Month: April 2019
Should doctors screen adolescents for risky drinking?
Recently, the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force, an independent panel of national experts that makes evidence-based recommendations about clinical preventive services, recommended that adults and pregnant women be routinely screened for risky alcohol use. However, although risky drinking is a big problem among adolescents, the task force didn’t endorse universal screening of this group by
EPA bans methylene chloride for home but not commercial use
Methylene chloride, a chemical used mostly as a paint stripper, has been tied to over 50 deaths since the 1980s. If used without enough ventilation, the chemical can replace the oxygen in the lungs and suffocate the user. Yet long after the chemical was known to be unsafe, companies kept selling it. Moreover, the EPA
Infant inclined sleepers are being recalled
When new and expecting parents are creating registries and buying baby items, they have a fair expectation that those products will be safe for their little one. Unfortunately, not all products are properly tested or used, and the results can be fatal. Such is the case with two different brands of infant inclined sleepers, which
Arrested for DUI after smoking weed on 4/20?
“A driver’s judgment and ability to react are both impaired when driving high, but many drivers don’t realize that it’s dangerous and illegal,” said a spokesperson for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). “Driving either drunk or high is a DUI; impairment is impairment.” NHTSA’s anti-drugged driving campaign puts it well: “If You Feel Different,
J&J targeted minorities, others, knowing talc might cause cancer
In the 1970s, pediatricians began warning new parents not to use Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Powder or other talc-based powders to address diaper rash because it is dangerous for infants to inhale talc powder. Unfortunately, that left J&J needing a new business model. They chose to market the product to adults as a powder with
California, New York weigh lowering DUI standard to 0.05 percent
States around the nation are now considering lowering their per se DUI standards from 0.08percent blood alcohol content down to 0.05 percent. In 2013, the National Transportation Safety Board began recommending that all states adopt the lower standard, although so far, only Utah has done so. The idea of lowering the DUI standard to 0.05
Doctor to testify that Perdue pushed opioids despite addiction risk
Pharmaceutical companies that produce opioid medications are being sued by governments around the country for their roles in the opioid crisis. Opioid painkillers used to be reserved for cancer pain or situations where the patient was near the end of his or her life. Doctors had been trained that the risk of addiction was too
Prescription for a DUI
Between the commercials, the doctor’s instructions, and the label on the bottle, prescription drugs tend to come with a lot of warnings. Some of the side effects are rare, but others are almost a guarantee. The typical conversation about DUI tends to be one about drinking and driving, or possibly being under the influence of
Are sobriety checkpoints effective? Worth the cost?
In Tennessee and most of the United States, law enforcement engages in sobriety checkpoints to catch drunk drivers. These roadblocks are generally set up to test a random sample of all drivers who encounter them. In 1990, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that, if properly set-up, a DUI checkpoint does not violate a driver’s Fourth
5 FAQs on stroke prevention
The risk of suffering a stroke is widespread in the United States. Every 40 seconds, someone in the U.S. has a stroke – and every 40 minutes someone dies of one. Not all of the risk factors for stroke are within a person’s control. But it’s still important to know the potential consequences and what