Free Republic

A contentious relationship between drug manufacturers and the Drug Enforcement Agency may cause a continuing shortage of the attention deficit medication Adderall, which the FDA just added to its official drug shortages list, the New York Times reported. As of 2007, about 9.5 percent, or 5.4 million, of school-aged children were diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyper Disorder, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Adderall prescriptions went up 13.4 percent from 2009 to 2010, and more than 18 million prescriptions were written for the drug, Reuters reported. As demand for the drug grows, more and more patients have...

Iran: America's OptionsWe have been indulging in wishful thinking for a decade. It's time to stop. In 2007, America’s intelligence agencies delivered a National Intelligence Estimate to President Bush declaring: “We judge with high confidence that in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program.� As the latest report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) makes clear, Iran did indeed end its “structured� nuclear-weapons program. Kudos to the intel agencies for spotting this change. Where they did much less well was in spotting that the “structured� nuclear-weapons program was transitioned into an “unstructured� nuclear-weapons program.One might wonder what the...

Peshawar — Tehreek Taliban Pakistan has threatened the Pakistan state oil to stop supplying fuel to NATO forces; otherwise the Taliban will stop it by themselves. Pakistan state oil is supplying fuel to NATO in Afghanistan through vehicles from Karachi. Oil tankers of the different contractor used their vehicles for supply and supply now runs through Torkham Border and also through Chaman Border. Before TTP, different groups have been targeting the supply vehicles in different areas of the country, but now the Taliban has threatened the Pakistan state Oil. After the Taliban threat, the PSO management demanded security for PSO...

NEW YORK (AP) — Northeastern states are facing a jack-o'-lantern shortage this Halloween after Hurricane Irene destroyed hundreds of pumpkin patches across the region, farmers say. Wholesale prices have doubled in some places as farmers nurse their surviving pumpkin plants toward a late harvest. Some farmers are trying to buy pumpkins from other regions to cover orders.

BEIJING—When Luo Yiqi visited the Inner Mongolia region of northern China 3 years ago, he was in for a surprise. In recent years, overgrazed grasslands had withered and turned to desert. Luo had been expecting that. But what stunned the ecologist from the University of Oklahoma, Norman, were the rice fields along a desiccated riverbed. Farmers were pumping water from deep aquifers to cultivate one of the thirstiest crops on the planet. “Apparently, farmers did not get enough scientific guidance,” says Luo. Of all China's environmental woes, the biggest threat to livelihoods and food security may be looming water shortages....

An exhaustive report by Standard Chartered predicts that gold will more than triple to $5,000 an ounce because of a lack of supply, not just because of a surge in demand that most bullion bugs cite in their bullish calls. “There are very few large gold mines set to commence operation in the next five years,” said Standard’s analyst Yan Chen in a report Monday. “The limited new supply comes at a time when central banks have turned from being net sellers to significant net buyers of gold. The result, in our view, will be a gold market in deficit,...

WASHINGTON -- A growing shortage of medications for a host of illnesses -- from cancer to cystic fibrosis to cardiac arrest -- has hospitals scrambling for substitutes to avoid patient harm, and sometimes even delaying treatment. "It's just a matter of time now before we call for a drug that we need to save a patient's life and we find out there isn't any," says Dr. Eric Lavonas of the American College of Emergency Physicians. The problem of scarce supplies or even completely unavailable medications isn't a new one but it's getting markedly worse. The number listed in short supply...

The United States is going to experience an absolutely devastating doctor shortage in the coming years. Even now it can be difficult to see a doctor in many areas, and if you are fortunate enough to see one you will probably pay through the nose. Medical bills have gotten absolutely insane in this country. Many Americans have gone to the hospital for a few hours, perhaps got to see a doctor for half an hour, and ended up being billed thousands of dollars. Unfortunately, it is not the doctors that are getting rich from these nightmarish medical bills. Rather,...

What is the general opinion that there will be a food shortage in the United States? Also, what do people recommend? What to purchase? How to store? How to prepare? Any good web sites to go for tips? Thank you in advance.

March 27, 2011 Fear of Shortages Drives Panic Buying of Japanese Goods By VERNE G. KOPYTOFF SAN FRANCISCO — Tremors from the strong Japanese earthquake continue to rattle American businesses, even those companies that have experienced no disruptions in parts or supplies. Businesses in a number of industries are trying to adapt to a new reality. No longer can they count on reliable access to critical supplies, a fact prompting frantic phone calls, contingency planning and product redesigns. For instance, film and television producers, along with the companies that support them, are scrambling to stock up on commercial-grade videotape. A...

