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Thursday, March 27, 2008
Food Poisoning...
Food Poisoning: Catch of the Day
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are about 75 million cases of foodborne illness every year, including hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations and thousands of deaths. And seafood is the number one cause of food poisoning in the United States.58 Symptoms of seafood poisoning include mild to extreme discomfort, nervous system damage, and even death.59
“[T]he seafood industry has a very poor record of compliance and there is no government testing to monitor pathogens often associated with seafood poisoning. FDA’s seafood-safety system is an industry honor system unworthy of public support.” —Caroline Smith DeWaal, food safety director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest62
Seafood poisoning is caused by eating foods contaminated with viruses or bacteria including salmonella, listeria, and E. coli. When Consumer Reports looked at bacteria levels in fresh fish bought at supermarkets around the country, they found that between 3 and 8 percent of the samples tested had “unacceptable” levels of E. coli, a bacterium that comes from human or animal feces, that pollutes some waterways.60
“Seafood is a major cause of food poisoning, sickening more than 100,000 and causing dozens of preventable deaths each year.”63 —Caroline Smith DeWaal, Center for Science in the Public Interest food safety director.
Many people may have had food poisoning without even knowing it, mistakenly attributing it to a case of “stomach flu.” Like the flu, people infected with bacteria from tainted marine animals often suffer from vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. If left untreated, this food poisoning can lead to death.61 Children, the elderly, pregnant women, and people with impaired immune systems are particularly vulnerable. Since fish flesh is a major cause of food poisoning, those who consume fish flesh risk unnecessary illness with every bite they take.The academic journal Environmental Microbiology published an alarming report in July 2006 about the human-health threat caused by the massive amounts of antibiotics that are fed to fish on fish farms. These drugs are used to keep the animals alive in filthy, crowded conditions that would otherwise kill them. But scientists are very concerned that the overuse of these drugs will cause antibiotic-resistant bacteria to multiply in the fish and that people who eat the infected fish flesh will contract dangerous illnesses that cannot be cured by drugs. “If we don't curb the heavy use of prophylactic antibiotics in aquaculture, then we will ultimately see more and more antibiotic-resistant pathogens emerging, causing increased disease to fish, animals, and humans alike,” said Dr. Felipe Cabello, the author of the study.64
Read about the FDA »
From:
Health Concerns
If You Wouldn't Do This to a Dog, Why Do It to a Fish?
Artickle
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are about 75 million cases of foodborne illness every year, including hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations and thousands of deaths. And seafood is the number one cause of food poisoning in the United States.58 Symptoms of seafood poisoning include mild to extreme discomfort, nervous system damage, and even death.59
“[T]he seafood industry has a very poor record of compliance and there is no government testing to monitor pathogens often associated with seafood poisoning. FDA’s seafood-safety system is an industry honor system unworthy of public support.” —Caroline Smith DeWaal, food safety director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest62
Seafood poisoning is caused by eating foods contaminated with viruses or bacteria including salmonella, listeria, and E. coli. When Consumer Reports looked at bacteria levels in fresh fish bought at supermarkets around the country, they found that between 3 and 8 percent of the samples tested had “unacceptable” levels of E. coli, a bacterium that comes from human or animal feces, that pollutes some waterways.60
“Seafood is a major cause of food poisoning, sickening more than 100,000 and causing dozens of preventable deaths each year.”63 —Caroline Smith DeWaal, Center for Science in the Public Interest food safety director.
Many people may have had food poisoning without even knowing it, mistakenly attributing it to a case of “stomach flu.” Like the flu, people infected with bacteria from tainted marine animals often suffer from vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. If left untreated, this food poisoning can lead to death.61 Children, the elderly, pregnant women, and people with impaired immune systems are particularly vulnerable. Since fish flesh is a major cause of food poisoning, those who consume fish flesh risk unnecessary illness with every bite they take.The academic journal Environmental Microbiology published an alarming report in July 2006 about the human-health threat caused by the massive amounts of antibiotics that are fed to fish on fish farms. These drugs are used to keep the animals alive in filthy, crowded conditions that would otherwise kill them. But scientists are very concerned that the overuse of these drugs will cause antibiotic-resistant bacteria to multiply in the fish and that people who eat the infected fish flesh will contract dangerous illnesses that cannot be cured by drugs. “If we don't curb the heavy use of prophylactic antibiotics in aquaculture, then we will ultimately see more and more antibiotic-resistant pathogens emerging, causing increased disease to fish, animals, and humans alike,” said Dr. Felipe Cabello, the author of the study.64
Read about the FDA »
From:
Health Concerns
If You Wouldn't Do This to a Dog, Why Do It to a Fish?
