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More American women living by the bottle, says study
XINHUANET Sat, 10 May 2008 05:23:08 GMT
LOS ANGELES, May 9 (Xinhua) -- Alcohol dependence has ...
Europeans get drunk and take and drugs 'to have sex'
BBC Fri, 09 May 2008 04:04:38 GMT
Young adults in Europe deliberately binge on drink and drugs to improve their sex lives, research suggests.

The UK has one of the worst reputations for binge drinking and underage sex but there are striking similarities between countries, a study found.

A third of 16 to 35-year-old men and 23% of women questioned said they drank to increase their chance of sex.

The study - of 1,341 young people in nine countries including the UK - is published in BMC Public Health.

Young people were also more at risk of unsafe sex while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, the study found.

The researchers said although it was well known that use of alcohol and drugs was linked to risky sexual behaviour, this study showed many young people were "strategically" binge drinking or abusing drugs to improve their sex lives.

"Despite the negative consequences, we found many are deliberately taking these substances to achieve quite specific sexual effects" - Professor Mark Bellis
Heparin Contamination Fiasco Reveals Dirty Secret of Drug Industry: Their Pills are Made in China!
NATURALNEWS Fri, 02 May 2008
Remember a couple of years ago how the FDA warned Americans not to buy prescription drugs from Canada because they might be "contaminated by terrorists?" I'm not making that up: That was the official announcement of an FDA spokesperson, and it was part of their fear strategy for enforcing a monopoly on U.S. consumers so that Big Pharma could continue engaging in rampant price fixing.

The implication in that warning is that drugs purchased in the United States are therefore safer, correct? What the FDA didn't tell anyone, however, is that most pharmaceuticals purchased in the United States are manufactured outside the U.S.; many from China or Puerto Rico. So they're not even made in the U.S. anyway, and drug companies are simply importing them from other countries just like a consumer might do if she drove across the border and bought her medications in Canada or Mexico.
Vitamins 'may shorten your life'
BBC Wed, 16 Apr 08 09:30:07 BST
A major review suggests vitamin supplements do not prolong life and could even lead to a premature death.
NHS bill for statins 'could soar'
BBC Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:29:10 GMT
Millions more people in England are likely to be prescribed statins - but the impact on health may be limited.
Medication 'worsens Alzheimer's'
BBC Tue, 1 Apr 08 00:20:26 BST
Anti-psychotic drugs commonly given to Alzheimer's patients often make their condition worse in the long term, a UK study suggests.
Drugs cultivation link to blaze
BBC Mon, 17 Mar 2008 19:55:53 GMT
Police investigate the possibility that a house damaged by fire was being used to grow drugs.
Gaviscon maker 'cheated NHS'
BBC Fri, 07 Mar 2008 05:10:38 GMT
The makers of Gaviscon kept an effective monopoly for years after the stomach medicine came off patent, Newsnight has been told.

"there were "smoking guns in the e-mails so I would be very surprised if the Office of Fair Trading wasn't interested".

While the delaying tactics continued, Reckitt persuaded doctors to switch patients to a form of Gaviscon which was still under patent.

The techniques they used to do this were sometimes questionable.

The pharmaceutical companies' own trade body - the ABPI - found that Reckitt had misled doctors and behaved unethically in its dealings with some GPs in Glasgow.

