Scientists link plastics chemical to health risks

January 14th, 2010

Exposure to a chemical found in plastic containers is linked to heart disease, scientists said on Wednesday, confirming earlier findings and adding to pressure to ban its use in bottles and food packaging. British and U.S. researchers studied the effects of the chemical bisphenol A using data from a U.S. government national nutrition survey in 2006 and found that high levels of it in urine samples were associated with heart disease.

The Schoolgirl Who 'Cries' Blood and Bleeds Through Her Pores

Written By Graham Smith
January 13th, 2010

A schoolgirl who spontaneously bleeds from her pores has left doctors baffled. Indian Twinkle Dwivedi, 14, has an undiagnosed disorder which means she loses blood through her skin without being cut or scratched.

The Americanization of Mental Illness

Written By Ethan Watters
January 13th, 2010

AMERICANS, particularly if they are of a certain leftward-leaning, college-educated type, worry about our country’s blunders into other cultures. In some circles, it is easy to make friends with a rousing rant about the McDonald’s near Tiananmen Square, the Nike factory in Malaysia or the latest blowback from our political or military interventions abroad. For all our self-recrimination, however, we may have yet to face one of the most remarkable effects of American-led globalization. We have for many years been busily engaged in a grand project of Americanizing the world’s understanding of mental health and illness. We may indeed be far along in homogenizing the way the world goes mad.

Europe: Food industry 'too secretive' over nanotech

January 13th, 2010

industry is pushing hard for greater control over the food system. Beyond GMOs, proprietary nanotechnologies and synthetic biology will confer even greater control to food and agribusinesses. 

Following hot on the heels of the DEFRA 2030 food strategy published on Tuesday this week, which says "GM, like nanotechnology, is not a technological panacea for meeting the varied and complex challenges of food security, but could have some potential to help meet future challenges", the House of Lords published its report on Thursday "Nanotechnologies and Food".