SIRC Media Watch Archive
Panics and Scares – July 2002

Batting first is bad for bowlers. The risk of fast bowlers getting injured while playing cricket increases if their team bats first, researchers have found. Scientists in Australia have found that fast bowlers are at the greatest risk of injury of all cricketers. BBC.

Laws to control Scots fervour for sunbeds. The obsession in rain-soaked Scotland for using artificial tanning devices is to be curbed by new legislation because of growing health fears. Independent.

Being a man 'is bad for health'. Simply being a man is bad for your health, doctors have suggested. A study in the United States shows men take more risks than women and are more likely to die from almost everything from heart disease to murder. BBC.

Fashion diets health warning. Women who follow "fashionable" diets may be putting their health at risk, warn doctors. Food elimination diets, advocated by pop stars such as Geri Halliwell, involve cutting out certain types of food because they believe they are either "intolerant" or allergic to them. BBC

Doctor says 'Drink beer every day for healthy sex life'. A Czech doctor is advising men to drink beer every day to keep their sex lives active. Prague-based Dr Pavel Zemek said: "If men drink two beers a day they can stave off impotence." Dr Zemek of the Czech Centre for Gerontology says his research shows beer can have a "powerful effect" to stop the arteries becoming blocked. Ananova

There's far too much filth on TV. Health risks lurking on your set. There really is too much filth on TV, before and after the watershed, say experts – not to mention all the blood and bits of human skin on the screen. But for once, it's not the content of the programmes that's causing concern. Researchers found 20 types of dirt lurking on the average set, from dried blood and fungal spores, to skin cells and pollen. Daily Record

Neck cushion threat to air passengers. Inflatable neck cushions used by many airline passengers could explode – or end up strangling their wearer, say experts. They say the devices are potentially lethal and should be banned at once. BBC.

Girls with views of nature have better chance of success. At-risk inner-city girls who see nature through the windows of their homes may have a better chance for success than those girls whose views are not as green, say scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "For the girls, we found that the greener the view that was available from their apartment window, the better they were able to concentrate, refrain from acting impulsively and delay gratification," said Andrea Faber Taylor, a postdoctoral researcher in the department of natural resources and environmental sciences. "The greener views translated into better self-discipline." EurekAlert

Stay celibate to live longer. The secret of a long life is abstinence from sex, scientists revealed yesterday. A team from the University of Sheffield believes nuns and spinsters who stay away from the pleasures of the flesh outlive sexually active adults. The "no sex" strategy for survival came from results found studying the sex lives of beetles at the university’s department of animal and plant sciences. They discovered that mealworm beetles, which mate every day, die young, while those which avoid mating live for much longer. Scotsman

Greek cuisine, sex promote healthy life. Greek cuisine and plenty of sex help to ensure a long and healthy life, and to keep cancer and heart disease at bay, a cancer expert said on Tuesday. Reuters

Caesarean mothers risk losing chance to have more babies. Women who give birth by Caesarean section risk harming their chances of having another child. They are almost twice as likely as those who give birth naturally to take more than a year to conceive again – a standard measure of reduced fertility – according to research at Bristol University. And while the wait may not matter to a woman in her early twenties, it could be most important to the growing number of older mothers. Times