It lasted for two years. It was horrible. I thought I was dying. I couldn't eat. Every time I ate anything or drank water I was into the bathroom," she said. "I never went anywhere, I stayed home all the time."
. Thomas Louie, right, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Calgary, administers
With her daughter as the donor, she took pills made by Louie two years ago, and "I've been perfectly fine since," Corbin said.
Dr. Curtis Donskey of the Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, who has done fecal transplants through colonoscopies, praised the work.
"The approach that Dr. Louie has is completely novel no one else has done this," he said. "I am optimistic that this type of preparation will make these procedures much easier for patients and for physicians."
The treatment now must be made fresh for each patient so the pills don't start to dissolve at room temperature, because their water content would break down the gel coating. Minnesota doctors are testing freezing stool, which doesn't kill the bacteria, so it could be stored and shipped anywhere a patient needed it.
"You could have a universal donor in Minnesota provide a transplant for someone in Florida. That's where we're heading," Donskey said.
Other researchers are trying to find which bacteria most help fight off C-diff. Those might be grown in a lab dish and given to patients rather than the whole spectrum of bacteria in stool.
Thomas Louie, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Calgary, prepares vials in t
The hope is "we could administer that as a probiotic in a pill form," Donskey said.
Louie sees potential for the poop pills for other people with out-of-whack gut bacteria, such as hospitalized patients vulnerable to antibiotic-resistant germs.
"This approach, to me, has wide application in medicine," he said. "So it's not just about C-diff."
CDC on C-diff:
Power User
Posts: 3796
How in tarnasion is this possible?
Reply #408 on:
November 07, 2013, 11:04:58 AM »
I don't know how a "new" ligament could be rightfully "just" discovered. With hundreds of thousands, millions of knee surgeries and replacements and MRI etc.
I wonder if the new ligament is simply being re categorized as being separate from the lateral collateral ligament and not perhaps a sporadic separate head of the same ligament.
If I run into any orthopedic guys I'll get their opinion.
Power User
Posts: 29669
Lets hear it for pubic hair!
Reply #409 on:
November 16, 2013, 05:28:41 PM »
Power User
Posts: 242
You Are What Your Bacteria Eat: The Importance of Feeding Your Microbiome
Reply #410 on:
November 24, 2013, 08:18:13 PM »
You Are What Your Bacteria Eat: The Importance of Feeding Your Microbiome With Jeff Leach
Podcast with a transcript
"Were more microbe than mammal. That really wasnt well understood a decade ago, and so the new DNA techniques are allowing that. And whats really remarkable is that not since Darwins concept of natural selection has something had such a profound impact on our understanding of self. In our anthropocentric world, we think were the center of it all, but at the end of the day, the microbes are actually pulling the levers on a lot of whats going on when you consider that at the gene level they outnumber us 150 to 300 to 1. Were born with genes that mom and dad gave us, and were pretty much stuck with those, but the genes in our gut again, the bacteria are called the microbiota, and when you add their genes in as well, thats our microbiome. Of course, a biome is just an ecosystem, so we have this inner ecosystem. So, depending on how we treat them, they can make life OK or they can make it problematic, and when they get out of balance, its now thought that that may be the root or the cause of a lot of disease. The problem is working out causality versus correlation."
Power User
Posts: 29669
Re: Health Thread (nutrition, medical, longevity, etc)
Reply #411 on:
November 25, 2013, 09:09:12 AM »
Very interesting Rachel, an excellent find.
Power User
Posts: 3796
Time to prevent elderly from living too long?
Reply #412 on:
December 01, 2013, 09:36:57 PM »
My experience in medical care has brought me to the conclusion that care near the end of life does not have to be akin to an all out war fought to keep a patient alive till their last dying breath. Alternative options such as palliative care or hospice care are ethical, valid, and most importantly humane options for many. The key word is these must remain as OPTIONS that can be chosen, sampled, refused or changed with the knowledge that the decision is never binding. I still am convinced that medical science has as much capacity to reduce costs as well as increase them. Just think how much death and disease will be prevented when we are better at curing a disease like Hepatitis C. How about dementia or obesity? People will live longer and mostly though not always better.
***************Human Exceptionalism
Life and dignity with Wesley J. Smith.
Time to Prevent Elderly From Living Too Long?
By Wesley J. Smith
December 1, 2013 5:03 PM
Bioethicist Founding Father Daniel Callahan has long supported death panel health care rationing based on age. He has now weighed in against spending a lot on research to delay the aging process.
The transhumanists arent going to like this! From, On Dying After Your Time:
Even if anti-aging research could give us radically longer lives someday, though, should we even be seeking them? Regardless of what science makes possible, or what individual people want, aging is a public issue with social consequences, and these must be thought through.
Regardless of what science makes possible, or what individual people want, aging is a public issue with social consequences, and these must be thought through. Consider how dire the cost projections for Medicare already are. In 2010 more than 40 million Americans were over 65. In 2030 there will be slightly more than 72 million, and in 2050 more than 83 million. The Congressional Budget Office has projected a rise of Medicare expenditures to 5.8 percent of gross domestic product in 2038 from 3.5 percent today, a burden often declared unsustainable.
Contrary to the transhumanist eschatology, Callahan doesnt believe that extending the length of lives will also mean extending their vitality. I tend to agree. But he doesnt exactly practice what he preaches:
Modern medicine is very good at keeping elderly people with chronic diseases expensively alive. At 83, Im a good example. Im on oxygen at night for emphysema, and three years ago I needed a seven-hour emergency heart operation to save my life. Just 10 percent of the population mainly the elderly consumes about 80 percent of health care expenditures, primarily on expensive chronic illnesses and end-of-life costs. Historically, the longer lives that medical advances have given us have run exactly parallel to the increase in chronic illness and the explosion in costs. Can we possibly afford to live even longer much less radically longer?
Callahan could have refused that expensive treatment. I dont say he should have, but no one forced him to spend all that (presumably) public money on care.
He does ask a valid question, I think, about the wisdom of pouring resources into radical life-extending research (at least public money). However he also seems to assert that the elderly be somehow prevented from living longer (my emphasis):
We may properly hope that scientific advances help ensure, with ever greater reliability, that young people manage to become old people. We are not, however, obliged to help the old become indefinitely older. Indeed, our duty may be just the reverse: to let death have its day.
What does that mean? Some kind of Logans Run scenario?
Callahan isnt that type. But he should have specified what he meant. As I read him, he seems to be proclaiming some kind of a moral duty of the elderly to die.
Or it could mean refusing efficacious medical care to the elderly that the younger would be able to obtain. In less genteel hands than Callahans, it could mean something even more insidious.
My, dont those clouds on the horizon look dark?**********
Power User
Posts: 3796
marijuana gossip
Reply #413 on:
December 02, 2013, 07:55:17 AM »
The Motley Fool
5 Jaw-Dropping Facts About Legal Marijuana
By Brian Orelli | More Articles
November 30, 2013 | Comments (25)
The legal use of marijuana for both medical use and adult recreational use is on the rise. Here are five facts that might just surprise you about the drug.
Source: Chuck Coker, Flickr.
1. Marijuana could be the best-selling legal drug. Ever.
According to ArcView Market Research, the national market for legalized marijuana could hit $10.2 billion in five years. Pfizer's (NYSE: PFE ) Lipitor currently holds the record for prescription drugs at about $13 billion. If ArcView's prediction is correct, it's not hard to see how marijuana could surpass that record in the following year. It's growing from a base of just $1.44 billion this year.
And unlike Pfizer, which saw Lipitor sales crash once generic versions hit the market, there isn't likely to be a cliff that causes sales to drop precipitously, short of having the federal government decide to crack down on state laws. Of course, unlike Lipitor, you can't invest in one company to capture all the revenue.
2. 14 states could join Colorado and Washington legalizing marijuana for recreational use
In fact, that's one of the driving forces behind ArcView's growth prediction. The sentiment has shifted recently; a majority of Americans now favor legalization. If they vote the same way they answer poll questions, it's likely that we'll see many more states where marijuana use is legal in the coming five years.
The driving force for the states is the potential revenue from taxes. They want to get their cut, which they don't get on illegal sales now.
It'll be interesting to watch Colorado and Washington as they try to deal with how to tax what many consider to be a drug to help people -- which are typically not taxed -- compared with a recreational drug, which, like cigarettes and alcohol, are typically highly taxed.
