InkTank

Smoking pot + Teenagers = Lasting effects

USA Today covered a new study that presents (and confirms according to the study) that teenagers that smoke pot are effected differently than adults who smoke pot.

This article was one that seemed well-rounded. There was a good quote to paraphrase ratio, as well as understandable statistics. For example, the description of what was studied by Staci Gruber an assistant professor of psychiatry at Hardvard Medical School and what was found was clearly stated:

Her Study evaluated 29 non-smokers and 35 chronic marijuana smokers- 20 began smoking pot regularly before age 16 while 15 started smoking after age 16. All were about 22 years old when the study was conducted.

What teenagers do not seem to realize about smoking pot, is the effect it has on their developing brain.  Brains are not fully developed until someone is in their mid-20's.

In 2005, the Washington Post wrote an article about teenage drivers and laws being passed. Even then the study of how late brains are developing was in progress:

A National Institute of Health study suggests that the region of the brain that inhibits risky behavior is not fully developed until age 25, a finding with implications for a host of policies, including the nation's driving laws.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, marijuana is the most commonly abused drug. They conducted a study the showed that as many as 10.9% of 8th graders has tried marijuana and as many as 32.4% of 12th graders had.

Nov. 2 was the election, and one of the major issues in Calif. was the legalization of recreational marijuana, which was not legalized.  There are 15 states that currently allow medicinal marijuana. ProCon.org covers the history of the legalization of the medicinal use of marijuana as well as stipulations in obtaining it.

Protection and Prevention for HPV

In 2006, Gardasil was approved as the human papillomavirus vaccine (HPV). Since then another vaccine was approved, Cervarix, but fewer and fewer women are actually getting the vaccine according to USAToday.

This article was filled with statistics, which is appropriate in an article related to health and the use of vaccines, however there were a lack of "human" sources and quotations, as well as a single sided point of view that contained several holes.

The two sources used were both appropriate academics who seemed qualified in their fields. Both covered the fact that less women were actually getting the vaccine and speculated why that may be.

Tracy speculated that women aged 18 to 26 may be caught up in life's transition at that point, like leaving home and going to college. For many young women, this is the first time they are making their own medical decisions.

J. Kathleen Tracy is an assistant professor of epidemiology and public health at the University of Maryland. Dr. Mark Wakabayashi, the chief of gynecologic oncology at City of Hope Cancer Center in Duarte, Calif., suggested the correlation of the vaccine and autism.

Beyond the worry of autism, several other medical conditions have come up (unmentioned in this article), along with 56 deaths as of Sept. 30, 2010 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The future of Biotechnology: Its in the Genes

A 20 year policy has been reversed by the federal government no longer allowing human genes to be patents because they are part of nature, reported the New York Times on Friday.

The patented genes in question currently are linked to breast and ovarian cancer, and could have a huge impact on medicine and the biotechnology industry if the Patent Office puts the government ruling into effect. 

The article goes on to report proponents saying genes isolated from the body are chemicals that are different from those found in the body and are eligible for patents, but in the brief the government said the mere isolation of a gene does not change it’s nature. 

“The Chemical structure of native human genes is a product of nature, and is no less a product of nature when that structure is ‘isolated’ from it’s natural environment than are cotton fibers that have been separated from cotton seeds or coal that has been extracted from the earth, said in the brief”