health

New Legislation Will Require all Companies to Prove Chemical’s Safety

The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee held its first hearing to evaluate a 34-year-old law related to toxic substances. The Toxic Substances and Control Act is under review after many environmental and public health leaders have asked for better, more updated policies. New legislation has been proposed and is being called the Toxic Chemicals Safety Act. The new law would require a company to prove a chemical is safe to use in the environment in order to be kept on the market.
Companies
A spokesperson from a chemical manufacturer’s society states the new act could be dangerous to the industry as a whole. Beth Bosely testified against the act, stating it is too vigorous in its safety demands and should not be applied to industrial chemicals. Bosely goes on to state that the strict safety testing standards would be costly and would deter new chemicals from being created. She also states there would be too much paperwork involved if the act is passed.

Advocates for the new legislation feel it is time the government regulates the amount of chemicals being put into the environment. Many toxic chemicals are blamed for the increasing number of cases involving asthma, diabetes, heart disease and several other illnesses that result in premature death. 

health

New Form of Child Abuse On the Rise: Drugs and Alcohol

Research published in the Journal of Pediatrics indicates the cases of adults dosing their children with common drugs is on the rise in the United States. The drugs include over-the-counter non-prescription varieties, as well as illegal drugs such as alcohol, cocaine and marijuana.

Dr. Shan Yin, of Denver’s Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center, helped to lead and author the study. The research covered over 21.4 million calls to the National Poison Data System from the year 2000 to 2008. Selecting cases classified as “malicious” in the database, Yin discovered 1,439 cases where a parent had drugged their child with malicious intent. 172 of the children received serious injury and 18 children died.

Yin was unable to fully articulate reasons for the cases as the records do not reflect motivation. He believes that standard causes for child abuse may be the reason. Yin says child abuse covers a wide spectrum, from people who are not deliberately intent on harming their child to adults who might be amused by a child’s intoxication in a sick and disturbing way.

Yin, a medical toxicologist, advised that child abuse standards should include drug abuses, as they currently cover emotional, physical and sexual harm only.

health

Targeted Intraoperative Radiotherapy: A new revolution in battling breast cancer

Recent studies in breast cancer treatment have shown the effectiveness of a new method. This revolutionary new practice named “targeted intraoperative radiotherapy” involves one simple session of radiation therapy, rather than the usual 6 1/2 weeks required by traditional breast cancer radiation therapy. Research has shown that the therapy is effective, but returning cancer in the future is still a possibility with this method.

This treatment is completed during surgery. A recent study conducted involved 45 women with breast cancer; half received the targeting radiation during their breast-conserving surgery, while the other half received traditional radiation for weeks after the surgery. Results seemed very promising; about 86% of those who received the targeting radiation did not require further treatments after the procedure.

There is a special device which is used to target the breast cancer during surgery, it then subsequently delivers the one-time radiation exposure for approximately 30 minutes. One-time targeting radiation therapy is recommended by oncology specialists for women who have a small breast tumor with a very clear location. Because the radiation device is designed to seek out the cancer’s location specifically, this is one important aspect to keep in mind.

entertainment

How Tall Is Kate Middleton?

Kate Looks Like She Could Be a Model

When Kate Middleton stands next to her new fiance, Prince William, officially described as 6 feet 3 inches tall, it is apparent she possesses the height of a model.

The bride-to-be is 5 feet 10 inches tall, and she has modeled a couple of times. First, for a charity fashion show at the University of St. Andrews in 2002, and second, at Blenheim Palace for a wild things line.

It is also reported that she has lost some weight in the past few years and is now an American size 2.

Her height, combined with her slender and athletic build, makes her ideal for most clothes and has put her on a number of best-dressed lists over the past few years.

entertainment

Watch The Amazing Middle School Trick Play

The Discroll Middle School football team is making news nationwide this week after a recent field play that caught the opposing team completely off guard and allowed Driscoll to make a 67 yard touch down.

The play, planned in advance by the team’s assistant coach John De Los Santos, involved the quarterback taking the ball from the center and moving across the field towards a game official before he began to dash across the field ball in hand.

The trick play allowed for quarterback Jason Garza to move past both the offensive and defensive lines unscathed.

The touch down brought the time to a tie with their opposition of 6-6. Although the game held a tied score, Driscoll’s opposition, Wynne Seale, was declared the win because of two penetrations that occurred at the 20 yard line.

The declaration didn’t keep video footage of the sensational psyche out from going viral, however.

