SIRC Media Watch Archive
Panics and Scares – December 2003

Cot death sleeping advice changed. Sharing a bed with a baby who is less than eight weeks old may increase the risk of cot death, research has found. It had been thought it was safe to share your bed with a newborn provided you didn't smoke, drink or take drugs. But the Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths (FSID) has changed its advice to new parents on the back of the latest research. BBC.

Teen generation will be 'world's sickest adults'. The present generation of children and teenagers will turn into the most obese and infertile adults in the history of mankind, doctors warned yesterday. The drinking, eating, sexual, drug-taking and smoking habits of adolescents were creating a public health timebomb, they said. Telegraph

Asthma risk from baking People who bake their own bread and cakes were warned yesterday they face a health hazard from flour inhalation. The British Thoracic Society and safety experts urged caution while home cooking after researchers confirmed that commercial bakers were at an increased risk of asthma and other breathing complaints. Guardian

Drinking can shrink the brain. Middle-aged men and women who consume just a few alcoholic drinks a week may be shrinking their brains, scientists have revealed. Mail [link no longer available] – also reported in the Baltimore Sun.

Exercise is as addictive as booze and fags, say scientists. It's now official. Some joggers may become addicted to running just as other people become hooked on cocaine, tobacco or booze, according to new research today … A team from the University of Wisconsin-Madison … watched mice manically sprinting on exercise wheels and then measured withdrawal symptoms when they are kept off the treadmill. Guardian, BBC.