A great deal of the time I find myself metaphorically banging my head against the wall in despair at the stupidity of much medical thinking. This is not, I would suggest, a new phenomenon. It always seems to have been thus. Go back 5,000 years….

New York Magazine recently ran an article titled, “Is The World Ready for Libido in a Nasal Spray?” (1) The drug, PT-141, has not yet gone through phase III clinical trials, has not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and, even then, would not reach the market for three years. But it still appeals to the ever-hungry press. Sex makes news. Sex drugs really sell news. This could be a new Viagra, even a female Viagra. Wow.

John Hoey, MD, former editor of the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ), and Anne Marie Todkill, former senior deputy editor, have won the National Press Club of Canada’s 8th annual World Press Freedom Award.

When I was diagnosed with breast cancer nine years ago, I chose the standard-of-care treatment in the form of a modified radical mastectomy.  Then I went further and chose a “simple mastectomy” for the other breast (that is the name of the operation; but these things are not simple). 

Actually, I chose as adjuvant therapy (to prevent the return of the cancer), a medical treatment as well, an oophorectomy.  This was an old treatment backed up with medical studies, but not the standard-of-care.  What was recommended by two oncologists, was chemotherapy.

Part Four

As no one wants to be sick and no one ever chooses to give up those things in life which bring joy, friends should avoid to blaming the patients for their limitations and respect their new boundaries by acknowledging their losses and supporting their need to say “No” when facing huge efforts.

I have always had nagging doubts about non-stick cookware. The idea of heating food on a pan coated in cling-free plastic seemed too good to be true. So why do I have a few non-stick tools in my kitchen arsenal? I don’t believe they are superior implements. Instead, I admit that the convenience of them found favor with my lazy inner scullery maid.

There are, however, few shortcuts in life, and a little elbow grease at the end of a cooking extravaganza is finding renewal. The reason is that on Dec. 14, 2005, E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (DuPont) settled the largest penalty — in excess of $10 million — that the EPA has ever obtained under any environmental statute. The charges, according to two civil administrative complaints filed last year, say DuPont failed to comply with federal law and supply data on perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a chemical used in the manufacture of Teflon™. Curiously, the settlement occurred two days after DuPont topped BusinessWeek’s ranking of “The Top Green Companies.”