In nine days it will be 10/10/10 and then at 10:10:10 in the morning it will be 10/10/10.10.10.10 Just thought I'd point that out so you could anticipate it and look forward to it.
October. Here in DC the leaves will begin to change in a few weeks in earnest, though the lack of rain in September may signal a rather dull brown autumn, though the month ended with a biblical deluge. Soups and stews will begin to replace salads on the lunch menu. And of course, there will likely be that first night in front of the fireplace.
Meanwhile, here is a little bit of what happened that was interesting this week:
- FDA Scolds Mouthwash Makers – I tried to think of a funny headline for this but failed. FDA sent warning letters to three manufacturers of mouthwash. The claims made by the makers were that the mouthwash helped prevent cavities, gum disease and removed plaque. The agency said, however, that the active ingredient, sodium fluoride was only effective in the first of those claims. Well, I don't know about you, but I'm relieved that is taken care of….
- FDA Launches New Section of Website for Recalls – In case you haven't noticed, there is a recall of a food or medical product about every 5 minutes or so. Or perhaps you have noticed, which is why you've stopped noticing. Got that recall fatigue thing going on? Well, don't worry, FDA is packaging up all the recalls for products they oversee and putting it onto a handy section of their Web site (which is really, really, really big, by the way). What they've done is set up the data sets. There isn't much in the way of support that I could see for how to use some of the information, but there is a lot of historical record here, so have at it!
- Hashtag for World AIDS Day – World AIDS Day is December 1 and the hashtag has been set for those tweeting about it - #WAD2010.
- FDA Warns Consumers on Purchasing Pet Meds On the Internet – The agency has put together some important resources for consumers who purchase pet drugs online. Just how important it is might be indicated by the fact that while FDA videos do not really rival Lady Gaga for viewership (most only get a few hundred viewings at most), but this one got 3,079 in just four days. Thank you for this one FDA (much better than that mouth wash thing).
That's it for me this week. Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