Rice Gone from Tokyo Area Supermarkets Tokyo, March 16 (Jiji Press)--Rice has sold out at supermarkets in the Tokyo metropolitan area due to the disruption of transportation networks in the Tohoku northeastern Japan region hit by the massive 9.0-magnitude earthquake Friday. Given the emergency situation, Ito-Yokado supermarkets, operated by Seven & i Holdings Co. <3382>, held special sales events in the Tokyo metropolitan area Wednesday, and customers stood in long lines in front of the stores well ahead of their opening. "Now that school lunches have been suspended, I need more rice than usual," a housewife in her 40s from...

Everywhere you look today the mainstream news is talking about shortages. Authorities all over the globe are boldly proclaiming that the world is rapidly running out of food, water and oil. So are these doomsayers right? Well, it must be noted that some of the most famous "prophets of doom" of the past several decades have seen their predictions fail spectacularly. For example, in his infamous 1968 book entitled "The Population Bomb", Paul Ehrlich made the following statement: "I don't see how India could possibly feed two hundred million more people by 1980." Well, India is now feeding well over...

(after angry miners throw dynamite in protest at food shortages) Bolivian President Evo Morales has abruptly abandoned a mining town after protesters angered by rising prices booed him and set off dynamite. Mr Morales was due to speak on the anniversary of a colonial uprising in Oruro but canceled plans to participate in a march yesterday after demonstrations against rising food prices and shortages. There were also protests in the Bolivian capital of La Paz, and the cities of Santa Cruz and Cochabamba. The Bolivian populace are angry over a near doubling in the price of sugar after the government...

Most of the 35 states with capital punishment have run out of a key lethal injection drug or will soon, according to an Associated Press review. And in many places, switching to another drug could prove a difficult, drawn-out process, fraught with legal challenges from death row that could put executions on hold. The drug, an anesthetic called sodium thiopental, has become so scarce over the past year that a few states have had to postpone executions. Those delays could become widespread across the country in the coming months because of a decision last week by the sole U.S. manufacturer...

As they celebrate their 65th birthdays at the rate of 10,000 a day, Baby Boomers are now approaching the stage of their lives when they will need more medical care. But they—along with everyone else—are going to have a hard time getting appointments. The doctor shortage was fostered in 1996 when Congress capped the number of new doctors Medicare would pay to train, a practice that continues to this day. Teaching hospitals, which now make up about 10% of hospitals nationwide, depend on those Medicare funds to pay about two-thirds of the cost of doctor-training. (Training costs include residents' salaries,...

Anyone who has been out holiday shopping knows there are some great deals on clothing. “I’m amazed at the sales right now,” one enthusiastic shopper said. However, experts say once the holidays are over, so are the deals. The problem is the price of cotton. Bad weather last year in India, Pakistan and China destroyed thousands of acres of cotton fields which slashed the global cotton supply. “Cotton is up 70 percent in the last year, which is phenomenal,” explained Babson College Professor Peter Cohan. Cotton is a staple in the fashion industry. Think about it, jeans, T-shirts and many...

While hardly news to regular readers, most of whom have ridden the 80%+ wave in silver in 2010, the following video from Future Money Trends explains some of the key basics about why silver, which is unique in the precious metals basket in that it is also an industrial metal (and has thus sparked much debate over whether or not it, like gold, is "money"), and provides some perspectives on why silver just may one day be more valuable than gold. Some facts: while there are 10 ounces of silver, for every ounce of gold mined, the most of it...

A shortage of coffee may become "acute" because stock levels are low and disease, weather and blocked roads in Colombia are curbing supply, Macquarie Group Ltd. said in a report distributed today.

Almost 15% of US households experienced a food shortage at some point in 2009, a government report has found. US authorities say that figure is the highest they have seen since they began collecting data in the 1990s, and a slight increase over 2008 levels. Single mothers are among the hardest hit: About 3.5 million said they were at times unable to put sufficient food on the table. Hispanics and African Americans also suffer disproportionately. The food security report is the result of an annual survey conducted by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). Households deemed "food insecure" experienced a...

California's budget crisis has proved a boon for some defendants. In a unanimous ruling, the California Supreme Court on Monday upheld the dismissal of 18 criminal cases, two of them felonies, in Riverside County because there were not enough judges to hear them. The court blamed the problem on the state's failure to hire more judges. ... "The lack of available courtrooms and judges was attributable to the Legislature's failure to provide a number of judges and courtrooms sufficient to meet the rapidly growing population in Riverside County," wrote George, who has been lobbying legislators for years for more judges.

