Jesus Take The Microwave: Hot Pockets Pulled From Shelves For Containing “Diseased And Unsound Animals”

Jesus Take The Microwave: Hot Pockets Pulled From Shelves For Containing “Diseased And Unsound Animals”

Diseased and unsound animals??!?

Hot Pockets Recalled For Containing Diseased Meat

Via CNN reports:

Nestlé USA has issued a recall of two varieties of Philly Steak and Cheese Hot Pockets because they may contain meat that has already been recalled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The two brands are Hot Pockets brand Philly Steak and Cheese in three different pack sizes, and Hot Pockets brand Croissant Crust Philly Steak and Cheese in the two pack box.

For the exact batch code, please check this release.

The USDA recalled more than 8.7 million pounds of meat from the Rancho Feeding Corporation because it “processed diseased and unsound animals and carried out these activities without the benefit or full benefit of federal inspection.”
No illnesses have been reported in relation to the recall.

According to Nestlé, consumers should return the products to the place of purchase for a full refund or contact Nestlé consumer services at 800-392-4057.

Who knew Hot Pockets actually had meat in them?

Jesus Take The Microwave: Hot Pockets Pulled From Shelves For Containing “Diseased And Unsound Animals”
deolacola
Wed, 19 Feb 2014 13:43:25 GMT

Wrap It Up NYC: According To Study The Bronx Has The Highest Rate Of STDS In The City! HIV, Syphilis, Gonorrhea, And More!

Wrap It Up NYC: According To Study The Bronx Has The Highest Rate Of STDS In The City! HIV, Syphilis, Gonorrhea, And More!

“The Bronx Bombers” has a whole new meaning now…

Study Shows That The Bronx Has Highest Rate Of STDs In NYC

Via NYDailyNews

Here’s one neighborhood where you definitely shouldn’t have unprotected sex, share a needle or stand next to someone coughing.

The 10457 ZIP code in the Bronx — which includes Tremont, portions of Crotona, Belmont and Claremont — has the highest number of people afflicted by two of the following conditions: HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, gonorrhea, syphilis, chlamydia and tuberculosis, according to the Department of Health.

All seven diseases are epidemic in 10457, with infection rates for all conditions in the top 20% of cases citywide.

It’s not just a 10457 problem. In fact, the Bronx has the highest number of ZIP codes — 70% — where residents are in the top 20% for at least two diseases.

In Manhattan, 45% of ZIP codes have two-disease rates in the top 20%, compared to 25% of Queens ZIPs and 22% in Brooklyn.

“It’s very disturbing, especially for our community,” Tom Murray, director of community affairs for St. Barnabas Hospital and the chairman of Community Board 6’s Health and Human Services Committee.

“The teenagers are engaging in very risky behavior. They think AIDS is a thing of the past.”

What is it about the B-X that is contributing to sick meat sticks and poisonous boxes???

The ZIP code’s high poverty rate contributes to the disproportionate number battling two or more serious diseases. Roughly 70,000 people live in the 10457 ZIP code and the median household income is $24,537. Some 43% of Tremont/Crotona residents live below the poverty line compared a poverty rate of 21% citywide.

“While this is a disappointment, it’s not a surprise,” said Community Board 6 District Manager Ivine Galarza.

Residents blamed officials.

“I’m afraid,” said Yolanda Smith, 32, said. “The government needs to do something about it.”

Juan Santos, 63, a disabled veteran, called for more activities and education for young people.

“The main problem with venereal disease is a lack of information,” he said. “We have a lot of billboards about cigarettes and beer. Why are there no billboards about AIDS?”

Yeah, all that SOUNDS good, but who the hell needs a billboard to know that they should wear a cotdamn condom?!

Parents, raise your children.

Image via

Wrap It Up NYC: According To Study The Bronx Has The Highest Rate Of STDS In The City! HIV, Syphilis, Gonorrhea, And More!
hiphopobama
Thu, 06 Jun 2013 12:08:15 GMT

In harm’s way

In harm’s way

What happened among children in a bathroom of Public School 194 in Harlem was unspeakable. How the adults failed them all was appalling.

