Ten Activities More Dangerous Than Air Travel
March 9, 2010
Just a few months into 2010, there have been 104 people killed in air crashes worldwide. The most serious was the January crash of an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 after taking off from Beirut, Lebanon, killing all 90 aboard. Consumer Warning Network has written about air safety and ranked the various air carriers, both domestic and international.
Most people are at least a little apprehensive when boarding an airplane, but just how concerned should we all be? What’s more dangerous than getting on an airplane?
According to the National Safety Council’s data on accidents, the lifetime odds of dying from an injury are 1 in 24. There are many ways of suffering from accidental injury, from being bitten by a venomous spider (1 in 716,000) to suffocating in bed (1 in 11,000). Herewith is a list of ten activities, in increasing order of danger, that present a greater threat of death than traveling by air, based on lifetime odds:
- Drowning in natural water (1.5 times more dangerous than air travel);
- Falling down a flight of stairs (1.7 times more dangerous);
- Being poisoned (3.3 times more dangerous);
- Killed on a motorcycle (3.5 times more dangerous);
- Dying in a building fire (3.7 times more dangerous);
- Suffocating on an injested non-food object (4 times more dangerous);
- Dying in a pickup truck or van crash (4.2 times more dangerous);
- Being killed while crossing a street (7.5 times more dangerous);
- Overdosing on narcotics (8 times more dangerous); and, no surprise;
- Dying in a car crash (19 times more dangerous than traveling by air).
We’ve all heard that the car trip to the airport is more dangerous than the plane trip, but how many realize it is almost 20 times more dangerous, or that crossing the street to the air terminal is almost 8 times more dangerous?
Grapefruit Juice and Medications Don’t Always Mix
February 18, 2010
By Terry Smiljanich:
Grapefruit juice is good for you. Packed with fiber and Vitamin C, it’s a great way to start your day. But wait! What medications are you on? You need to know that grapefruit juice doesn’t mix that well with some medicines.
The foods we consume can have a profound effect on the medicines we take. They can directly affect the ability of the body to absorb the medications. Some foods lower the ability of the body to absorb medicines, while others speed up the body’s ability to absorb them.
Lowering the absorption rate can obviously decrease the effectiveness of a medication. Milk, for example, slows down the ability of your body to absorb certain antibiotics (tetracycline). Vegetables with high Vitamin K content (e.g., spinach and Brussels sprouts) can reduce the effectiveness of blood thinners like Coumadin.
Increasing the body’s ability to absorb medicines can, however, be just as bad. If your body takes in the medicine too quickly, you can suffer what amounts to an “overdose” of the medicine, with dangerous results.
Quick Absorption
Grapefruit juice falls into the quick absorption category, and there is a wide range of medicine that can cause an adverse effect when taken in close conjunction with grapefruit juice. These drugs are:
- high blood pressure drugs like Plendil and Procardia;
- immunosuppressant drugs like cyclosporines;
- high cholesterol statin-type drugs like Lipitor or Zocor;
- insomnia or depression drugs like Valium, Versed or Sonata;
- antihistamine drugs such as Hismanal; and
- protease inhibitors such as Fortovase and Invirase.
If you take any of these medications, you should ask your doctor about any safeguards to follow regarding grapefruit juice. Better yet, if you take any medications, ask your doctor whether there are any potential problems associated with certain foods.
Other citrus juices, such as orange juice, do not have the same absorption problems posed by grapefruit juice. Fruit juices, including grapefruit, can be a part of a healthy diet. A little caution is all it takes.
Fake Money Rip Off
February 15, 2010
By Chad Soriano:
Small businesses are having a hard enough time these days, and as if the recession wasn’t enough, imagine getting stuck with counterfeit cash after providing a service or product to a consumer. It’s happening more and more. Click here to check out this report on the problem of businesses getting stuck with fake money, by Greensboro NBC affiliate WXII.
How to Get Debt Collectors Off Your Back
January 26, 2010
A man in Dallas has come up with a simple solution to get debt collectors off his back. He sues them. Craig Cunningham calls himself a private attorney general- or in other words, someone who files private lawsuits in the public interest. Debt collectors call him a credit terrorist.
Cunningham has made $20,000 from more than a dozen lawsuits he’s filed against debt collectors for violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Read more about his crusade in this profile on him in the Denver Observer.
And in a related story: “Debt Collectors Consider Trading “Knee Breaking” Techniquest for “Empathy Training.” Debt collectors certainly don’t want more people like Cunningham to start suing them, as well. Could this lead to a new kinder gentler form of debt collection? Click here to read more.
Does Bundling TV, Phone and Internet Make Sense?
January 22, 2010
By Terry Smiljanich:
As we’ve all grown more dependent upon our ever-expanding telecommunication services, we’ve become fertile targets for the companies selling these services. They’re constantly competing for our business and trying to entice us with attractive offers to switch to them.
So, when it comes to phone, internet and cable TV service how do you get the best deal? Does it make sense to bundle your services as the big telecom companies want us to do? And if so, which ones are the best?
Chase Freedom Credit Cards - A New Way To Trick You
January 13, 2010
By Terry Smiljanich:
You’ve got to hand it to the credit card companies. When it comes to trickery and misrepresentation, they can outdo P.T. Barnum.
JP Morgan Chase is a prime example. Take its new “Chase Freedom” credit card “bonus offer.” A pretty straightforward internet come-on states:
“There’s never a better time to use your Chase Freedom credit card. Earn 3% Cash Back for every eligible dollar you spend up to $1,500 on purchases between January 1 and March 31st . . .” To emphasize the point, a large banner proclaims: “3% CASH BACK.”
