HEALTH
August 18, 2008
The article [“Gardasil Vaccine Doubts Grow,” Aug. 11] is irresponsible and grossly misleading. It will scare parents away from potentially lifesaving protection against cervical cancer (and genital warts) for their daughters. Of course "some doctors and parents" have concerns -- it would be impossible to get unanimity on any medical topic. But all pediatric and vaccine experts, as well as all federal health officials, advocate vaccination of preteen and young teen girls against human papilloma virus.
BUSINESS
March 23, 2008
Your article on toxicants in "green" products will needlessly frighten consumers who use them. ("Popular 'green' products test positive for toxicant," March 14) The fact that a substance is detectable at parts-per-million levels does not indicate that it's in any way harmful to our health or that of our children. As your article notes, the Food and Drug Administration is not concerned about adverse health effects of 1,4-dioxane. Since no human being has ever been harmed by the low levels of this chemical in any product, your readers should not be concerned either.
OPINION
July 28, 2008
Re "Panel OKs fast-food curbs," July 23 Obesity and its resultant health complications, especially diabetes, are indeed a challenging public health problem in our nation. But banning so-called fast-food restaurants from specific zones will not ameliorate the problem. People will walk a few extra blocks to get the products they crave, especially in today's cost-conscious environment. Eliminating Big Macs and their ilk won't bring in supermarkets and green grocers -- and even if it did, the public needs to be educated about the real root causes of obesity: poor nutritional balance and inadequate exercise.
NEWS
March 11, 2000
Regarding Glenn M. Langdon's comment on Tiger Woods' loss to Darren Clarke in match play: "He's not even atop a 3,000-pound racehorse going 35 mph." As a 36-year fan of horse racing, I've yet to see a Budweiser Clydesdale start a race or go 35 mph. Besides, it wouldn't even fit in the starting gate. STEVE McNURLIN Lomita
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
May 31, 2007 | Adam Bernstein, Washington Post
Earl Ubell, a journalist who covered the leading health and science breakthroughs of the postwar age with a lively and effective style, died Wednesday at a nursing facility in Englewood, N.J. He was 80 and had Parkinson's disease and dementia. Ubell, who had a physics degree, first came to prominence as science editor at the New York Herald Tribune from 1953 until the paper folded in 1966. His columns regularly appeared in the Los Angeles Times from 1959 until 1966.
BOOKS
August 22, 1999 | MARTIN GARDNER, Martin Gardner is the author of numerous books, including "The Healing Revelations of Mary Baker Eddy." His most recent book, "Visitors From Oz," is a fantasy about the adventures of Dorothy, Scarecrow and Tin Woodman in the United States
From the jacket and frontispiece of Gillian Gill's massive, impeccably researched biography, a haunting photo of Mary Baker Eddy, taken when she was a young widow, stares at you. Her gaunt face, especially her enormous eyes, seem tinged with suffering, perhaps also with madness.