Health and environmental bloggers have covered a wide array of topics this week. Some highlights:
Steve at Omni Brain (don't click the link while eating) displays graphic warnings from Belgian and Thai cigarette packs
Merrill Goozner at GoonzNews posts an excerpt from his just-published article (cover story of The Scientist, for those with subscriptions) on treating malaria on the Thai-Burmese border.
Revere at Effect Measure challenged those who inveigh against alternative medicine to respond to a study that found chicken soup to inhibit neutrophil chemotaxis, and a lively discussion ensued. (Revere may also win the award for the week's best post title.)
If youâre obsessed with biofuels, head over to Gristmill.
Itâs also been a busy week in US environmental and occupational health news. A few links:
Enviro bloggers have had plenty of to say about the last hearing called by outgoing chair of the US Senate Environment & Public Works committee, Senator James Inhofe. Gavin at RealClimate summarizes and responds to some of the points raised.
Jordan Barab at Confined Space slams the Bush Administrationâs relaxation of trucking regulation.
Annys Shin at washingtonpost.com's The Checkout has an update on the CPSC's action to get lead out of children's jewelry.
Lisa Stiffler of the Seattle PIâs Dateline Earth bemoans the Bush Administrationâs move to do away with health standards that cut lead from gasoline.
Any other not-to-be-missed blog posts on public health or environmental topics? Leave them in the comments.
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Regarding the maleria story:
Different statistics impress some more than others. For me the fact that one African child dies every 30 seconds from malaria was most compelling.
The neat thing about artemesinin is that is is derived from a plant. But even with treatment the average African child gets malaria 3.4 times a year. So ultimately it gets back to mosquitoes.
I don't know what percentage of mosquitoes this contributes but deforestation has been linked to malaria outbreaks. It causes increased runoff which causes flooding which recedes and leaves standing water in open sun-lit spaces. Apparently standing water under a dense jungle canopy isn't suitable for mosquitoe lavae. For a lot more examples of this see Walsh et al, Deforestation: it's effect on vector-borne diseases, Parasitology, 1993 (106) Suppl S55-75.