Health Buzz: E. coli Prompts Wider Lettuce Recall

May 11, 2010 RSS Feed Print

E. coli Prompts Wider Lettuce Recall

Another company has announced a recall of romaine lettuce thought to be tainted by a rare strain of E. coli, the Associated Press reports. Oklahoma distributor Vaughn Foods is recalling lettuce with an expiration date of May 9 or 10, which the company sold mostly to restaurants and food service facilities, not grocery stores, according to the AP. Last week, Freshway Foods recalled lettuce linked to an E. coli outbreak that may have sickened at least 19 people. A mere 5 percent of labs test for the strain of E. coli involved, E. coli 0145, which may make it harder to link illnesses to this particular outbreak, the AP reports. All recalled lettuce may have come from the same farm in Yuma, Ariz.

Hookah Is Building Fans, Study Finds

A new study of young adults points to a surge in the popularity of Hookah, tall water pipes used to smoke flavored tobacco. Researchers in Montreal surveyed 871 people ages 18 to 24 and found that 23 percent had smoked Hookah in the past year, roughly three times the percentage revealed by a survey a year earlier., HealthDay reports. A similar trend may exist in the U.S.

Hookah lounges have been sprouting up across the country in recent years, catering to a predominately young clientele and often stationed near college campuses, U.S. News's Lindsay Lyon has reported. Their growing popularity as social hangouts for 18-to-24-year-olds prompted the American Lung Association to issue a report in 2008 identifying hookah smoking as a major health risk.

Hookah smoke contains some of the same hazardous components found in cigarette smoke, which have been linked to heart disease, cancer, and addiction, Lyon wrote. What's more, a water pipe smoker may inhale as much smoke during a single hookah session as a cigarette smoker would inhale by blazing through 100 cigarettes. [Read more: The Rising Allure—and Danger—of Hookah.]

Cadmium in Kids' Jewelry: 3 Ways to Stay Safe

The federal Consumer Product Safety Commission is recalling 19,000 children's charm bracelets after an investigation revealed the jewelry may be dangerous, the Associated Press reports. Made in China and sold in Claire's stores, the bracelets contain cadmium, a toxic heavy metal. The agency is investigating other children's jewelry and more recalls are expected to follow, according to the AP.

Children's jewelry was supposed to get safer after a federal ban on the use of toxic lead in charms and jewelry went into effect last year, U.S. News contributor Nancy Shute wrote in January. Politicians are rushing to widen the ban on lead in children's products to include cadmium. But it's not illegal to make children's products out of cadmium, despite the fact that it's clearly dangerous.

Cadmium can cause cancer and kidney problems, but has rarely been associated with children's health issues, Shute wrote. [Read more: Cadmium in Kids' Jewelry: 3 Ways to Stay Safe.]

Popular Health Articles from USNews.com