Saturday, November 6, 2010
Monday, November 1, 2010
香港‧韩名牌指甲油含致癌物回收‧廉价指甲油甲醇超標20倍
香港‧韩名牌指甲油含致癌物回收‧廉价指甲油甲醇超標20倍
2010-08-17 15:58
（香 港）標榜用料天然的韩国名牌Skin Food，两款分別属“可可巴”和“牛奶彩绘”的指甲油，被消委会验出含致癌物“苯”，公司即时宣佈全面停售及回收两系列约50款指甲油，並安排凭单退 货。另消委会亦发现，一款同属韩国货的5元一支的廉价指甲油，甲醇含量超出安全標准20倍，透过呼吸及皮肤进入身体，会损害肝、肾和心臟。
新兴牌子Skin Food出事
消委会首次化验市面42种指甲油及底油，发现有4款甲油的致癌物“苯”含量由9.7ppm至 260ppm不等，其中3款声称產自韩国，包括售40至50元一支的韩国新兴名牌Skin Food，以及只售5元及8元的“廉价货”。另有10款甲油亦验出微量“苯”，当中不乏国际大牌子。
至於经皮肤吸收或呼吸道吸入后可致中毒的挥发溶液“甲醇”，则在4款指甲油中验出，其中只售5元的韩国甲油BNC manicure，甲醇含量超標，达41,000ppm，较允许上限高出20倍。
Volili指甲油释毒可致畸胎
另一款没標示来源地的Volili指甲油，则含有微量MMA，及欧洲、中国均禁用的DEHP，此物质经动物研究证实，带“致畸性”和“致突变性”毒性，会干扰內分泌系统，甚至令胎儿有缺陷。消委会指出，由於甲油和洗甲水均含有多种挥发性化学物质，孕妇少用为妙。
海关跟进消委会检测报告，並在市面抽取了4款怀疑含有苯、甲醇、DEHP或MMA的指甲油再作检测，结果显示BNC manicure的样本含有21ppm苯和270ppm甲醇，未符合安全標准，故已从供应商扣查百多樽相关甲油。
其余3个样本只验到“小量”有害化学物，海关认为不会直接对人体构成伤害。出售多款廉价指甲油的“莎莎”发言人则强调，並无出售消委会验到4款含苯的甲油。
“学会补花纹减涂抹甲油次数”
消委会总干事刘燕卿警告，经常大量使用含有毒成份的指甲油，会透过皮肤接触和呼吸系统吸入有毒 物，可能影响健康，构成中毒危险。“很多女士喜欢经常转换甲油顏色，甲油花了又要重新涂上，其实最好学会填补花纹，减少涂抹甲油次数。”她亦指出，涂指甲 油时亦要保持空气流通，减少吸入有害物质。（香港明报）
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Beware Your Insurance Policy Coverage
The New Paper's report by Tuesday 31 August 2010
This sort of fury often brought on by finance-related matters.
Yesterday I received a letter from Prudential, with whom I spend nearly $1,000 every month, telling me that I don’t have cancer
Yep, you read it right. Apparently, according to the experts at Prudential, I lost a breast and went through a 12 hour surgery for… not cancer!
Blows your mind, huh? I’m still trying to find pieces of my brain under the couch after this staggering news.
Truth is, three of my many Prudential policies cover me for critical illness. However, when I signed with my agents, I never imagined that cancer at Stage 0 would be considered by my insurance company that I “do not have cancer”. In fact, there is every chance a woman buying a life plan with critical illness coverage has NO IDEA there is a stage called DCIS, and that her insurance company does not consider it cancer.
So my “imaginary cancer” won’t allow me to claim any of the $200,000 (or more) that my critical illness plans entitle me to.
Please, if you are a woman reading this, go and see your insurance agent and tell him/her/it that you want coverage for EARLY STAGE CANCERS. Make sure your policy document states that you will get 25% or however much for ductal carcinomas-in-situ or Stage 0 breast cancer. To my understanding these are the 2 policies that offer them now:
1. Great Eastern’s PinkLife will pay out 25% of your sum assured for carcinomas-in-situ. Not great an exchange for a breast but at least it’s not nothing. If I had bought that instead I would have $50,000 to allow me to take a break from work for some months, while still being able to pay my monthly bills and kids’ tuition fees and groceries…
2. AIA’s Complete Critical Illness Cover pays out 25% on early critical illnesses (I am assuming DCIS breast cancer is one of these).
Please please please, I beg you, don’t get royally scr*wed like me. Make sure your critical illness plan actually covers you, and you are not just happily giving your money away to insurance companies for their CEOs to buy 10 luxury holiday homes across the world.
Do not be a sucker like me. Please.
Call your insurance agent or financial planner today and make sure, by hook or by crook, you are covered by some rider, anything, for early stage cancers.
I’ve been researching cases of insurance companies who don’t pay out for DCIS breast cancers. Looks like it’s a worldwide disease. The insurance companies are the disease, I mean.
I lost a breast to this threat.
My histological report finds the cancer cells ARE malignant and aggressive, and most certainly were life-threatening — or I wouldn’t have needed the mastectomy.
I just happened to discover it before it became an uncontrollable growth.
Tell me how this is not cancer.
In my Googling I found this BBC clip. It makes me so, so sad that all around the world, women like me are shortchanged by insurance policies that they pay through the nose for.
I have paid close to $32,000 for one policy and over $25,000 for the other.
This clause in Critical Illness contracts NEEDS TO CHANGE. DCIS is cancer (and in my case, malignant) and it should be awarded accordingly and automatically. Sadly, Prudential covered its backside in its small print, which I had no understanding of. It makes me sad that they expect me to have Stage 1, or 2, or 3 or terminal cancer and chemo and radiation before I qualify to make a claim. Losing a breast is forever. Surely that must count for something.