In harm’s way
Editorials
Fri, 31 May 2013 08:10:11 GMT

Harlem woman sues after getting herpes from MAC pop-up shop outside Barclays

Harlem woman sues after getting herpes from MAC pop-up shop outside Barclays

A Harlem woman claims in a lawsuit that she got herpes at a Rihanna concert in Brooklyn from lipstick the singer endorsed.

Harlem woman sues after getting herpes from MAC pop-up shop outside Barclays
BARBARA ROSS, BILL HUTCHINSON
Thu, 30 May 2013 13:37:08 GMT

Quote Of The Day: Pat Robertson Says Planned Parenthood Founder Wants To “Lead Black People Toward Euthanasia” [Video]

Quote Of The Day: Pat Robertson Says Planned Parenthood Founder Wants To “Lead Black People Toward Euthanasia” [Video]

We all know that Patty is a little bat-isht cray cray, but what are your thoughts on this?

According to Huffington Post:

Televangelist Pat Robertson slammed Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger on Wednesday, saying her writings advocated a plan to drive minorities “toward euthanasia.”

“Go back and read her writings,” Robertson said on “The 700 Club.” “What Margaret Sanger believed was there were defective, genetically defective people. They were Roman Catholics, they were evangelical protestants, they were Southern Europeans, they were Latinos and especially, they were African Americans.” Robertson went on to say Sanger wanted to find a “highly respected” leader in those communities to be the spokesman for Planned Parenthood in order to “lead the black people toward euthanasia.”

Robertson also compared Sanger to “the Nazis,” who he said “found people that they thought were defective and they wanted to sterilize them and of course, ultimately murder them.” It’s not the first time Robertson has compared Sanger to Nazis. In April, he said Sanger “set the stage for Adolf Hitler.”

Hmmmm and here’s what Sanger had to say in response to Robertson’s allegations:

The infamous out of context quote that she wanted to find prominent Negro physicians to help with birth control in the South was to counteract Black fears of birth control so that Black women could control their family size just as whites were doing.
These statements by Robertson are part of a long pattern of falsehoods and distortions by the anti-birth control crowd who have no valid arguments against birth control, so they resort to smearing a women who has been dead for a half century.

She did endorse compulsory sterilization in limited circumstances but in general opposed it as much as she opposed compulsory motherhood.

She said: “Compulsory motherhood is the cornerstone of the subjection of women and the subjection of women is the basis of all the evils of over-population. Birth is the woman’s problem, and she must be put in a position to solve it for herself. She must have the right to her own body, and the right to choose when she will bear a child. If this right be made absolutely hers, there will be an end to the bearing of children for whom the world has no room and no opportunities; there will be an end to the bearing of diseased and defective children…”

Thoughts??? Check out the video of Pat below:

Quote Of The Day: Pat Robertson Says Planned Parenthood Founder Wants To “Lead Black People Toward Euthanasia” [Video]
Bossip Staff
Mon, 13 May 2013 12:52:55 GMT

When to Throw Out Microwaveable Plastic Containers

When to Throw Out Microwaveable Plastic Containers

Reheating meals in plastic containers in the microwave is something that most of us probably do, but over time those containers start to break down and leach plastic into the food. According to The Wall Street Journal, knowing when to throw them out is easy.

When you heat up plastic, the chemicals inside can migrate out and into your food. It takes a while for that to happen, and you just need to watch out for a couple things:

The amount of chemicals leaching into food depends on the type of plastic that is put in the microwave, the time it is heated and the physical condition of the container, says Dr. Halden. Old, cracked containers and those that have been washed hundreds of times often give off more toxins when heated. Any deformities or discoloration are a sign it's time for the recycling bin.

And reheating foods heavy in cream and butter in plastic is always a bad idea. "Fatty foods absorb more of these harmful chemicals when heated," he says.

Of course, you can always skip the plastic container and use ceramic or glass instead. But if you're stuck with plastic, make sure you toss it out when it starts to get deformed or discolored.

Burning Question: Is it OK to Heat Food in Plastic? | The Wall Street Journal

Photo by Sarah.