3. The government sends out marijuana cigarettes each month
It's part of a study to see if marijuana could help patients with glaucoma. At its peak, there were 30 patients enrolled in the study, which stopped accepting new participants in 1992. Those still enrolled get sent their prescriptions from a special farm on the University of Mississippi campus that provides the drug for medical research.
4. Only 6% of studies on marijuana investigate its potential benefit.
According to CNN's Sanjay Gupta, the other 94% investigate its potential harm. The problem, as Gupta points out, is that it's very hard to run clinical trials on marijuana use since it's still illegal at the national level. While the University of Mississippi farm can provide the medication legally for studies, it's apparently not that all that easy to acquire medication from it.
Researchers also have to gain approval from the NIH's National Institute on Drug Abuse, which has a mission "to lead the nation in bringing the power of science to bear on drug abuse and addiction." That's not exactly a ringing endorsement for potential benefits of drugs.
5. The receptor that marijuana activates has been an (unsuccessful) drug target
Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, one of the active drugs in marijuana, is available as a prescription drug called Marinol, developed by Abbott's drug arm, now called AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV ) , to stimulate appetite and control nausea and vomiting in patients taking chemotherapy. But the drug isn't widely used because it's absorbed by different people at different levels, making it hard to get the right dosage .
Sanofi (NYSE: SNY ) tried to do the opposite and block the receptor, thus controlling appetite. While Sanofi's obesity drug, Acomplia, was fairly good at helping patients shed the pounds, it had psychiatric side effects including depression. The FDA never approved the drug, and Sanofi had to remove it from the market in Europe in 2008.
My thoughts: On #1 Best selling drug? Who would grow it and sell it?
On #2 Kind of sad that the driving force for legalization is tax revenue. Just another example how everything is money. I guess one could make similar claims for gambling and prostitution where those are also legal. Alcohol and maybe a sugar tax. The latter suddenly could be labeled a vice.
On #3 I didn't know the government was sponsoring studies on use of marijuana for glaucoma. It can lower intra-orbital pressures but my understanding is the affects were too erratic and there are so many better drugs that the use for this is dubious. I met an eye doctor in Florida who got into trouble with the ATF for testing this. He claimed they ruined his life and his wife eventually committed suicide over it. I only know his side of the story. This was about ten years ago. He was in his seventies.
On # 4 Old drugs do make comebacks. Gupta noted that most studies looked at the harms not the benefits. Remember thalidomide? The drug given to pregnant women in Europe that led to horrible birth defects? Just the mere mention of it afterwards gave everyone the shivers. Now it is a beneficial drug used for other diseases.
On # 5 The Sanofi drug did work to help people lose weight but then a suicide was reported and that was that in the US. I don't know what the experience was in Europe since it was approved there and later taken off their market.
I left the comments from some other readers here:
Help us keep this a respectfully Foolish area! This is a place for our readers to discuss, debate, and learn more about the Foolish investing topic you read about above. Help us keep it clean and safe. If you believe a comment is abusive or otherwise violates our Fool's Rules, please report it via the Report this Comment Report this Comment icon found on every comment.
Report this Comment On December 01, 2013, at 5:25 AM, VikingBear wrote:
Legalize everything.
Let the herd cull itself.
Report this Comment On December 01, 2013, at 8:46 PM, Kalamakuaikalani wrote:
Hard to take your article seriously when you title it "5 Jaw-Dropping Facts ....." & then subtitle number 1: 1. Marijuana could be the best-selling legal drug. Ever. ................... It's not a FACT if marijuana COULD BE. It either is or it isn't & THEN, that would be a FACT.
Report this Comment On December 01, 2013, at 8:53 PM, glenns45 wrote:
Controlled Substance Act of 1971 signed by a President who was forced to resign or be prosecuted. The DEA was created to make sure the right people were selling the Drugs and supporting the NWO. The Feds are the ones who bring in the drugs this is on public record do some research.
Report this Comment On December 01, 2013, at 9:23 PM, towolf2 wrote:
When it smacks somebody upside the chops, then you know what is a fact and what isn't. That's 35 years as a pro grower speaking. Say hey to The Duke for me!!
Report this Comment On December 01, 2013, at 9:26 PM, towolf2 wrote:
Which part am I reading? The educated humorous enriching part, or is this the NASCAR Channel. Caught out again.
Report this Comment On December 01, 2013, at 9:53 PM, oldmutt1949 wrote:
5 other jaw breaking facts about marijuana.
1. It has 424 compounds that turns into over 2000 when lit.
2. Those 2000 compounds release numerous poisons including hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide.
3. French Academy of Science using the atomic microscope has shown long term use of marijuana can alter a person DNA ( Science Daily )
4. Total number of people killed in the drug war in Mexico, central and Latin America exceeds the number of U.S. casualties in VIet Nam.
5. A lot of hippies from my generation who smoked this polluted crap are no longer here.
And last but not least their isn't a single study that has confirmed that all the substances in marijuana are safe evident by he emergency rooms a In Denver and other cities kept busy treating kids poisoned by this stuff because their parents are so dumb down they can't provide their children a safe environment.
Report this Comment On December 01, 2013, at 9:59 PM, fixer wrote:
Hemp used to be such a valuable crop that in George Washington's time ,farms we're required to plant a percentage of their fields with hemp.The oil from the seeds was a good lamp oil and the fiber made strong cloth and rope.
Report this Comment On December 01, 2013, at 10:21 PM, southernhippy wrote:
Old mutt is lying his butt off, Just look at old willie Nelson to see the truth, Pot smoking does not affect your age. Off course old mutt is talking about smoking and not one work about eating.
Report this Comment On December 01, 2013, at 10:24 PM, junior wrote:
something else you forgot oldmutt1949, there was talk about leagalizing it in my state. Even if it does become legalized, we were told by the plant manager that if our random pee test revealed any THC we would still loose our job.
This is why I agree with Vikingbear. Let the herd cull itself. The job market may open up so that someday I can find a job where I can afford a pack of store bought cigarrettes
Report this Comment On December 01, 2013, at 10:32 PM, southernhippy wrote:
BTW mutt lets add some other facts to that mix..
Pot smokers tend to be closer to normal weight...
Higher good cholesterol.
Also lets add the fact that smoking pot don't increase you chances of lung or any other cancer. Not to mention and numerous medical uses of MJ among those would be nausea, seizure control, pain management. So when do we decide when the good outweighs the bad? Almost every war on Pot argument has been debunked, when do you see anything other than hate?
BTW us hippies are alive and well living a great and healthy life style, after all it was us hippies who came up with the who vegetarian thing long before anyone else, peace out...
Report this Comment On December 01, 2013, at 10:57 PM, imnxtc2001 wrote:
"evident by he emergency rooms a In Denver and other cities kept busy treating kids poisoned by this stuff" Yeah oldmutt, them hospital rooms are just packed with them pot smoking whippersnappers. Too funny! If you have any time between your naps and your shuffleboarding league, you can take a few minutes to look up that marijuana by itself equals the same amount of emergency room visits as OTC sleep medicine. I will give you the benefit of the doubt, that you may have been mistaken for synthetic marijuana which is extremely dangerous.
Report this Comment On December 01, 2013, at 10:57 PM, OldSkewel wrote:
Oldmutt1949 is NOT lying southernhippy. ANYONE with at least 1/2 a brain knows it is NOT natural OR healthy to take smoke of ANY kind into a healthy set of lungs.
What I find truly ironic is the very same people that use to jump all over big time tobacco companies and the dangers of smoking absolutely sound like hypocrites now touting the oh so many benefits of cannabis which EVERYONE knows the most popular form of use is the SMOKING thereof.
While we're on the subject of cannabis, somebody please remind me, isn't hashish addictive? What, basically; is hashish comprised of...?
As far as the economic impact is concerned, it WOULD make sense to legalize it but that's the ONLY reason and EVEN THEN, the economic benefits would be relatively short term compared to the devastating social and moral impact (especially considering America's children) that would no doubt occur as you just as well can take America's public education school system and pitch it out the window, not that it works that well now but can you imagine what would happen if "chronic" was legalized...?
