Reporter Sarah Varney bought some Kinoki foot pads and wore them to bed. She also subjected her husband to the (alleged) detox treatment. In the morning, they both awoke to the stinky brown mess that the advertisement had promised. Not convinced that the brown stuff had actually come from their bodies, our hero took the foot pads to a lab and had them analyzed and compared with unused pads.

"Compared to the blank that's almost identical," said the scientists. "It looks like three of the same sample, basically."

A doctor from UC Berkeley confirms the scam diagnoses. Your body already eliminates "metabolic waste" and "toxins" through, um, other means...

"For many hundreds of thousands of years we've been successfully eliminating them through the usual means, which is urine and feces, and there has been no demonstrated need to accelerate that."

So what is all that gunk in the pad? We're not really sure, but it shows up if you hold the pad over a pot of boiling water. Who knew steam had "metabolic waste"?

Japanese Foot Pad Is Latest Health Fad [NPR]

From the New York Times:

“He went from room to room,” said Dr. Sugarman, a pediatrician. But he stopped in his tracks in the kitchen, which had richly grained cream, brown and burgundy granite countertops. His Geiger counter indicated that the granite was emitting radiation at levels 10 times higher than those he had measured elsewhere in the house.

Granite, even the stuff that is commonly used in kitchen countertops, can contain uranium or other radioactive elements. The granite in Dr. Sugarman's kitchen was especially "hot."

The E.P.A. recommends taking action if radon gas levels in the home exceeds 4 picocuries per liter of air (a measure of radioactive emission); about the same risk for cancer as smoking a half a pack of cigarettes per day. In Dr. Sugarman’s kitchen, the readings were 100 picocuries per liter. In her basement, where radon readings are expected to be higher because the gas usually seeps into homes from decaying uranium underground, the readings were 6 picocuries per liter.
...
“It’s not that all granite is dangerous,” said Stanley Liebert, the quality assurance director at CMT Laboratories in Clifton Park, N.Y., who took radiation measurements at Dr. Sugarman’s house. “But I’ve seen a few that might heat up your Cheerios a little.”

So what do you do if your suspect your granite is radioactive? Well, the NYT says that you can get some do it yourself radon kits from the Environmental Protection Agency, or your local hardware store. You could also choose to spend some money to have a professional come in. Expect to spend $20-$30 for a do it yourself kit, and $100 to $300 to have your countertop tested by a professional.

What’s Lurking in Your Countertop? [NYT]
(Photo: Getty)

So, who comes to RAM? The uninsured, yes, but the underinsured are in line as well. Like Marty Tankersley. He drove 200 miles to have a tooth pulled because he'd been in pain for weeks and couldn't afford to see the dentist. Marty has also had two heart attacks and no follow-up care, because it's just too expensive.

The Tankersleys live in Dalton, Ga., and fall into the underinsured category. Marty's a truck driver and has major medical insurance through his employer. But the deductible is $500, really unaffordable. And the dental insurance costs too much.

No one really knows how many Americans are underinsured like the Tankersleys.

"He's the lucky one he could drive the 200 miles. He's the lucky one who got to see people today and get hooked in. There are tens of hundreds of thousands of people like him," Isaacs [a volunteer and an internal medicine specialist at the University of Virginia] said.

U.S. Health Care Gets Boost From Charity [60 Minutes]

From the UPI:

Officials said tests revealed the roach found on the take-out meatlovers pizza was cooked alive with the pie.

Yum! brands, the U.S. operator of the Pizza Hut, lost its license for a month and then reopened with "increased cleaning practices," according to the (Australia) Sunday Mail. The Brisbane Magistrates Court ordered the company to pay a fine of $35,000, and Yum! has said it is sorry for the incident. No word on whether the customer who got the cockroach pizza has stopped screaming yet.

Company fined $35,000 for roach problems [UPI]
(Photo: Adam A. Koch )

From Men's Health:

2,900 calories
182 g fat 240 g carbs

Even if you split this "starter" with three friends, you'll have downed a dinner's worth of calories before your entree arrives. Follow this up with a steak, sides, and a dessert and you could easily break the 3,500 calorie barrier.

The Worst Food In America [Men's Health via BoingBoing]

"I believe, if we don't fix the health care system, that lack of access will be a bigger cancer killer than tobacco," Mr. Seffrin [chief executive of the cancer society] said in an interview. "The ultimate control of cancer is as much a public policy issue as it is a medical and scientific issue."

The two 60-second television commercials that form the spine of the campaign make that point.

One features images of uninsured cancer patients, appearing hollow and fearful. "This is what a health care crisis looks like to the American Cancer Society," the narrator begins. "We're making progress, but it's not enough if people don't have access to the care that could save their lives."

The other commercial depicts a young mother whose family has gone into debt because her insurance did not fully cover her cancer treatment. "Is the choice between caring for yourself and caring for your family really a choice?" the narrator asks.

Census figures released this week show that the number and percentage of people in the United States without health insurance rose last year, to 47 million and 15.8 percent. A 2003 study estimated that one of every 10 cancer patients was uninsured.

Cancer Society Focuses Its Ads on the Uninsured [NYT]

Thankfully, there are a few things you can do to protect yourself from hospital acquired infections. Most of them require having the confidence to speak up.

From the Globe:

"Patients and their families have a role, too," said former New York lieutenant governor Betsy McCaughey, chairwoman of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths. "But too often, patients and families are reluctant to speak up. If you're worried about being too aggressive, just remember: Your life is at stake."

So how can you be an effective advocate for yourself or your relative?

It can mean paying attention to everything from when to get antibiotics before surgery (no sooner than an hour before), to the angle of the bed for a ventilator patient (30 degrees), to asking whether all those tubes are really needed (they may not be).

But doing that can require courage — and persistence. Dr. Denise M. Cardo, the top specialist on hospital-acquired infections at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention compared it with her own experience with car mechanics.

"I decided, because they messed up so many times, that I'm questioning everything," Cardo said. "What we want is a healthcare environment where people feel fine doing that, where they feel empowered to say, 'OK, why do I need that?' "

Patient, protect thyself [Boston Globe via WSJ Health Blog]

15 STEPS YOU CAN TAKE TO REDUCE YOUR RISK OF A HOSPITAL INFECTION [Rid]
(Photo:Getty)