Articles

Credited in the Guinness book of records as the world’s most slippery substance, Teflon has escaped the scrutiny of environmental regulators for 50 years. Now evidence suggests that the chemicals that leak from the Teflon pans during cooking may be more harmful to the environment and human health that DDT. Discovered largely by accident in […]

Overrun with shower gels that claim to firm and tone, cream baths that turn back the clock and body scrubs that detox and purify, the shelves of the average supermarket and pharmacy could be mistaken for those of a specialist spa or beauty parlour. Modern marketing contrives to make us believe that taking a bath […]

In a culture obsessed by quick fixes, permanent hair colours are a fashionable and inexpensive way to transform your life. Change your hair colour and you too can have celebrity good looks and youthfulness. And, as an extra bonus, most colorants now boast ‘gentle’ ingredients that nurture your hair. Business is understandably booming, overshadowing a […]

Feeling chronically below par, sluggish and lacking in vitality has become the norm for many of us. This chronic lack of vitality could be an indication that the lymphatic system is blocked, sluggish or just plain overwhelmed by stress and toxins. Ignored by medicine unless problems such as lymphoedema arises secondary to, say, breast cancer […]

‘40 is the new 30,’ proclaimed a recent ‘regenerist survey’ conducted on behalf of the UK’s number-one skin-care brand, Olay. The statement might have made a good contribution to Private Eye’s Neophiliacs column had not the implicit message of the survey been so disturbing. Our population is getting older. By the year 2010 around 40 […]

First there was plain yoghurt, then fruit yoghurts, then yoghurt drinks, and now everyone ‘s talking about – and apparently consuming – gut-friendly probiotics. Yakult started the trend almost 10 years ago but, since then, big names like Danone, M “uller and Nestl’e have jumped on the milk-train. Now, even supermarkets like Asda and Tesco […]

The writs are flying in Los Angeles after a six year old girl, Sabrina Brierton Johnson, developed Stevens Johnson Syndrome – a devastating inflammatory disease that can result in serious gastrointestinal problems, blindness and death – soon after being given a children’s ibuprofen manufactured by Johnson & Johnson for a mild fever. Since her case […]

Soap is one of those things we all take for granted. Yet, we’ve used it for thousands of years as part of daily life and in religious ceremonies. These days, the art of making soap has largely died away, overtaken by the trend towards detergent use. Today, most of us use detergents moulded to look […]

Wet shaving with a blade is one of the oldest ways of removing unwanted facial and body hair. There are now a wide variety of shaving gels and foams on the market for both men and women. They look nice, they feel nice and some even smell nice. But they can contain some not-so-nice ingredients […]

History will relate that it was the chemists of drug giant Pfizer who first brought men ‘s most intimate problem out from under the bedclothes into the light of day with the invention of Viagra in 1998. But Pfizer ‘s greatest achievement was to turn male impotence from a guilty secret into an everyday medical […]