Report this Comment On December 01, 2013, at 11:08 PM, imnxtc2001 wrote:
Just one more observation while I'm still laughing....I'm not perfect with punctuation or grammar, but someone that doesn't smoke marijuana telling me: "jaw breaking" instead of "jaw dropping"...."their" instead "there"....."he" instead of "the"....."a In" instead of just plain out "in" minus the "a" and capital "I".....Geez, I need to smoke a bowl to even make sense of your comment at all.
Report this Comment On December 01, 2013, at 11:09 PM, southernhippy wrote:
Odds of MJ addiction is the same as gambling, Pot has no chemical addiction. You also have the same chance of becoming a workaholic or any other habit that could be considered a bad or good life choice. Pot has been around for more than 10k years and has not stopped any progression of mankind. BTW CBD's that are found in pot are also anti-cancerous, also naturally lowers blood sugars and even can protect the brain in the event of a heart attack or stroke. BTW we are also talking about Eating the plant, y'all do know it's non-toxic and impossible to overdose on right? Y'all are just looking that that lovely drug free propaganda against a persons right to live as they chose too. BTW one other note, Pot does have 5 natural nero keyways in the brain that can open up nero pathways(hence why there is enhanced sight, smells, and creativity.) Pot is indeed a natural product the human mind knows very well. MJ has been demonized for decades for no real reason other than sobriety, nothing else.
I do agree on one Idea though, kids under 21 should not get access and should be treated like booze and advertising should be the same as tobacco when it comes to kids.
Report this Comment On December 01, 2013, at 11:21 PM, imnxtc2001 wrote:
Old Skewel: Is it natural or healthy to drive a car? But you do it anyways don't you? Your trip to the store tomorrow will produce more pollutants into EVERYBODYS air, than one pot smoker can produce in a year. btw....I don't know if you've been asleep the past 50 years, but kids in school(if they choose to)get pot just as easy now, as they would if it was legal and fell under same laws as tobacco. As far as hash...it is basically the same as marijuana, just made from different parts. And the same studies you got your information that it was addictive, are the same ones that say marijuana is also.
Report this Comment On December 01, 2013, at 11:36 PM, HMull81 wrote:
Lets get a few things right:
First - the problem with legalizing any previously illegal substance isnt a morally grounded issue; being that most of these substances are vices are not socially accepted when overly indulged anyway.
Second look up some history and consider why hemp production was ground to a halt in the first place, Ill give you a hint
It wasnt because pothead hippies were overrunning the world with their outrageous free love and open minded way of living, that didnt come until the 60s.
It is all economic and taxation that has put at spin on what any generation finds acceptable.
It doesnt matter if you are for or against the legalization of pot, it matters where it would lead to based off of the revenue gained cause face it, the government has stopped doing for the people a long time ago, and if you are current with what is popular; the Kim and Kanye saga get more press than real issues such as legalizing pot, gun law, government debt, and not to forget my favorite government shut down.
I know that if I quit working when I was a soldier in the U.S. Army there were consequences which usually ended with me in a bad kind of way.
Report this Comment On December 02, 2013, at 12:05 AM, allykat7825 wrote:
This will be the first step in finishing off the Regan inspired War against drugs which has cost so many billions over the years. It put the lotteries to shame when the taxes are added up and make many more people happy. Add cocaine to the list and the cartels are a thing of the past, which should please oldmutt. Oldmutt is probably not as old as I am and despite rumors to the contrary, and what many others might think, I still have my wits about me. .
Report this Comment On December 02, 2013, at 1:03 AM, Sniper2013 wrote:
Report this Comment On December 02, 2013, at 2:05 AM, uniquelyNzaneSam wrote:
Where oldMutt1949 is investment advice?: anti-pesticidal controls against garden herbivores? Bet on that eliminates most carcinogens' category of compounds. Good alarm oldMutt about marijuana combustion: extreme diarrhea treatment on terminal illness cases will not intrest as much financial and mental risk as combustibles, crack and meth. Expect ascending physical medicine values from home-brewed tea-therapy thereby more versatile prescriptions flavorful hashish gel-capsuled and milligram-tweeked synthetically. Noncombusted eliminates psychological addiction injuring only nervous system like brain damages from psychotropic over-use.
>Behavioral health dermal patches prescribing "thc" will dominate nicotine futures into oblivion. Chemical, money lust, even commercialed availability are not the gateway drugs guaranteeing stupefied economics. Anti-faith religious propaganda misinterpretation-poisoning scorches your love into an emptying black-holes to drain away everyone&thing appreciable. Artificial counterfeits especially joy inducements cannot possibly satisfy longest-term spiritual-nature provisions. Will algebraic naturals ever displace monetary abstracts? Where oldMutt1949 is investment advice?: anti-pesticidal controls against garden herbivores? Bet on that eliminates most carcinogens' category of compounds. Good alarm oldMutt about marijuana combustion: extreme diarrhea treatment on terminal illness cases will not intrest as much financial and mental risk as combustibles, crack and meth. Expect ascending physical medicine values from home-brewed tea-therapy thereby more versatile prescriptions flavorful hashish gel-capsuled and milligram-tweeked synthetically. Noncombusted eliminates psychological addiction injuring only nervous system like brain damages from psychotropic over-use.
>Behavioral health dermal patches prescribing "thc" will dominate nicotine futures into oblivion. Chemical, money lust, even commercialed availability are not the gateway drugs guaranteeing stupefied economics. Anti-faith religious propaganda misinterpretation-poisoning scorches your love into an emptying black-holes to drain away everyone&thing appreciable. Artificial counterfeits especially joy inducements cannot possibly satisfy longest-term spiritual-nature provisions. Will algebraic naturals ever displace monetary abstracts? Someday Where oldMutt1949 is investment advice?: anti-pesticidal controls against garden herbivores? Bet on that eliminates most carcinogens' category of compounds. Good alarm oldMutt about marijuana combustion: extreme diarrhea treatment on terminal illness cases will not intrest as much financial and mental risk as combustibles, crack and meth. Expect ascending physical medicine values from home-brewed tea-therapy thereby more versatile prescriptions flavorful hashish gel-capsuled and milligram-tweeked synthetically. Noncombusted eliminates psychological addiction injuring only nervous system like brain damages from psychotropic over-use.
>Behavioral health dermal patches prescribing "thc" will dominate nicotine futures into oblivion. Chemical, money lust, even commercialed availability are not the gateway drugs guaranteeing stupefied economics. Anti-faith religious propaganda misinterpretation-poisoning scorches your love into an emptying black-holes to drain away everyone&thing appreciable. Artificial counterfeits especially joy inducements cannot possibly satisfy longest-term spiritual-nature provisions. Will algebraic naturals ever displace monetary abstracts? Perhaps after college graduations? How might one economically invest private citizen properties, hide them secure from theft, or accelerate prosperity to make defrauding obsolete?
Report this Comment On December 02, 2013, at 2:50 AM, gareball wrote:
"Only 6% of studies on marijuana investigate its potential benefit.
According to CNN's Sanjay Gupta, the other 94% investigate its potential harm. The problem, as Gupta points out, is that it's very hard to run clinical trials on marijuana use since it's still illegal at the national level. While the University of Mississippi farm can provide the medication legally for studies, it's apparently not that all that easy to acquire medication from it".
If the FDA were to subject ANY drug from Big Pharma to the same skewed testing there wouldn't be a new drug on the market for decades. I'm betting that the drugs 'oldmutt' or 'Old Skewel' take to stay alive would never have passed such rigorous testing, and probably contain more virulent side effects than marijuana ever could.
Step into the 21st century, guys, and realize that it's time to put the idiotic and woefully expensive "war on drugs" to rest. It hasn't, and never will, work.
By the way 'old' fellas.....I'm 64 myself and have been a regular pot user for more than 45 of those years. I'm the picture of good health, thanks to a vegetarian diet, and will probably outlive both of you pot demonizers by a decade, at least. Oh, and 'Old Skewel', hashish IS NOT addictive, it's basically the resin from the marijuana flower and is nothing more than a more potent delivery device for THC. The sum total of what you anti-pot "experts" DON'T know is astounding. Then again, when you rely on anti-pot propaganda for your "facts" you're deliberately being fed a pack of lies designed to keep Big Pharma, the Liquor Lobby, and the 'for profit' prison system in customers for years to come. Try thinking for yourself, for once, and do the research so you'll be armed with REAL facts!
Power User
Posts: 29669
Re: Health Thread (nutrition, medical, longevity, etc)
Reply #414 on:
December 02, 2013, 11:47:03 AM »
Please post in "War on Drugs" thread as well.