“This was the coolest trick we had,” De Los Santos has said.

entertainment

Edmund Fitzgerald, 35 Years After Its Final Voyage

It was 35 years ago today that the mighty and legendary freighter, the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald, saw its final voyage in the waters of Lake Superior.

The ship had departed Wisconsin on November 9, 1975 and en route to Zug Island, Detroit, encountered a winter storm that quickly intensified. When the National Weather Service issued a gale warning, the Fitzgerald along with a following ship, the Anderson, redirected their routes to the Canadian coast line hoping to seek shelter. Winds sustained nearly 60 mph that day, with recorded gusts of 100 mph. The captain of The Anderson received a radio relay from The Mighty Fitz at 3:30 pm. Captain McSorley reported to The Anderson that the ship had received considerable damage and was taking on water. A few minutes later, McSorley reported that the ship had lost its radar.

Captain McSorley was able to maintain radio contact with The Anderson. The last call received from The Mighty Fitz and her crew came at 7:10 pm when they reported that they were “holding their own”. It was the last communication call received by Captain Cooper to the Anderson from the Fitzgerald. The Coast Guard did not initially take Anderson’s claim that the Fitzgerald was missing for nearly 90 minutes. Their search revealed not a single survivor.

It was later discovered that the ship had broken in two and came to rest in the murky waters of Lake Superior, known for having claimed more than 5,000 lives. On November 11, 1975 the mariner’s church in Detroit sounded a bell 29 times, one ring for each life lost aboard the Fitzgerald.

The tradition of ringing the bell is still carried on daily.

entertainment

Kim Kardashian No Clothes For W Magazine – PHOTO

Kim Kardashian W Magazine

Kim Kardashian is set to bare it all. That’s right, once again the popular socialite will be adorning a magazine with nude photographs of her body.

This time, the 29 year old will be gracing the cover of W Magazine’s November issue, also it’s annual arts issue. She will, however, be covered in silver body paint.

This is not the first time that we’ve seen little Kimmie naked. First, after the encouragement of her mother, she posed nude for Playboy magazine. Kardashian later said that she regretted posing for Playboy.

The actress has since worked through some of her body issues and is now enjoying life with greater confidence.

Kim Kardashian No Clothes For W Magazine - PHOTO

Kim Kardashian No Clothes For W Magazine – PHOTO

entertainment

Brett Favre Scandal Reminiscent Of The Mike Tirico Scandal

Remember the Mike Tirico scandal?

The news and internet are loaded with Brett Favre stories right now.

Not only does Favre have to quarterback the Minnesota Vikings, but now he will have to go into damage control regarding illicit text messages he possibly sent to reporter Jenn Sterger.

Favre might want to look back and see how ESPN personality Mike Tirico handled a similar problem years ago. In a book published in 200, “ESPN: An Uncensored History”, writer Mike Freeman documented Tirico’s problems.

Over the years, Tirico has stayed quiet about the allegations and they have just kind of gone away.

Favre might want to pick his words carefully as well.

He’s a bigger name than Tirico, but he is hoping for the same result.

entertainment

Rajinikanth’s Endhiran ‘Robot’ Review

The movie Rajinikanth’s Robot has been a success in Telugu, Tamil, and Hindi. These were the first three areas the film was shown and the critics are giving it positive feedback.

The film will soon be coming to the United States, United Kingdom, Singapore, Australia, and Malaysia. The film is about a scientist to creates a robot in his own likeness.

This machine has the cognitive capabilities of a human and actually falls in love throughout the film. Terrorists want to use this machine to cause devastation and destruction.

The creator must decide how to control the robot who thinks on his own and keep him on the side of science and peace instead of terrorism and war.

 Endhiran Tamil Movie Review

Endhiran Tamil Movie Review

entertainment

Actor Joe Mantell Has Died (PHOTO)

Actor Joe Mantell, who is best known for his supporting acting roles, has died. He passed away September 29, 2010 at a hospital Tarzana, California at the age of 94.

Mantell appeared in several iconic movies such as ‘The Birds’, where he starred as a traveling salesman and as Angie, opposite Ernest Borgnine in the film ‘Marty’. The actor is best known for his simple, one liners. In the film ‘Chinatown’, where he co-starred movie veteran Jack Nicholson, he played as Gittes’ partner. Mantell had the closing lines in ‘Chinatown’, where he said, “Forget it, Jake, it’s Chinatown.”

During his career, Mantell had starred in an impressive 70 different roles.