After nearly a decade of inaction, the US government is finally going to set safety standards for perchlorate in the nation’s water supply.

Perchlorate is a rocket fuel additive that causes thyroid abnormalities in newborns and children. Even tiny amounts of perchlorate can impair thyroid hormone production, especially in utero and in newborns. The resulting metabolic abnormalities can lead to irreversible loss of IQ and increased perceptual and behavioral problems.

Nearly all the perchlorate found in drinking water is the result of lax disposal methods at chemical plants, rocket test sites and military installations. Government estimates say that 16 million Americans are exposed to unsafe levels of the chemical. Independent scientists using state and federal data suggest the number is twice that.

White House and Pentagon officials, primarily in the Bush administration, had pressured the Environmental Protection Agency for years to refrain from establishing safe, allowable levels of the chemical in tap water, presumably because the cost of a national cleanup would cost several hundred million dollars.

But under new management (the Obama Administration), the EPA has announced it will establish standards for the toxic compound sometime during the next 2 years.

“As improved standards are developed and put in place, clean water technology innovators have an opportunity to create cutting edge solutions that will strengthen health protections and spark economic growth,” EPA administrator Lisa Jackson said in a press release.

As far back as 2002, an EPA risk assessment determined that safe levels of perchlorate in drinking water should be set at 1 part per billion. After 6 years of complete non-action on the matter, the Bush administration decided not to regulate the chemical. Instead, it established an “advisory guideline” that perchlorate concentrations should not exceed 15 parts per billion. (more…)

Virtually all bottled beverages you can buy have handy-dandy nutrition labels from which you can access information about calories, carbs and so forth. All beverages except the ones containing alcohol, that is.

Why is that?

Maybe it’s because alcoholic beverages contain little to no protein, sodium, cholesterol, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, calcium and iron (remember, alcohol is metabolized as a fat, not a carbohydrate), so why bother?

Then again, alcohol does contain calories, a lot of them. Would people drink less if they knew how many calories they were consuming? Would they drink less if they knew how many “servings” of alcohol were contained in the bottle they just purchased?

Maybe it’s because of the cost of performing nutritional analyses on each vintage of wine, each and every year, would turn profitable vineyards into money losers? Then again, plenty of niche beverage producers who run reasonably narrow margin businesses have never complained about the requirement to provide nutritional information.

The Tax and Trade Bureau is the federal agency that decides what information must appear on the labels of alcoholic beverages. Currently, it does not require manufacturers of wine, beer and the hard stuff to list ingredients. It does require them to list chemicals that folks might have an adverse reaction to…things like sulfites, aspartame and dyes.

The Bureau also mandates that wines containing 14% or more alcohol by volume must state this fact on a label. Wines containing less than 14% can either specify the alcohol content or affix the words “light wine” or “table wine” to their labels. In addition, “light” beer bottlers must state calorie and carbohydrate content, and distilled liquor bottlers must specify the alcohol content by volume.

Since 2003 however, consumer and public health advocates have lobbied the Tax and Trade bureau to require that labels on alcoholic beverages include more information than this. They want things like calories, carbohydrates and alcohol per serving, as well as the number of servings contained in the bottle to be included as well. (more…)

Many folks have heard that those Preparation H requiring, obscenely narrow sprint bicycle seats are associated with erectile dysfunction, and that certain antidepressants can cause DNA damage in sperm. But in our everyday lives we encounter many more sperm slayers as well. What is more, the havoc they wreak can range from scrambling the DNA of your favorite swimmers to interfering with, well, their ability to swim.

The good news, according to a recent expose on the matter, is that you can do something about most of them. Here’s a summary of the most common “sex offenders” and the steps you can take to protect the troops:

Heated car seats-For the unfortunate souls who live in the Midwest and Northeast, few luxuries are more welcome than a heated car seat. But those contraptions are frying your sperm, plain and simple. The same goes for strategically placed heating pads and lengthy spells in a hot tub. Sperm production, it turns out, is done best at temperatures several degrees below normal body temperature…that’s why a man’s package hangs down like it does in the first place. External heat sources defeat nature’s way, guys.
What to do: Jack-up the car heater and bag the heated seat whenever possible. And don’t fall asleep in the hot tub.