Power User
Posts: 5541
Re: marijuana gossip
Reply #415 on:
December 02, 2013, 01:33:07 PM »
Quote from: ccp on December 02, 2013, 07:55:17 AM
The Motley Fool
5 Jaw-Dropping Facts About Legal Marijuana
I have favored 'de-criminalization' over legalization, a subtle but important difference.
"On #1 Best selling drug? Who would grow it and sell it?"
Anyone with a profit motive.
"On #2 Kind of sad that the driving force for legalization is tax revenue. "
"On #3 I didn't know the government was sponsoring studies on use of marijuana for glaucoma. It can lower intra-orbital pressures but my understanding is the affects were too erratic and there are so many better drugs that the use for this is dubious."
I believe they can measure and control dosage much better now.
(And it's going up at an alarming rate!)
"Hashish IS NOT addictive, it's basically the resin from the marijuana flower and is nothing more than a more potent delivery device for THC."
Addictive and habit-forming are synonyms.
"5 other jaw breaking facts about marijuana.
1. It has 424 compounds that turns into over 2000 when lit.
2. Those 2000 compounds release numerous poisons including hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide."
They now vaporize - heat only to the temp that releases the drug - and not light it. Releases fewer toxins.
"kids under 21 should not get access and should be treated like booze and advertising should be the same as tobacco when it comes to kids."
Agree, but good luck with that when it is available everywhere. See my first point, decriminalize it, not endorse it.
Power User
Posts: 29669
WSJ: DNA Testing
Reply #416 on:
December 09, 2013, 12:09:08 PM »
What to Consider Before Undergoing a DNA Test
A Columbia University bioethicist discusses medical and ethical issues raised by testing
By Anne Tergesen
Dec. 8, 2013 4:32 p.m. ET
As the price of sequencing a person's entire DNA has tumbled from $1 billion a decade ago to a few thousand dollars today, many adultsand their physiciansare turning to genetic tests to better understand and manage their health.
The process, though, can be problematic. Some people who test, like the actress Angelina Jolie, learn information that can have dramatic consequences for their health and insurabilityand that of their relatives.
And the testing business itself is still young and experiencing growing pains. Last month the Food and Drug Administration ordered genetic-testing firm 23andMe Inc. to stop marketing its $99 mail-order kit. The agency warned that false results could prompt consumers to undergo unnecessary health procedures. The company halted all ads for the kit and said it would work with regulators to address their concerns.
To better understand some of the issues people should consider before undergoing genetic tests, we spoke with Robert Klitzman, director of Columbia University's master's of bioethics program and the author of "Am I My Genes? Confronting Fate and Family Secrets in the Age of Genetic Testing." Here are edited excerpts from the conversation:
WSJ: Should the average person get tested?
(Robert Klitzman: 'A key question is what you will do with the information.' Amelia Panico)
DR. KLITZMAN: We still haven't found the genes responsible for most cases of common diseases, including Parkinson's and the inherited forms of most cancers. But tests have been developed for about 2,000 relatively rare genetic diseases, including the hereditary neurologic disorder Huntington's disease and the BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutationsthe former of which Angelina Jolie tested positive forwhich raise the odds of getting breast cancer to about 50% from 12%, on average.
When deciding whether to get tested, a key question is what you will do with the information. It probably makes sense to test if you believe you are at risk for one of the 24 or so treatable conditions with very predictive tests among the 2,000 with available tests. Aside from breast cancer, they include a form of hereditary colon cancer called Lynch syndrome, familial medullary thyroid cancer, and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which can cause sudden death. The presence of certain other genes can also help in predicting responses to some medicines.
It is important to keep in mind that testing positive for a mutation doesn't always mean that you will get ill. Nor does testing negative always mean you are safe. For example, with Alzheimer's, those who receive a genetic variant from both parents have around a 50% to 60% chance of developing the disease, but these patients account for only about 10% of those who get Alzheimer's.
WSJ: What kind of genetic test should individuals get?
DR. KLITZMAN: You can be tested for the specific disease you and your doctor are concerned about. Many insurers cover those tests.
You could also have your full genome sequenced for about $8,000. Interpreting it costs several thousand dollars more. The price of testing your whole genome will probably soon be around $1,000.
For about $100, some companies test portions of your DNA. But these tests aren't always accurate, in part because people can have mutations elsewhere. Before testing, consult with a genetic counselor.
WSJ: Do people have an obligation to share the results with relatives?
DR. KLITZMAN: Ethically, I think we owe it to people to give them information that can help them, if we can. But before you blurt out the results, ask your relatives if they want to know, and raise the subject before you get tested.
WSJ: Should you confide in your doctor?
Enlarge Image
DR. KLITZMAN: Some people who test positive for serious diseases hesitate to tell their doctors, because once the information is in their medical charts, an insurance company can access it. A federal law passed in 2008 prevents insurers from using the results of genetic tests to turn people down for most forms of health insurance. But the law doesn't apply to life, long-term-care or disability insurance.
WSJ: What lies ahead?
DR. KLITZMAN: My guess is that in 10 or 20 years, many of us will have our genomes sequenced, and a lot of us will be getting certain information whether we want it or not. My concern is that, in the future, some of these decisions may not be entirely the patient's.
The American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics recently recommended that patients who have all their genes tested get told the results for 56 genes involved with the 24 treatable, serious genetic conditions. But parents would then be told about genes in their children that might have no effect for decades, if ever. All this is a brave new world.
Ms. Tergesen is a staff reporter for The Wall Street Journal in New York. She can be reached at
Power User
Posts: 29669
New Treatment for Burns
Reply #417 on:
December 14, 2013, 12:31:09 AM »
Power User
Posts: 29669
FDA challenges antibacterial soaps
Reply #418 on:
December 17, 2013, 10:40:13 AM »
FDA Seeks Stricter Rules on Antibacterial Soaps
Companies Would Have to Prove Their Products Are Safe, Effective
Save ↓ More
15 Comments
Thomas M. Burton and
Serena Ng
Updated Dec. 16, 2013 6:56 p.m. ET
The FDA is raising safety concerns about antibacterial soaps, which they say are not more effective at preventing illness than plain soap. Tom Burton reports on Lunch Break. Photo: AP.
WASHINGTONThe Food and Drug Administration is challenging the underpinnings of the antibacterial-soap industry by requiring makers to prove that their ingredients are safe and accomplish more than regular hand soaps in fighting bacteria.
The federal agency Monday proposed a rule requiring makers of antibacterial hand soaps and body washes to demonstrate that their products are safe for long-term daily use and are more effective than plain soap and water in preventing illness and spread of infections.
The federal agency acted Monday after some scientists and consumer groups had become skeptical about the advantages of antibacterial soap and after recent studies suggesting that one ingredienttriclosancould interfere with human hormone activity.
Janet Woodcock, head of the FDA's drug unit, said the extra scrutiny was merited because people are using antibacterial soaps in everyday settings "where the risk of infection is relatively low."
Antibiotics of the Future
Q&A: FDA Weighs In on Antibacterial Soaps
FDA's statement
Two groups representing makers of soaps and detergents protested the move. "We are perplexed that the agency would suggest there is no evidence that antibacterial soaps are beneficial, as industry has long provided data and information about the safety and efficacy of these products," said a joint statement from the American Cleaning Institute and the Personal Care Products Council.
The latter group, whose members include more than 600 companies, has previously highlighted academic studies that found fewer microbes on hands that were washed with antibacterial soap.
Companies sold $5 billion worth of soap, bath and shower products in the U.S. last year, according to market-research firm Mintel Group, whose data also showed that as many as two-thirds of shoppers in this area look for liquid hand soap that is antibacterial.
A spokeswoman for German conglomerate Henkel AG HEN3.XE -0.60% , which owns the Dial brand, said the company is reviewing the FDA's statements, takes the agency's proposal seriously and will work with the agency to provide consumers with safe and effective products. Colgate-Palmolive Co., which owns the Softsoap brand, didn't respond to requests for comment. The brands also make liquid hand soaps without antibacterial properties.
The directive doesn't affect hand sanitizers that don't need water and generally contain alcohol. In fact, the FDA encourages people to use these if soap and water aren't available.