For women in their 20s or 30s reading this — if you have had a grandmother, mother, sister, aunt, female cousin contract breast cancer, make sure you get yourself proper coverage (see box above).
A close friend who is a decorated journalist was horrified to hear it was likely I could not make a claim on my critical illness plans. “They should change that,” he said (after uttering “Wah lau eh, sh*t!”). “I can write a story on that.”
He should. I think I will be calling him soon. Also I am relooking at my Prudential policies now — maybe it’s not worthwhile carrying on. I should get my money back. Pity the surrender value is so pathetic. Bet that CEO already bought his 11th luxury holiday home.
Never mind, lessons learned. READ THE SMALL PRINT, AND FIND OUT WHAT THE EXCLUSIONS MEAN.
So, I guess I have no choice but to haul my sorry ass back to work.
Shree Ann Mathavan of The New Paper came to visit me yesterday and we had a nice chat about my insurance policies (among other things — she is a lovely girl and a hardworking journalist).
Her story came out in today’s New Paper and I felt it was a really fair and clear report of what happened. I was dreading a super-sensationalist header like “She Loses A Breast… And They Won’t Pay!” LOL!
Shree Ann was really respectful of my reasons for talking about this — it is not to complain that Prudential bullied me (which they did not, a contract is a contract) — but to alert other women who might be in the process of buying a policy, or may not have taken a look at her existing policies to make sure her coverage is full. Hence her report came out as such.
I’ve received emails, calls and comments to this blog — financial advisers who very kindly explain how it works (I just wish it was BEFORE not AFTER, but thank you all), women who have been through the same experience, and women who never even realised hospitalisation and critical illness policies are two different policies! So it only confirms that there is definitely a gap in the information that women need to have about their health insurance.
I am also happy to hear from friends who have bought the women’s only policies from AIA, Prudential or Great Eastern, and the GE Early Payout Critical Care, and were covered when the need arose.
Comment:
This is the story i read through facebook and quite a big shock. Immediately i give a call to my insurance agent. He also clarify that AIA policy also mention that stage 3 only consider CANCER. Stage 2 ( carcinomas-in-situ ) only able claim under Female illness. Stage 1 or 0 only claim for hospitalization.
Friday, September 17, 2010
当幸福来敲门 ( The Pursuit Of Happyness -2006 )
Based on a true story about a man named Christopher Gardner. Gardner has invested heavily in a device known as a "Bone Density scanner". He feels like he has made these devices. However, they do not sell as they are marginally better than the current technology at a much higher price. On top of that, one of these does not work. As Gardner tries to figure out on how to fix the faulty one and sell the others, his wife leaves him, he loses his house, his bank account, and credit cards. Forced to live out in the streets with his son, Gardner is now desperate to find a steady job; he takes on a job as a stockbroker, but before he can receive pay, he needs to go through 6 months of training, and to sell his devices. Written by John WigginsComment:
This is very interesting movie. It show the reality of life. How a guy going to live with $21 after paying the government tax. Some more he has a son which also needs to eat and sleep. No money and everyday have to queue up to get a place to sleep. Life is not easy. But at last he successfully get a new job and having his own company.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Recipes for Health: Garlic
According to a Provençal saying, “Garlic soup is a life saver.” This simple broth, made by simmering crushed garlic cloves in water with sage or other herbs, is recommended as a cure for ailments as varied as hangovers, stomach ailments and colds.
Garlic has been known for its therapeutic benefits since ancient times. Studies have linked it to lower cholesterol, serum triglyceride levels and blood pressure. Sulfur-containing compounds including allicin, which give garlic its pungency, along with high levels of vitamin C, vitamin B6, manganese and selenium seem to be responsible for garlic’s beneficial cardiovascular effects. Allicin helps to prevent platelets in the blood from sticking together and is also a powerful antibacterial and antiviral agent that may be useful in weight control. - Martha Rose Shulman
Risks: Asleep, and Helping to Keep the Weight Off
Children under 5 who do not get at least 10 hours of sleep at night are almost twice as likely to be overweight or obese later in childhood, a new study reports. And naps during the day don’t count.
The study, published Monday in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, analyzed data from a nationally representative sample of 1,930 children under 14. The data included detailed diaries from two random days, in which parents recorded the amount of time a child spent in various activities, among them sleeping.
The study adds to an existing body of evidence suggesting that sleep plays an important role in weight regulation, perhaps because tired children are not as active or because sleep affects hormones that influence hunger and appetite, said the paper’s lead author, Janice F. Bell, an assistant professor at the University of Washington School of Public Health in Seattle.
“What we’re saying is that adequate sleep at age 0 to 5 is probably more important than we think,” Dr. Bell said, adding that the good news is that “it’s a modifiable risk factor — it’s something we can change.”
By RONI CARYN RABIN
The study, published Monday in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, analyzed data from a nationally representative sample of 1,930 children under 14. The data included detailed diaries from two random days, in which parents recorded the amount of time a child spent in various activities, among them sleeping.
The study adds to an existing body of evidence suggesting that sleep plays an important role in weight regulation, perhaps because tired children are not as active or because sleep affects hormones that influence hunger and appetite, said the paper’s lead author, Janice F. Bell, an assistant professor at the University of Washington School of Public Health in Seattle.
“What we’re saying is that adequate sleep at age 0 to 5 is probably more important than we think,” Dr. Bell said, adding that the good news is that “it’s a modifiable risk factor — it’s something we can change.”
By RONI CARYN RABIN
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