When to Throw Out Microwaveable Plastic Containers
Thorin Klosowski
Tue, 23 Apr 2013 14:00:00 GMT

Heart disease, diabetes make a lethal combination

Heart disease, diabetes make a lethal combination

Heart disease and diabetes are two of the biggest public health problems in this country, affecting about 80 million and 25 million Americans, respectively. And as it turns out, the two diseases are related.

Heart disease, diabetes make a lethal combination
KATIE CHARLES
Wed, 27 Feb 2013 11:00:56 GMT

Rats Invade Subway While MTA Chases Its Tail

TWU: Rats Invade Subway While MTA Chases Its Tail

• ‘IT’S ABOUT TIME’

  

  The Chief-Leader/Michel Friang

  ‘IT’S ABOUT TIME’: Local 100 Steward and Train Conductor Scott Harris collected signatures from riders at the Jamaica Center subway terminal. One woman, while signing the petition urging the MTA to deal with the growing rat problem, said, ‘For real, one ran across my foot!’

Posted: Monday, September 26, 2011 5:00 pm | Updated: 4:55 pm, Mon Sep 26, 2011.

By FLORA FAIR |

A straphanger was bitten by a rat on a subway platform earlier this month, and transit workers say that unless the Metropolitan Transportation Authority takes action, it won’t be the last time.

The young woman said she was waiting for the J train at the Chambers Street station during morning rush hour when the rat scurried out from under a bench and bit her foot. But the problem, according to Transport Workers Union Local 100 officials, isn’t a rogue rodent—it’s the increasing aggression of a growing rat population in the city’s subway stations, exacerbated by conditions that the union has repeatedly asked the MTA to fix.

The first GM food crop containing human genes is set to be approved for commercial production.

The first GM food crop containing human genes is set to be approved for commercial production.
The laboratory-created rice produces some of the human proteins found in breast milk and saliva.
Its U.S. developers say they could be used to treat children with diarrhoea, a major killer in the Third World.
The rice is a major step in so-called Frankenstein Foods, the first mingling of human-origin genes and those from plants. But the U.S. Department of Agriculture has already signalled it plans to allow commercial cultivation.
The rice's producers, California-based Ventria Bioscience, have been given preliminary approval to grow it on more than 3,000 acres in Kansas. The company plans to harvest the proteins and use them in drinks, desserts, yoghurts and muesli bars.
The news provoked horror among GM critics and consumer groups on both sides of the Atlantic.
GeneWatch UK, which monitors new GM foods, described it as "very disturbing". Researcher Becky Price warned: "There are huge, huge health risks and people should rightly be concerned about this."
Friends of the Earth campaigner Clare Oxborrow said: "Using food crops and fields as glorified drug factories is a very worrying development.
"If these pharmaceutical crops end up on consumers' plates, the consequences for our health could be devastating.
"The biotech industry has already failed to prevent experimental GM rice contaminating the food chain.
"The Government must urge the U.S. to ban the production of drugs in food crops. It must also introduce tough measures to prevent illegal GM crops contaminating our food and ensure that biotech companies are liable for any damage their products cause."
In the U.S., the Union of Concerned Scientists, a policy advocacy group, warned: "It is unwise to produce drugs in plants outdoors.
"There would be little control over the doses people might get exposed to, and some might be allergic to the proteins."
The American Consumers Union and the Washingtonbased Centre for Food Safety also oppose Ventria's plans.
As well as the contamination fears there are serious ethical concerns about such a fundamental interference with the building blocks of life.
Yet there is no legal means for Britain and Europe to ban such products on ethical grounds.
Imports would have to be accepted once they had gone through a scientific safety assessment.
The development is what may people feared when, ten years ago, food scientists showed what was possible by inserting copies of fish genes from the flounder into tomatoes, to help them withstand frost.
Ventria has produced three varieties of the rice, each with a different human-origin gene that makes the plants produce one of three human proteins.
Two - lactoferrin and lysozyme - are bacteria-fighting compounds found in breast milk and saliva. The genes, cultivated and copied in a laboratory to produce a synthetic version, are carried into embryonic rice plants inside bacteria.
Until now, plants with human-origin genes have been restricted to small test plots.
Ventria originally planned to grow the rice in southern Missouri but the brewer Anheuser-Busch, a huge buyer of rice, threatened to boycott the state amid concern over contamination and consumer reaction.
Now the USDA, saying the rice poses "virtually no risk". has given preliminary approval for it to be grown in Kansas, which has no commercial rice farms.
Ventria will also use dedicated equipment, storage and processing facilities supposed to prevent seeds from mixing with other crops.
The company says food products using the rice proteins could help save many of the two million children a year who die from diarrhoea and the resulting dehydration and complications. A recent study in Peru, sponsored by Ventria, showed that children with severe diarrhoea recovered a day and a half faster if the salty fluids they were prescribed included the proteins.
The rice could also be a huge money-spinner in the Western world, with parents being told it will help their children get over unpleasant stomach bugs more quickly.
Ventria chief executive Scott Deeter said last night: "We have a product here that can help children get better faster."
He said any concerns about safety and contamination were "based on perception, not reality" given all the precautions the company was taking.
Mr Deeter said production in plants was far cheaper than other methods, which should help make the therapy affordable in the developing world.
He said: "Plants are phenomenal factories. Our raw materials are the sun, soil and water."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-440302/The-rice-human-genes.html

