Children living in flats have 45% more exposure to tobacco smoke than those in detached houses, a US study says.
Researchers from Harvard and Rochester Universities say that is because the smoke seeps through walls and shared ventilation systems.
They tested cotinine levels in blood samples from 5,000 children across the US for the study in Pediatrics.
Action on Smokin Read the rest of this entry »
Scientists have identified a way of prompting nerve system repair in multiple sclerosis (MS).
Studies on rats by Cambridge and Edinburgh University researchers identified how to help stem cells in the brain regenerate myelin sheath, needed to protect nerve fibres.
MS charities said the “exciting” Nature Neuroscience work offered hope of restoring physical functions. Read the rest of this entry »
Some parents felt their children did not want healthier food at school
Four years on, the images are still shocking. Faced with healthier school dinner options because of Jamie Oliver’s TV series, some mothers began pushing junk food through the school gates.
Others simply swapped the healthier hot dinners for packed lunches. Schools reacted by tightening the rules about what could be put in lunchboxes.
But when children, in turn, responded by spending more on junk food from local shops, stories started appearing about the prospect of bans on take-aways. Read the rest of this entry »
Cigarette packets should have plain packaging to make smoking less attractive, ministers have suggested.
The government plans to ask retailers to cover up displays of cigarettes from next year to protect children.
Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said “glitzy designs on packets” attracted children to smoking and it made sense to look at “less attractive packaging”. Read the rest of this entry »
The government has apologised to the families of dead nuclear workers whose body parts were taken for testing without their knowledge.
The Redfern Inquiry was ordered when it emerged in 2007 that tissue was taken from 65 workers at Sellafield in Cumbria between 1962 and 1992.
Publishing the report, Energy Secretary Chris Huhne said it was “regrettable” that organs were taken. Read the rest of this entry »
MPs and campaigners predict class action after failures to mount full-scale research into warnings left millions of patients at risk
By Nina Lakhani
Secret documents reveal that government-funded experts were warned nearly 30 years ago that tranquillisers that were later prescribed to millions of people could cause brain damage. Read the rest of this entry »
The global economic downturn led levels of work-related stress in the UK to soar, a British Academy report says.
Author Tarani Chandola, a University of Manchester sociologist, says those who kept jobs during the recession are affected as much as those left jobless. Read the rest of this entry »