While databases and sharing information can lower costs and improve service in a range of industries, the ownership of information can impinge upon one’s privacy and allow access to private information by people that you don’t know or would not want to have access to your data. The line between utility and invasion of privacy …
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Category:Health
Parental smoking causes cot death
A comprehensive study, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and Parental Smoking, carried out at Bristol University’s Institute of Child Life and Health and published in the Early Human Development medical journal, reviewed existing evidence from numerous studies on smoking and cot death and concludes that 9 out of 10 mothers who lose a baby to cot …
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Research compares US and UK organic market drivers
New research into the US organic sector by the Hartman Group reveals intriguing differences between the American and UK markets. In numbers, the US sector has grown slower, about 1/3 as quickly as the UK: the US organic market grew by just over 30% between 2002-2005, whereas the UK achieved 33% growth in 2006 alone. …
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US EPA intent on poisoning Americans
While the USDA fails to enforce organic standards, the EPA has decided to liberate a vile toxin on the American countryside. The EPA approved a new chemical fumigant, methyl iodide, for use on food crops across the US. The pesticide vaporises quickly, allowing it to drift far distances. Although the state of California has categorized …
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Are US organic standards becoming worthless?
Aurora Organic Dairy just a few weeks ago had a portion of its organic certification suspended by the USDA for “willfully” violating National Organic Standards thanks to pressure from OCA and others. Since 2003 it has failed to pasture its animals and by bringing conventional calves onto its feedlots and then declaring them organic. But …
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US schools cleaning up the menu
It appears from anecdotal evidence that school cafeterias in the US have made a concerted effort to facilitate better diets: fewer fried foods, smaller servings and no cupcakes. Growing awareness of increasing obesity and federal guidelines have encouraged a administrators to take steps to make food in schools healthier. For example California school districts have …
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Stop giving drugs to infants
Stop giving drugs to infants is the thrust of recommendations made in the US by safety experts for the Food and Drug Administration who urged an outright ban on over-the-counter, multisymptom cough and cold medicines for children under 6. This recommendation is underpinned by the recognition that warnings about their use on infants just do …
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Gaining calories impulsively
IHL consulting polled 1,000 shoppers in the US on what they grab while waiting in the check-out line, from nothing to chocolates. I have a regular battle with my sweet tooth and children while paying for groceries because of the raft of delights staring me in the face. None of those sweets are good for …
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Another report exposing the dangers of food additives
In early September, the UK government’s Food Standards Agency took the significant step of issuing revised guidance to consumers recommending that they steer clear of products containing certain E-numbers if their children are showing signs of hyperactivity or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The release of the new public health advice follows the results of the …
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Starchy veg, not meat, is the key to human’s brain development
Recent genetic studies reported in Nature Genetics suggest that human’s ability to digest starchy foods, like the potato, may explain our success on the planet. Compared with primates, humans carry extra copies of a gene, called AMY1, which is essential for making the salivary enzyme amylase that digests calorie-rich starches. The University of California …
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