Saying about apples:

An apple a day keeps the doctors away.

Illegal tooth-whitening products still available online despite warnings

Potentially harmful products still available on Amazon and eBay despite agreement to remove listings following a Which? report

Mark King

guardian.co.uk, Friday 20 August 2010 18.22 BST

UK dentists comply with the EU limit of 0.1% hydrogen peroxide; products containing the equivalent of 150 times that amount can be found online. Photograph: Sion Touhig/Getty Images
Illegal and potentially harmful tooth-whitening products are still being sold online despite websites agreeing to remove them from sale more than a fortnight ago following warnings from Which?

Amazon and eBay agreed to remove the products, which experts say can burn the gums and leave brown stains on the teeth, after reviewing evidence from the consumer organisation.

But the websites were today still advertising harmful products, with some comprising as much as 44% carbamide peroxide – equivalent to roughly 150 times the legal limit of hydrogen peroxide, to which it breaks down.

Amazon was today offering the "LAwhite teeth whitening pen" for £9.95, with 35% carbamide peroxide. Similarly, eBay was listing a teeth-whitening kit from a Spanish-based seller offering three 10ml syringes of carbamide peroxide – one with a 22% concentration of the bleaching agent, the second 35% and the third 44% – for US$18.69 (£12). The latter promises "the secret to a healthy and happy smile", but no mention is made of the fact that the products could aggravate dental conditions such as gum disease.

Stuart Johnston from the British Dental Association said: "High doses of hydrogen peroxide can burn the lining of the mouth if it's not protected."

Further research from Which? found that one in 10 people buying tooth whitening products ended up with white spots on their gums or lips, indicating chemical burns, and a similar number reporting brown stains on their teeth, suggesting the enamel had been damaged by the product. The consumer watchdog said that there had been a failure in policing by trading standards.

A spokesman for the Trading Standards Institute said: "Consumer protection and product enforcement remains a high priority for us, but as the internet grows with some 160,000 e-retailers out there, our resources aren't growing in line with it. Our challenge is to ensure that priorities are matched to areas of consumer detriment such as dangerous products like these.'

Peter Vicary-Smith, chief executive of Which?, said: "These products are illegal, but ineffective policing means they are still widely available. We have shared our findings with Trading Standards and will continue to urge online retailers to boycott such harmful products being sold in their marketplaces."

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2010

Did you know?

About £5Billion worth of diamonds a year come from African countries.

Did you also know that diamonds are formed over a period of billion or more years about 90 miles deep withiin the Earth's crust.

The diamond resurfaced by the might of volcanic eruptions, ergo diamonds can be found in lavas.




Source: Daily Express 11 Aug 2010

In September 1928, a British bacteriologist, Alexander Fleming found that some moulds were contaminating a plate of staphylococci which was a disease causing bacteria.

Where the mould grew, the bacteria banished. This led to the discovery of penicillin.

People with large waist sizes, even those with a normal BMI, are at increased risk of dying, a US study says.

More at BBC News...

9 August 2010 Last updated at 21:58 Share this pageFacebookTwitterShareEmailPrint
Large waist size linked to 'higher risk of death'

The effect was seen both in the very large and in those of normal weight
Men and women with large waists are at increased risk of dying young, a US study has found.

This is true regardless of their body mass index (BMI), research published in Archives of Internal Medicine suggests.

But very high waist measurements equivalent to UK size 24-26 in women and XXXXL in men appear to double the risk of mortality.

For the study researchers tracked more than 100,000 men and women aged 50 and older over nine years.

They also found that in women the link between a larger waist and a higher risk of death was strongest for those of normal weight.

Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote

Even if you have a normal BMI and a big tummy then you are just as much at risk as someone who is classified as obese with a large tummy”

Dr David Haslam
National Obesity Forum
More research is needed to find out why this is so, say the authors of the study.

Dr Eric Jacobs and his team at the American Cancer Society in Atlanta examined the link between waist circumference and risk of death among 48,500 men and 56,343 women.

Participants were predominantly white. At the start of the study, the average age of the men was 69 years and of the women, 67 years.

From 1997 until 2006 the deaths of any participants were tracked and the causes noted.

A total of 9,315 men and 5,332 women died during this time.

Whether participants were of normal weight, overweight or obese, researchers found that risk of death increased with increasing waist circumference.

Continue reading the main story
WAIST SIZES - WOMEN*

Size 10 = 69 cm
Size 12 = 74 cm
Size 14 = 79 cm
Size 16 = 84 cm
Size 18 = 89 cm
Sizes 20-22 = 90-101cm
Sizes 24-26 = 102-113cm
Continue reading the main story
WAIST SIZES - MEN*

Small - up to 78cm
Medium - 82.5-87.5cm
Large - 90-94cm
X Large - 96.5-101.5cm
XX Large - 104-109cm
XXX Large - 112-117cm
All sizes according to M&S*
This risk significantly increased in men with waists measuring 110cm or more and in women with waists measuring 95cm or more, the study found.

But it is only in men and women with very large waists (120cm or larger in men and 110cm in women) that the risk of death appears to double during the nine-year study.

The most common cause of death in those with the strongest link between mortality and waist size was respiratory disease, followed by cardiovascular disease and then cancer.

The study concludes: "Our results suggest that, regardless of weight, avoiding gains in waist circumference may reduce risk of premature mortality."

Dr David Haslam, chair of the National Obesity Forum, said the research is important.

"This underlines the message that fat inside the belly is dangerous.

"Even if you have a normal BMI and a big tummy then you are just as much at risk as someone who is classified as obese with a large tummy."

Previous studies have shown that abdominal obesity is a strong indicator for the development of coronary artery disease and is associated with insulin resistance and the development of Type 2 diabetes.

The risk is associated with the fat stores, which are not just under the skin but deep within the abdominal cavity.