Health

US Fares Poorly in Child Welfare Survey

PARIS - America has some of the industrial world's worst rates of infant mortality, teenage pregnancy and child poverty, even though it spends more per child than better-performing countries such as Switzerland, Japan and the Netherlands, a new survey indicates.

The OECD, a Paris-based watchdog of industrialized nations, urged the United States to shift more of its public spending to its youngest children, under the age of six, to improve their health and educational performance.

Posted in chldren, Health

True Health Care Reform: 10 Missing Pieces

I applaud President Obama for his efforts. I too believe that everyone deserves proper healthcare and that access to healthcare must be a right for all. But I think Washington is barking up the wrong tree. They're busy arguing about what amounts to health insurance reform, while what this country needs is true health care reform.

Interestingly, what is happening in Washington mirrors much of what we do in Western Medicine. We suppress symptoms instead of dealing with the root causes of the problem.

Posted in food, Health, healthcare

Agriculture and the Healthcare Debate: Inextricably Linked

President Obama’s plans to reform the healthcare system in U.S. have taken over the headlines in the past several weeks. Doctors, economists, insurance executives, public health experts—all of them are being afforded the chance add their two cents on how to fix our broken healthcare system. The voices that are strikingly absent, though, are those of the agricultural community. What, you may ask, does agriculture have to do with overhauling the healthcare system?

Posted in agriculture, BigAg, food, Health, healthcare, inequality

The Hidden Truth Behind Drug Company Profits

This is the story of one of the great unspoken scandals of our times. Today, the people across the world who most need life-saving medicine are being prevented from producing it. Here's the latest example: factories across the poor world are desperate to start producing their own cheaper Tamiflu to protect their populations - but they are being sternly told not to. Why? So rich drug companies can protect their patents - and profits. There is an alternative to this sick system, but we are choosing to ignore it.

Posted in Health

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 4, 2009
4:10 PM

CONTACT: Water Advocates
John Sauer, Communications Director
Water Advocates
(202) 293-4003
jsauer@wateradvocates.org

Water Is Medicine: Why Act Now on the Water and Sanitation Crisis

WASHINGTON - August 4 - On July 29, the bipartisan Congressional Water Caucus and Water Advocates hosted a Capitol Hill Briefing on the vital linkages between safe drinking water, sanitation and global public health challenges. The briefing, titled "Water is Medicine," revealed that evidence shows inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) are the developing world's largest cause of disease. WASH is also critical to sustainable progress across a broad spectrum of development needs-from hunger to environmental degradation.

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Water Advocates is the first US-based nonprofit organization dedicated solely to increasing American support for worldwide access to safe, affordable and sustainable supplies of drinking water and adequate sanitation.

Water Advocates Links:

Posted in Health, water

Pfizer, Nigeria Sign $75 Mln Settlement in Drug Suit: Official

ABUJA, Nigeria - US drugmaker Pfizer reached a 75-million-dollar (53-million-euro) final settlement with a Nigerian state Thursday over 1996 drug trials that led to the deaths of 11 children, a joint statement said.

"We are pleased to announce that we have reached a final agreement to settle the Trovan litigation between Pfizer and Kano State government," the statement by the two parties said.

Posted in Equality/Justice, Health, nigeria

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 23, 2009
12:28 PM

CONTACT: Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI)
Phone: 202-332-9110

Unsafe Sodium Levels at Denny’s Prompt Class Action Lawsuit

Denny's Meals, With Several Days' Worth of Salt, Promote Heart Disease, Stroke, Risk of Early Death

WASHINGTON - July 23 - Most Denny's meals are dangerously high in sodium, putting the restaurant chain's customers at greater risk of high blood pressure, heart attack and stroke, according to a class action lawsuit filed today by a New Jersey man with the support of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

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Since 1971, the Center for Science in the Public Interest has been a strong advocate for nutrition and health, food safety, alcohol policy, and sound science.

Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) Links:

Posted in food, Health

Ducking the Shadows of Suburban Life

When the jets come, they start out like the shrill distant whine of a child, or with the deep rumbling sound of thunder in the mountains.

Each jet crescendos into an elephantine wail that fills the sky and all the spaces below it: kitchens, patios, bathrooms, bedrooms—there’s no escape. The wail turns to a sudden roar above the house, rattling the Victorian redwood timbers of mom’s home.

Finally, as the planes pass, their roar fades into a distant rumble….

Posted in consumerism, Energy, Health, Sustainability

Getting Children Back to the Great Outdoors

At dinner one evening, my younger son Matthew, then 10, said quite seriously: “Dad, how come it was more fun when you were a kid?” Like many parents, I do tend to romanticise my childhood — and children today do have plenty of fun, of a different sort. But my son was serious; he felt that he had missed out on something important. He was right.

Many people of about my age, baby boomers or older, were inclined towards a kind of free, natural play. I knew my Missouri woods and fields; I knew every bend in the creek and dip in the beaten dirt paths.

Posted in children, Education, Health, nature

Bhopal: The Hiroshima of the Chemical Industry

BHOPAL - Unable to steer safely in the mud, the driver of our rickshaw pulls into the side of the road to allow us to take shelter from torrential rain. There, under a shop's awning, a small crowd of people are standing together waiting for the weather to break. They include Sapna Sharma and her brother-in-law, Sanjay. Sanjay is holding his 18-month-old nephew, Anshul, who has kohl-rimmed eyes and silver bracelets on his ankles. As we stand talking, some of the people start pointing to the child's hands and feet while speaking animatedly to us in Hindi.

Posted in bhopal, Environment, Health, Human Rights, pollution, India