Stupid computer panic

This is just anecdotal nonsense. In any case, neck and back pain from computer use may be a problem for some but it is one that should usually be fixable by mild exercise whenever it becomes evident. It is probably a lot safer than jogging, for instance, with jogging's toll of knee problems and heart attacks

COMPUTERS are causing back and neck problems in Australian children as young as five, a conference has in Western Australia has been told. Curtin University physiotherapy researcher Leon Straker warned muscular-skeletal problems in children, triggered by computer use, were becoming a major health issue. A study of 1600 West Australian five-year-olds found more than half used computers at least weekly and almost one per cent had complained of sore or tired muscles after watching television or using a computer.

Professor Straker said two out of three children reported discomfort related to computer use by the time they reached adolescence. Of those, a minority reported pain so severe they were consulting health professionals, taking medication, missing school or avoiding their usual physical activities as a consequence. "I'm getting reports from clinical physiotherapists who are saying they're seeing more children coming through with neck and back pain that is related to their amount of computer use," Professor Straker said, after addressing an Australian Physiotherapy Association conference in Cairns.

"This is the first generation of children who've really used computers from when they were very young. "I'm worried that as adults . . . these children are going to be experiencing much more severe pain and more disability related to computer use than adults do now. "If you walk into any office of any workplace and ask if they've had any back or neck pain associated with computer use in the past 12 months, two out of three will say they have. "That's about the same rate that high school children are reporting already. People often discount neck and back pain in children as being trivial but if . . . children are having to miss school, it's not trivial."

Professor Straker advised that children should not be allowed to stay on a computer for more than 30 minutes at a time. He said computer desks should be at elbow height, the top of the screen should be just below eye height and children should be able to plant their feet on a stable surface.

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Gardasil problems?

Making cause-effect linkages is the problem. Apparent adverse results in less than 1% of cases may not be of concern

Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, yesterday released new documents obtained from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, detailing a total of as many as eleven deaths related to Merck's HPV vaccine Gardasil. Those deaths resulted between June 8, 2006 - when the vaccine received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) - and August 2007 when the latest data was available.

The adverse reports coming from the HPV vaccine are increasing daily at an alarming rate. A LifeSiteNews.com report which scanned a publicly available database of adverse affects coming from the HPV vaccine found 3,137 adverse effects reported on September 28, 2007. Today the U.S. Government's Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) lists 3,779 adverse effects. 52 of the cases were deemed "life threatening" and 119 required hospitalization.

In one case highlighted by Judicial Watch a 17 year old girl who was vaccinated in June 2007 died the very day she was vaccinated. According to the report, she "was vaccinated with a first dose of Gardasil.During the evening of the same day, the patient was found unconscious (lifeless) by the mother. Resuscitation was performed by the emergency physician but was unsuccessful. The patient subsequently died."

Other serious reported side effects associated with Gardasil include paralysis, Bells Palsy, Guillain-Barre Syndrome, and seizures. Says one report: "Initial and follow-up information has been received from a physician concerning an "otherwise healthy" 13 year old female who was vaccinated with her first and second doses of Gardasil. Subsequently, the patient experienced.paralysis from the chest down, lesions of the optic nerve.At the time of the report, the patient had not recovered."

"In light of this information, it is disturbing that state and local governments might mandate in any way this vaccine for young girls," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "These adverse reaction reports suggest the vaccine not only causes serious side effects, but might even be fatal."

The toll from the HPV vaccine may be greater still. Judicial Watch filed its request on August 20, 2007, and received the adverse event reports from the FDA on September 13, 2007, in what the agency described as a "partial response." On October 3, 2007, Judicial Watch filed a new lawsuit against the FDA for its failure to fully respond to Judicial Watch's FOIA request as required by law.

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Just some problems with the "Obesity" war:

1). It tries to impose behavior change on everybody -- when most of those targeted are not obese and hence have no reason to change their behaviour. It is a form of punishing the innocent and the guilty alike. (It is also typical of Leftist thinking: Scorning the individual and capable of dealing with large groups only).

2). The longevity research all leads to the conclusion that it is people of MIDDLING weight who live longest -- not slim people. So the "epidemic" of obesity is in fact largely an "epidemic" of living longer.

3). It is total calorie intake that makes you fat -- not where you get your calories. Policies that attack only the source of the calories (e.g. "junk food") without addressing total calorie intake are hence pissing into the wind. People involuntarily deprived of their preferred calorie intake from one source are highly likely to seek and find their calories elsewhere.

4). So-called junk food is perfectly nutritious. A big Mac meal comprises meat, bread, salad and potatoes -- which is a mainstream Western diet. If that is bad then we are all in big trouble.

5). Food warriors demonize salt and fat. But we need a daily salt intake to counter salt-loss through perspiration and the research shows that people on salt-restricted diets die SOONER. And Eskimos eat huge amounts of fat with no apparent ill-effects. And the average home-cooked roast dinner has LOTS of fat. Will we ban roast dinners?

6). The foods restricted are often no more calorific than those permitted -- such as milk and fruit-juice drinks.

7). Tendency to weight is mostly genetic and is therefore not readily susceptible to voluntary behaviour change.

8). And when are we going to ban cheese? Cheese is a concentrated calorie bomb and has lots of that wicked animal fat in it too. Wouldn't we all be better off without it? And what about butter and margarine? They are just about pure fat. Surely they should be treated as contraband in kids' lunchboxes! [/sarcasm].

Trans fats:

For one summary of the weak science behind the "trans-fat" hysteria, see here. Trans fats have only a temporary effect on blood chemistry and the evidence of lasting harm from them is dubious. By taking extreme groups in trans fats intake, some weak association with coronary heart disease has at times been shown in some sub-populations but extreme group studies are inherently at risk of confounding with other factors and are intrinsically of little interest to the average person.

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