Go down to your local chemist, or perhaps peruse an online beauty store, and what do you see? Thousands upon thousands of different hair care products. Different brands, different ranges, different hair types catered to and different problems claimed to be solved. The hair care industry is one of the biggest areas in beauty, and it's a trend that shows no sign of abating.

Many of the manufacturers of these miracle solutions are household names, largely due to their aggressive advertising campaigns and celebrity endorsements. Every manufacturer's line has a wild variety in what it offers, from hair gels and hair sprays to intensive conditioners and heat protection balms. Some products claim to make your hair colour more vivid, or make your dyed hair colour simply last longer. Others claim to be able to make your hair grow, while others offer a solution to everyday problems such as frizzy or flat hair.

For anyone looking to give their hair the best chance it can get, it's a confusing world. In fact, it's more than confusing: it's downright impossible to decipher. To begin with, all of these luxurious products tend to require you to identify a singlecharacteristic of your hair that you want to fix or enhance.

Say you have naturally red hair, and you want to make it shine. Well, a shampoo and conditioner combination containing a red glaze, designed to make redheads pop and shine, would be your best bet. But what if that lacklustre red hair was also flat? Do you use a second shampoo and conditioner to combat the flatness, or do you have to make a choice between elevating the shine of your hair or adding volume?

Using products in conjunction with one another rarely works, particularly if we're talking about shampoos. If you wash and condition your hair with one product designed to take one problem, then wash and condition again with a second mix, then only the second product is going to make itself apparent on your hair. Shampoo is a cleaner of hair, so you'll wash away anything achieved with the first product if you then use a second. And that's not to mention the cost: hair care lines are rarely cheap, and if you were buying items designed to tackle every single issue you have, you'd buy little else.

So let's be clear: hair care production is a big business. Companies tend to want you to be confused, to try a various range of items to fix a myriad of problems you'd perhaps not even known you had. They make money off convincing you your hair could look better, as well as telling the old lie that money speaks volumes.

In reality, a product can have all wondrous technology and best reviews in the world, but it still might not work for you. You might find a shampoo and conditioner designed to help boost the colour of your hair actually helps contain its frizziness, or doesn't work on either. Hair is individual, and how hair reacts to products is individual too. There's every chance the cheap 99c conditioner from the grocery store is exactly what your hair needs.

Just experiment, and when you find a product that works, stick to it. That can be difficult as new ads for impressive-sounding new products are rammed down your throat, but unless you are genuinely unhappy, don't change habits that are working. Prioritise the issues you want to fix and find your brand loyalty when you've got something that works, and eventually you'll finish with a hair care regime that genuinely works for you.

For further hair care tips, advice and styling guidance, don't miss HairCare101 - a dedicated hair styling and maintenance blog. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=TJ_Kelly

Toxic Residues on Fruit and Vegetables

How to Remove Potentially Harmful Chemicals, Pesticides and Bacteria

Jul 3, 2009 Amanda Woods

     Contaminants such as pesticides and waxes are designed to be waterproof, so while rinsing in water will remove some impurities, using a fruit and vegetable wash can remove 100 times more contaminants.
Leanne Wesche is the Managing Director of Safeguard Fruit & Veggie Wash and has been working in the fruit and vegetable industry for more than a decade. She told Suite101 the majority of farmers do the right thing, but there are some who do not take the appropriate care.
“People think if they go to a local growers’ market that they are getting fresher and better vegetables. But usually they have no regulations, whereas Australian supermarkets, (and those in a number of other countries,) impose quality assurance standards.
These standards make sure they’re using the right pesticides, check the spray times and water quality from sprinklers and other factors.”

E. coli Bacteria and Fruit and Vegetables

     In 2006, at least three people were killed and more than 200 others in the United States and Canada became sick after consuming spinach.
Tests later revealed that samples of cattle manure from pasture surrounding the spinach field tested positive for the same strain of E. coli that lead to the outbreak.
Wesche says that people need to remember where their food is coming from.

     “Fruit and vegetables usually come from fields where there are birds and animals that can contaminate them through their droppings. People get sick from eating fruit and vegetables that have been contaminated with E. coli all the time.”

