Free Republic

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) says acrylamide in food potentially increases the risk of developing cancer for consumers in all age groups. The authority has launched a public consultation on its draft scientific opinion about the substance. Acrylamide is a chemical compound that typically forms in starchy food products such as potato crisps, chips, bread, biscuits and coffee, during high-temperature processing (above 150°), including frying, baking and roasting. […] Acrylamide has previously been linked to cancer. In 2002, Swedish researchers found the compound by coincidence and had a strong suspicion that acrylamide was a carcinogenic agent. But EFSA acknowledges...

Most Americans say their view of Obamacare will play a role in how they vote in upcoming congressional elections—but don't count on that guaranteeing that a particular political party is slam dunk winner this fall. A new Bankrate.com poll released Wednesday revealed that Obamacare-motivated voters are not necessarily heavily Republican or Democratic. It also revealed sharply decreasing support for outright repeal of the still-controversial health-care reform law. Most of those people, 44 percent of all respondents, said the health-care law would be a major factor in their decision, while 24 percent said it would play a minor role. Out of...

Hobby Lobby doesn’t have to provide objectionable forms of birth control (abortifacients) to its employees, because paying for that would violate sincere religious beliefs held by its owners. That’s what most moderately-informed Americans are likely to take away from the most recent Supreme Court decision in favor of the family-owned company. Some conservatives have expressed disappointment that the decision, as written by Justice Samuel Alito, wasn’t broader, and the precedent it set was indeed deliberately narrow. But it’s still a win for religious liberty, and after the debacle last winter concerning Arizona’s Senate Bill 1062, it’s good to have another...

Linda Rolain passed away at her Las Vegas home on Monday Her family had joined two lawsuits against the State of Nevada and the company that set up its troubled online software, Xerox She had tried to enroll in the state's health exchange in November and after numerous issues, finally paid in January for coverage to start in March But when she went to get treatment, there was no record of her name and she finally received an insurance card in May She underwent surgery in mid-May but struggled to recover Robert Rolain, who lost 60 pounds due to stress,...

WASHINGTON — Federal officials can’t resolve 85 percent of 2.9 million “inconsistencies” on applications for ObamaCare even after nine months of trying, according to new data provided by the administration. Most of the problems involve certifying citizenship and income, key components of the national health plan. But some of the problems are downright nutty. One unidentified state-run marketplace cited situations in which infants and young children were “erroneously identified as incarcerated, according to federal data,” the inspector general for the Health and Human Services Department revealed Tuesday. Just 425,000 problematic applications have been resolved out of 2.9 million that states...

Drug Shortages: The Scary Reality of a World Without Meds Imagine surgeons running out of anesthetic drugs, cancer patients who can't get lifesaving chemotherapy, and doctors scrambling for the most basic antibiotics. We're already there. Read more: http://www.rd.com/health/healthcare/drug-shortages/#ixzz36JrWJCFv

So far, 763 people have been infected with the virus - and 468 of these have died. Most of the cases have been in Guinea where the outbreak started. But it has since spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone and is now the biggest and most deadly Ebola outbreak the world has seen, say officials

The sweet foods we crave to relieve stress have been shown to cause obesity, heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Short of a ban on sugar refinement, how can we break the habit?The race against obesity continues apace. Last week, for instance, the bid to save New York's sugar addicts, by banning large bottles of soft drinks, fell flat. Meanwhile a small study published in the journal Neuroscience Letters discovered receptors for stress hormones in taste buds. This could help explain why people end up preferring sweeter foods in times of trouble. "Stress and sweet are obviously linked. We've known...

Rep. Luis Gutiérrez said Tuesday that President Barack Obama has the power to “heal” undocumented immigrants.“If [Republicans] want to come back and discuss [reform], fine,” the Illinois Democrat said on MSNBC. “But in the interim period, I believe the president of the United States has already in statute, in the law, the ability to heal and put in a safe harbor millions of undocumented immigrants while the Congress of the United States finally decides it’s going to take action.”Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/07/luis-gutierrez-obama-undocumented-immigrants-heal-108473.html#ixzz36GrvdlWe

A Nevada-based startup that plans on selling medical and recreational marijuana products named former New Mexico governor and U.S. Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson as its CEO and president, the company announced Tuesday. The announcement came as Cannabis Sativa Inc. said it had acquired marijuana research business Kush while company officials work to navigate changing state laws on marijuana and potential challenges from the federal government, which still views marijuana as a controlled substance. Johnson said he hoped to expand Cannabis Sativa into a major marijuana business and intends to work out of New Mexico to help develop products that...

