"Based on claims made on your product's label, we have determined that your Cheerios Toasted Whole Grain Oat Cereal is promoted for conditions that cause it to be a drug," the FDA said in a letter to General Mills which was posted on the federal agency's website Tuesday.

I'm not sure which part of this is funnier. The FDA calling Cheerios a drug, or the fact that the way General Mills advertises it makes it fall into that category.

Which is this? Governmental overreach, or a straight slapdown on advertising claims overreach? I'm going to say mostly the latter. :)

Popular cereal is a drug, US food watchdog says

One said that Rosen asked at one meeting if carbon dioxide emissions from a tailpipe could be treated differently than those from a power plant, wondering if the molecules are different.

THIS is who is running the government. Fine, he's an economist, not a chemist, but good lord, my high school daughter knows more than these morons.

EPA Won't Act on Emissions This Year

Gerberding's report said, use of the VSD for an ecological study now, comparing autism rates before and after the removal of most mercury from vaccines, "would be uninformative and potentially misleading."

In other words, the studies that CDC has based their "no vaccine-autism link" statements on are useless. Wow.

David Kirby: CDC: Vaccine Study Design "Uninformative and Potentially Misleading"

At least one in four teenage girls nationwide has a sexually transmitted disease, or more than 3 million teens

Your "abstinence only" tax dollars at work.

1 in 4 Teen Girls Has Sexual Disease

So last night I go to the grocery store and restock the freezer. Less than 24 hours later I get sent this link:

General Mills Operations of Ohio is recalling an undetermined amount of Totino's and Jeno's frozen pizzas because the may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7, according to an announcement Thursday from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety Inspection Service.

Son of a bitch! So much for my freezer...

Illnesses prompt recall of Totino's and Jeno's frozen pizzas -- dailypress.com

Citing the fact that the Institute of Medicine, the nation’s leading health authority, had called for the elimination of these programs back in 2000, Wagoner said: “Congress must now move to de-fund these programs. Anything short of eliminating these programs would be a dereliction of its duty to promote public health and protect young people in the era of AIDS”.

The final report is out. And it was snuck out the back door. Why? Because abstinence only is total crap. Doesn't work. Doesn't stop kids having sex. Doesn't stop STDs like the super-clap mentioned last week. Doesn't stop AIDS. Doesn't stop pregnancy. Basically it's sort of like slapping a bandaid (regular size) on a severed limb and saying, "see how well this works!"

Abstinence is a good idea, but you can either include the rest of reality with it or you're more useless than tits on a bull.

Abstinence Only - Just Say No Fails Again

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the sale of the world's first totally implanted artificial heart -- the AbioCor, pioneered in Louisville.

The decision runs against the advice of an advisory panel last year, which essentially said the risks of the AbioCor heart were greater than the benefits. The panel's vote in June 2005 was 7-6.

So let me make sure I have this right. The advisory panel says no (close vote though) to the plastic heart, and the FDA approves it over their objection. A previous advisory panel voted 23-4 to approve Plan B for over the counter sale with no restrictions, and just to make sure there wasn't an issue, also noted 27-1 that there is no medical reason to restrict it based on age.

I am goddamn sick of money, politics and religion sticking in on basic medical decisions. Vioxx is safe, at least it looks like it is because we covered up some of the studies. Plan B gets held up for 3 years because some pinhead wants to force his religion on the rest of us.

I'm not opposed to a plastic heart, I think it could be great. But if the advisory board thinks it's not ready and wants more testing done, what's the issue?

FDA approves AbioCor heart

Contraceptive advocates and doctors groups say easier access to Plan B could halve the nation's 3 million annual unintended pregnancies. Opponents say wider access to the pill could promote promiscuity.

How does Plan B promote "promiscuity" any more than condoms, IUDs, the pill, or any other means of birth control? There's a logical disconnect over in the anti-Plan B group. I'm not sure if it's raw stupidity or willful ignorance, but their brains aren't wired right.

St. Paul Pioneer Press | 08/01/2006 | FDA rethinks 'morning-after pill' restrictions

In a variety of experiments, the first person to receive the implant, Matthew Nagle, moved a cursor, opened e-mail, played a simple video game called Pong and drew a crude circle on the screen. He could change the channel or volume on a television set, move a robot arm somewhat, and open and close a prosthetic hand.

This is cool. It's also kind of sad that they had to describe pong.

Paralyzed Man Uses Thoughts to Move a Cursor - New York Times

Tobacco alone is predicted to kill a billion people this century, 10 times the toll it took in the 20th century, if current trends hold.

Malthus should be "happy" about this. A relatively direct method of population control.

Tobacco May Kill 1 Billion This Century - New York Times