Here in Portland, Oregon, people who don’t obsessively drink coffee are in the minority (and perhaps even frowned upon). We love our coffee, and perhaps related to this is our reliance on caffeine. But how much caffeine should one person consume on a daily basis? And when should caffeine consumption begin? Teenagers and young adults may not drink much coffee, but they do drink caffeinated sodas and the hugely popular energy drinks. Though marketed to provide energy, which in itself is not necessarily a bad thing, energy drinks are generally loaded with caffeine–a lot of caffeine.

If the U.S. Supreme Court rules in favor of barring lawsuits against Food and Drug Administration-approved medications, pharmaceutical companies will be quite pleased. Earlier this year the Supreme Court reinterpreted a 1976 amendment that had originally been intended to protect the public against dangerous medical devices by requiring the FDA to review and approve such devices before they could be sold to the masses. The reinterpretation led the Supreme Court to bar lawsuits against FDA-approved medical devices. Now the Supreme Court may extend this ruling to FDA-approved drugs. If this happens, some tens of thousands of lawsuits will be dismissed, and the public will have no recourse or protection when harmed by pharmaceuticals.

The greening of America is big news these days, and Portland is certainly one of the leaders of the revolution. Not only do you hear about the importance of recycling and the pluses of alternative energy, but every day it seems the abandonment of cars for bicycles or public transportation comes up in conversation. It’s great that more people are making an effort to decrease their reliance on fossil fuels, but keep in mind that public transportation, specifically buses, has some drawbacks.

That was quite a heatwave we had here in Portland over the weekend! Even though it has cooled down for now, the issue of window safety is still important. The Oregonian reported that some seven children in the Portland-Vancouver region have fallen from open windows this summer. Many believe window screens provide a safe barrier for their children, but in fact children can, and do, easily push or fall through screens. Others who don’t have window screens think windows are out of children’s reach and thus safe.

In keeping with the tainted food theme, it seems many have a beef with Nebraska Beef of Omaha. In June 2008 some 50 people were sickened by tainted ground beef from Nebraska Beef.

The product was recalled at the end of June, and soon after the company, as well as federal officials, claimed Nebraska Beef’s products were safe for consumers.

Unfortunately for the public, the company was wrong. In August the beef processor recalled some 1.2 million pounds of beef products after more people grew ill.

In mid-May a salmonella outbreak sickened more than 1,000 people, prompting the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to caution consumers against eating tomatoes, the suspected culprit. In July it was discovered that the actual cause of the Salmonella Saintpaul outbreak was probably not tomatoes but most likely jalapeño peppers. So why did it take so long to determine the cause of the outbreak? According to a story in the Washington Post, lack of communication between local and national health agencies is partly to blame, as well as the difficulties in tracing the distribution paths of the tomatoes. Though warnings of a possible salmonella outbreak first surfaced in late May, the Food and Drug Administration didn’t alert consumers about the contaminated peppers until July 9. In the meantime, tomato growers lost more than $100 million.

Text messaging has become an integral and seemingly unavoidable aspect of society. While texting has many benefits, it apparently can be dangerous as well. The American College of Emergency Physicians Foundation recently publicized the hazards of texting and cautioned people to text with care. Teenagers and young adults in particular can become so distracted by texting that they are unaware of their surroundings. The Foundation reported numerous injuries and even deaths resulting from texting. Texting while walking can cause falls or collisions with other pedestrians, bicyclists, or even automobiles, not to mention collisions with stationary objects. The Foundation stresses using common sense while texting and also offers the following suggestions: