Free Republic

A large Covid-19 testing provider is being investigated by the UK’s data privacy watchdog over its plans to sell swabs containing customers’ DNA for medical research. Cignpost Diagnostics, a government-approved supplier trading as ExpressTest, said it intended to analyse the samples to “learn more about human health”, to develop drugs and products or to sell information to third parties, company documents show. Analysis of sensitive medical data can typically be carried out only with explicit informed consent. But customers booking tests through expresstest.co.uk were not clearly told their data would be used for purposes beyond Covid-19 testing. Instead they were...

Several employees of a pharmaceutical company have been arrested in Indonesia for allegedly washing and reselling used Covid nasal swab test kits. Up to 9,000 passengers at an airport in Medan may have been tested with the reused swab sticks, say police. State-owned company Kimia Farma is now reportedly facing a potential lawsuit launched on behalf of the travellers.

HAHAHA! Right now, somewhere in China, some chineese guy is saying to his buddies, "And then I told those stupid American journalists that we're now using, highly accurate, ANAL SWABs....BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" And his buddies are doubling over everything they see that headline in the American press. It's exactly like the scene in the Holy Grail. King Arthur "We seek the Holy Grail". French Kneggit, "Oh yes, we already have one. Its's vrry niis." Turns to his buddies and says, "I told them we already have one, snickers......"

A woman's daily habit of cleaning her ears with cotton swabs led to a life-threatening infection in her skull, according to news reports. The 37-year-old woman, who is identified only as Jasmine, said she cleaned her ears every night with cotton swabs... But over time, she noticed she had trouble hearing out of her left ear, and finally went to the doctor. She was initially told she had an ear infection, and was given antibiotics. But her hearing problems remained, and she soon noticed blood appearing on the cotton swabs after she cleaned her ears. After a hearing test showed...

Some Maricopa County workers are burned up about a new health-plan requiring them to submit saliva for nicotine analysis.

"Shy-bladder syndrome" won't spare impaired motorists from taking drug tests, if a Utah police sergeant has his way. Sgt. Dennis Simonson of the Logan Police Department requested a $5,800 grant from the Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice to launch the first pilot study in the country using roadside saliva detection devices. The new tool, RapiScan, which is manufactured by Cozart, detects drugs in a driver's system using a saliva swab. Saliva is an immediate sample of what is circulating in a person's bloodstream, said Michael Beaubien, Cozart vice president for North American operations. "The purpose is to allow people...

Pub and club revelers face a drugs test as soon as they enter the premises. Anyone going into a bar, whether they arouse suspicion or not, will be asked to take a swab test, which highlights any drug use. The scheme is being run by police in south Staffordshire and will initially cover the towns of Cannock and Stafford. Police have warned that anyone refusing will automatically arouse suspicion and have told establishments that do not co-operate that it will be held against them when their licenses come up for renewal. Liberty, the civil rights pressure group, said it...