Drinks Hand Sanitizer Cases

Hand sanitizer, which has 62% ethyl alcohol, produces a potent drink that can cause alcohol poisoning. Some of the cases involve teenagers who used salt to separate out the alcohol.
There were also 147 cases involving children ages 6 to 12 and 2,180 cases ages 0 to 5, believed to have accidentally ingested the gel, according to poison control service, part of the UC San Francisco's Department of Clinical Pharmacy.
The vast majority of all the cases statewide were minor and treated at home, but about 50 of the youths went to a hospital or were referred to a hospital for treatment.
In Los Angeles County since March, there have been 16 cases of teenagers requiring medical attention, according to the California Poison Control System.
Officials began separately tracking hand sanitizer cases in 2010.

Dr. Akikur Mohammad, Founder of Inspire Malibu, recognized by many as the top addiction treatment center in Malibu, California and Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences at the University of Southern California (www.USC.edu), announced today that his team at Inspire Malibu is launching an awareness campaign designed to draw attention to the rising number of adolescents and adults abusing hand sanitizer throughout the United States.

Six teenagers have shown up in two Los Angeles emergency rooms in the past few months with alcohol poisoning after drinking hand sanitizer and public health officials said the cases could signal a dangerous trend.
Some of the teenagers used salt to separate the alcohol from the sanitizer, making a potent drink that is similar to a shot of hard liquor.

The recent cases involving teenagers surprised doctors. There were no such cases last year. The incidents also raised concerns about the lack of awareness among parents of the risks linked to the popular hygiene product. Even small bottles contain highly concentrated alcohol.

Facts About Mad Cow Disease

The case of Mad Cow Disease in six years sparked fears of illness that prompted at least one major South Korean retailer to suspend the sale of American beef.

However, public health officials said the risk for disease for Americans is extremely low given that the affected dairy cow in central California was not part of the human food chain and was not exposed to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) through animal feed.

The is the fourth instance of Mad Cow Disease to have been discovered in US history. It was long believed that cattle were infected with BSE by eating feed that included spine and brain tissue of other cows who had consumed the meat of sheep infected with scrapie. But some scientists have since hypothesized that the disease may develop spontaneously in cattle. Federal officials believe that the recent instance in California was a indeed caused by an atypical genetic malformation, as CBS reported. “It was just a random mutation that can happen every once in a great while in an animal,” Bruce Akey, director of the New York State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at Cornell University, told the AP. “Random mutations go on in nature all the time.” Federal officials further emphasized that the infected cow had not eaten contaminated feed.

South Korea is the world’s fourth-largest importer of U.S. beef.
South Korean agriculture officials are considering whether to formally suspend delivery of U.S. beef to stores by halting quarantine inspections, which would prevent the meat from clearing customs.

The new case of mad cow disease is the first in the U.S. since 2006. It was discovered in a dairy cow in California, but health authorities said Tuesday the animal was never a threat to the nation’s food supply.
The infected cow, the fourth ever discovered in the U.S., was found as part of an Agriculture Department surveillance program that tests about 40,000 cows a year for the fatal brain disease.
South Korea first imposed an import ban on U.S. beef in 2003 after mad cow disease was detected in a U.S. cow. The country lifted the ban in 2008 but faced a huge outcry from the public and months of candlelight protests.

Customer Collapses at Heart Attack Grill

The Heart Attack Grill in Las Vegas would appear to have lived up to its reputation for the second time in as many months: On Saturday, a woman collapsed at the restaurant known for gleefully serving up artery-clogging entrees.
Owner Jon Basso said Monday that he wishes the customer a swift and full recovery. But, he added, the woman got exactly what she asked for: a brush with death.

This is the second time in three months that someone has collapsed while eating a burger at the Heart Attack Grill, where the motto is “Taste worth dying for.” Guests are described as patients in the restaurant’s stated quest against anorexia.
In February, a man in his 40s was eating a Triple Bypass when he began sweating and shaking.

This bout of unfortunate events has had little effect on the restaurant's business, in which people remain drawn to the monstrous burgers. The quadruple bypass burger clocks in around 10,000 calories -- Guinness World Records has crowned the burger the most caloric sandwich on Earth.
The Heart Attack Grill has signs that read "This Establishment is Bad for Your Health." "Unlike cigarettes, I have had warnings labels since Day 1 when we opened in 2005 telling people how bad our food is for you," owner Jon Basso tells the Los Angeles Times," I think that skirts any liability we might have."

The Heart Attack Grill is a hospital-themed restaurant that belly laughs at doctors’ orders to steer clear of excessively caloric and fatty meals.
Waitresses wear skin-tight nurses’ uniforms, and Basso dresses as the cardiologist on staff, complete with doctor’s coat and stethoscope. Diners are called patients. And on the menu: “Flatliner” fries cooked in lard, shakes made with pure cream, and four flavors of “bypass” burgers, as in single, double, triple or quadruple bypass.
The Quadruple Bypass Burger can top 10,000 calories. Basso said the Guinness World Records book contacted him Friday to say that the burger was being crowned the most caloric sandwich on Earth.