Miscellaneous

• Diactyl linked to lung ailment removed from microwave popcorn

  Staff Writer | December 19, 2007 9:54 AM | 0 CommentsFort Collins, CO

  On Monday, December 17th, the nation's four largest makers of microwave popcorn stated that they have removed a flavoring chemical that has been linked to a lung ailment in popcorn plant workers from their products.The Weaver Popcorn Company, ConAgra Foods Inc., General Mills Inc., and the American Pop Corn Co. have all promised to change their microwave popocorn recipes by January 2008. These...

• Couple Wins near $8 Million in Insurance Lawsuit

  Christina Cole | April 09, 2007 2:01 PM | 0 CommentsFort Collins, CO

  A couple will receive almost $8 million from a Menlo Park Insurance Company they sued, after the company had refused to cover the damages to their home caused by a landslide.Pacific Specialty Insurance was found guilty of insurance bad faith and breach of contract. The four week trial was regarding a landslide from five years ago that caused an estimated $500,000 in damages to their home. The...

• A Friend in Need of a Kidney Transplant

  Linda Snyder | February 25, 2008 5:49 PM | 0 CommentsFort Collins, CO

  Imagine the hope and excitement of graduating from high school and looking forward to the next, both exhilarating and terrifying chapter of your life as you head for college to pursue career of your dreams.Imagine the devastation as you learn you have a serious, life threatening condition that will put those dreams on hold.This is Kelsey Crider's story. A lovely young woman from Boulder,...

• Free Drug Samples Lead to Higher Out of Pocket Expenses

  Linda Snyder | March 25, 2008 8:50 PM | 0 CommentsFort Collins, CO

  According to a University of Chicago, patients who are given free samples spend nearly 40 percent more on their medications. My first thought was how could that be possible?You're saving the cost of the medication and the cost of driving to the pharmacy. Common sense says if you're getting something for free it's saving you money, right?A new study, published in Medical Care this week, questions...

• Botox Linked to 16 Deaths

  Linda Snyder | March 12, 2008 10:49 AM | 0 CommentsFort Collins, CO

  Botox and Myobloc have been associated with 16 deaths, four of them in children, and with 180 adverse effects that occurred after the drug spread to vital organs, according to Public Citizen, a health advocacy group.The drug, a neurotoxin that is used to relax muscles, should come with a far stronger warning label and patients should be given a letter detailing its risks, the group said in a...

• Two Snowmobilers Found in Summit County, Third Found Dead

  Staff Writer | January 30, 2008 10:28 AM | 0 CommentsFort Collins, CO

  Two of the three snowmobilers who were lost in Summit County since Sunday, January 27th, were found on Tuesday night. The third snowmobiler, John McKibben, was found dead.The National Guard Black Hawk helicopter crew spotted the snowmobilers by a campfire. The two survivors were found on the west side of Elliott Ridge. McKibben was said to have died on Monday night.For more information on this...

• California Growers Recall Salmonella-Tainted Spinach

  Courtney Mills | August 30, 2007 1:34 PM | 0 CommentsFort Collins, CO

  Metz Fresh LLC announced on Wednesday that it was voluntarily recalling fresh spinach from grocery stores after a sample tested positive for salmonella.The first "presumptive" positive test for salmonella came back to Metz on Friday last week, which is when the company was able to disengage over 90% of the 8,000 cases of spinach in transit by placing "holds" on the company's product. The...

• Important Healthcare Advice to Prevent Medical Errors(2)

  Staff Writer | January 23, 2008 9:24 AM | 0 CommentsFort Collins, CO

  There are an estimated 44,000 to 98,000 people that die in U.S. hospitals each year as a result of medical errors. Medical errors are one of the Nation's foremost reasons of death along with car accidents, breast cancer and AIDS.Medical errors can happen anywhere such as in hospitals, clinics, outpatient surgery centers, doctors' offices, and nursing homes. Such errors occur when something that...

• Health Care Spending Increases for 2006

  Staff Writer | January 08, 2008 9:01 AM | 0 CommentsFort Collins, CO

  A recent report by the government showed that national health spending rose to $2 trillion in 2006, practically doubling in the last decade.Medicare spending increased at a fast rate in 2006 while private health insurance costs grew at a slow rate. In general, health spending increased to 6.7 percent in 2006. Other expenditures include prescription drugs which rose to 8.5 percent ($216.7...

• The FDA has Proposed New Rules for Sunscreen

  Jenny Albano | August 23, 2007 8:53 PM | 0 CommentsFort Collins, CO

  The FDA has announced that they have proposed new rules for sunscreen. The agency now wants sunscreens to have a label that says if the product has UVA protection as well as UVB protection. For the past 30 years sunscreen manufacturers have only been required to list the UVB protection on the bottles, but UVA rays can also damage skin and increase the risk of skin cancer.The agency has...