Confronting the Racial Barriers Between Doctors and Patients

Doctor and Patient

Confronting the Racial Barriers Between Doctors and Patients

By PAULINE W. CHEN, M.D.

Last Tuesday, like most of the country, I stayed up too late watching the election results come in and then became emotional when it was clear that Barack Obama, an African-American, was going to be our next president. Wednesday morning’s New York Times captured the most salient part of the moment for me in its headlines: “Racial Barrier Falls in Decisive Victory.”

But a few days later, as I thought more about racial barriers, I started to question my election euphoria. In politics, the racial barriers might have fallen, I thought, but what about in health care?

There is no question that racial barriers still exist in many parts of this society. The first time I remember having a frank conversation about racial barriers in medicine was during my residency.

Of all the surgical residents I trained with, “Eric” was easily one of the smartest. He possessed a great bedside manner, brilliant clinical skills and plenty of that Obama cool. Eric was African-American, and one night, when we were both on call together, he told me something I have never forgotten.

“You know, Pauline,” he said, “there are a lot of times when I go to a patient’s room for the first time and they ask me, 'Are you transport? Are you here to wheel me to radiology?’” I can remember Eric shaking his head as he spoke. “They never assume I’m one of the doctors.”

Most of the research over the last 30 years has focused on the racial inequalities that affect patients; and the findings have been dismal. In 2002, the Institute of Medicine published a report that cited multiple examples of disparities across a wide range of health care and disease settings. African-Americans, for instance, were more likely to undergo less desirable procedures like amputation of all or part of a limb, while minorities with some forms of lung cancer had higher mortality rates because they were less likely to have surgery.

While there are probably multiple factors involved, researchers over the past decade have looked at how patients’ and doctors’ race and ethnicity might contribute to these disparities. One of the leading researchers in this area is Dr. Somnath Saha at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland. Dr. Saha and his colleagues have shown that minority patients and white patients report better health care experiences when their doctors are of the same race or ethnicity .

But as my residency colleague, Eric, could attest, race and ethnicity can also influence the experiences of minority physicians. A recent study by Dr. Irena Stepanikova from the University of South Carolina notes that white patients who had non-white physicians were more likely to report a medical error than white patients with white doctors.

After reading through these study results, I decided to give Dr. Saha a call. I thought I would initially ask a couple of questions about his research, but I could not help starting with the election.

“On the one hand,” Dr. Saha said, “Obama’s election really provides some hope for people who thought it was impossible. But his election doesn’t automatically change what happens on the ground floor. Part of the downside of this historical event is that we may no longer believe that race can create a disadvantage. We may forget that we still do look at certain racial and ethnic minorities in a different way — not consciously but unconsciously.”