The ad lists certain categories of purchases for which the offer is limited, but it’s pretty clear that you will get 3% cash back on most purchases up to $1,500. Do the simple math and that comes to a potential maximum cash back of $45 at the end of the three month period. What could be more clear?
But wait. What’s that footnote? Oh, just the usual gobbledygook about limitations on the kind of merchants, non-transferability, etc., etc. But right in the middle of the fine print footnote is this incredible statement:
“Maximum bonus reward accumulation during the promotional period is $20″
Say what? Again, do the simple math. A $20 dollar maximum cash back on the maximum limit of $1,500 in purchases comes to 1.3%, not 3% as advertised!
In simple English that even Chase can understand, “3% cash back” is a bald-faced lie. Either the wizards at Chase, one of the largest financial institutions in the country, are mathematically challenged (not pretty to contemplate), or they simply chose to misrepresent the offer and hope that their potential customers either flunked 8th grade math or, more likely, didn’t read the fine print that would have told them that the big, bold words at the top of the page were a complete lie.
When asked to comment on this clear misrepresentation, Chase chose not to respond to our inquiries. I guess they couldn’t come up with a legitimate excuse for such a clear falsehood.
Banks May Warm Up to Idea of Principal Reductions
January 7, 2010
The foreclosure crisis is likely to deepen this year with many adjustable rate mortgages set to balloon. As a result, Bloomberg.com reports banks are taking a closer look at whether principal reductions on under-water mortgages make financial sense for both parties.
In the past, efforts by U.S. banks to help distressed homeowners have focused mainly on temporary fixes such as interest-rate reductions that may only put off the day of reckoning, despite policy makers wanting them to do more.
Now, while principal reductions remain rare, banks are doing them more often. In the third quarter of 2009, some 21,000 home loans — 3 percent of the total modified mortgages — included a principal reduction or deferral, according to Mortgage Metrics, a government publication. That’s up from 6,245 in the first quarter of 2009, the first time the U.S. reported the data.
Click here to read more in this report from BusinessWeek on Bloomberg.com.
How Prices Changed Over the Past Decade
January 6, 2010
By Angie Moreschi:
Remember the good ‘ole days. It wasn’t so long ago that we paid just $1.30 for a gallon of gas and 99 cents for a Slurpee. In 1999, just a short decade ago, you could get a movie ticket for five dollars or a six pack of Bud for four dollars. The economic implosion we suffered in the past few years has been enough to drive many to drink, but don’t worry. Let’s celebrate the new decade. Maybe the 2010’s will be different. Here’s a possible sign. You can get a bottle of Martini and Rossi Asti Spumante for just eight dollars, more than four dollars LESS than it cost in 1999. Now that’s reason to cheer. Woo-hoo! Live it up! Click here to read more about how prices have changed in the past 10 years.
How Safe Is That Christmas Turkey?
December 23, 2009
By Terry Smilijanich:
Before you take a bite of that Christmas turkey, you may want to read on and make sure you’re cooking that holiday bird well!
Last year, Consumer Warning Network reported that the 2008 Farm Bill loosened federal regulation of poultry inspections by allowing state inspection programs take the place of federal inspections. With Thanksgiving behind us and Christmas dinners around the corner, how’s that little bit of federal deregulation working out?
Consumers Union recently tested 382 whole chicken broilers bought at over 100 supermarkets nationwide, and tested them for salmonella and campylobacter, the two leading causes of food poisoning. Two-thirds of the raw chickens tested showed signs of one or both of these dangerous contaminants. A similar test back in 2003 had found such contaminants in half of the chickens examined. On the other hand, another test in 2007 had found a higher rate of contamination.
The cleanest products came from Perdue chickens, but the worst came from Tyson and Foster Farms. Interestingly, all of the store brand “organic chickens” involved in the testing were free of salmonella. Of course, all chickens are presumably “organic,” but organic farmers usually follow more stringent standards in their smaller operations.
So, are we better off with less federal regulation? The jury is still out. Now that your local state inspector doesn’t have a pesky federal inspector looking over his shoulder, it remains to be seen whether the level of safety will suffer. Is it acceptable that only one out of three poultry products can be considered safe?
With every three poultry purchases at your supermarket, two of them will probably have bacterial contamination. This is why it is so important to follow safe cooking rules whenever you roast that turkey stuffed with dressing.
“WATCH” releases “Ten Worst Toys” list
December 16, 2009
Just in time for the holiday season The World Against Toys Causing Harm, Inc (WATCH) released its 10 worst toy. WATCH is a Massachusetts, non-profit corporation working to educate the public about life-threatening toys and other children’s products, including children’s furniture, clothing and playground equipment. Beginning in 1973, WATCH has published its annual “Ten Worst Toys.”
Here’s the 2009 list:
1) Disney-Pixar Wall-E Foam Rocket Launcher
2) Moon Board Pogo Board
3) Curious Baby George Counting-My First Book of Numbers
4) The Dark Knight Batman Figure
5) X-Men Origins Slashin’Action Wolverine
6) Lots To Love Babies Mini Nursery
7) Just Kidz Junior Musical Instruments
8) CAT Rugged Mini
9) Pucci Pups Maltese
10) Spy Gear Viper-Blaster
If you want to know what WATCH finds troubling about these toys please click here.
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Recalls and Product Safety News- Gerber Legendary Blades Recalls Machetes Due to Laceration Hazard
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- LELE & Company Recalls Children's Hooded Sweatshirt Sets with Drawstrings Due to Strangulation Hazard
- Outdoor Lighting Fixtures Recalled by American Electric Lighting Due to Shock Hazard
- Children's Bracelets Recalled by Chandigarh Fashion Due to Violation of Lead Paint Standard
- Boys' Hooded Jackets with Drawstrings Recalled by Ten West Apparel Due to Strangulation Hazard; Sold at Burlington Coat Factory
