Swine Flu Hype

So apparently there is this thing called swine flu. Our nine year old neighbor had it (caught it from his grandparents, who brought it back on a flight from China), and recovered just fine, and none of the other kids he played with got it. Anyway, apparently there are several blogs about it, including several who see a conspiracy afoot:
http://alligatorfarm.wordpress.com/
http://alligatorfarm.wordpress.com/2009/07/28/squalene-your-kids-medical-alert-for-parents/
http://www.picassodreams.com/picasso_dreams/2009/04/swine-flu-population-control-and-staying-healthy.html
http://www.haloboyle.com/2009/04/dr-mercola-on-swine-flu-bunkum.html
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/04/29/Swine-Flu.aspx
http://pimpinturtle.com/2009/07/13/swine-flu-created-in-lab-as-bioweapon.aspx

Gluten Intolerance on the rise: samples from 50s show much lower rate

There is a new study using frozen blood samples from the 50s (military recruits) that shows a quadrupling of gluten intolerance (celiac). Interesting.
Links:
http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/health/49558522.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?orig_db=PubMed&db=pubmed&cmd=Search&term=%22Gastroenterology%22[Jour]%20AND%202009%2F07[pdat]%20AND%20Murray[author]

Wow! A mattress commercial depicting home birth!

An amazing mattress commercial (didn't think I'd ever say that) depicting home birth:
http://www.feministing.com/archives/015263.html

Of course it's from Spain, they'd never allow that here.

Hunter Gatherers healthier than farmers

This article quotes an anthropological study in which the remains of two different tribes in what is now the Kentucky area were analyzed for health issues. One group farmed, growing mostly corn, beans, and squash, supplemented with local game. The other hunted and gathered, and ate all kinds of local game including a large amount of shellfish and snails, small mammals etc. The hunter gatherers, while they did have short periods of malnutrition, had much lower infant mortality, lower anemia, etc. They were healthier. Quite interesting.

FDA Peanut Product Expands

So, yet again, peanut products are being recalled due to worries about contamination with salmonella bacteria. The FDA is even offering this widget to put on your website:


What I want to know is, a) why are so many different peanut products being processed by the same factory and b) how did the salmonella get in there in the first place?