Criticism of the antibacterial soaps centers around three allegations: They may not fight germs any better than regular soaps; their ingredients may have side effects in humans; and they may promote the rise of resistant bacteria.
Andrea Gore, a University of Texas toxicology professor who has studied antibacterial ingredients, hailed the FDA's action, saying there has been an "exponential increase in evidence" about triclosan and its effect on human hormones.
Likewise, Stuart Levy, a microbiologist at the Tufts University School of Medicine, said, "This has been on the agenda for a number of years, and finally we are hearing from the FDA that they are in line with what was recommended by experts to their advisory board several years ago."
Over the decade from 2000 to 2010, several countries in Europe and elsewhere restricted the use of triclosan in consumer products. Reckitt Benckiser RB.LN -1.23% PLC, a British-based consumer-products company known for making Lysol, said it has been phasing out triclosan in all its U.S. products. Currently, it is producing just one containing triclosan, and a spokesman said none of the company's products in the U.S. will contain the ingredient by the end of 2014.
Antibacterial soaps often are sold over the counter at pharmacies and elsewhere. The FDA previously classified them as "generally regarded as safe and effective." But under the proposed rule issued Monday, it is reversing the burden of proof.
Now, manufacturers will have to turn over to the FDA more data on the safety of the soaps and on their effectiveness if they are to stay on the market labeled as "antibacterial soap."
The agency said the new data will need to include evidence from clinical studies demonstrating the soaps' superiority over simple hand-washing with regular soap and water.
The agency said many soaps labeled "antibacterial" or "antimicrobial" contain ingredients mentioned in the proposed rule, such as triclosan and triclocarban. The FDA said some soaps labeled "deodorant" may also contain such substances. The agency said there is some evidence that the substances carry health risks like bacterial resistance and hormonal effects.
After receiving comment and companies' data, the FDA said it expects to make a final decision by September 2016, either banning certain products or allowing them based on new evidence.
"Antimicrobial ingredients proliferated in consumer soaps and washes without ever having to prove their long-term safety or effectiveness," said Sen. Edward Markey (D., Mass.), who has been trying to remove triclosan from the market.
Not all antibacterial soaps contain triclosan. At a Washington, D.C., drugstore display Monday, several soaps described as antibacterial didn't have the ingredient while two didDial and the drugstore's brand.
Write to Thomas M. Burton at
and Serena Ng at
Power User
Posts: 29669
Supplements and liver damage
Reply #419 on:
December 22, 2013, 11:59:24 AM »
Spike in Harm to Liver Is Tied to Dietary Aids
Michael Stravato for The New York Times
Christopher Herrera and his mother, Lordes Gonzalez, at home in Katy, Tex. A green tea extract nearly cost Christopher his liver.
By ANAHAD OCONNOR
Published: December 21, 2013
When Christopher Herrera, 17, walked into the emergency room at Texas Childrens Hospital one morning last year, his chest, face and eyes were bright yellow almost highlighter yellow, recalled Dr. Shreena S. Patel, the pediatric resident who treated him.
Christopher, a high school student from Katy, Tex., suffered severe liver damage after using a concentrated green tea extract he bought at a nutrition store as a fat burning supplement. The damage was so extensive that he was put on the waiting list for a liver transplant.
It was terrifying, he said in an interview. They kept telling me they had the best surgeons, and they were trying to comfort me. But they were saying that I needed a new liver and that my body could reject it.
New data suggests that his is not an isolated case. Dietary supplements account for nearly 20 percent of drug-related liver injuries that turn up in hospitals, up from 7 percent a decade ago, according to an analysis by a national network of liver specialists. The research included only the most severe cases of liver damage referred to a representative group of hospitals around the country, and the investigators said they were undercounting the actual number of cases.
While many patients recover once they stop taking the supplements and receive treatment, a few require liver transplants or die because of liver failure. Naïve teenagers are not the only consumers at risk, the researchers said. Many are middle-aged women who turn to dietary supplements that promise to burn fat or speed up weight loss.
Its really the Wild West, said Dr. Herbert L. Bonkovsky, the director of the liver, digestive and metabolic disorders laboratory at Carolinas HealthCare System in Charlotte, N.C. When people buy these dietary supplements, its anybodys guess as to what theyre getting.
Though doctors were able to save his liver, Christopher can no longer play sports, spend much time outdoors or exert himself, lest he strain the organ. He must make monthly visits to a doctor to assess his liver function.
Americans spend an estimated $32 billion on dietary supplements every year, attracted by unproven claims that various pills and powders will help them lose weight, build muscle and fight off everything from colds to chronic illnesses. About half of Americans use dietary supplements, and most of them take more than one product at a time.
Dr. Victor Navarro, the chairman of the hepatology division at Einstein Healthcare Network in Philadelphia, said that while liver injuries linked to supplements were alarming, he believed that a majority of supplements were generally safe. Most of the liver injuries tracked by a network of medical officials are caused by prescription drugs used to treat things like cancer, diabetes and heart disease, he said.
But the supplement business is largely unregulated. In recent years, critics of the industry have called for measures that would force companies to prove that their products are safe, genuine and made in accordance with strict manufacturing standards before they reach the market.
But a federal law enacted in 1994, the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act, prevents the Food and Drug Administration from approving or evaluating most supplements before they are sold. Usually the agency must wait until consumers are harmed before officials can remove products from stores. Because the supplement industry operates on the honor system, studies show, the market has been flooded with products that are adulterated, mislabeled or packaged in dosages that have not been studied for safety.
The new research found that many of the products implicated in liver injuries were bodybuilding supplements spiked with unlisted steroids, and herbal pills and powders promising to increase energy and help consumers lose weight.
There unfortunately are criminals that feel its a business opportunity to spike some products and sell them as dietary supplements, said Duffy MacKay, a spokesman for the Council for Responsible Nutrition, a supplement industry trade group. Its the fringe of the industry, but as you can see, it is affecting some consumers. More popular supplements like vitamins, minerals, probiotics and fish oil had not been linked to patterns of adverse effects, he said.
The F.D.A. estimates that 70 percent of dietary supplement companies are not following basic quality control standards that would help prevent adulteration of their products. Of about 55,000 supplements that are sold in the United States, only 170 about 0.3 percent have been studied closely enough to determine their common side effects, said Dr. Paul A. Offit, the chief of infectious diseases at the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia and an expert on dietary supplements.
When a product is regulated, you know the benefits and the risks and you can make an informed decision about whether or not to take it, he said. With supplements, you dont have efficacy data and you dont have safety data, so its just a black box.
Since 2008, the F.D.A. has been taking action against companies whose supplements are found to contain prescription drugs and controlled substances, said Daniel Fabricant, the director of the division of dietary supplement programs in the agencys Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. For example, the agency recently took steps to remove one fat burning product from shelves, OxyElite Pro, that was linked to one death and dozens of cases of hepatitis and liver injury in Hawaii and other states.
The new research, presented last month at a conference in Washington, was produced by the Drug-Induced Liver Injury Network, which was established by the National Institutes of Health to track patients who suffer liver damage from certain drugs and alternative medicines. It includes doctors at eight major hospitals throughout the country.
The investigators looked at 845 patients with severe, drug-induced liver damage who were treated at hospitals in the network from 2004 to 2012. It focused only on cases where the investigators ruled out other causes and blamed a drug or a supplement with a high degree of certainty.
When the network began tracking liver injuries in 2004, supplements accounted for 7 percent of the 115 severe cases. But the percentage has steadily risen, reaching 20 percent of the 313 cases recorded from 2010 to 2012.
Those patients included dozens of young men who were sickened by bodybuilding supplements. The patients all fit a similar profile, said Dr. Navarro, an investigator with the network.
They become very jaundiced for long periods of time, he said. They itch really badly, to the point where they cant sleep. They lose weight. They lose work. I had one patient who was jaundiced for six months.
Tests showed that a third of the implicated products contained steroids not listed on their labels.
A second trend emerged when Dr. Navarro and his colleagues studied 85 patients with liver injuries linked to herbal pills and powders. Two-thirds were middle-aged women, on average 48 years old, who often used the supplements to lose weight or increase energy. Nearly a dozen of those patients required liver transplants, and three died.
It was not always clear what the underlying causes of injury were in those cases, in part because patients frequently combined multiple supplements and used products with up to 30 ingredients, said Dr. Bonkovsky, an investigator with the network.
