Death by Popcorn

Microwave popcorn bags are made of paper, but the inside of the bag has to be coated with something that will repel grease and moisture. When the mix of chemicals used to coat microwave bags is heated, some compounds are known to break down into a substance called perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA).

Here’s the bad news: According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, PFOA has been identified as a likely carcinogen.

Here's the worse news: Not only is the bag coating a carcinogen, but also the fake butter flavoring!

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health determined that a disease that destroys lung tissue was triggered by exposure to the artificial butter flavoring. What's in the fake butter? Diacetyl. It gives artificial butter it's flavor and smell. This is an FDA-approved chemical that is also found in many wines, cookies, candies, beers, and cheese-flavored products

Here's the worser news: They've known about this for years!  At least a decade.

In 2001, a report noted that 130 plant employees had twice the national average rates of bronchitis and asthma and more than three times the rate of obstructed breathing. In November 2005,the popcorn plant settled their lawsuits out of court. Four other cases involving seven workers went to trial and resulted in verdicts that added up to more than $50 million dollars in compensation for the workers.

Here's the worstest news of all: It's still on the market.  Who's running this outfit anyway? What's so difficult? Even the simplest form of life is known to move away from things that will hurt it...oh, yeah, I see the difference now - there's simple life and low life. Guess who's running Congress.

Congress has been working on a bill to order quick action (don't make me laugh) by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to limit exposure to diacetyl. The House of Representatives passed a bill last year but the Senate has not acted.

Mind you, back in 2006, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the United Food and Commercial Workers petitioned the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration to pass an emergency temporary standard to protect workers from the deleterious health effects of inhaling diacetyl vapors. The petition was followed by a letter of support signed by more than thirty prominent scientists. The matter is still under consideration.

So, between Diacetyl, PFOA and trans fatty acids (oh, you KNOW they're in there), you may be persuaded to dust off that old popcorn popper you got in high school.

Remember "Go west, young man?" Now it's "Go south."

South trails rest of U.S. in childhood cancer rate  -  Researchers seek reasons for CDC findings.

Surprising research suggests childhood cancer is most common in the Northeast and least common in the South, results that even caught experts off-guard. The highest rate was in the Northeast, while the lowest was among children in the South. The rates for the Midwest and West were nearly identical.

Now mind you, when you look at the numbers, we are talking about an extra 20 kids in the Northeast. Personally, I don’t feel this info warranted spending a gazillion dollars that could have been spent on life-saving research.

But some specialists say it could just reflect differences in reporting. Some experts suggested that could mean cases were under-reported in the South and over-reported elsewhere.

I can understand under-reporting but how do you over-report a kid with cancer, list him/her twice? Make a mistake and report a large pimple as a tumor? This is one list no parent wants their kid on, so I doubt the over-reporting idea.

The large government study is the first to find notable regional differences in pediatric cancer.

Get ready, here it comes…

Experts say it also provides important information to bolster smaller studies.

Sounds more like career-saving research instead of little kid life-saving.
More money, down the tubes.

Depending on the intended purpose?

Survival: examines how long after diagnosis people live. Cancer survival is measured in a number of different ways depending on the intended purpose. Several examples of survival statistics are listed below.

Survival, Cause-specific: A measure of net survival that is calculated by using the cause of death listed on death certificates to estimate the proportion of deaths due to cancer.

Survival, Net: Survival from cancer that is calculated in the absence of other causes of death. It represents a hypothetical situation where the only possible cause of death is cancer. Can be calculated as either relative survival or cause-specific survival.

Survival, Observed: An estimate of the probability of surviving all causes of death for a specified time interval calculated from the cohort of cancer cases. Observed survival does not consider cause of death, it simply looks at who is alive and who is not. Sometimes referred to as overall survival .

Survival, Period: A newer method for calculating survival that uses only information from the most recent calendar years available. This method is believed to give a more recent estimate than previously-used methods and may take newer treatment modalities into account more effectively than other methods.

Survival, Relative: A measure of net survival that is calculated by comparing observed (overall) survival with expected survival from a comparable set of people that do not have cancer to measure the excess mortality that is associated with a cancer diagnosis.

You didn't know there were so many ways of survivng, did you?

I thought the intended purpose was to... SURVIVE???

Well, there's only one definition that counts!

sur·viv·al        (sər-vī'vəl) noun.

1. 1. The act or process of surviving.
   2. The fact of having survived.
   3. Surviving long enough to go to 5th grade, graduate high school & college, etc.

Get my drift?!

Can I have a few extra definitions about paying taxes. Yeah, I didn't think so.