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We have previously discussed the risks of using sunbeds, especially to young children whom are continually exposed to them despite the laws in place.

The BBC has today reported on the case of James Hadley whom had been fined £6000.00 and given a community order for 90 hours of unpaid work.

Mr Hadley is the owner of Lextan Salon in Barry and following an incident whereby a schoolgirl was left badly burned after she had stayed on the tanning machine for 19 minutes, an inspection of his premises was carried out.
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We are all used to our mums telling us that if we watch too much telly we will get square eyes, but can your telly really cause you an injury?

Well, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (more commonly known as RoSPA) have issued a warning as sales of television sets peek prior to the new digital switchover!

The society has looked at research carried out in the US over an 18 year period. The US research looked in to accidents caused by furniture ‘tip ups’ and the most common furniture item was the television set.

They claim that approximately 7500 young children are taken to hospital each year due to televisions falling on to them. The organisation report that they were aware of four fatalities involving children aged between 13 months and four years of age all caused by television sets.
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Yes, you heard me right…good news for coffee drinkers.

Researchers have considered 18 different studies, involving over 500,000 people and have concluded that tea and coffee drinkers may reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

The risk can be cut by a fifth or more if you drink three or four cups of coffee (or tea) a day.

The protection is not down to the caffeine content in coffee as decaffeinated coffee had an even bigger effect with risks being reduced by a third in these cases.
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I was surprised to read that during a morning rush hour, earlier last month, a double decker bus had tipped over after being involved in a collision with a lorry. The accident happened in Clapham, South London and firefighters from Battersea and Wandsworth had to cut 3 passengers free!

It is understood that there were 5 serious injuries with the driver of the bus was also seriously injured in the incident.

13 other passengers were also taken to Accident and Emergency units at Chelsea and Westiminster, St Thomas’ and Charing Cross hospitals to be treated for more minor injuries.
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A man died in Derbyshire after he was prescribed a drug which he was known to be allergic to, an inquest heard yesterday.

According to the BBC, Mr Dennis Aucote, 57, died in March 2008 after suffering an allergic reaction to the drug ibuprofen. Mr Aucote’s doctor’s surgery apparently mixed up his medical notes with those of another patient, a Mr Dennis Allcote. However, Mr Aucote’s medical notes were not entirely clear as to his allergies in any case.

However, before prescribing the drug, Mr Aucote’s GP Dr Andrew Hignett failed to ask him about any allergies.

The court was told that Mr Aucote hurt his shoulder and made an appointment to see his doctor regarding his injuries.  Dr Hignett is alleged to have been looking at Mr Allcote’s medical notes, not Mr Aucote’s, and prescribed ibuprofen for the injury. Mr Aucote went to a chemist, collected the drugs and took one tablet in his home before suffering a violent reaction. He died shortly afterwards.
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Statistics show that young drivers, particularly men, are more likely to be involved in car accidents right through their 20’s. Younger drivers are thought to have faster reaction times and the ability to handle their vehicles and so it is thought that other factors pose the risk to the ‘youngsters’:

• Younger men have developed a name for themselves as boy races.
• They are more likely to drink drive / drive after taking drugs
• Younger drivers and their passengers are less likely to wear seatbelts
• Younger drivers tend to buy older cars or new cars that are small and not as safe in an accident
• They have a sense of indestructibility and drive like’ bat out of hell’ down familiar roads.
• Confidence and cockiness get the better of them when they take unnecessary risks overtaking though impatience.

Although statistics show the number of people dying on the road has seriously reduced, the number of younger drivers dying from car accidents is still worryingly high.
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The big campaign to eat 5 fruits and veg a day was launched in 2003. Statistics showed that vegetarians developed less types of cancer than meat eaters and so the big bid began.

It has now been discovered that vegetarians, although less susceptible to cancers, are at no lesser risk than meat eaters from developing bowel cancer.

We’ve all seen things in the media; don’t eat pork, red meats are the worse. In fact I don’t think anyone is too sure what we can and can’t eat for the best and although it has been suggested that red meats are worse for causing bowel cancer, I must question this due to the fact that vegetarians are at the same risk from cancer than the rest of us.
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The football tournament the Africa cup of nations started last night with a pulsating 4-4 draw between the hosts Angola and Mali.  However, the tournament has been overshadowed by an attack on the Togo national team bus as the country’s players and football staff entered the country.

Within seconds of crossing from the Republic of Congo in to Cabinda in Angola, gunmen opened fire on the bus using machine guns, killing the bus driver and injuring many more. Sources have now confirmed that the death toll has risen to three in the days following the incident.

The Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (Flec) has stated that it carried out the attack.
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Further to my recent articles on drink driving, according to research drinking coffee in an attempt to sober yourself up from the effects of alcohol is a complete illusion, the BBC has reported (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8403088.stm).

Research on mice has indicated that the drink may make you feel like you are sobering up and coming to your senses, but in actual fact is an illusion. The issue here is that people using the drink in order to sober up and subsequently falling under the false influence that they are OK, are more than likely not. The risk therefore of a person getting in to a vehicle thinking they are OK when they are not and causing an accident increases.

The research results showed the mice to be more alert and awake, but still found to be incompetent when navigating a maze following mixed doses of alcohol and caffeine.

Apple have been accused of trying to cover up problems with their iPod product, attempting to silence a father and his daughter with a gagging order after the iPod exploded and the two sought a refund for the faulty product. According to The Times, Ken Stanborough, 47, from Liverpool dropped his daughter’s iPod, causing it to start to hiss. After the iPod began to become hot he threw it out of the backdoor and allegedly “within 30 seconds there was a pop, a big puff of smoke and it went 10ft in the air”.
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