AIDS among Latinos on the rise

 

SAN YSIDRO, Calif. - AIDS rates in the nation's Latino community are increasing and, with little notice, have reached what experts are calling a simmering public health crisis. Though Hispanics make up about 14 percent of the U.S. population, they represented 22 percent of new HIV and AIDS diagnoses tallied by federal officials in 2006. According to a survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, Hispanics in the District have the highest rate of new AIDS cases in the country.

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A Test of Justice for Rape Victims

Every two minutes, someone is raped in the United States. Every year, more than 200,000 rape victims, mostly women, report their rapes to police. Most consent to the creation of a rape kit, an invasive process for collecting physical evidence (including DNA material) of the assault that can take up to six hours. What most victims don't know is that in thousands of cases, that evidence sits untested in police evidence lockers.... Read More

Poison in Baby’s Carrier and Your Easy Chair

A well-known toxic chemical may lurk in everything from your easy chair to your baby’s bassinet—and manufacturers don’t have to tell you about it. The chemical is a flame retardant called “chlorinated Tris,” and it was used in children’s pajamas until 1977, when studies showed it caused cancer in animals. However, it’s turning up again with increasing frequency in upholstered furniture, car upholstery, paint, mattresses, and even baby carriers....Read More

Patients Don't Know Exercise Cuts Colon Cancer Risk

Many experts now consider colon cancer a largely preventable disease, but a new study finds that primary care doctors might not always inform patients about one important step they can take to reduce their risk: becoming more physically active....Read More

Health Officials: Don't Eat Lobster Tomalley

AUGUSTA, Maine -- Maine officials are advising consumers to avoid eating lobster tomalley after tests revealed high levels of toxins in some lobsters.

The Maine Center for Disease Control said Friday that lobster meat is perfectly safe but that people should not eat the tomalley _ a soft green substance found in the body of the lobster.

High levels of toxic algae known as red tide have been recorded along Maine's coast this summer, forcing the state to close many areas to clam and mussel harvesting. Tomalley functions as the lobster's liver by serving as a natural filter for contaminants that are in the water.

Editors note: Of course if you believed God, one would never ever even consider eating a lobster!

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has advised consumers for many years not to eat tomalley, which is considered a delicacy by some.

RAW MILK is the way GOD intended it!

The Revolution Will Not Be Pasteurized:

Inside the raw-milk underground

The agents arrived before dawn. They concealed the squad car and police van behind trees, and there, on the road that runs past Michael Schmidt’s farm in Durham, Ontario, they waited for the dairyman to make his move. A team from the Ministry of Natural Resources had been watching Schmidt for months, shadowing him on his weekly runs to Toronto. Two officers had even infiltrated the farmer’s inner circle, obtaining for themselves samples of his product. Lab tests confirmed their suspicions. It was raw milk. The unpasteurized stuff. Now the time had come to take him down.

Schmidt had risen that morning at 4 a.m. He milked his cows and ate breakfast. He loaded up a delivery, then fired up the bus. But as he reached the end of the driveway, two cars moved in to block his path. A police officer stepped into the road and raised his hand. Another ran to the bus and banged on the door. Others were close behind. Eventually twenty-four officers from five different agencies would search the farm. Many of them carried guns.

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China grows 'Super Vegetables' with Seeds from Outer Space

While most governments are reacting to the global food shortage by growing more food, the Chinese have decided to grow the same amount of fruits and vegetables, but with A TWIST: giant versions of standard food staples: 210-pound pumpkins, 2-pound tomatoes, and cucumbers that are over 2-feet long -- that are currently feeding families in 22 of China's provinces, and governments in Europe, Japan and elsewhere are taking notice. 

This weird, believe-it-or-not scenario becomes even more fantastic as it turns out that the reason these foods can grow so huge is because they've been sent to outer space. The seeds get blasted into outer space, and, after they return, transform into enormous eatables -- but no one knows why.

The China Academy of Sciences, working with the then Soviet Union, first started looking at the benefits of growing seeds in space in 1987. Then two years ago the Shijian-8, the first recoverable satellite designed solely to carry space seeds, was blasted into outer space on China's Long March rocket. On board were more than 2,000 seeds.Read More

'Super berry' poses risk to UK's tomato and potato crops

Health gurus promote the goji's benefits, but illegally imported plants could spread disease to other crops

Goji berries might look innocuous, but the current craze for this "superfood" – fuelled by the endorsement of celebrities such as Kate Moss and Sir Mick Jagger – could devastate Britain's multimillion-pound tomato and potato crops.Read More

"Caffeine Intoxication" Cases On Rise

Teens, Energy Drinks Among Sources Of Concern, Expert Says

(CBS) More and more caffeine abuse victims are showing up in the nation's emergency rooms.

A recently-released report from University of Massachusetts Medical School noted 4,600 caffeine-related calls to the American Association of Poison Control Centers in 2005, the most recent data available. More than half involved people under 19, and 2345 required treatment in a health care facility.

"As (caffeinated) drinks become more and more popular, and caffeinated beverages in general, and as the use of them sort of spills over into younger crowds, we're noticing more calls into poison control centers, and more and more of those people are being recommended to go to their local health care facility to get some at least observation and possibly management and treatment," U-Mass Med School toxicologist Richard Church, one of the study's authors, told Early Show co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez Thursday.Read More

Study: Low-carb diet best for weight, cholesterol

ATLANTA - The Atkins diet may have proved itself after all: A low-carb diet and a Mediterranean-style regimen helped people lose more weight than a traditional low-fat diet in one of the longest and largest studies to compare the dueling weight-loss techniques.

A bigger surprise: The low-carb diet improved cholesterol more than the other two. Some critics had predicted the opposite.

"It is a vindication," said Abby Bloch of the Dr. Robert C. and Veronica Atkins Foundation, a philanthropy group that honors the Atkins' diet's creator and was the study's main funder.Read More