But one product that patients used frequently was green tea extract, which contains catechins, a group of potent antioxidants that reputedly increase metabolism. The extracts are often marketed as fat burners, and catechins are often added to weight-loss products and energy boosters. Most green tea pills are highly concentrated, containing many times the amount of catechins found in a single cup of green tea, Dr. Bonkovsky said. In high doses, catechins can be toxic to the liver, he said, and a small percentage of people appear to be particularly susceptible.
But liver injuries attributed to herbal supplements are more likely to be severe and to result in liver transplants, Dr. Navarro said. And unlike prescription drugs, which are tightly regulated, dietary supplements typically carry no information about side effects. Consumers assume they have been studied and tested, Dr. Bonkovsky said. But that is rarely the case. There is this belief that if something is natural, then it must be safe and it must be good, he said.
Power User
Posts: 29669
"Ghost Heart"
Reply #420 on:
January 13, 2014, 11:45:27 AM »
This seems amazing!
Power User
Posts: 3796
Flu map CDC; One can run but one can't hide:
Reply #421 on:
January 28, 2014, 10:00:56 PM »
Power User
Posts: 3796
Reply #422 on:
February 02, 2014, 11:58:52 AM »
***What Dr. Samadi fails to say is that only 1 in 36 men actually die of it**** Please see yahoo post response to this article included below. Autopsy studies suggest that 75% of men have microscopic prostate cancer in their gland when they died. Proportionately few will even know much less even die of it. Not to say prostate cancer can be ignored - 25 000 die of it every year in the US. So it is very serious. I don't like this guy promoting a procedure he and probably the institution he works with both making a mint from this touting it as the greatest thing since sliced bread. We see this a lot in the medical field. Conflict of interests are Everywhere. And they are not readily reported as pretended by publications like the New England Journal of Medicine. That is not to say there are not very ethical men and women who ARE doing the best they can for humanity and if they can make money from it that is fine. But I am very skeptical this guy is one of them.
******For Prostate Cancer, Radiation Complications May Outweigh Risks
By Dr. David Samadi, Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City January 31, 2014 7:36 PM
Dr. David Samadi is the chairman of urology and chief of robotic surgery at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City and is a board-certified urologist and oncologist specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of urologic diseases, kidney cancer, bladder cancer and prostate cancer. Samadi also specializes in many advanced, minimally invasive treatments for prostate cancer; is one of the few urologic surgeons in the United States trained in oncology, open-, laparoscopic- and robotic-surgery; and was the first surgeon in the nation to successfully perform a robotic surgery redo. He contributed this article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.
Radiation for prostate cancer has shown once again that it leads to more complications than surgery. For men with prostate cancer, deciding whether to opt for radiation or surgical removal of the gland can be overwhelming. How does one decide with the risks, such as the unpleasant side-effects of erectile dysfunction and incontinence?
Prostate cancer is the second most common malignancy, second only to skin cancer. Unfortunately, doctors diagnose more than 240,000 men in the United States with the disease every year, which translates into 1 in every 6 men being affected by prostate cancer. A new study published last Thursday in the Lancet Oncology Journal found that "men treated with radiotherapy had fewer minimally invasive urological procedures compared to those who chose surgery." However, over time, "the radiation group had a higher proportion of hospital admissions, rectal or anal procedures, related surgeries and secondary cancers."
Men need to take the time to do their research on how "radiation" really works and what side effects they will have to live with. There are two kinds of radiation, external beam and brachytherapy, which involves radioactive material inside the prostate. We as men have all the control in the world to decide what form of treatment is best for us. Do you just want a quick fix that will sometimes show you upfront results from radiation, but will cause you to suffer from side effects in the long run or would you rather choose robotic prostatectomy with minimal bleeding, 95 percent to 97 percent continence rate, and an overall better quality of life? Put aside the temporary leakage and erectile dysfunction that you may receive from robotic prostatectomy, because a year from your surgery those minimal side effects will dissipate.
The questions I suggest my patients ask themselves are:
Do you want to be admitted to the hospital more frequently?
Do you want to likely bleed from your bladder or rectum?
Do you want to risk a second cancer?
This can be the reality for patients who undergo radiation treatments and how it can decrease your confidence and overall quality of life. In the recent study, radiotherapy complication rates were 2- to 10-times higher than complication rates in men who were treated with robotic prostatectomy. Choosing surgery after radiation makes the surgery more complicated. Radiation destroys the surrounding healthy tissue causing the prostate to be embedded in scar tissue. This makes the surgery more complex than operating on tissue that has not been affected by radiation.
Once the prostate is removed, surgeons like myself monitor the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels to ensure that the cancer doesn't come back. If radiotherapy is performed prior to the surgery, the PSA will fluctuate due to radiotherapy and pieces of the prostate that are left behind, confusing that monitoring process.
Following a prostate cancer diagnosis, men are flooded with tons of informationand must try to make sense of the different treatment options it can make even the most educated patient uncertain. [Prostate Cancer Screening Test May Prevent 17,000 Advanced Cases Yearly]
Do your homework and really look at the outcomes one month to one year to a lifetime from now and ask yourself: "Will I be happy with these results?" As the numbers point to robotic prostatectomy, the decision lies in your hands.*****
A very good reply from someone in the same specialty who has no financial conflict of interests very unlike this Fox news guy who for quite sometime now has lost my respect as not much more than a self serving charlatan:
****This is a very self-serving & misleading piece of pro-surgery propaganda. Full disclosure: I'm a retired urologist who practiced 20 years privately and was also a clinical prof. at the local medical school. The first item is that the DaVinci robot is currently under multiple suits over its design and propensity to cause serious injuries at surgery leading to major complications, reoperations, permanent urinary incontinence, permanent impotence (erectile dysfunction), and death. It is true that radiation therapy (XRT) has a higher incidence of 'radiation proctitis' (inflammation & bleeding of & from the rectal blood vessels)... since surgical prostatectomy, done correctly, doesn't affect the rectum, that's not surprising since radiation is less precise; although brachytherapy ('seeds') has a far lower incidence. It is also important to understand that all urologists have a vested interest in treating prostate cancer aggressively since the advent of effective medical treatment for benign enlargement of the prostate ('BPH') has rendered the prior 'bread & butter' operation for it (TURP) infrequent. What Dr. Samadi does by waving the scare statistic of 1 in 6 men getting prostate cancer (ACP) is to try and create a stampede of fearful men seeking any means of not dying of prostate cancer. What Dr. Samadi fails to say is that only 1 in 36 men actually die of it (Google: What are the key statistics about prostate cancer?) and that dying of ACP is more a function of the aggressiveness of the cancer than of its treatment - that is; men with aggressive prostate cancers die of it more often than men with less aggressive tumors regardless of how early it's detected or how it's treated. Lastly, the vast majority of men's prostate cancers are detected within the last decade or two of their lives and, if followed until evidence of local growth is note, and XRT given then (followed by hormonal therapy for those rare progressions after XRT) most can live very comfortably and without complications of treatment until their other disease processes take them away... and in my book, even if there's evidence of active prostate cancer, that's effectively a 'cure'.
Expand Replies (1) Reply
Power User
Posts: 3796
Re: Health Thread (nutrition, medical, longevity, etc)
Reply #423 on:
February 28, 2014, 07:41:04 AM »
Diabetic man eats pizza for decades. He also bikes 30 to 40 miles a day which explains part of it. Years ago there was a study that compared an all you can eat vegetable diet with an all you can eat pizza diet. Those in the former group gained more weight. Why? There is more variety in vegetables than pizza. After a while pizza eaters got sick of eating pizza and wound up eating less calories. Part of the mix of the American obesity epidemic is the variety of foods we have available. Italian one day, donuts the next, Chinese third, Ice cream, Mexican is now rampant and all over the place, Chicken and on and on and on:
Power User
Posts: 3796
Brazilian wandering spider -
Reply #424 on:
April 08, 2014, 07:46:22 PM »
erectile dysfunction - hang out with a Brazilian wandering spider. It also has the most toxic spider venom:
****Brazilian Wandering Spider: Bites & Other Facts
By Jessie Szalay,
Brazilian wandering spider, spiders
The Brazilian wandering spider belongs to the genus Phoneutria, which means murderess in Greek. And its no wonder why its one of the most venomous spiders on earth. Its bite can be deadly to humans, although antivenom makes death unlikely. The Guinness Book of World Records has named it the worlds Most Venomous Spider in multiple years.