Morning Ablutions-Your soap and shampoo most likely contain phthalates, which are organic compounds that interfere with male hormone synthesis and have been associated with infertility, birth defects, and other nasty things. Phthalates are also in your vinyl shower curtain and probably in the tile cleaner you’re using to clean the shower (if you clean the shower, that is). As an added bonus, the heat from your shower helps release these chemicals.
What to do: Use organic or plain, unscented soaps and shampoos. If a personal care product has a scent, it probably contains phthalates. Check the labels on the soaps and shampoos you do buy. Look for the word “phthalate” or its many aliases, which include DMP, DEP, DAP and DPP. If you can afford it, go with the glass door on the shower. It’s more aesthetically pleasing and less prone to flooding, anyway.

Sex toys-Sadly, these handy gadgets also contain phthalates. The worst offenders are those containing so-called “jelly-rubber,” or vinyl. Most dildos and vibrators are in this category. What a bummer.
What to do: Go with products made of silicone or glass. Remember, this affects your partner, too.

Cash register receipts-Nearly half of them are coated with bisphenol-A (BPA), an estrogen-like chemical that has been linked to erectile dysfunction, loss of sexual desire and ejaculation difficulties, not to mention heart disease (we have covered various BPA stories over the years, most recently here and here).
What to do: If you really need receipts, store them in an envelope rather than a pocket or your wallet, so you’re not constantly handling them. For extra credit, don’t recycle receipts, because BPA leaches from them into landfills and eventually finds its way into the water supply.  (more…)

Dead Heads have experienced it while listening to Jerry Garcia transition from Not Fade Away into Goin’ Down the Road Feeling Bad on the 1971 album, Skull and Roses. Jazz aficionados have as well, during any one of several McCoy Tyner solos on John Coltrane’s classic, A Love Supreme. And so have connoisseurs of classical music, who marvel at Jascha Heifetz’ stunning interpretations of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D major (below).

In fact, just about everyone has enjoyed a sensation of pure euphoria as “that riff” plays out during a favorite piece of music. 

Recently, Robert Zatorre and Valorie Salimpoor of McGill University decided to study the neurobehavioral underpinnings of the phenomenon. Perhaps not surprisingly, they found that regardless of the type of music or the age or sophistication of the listener, that euphoric feeling can indeed be measured, and its neurochemical roots are quite similar from person to person.

In fact, the scientists showed that musical epiphanies feature increased heart and breathing rates, and the release of dopamine in certain areas of the brain. Dopamine is the same neurotransmitter that’s released when humans experience similarly intense sensations of pleasure associated with tangible rewards like a good meal, sexual gratification, or the ingestion of certain addictive drugs.

To reach these conclusions, the scientists recruited 8 volunteers and asked them to listen to, in order, a favorite musical passage of their choosing and then a decidedly uninspiring selection that was chosen for them. (more…)

Plenty of folks get a bit red in the face this time of the year. The cheeks of those who live in northern climes may take on a certain glow when they walk the dog or take out the garbage on a brisk, windy night. The same appearance bedevils folks in warmer climes should they forget to apply sunblock before settling beside the pool.

An altogether different group includes fully one third of all people of East Asian descent, who have been born with a genetic deficiency that causes their cheeks, and often their necks, arms and trunk to turn sunburn-red after consuming even small amounts of alcohol (see picture).

The condition is known colloquially as “Asian Flush” or “Asian Glow.” It is often associated with nausea, headache and tachycardia, and is caused by an inherited deficiency of aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2), one of 2 key enzymes involved in the metabolism of alcohol.

Unfortunately, Asian Flush isn’t as benign as once thought. Scientists have determined in recent years that ALDH2 deficiency is a risk factor for esophageal cancer, which happens to be one of the deadliest cancers humans can get.

Philip Brooks and colleagues at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism published a seminal article on this association in 2009. In it, the scientists explained that the first of those 2 key enzymes transforms alcohol into acetaldehyde, a vasodilator in the short term and a carcinogen in the long term. The second enzyme, ALDH2, converts that toxin into acetate, a harmless chemical.

