Issue #779

“Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
– Mark 12:31

Smoke Sensors Update: Researchers unveil first real-time secondhand smoke sensor. Dartmouth College researchers are going to market with the first-ever sensor that detects secondhand and thirdhand tobacco and marijuana smoke in real time.

Cigarette ash can clean arsenic from water. Scientists have found that discarded cigarette ash can cheaply and easily remove more than 96 percent of poisonous arsenic from water. As a result of mining and other industries, the toxin arsenic has contaminated groundwater at high levels in countries such as China, Chile, Hungary and Mexico. The poison is odourless and tasteless so it’s hard to detect, but it can cause skin discolouration, stomach pain, partial paralysis and a range of other serious health problems. So now scientists could clean up cigarette butts and arsenic in developing countries at the same time, which is pretty awesome.

From the Nanny State to the Bully State. By Patrick Basham. “The past generation of welfare statism saw the unduly protective Nanny State bleed into every sinew of our daily lives.” Of course, the implications of the Nuffield Report extend far beyond health. Given the expansive way in which health is now defined, the state’s power to enforce behavioural change on individuals reaches considerably beyond the current notion of what falls within health care.

Are we seeing the start of the corporate nanny state? Now they want your blood. Honeywell International, founded in Minnesota, recently implemented a plan to reduce health care costs and promote healthy living for employees. Sounds good so far. But the company went a step further by penalizing workers financially if they and their spouses refused to agree to a biometric testing. That’s a harmless enough sounding concept. But what it means is you let medical providers for the company draw blood to check for health problems, such as diabetes. It means they would also would test you, and your spouse, for blood pressure, HDL, total cholesterol and glucose. Oh, and they’d need your height and weight, and that of your spouse. And while they’re at it, let’s run a tape measure around your waistline to see how you are doing with that diet. Failure to agree to the tests brings a hefty price, up to $4,000 per family in penalties and lost company contributions. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said this goes too far. The agency filed suit in federal court in Minneapolis last week in behalf of two Minnesota employees, saying the health screening and penalties violate the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act.
AND: Is the CDC Fueling Anti-Fat Bias in Workplaces? By Bill Briggs. A CDC campaign that gives U.S. bosses an “obesity cost calculator” to tally the financial losses linked to their overweight employees is being criticized as spurring workplace discrimination – and perhaps enticing companies to fire fat people.

How to beat Big Soda. Lessons from the war on tobacco. By: Holly Scheider is Outreach Coordinator for the Berkeley Healthy Child Coalition and a former Tobacco Policy Coordinator for Contra Costa County. Remember when people could smoke in restaurants, on airplanes, and at work? This changed, thanks to tireless efforts by health advocates like me. So how do we beat Big Soda? Learn from tobacco control’s success.

Why Tax Just Soda? Why Not Tax Sugar? While the intake of sugar/high fructose and sweetened beverages is certainly detrimental to health (see links below), it seems taxing sodas is more a topical excuse for skimming a new revenue stream than a meaningful way to reduce obesity/diabesity.