Eideard

Field expedient

A British medical company has had its erection-enhancing condom recommended for European approval.

Futura Medical said its CSD500 condom — licensed to pharmaceutical firm Reckitt Benckiser for sale under its Durex brand has gel in its tip that dilates the arteries and increases blood flow to the penis, resulting in a firmer and bigger erection…

In a double blind clinical study comparing CSD500 against a standard condom co-sponsored by Futura, of those who expressed a preference, a significant proportion of both men and women reported improvements in the firmness of the man’s erection during intercourse when using CSD500, compared against a standard condom, the company said.

Furthermore, of those who expressed a preference, a significant proportion of both men and women also felt that CSD500 increased the penis size and a significant proportion of women reported a longer lasting sexual experience.

There are just too many reasons why I consider this hilarious – including the fact that our culture considers this a target area for beneficial research in the first place. Coming from a dude who’s lived the admittedly non-conformist life that I have – that’s saying a great deal.

ROFLMFAO

Skull Valley sheep kill 1968

A Utah military facility that tests chemical and biological weapons was locked down “to resolve a serious concern,” and authorities were working to reopen the base, officials said Thursday. All base personnel were safe and working, and no evacuation was needed, said spokeswoman, Bonnie Robinson. She would not say why the base was locked down…

About 1,500 employees and contractors are stationed at the base.

Dugway commander Col. William E. King IV said earlier authorities were “working as quickly and as thoroughly as possible to resolve a serious concern within the Test Area” but he didn’t elaborate.

“As you know measures like these (lockdown of our gates) are not taken lightly. No one is in immediate danger but these steps are required.”

The proving ground covers 798,214 acres and is located in the Great Salt Lake Desert, around 85 miles southwest of Salt Lake City.

Also a historic center for the development and testing of chemical and biological weapons.

Dugway has been a test site for weaponized anthrax as recently as 1998.

Daylife/Reuters Pictures used by permission

The chief executive of the world’s second biggest pharmaceutical company will today announce that he is putting into the public domain thousands of potential drugs that might cure malaria.

Andrew Witty, the British boss of Glaxo-SmithKline, will say in a major speech that multinational drug companies have to balance social responsibility alongside the need to make profits for their shareholders. There is, he will say, an “imperative to earn the trust of society, not just by meeting expectations but by exceeding them”.

GSK will publish details of 13,500 chemical compounds from its own library that have potential to act against the parasite that causes malaria in sub-Saharan Africa, killing at least one million children every year.

It took a team of five investigators a year to screen the two million compounds in GSK’s library – its entire collection of potential drugs and possibly the biggest such library in the world…

Speaking to the Guardian in advance of the announcement in New York, he said: “To my knowledge nobody’s ever put confirmed-hit structures into the public domain. Universities have done stuff like this but on a much smaller scale.

“I think it’s a significant contribution to give scientists around the world 13,500 new opportunities to start research.”

Witty will also announce an $8m fund to pay for scientists to explore these chemicals or others in an “open lab” within its research centre at Tres Cantos, Spain, which is dedicated to work on malaria and other diseases of the developing world.

It’s trying to create a permissiveness around scientific research in an area where we know the marketplace isn’t going to stimulate massive research,” he said.

“Given that there is only a handful of big companies who focus on malaria, this is a chance to get thousands of researchers involved – just like software companies encourage thousands of people to contribute their new ideas for software – and we’ll see what comes of it.”

RTFA. Imagine if this becomes a trend! It will seem like heresy to some for a corporate head to bow to conscience. Andrew Witty seems to mean it.

“Chemical Rummie”
Daylife/Getty Images used by permission

Doctors in Iraq’s war-ravaged enclave of Falluja are dealing with up to 15 times as many chronic deformities in infants and a spike in early life cancers that may be linked to toxic materials left over from the fighting.

The extraordinary rise in birth defects has crystallised over recent months as specialists working in Falluja’s over-stretched health system have started compiling detailed clinical records of all babies born.

Neurologists and obstetricians in the city interviewed by the Guardian say the rise in birth defects – which include a baby born with two heads, babies with multiple tumours, and others with nervous system problems – are unprecedented and at present unexplainable.

A group of Iraqi and British officials…have petitioned the UN general assembly to ask that an independent committee fully investigate the defects and help clean up toxic materials left over decades of war – including the six years since Saddam Hussein was ousted…

Other health officials are also starting to focus on possible reasons, chief among them potential chemical or radiation poisonings. Abnormal clusters of infant tumours have also been repeatedly cited in Basra and Najaf – areas that have in the past also been intense battle zones where modern munitions have been heavily used.

Falluja was the scene of the only two setpiece battles that followed the US-led invasion. Twice in 2004, US marines and infantry units were engaged in heavy fighting with Sunni militia groups who had aligned with former Ba’athists and Iraqi army elements.

The first battle was fought to find those responsible for the deaths of four Blackwater private security contractors working for the US. The city was bombarded heavily by American artillery and fighter jets. Controversial weaponry was used, including white phosphorus, which the US government admitted deploying.

Having supported efforts to prevent testing of depleted uranium projectiles here in New Mexico, knowing something of the residue from radioactive pyrophoric metals, I’m not surprised by any of this.

Presumably, most of you won’t be surprised by the protestations of innocence and patriotic rationales that will flow from the Pentagon, politicians and other pimps of our military-industrial complex. Those who authorized most of this, those who continue to do so, will not relent until we stop them, folks.

The increasing use of smart drugs or “nootropics,” to boost academic performance, could mean that exam students will face routine doping tests in future, suggests an article in the Journal of Medical Ethics…

“It is apparent that the failures and inconsistencies inherent in anti doping policy in sport will be mirrored in academia unless a reasonable and realistic approach to the issue of nootropics is adopted,” claims Vince Cakic.

But what this should be is far from clear, especially given the ready availability of these types drugs for therapeutic use, says Mr Cakic, conjuring up the prospect of urine tests for exam students.

“As laughable as it may seem, it is possible that scenarios such as this could very well come to fruition in the future. However, given that the benefits of nootropics could also be derived from periods of study at any time leading up to examinations, this would also require drug testing during non-exam periods,” he writes…

RTFA to see which might be your favorites.

Better Living Through Chemistry keeps being redefined from generation to generation.

The Boeing Company and US Air Force announced yesterday that their Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) has successfully destroyed its first sizable ground target–“an unoccupied stationary vehicle“–during a test at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

Boeing describes their device as a high-powered chemical laser that, once installed aboard an aircraft like the C-130H Hercules transport plane used in yesterday’s test, offers “speed-of-light, ultra-precision engagement capability that will dramatically reduce collateral damage.” Said Gary Fitzmire:

“The bottom line is that ATL works, and works very well. ATL’s components — the high-energy chemical laser, beam control system and battle manager — are performing as one integrated weapon system, delivering effective laser beam energy to ground targets.”

We’re doomed! Doomed I say. Dooomed!

Thanks, Jägermeister