People who lack ALDH2 experience a build-up of acetaldehyde in the body after they consume alcohol. The short-term effect of the build-up is the Asian Flush.

But that’s not what prompted Brooks to write that article. “People with this ALDH2 deficiency have a really high risk of getting esophageal cancer when they drink alcohol,” he explained to the LA Times. “Anyone who drinks is at risk, but the more you drink, the more your risk goes up. And when you’re ALDH2-deficient, your risk goes up much more dramatically.” (more…)

Last week, a federal appeals court ruled that electronic cigarettes should be regulated by the FDA as a tobacco product rather than drug-delivery devices, as the FDA had hoped. The latter are subject to far more rigorous regulatory control.

In reaching its decision, the 3-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals in Washington upheld a lower court ruling by Washington Federal District Judge Richard Leon. He had ruled against the FDA in a lawsuit brought by e-cigarette distributors. The successive judicial blows against the FDA means that for now, it cannot–as it would like–ban e-cigarettes until expensive, company-sponsored trials prove the products are safe and actually work as quit-smoking aids.

The FDA believes that e-cigarettes should be regulated in the same way as nicotine replacement products like chewing gum and patches. It also wants to curtail marketing campaigns for these products that are directed at children.

e-Cigarettes are battery-powered tubes that heat liquid nicotine into a vapor that is subsequently inhaled. They usually contain a small light on the tip which glows like a cigarette when the user inhales. The devices add ingredients that give the vapor a taste and smell that is reminiscent of cigarette smoke. They do not contain tobacco, and according to e-cigarette distributors, the inhaled vapors do not contain cancer-causing chemicals. More than 300 firms are believed to be involved in the production and distribution of e-cigarettes.

“We can now market our product the way we always should have been able to,” Matt Salmon, CEO of Sottera Inc., told the Associated Press. “This is plain and simple an alternative to smoking for committed, longtime smokers.” Sottera markets electronic cigarettes known as NJOY.

Sottera and other e-cigarette distributors claim their products are ideal quit-smoking agents because they address the behavioral aspects of smoking, like holding the cigarette, inhaling from it, observing smoke come out from it, and so forth. 

But Matthew Myers, the president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids released a statement saying that the court’s decision will permit “any manufacturer to put any level of nicotine in any product and sell it to anybody, including children, with no government regulation or oversight at the present time.”

“This ruling invites the creation of a wild west of products containing highly addictive nicotine,” Myers added.

The FDA is reviewing the court’s ruling.

Most e-cigarettes are imported from overseas. They hit worldwide markets in 2002 and became available in the US 4 years later. Industry spokespeople claim that 20,000 to 30,000 people try the products each week.

Like their counterparts in other first-world countries, French people know about the health benefits of exercise. And French culture has emphasized, even worshipped, good looks (which these days translates to “fit and trim”).

So it’s surprising that the French avoid fitness centers as vigorously as factory-produced croissants.
 
But they do. According to the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association, just 5.4% of French people were members of a fitness club in 2008. That’s substantially less than their counterparts in Italy (9.5%), the UK (11.9%) and Spain (16.6%).

“It appears that more people are sitting in cafes smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee than working out … the French don’t see fitness as a lifestyle,” American-born fitness consultant Fred Hoffman told MSNBC. Hoffman has lived in Paris for 2 decades.
 
The only part of the fitness market that is growing in France is the one for cut-rate, no-frills facilities. “It’s a lot simpler just to open a shoebox and throw in some machines,” explained Michel Parada, who directs operations for Fitness First in France.

However, Hoffman doubts these facilities will be able to sustain themselves, as the French folks who do join fitness centres aren’t savvy about work-out regimes and typically require a personal trainer to carry out a safe, effective work-out.

The problem, it seems, is that working-out has an image problem in France. Celebrities in particular seem to shun sweaty workouts, at least in public. And it’s unlikely that this will change even if the government began promoting fitness.

That became clear in 2007, when President Nicolas Sarkozy was observed jogging in the streets of Paris after his election. “I would rather see the president in his suit than in his sweat,” philosopher Alain Finkielkraut said at the time.

Drivers who were distracted by talking or texting on cellphones killed approximately 16,000 people between 2001 and 2007 according to an scientists at the University of North Texas Health Science Center.