Unemployment in the United States is still at a brutal 9.6%, but for software engineers the job market couldn't look much better. Everyone in tech knows that there is a serious engineering deficit, but apparently no one outside tech knows about it, so new talent isn't flooding in to fill the demand. We've heard from startups like HowAboutWe that have already secured series A funding, and are offering equity, and are still struggling to find good engineers. Paul Dix, a former Google engineer who is launching his own startup, Market.io, tells us he gets multiple job calls per week even...

The Dems' Cold Cash Calculus by Samuel P. Jacobs With a GOP landslide forecast, the national party faces tough choices on where to spend and who to cut loose. Samuel P. Jacobs on the anxiety of incumbents who may soon lose their lifeline. Over the weekend, The New York Times published a story claiming that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee was set to bail on a number of House colleagues who seemed likely to lose their seats to Republican challengers. Rep. Chris Van Hollen, the committee chairman, quickly denied that any sort of retrenchment was under way. Still the story...

With all the talk of excess inventory and flood of foreclosures, the idea of a looming housing shortage sounds unrealistic if not fanciful. After all, the most recent data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) out last week showed a 5.1% decline in existing home sales in June. Meanwhile, total housing inventory increased 2.5% to four million homes available for sale, an 8.9-month supply, up from an 8.3-month supply in May. Foreclosures, too, are an issue with a vast backlog of distressed properties and underwater loans sitting just below the surface, according to RealtyTrac, an online foreclosure marketplace. The...

What is devastating the world's honeybees? In what appears to be a honeybee mystery of Armageddon proportions that has baffled scientists and beekeepers, more than one-third of the nation's bee population is mysteriously disappearing – and researchers warn the unexplained phenomenon threatens one-third of the American diet.

Wood product makers suffer timber shortage April 17, 2010 Donghwa’s 100,000-square meter factory in Gajwa-dong, Incheon, was eerily quiet during a recent visit to the timber product maker early this month. The factory had been out of operation for the previous week. A timber storage area to supply material for the particle board that the company produces was nearly empty. Company officials said less than less than 1,000 tons of timber was being stored in the yard compared with 30,000 tons in mid-2009. “With this amount of timber, we can operate the factory only half a day,” said Song Jeong-hwan,...

With the new Obamacare law, medical schools are now in warp speed to get more doctors trained. This could very much create a new crisis of a major doctor shortage in the United States.

The new federal health-care law has raised the stakes for hospitals and schools already scrambling to train more doctors. Experts warn there won't be enough doctors to treat the millions of people newly insured under the law. At current graduation and training rates, the nation could face a shortage of as many as 150,000 doctors in the next 15 years, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. ...A shortage of primary-care and other physicians could mean more-limited access to health care and longer wait times for patients. Proponents of the new health-care law say it does attempt to address...

Barack Obama and Democrats act like they've just won the Super Bowl or are going to Disneyland, but that begs the question, Why? Why are they acting with irrational exuberance over passing the Obamacare bill when it will only worsen the expected, 40,000 fewer primary care physicians that without the Obamacare bill are already expected across the country? Why are they acting with irrational exuberance over passing the Obamacare bill when it will only worsen the projected, 150,000 primary care physician shortfall that's expected to arrive by 2025? If you consider the fact that Obamacare will add another whopping, projected...

Patients will have coverage, but no doc March 27, 2010 BY LOUIS J. GOODMAN AND TIMOTHY B. NORBECK Now that the health-care bill has passed and the smoke has cleared from the acrimonious debate -- if only for a little while -- it seems appropriate to reflect on how this significant legislation will impact our health-care system. We don't know anyone who would oppose, on moral grounds, insuring everyone, and that includes us at the Physicians Foundation. Some have argued that the overall cost of the legislation may be prohibitive. While that argument goes beyond our expertise, we do believe...

A Seed Shortage May Come In 2010 By SUSAN REIMER THE BALTIMORE SUN Jan. 11, 2010, 10:39AM Will there be a shortage of vegetable seeds for gardeners in 2010? It is possible, says Barbara Melera, owner of the oldest seed house in the country, D. Landreth Seeds, formerly of Baltimore and now of New Freedom, Pa. After back-to-back good years — 2008's salmonella scares and 2009's poor economy send homeowners into the garden to grow their own food — you might expect a backslide in seed sales, Melera said. New gardeners get discouraged or bored. But, she said, “In 2009,...