There are eight species of Brazilian wandering spiders, which can all be found in Brazil. Some of the species can also be found throughout Latin America, from Costa Rica to Argentina. These powerful arachnids have been known to hitch rides internationally in banana shipments, for which theyve been given the nickname banana spider.
In 2007, scientists discovered that in addition to intense pain and possible medical complications, the bite of a Brazilian wandering spider also deliver a long, painful erection to human males. The venom boosts nitric oxide, a chemical that increases blood flow. There has since been talk of incorporating the venom into drugs for erectile dysfunction.
Power User
Posts: 3796
Re: Health Thread (nutrition, medical, longevity, etc)
Reply #425 on:
April 17, 2014, 09:25:39 AM »
I have to ask my surgeon friends as usually they get a quick path report back that should have told this trainee it was not the appendix. Or with in
a day. Sometimes surgeons now treat appendicitis with antibiotics alone and do not perform surgery. I am not clear which is best in pregnancy.
There is risk to many antibiotics and pregnancy too.
« previous
next »
Jump to:
Please select a destination:
DBMA Martial Arts Forum
=> Martial Arts Topics
Politics, Religion, Science, Culture and Humanities
=> Politics & Religion
=> Science, Culture, & Humanities
DBMA Espanol
=> Espanol Discussion
Dog Brothers Information
=> Instructor Lists
=> Biographies & Instructor Details
Powered by SMF 1.1.19
SMF © 2013, Simple Machines


text:
Disney Pooh & Eeyore Protective Skin Games Accessories
This Disney-design protective sticker will turn your DS Lite into a real eye-catcher. Glam-up your console with a fun Winnie The Pooh design - and protect it against dirt, abrasion and scratches. The sticker is hardwearing, and can be applied quickly and bubble-free. It can also be removed without leaving a trace - and even reused with care. Add a touch of character to your DS Lite!
Delivery & Returns
How long will it take to arrive?
Please check the stock availability notice on your item when placing your order. This item is: In stock | Usually dispatched within 24 hours
Please remember to add postal time (2-3 working days) to obtain a complete estimate of delivery to your door.
How will I know it has been sent?
You will receive an email to confirm when your item has been sent.
You can also check the status of your order and individual items by accessing My Account details and following the prompts.
Please allow 10 working days from dispatch of your order before notifying us of any late deliveries.
It may be advisable to check with your neighbours to see if a parcel has been left with them, check any outhouses you might have where it may be left if it cannot fit through your letterbox and contact your local sorting office to see if the item has been returned to the depot as undelivered and awaiting collection.
If I'm not completely happy with my item?
Please see our returns policy.
There are currently no reviews.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Useful tools:
Take advantage of the only fully Ofcom accredited switching service.
Here at Incahoot we are always looking to try and get you a great deal, that's why we have partnered with Seopa's 100% Independent Insurance Comparison Service.
It's one of the most competitive insurance comparison tools on the market and could save you up to £440* on your Car Insurance.
If you are already an Incahoot member click here to log in to your 'My Incahoot' area.


text:
Narrow your search
CNET editors choose and review the best thin and light laptops, notebooks, and ultrabooks.
CNET On Cars
If you want the full, polished Apple tablet experience in a smaller package, the iPad Mini is worth the premium price. Otherwise, good alternatives are available for less money.
The Apple iPad is the first affordable tablet computer worth owning, but it won't (yet) replace your laptop.
CNET's New York laptops reviewer, Dan Ackerman, joins us to talk about how he's building a media room in a tiny Manhattan apartment. Also, your questions answered, including: How many anti-virus apps do I need?
The latest iPad adds several tweaks and improvements to secure its position at the top of the tablet heap. It's better all around, but third-gen owners need not apply.
The new iPad Mini somehow shrinks down the iPad Air into an even more compact package, sacrificing nearly nothing. It's more expensive than before, but it's also the perfect smaller tablet.
The Nexus 10's superior design and swift performance make it one of the best Android tablets to date.
The Honor 3X offers great performance and specs for its low price. However, unless you're getting a local version with Google Mobile Services pre-installed, you will not be getting the full flavor of Android without some effort.
Pricing not available
With the ability to use natural language to make appointments and reminders, and a (mostly) intuitive interface, Fantastical 2 for iPad is the best way to manage your schedule.
Pricing not available
The 60-inch Vizio M1d-A3R doesn't quite offer the very best value for money in the company's range, but nevertheless features fine picture quality in a large size.
Word, PowerPoint, and Excel are finally available for iPad, with what Microsoft says is an app built from the ground up for the larger iOS touch screen.
Pricing not available


text:
Not right?
Results 1-2of 2 Reviews
by MissKitty
London, United Kingdom
January 22, 2004
We lingered in the bar until about 1pm, when things settled down a little, and then had a delicious lunch. My companion had a fried seafood dish, which he enjoyed thoroughly, and I had Chicken Clemenceau, a chicken breast lightly covered with cream sauce, onions, mushrooms, and peas. It was very nice, and the accompanying salad and bread were delicious.
The upstairs has several small dining rooms, and is lively, but not loud. The downstairs dining room is huge and noisy, lined with mirrors so that everyone can see everyone else. Tennessee Williams' favorite table is in the back and offers a complete panorama of the room and its diners. The decor is a blend of Edwardian and Southern, and the service is pure Southern -- hospitable, fast, and competent.
We felt like the only tourists there, but were treated very well. Galatoire's is a popular haunt of locals, and the wait staff obviously knows almost all of the customers. It was a warm, comfortable, and delicious experience, and we'll come back for dinner on our next trip.
Reservations are not accepted except for parties of eight or more and even Galatoire family members have to wait in line for a table. There is a dress code at night (coat and tie for men), but business casual will work during lunch.
From journal Winter Weekend in New Orleans
by DT
LOS ANGELES, California
August 11, 2001
From journal New Orleans, Let the Good Times Roll


text:
Search this site:
Big Oil
Bad Air
What the Latest Keystone XL Delay Really Means
Will Utah Oil Sands Project and Water, If There is Any, Mix?
Exxon to Reopen Ruptured Arkansas Pipeline, but Cause of Its Failure Remains Unknown
Climate Impacts Are Going to Hit the Developing World Hardest, IPCC Says
Keeping Secrets Has Been Exxon's Default in Ark. Oil Spill Case
Big Oil and Bad Air on the Texas Prairie: Residents Fear For Their Health
Visit Our News Center for Expert Coverage of the Exxon Oil Spill in Arkansas
Full Name:
Most Viewed Stories
Electric Cars Have a Dirty Little Secret
Climate Showdown in Florida Governor's Race
Graphic: The U.S. Environmental Movement
Propane Shortage Underscores Oil Export Concerns
Fracking: Monitors Miss Most Toxic Emission Spikes
Exploding Oil Trains: Too Much Propane?
Spinning Old Wind Turbines Into Gold
The U.S. Factor Behind China's Pollution Mess
April 21, 2014
The Fracking Industry Faces Its Climate Demon: Methane
(National Journal)
Compensation Battle Rages Four Years After BP Spill
Steyer Vows to Support Anti-Keystone Dems Under Attack
(The Hill)
see all headlines >
April 21, 2014
12 States Accounted for 80% of U.S. Wind Power in 2013
Ukraine Seeks Renewable-Energy Boost to Counter Russia
Study Chides Energy Dept Over Loan Default by Solar Business
(New York Times)
see all headlines >
Clean Economy News
February 10
The Oil Industry's Fight to Kill Renewable Fuels—and Why It May Win
December 12
Berliners Still Fighting to Pull the Plug on Coal-Fired Utility
December 3
Bloomberg LP Launches First Tool That Measures Risk of 'Unburnable Carbon' Assets
Koch Brothers' Political Activism Protects Their 50-Year Stake in Canadian Heavy Oils
Koch Subsidiary Told Regulators It Has 'Direct and Substantial Interest' in Keystone XL
Keystone Pipeline Will Diminish Energy Security, Prominent Canadian Says
Today's Climate
The Day's Top Energy and Climate Headlines Curated by the Editors of InsideClimate News
April 18, 2014
The Fracking Industry Faces Its Climate Demon: Methane
National Journal
Compensation Battle Rages Four Years After BP Spill
Steyer Vows to Support Anti-Keystone Dems Under Attack
The Hill
U.S. Coal Is Making a Comeback—But Will It Last?
