Tag: health

news

And you thought plastic was safe

Becca

When I was in college, Nalgene bottles were THE thing to keep your water in. I don’t know why. Maybe because it was fun to throw them from the 10th floor window to see if it was REALLY true that they were unbreakable. Maybe it was the cool colors. Who knows.

Now–six years later– we learn that not only do they suck, but they are bad for our health.

The LA Times (my new place of work on Mon and Tues) did a story about the danger of plastic. Here’s the main point:

“The first large-scale human study of a chemical widely used in plastic products, including baby bottles and tin can linings, found double the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and liver problems in people with the highest concentrations in their urine, British researchers reported Tuesday.

The findings confirm earlier results obtained in animals, increasing pressure on the Food and Drug Administration to limit use of the chemical Bisphenol A, commonly called BPA.”

AWESOME.

While it concerns me a little that it is in things like sunglasses, it is really worrisome that some stupid trend while I was in college could have cost me my health. These days, there is a replacement “cool water bottle” (it’s aluminum, I think) I think I’ll pass on the whole thing. Maybe I’ll just drink from rivers… or something.

news

I can’t go online anymore, I’m allergic

Becca

I was watching local TV news in New Mexico today and saw a story on a group of local Santa Fe people who are fighting to have wireless internet services banned in public areas. They say they are allergic to wireless signals.

Really?

I know the technologies of today could always have the possibility of causing some side effects tomorrow, but I find it hard to believe that the wireless signals are making people’s legs go numb.

You have to love local stories, though.

Other

A Little Rage About the Road

Becca

Today, on my way home, I hopped onto the 5 freeway like any other day. Except today, the cars weren’t moving.

“Must be an accident,” was of course the first thing I said outloud to the invisible people in my car.

Half an hour later, I found the culprit. It WAS an accident—on the other side of the freeway. There was absolutely no reason for my side of the freeway to be stopped. Except that all those nosey people wanted to get a look at some other person’s misery.

Sure, it’s tempting. I understand. But I think rubbernecking is one of the most obnoxious acts that a human participates in.

And it’s not so safe either. A study found that rubbernecking causes 16 percent of accidents on the road. That was followed by driver fatigue, looking at scenery and changing your radio.

In a city like Los Angeles, with 8 million people clustered together in this cesspool, I would have to suggest that we all just mind our own business and keep our eyes on the uneven pavement.

Uncategorized

Got rice?

Becca

 

For a person who eats rice like it’s going out of style, it is quite alarming that rice may in fact be running out, or so the flurry of news stories would have us believe.

While the cap for rice purchases here in the states at venues such as Sam’s Club and maybe even Costco will shock the average bulk-size shopper, there is no problem here in the U.S. The real situation is in other countries where the rapidly rising prices and potential scarcity of the staple food could be the difference between life and death.

In The Phillipinnes, a country of 90 million and the world’s largest importer of rice, the skyrocketing price of rice is the real problem. According to The Los Angeles Times, customers who were paying 65 cents per kilo for rice, are now forking over as much as 90 cents. This in a country where many people make less that two dollars a day.

While President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s government says there is enough rice for the next two months, it is what will happen after this point that has raised such concern.

Overall, there is not a shortage of rice–yet. But as news of the potential shortage spreads, so does the panic, causing people to buy up more than they usually would. 

“The problems related to rice production and supply in Asia over the past year or more are cause for serious concern, but not for panic,” said Elizabeth Woods, chair of the International Rice Research Institute in early April.

More than 90 percent of rice is consumed in the same country where it is produced. But in recent years, consumption has exceeded production. And a six-year drought in Australia, a plant disease in Vietnam, and the subsequent hoarding of the product in other countries has all added up to this potential rice famine.

Worse, the escalating prices have also led to riots in some countries, including Haiti, where at least five people died.

Some say the media is making a mountain out of a rice molehill, but regardless if the famine is as real as they say it is, the panic is spreading.