“I think the first step in addressing the disparities,“ Dr. Saha continued, “is really acknowledging that certain things affect the way we deliver care — our own stereotypes, our own cultural upbringing, our own ‘anxiety meters’ when we are interacting with people who aren’t like the people we grew up with.”

I never forgot my conversation with Eric because I, as an Asian-American woman, have had similar experiences. When working on consults with a white medical student or resident, I have watched physicians from other departments in the hospital look past me in order to speak to them. When preparing to operate on organ donor patients in other hospitals, I have had nurses and scrub technicians walk by me to help my assistants first, assuming that they were the lead surgeons.

But my own experiences were not the only reason I remembered Eric this past week. I remembered because our frank discussion was deeply unsettling. In order to empathize with my colleague and friend, I had to do the very thing Dr. Saha was talking about: I had to acknowledge my own biases and stereotypes first. And that was not easy.

I have prided myself on being as fair and as compassionate a doctor as I could be. But I am also very much the daughter of Taiwanese immigrants; and when, for example, I see patients or colleagues who come from a similar background, empathy comes almost automatically.

However, when I meet individuals whose race or ethnicity differs from mine — individuals who, for instance, are black, white, Hispanic or American Indian — there are fewer shared experiences. So I, like others, unconsciously tap into past experiences in order to bolster the connection and bring a greater sense of familiarity to the interaction. And it’s difficult to acknowledge that what I have tapped into may not always be fair.

“I think the key is getting to know each patient’s story and to treat each patient as an individual,” Dr. Saha said. “In doing so, you can really begin to understand where he or she is coming from. Empathy is really walking in their shoes, getting to know them, and putting your own biases aside.”

“It takes time to do that, Pauline,” Dr. Saha reflected. “But when it happens, it can really be a powerful thing.”

Join the discussion on the Well blog, “The Color of Medicine.”

COURTESY OF: NYTIMES.COM

City's Infant Mortality Rate Lowest In Seven Years

NY1 | 24 Hour Local News | Top Stories | City's Infant Mortality Rate Lowest In Seven Years

City's Infant Mortality Rate Lowest In Seven Years

By: NY1 News

Health officials say the infant mortality rate is the lowest the city has seen in seven years, with a baby boom among Asians accounting for half of nearly 3,500 births last year.

Officials say the three main causes of infant death remain the same. Birth defects are the number one cause, followed by babies born prematurely with low birth weight. Babies born with heart disorders rounded out the list.

Health department officials also found the highest rate of infant death among minority babies. The infant death rater per 1,000 births breaks down as follows:

Black: 9.8
Puerto Rican: 6.3
Other Hispanics: 4.3
White: 3.9
Asian/Pacific Islander: 3.1

“As good as this news is, we continue to see unacceptable racial disparities, with black babies two and a half times more likely to die in the first year of life as white babies and Puerto Rican babies one and a half more times more likely to die,” said Deborah Kaplan of the Department of Health.

Officials say stress and socioeconomic status can affect a mother's pregnancy and therefore the baby's health. Expectant mothers who take care of their health before and during pregnancy can increase the chances of having a healthy baby.

Retired Transit Employees, Suffering Severe Illnesses, File Suit in New York Supreme Court

Retired Transit Employees, Suffering Severe Illnesses, File Suit in New York Supreme Court - MarketWatch

Retired Transit Employees, Suffering Severe Illnesses, File Suit in New York Supreme Court

Last update: 4:46 p.m. EDT Aug. 18, 2008

NEW YORK, Aug 18, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Manufacturers of Diesel Engines and Buses Are the Target
Claiming that decades of exposure to diesel fumes at 19 Transit Authority-owned and -operated bus depots caused severe medical repercussions, 13 former transit employees or their next of kin today filed suit in New York Supreme Court in three counties (New York, Kings and Bronx) against the manufactures of diesel engines and buses, including General Motors, Grumman, Detroit Diesel, and Cummins Diesel.

The 13 plaintiffs worked a combined 254,159 hours in 19 unventilated bus depots without exhaust systems from 1958 to 1999, as bus drivers, bus shifters, and bus mechanics for the Transit Authority and Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority. [click here for more]