In a 5-4 decision yesterday, the Supreme Court held in Harris v. Quinn that the First Amendment prohibits the collection of agency fees from in-home personal care providers who do not wish to join or support a union. While the ruling deals a blow to organized labor by prohibiting personal care providers from being required to pay union agency fees, public sector unions dodged an existential threat as the Court stopped short of ruling on all public sector agency fee requirements. In Illinois and across the nation, personal care providers deliver at-home care for individuals who, for a variety of...

Prof. Mark Rienzi, who won last week’s McCullen v. Coakley, and who litigates together with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, has these thoughts on Hobby Lobby; I thought our readers would be interested in them, so I’m passing them along. (Please note that these are Prof. Rienzi’s thoughts, on behalf of the Becket Fund, not my own.) * * * Here are a few initial thoughts on today’s decision in Hobby Lobby from the perspective of a law firm — The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty — that has been litigating these cases against the Department of Justice across...

Massachusetts General Hospital plans to begin questioning all patients about their use of alcohol and illegal drugs starting this fall, even if they are at MGH for a totally unrelated issue. Four questions will be posed, including “how often have you had six or more drinks on one occasion,” and “how often have you used an illegal drug in the past year?” Enough “yes” answers could prompt a special team to conduct what’s being called a “bedside intervention” and possible treatment. The mandatory treatment plan comes amid soaring numbers of opiate addiction across Massachusetts and the region, with many hospitals...

The food sampling operation across 20 fast food outlets in Lancashire also found ham on 10 out of 15 pizzas contained turkey DNAA trading standards department has revealed EVERY takeaway they investigated in a recent inspection has been selling customers pizzas containing “fake cheese”. Officers visited 20 outlets in Lancashire for the food sampling operation and performed tests on ingredients used in hundreds of pizzas sold to customers. Each premises failed on descriptions of the ham, cheese, or both. The report revealed 19 out of 20 samples were found to contain “analogue cheese” - an artificial cheesy substance that is...

I went to the pharmacy, expecting to see the shelves devoid of birth control....but, contrary to what Obama and his Cult are screaming about....I still see condoms available and birth control pills being dispensed at the pharmacy.

"White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Monday that women should make personal health decisions for themselves. Earnest said the White House is looking into how many women could be affected by the decision. He said Congress should take action to assist women affected by the decision." Ok, Well here’s an idea for Obama.... Maybe you could use your damned pen and phone to order the FDA to make Birth Control pills OTC (over the Counter) that way the price of the birth control pills would be the same price of an aspirin or any other over the counter pain pill....

WASHINGTON, DC - Home care workers and consumers are ready to stand up for quality home care in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Harris v. Quinn today. "No court case is going to stand in the way of home care workers coming together to have a strong voice for good jobs and quality home care," said SEIU President Mary Kay Henry. "At a time when wages remain stagnant and income inequality is out of control, joining together in a union is the only proven way home care workers have of improving their lives and the lives...

The Supreme Court won't strike down Obamacare's contraception mandate, but a ruling for the law's challengers could still render the policy toothless for millions of women. The justices are set to rule any day now in a challenge to the birth-control mandate, and any decision against the policy would have ripple effects far beyond the two companies that filed this lawsuit. Just how far, however, depends on how broadly the Court rules—and it has plenty of options. No matter what happens, the Court won't strike down the entire mandate. The two companies that brought their challenge to the Supreme Court—Hobby...

SHAMELESS sponger Josie Cunningham has admitted she smoked through her pregnancy because her unborn baby isn't the gender that she'd prefer.The glamour model, who had her boob op funded by the taxpayer, said she lit up a ciggie after learning her child was a boy. Despite being fully aware of the harmful side effects that nicotine can have on a vulnerable foetus, Josie has been puffing on 20 fags a day. Ms Cunningham became notorious after publicly announcing she'd have an abortion if it granted her access to the Big Brother house. After an angry outcry from critics, the 23-year-old...

FULL TITLE: 'This should never happen again': Teen held against her will by hospital for 16 months describes her ordeal after finally being released Justina Pelletier, the Connecticut teenager 'kidnapped' by hospital staff 16 months ago, has described her traumatic ordeal in her first interview since her release. The 16-year-old was admitted to Boston Children's Hospital in February 2013 with the flu but was locked away in a psychiatric unit until this month after two hospitals clashed over her diagnosis. 'This should never happen again to anybody. To any kid or any person. They should never be put through what...