Generic copies of Gaviscon could have saved around £40m from the drugs budget since 1999.
The Cholesterol Con--Where Were the Doctors?
HEALTHBEATBLOG Sat, 01 Mar 2008
This brings me to the question I ask in my headline: during the many years of the Cholesterol Con—where were the doctors? When everyone from the makers of Mazola Corn Oil to the Popes of Cardiology assured us that virtually anyone could ward off heart disease by lowering their cholesterol, why didn’t more of our doctors raise an eyebrow and warn us : “Actually, that’s not what the research shows” ?
Israeli company sells dental patent for $95 million
HAARETZ Sun, 10 Feb 2008 05:23:24 GMT
People tend to associate "technology exits" with the sale of chips or software companies, but why not dental implants? Alpha Bio Implant became the fifth major Israeli exit this year, commanding a $95 million price tag from none other than the Swiss company Nobel Biocare. ...
Alternative medicine: Rose
PRESSTV Sat, 02 Feb 2008 15:49:38 GMT
Rose oil is widely used in skin care products because it helps moisturize the skin, reduce facial wrinkles and soothe sun-damaged skin.
Needle-free flu vaccine developed
PRESSTV Wed, 30 Jan 2008 22:27:06 GMT
A newly-produced needle-free sublingual vaccine provides better protection against both seasonal and pandemic flues compared to jabs.
Fake IDs prompt pub age increase
BBC Thu, 24 Jan 2008 16:30:19 GMT
Widespread fake ID usage forces a number of pubs in Londonderry to raise their age limit to 21.
The teenage girls who drink too much
BBC Wed, 23 Jan 2008 00:24:04 GMT
Two teenagers speak about their drinking and the steps they are taking to get their lives back on track.
Raid uncovers 800 cannabis plants
BBC Tue, 22 Jan 2008 17:52:44 GMT
Nearly 800 cannabis plants are discovered being grown at a house in Newport.
Lifestyle 'a big impact on drugs'
BBC Fri, 18 Jan 2008 15:34:23 GMT
Lifestyle may play a big role in how well the latest generation of anti-cancer drugs works, research suggests.
Kandahar's cemetery of 'miracles' - Among the dead are Arab women and children - Many believe that these foreigners were "innocent" people
BBC Fri, 18 Jan 2008
At Kandahar's Arab cemetery, victims of the US "war on terror" are revered by many as shaheed (martyrs) and their graves are believed to possess miraculous powers.

Each day, hundreds of sick people visit the graves of more than 70 Arab and other foreign fighters and their family members who were killed in US bombing in the southern Afghan city in late 2001.

People started seeing them as miracle workers, healers and intercessors for others before God.

Many believe that these foreigners were "innocent" people who "died for Islam" when the US and others sent troops to Afghanistan after the attacks of 11 September, 2001.

For many, these graves are holy, and touching them will cure illnesses.

In the first couple of years, thousands of people visited the cemetery daily.

Surprised by the response, local authorities sent armed policemen to discourage people from visiting.

But the cemetery's fame has reached many remote areas of Afghanistan and even the border areas of neighbouring Pakistan.

"People get cured here, that is why they come to the cemetery," says Samad, one young visitor.

Many people talk about miracles that have happened in the cemetery.

Some say many sick people who had lost all hope of recovery were miraculously cured within moments of their first visit.

"Several paralysed people have left the cemetery walking on their own two feet," says Sangeena.

The "cure" is simple - each visitor takes a pinch of salt from one of the many small bowls and eats it. It is believed that the salt has a special connection with the dead and will cure any illness.

Gul Khan, a university graduate, says the cemetery's popularity also has to do with the fact that most people are poor and have little or no access to health facilities.

"Generally people in this area believe in such things. Once the fame of a shrine or a person having 'miraculous powers' spreads, then more and more people are attracted to that."

Since the Soviet invasion in 1979, fighting has destroyed much of Afghanistan's basic infrastructure.

Post-Taleban reconstruction has made little or no impact in many remote areas.

