Tag Archives: health

NYC Council Ponders “Smoking While Walking” Ban

Courthouse News reports: Targeting one culprit in the panoply of noxious street odors, a Queens Democrat asked the New York City Council on Thursday to ban smoking while walking. “In a perfect world, every smoker would have the self-awareness to realize that smoking and walking down a crowded sidewalk subjects everyone behind you to breathing in the fumes,” City Councilman …

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Trump Administration Seeks To Shield Health Workers Who Refuse To Treat LGBT Patients Because Jesus

Politico reports: The Trump administration is poised to overhaul the HHS civil rights office as part of a broader plan to protect health workers who don’t want to perform abortions, treat transgender patients seeking to transition or provide other services for which they have religious or moral objections. Under a proposed rule — which has been closely guarded at HHS …

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New York Attorney General: Many Herbal Supplements Don’t Contain Listed Plants

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman yesterday announced that an investigation by his office has revealed that 79% of tested herbal supplements sold in several major chains do not contain the plants listed on the labels. Via the Associated Press: GNC, Target, Walmart and Walgreen Co. sold supplements that either couldn’t be verified to contain the labeled substance or that …

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TIME Magazine: Eat Butter

The story is behind a paywall.

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Fitness Map

The darkest states are the most aerobically fit according to this study. Colorado tops the list among states, with 61.8 percent of adults meeting the standard for aerobic exercise; Oregon is second (61.1 percent), followed by Vermont (59.2 percent), Hawaii (58.5 percent) and California (58.2 percent). On the flip side, the lowest levels of participation in aerobic exercise are found …

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NYC Obesity Rates By Borough

From a survey released last week by the city, we see what some argue is the primary benefit of living without a car. Staten Island shares top place in the citywide obesity record with the Bronx. The percent is lower in Brooklyn, where 27 percent of the population was reported as obese, followed by Queens, with 22 percent. The smallest …

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NEW YORK CITY: Cigarette Sales Banned For Those Under The Age Of 21

In what may be his final victory against smoking in New York City, yesterday Mayor Bloomberg applauded after the City Council approved a ban on the sale of tobacco products to people under the age of 21.  Thomas Farley, the city’s health and mental hygiene commissioner, said the law, the Sensible Tobacco Enforcement Act, represents a “historic advance in our …

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ASAP Science: How Old Are Your Ears?

According to this test, my hearing is age-appropriate. Pity. However, commenters on YouTube note that your result may be affected by the speakers or earphones you are using.

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NEW YORK CITY: Appeals Court Squashes Mayor Bloomberg’s Big Soda Ban

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Today’s New York Daily News

Despite today’s headline, if you actually read this “exclusive” you’ll learn that NYC’s public school cafeterias stopped using butter five years ago.  But news from 2008 doesn’t fit the Nanny Bloomberg meme, so….

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Animated Map Shows Obesity Trends

More at Slate. (Via JMG reader Win)

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Endangered Species

Here’s a curious report from Bloomberg News: “Pubic grooming has led to a severe depletion of crab louse populations,” said Ian F. Burgess, a medical entomologist with Insect Research & Development Ltd. in Cambridge, England. “Add to that other aspects of body hair depilation, and you can see an environmental disaster in the making for this species.” Janet Wilson, a …

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Flu Tracker App Launched

The New York Post reports: Hell’s Kitchen is burning up — with the flu. The neighborhood is the city’s most infected area — closely followed by the Upper West Side, Carroll Gardens and Elmhurst, Queens, according to a formula created by two upstate professors. The complex, Twitter-based algorithm maps out areas of New York City that are hardest-hit with virus …

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Boston Mayor Declares Flu Emergency

As hundreds of flu patients flood into the city’s emergency rooms, today Boston Mayor Tom Menino declared a public health emergency. The nation’s severe flu season continued to worsen Wednesday, with reports of hospitals overflowing with sick patients and at least one major U.S. city declaring an influenza emergency and urging citizens to get vaccinated before the peak is reached. …

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GOP Sen. Mark Kirk: I Saw Three Angels

Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) says that three angels appeared at his hospital bed following his massive stroke last year. For Mark Kirk, there was no white light, no tunnel. What Illinois’ junior U.S. senator experienced was three angels standing at the foot of his bed. “You want to come with us?” Kirk was asked. “No,” he told them. “I’ll hold …

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Flu Season Hits Hard & Early

Epidemiologists says that the 2013 flu season has arrived weeks ahead of normal and may be notably worse than usual. “I think we’re still accelerating,” said Tom Skinner, a CDC spokesman. Twenty-nine states and New York City reported high levels of flu activity, up from 16 states and NYC the previous week. Flu was widespread in 41 states, up from …

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US Ranks 51st In Life Expectancy

According to figures just issued by the CIA World Factbook, the United States ranks 51st in the world for life expectancy. The tiny tax haven of Monaco – with its notoriously wealthy inhabitants and compulsory state-funded health service – has the highest life expectancy at an average of 89.68 years, five years higher than anywhere else on earth, according to …

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Rosie O’Donnell: I Had A Heart Attack

Rosie O’Donnell has revealed that she suffered a heart attack last week. Calling it a “miracle” she’s still alive, Rosie O’Donnell suffered a heart attack last week and is now recovering at home. O’Donnell, 50, credited her survival to quick Internet research on her painful symptoms and a Bayer aspirin she had seen recommended in ads. “Thank god/saved by a …

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At NYC’s Big Gulp Hearing

It’s going on right now and insiders predict that the ban will pass despite Big Soda’s massive ad campaign. Famously snarky Brooklyn borough president Marty Markowitz makes an appearance below in full character.

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NEW YORK: Bloomberg Claims Victory With New Study On His Trans Fats Ban

Five years ago NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered the Department of Health to ban trans fats in all city restaurants. It was the first such edict by any American city. Yesterday a city-funded study reported that the ban is having a dramatic effect on the amount of trans fats consumed by diners. A new analysis of thousands of lunch receipts, …

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