China's Coal Boom Is Slowing
OSHA Asks OMB for Approval to Restart Effort to Update Chemical Exposure Limits
Industry Heavyweights Oppose Toxic Chemicals Bill in Vermont
VT Digger
Fracking Sand Boom Spurs Grain-Like Silos for Rail Transport
Major Obama Proposal Doesn't Change Water Policy Ag Rules
April 17, 2014
Is Gulf Spill Cleanup Over? BP and Coast Guard Differ
Washington Post
Sen. Whitehouse and Rep. Waxman Press Kerry to Reject Keystone
The Hill
What's Being Done to Prevent Another Explosion Like West?
StateImpact Texas
A Year After West, Tex. Explosion, Study Finds Nearly 10,000 Schools Near Chemical Facilities
Huffington Post
Koch Brothers' Flood Insurance Opposition Becomes Campaign Issue
Southeast Chicago Residents Take Petcoke Fight into Their Own Hands
Midwest Energy News
U.S. Looks to Europe to Improve Oil Refinery Safety
The Louisiana Weekly
Pennsylvania Releases First Report on Marcellus Drilling's Impact on State Forests
StateImpact Pennsylvania
Minorities Across the Country More Likely to Be Exposed to Pollutants
Washington Post
April 16, 2014
U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Fall 10 pct Since 2005, EPA Says
Alberta Considers Emissions Rules to Win Support for Oil Sector
Despite Rise in Spills, Hazardous Cargo Rides Rails in Secret
New York Times
Radioactive Waste Is North Dakota's New Shale Problem
Wall Street Journal (sub. req'd)
Jimmy Carter Comes Out Against Keystone XL Pipeline
Washington Post
The Green Case Against Keystone
Canada Becoming Launch-Pad of a Global Tar Sands and Oil Shale Frenzy
Anadarko Joins Ad Blitz to Thwart Colorado Fracking Curbs
Is Pennsylvania Wasting Its Fracking Wealth?
National Journal
GAO Audit Finds Lack of Data on Environmental Reviews
The Hill
BP, Coast Guard End Cleanup of 2010 Spill on Gulf Shoreline
Houston Chronicle
As Louisiana Coast Recedes, Battle Rages over Who Should Pay
Study Ties California Drought, 'Frigid East' to Manmade Climate Change
Think Progress
April 15, 2014
EPA Drastically Underestimates Methane Released at Drilling Sites
Los Angeles Times
Keystone Foes Taught Arrest Tactics If Project Is Cleared
Because of Tar Sands, Energy Is Now Canada's Biggest Greenhouse Gas Source
Think Progress
Colorado Oil Drilling Boom Intensifies as Voter Initiatives Multiply
Denver Post
Ohio Creates Tougher Fracking Rules to Reduce Risk of Earthquakes
Columbus Dispatch
Pennsylvania Won't Take Action on Fracking-Earthquake Link
New Castle News
Ban on Fracking Waste Clears Committee in Connecticut
The Courant
Rising Prices for Natural Gas Put Pressure on Oil Sands Producers
Globe and Mail
Energy Department Seeks Methane Hydrate Proposals
IPCC Scientists Accused of 'Marginalizing' Poor Nations
China Set to Elevate Environment Over Development in New Law
Ukraine Crisis Belies Shift to Asian Energy Markets
Christian Science Monitor
April 14, 2014
Costs to Counter Global Warming 'Relatively Modest,' Says U.N. Panel Head
Could Working on Keystone XL Give You Cancer, Asthma?
The Nation
Rail Transport of Crude Oil Increases as Pipeline Falls Short
Texas Tribune
Ohio Geologists Link Local Earthquakes Directly to Fracking
Al Jazeera America
Enbridge Energy Official Talkas About Oil Boom's Impact on Minnesota
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Court: Carbon Monoxide Standards Not Needed to Stop Global Warming
The Hill
Pitzer College, Robert Redford Announce Plans to Divest $125M Endowment of Fossil Fuels
Southern California Public Radio
Unions or Greens: Which Keystone XL Player Is Doing More to Keep the Senate Blue?
E&E Publishing
Big Oil Comes Up Short in Shale
Houston Chronicle
China Takes On Big Risks in Its Push for Shale Gas
New York Times
Crude Oil Leak Blamed for China Water Contamination
TV Just Came Around on Global Warming. Will Anyone Care?
National Journal
April 11, 2014
White House to Senate Dems: No Deadline on Keystone
The Hill
Nuclear Power's Role Supported in Japan's First National Energy Plan Since Fukushima
Nearly 100 Harvard Faculty Members Join Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaign
Crude Displacing Other Commodities on Trains, Critics Charge
McClatchy Tribune
$80M Oil-by-Rail Terminal Proposed for Washington State Coast
Pennsylvania Legislative Hearing Focuses on Expanding State Oversight of Pipelines
StateImpact Texas
EPA Defends Enforcement Plan to Focus on Biggest Polluters
Pollution Fears Crush Home Prices Near Fracking Wells
California Drought Gives Boost to Anti-Fracking Movement
Al Jazeera America
Many Offshore Drilling Operators Holding Back Information in Safety Audits, Regulators Says
Houston Chronicle
Researchers Studying Health of Gulf Oil Spill Cleanup Workers to Update Findings Friday
The Times-Picayune
Climate Change Doubling Big Power Outages, Group Says
Columbus Dispatch
At-Risk Cities Hold Solutions to Climate Change, UN Report Finds
April 10, 2014
Senate Democrats Press Obama to Approve Keystone XL Pipeline by the End of May
The Hill
Proposal for California Fracking Moratorium Advances in State Senate
Los Angeles Times
China Plans Ban on Imports of Coal with High Ash, High Sulfur
CO2 Levels Just Hit Their Highest Point in 800,000 Years
Think Progress
Canada Liberal Leader Trudeau Calls for Greenhouse Gas Limits on Oil Sands
Globe and Mail
Maine Town Planning Board Votes to Extend Tar Sands Moratorium
The Forecaster
Residents of Polluted U.S. Communities Fear Planned Cuts in EPA Enforcement
Center for Public Integrity
Oklahoma Breaks Record with Hundreds of Earthquakes After Fracking Intensifies
Marcellus Drilling Operators Looking for Undergound Space to Store Waste
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Everglades Oil Drilling Plans Spark Contamination Concerns
Al Jazeera America
Can Business Break Impasse on Climate Action?
Climate Central
Many Nations Wary of Extracting Carbon from Air to Fix Climate
April 9, 2014
Pipeline Violation Penalties Breaks Record in 2013
State Agency Backs Expansion of Enbridge Pipeline Across Minnesota
Minneapolis Star Tribune
North Carolina Agency Appeals Court Ruling Allowing It to Better Regulate Coal Ash
Al Jazeera America
Cars Become Biggest Driver of Greenhouse-Gas Increases
Utilities Disagree on How EPA Should Regulate Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Climate Central
Wildlife Still Challenged Four Years After Gulf Oil Spill
Christian Science Monitor
What Could a Ban on Fracking in Denton Mean For the Rest of Texas?
StateImpact Texas
Oil Companies Pay $630M in Pennsylvania Drilling Fees
Houston Chronicle
TransCanada's East Energy Pipeline Hearings Wind Down in Ontario
Globe and Mail
Feds Say Oil Trains Should Have Two-Man Crews
EPA Nominee Stirs Up Deep-Seated Climate Views in Senate
The Hill
How to Think Like the Dutch in a Post-Sandy World
New York Times
April 8, 2014
Flawed Tests Play Down Crude Oil's Explosiveness
Globe and Mail
Does Koch Industries Hold Most Canadian Oil Sands Leases? It's Complicated
Washington Post
EPA Chief Says Power Plant Carbon Pollution Rule Will Be Tough, Enforceable
Climate Panel Debates Global Warming Response Strategy in Berlin
70 Leading Companies Call on Govn'ts for Trillion Tons of Carbon to Stay in the Ground
Senate Democrat: Oil Industry Paying 'Lip Service' to Freight Rail Safety
The Hill
To Lure Oil Shippers, Future Pipelines to Be More Like Rail
A Landscape of Fire Rises Over North Dakota's Gas Fields
next page »
© InsideClimate News
About Inside Climate