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LABELING, FOOD PACKAGE
Don't believe everything you read. In describing the ingredients in food on package labels, one manufacturer in four fails to mention items that can cause potentially fatal allergic reactions. |
LANDFILLS
Because of all the bad things incinerators do, we suggested landfills instead, right? We've changed our minds. A study in the U.K. found that women who live within a mile of a landfill have an increased risk of giving birth to babies with problems such as spina bifida, holes in the heart, or (in the case of boys) genital defects. |
LAUGHING
Muscles weaken when people laugh, possibly leading in extreme cases to a form of narcolepsy. We hope you don't find this funny. |
LAUGHING, NOT
If you don't laugh enough, you're more likely to have heart disease. Unfortunately, this isn't funny either. |
LEFT-HANDED, BEING
Postmenopausal women who are left-handed are more likely to get breast cancer. Left-handers are particularly subject to repetitive strain injury, since equipment tends to be designed by right-handed designers for right-handed users, everything from scissors to those annoying one-piece desks is always made for righties. Left-handers are also more likely to get inflammatory bowel disease and to have birth or pregnancy complications; they're more susceptible to conditions such as diabetes and epilepsy; and they're more likely to be alcoholics (which is odd, since corkscrews are always right-handed) and criminals. As a result, left-handers live for nine years less than right-handers. |
LEGS, RESTLESS
Restless Leg Syndrome, which occurs in 6 percent of the adult population (no, we are not making this up), is strongly correlated with poor physical and mental health, in part because symptoms may keep the sufferer awake. |
LEGS, SHORT
Men with short legs are more likely to get heart disease and diabetes. They also have trouble finding pants that fit. |
LIBRARIAN, BEING A
Librarians have an unusually high risk of dying from asthma. This actually sounds fairly appealing, compared with a lifetime of supervising teenaged boys as they surf the Web for Britney in a bikini. |
LICORICE
Licorice can raise your blood pressure and may decrease testosterone levels and libido. At last, a contraceptive nobody's embarrassed to be seen buying! |
LIGHT, ELECTRIC
Using electric lights at night could suppress your body's production of melatonin and increase your risk of breast cancer. |
