From The Bells Sketch EP
Colin James - CBC Studio 40 Vancouver, BC July 15, 2009
55 minutes ago
Thursday, 3 June 2010
Cocaine Can Rot Your Flesh
Photo: Efimero (CC)
Fox News reporting on a Time.com story:Besides making you edgy and skittish, with a propensity toward emotional highs and lows, cocaine can also rot your skin, according to a study reported Monday by Time.com.Read More: Fox News
Researchers found that the illegal drug can contain agents that contribute to low white cell count or dying skin tissue, giving people the appearance of wearing rotting flesh.
The findings were published in the Annals of Internal Medicine after a discovery by doctors at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York. It was found that women who had a history of cocaine use also tended to have discolorations on various body parts like their cheeks, buttocks, thighs and earlobes.
Those symptoms are consistent with use of the medication levamisole, which is used by veterinarians for de-worming farm animals. “Almost 80 percent of the cocaine coming into this country has levamisole mixed in,” said Dr. Ghinwa Dumyati, a University of Rochester medical professor.
He noted that the medication can cause an inflammation inside the small blood vessels. “The result can be the death of the epidermis or outer layer of skin,” he said.
???
Liverpool sack Rafa Benitez
This hasn't officially been confirmed yet but hearing that the board may have leaked the details...
Good on you Glenn
I was just on MSNBC talking about Israel, the Gaza blockade and the flotilla attack with Eliot Spitzer, who was guest-hosting for Dylan Ratigan. It was a rather contentious discussion, though quite illustrative of how Israel is (and is not) typically discussed on American television, so I'm posting the whole 8-minute segment. Two points: (1) before I was on, Spitzer had on an Israel-defending law professor, followed by Netanyahu's former Chief of Staff, and both of them (along with Spitzer) were spewing pure Israeli propaganda in uninterrupted and unchallenged fashion; at the end of Spitzer's discussions with them, he asked them to "stick around just in case," and once I was left, he brought at least one of them back on to respond to what I said without challenge; (2) literally 90 seconds before my segment was about to begin, the new cam and sound system I just acquired stopped working, forcing me to unplug everything and use only my laptop cam and mic, which caused the technical aspects to be less than ideal (though still perfectly workable); to watch in full screen, click play, then click in the lower right hand corner of the picture and select "option":
UPDATE: Just to give the context, this was the five-minute, propaganda-suffused segment with former Netanyhau Chief of Staff George Birnbaum to which I listened before my segment began.
UPDATE II: A few worthwhile related items: (1) for an excellent discussion of the illegality of the Israeli raid, see this analysis from former British Ambassador and maritime law expert Craig Murray, and this one from International Law Professor Kevin Jon Heller (the Post has a decent article on this topic today as well); (2) Amos Oz, the Israeli writer who supported the Israeli attacks on both Lebanon and Gaza (though he changed his mind about the former), has a very good Op-Ed in the NYT today on what Israel has become; and (3) the Post's Ann Telnaes has an incisive cartoon about this situation (and note the towels).
UPDATE III: Barney Frank -- unlike Anthony Weiner, Jerry Nadler, Spitzer, and a whole slew of other Jewish progressives vehemently defending Israel -- demanded an independent inquiry and had some rather harsh words for Israel today: "as a Jew, Israeli treatment of Arabs around some of the West Bank settlements makes me ashamed that there would be Jews that would engage in that kind of victimization of a minority."
Glenn Greenwald @'Salon'
Wyeth, Exported Waste And Infertile Pigs
Here’s a tale that may make you squeal. The drugmaker has pleaded guilty in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to four counts of illegally exporting waste water from its plant in Newbridge, Ireland, where contraceptive pills were made (see here), to Holland, where the water wound up in animal feed and Dutch farmers had to destroy some 50,000 pigs.
Wyeth, which is now owned by Pfizer, actually confessed to four of 18 charges. These related to the illegal “trans-frontier” shipment of waste; illegal mixing of waste; and two breaches of the drugmaker’s EPA waste licence requiring approval for contractors, RTE Business reports. There was no comment from the Wyeth Medica unit. Sentencing is scheduled for next month.
At issue is the extent to which Wyeth supervised the disposal of its waste water, if at all. The case originated in 2002 when some Dutch pig farmers noticed their sows were infertile, RTE writes, adding that many farms were subsequently closed after infertile pigs on one farm were fed a syrup containing the hormone MPA, which is used as a human contraceptive. A probe later found Wyeth produced hormone-laced waste water in the process of sugar-coating its pills.
From there, the water was sent an environmental company in Dublin for disposal, and it was sold to a Belgian that passed it on as treacle to Dutch feed companies. The Dutch Feed Industry trade group claimed in 2003 that the disaster was ‘one of the worst in memory’ and cost the industry about $145 million (at today’s rates). Cara Environmental Technology, which processed the waste for Wyeth, is due in criminal court next week, but not admitting anything.
Ed Silverman @'Pharmalot'
Keith Richards teams up with Nick Kent for forthcoming autobiography
Former NME journalist Nick Kent has been helping Keith Richards pen his autobiography.
Kent, speaking at the recent Hay Festival, revealed that he helped The Rolling Stones guitarist "fill in" the gaps in his memory of the '70s.
Richards revealed last month that he is currently waiting to read the proofs of the book, which he hopes to release in October.
"I've helped Keith Richards write his upcoming book on the years of the early '70s. I helped fill in the early '70s, when things got really, really bad. I can understand why he forgot all about it. It just wasn't pleasant," Kent explained.
He added: "His memories are incredibly gloomy. A lot of resentment, bitterness, Keith broke down in tears several times when he talked about it and turned into a blubbering wreck. It was a bad time for him. When you look back on your life you tend to suppress bad memories and that's what he's done, apart from the fact that he was taking more drugs than all Motley Crue put together."
Kent, speaking at the recent Hay Festival, revealed that he helped The Rolling Stones guitarist "fill in" the gaps in his memory of the '70s.
Richards revealed last month that he is currently waiting to read the proofs of the book, which he hopes to release in October.
"I've helped Keith Richards write his upcoming book on the years of the early '70s. I helped fill in the early '70s, when things got really, really bad. I can understand why he forgot all about it. It just wasn't pleasant," Kent explained.
He added: "His memories are incredibly gloomy. A lot of resentment, bitterness, Keith broke down in tears several times when he talked about it and turned into a blubbering wreck. It was a bad time for him. When you look back on your life you tend to suppress bad memories and that's what he's done, apart from the fact that he was taking more drugs than all Motley Crue put together."
Elsewhere in his talk, Kent laid into the recent British music scene, signalling out Oasis in particular.
"There's a lack of talent at the moment," he said. "There aren't that many great performers at the moment. Noel Gallagher and Oasis would have only had a couple of hit records if they'd have been around in the '60s and '70s."
"There's a lack of talent at the moment," he said. "There aren't that many great performers at the moment. Noel Gallagher and Oasis would have only had a couple of hit records if they'd have been around in the '60s and '70s."
Going back to articles that Kent wrote about the Stones in the 70's perhaps the most unpleasant I remember was when there was a sex show put on by two women for Jagger and Richards and their entourage (including Kent) and the rug they were cavorting around on got set on fire and of course nobody helped the girls as the two Stones didn't (couldn't?) move....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
