Shaw's Eco-Logic

This HND piece serves as a reminder that the matter of toxic and contaminated Chinese drywall never really went away. Rather, it fell out of the news cycle. The fact is, thousands of homeowners are still suffering the effects of this material.

We cover the sometimes sordid history of how things got the way they are, including the epic failure of every government agency that got involved with the matter. We end with a new development in home testing that could truly help.

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This HND piece looks at toxic gas detection, from a point of view somewhat different from this earlier posting.

We cover basic definitions, and get into the regulatory landscape, with many key links. We follow that with the methods used, with an emphasis on direct-reading instruments, and the matter of calibration.

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This HND piece examines two contemporary issues: the legalization of hemp cultivation and physician-assisted suicide, as handled by officialdom. With hemp, we are looking at the US Senate and current Farm Bill, and with PAS, we are looking at the American Medical Association.

Regareding hemp, all signs are pointing to its cultivation being legalizes after being forbidden for 48 years. With the AMA, things are less clear, with its House of Delegates rejecting the recommendation of its own Council that was studying the matter. Whatever happened to "First do no harm"?

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This HND piece explores the long-running argument over how endoscopes should be processed before their next use. High-level disinfection is favored by the endoscopes users, since it is cheaper and faster, but more and more evidence is suggesting that they'd better be sterilized.

We quote documents from both sides, including a new study from Johns Hopkins indicating that actual infection rates are up to 100 times higher than previously thought.

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This HND piece dissects the American Medical Association's recent touting of its progress in fighting the opioid epidemic. Their big argument is that opioid prescriptions have been decreasing every year since 2013. But, is this unmitigated good news?

Not if it negatively affects those sufferers of chronic pain, who really need these meds. In fact, misuse of pills was never a big factor in the opioid problem. It's heroin/fentanyl that's actually killing people. Besides, regardless of the scripts being down, the number of overdose deaths increases every year.

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