Call for Mandatory Testing of Chemical Residues

In Australia the New South Wales Green Party has called for the mandatory testing of chemical residues on fruit and vegetables after it was revealed in July 2009 that 2.5% of produce either exceeds the maximum residue levels for dangerous pesticides and herbicides or contains traces of chemicals that have not been approved for use on the crop.
Greens MP Dr John Kaye told The Sydney Morning Herald that means every household in the state was likely to be exposed to dangerous chemicals from fresh produce at least once a year.
"Protecting households, and in particular young people, is more important than appeasing the big fruit and vegetable wholesalers. Consumers are being badly let down by a government that allows producers to do what they like, regardless of the consequences for consumers."
However Martin Clark from the industry-run national testing body FreshTest said the legal limit for residue levels is about a hundred times less than what would be deemed an unsafe limit.

Washing Fruit and Vegetables Before Eating

Leanne Wesche says surveys have shown 8 out of 10 people wash their fruit and vegetables with water, which isn’t enough to remove all of the potentially harmful chemicals, pesticides and bacteria.
Wesche says independent laboratories, certified by the National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA), have conducted tests that found Safeguard Fruit & Veggie Wash removes up to 100 times more contaminants than water alone.
Safeguard Fruit & Veggie Wash was developed by food scientists and technologists after trialing 300 different formulas.
Wesche says Safeguard Fruit and Veggie Wash is made out of purely out of organic and natural ingredients that will not alter the taste of the produce.

A Simple Fruit and Vegetable Wash To Make At Home

To make a simple fruit and vegetable wash at home, mix the juice of one lemon, 2 tablespoons of distilled white vinegar, and one cup of tap water.
This mixture can be put into a spray bottle and sprayed onto fruit and vegetables before rinsing in water and preparing to be eaten.

article sited from www.suite101.com

Harvard study backs bottle concern

Says plastic used leaches bisphenol A

 

     A Harvard study released yesterday supports what many public health specialists have long assumed: Hard plastic drinking bottles containing bisphenol A are leaching notable amounts of the controversial chemical into people's bodies.

     Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health found that people who drank for a week from the clear plastic polycarbonate bottles increased concentrations of bisphenol A - or BPA - in their urine by 69 percent.

     The study is the first to definitively show that drinking from BPA bottles increases the levels of the chemical in urine, researchers said. It was published on the website of the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

BPA is used in hundreds of everyday products. It is used to make reusable, hard plastic bottles more durable and to help prevent corrosion in canned goods such as soup and infant formula.

"If you heat those bottles, as is the case with baby bottles, we would expect the levels to be considerably higher," said Karin B. Michels, senior author of the report and associate professor at the School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School. "This would be of concern since infants may be particularly susceptible to BPA's endocrine-disrupting potential," she said.

     Canada banned the use of BPA in baby bottles in 2008, and Massachusetts health officials are now weighing whether to warn pregnant women and young children to avoid food, drinks, and other items containing the chemical.

     Numerous animal studies in recent years suggest that low levels of BPA might cause developmental problems in fetuses and young children and other ill effects. The health effects on adults are not well understood although a recent large human study linked BPA concentrations in people's urine to an increased prevalence of diabetes, heart disease, and liver toxicity.

     The Food and Drug Administration has said that products containing BPA are safe and that exposure levels, including those for infants and children, are below those that would affect health. But the FDA's own scientific advisory board criticized agency officials for relying on industry-funded studies to declare the chemical safe.

     Michael L. Herndon, an FDA spokesman, said in e-mail to the Globe yesterday that newly appointed chief scientist Jesse Goodman will "provide new leadership and take a fresh look at this important issue from a scientific and policy position, incorporating emerging science and appropriate input from both inside and outside the agency."

     Yesterday, an official with the American Chemistry Council discounted any suggestion that the Harvard study underscores a health risk.

     In an e-mail, Steven G. Hentges said the study shows that exposure to bisphenol A from use of the bottles is "extremely low" and below the mean BPA amounts reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the US population, "indicating that even exclusive use of polycarbonate bottles does not lead to unusually high levels of bisphenol A in the urine."

     The Harvard study was sparked by a discussion in Michels's class after she warned students who regularly swigged water from hard plastic bottles that they might want to limit their BPA exposure. The students countered by asking how much BPA they were getting from the bottles - and soon, a study was born.

Led by Jenny Carwile, a Harvard School of Public Health doctoral student, 77 Harvard students in the study drank all cold beverages from stainless steel bottles for a week to wash BPA out of their bodies and minimize exposure. Most BPA is flushed from people's bodies within a matter of hours. During that week, the students gave urine samples.

     Then the students were given two refillable polycarbonate bottles made with BPA to drink all cold beverages from for one week. Urine samples taken over that week showed the students' BPA levels spiked the second week to levels normally found in the general population. Because the students did nothing different in their schedules other than drink from the BPA bottles, the researchers determined their urine concentrations largely came from the bottles.

