DID YOU KNOW..?
If the space shuttle loses control, NASA is prepared to ditch it in the Atlantic ---- or BLOW it up.

Each time the space shuttle rises from it's launchpad at Cape Canaveral, Fla., an Air Force officer waits anxiously for the first 2 minutes to pass safely. If the spaceship were to veer off course and endanger a populated area, this range safety officer would bear the terrible responsibility of flipping a pair of switches under a stenciled panel reading ' FLIGHT TERMINATION." The first switch arms explosives on the shuttle's two solid rocket boosters. Flipping the second switch would detonate them, destroying the shuttle and crew.

" If something happens when it's just off the pad, there's only a couple seconds to react, " says Bryan O'Connor, a former shuttle commander and NASA's chief of safety and mission assurance. But the danger continues as the craft streaks upward. If a spaceship's flight controls or engines malfunction, toxic fuel and fast moving debris could threaten people below. After about 2 minutes, the spent solid rocket boosters drop away, taking the explosive charges with them. After that, problems severe enough to threaten people on the ground would leave the crew with two options: Enter orbit and fly around the Earth for a landing at California's Edwards Air Force Base, or steer into the ocean. Ditching at sea would be extremely dangerous, astronauts would need to exit the ship at 20,000 feet, without the benefit of ejection seats. " After CHALLENGER, we installed parachutes, survival suits and individual rafts, as well as an extendable pole used to clear the escapees from the wing when they exit the hatch while in flight."

NASA's next space vehicles will include a rocket powered escape pod for launch emergencies.

Non-Prescription pain relievers are so ubiquitous you might think they're harmless. But all of them -- including acetaminophen (Panadol, Tylenol), aspirin (Bayer, Bufferin), ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB, and Nuprin), and naproxen (Aleve) Pose some risks, especially if not taken as directed.

To gauge how people are using over - the - counter (OTC) pain relievers, the Consumers Reports National Research Center conducted an online survey of 47,283 subscribers in 2007. Only 69 percent said they always or nearly always carefully follow instructions on the label. They also found the following.

* 5 percent used OTC pain relievers daily for two weeks or more without a health experts approval, ignoring label directions.
* 4 percent routinely took excessive doses without consulting a health professional.
* 4 percent experienced serious side effects, including ulcers and kidney, liver, and heart problems, that a health professional said could be traced to use of OTC drugs.

Overuse might be even more prevalent nationally than among CR readers, according to pain experts and published research. Of the 36 million Americans using OTC pain drugs daily, 25 percent exceeded the recommended dose, researchers reported in the Journal of Rheumatology in 2005. Half were unconcerned about or unaware of potential toxicity.

WHY THEY'RE OVERUSED.

Readers who routinely overused non prescription pain relievers usually offered three explanations: The pain was severe, they felt no side effects, or their weight or height was above average. " They may have believed those were valid reasons, but they are rationalizations," says Penney Cowan, founder and executive director of the nonprofit American Chronic Pain Association, in Rocklin, Calif.

Other readers don't think of OTC products as being in the same league as prescription medicine. Debra Latimore, 52, of Whiting, Ind., told us she's been taking Advil for osteoarthritis pain daily since 2006 without telling her internist. " I forget to list it on doctor forms because it's over - the - counter," she says. " It's not something I think of as a drug."

One percent of surveyed readers suffering side effects from the use of OTC drugs visited a doctor or hospital in the past year for treatment. Natiowide, nonprescription analgesics were implicated in 1 to 3 percent of adverse events treated in emergency departments, researchers reported in the Journal of the American Medical Assoc. in 2006. Overdoses of acetaminophen were the leading cause of ACUTE LIVER FAILURE in the U.S. according to a 2005 issue of Hepatology.

WHAT YOU CAN DO.

Ask for advice. Your pharmacist or doctor can help in choosing an OTC pain reliever. Input is especially important if your 60 or older, have underlying health conditions or take other medications or supplements. If OTC pain relievers don't help, prescription drugs might..

Investigate nondrug treatments. Reasearch suggests that therapies such as acupuncture, counseling, biofeedback, and relaxation techniques might help.

Resources. For more on drug treatments, go to www.ConsumerReports.org/health for free CR Best Buy Drugs reports, updates, and safety alerts. For support, education, and pain specialists, go to the Web sites of these nonprofit groups: American Chronic Pain Association (www.theacpa.org), American Pain Foundation (www.painfoundation.org), and the National Pain Foundation (www.nationalpainfoundation.org)

Well, Just Wait til all the athletes and spectators get back from China and the Chinese Olympics.. They will probably be carrying the CHILD VIRUS called EV - 71, a type of hand, foot and mouth disease that is spreading across China.

In one province alone, ( Fuyang ) 3,321 cases reported, plus 22 deaths and 58 in serious or critical condition.

Enterovirus - 71 is one of several viruses that cause hand, foot and mouth disease, which is characterized by fever, mouth sores and a rash with blisters. It is spread by direct contact with nose and throat discharges, saliva, fluid from blisters, or the stool of infected persons.

There is no vaccine or specific therapy developed for EV - 71.

HERE'S YET ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF CONTAMINATED CHINESE IMPORTS.

IF THEY WANTED TO WIPE OUT AMERICA, THEY COULD EASILY DO IT THROUGH THE FOOD SUPPLY.

WASHINGTON ---- In March, inspectors checking Chinese seafood arriving at U.S. ports made some unsettling discoveries, fish infected with Salmonella in Baltimore and Seattle and shrimp with banned veterinary drugs in Florida. Meanwhile, a shipment intercepted in Los Angeles March 19 labeled " channel catfish " wasn't catfish at all, though records don't say what it was.

" A lot of those products coming in from overseas, you have no clue as to what is in them," said Paul Hitchens, an aquaculture specialist in sothern Illinois, where cut-rate Chinese catfish are threatening the livelihood of fish farmers. China has rapidly become the leading exporter of seafood to the United States, flooding supermarkets and restaurants. And while China agreed late last year to improve the safety of it's food exports, the inspectors March findings were not isolated cases.

According to Food and Drug Administration records examined by the Post - Dispatch, inspectors turned away nearly 400 shipments of tainted seafood in a year's time from China. The records told a troubling tale, but even more troubling was what they didn't tell. Only a tiny fraction of imports are inspected at all, and even fewer are tested.

It's a challenge the United States is just starting to confront, in increasingly globalized food supply, the government, using an antiquated inspection system, is unprepared to keep Americans safe from the dangers arriving at our ports. " When you look at less than 1 percent of shipments, and sample and test maybe one - fifth of those, there's no way you can protect the American food supply," said Michael Taylor, a former FDA official who is professor of health policy at George Washington University.