To make their estimate, Fernando Wilson and Jim Stimpson compiled data on deaths attributed to distracted driving from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. For ancillary analyses, they also used FCC data concerning cell phone ownership and text messaging volume.

The scientists found that in 2002, Americans sent about 1 million text messages per month. By 2008, this figure had exploded to 110 million per month. “Our results suggest that recent and rapid increases in texting volumes have resulted in thousands of additional road fatalities in the United States,” they wrote in the American Journal of Public Health.

The shocking statistic comes at a time when overall traffic fatalities are actually down in the US. In fact according to the Transportation Department, the number of traffic fatalities in 2009 (33,963) was lower than at any time since the mid-1950s.

“Distracted deaths as a share of all road fatalities increased from 10.9% to 15.8% from 1999 to 2008, and much of the increase occurred after 2005,” wrote the scientists. “In 2008, approximately 1 in 6 fatal vehicle collisions resulted from a driver being distracted while driving.”

Numerous studies have shown that talking on a cell phone distracts drivers, even if they use a hands-free set-up. Of course, texting, emailing and other smartphone applications provide an even greater distraction since users must take their eyes off the road in order to carry out those functions.

Approximately 30 states have made it illegal to text message while driving. In other jurisdictions, hands-free devices are required for drivers who use cellphones.

Could coffee stave off more than just fatigue? A new study suggests that might be the case. Heavy coffee drinkers, it turns out, have a lower incidence of head and neck cancers, according to the study, which was published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

To reach these conclusions, Mia Hashibi and colleagues pooled results from 9 previous studies which looked at coffee and tea drinking, as well as rates of head and neck cancers. In those studies, the behaviors of cancer patients were compared with either the general population or to patients that were hospitalized for reasons other than cancer.

The scientists found that people who drank coffee had a 12% lower risk of developing head and neck cancers than those who didn’t, after controlling for several factors including cigarette smoking. In addition, the scientists found an inverse correlation between the amount of coffee consumed and the risk of cancer: for people who drank at least 4 cups per day, the risk was cut by more than one third.

Head and neck cancer is relatively rare, affecting only about 1 in 10,000 people per year. It is known to be associated with alcohol intake and cigarette smoking.

Hashibi’s group noted that the association doesn’t prove that coffee protects against cancer of the head and neck. Other factors associated with coffee drinking could be driving the association. Alternatively, people with the disease might have reduced their coffee consumption for some reason.

There are several mechanisms by which coffee might be protective, although they are all speculative at this point.

“Coffee contains more than a thousand chemicals,” wrote the authors, including compounds like cafestol and kahweol which are thought to protect DNA from the damaging effects of certain carcinogens.

The FDA has announced plans to review the safety of triclosan, an antibacterial agent found in hundreds of consumer products including soap, toothpaste, toys and clothing. The stepped-up regulatory scrutiny was prompted by recent lab studies showing that bacteria can evolve resistance to the chemical using a mechanism that would help them resist antibiotics as well.

In making the announcement, the FDA said there is no evidence that triclosan is directly harmful to humans or that bacteria in nature have become resistant to triclosan.

The “FDA does not have sufficient evidence to recommend changing consumer use of products that contain triclosan at this time,” the agency said.

The new development did not satisfy Massachusetts Democrat Edward Markey, who called for a ban on the substance. “There are many troubling questions about triclosan’s effectiveness and potentially harmful effects, especially for children,” Markey told MSNBC.

The Soap and Detergent Association has consistently said triclosan is safe. It has been used to reduce bacterial loads in consumer products for nearly 30 years.

An environmental group, the Natural Resources Defense Council, hailed the FDA’s announcement.

“It’s about time FDA has finally stated its concerns about antibacterial chemicals like triclosan,” said the Council’s Sarah Janssen.

“The public deserves to know that these so-called antibacterial products are no more effective in preventing infections than regular soap and water and may, in fact, be dangerous to their health in the long run.”

Experts agree that that triclosan-containing soap does little or nothing more to remove bacteria from the skin than plain soap. Washing hands physically removes excess bacteria from the skin. Soap helps this, with or without triclosan.