News tagged with 'ICU'

For more than 20 years, the FDA has been urging the drug and agriculture industries to stop using antibiotics in animal feed and water. With antibiotic resistance at epidemic proportions, the agency is giving the public 60 days to comment before it issues new industry guidance.

Many jokes are going around about the nutritional content of SpaghettiOs which are now the subject of a Class I recall, the most serious, by the Department of Agriculture because some of the canned kid food may not have been properly cooked. No one has been made sick.

A massive beef recall in California was discovered in a packing house in products distributed throughout California as far back as 2008.

A new study published in the medical journal Current Eye Research suggests St. John’s wort, an herbal remedy often used as a natural treatment for depression, has been linked to the development of cataracts in humans.

Three studies are looking at the small percentage of patients who become critically ill requiring ICU care. While the majority of cases are mild, the average age of those critically ill is remarkably young, in the mid-30s. The studies express the concern that there may not be enough ICU units available to accommodate patients who need them.

Salmonella has contaminated two brands of California grown spinach that were quickly traced to distributors in 12 states and Canada before they made anyone sick.

Manufacturers that process or hold food are now required to report any contamination within 24 hours under new FDA regulations, all in an effort to keep food-borne illness away from the public.

The average American has a cancer risk of 36 in 1 million if exposed to toxic air pollution, according to a new report by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Air toxins are known to or suspected of causing cancer and other serious health problems.

The Environmental Protection Agency has determined that a public health emergency exists at the Libby asbestos site in Montana. This is the first time the agency has made a determination under the Superfund law, which governs sites contaminated or threatened by hazardous substances.

Ozone pollution eminating from fossil fuel plants, chemical solvents, and cars, is linked to an increase in respiratory deaths in this published study. Los Angeles and Riverside California are particularly high in ozone levels.

It may be the most significant criminal prosecution ever brought against a corporate polluter. The town of Libby, Montana is finally having its day in court. Town residents claim that the vermiculite mining operation, W.R. Grace, withheld information about the dangers of asbestos that blanketed the entire town with a fine dust.  More than 1,200 died or developed lung disease from asbestos fibers. 

A new study suggests that long-term marijuana use may increase a man’s chances of developing testicular cancer. In this published study, more than one quarter of the testicular cancer patients smoked marijuana, often daily or weekly. 

Can salmon be organic? The short answer is no, but that's not stopping the National Organic Standards Board from meeting Monday to discuss that possibility.  There are too many variables out at sea, critics charge, pointing to the industry as a slight improvement over industrialized factory-farming agriculture at sea.  

Alfalfa sprouts contaminated with Salmonella are being recalled from store shelves and retailers in three states in the Northwest and Alaska after 13 people were sickened and two hospitalized. Industrialized agriculture may be to blame.

For decades doctors have warned people about the risk of developing the painful digestive disorder known as diverticulitis to avoid eating corn on the cob, popcorn, nuts and various seeds. But a recent study found no scientific evidence to support current recommendations.