In a country with high unemployment and low literacy rates, it does not seem surprising that shrines are still the only hope for many sick and needy people.
Report: efficacy of antidepressants exaggerated
XINHUANET Thu, 17 Jan 2008 02:19:25 GMT
The selective publication misleads doctors and consumers about the drugs' true effectiveness.
Opium fields spread across Iraq as farmers try to make ends meet
INDEPENDENT Thu, 17 Jan 2008
The cultivation of opium poppies whose product is turned into heroin is spreading rapidly across Iraq as farmers find they can no longer make a living through growing traditional crops.
Scientific Study Finds Fluoride Horror Stories Factual - Industrial by-product consumed by millions of Americans lowers IQ, causes cancer
PRISONPLANET Wed, 16 Jan 2008
The establishment media will have to find a new tactic with which to ridicule those who oppose the fluoridation of water after a major new Scientific American report concluded that "Scientific attitudes toward fluoridation may be starting to shift" as new evidence emerges of the poison's link to disorders affecting teeth, bones, the brain and the thyroid gland, as well as lowering IQ.

"Today almost 60 percent of the U.S. population drinks fluoridated water, including residents of 46 of the nation’s 50 largest cities," reports Scientific American's Dan Fagin.

Fagin is an award-wining environmental reporter and Director of New York University's Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program.

"Outside the U.S., fluoridation has spread to Canada, the U.K., Australia, New Zealand and a few other countries. Critics of the practice have generally been dismissed as gadflies or zealots by mainstream researchers and public health agencies in those countries as well as the U.S. (In other nations, however, water fluoridation is rare and controversial.)"
Brazil suspends exports of yellow fever vaccine to satisfy domestic demand
XINHUANET Wed, 16 Jan 2008 03:02:26 GMT
RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Brazilian ...
Drink violence CCTV shock tactic
BBC Mon, 14 Jan 2008 18:27:32 GMT
Footage of drink-fuelled attacks is being used to try to reduce pub licences, BBC Scotland learns.
Computer brings science up a gear
BBC Mon, 14 Jan 2008 11:27:24 GMT
Researchers hope a new supercomputer will help develop life-saving drugs and model climate change.
Brazilian berry destroys cancer cells in lab, University of Florida study shows
UFL Mon, 14 Jan 2008
A Brazilian berry popular in health food contains antioxidants that destroyed cultured human cancer cells in a recent University of Florida study, one of the first to investigate the fruit’s purported benefits.
Alternative medicine: Fig
PRESSTV Sun, 13 Jan 2008
The fig promotes bone density and is believed to be a good treatment for high blood-pressure, diabetes, heart-disease and constipation.
Police shut down cannabis factory
BBC Fri, 11 Jan 2008 17:00:07 GMT
Police shut down a disused factory growing cannabis and seize £1m worth of plants.
Five men guilty of dealer murder
BBC Fri, 11 Jan 2008 16:26:52 GMT
Five men are found guilty of murdering a drug dealer who was cutting in on their crack cocaine business.
Men jailed over drugs equipment
BBC Thu, 10 Jan 2008 17:20:27 GMT
Two Derby businessmen are jailed for selling equipment that they knew was to be used for growing super-strength cannabis.

Police raided the Hydroponics Centre and Wholesale firm in Derby in 2006.

Det Ch Insp Debbie Matthews said after the hearing: "What it [the undercover operation] actually led to was a customer database which showed it wasn't just a problem with hydroponic cultivation in Derbyshire but in other parts of the country, which we disseminated to other police forces."

Brian Gunn of the Derbyshire Crown Prosecution Service added: "Although the sale of hydroponic equipment, cannabis literature and cannabis seed is not unlawful in itself, these defendants went further than that by offering not only these items for sale, but also expert advice."

Employee Paul Blackshaw, 32, from Little Eaton in Derbyshire, who was convicted of conspiring to aid and abet the production of cannabis and conspiring to counsel the production of the drug, failed to attend the sentencing.