Random DU comment from 5 years ago: “This may be Bush’s Waterloo!” Kerry points to Bush on vaccine shortage What a difference five years makes on flu vaccine shortage And a letter to the editor of the Kansas City Star [1], Inequity in politics of flu vaccine shortages During the Bush administration, the Democrats seized on the shortage of the flu vaccine to accuse the administration of being unable to protect Americans — from either illness or terrorism. “If you can’t get flu vaccines to Americans, how are you going to protect them against bioterrorism?” Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic...

<p>In one of the worst chapters of their casualty-marred deployment in Afghanistan, Canadian forces earlier this year lost 10 soldiers in 90 days to improvised bombs on one stretch of highway in Kandahar province. Then a US Army helicopter crew stalking Taliban insurgents who plant bombs at night spotted a five-man team, watched the insurgents through sophisticated optical gear until it was certain that's what the men were doing and got permission to kill them.</p>

Kellogg is rationing its Eggo products due to flooding and equipment problems at two bakeries. The shortfall could last through mid-2010. Better hoard your Eggos! Grocery stores will be experiencing a shortage of the waffles until mid-2010 due to problems at two bakeries, a Kellogg's spokeswoman said on Wednesday. Flooding at an Atlanta bakery during heavy rains in October forced Kellogg, which makes Eggo products, to shut down production temporarily, said company spokesman Kris Charles. Plus, equipment at Kellogg's largest waffle facility, based in Rossville, Tenn., needs extensive repairs.

When word began to leak in grocery stores of the canned pumpkin shortage plaguing this holiday season, baking enthusiasts hoped the chatter was a joke. And others, like Mike Sherrod, owner of the Pink Elephant Cafe, 301 E. Main St., couldn't stifle their amusement, exploding into full-throttle laughter when approached with the news. Reality check: Those empty shelves aren't a mean trick or a byproduct of haphazard stocking. This year, America is rationing its canned pumpkin. "It's the Great Pumpkin Pie Shortage of 2009," Sherrod said between laughs. "Maybe I should have invested in pumpkin futures." The culprit: Mother Nature....

I am just checking to see how the vaccines have been made available throughout the country. I have seen posts on the site saying that they are in short supply in some areas and other posters are saying there are no problems getting them. I would like it if you could tell us your state and what is the status of the vaccine availablilty in the area. I want to make sure that the vaccines have not been made a political football. That we havent yet turned into an African kleptocratcy.

How can the government pretend that it can manage, overhaul, streamline and reform the health care system in the United States when it can't even deliver enough flu shots to prevent a pandemic? We have seen the H1N1 virus coming for over a year. It is no surprise that much of America needs vaccination. It was no secret that the flu season was approaching. But, now that it is upon us, we find ourselves pathetically short of shots. One year ago, the government told us that we would have hundreds of millions of vaccinations available. Then, over the summer, the...

The top public health official in Los Angeles County stood at a swine flu vaccination site in Compton, Calif., on Tuesday and gently told elderly residents that they really ought to go home. “I explained to people 65 or older, ‘The reason we are doing this is for children,’ ” said the official, Jonathan E. Fielding, the director of the county’s Department of Public Health. “I told them: ‘They are at very high risk for this flu, and you’re at low risk. I am sure you wouldn’t want to get a shot that left a kid who is at risk...

I am a pregnant woman in Salt Lake City, Utah. This weekend our health department had a mass H1N1 flu shot clinic, with 7,000 shots to give out, in 4 clinics. It started at 7am. I knew my chances were pretty small when I saw the night before people were already lined up. When I got there at 7am, I wasn’t hopeful, seeing what looked like 4,000 people lined up. I went and stood at the back of the line and started to wait. After about twenty minutes one of the Health department people came up to our group and...

Obama's late-night declaration of a nationwide public health emergency last night shouldn't be allowed to obscure the most important lesson of the developing swine flu crisis - The same government that only weeks ago promised abundant supplies of swine flu vaccine by mid-October will be running your health care system under Obamacare. On Sept. 13, Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, told ABC's This Week program that the government was on schedule to deliver an "ample supply" of swine flu vaccine by mid-October: "We're on track to have an ample supply rolling by the middle of October. But...

H1N1 flu is running rampant throughout the U.S., and the country will have received only 25 percent of the vaccine that was expected by the end of October, Sen. Joe Lieberman told a Senate committee hearing Wednesday. The grim news was the focus of a special hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, at which three Cabinet secretaries were called to address the panel: Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Education Secretary Arne Duncan. As of last week, there were more than 5,000 cases of flu reported, compared to 7...

