News clippings 2011.06.09

1.     WHO: Cell phone use can increase possible cancer risk

CNN        2011.06.01

(CNN) -- Radiation from cell phones can possibly cause cancer, according to the World Health Organization. The agency now lists mobile phone use in the same "carcinogenic hazard" category as lead, engine exhaust and chloroform.

What that means is they found some evidence of increase in glioma and acoustic neuroma brain cancer for mobile phone users, but have not been able to draw conclusions for other types of cancers

"The biggest problem we have is that we know most environmental factors take several decades of exposure before we really see the consequences," said Dr. Keith Black, chairman of neurology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

2.     E.coli: Is my salad safe?

CNN   June 03, 2011

(CNN) -- From milk powder tainted with industrial chemicals in China to eggs contaminated with salmonella in the UK, food safety scares are nothing new, but the latest -- a deadly outbreak of E.coli in Germany is different.

While previous scandals have left consumers wary of burgers, ready-made sauces and juicy t-bone steaks, this case has struck at those who thought they were doing all they could to eat healthily: Salad vegetables are emerging as the prime suspect.

Health experts are working against the clock to find the exact source of the killer strain of E.coli which has left 16 dead and hundreds more sick, some of whom are critically ill with kidney and neurological complications.

3.     How do you eat safely in China?

CNN    2011.05.18

Beijing (CNN) -- I was out shopping for groceries the other day with a friend of mine who has been living in Beijing for over a decade. We stopped by the fruit section, and I automatically gravitated to the bright red apples that looked delicious sitting on the store shelf.

She immediately stepped in. "I choose the apples that are pock-marked and are slightly bitten up by bugs," she told me while replacing the apples in my basket. "I figure if the fruit is good enough for the insect, it's good enough for me."

In China, she told me, the most perfectly formed, most appetizing piece of fruit is the scariest of them all.

With so many food safety scandals in China, everyone seems to have a philosophy on how best to eat. Avoid seafood. Never eat meat from the local market. Don't eat Chinese branded dairy products including cakes.

Probably the best and most consistent piece of advice I have gotten is to diversify your diet. "Rotate your poisons," a food safety expert advised me. It's enough to make you paranoid about eating anything at all.

Fear over additives, antibiotics, fake foods, and dodgy practices has grabbed hold of consumers here, some of whom are taking matters into the own hands by forming organic food buying clubs.

4. Discussion:  The impact of DEHP on the people in Taiwan

(1) What is your opinion about this even?

(2) After the event, what will you do?  Will you change your eating habits?

   How? 

(3) What do you think our government should do to prevent the similar events

   From happening again?  Do you have any suggestions?