Coruption and Liquid Lunch

A street team in China is exposing government officials who drink copious amounts of alcohol during lunch and then return to work or worse, don't return at all.

Li Bin, retiree on special assignment for this city’s Communist Party boss, boldly strolls into the offices of some of the highest powered officials of the Chinese Communist Party and orders them to take an impromptu sobriety breath test. "Blow" he tells them.

Some of the party's officials have been fired on the spot for being drunk at work.

The officials take long lunches, usually partaking in abundant amounts of baijiu, the fiery Chinese liquor that lubricates nearly every banqueting experience.


The worst part? The tab, more often than not, is picked up by the public.

Bin's task force is getting noticed. Other countries are mimicking his efforts and starting forces of their own.

Wang Tie, the Xinyang Communist Party chief and architect of the crackdown, estimated that the policy saved his government almost $6 million in six months.

Liquor Retailers Oppose Liquid Lunch Ban

Government Officials Float Back from Lunch

Liquid Chinese Customs

Dirty Needles and Hepatitis in Las Vegas

Every outpatient surgery center will be checked for the next month because a Nevada endoscopy clinic put over 40,000 people at right for hepatitis.

The Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada is closed now because of practices that were not exactly hygenic. The clinic reused needles and drew medicine from the same vials for more than one patient.




This center, along with all others, should be checked by the state every three years. This clinic has not been monitored for over seven.

Some of the new inspection have already yielded scares at other clinics; again with unsafe practices.

More states are expected to pick up inspections so this incident does not happen again elsewhere.

NY Hepatitis Scare

Nurses Turn in License , Hepatitis scare

Las Vegas Contamination

Something in the Water

Don't drink the water. At least that is what scientists are starting to say.

Traces of over the counter drugs are turning up in drinking water.

How you ask? A fraction of every dose passes through the human body unmetabolized. The waste product exits the body into the sewer. The sewer water is treated at a plant but even plant officials say the water is only tested for familiar chemicals and toxins, not things like naproxen, Ibuprofen or other sedatives.

The problem is there is not much scientific evidence on the long-term effects of exposure to the drugs in this form.

But scientists say just because there is not enough research to know how if will affect humans, doesn't mean there is not a problem.

Research done on wildlife has found results somewhat unsettling. Pharmaceuticals in river and lake water are being blamed for “feminized” male fish and other changes observed in earthworms and zoo plankton.

Scientists are conducting further research to try to determine it is harmful to humans.

Drunkorexia - Lastest Trend Disorder

Drunkorexia, it is the latest trend eating disorder. This ailment involves consuming little or no food to offset the calories of ingesting an alcoholic beverage.

The illness mainly affects college-age women who are binge drinkers.

“There are women who are afraid to put a grape in their mouth but have no problem drinking a beer,” said Douglas Bunnell, the director of outpatient clinical services for the Renfrew Center, based in Philadelphia.

About 25 to 33 percent of bulimics also struggle with alcohol or drugs, according to a study published last year in the journal Biological Psychiatry. Between 20 and 25 percent of anorexics have substance abuse problems, the study found.

Psychologists say patients with eating disorders usually develop them for a need to numb emotional pain stemming from distress such as sexual abuse or childhood trauma.

Drink Never Eat


Eating Disorders 101

Avoiding Alcohol Abuse

Queens Hero Arrested

New York City police have arrested a cab driver who started out as a hero.

The cab driver turned in an infant to a Corona firehouse, claiming his passenger abandoned the in his back seat. He told cops a male rider asked him the pull over so he could make a phone call and never returned for the child.

Now police say he is lying.

NYPD said the driver never had a passenger in the cab with him. He took the baby to the fire department alone.

It turned out the scheme was to help a Bronx father who said he was not able to take care of the six-month-old.

Police arrested the cab driver, the baby’s aunt and the cab driver’s roommate for all playing a role in abandoning this girl.

Police are still looking for the baby’s parents.

Livery Cab Driver Arrested

More Arrests with Queens Cab Driver

Cab Driver Hero

Cheap Cocaine Devastates Argentina

Paco, a highly addictive smokable form of cocaine residue, has flooded the streets of Argentina.

This influx in cocaine flow is due to easily penetrated borders, economic hardship and the weakened restrictions for growing coca.

Brazil is now the second largest consumer of cocaine, preceded only by the United States.

Cocaine flows freely because less than 200 federal police officers patrol Brazil’s 2,100-mile border with Bolivia. Drug traffickers have free rein in Argentina’s airspace; radar only covers 10 percent.

“Cocaine is no longer the drug only of the elite, of high society,” said Luiz Carlos Magno, a Brazilian narcotics officer in the São Paulo State Police Department. “Today kids buy three lines of cocaine for 10 reals,” or about $6. For about $1 in Brazil and about $1.50 in Argentina, users can buy enough of the cocaine for a 15-minute high.

Paco is extremely addictive, especially because the high only lasts a few minutes. The high is so intense some users smoke 20 to 50 cigarettes as day.

Paco is more dangerous than its more natural form. It is composed mainly of chemicals and is usually less than 30 percent pure.

Most of Europe has rejected this cocaine because of the drop in quality; because of this the majority of the drug goes to Argentina and Brazil.

Dealers cut the cocaine with agents such as baking powder, boric acid or lidocaine. This process leads to severe health problems like blood clots and all types of infections.

Cocaine Takes Argentinian Streets

Paco Is No Friend

Paco Devastates Country

Choking "Game" is No Game

Blocking blood and air flow to the body and brain just until passing out in hopes of achieving a "high" is no game. But today, the "choking game" is play to many adolesents.

That is not the biggest problem. Many young people are dying.

"At least 82 children have died in recent years as a result of playing this game," according to the Centers for Disease Control.

The game and it popularity appear to be spreading. Critics say it is because of the internet. It makes information on the game much more accessable.

You Tube has several videos warning against the game but many more on techniques and how to acheive this high.

To spot abusers of this game look for blood shot eyes, marks on the neck, disorientation, and severe headaches.

For the full NY Times story go here.

For the Houston Press story about the chocking game go here.

For more information on games adolesents shouldn't play, visit the GASP site.

What is the choking game?