Artickle
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Silent Killer - Radon
Photo: Silent Killer
CANCER AND RADON
Studies on the carcinogenicity of radon
Radon's primary hazard arises from inhalation of the gas and its highly radioactive heavy metallic decay products (Polonium, Lead, and Bismuth) which tend to collect on dust in the air. The problem arises when these elements stick to the delicate cells lining the passageways leading into the lungs.
An IARC Working Group reported that there is sufficient evidence for the carcinogenicity of radon and its decay products in humans. Increased incidences of lung cancer have been reported from numerous epidemiological studies of groups of underground hard rock miners occupationally exposed to high doses of radon. These groups include miners of uranium, iron-ore and other metals, and one group of fluorspar miners. Strong evidence for exposure response relationships has been obtained from several studies, in spite of uncertainties that affect estimates of the exposure of the study populations to radon decay products. Several small case-control studies of lung cancer have suggested a higher risk among individuals living in houses known or presumed to have higher levels of radon and its decay products than among individuals with lower presumed exposure in houses. Regarding lung cancer, the evidence on the interaction of radon and its decay products with cigarette smoking does not lead to a simple conclusion. The data from the largest study are consistent with a multiplicative or submultiplicative model of synergisms and reject an additive model. In many studies of miners, and in one of presumed domestic exposure, small cell cancers accounted for a greater than expected proportion of the lung cancer cases. In one population of uranium miners, this proportion has been declining with the passage of time. Because of the limited scale of epidemiologic studies of nonoccupational exposure to radon decay products available at the time reviews were made, quantification of risk has been based only on data of miners' experience. An IARC Working Group considered that the epidemiologic evidence does not lead to a firm conclusion concerning the interaction between exposure to radon decay products and tobacco smoking. Most of the epidemiologic studies involve small numbers of cases, and the analytical approaches for assessing interaction have been variable and sometimes inadequate.
Read more:
http://www.radon.com/
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Radon
Radon jest bezbarwnym i bezzapachowym gazem powstającym w wyniku rozpadu radioaktywnego radu, który z kolei jest produktem rozpadu uranu znajdującego się w skorupie ziemskiej. Produkty rozpadu promieniotwórczego jonizują materiał genetyczny, co wywołuje mutacje, które czasami mogą doprowadzić do powstania nowotworu. Ekspozycja na radon jest po paleniu tytoniu drugim głównym czynnikiem sprawczym raka płuc.
Stężenia radonu wahają się miejscowo w zależności od składu miejscowej gleby i skał. Przykładowo na obszarach takich jak Kornwalia w Wielkiej Brytanii (gdzie pod warstwą gleby występuje granit), radon jest poważnym problemem i budynki muszą być dobrze wentylowane, aby obniżyć stężenie radonu. Amerykańska Agencja Ochrony Środowiska (EPA) podaje, że jeden na 15 domów w USA ma podniesiony poziom radonu powyżej normy wyznaczonej na 4 pikokiury na litr (pCi/l). Stan Iowa ma najwyższe średnie stężenia radonu w Stanach Zjednoczonych. Wykonane tam badania wykazały o 50% większe ryzyko wystąpienia raka płuca przy dłuższej ekspozycji na aktywność promienotwórczą ponad wyznaczone przez EPA 4 pCi/l.
Radon
Radon
Radon jest bezbarwnym i bezzapachowym gazem powstającym w wyniku rozpadu radioaktywnego radu, który z kolei jest produktem rozpadu uranu znajdującego się w skorupie ziemskiej. Produkty rozpadu promieniotwórczego jonizują materiał genetyczny, co wywołuje mutacje, które czasami mogą doprowadzić do powstania nowotworu. Ekspozycja na radon jest po paleniu tytoniu drugim głównym czynnikiem sprawczym raka płuc.
Stężenia radonu wahają się miejscowo w zależności od składu miejscowej gleby i skał. Przykładowo na obszarach takich jak Kornwalia w Wielkiej Brytanii (gdzie pod warstwą gleby występuje granit), radon jest poważnym problemem i budynki muszą być dobrze wentylowane, aby obniżyć stężenie radonu. Amerykańska Agencja Ochrony Środowiska (EPA) podaje, że jeden na 15 domów w USA ma podniesiony poziom radonu powyżej normy wyznaczonej na 4 pikokiury na litr (pCi/l). Stan Iowa ma najwyższe średnie stężenia radonu w Stanach Zjednoczonych. Wykonane tam badania wykazały o 50% większe ryzyko wystąpienia raka płuca przy dłuższej ekspozycji na aktywność promienotwórczą ponad wyznaczone przez EPA 4 pCi/l.
Radon
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