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14 Nov 2011 23:21

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World: Just in case we needed another reminder to exercise once in a while

  • 552 million people could have diabetes by the year 2030 source
  • » That’s 1 in 10 people worldwide. The World Health Organization says that the rise in diabetic adults will most likely be due to an aging world population, not the increasing rate of obesity. Most cases are Type 2 and come from “weight gain and a sedentary lifestyle.” Count this number as inspiration for 2012’s resolutions.
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

31 May 2011 17:23

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World: Smokers of the world, quit! Today is “World No Tobacco Day”

  • Never a bad time: The new, concerning report on cell phone use isn’t the only place you’ll hear the word “carcinogenic” being used today; May 31st is World No Tobacco Day, a cause that could probably benefit from a slightly less clunky title. The World Health Organization estimates that some 6 million people die each year from tobacco-related illness. Anti-smoking measures within the U.S. have blossomed over the last decade, with smoking bans in public places, restaurants, and bars becoming more and more prevalent across the states — check here for a list of smoking bans applicable in your area. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

31 May 2011 13:55

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Tech: Yeah, that’s scary: WHO calls cell phones “carcinogenic hazard”

  • The World Health Organization has a new study out that says cell phones are possibly carcinogenic to humans — they’re in the same class as lead, engine exhaust and chloroform. They based their findings on a number of peer-reviewed studies on cell-phone safety. Long-term effects from cell phone radiation remain unknown, but research suggests that cell phone radiation is non-ionizing — similar to a very low-powered microwave. “What microwave radiation does in most simplistic terms is similar to what happens to food in microwaves, essentially cooking the brain,” notes Dr. Keith Black, who leads the neurology department at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He notes that beyond brain cancer, this could also cause memory problems because we hold cell phones close to the memory temporal lobes. Looks like it’s time to break out the earbuds. (photo via ElvertBarnes‘ Flickr page) source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 May 2011 15:45

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World: Will the U.S. destroy its stockpile of the smallpox virus?

  • NO they’ll keep the smallpox, due to fear of bioterrorism source
  • » Smallpox keeps on kicking: Presently the U.S. has 451 samples of the smallpox virus, under the care of the Center for Disease Control (CDC), while Russia has just 120 in storage in a town somewhere in Siberia. Some would like to see these samples destroyed outright, in a bid to eradicate the virus from the world altogether. Dr. Donald Henderson, for one, who helped with in eradication efforts throughout the 70s, argues in favor of destroying the samples, but Kathleen Sibelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, disagrees, saying that destroying the samples would be a “symbolic” act that would make it harder to vaccinate a population in the event of a terrorist attack utilizing the highly lethal virus.
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Mar 2011 15:53

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World: Food-borne radiation detection prompts call for ban, general fears

  • worrisome Radiation has been detected in milk and spinach from areas surrounding the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, causing World Health Organization officials to call for a ban on food coming from that area.
  • zealous An upscale restaurant in Taiwan known as Peony, which specializes in Japanese cuisine, has gone to some length to prove their culinary purity: diners are offered radiation meters to check their food. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Nov 2010 22:20

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World: WHO: Second-hand smoke kills hundreds of thousands each year

  • 600,000 the number of people worldwide who die each year as a result of second-hand smoking (cough, cough)
  • 165,000 the number of children killed each year by second-hand smoke; they’re most heavily exposed to it source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Jun 2010 14:19

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World: Did the World Health Organization overhype swine flu?

  • Two new reports suggest they did. Last year, swine flu, or H1N1, was treated as the second coming of the black plague. A couple of new reports suggest the people making the recommendations to WHO had ties to the drug industry, and those recommendations led to governments wasting millions of dollars on H1N1 vaccines that would never actually get used. “We are left wondering whether major public health organizations are able to effectively manage the conflicts of interest that are inherent in medical science,” one report says. So, who’s the swine now? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

21 Jul 2009 10:27

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World: WHO sez the death toll from swine flu has gone way up

  • 429 the WHO’s official swine flu death toll two weeks ago source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Jun 2009 10:11

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World: We’re all gonna die! Swine flu headed towards pandemic status

  • Swine flu, known by experts and supernerds as H1N1, is likely to be called a pandemic by the World Health Organization today. It would be the first disease named pandemic in 40 years. source
  • Despite this, though, it’s not really any more dangerous than it was yesterday. It would just get a new title and merely confirm that the disease is a worldwide outbreak. We swear. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 May 2009 12:56

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World: The H1N1/swine flu toll is rising heavily still

  • 8,451 confirmed cases of swine flu around the world source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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