Health officials on Friday predicted a shortfall in the supply of swine flu vaccine, as the numbers of cases, hospitalizations and deaths grow to levels unprecedented for this time of year. Flu caused by the H1N1 virus is now widespread in 41 states, and flulike illnesses account for 6.1 percent of all doctor visits. “That’s high for any time, particularly for October,” said Dr. Anne Schuchat, the director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Forty-three children have died from swine flu since Aug. 30 — about the same number...

Is there a shortage of seasonal flu vaccination? The Swine flu (H1N1) vaccine is slow getting to many parts of the US (the first doses of swine flu vaccine in the U.S. were given to health-care workers and children this week) and seasonal flu vaccine is also running short in some parts of the country.

In the next 20 years, it's estimated that 30 million Chinese men won't be able to find wives. For mothers and fathers who visit the "People's Park" every weekend there's a lot more to it than just finding love for their kids. There's a tradition in China of the young looking after the old. The government hasn't paid pensions and provided health care for most Chinese. So many parents' social security is on the line.

As the state’s shortage of primary care doctors grows, people are waiting longer for medical care, according to a new survey by the Massachusetts Medical Society. “The shortage is getting more severe,” said Dr. Mario Motta, the medical society’s president. The state’s health care dilemma can serve as a valuable lesson for a nation whose residents are locked in a frenzied debate about health care reform, he added.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The Prius hybrid automobile is popular for its fuel efficiency, but its electric motor and battery guzzle rare earth metals, a little-known class of elements found in a wide range of gadgets and consumer goods. That makes Toyota's market-leading gasoline-electric hybrid car and other similar vehicles vulnerable to a supply crunch predicted by experts as China, the world's dominant rare earths producer, limits exports while global demand swells.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The Prius hybrid automobile is popular for its fuel efficiency, but its electric motor and battery guzzle rare earth metals, a little-known class of elements found in a wide range of gadgets and consumer goods. That makes Toyota's market-leading gasoline-electric hybrid car and other similar vehicles vulnerable to a supply crunch predicted by experts as China, the world's dominant rare earths producer, limits exports while global demand swells. Worldwide demand for rare earths, covering 15 entries on the periodic table of elements, is expected to exceed supply by some 40,000 tonnes annually in several years unless...

For more than a decade, the U.S. has faced a shortage of nurses to staff hospitals and nursing homes. While the current recession has encouraged some who had left the profession to return, about 100,000 positions remain unfilled. Experts say that if more is not done to entice people to enter the field—and to expand the U.S.'s nurse-training capacity—that number could triple or quadruple by 2025. President Barack Obama's goal of expanding health coverage to millions of the uninsured could also face additional hurdles if the supply of nurses can't meet the demand. Some lawmakers are looking to the immigration...

Shortage of primary-care physicians leaves clinics short-handed Christ Community Health Services struggles By Lindsay Melvin (Contact), Memphis Commercial Appeal Sunday, July 26, 2009 By midafternoon, nearly every seat is full in the waiting room at Christ Community Health Services in Binghamton. Babies gurgle congested cries as people wait to see some of the only family-care doctors in their neighborhood. Dr. Rick Donlon, one of the founders of Christ Community Health Services, has been trying to convince medical students to think about becoming primary-care physicians and giving care to underserved people instead of going for highly paid specialties. Dr. Rick Donlon,...

President Obama's ambitious plan for radically increasing the government's role in the nation's health care system misses one critical detail: There aren't enough primary care physicians in America now and their numbers are declining. That means government won't be able to deliver the expanded health care Obama is promising to millions of uninsured people. With access to primary care already deteriorating in many parts of the country, Obamacare will make it even harder to get a doctor's appointment without a lengthy wait. "The politicians don't talk about who's going to do this extra work," Dr. Jane Orient, executive director of...

If Plastic Surgery Won’t Convince You, What Will? By DAN BILEFSKY PRAGUE — When Petra Kalivodova, a 31-year-old nurse, was considering whether to renew her contract at a private health clinic here, special perks helped clinch the deal: free German lessons, five weeks of vacation, and a range of plastic-surgery options, including complimentary silicone-enhanced breasts. “I would rather have plastic surgery than a free car,” said Ms. Kalivodova, who opted for cosmetic breast surgery that would normally cost €2,600, or about $3,500, as well as liposuction on her thighs and stomach. These were physical enhancements, she said, that she could...