Hot Shot - A maker of condoms has introduced a new one. It is called 'hot shot' and is a bit smaller in diameter than regular condoms. A backlash has ensued of course as the company is accused of targeting the young male and in that, encouraging sex. I just thought it was an interesting bit of news.
Pennies - On TV the sassy chair, scooter, whatever it is - is advertised to the older person. I have been vocal in my distaste for anything the encourages people to walk less, but let us also look at this economically. The commercial encourages the consumer to call the company which will bill Medicare and no matter what happens, like Medicare turning down the claim because maybe there is NO REASON why the person can't walk - the announcer tells the "target" - "You will not pay a penny for this scooter." Oh but won't we all pay for that scooter - taxes people - and that is Medicare fraud in the making.
Alcohol v Marajuana, et al - I was concerned when watching a CNN story about some synthetic legal marijuana-like substance that people were using that was causing serious adverse health events. During the story, someone tweeted or emailed that marijuana was less harmful than alcohol. So what part of that statement is true? Do more people use alcohol than marijuana? Yes. Is there a higher percentage of alcohol users who are alcoholics then there are marijuana users who are "addicted"? I do not know the answer but it is a fair question. Also, we do not know the long term effects of marijuana use probably because it is illegal and we cannot track it. But from the CDC weekly mortality reports we can see that about 75,000 deaths per year are related to alcohol - all forms, motor vehicle accidents, fires, disease, homicide, suicide etc. But marijuana and (excessive) alcohol do not affect the body the same way over time - marijuana is more like tobacco. Marijuana use can cause the same type of lung problems as tobacco because all smokable plants have carbon monoxide and tar. So, tobacco causes 443,000 deaths per year. If as many people used marijuana as alcohol or tobacco, I believe it would mean, marijuana is more harmful than alcohol. That is an informed opinion however, not a scientific conclusion.
Preventing Abortion - I was also disturbed when I heard a story on NPR that was highlighting a concern of some folks, some important and influential folks, in Georgia. It regarded the high number of abortions in African American women. The people talking were very upset about the number of abortions in women of color and suggested a conspiracy against those races. No one however, gave the statistics for pregnancy or unplanned pregnancy by race and THAT might me the more important question. As a health educator, I want to prevent the unintended pregnancy and that should take care of the abortion problem. There are several youth oriented programs to utilize - evidenced based model programs - I would hope that someone would spend the time and money on having those programs reach the target audience.
Cialis - Not only did Lilly spend millions to advertise this drug, which made the list of the top five, but I think they should win the award for the most optimistic drug campaign. Seriously, Cialis for "every" day use? Who in the real world - in the age range of Cialis users - has sex every day?
Not Making Sense - just a couple disconnects that I noticed, not to say that there are not loads of disconnects in my make up (like I drink diet soda or don't take days off when I am tired). Anyways, last night someone told me that they did not use the dry cleaners because they (she and her husband) did not like all the chemicals. Yes, an incredible amount of chemicals are used at the cleaners which is bad for the environment and seriously bad for the employees, though I am unsure how bad they are for the persons whose clothes are cleaned. I don't use the dry cleaners because I am cheap. So the woman who said this - seriously dyes her hair - I would, on a personal level, be a lot more worried about those chemicals. Second thing is that I have some friends who are firm believers in what they consider holistic means for preventing colds and such - concoctions to take at the first sign of a sniffle or sore throat, etc. Instead of consistent sleep, diet and exercise (to be fair, they all have relatively healthy lifestyles)- my friends use these herbal mixtures in efforts to ward off illness. The weird thing is that they have to use them pretty regularly and they end up getting sick anyways.
Please Be Fat - This is gonna shock you guys. I was grocery shopping yesterday and I came around a corner moving towards what appeared to be a father and his tween aged daughter. I noticed her belly for some reason, the shirt she was wearing clung to it I think and it was a bit round out in front of her - and as you KNOW I am very concerned about childhood obesity and preventing it, but when I saw this child/teen I thought, loudly, in my head, "please be fat" because I feared she was pregnant.
Quality Years - There are many illnesses that do not kill us suddenly and there are lifestyle behaviors that don't prove fatal - but some of these; poor diet, inactivity, smoking - can add illness to the years that we do live and often reduce the quality of them. As they say with obesity - we are living longer yes, but with arthritis, hypertension and type 2 diabetes, certainly we are not living better.
And with that - good night, sleep well and let the new week begin...
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