     "While previous students have demonstrated that BPA is linked to adverse health effects, this study fills in a missing piece of the puzzle - whether or not polycarbonate plastic bottles are an important contributor to the amount of BPA in the body," said Carwile.

Beth Daley can be reached at bdaley@globe.com.







cited from www.boston.com

 

sited from http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/health-care/

US Republicans Slam Health-Care Reform Bill
By VOA News 24 October 2009

A U.S. senator is asking Americans whether a current proposal to overhaul the American health-care system would actually make things better.

Speaking in the weekly Republican address Saturday, Senator Mike Johanns from the state of Nebraska said the proposal could negatively impact "each and every" American.

President Barack Obama, from the majority Democratic Party, is pushing for a bill to be passed by the end of the year.

He says health care costs are spiraling out of control and making it difficult for small businesses to compete. He says too many Americans are not insured or go bankrupt to pay for health care.

Proposals to reform the system are currently under discussion in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Republicans say the proposals are too expensive and will not improve the current system.


article sited from http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-10-24-voa13.cfm

Government Health Care

This is my first blog so i figured i would focus my attention on something that everyone might be able to relate to if you have any interest in our nation or the health of yourself and others. Some people say this new health care reform will take away our right to choose our own doctors and medical coverage. While the people on the other side of the fence say it will be a saving grace in times of monumental turmoil and chaos. So before I continue adding onto this blog with my own words I would like to hear from anyone who has a mind and the will to use it....and a little free time helps.

Health Care

"I suffer no illusions that this will be an easy process. It will be hard. But I also know that nearly a century after Teddy Roosevelt first called for reform, the cost of our health care has weighed down our economy and the conscience of our nation long enough. So let there be no doubt: health care reform cannot wait, it must not wait, and it will not wait another year."

– President Barack Obama, February 24, 2009

Progress

• The President signed the Children’s Health Insurance Reauthorization Act on February 4, 2009, which provides quality health care to 11 million kids – 4 million who were previously uninsured.
• The President’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act protects health coverage for 7 million Americans who lose their jobs through a 65 percent COBRA subsidy to make coverage affordable.
• The Recovery Act also invests $19 billion in computerized medical records that will help to reduce costs and improve quality while ensuring patients’ privacy.
• The Recovery Act also provides:
  • $1 billion for prevention and wellness to improve America’s health and help to reduce health care costs;
  • $1.1 billion for research to give doctors tools to make the best treatment decisions for their patients by providing objective information on the relative benefits of treatments; and
  • $500 million for health workforce to help train the next generation of doctors and nurses.

Guiding Principles

President Obama is committed to working with Congress to pass comprehensive health reform in his first year in order to control rising health care costs, guarantee choice of doctor, and assure high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans.

Comprehensive health care reform can no longer wait. Rapidly escalating health care costs are crushing family, business, and government budgets. Employer-sponsored health insurance premiums have doubled in the last 9 years, a rate 3 times faster than cumulative wage increases. This forces families to sit around the kitchen table to make impossible choices between paying rent or paying health premiums. Given all that we spend on health care, American families should not be presented with that choice. The United States spent approximately $2.2 trillion on health care in 2007, or $7,421 per person – nearly twice the average of other developed nations. Americans spend more on health care than on housing or food. If rapid health cost growth persists, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that by 2025, one out of every four dollars in our national economy will be tied up in the health system. This growing burden will limit other investments and priorities that are needed to grow our economy. Rising health care costs also affect our economic competitiveness in the global economy, as American companies compete against companies in other countries that have dramatically lower health care costs.

The President has vowed that the health reform process will be different in his Administration – an open, inclusive, and transparent process where all ideas are encouraged and all parties work together to find a solution to the health care crisis. Working together with members of Congress, doctors and hospitals, businesses and unions, and other key health care stakeholders, the President is committed to making sure we finally enact comprehensive health care reform.

The Administration believes that comprehensive health reform should:

• Reduce long-term growth of health care costs for businesses and government
• Protect families from bankruptcy or debt because of health care costs
• Guarantee choice of doctors and health plans
• Invest in prevention and wellness
• Improve patient safety and quality of care
• Assure affordable, quality health coverage for all Americans
• Maintain coverage when you change or lose your job
• End barriers to coverage for people with pre-existing medical conditions

Article sited from www.whitehouse.gov/issues/health_care/