A warrant was issued for his arrest.
More cannabis factories uncovered
BBC Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:48:43 GMT
Two more cannabis factories are found in Daventry after a tip-off from a member of the public.
Police catch more drunk drivers
BBC Tue, 08 Jan 2008 17:44:40 GMT
The number of drivers caught over the legal alcohol limit rises slightly in the festive season crackdown.
Alcohol buyers given jail warning
BBC Tue, 08 Jan 2008 14:52:25 GMT
A sheriff tells a youth who bought alcohol for underage girls in the Borders he is lucky to escape jail.
Cannabis plant 'caretaker' jailed
BBC Mon, 07 Jan 2008 16:07:10 GMT
A man is jailed for four years for growing more than 300 cannabis plants in his rented home.
Indigestion 'busting NHS budget'
BBC Fri, 04 Jan 2008 03:12:13 GMT
At least £100m from is being spent unnecessarily by the NHS each year on indigestion drugs, doctors say.
His parasite theory stirs a revolution
BOSTON Fri, 04 Jan 2008
Joel Weinstock thinks lack of exposure to worms leads to a rise in immunological diseases.
'Worrying' drink driving figures
BBC Wed, 02 Jan 2008 14:59:53 GMT
Police in Leicestershire say despite numerous warnings, drivers are still flouting the drink drive laws.
Increase in drink-drive arrests
BBC Wed, 02 Jan 2008 12:17:07 GMT
The number of motorists arrested on suspicion of drink-driving in Guernsey and Alderney rises for the second year in a row.
Deadly vodka kills 11 in Mongolia
BBC Wed, 02 Jan 2008 10:16:19 GMT
At least 11 people die in Mongolia after drinking vodka containing industrial alcohol.
Review 'will back 24-hour licensing'
GUARDIAN Wed, 02 Jan 2008
Controversial 24-hour drinking is set to survive a review ordered by Gordon Brown in his first month as prime minister, it was claimed today.
Drink fuels record 999 call-outs
BBC Tue, 01 Jan 2008 13:12:44 GMT
A record number of emergency calls were made to the ambulance service over Hogmanay, figures show.
Alcohol warnings before New Year
BBC Mon, 31 Dec 2007 12:09:50 GMT
Experts are warning of the social and economic costs of binge drinking, as revellers gear up for New Year's Eve.
The UK's secret cannabis farms - Of 600 homes inspected so far, nine out of 10 turned out to be house cannabis farms.
BBC Thu, 20 Dec 2007 14:08:32 GMT
Houses in wealthy neighbourhoods in the UK are being used by criminal gangs for cannabis farms.

Hundreds if not thousands of cannabis farms have been established in upmarket houses in the UK by criminal gangs who could be serving an international market.

"These criminals can afford to set up in places where homes typically fetch between half a million and three quarters of a million pounds. It is such a cash-rich crop."

Police in the city of Surrey in British Colombia have found that the cannabis growers have an Achilles heel - their dependence on high levels of mains electricity.

A thousand suspect homes were identified, either from their very high usage or their very low usage, if they were bypassing the meter. Of 600 homes inspected so far, nine out of 10 turned out to be house cannabis farms.
Herbs replace drugs in Gaza amid suffocating siege
XINHUANET Thu, 06 Dec 2007 15:52:54 GMT
GAZA, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- Walking out of a spice shop with ...
'Legalise drugs' report supported
BBC Mon, 15 Oct 2007
North Wales Police Authority has backed a review of drug laws after its chief constable urged legalisation.

Richard Brunstrom asked the authority to back his calls to scrap current laws, legalise most drugs and bring in a new system to control them.

While it agreed to support the report - to go to the Home Secretary as part of UK-wide consultation - it did not say current laws should be scrapped.

A senior police officers' body called legalisation "a counsel of despair".

Mr Brunstrom called the fight against drugs unwinnable but said he did not want "an anarchic free-for-all".

He said there was a battle with "the flat earthers" who refused to look at the evidence suggesting drugs laws need a radical change.
GSK pays up to $1bn for melanoma drug
INDEPENDENT Thu, 11 Oct 2007
GlaxoSmithKline, the world's second largest pharmaceutical group, has signed a development deal with Synta Pharmaceuticals that could be worth up to $1.1bn (£540m) to the US biotechnology group - almost three times its current market value.