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August 8, 2007
It is clearly true that those who abstain in sexual intercourse are not at risk of becoming pregnant (with apologies to the Virgin Mary). There is less of a protection against sexually transmitted diseases because there are other ways to have sex besides having intercourse with a partner of the…
August 8, 2007
Maybe I'm not the right person to bring this message as I drink very little in the way of fluids each day, at least compared to my students who will, I am sure, have to be surgically removed from their water bottles. Of course I've also had kidney stones twice, so I'm not suggesting anyone do as I…
August 7, 2007
&otFrom The Onion's "American Voices; (man in the street interviews) Congress Approves Surveillance Measures The Democratic-controlled House passed a bill that will allow wide-ranging domestic and foreign eavesdropping that would be authorized by a secret court. What do you think? Ed Albaugh,…
August 7, 2007
Dr. John Agwunobe is the federal official in charge of the US Public Health SErvie Commission Corps and of coordinating the nation's response to pandemic influenza. At least he will be until the end of this month. Announcement from Department of Health and Human Services: For Immediate Release…
August 7, 2007
We all know we should eat lots of fruits and vegetables. I do it because I happen to like fruits and vegetables, but there are good health reasons, too. But my father always said that with diet as with life, "Everything in moderation." A whole lot of fruit and vegetables is not necessarily a whole…
August 6, 2007
I usually vote Democrat. That's because where I live they are much more likely to uphold democratic values -- including the value of personal liberties guaranteed in the US Constitution. The current Republican Party is hopeless on civil liberties, being such cowards they are ready to throw personal…
August 6, 2007
A long story in The York Dispatch discusses personal preparation for a pandemic. Taking personal responsibility is a good thing, although it means different things to different people. I have reserved my energy for community activities. I don't have a stash of Tamiflu or water or canned goods,…
August 5, 2007
I wrote the post on Texas A&M that appears below while sitting in an airport lounge, sans connection. In the car on the way home from the airport late last night I heard on the BBC World Service the following story, to which I found links provided by two kind readers upon being reconnected (hat…
August 5, 2007
Steven D. Levitt, the economist and author of Freakonomics, has made a living explaining counterintuitive notions to people on the basis of hidden incentives for human behavior. I haven't read Freakonomics, although it sounds interesting. My behavior is constrained by time. Maybe an incentive will…
August 4, 2007
While you busy being scared by the Bush administration about phantom weapons of mass destruction, there are real WMDs and have been for many decades. We even know where they are (no, not north, west and south of Tikrit, as claimed by the cowardly Donald Rumsfeld). They are in the former Soviet…
August 3, 2007
We don't usually talk about stories published in Physics Today, a publication of the American Institute of Physics. But a recent one caught our attention for two reasons. One, it is about the effects of non-ionizing radiation (in this case an oscillating electric field) and a biological effect,…
August 3, 2007
Stories about experimental vaccines that "work in animals" are a dime a dozen these days. That's not bad. It means there is a lot of activity on the innovative technologies front. But there is a huge distance between "works in mice" and "works in humans." So news that one of these technologies is…
August 2, 2007
When it comes to protecting us from chemical carcinogens, the Bush administration has never been part of the solution. In fact they have consistently taken the side of the solvent, in this case the ubiquitous (and notorious) chlorinated ethylene solvent, trichloroethylene, or TCE for short. One of…
August 2, 2007
Dangerous drugs that got approved and are widely and intensively marketed; dangerous imports from China and elsewhere that are never examined; conflict of interest allegations; contaminated consume products from toothpaste to lens solutions; vaccine supplies that go from shortage to glut. Just…
August 1, 2007
I haven't given much credence to the hype about internet child predators. But now it turns out the predators are really there, we know there names, and they even live in our neighborhoods, although they haven't registered anywhere except the phonebook: Some of the world's leading food manufacturers…
August 1, 2007
The intellectual property issues surrounding H5N1 and pandemic influenza in general continue to deepen and ramify into uncharted territory. Currently the usual suspects are meeting in Singapore to try to resolve issues that have arisen when some developing countries, led by Indonesia, have upset…
July 31, 2007
It's mid summer, so it's time to drag out what we say each summer about spraying for West Nile Virus. First, why we have to say it: Sacramento County authorities plan to launch a mass aerial-spraying campaign to combat the West Nile virus on Monday. Mosquito control officials will spray…
July 31, 2007
One reason Helen Branswell is such a good flu reporter is she has the best contacts. Of course this is a chicken-and-egg proposition, because she has the best contacts because she is the best flu reporter. She gets it right and she explains it the way it was told to her. [By the way, I am not on…
July 30, 2007
When it comes to controversial reports, one that said it would be good to include combatting widespead disease as an element in foreign policy would hardly seem to qualify. And ordinary person might be forgiven for thinking that was already something that was considered. You'd think. But then you'd…
July 30, 2007
I don't know what to say about this, except it appears at this point to implicate theuse of slave labor in the construction of the US Embassy in Baghdad, aided, abetted and with the knowledge of the US State Department (hat tip Boingboing) . You decide: The US State Department is denying the…
July 29, 2007
There is an apocryphal story of a politician during the Revolution of 1848 desperately running after a crowd in Paris's Jardin du Luxembourg. "I'm their leader," he cried. "I must follow them!" A couple of years ago most national pandemic planners were occupied with procuring stockpiles of…
July 29, 2007
The lecherous and hypersexed pizza delivery boy might be a porn movie cliche but not likely welcome in Ave Maria, Florida: If Domino's Pizza founder Thomas S. Monaghan has his way, a new town being built in Florida will be governed according to strict Roman Catholic principles, with no place to get…
July 28, 2007
If your country had thousands of cases of a potentially fatal disease, spread by mosquitoes, would you panic? Not if you lived in the US, apparently. Last year there were over 4200 cases of West Nile virus infections with 177 deaths. I don't remember panic gripping the nation. So I had to laugh…
July 27, 2007
This may be the most hilarious headline I have ever seen: Insane donor 'rational to give to Tories' I'm not sure if it is exactly correct to call Britain's Tories (the Conservative Party) the counterpart to the Republicans in the US, but they are at least the primary opposition to the Labour Party…
July 27, 2007
One of the gross abuses that triggered the Reformation was the corrupt practice of Catholic priests of selling "indulgences," get-out-of-jail free cards for your sins in this world. Since the Bush administration is always willing to learn from history where corruption is the prize, they have come…
July 26, 2007
You can't count on defenders of US health care for much, but you can always count on them to allege that in Canada and other "socialized health care" systems there are long waits for elective surgery. Wait times for a hip replacement in Canada have been alleged as long as 6 months, although I don't…
July 26, 2007
In my early to mid career it fell to me to teach large lecture courses that surveyed all of environmental health. Everything. Air polllution. Wastewater. Food sanitation. Radiation protection. Over the years I learned a lot beyond my particular specialty (environmental epidemiology) and it has…
July 25, 2007
The cliché that when life hands you a lemon, make lemonade wasn't meant to cover the case where a nation's politicians refuse to deal with the lemon that is its health system. There are now a lot of stories in the news media about the catastrophe that is US health care, but few of them get beyond…
July 25, 2007
Small steps but steps in the right direction. It's taking time, but there is progress: Every household in Fairfax County [Virginia] should receive a pamphlet from the county's health department by the end of the month about protecting against a flu pandemic. Health department staff began mailing…
July 24, 2007
Here is Max Blumenthal's Unofficial Tour of the College Republican Convention. It's both funny and appalling. Take your pick. Or just laugh through your tears. On the other hand, if you are offended and under the age of 42, you can sign up and take your anger out on the Iraqis: