Hilary's Desk

... can mobilise meningitis in the bloodstream? that Saharan storms in Africa "spread lethal meningitis spores throughout sime-arid central Africa? That 2 - 3 billion tonnes of fine soil leaves Africa every year in dust storms which is slowly stripping the continent of its fertility? That it was supposedly a dust storm from Africa which seeded UK with foot and mouth disease?  Continue Reading

You know, I have no problem with scientific principles but I sure have problems when science has no principles. It beggars belief when you read the headlines in a newspaper which says, "More than half million (USA) kids get bad drug reactions". Okay, okay... maybe that's true. Read further, and you'll see it is. But these drug reactions are elective drugs like penicilin, paracetamol, and 'stuff'. Then further down, we read, "similar numbers of hospitalized children - about 540,000 yearly, also have bad reactions to drugs including side effects, medicine mix-ups and accidental overdoses." Okay? Parents are admonished to pay close attention when their children are started on medicines, since "first-time" medication exposures may reveal an allergic reaction." Fine. But. There's a very big BUT here. Continue Reading