‘Caution! The Bread is Poisoned’: The Hong Kong Mass Poisoning of January 1857

This article examines the Hong Kong mass poisoning of 15 January 1857, in which bread from a Chinese bakery that supplied the colonial community was adulterated with arsenic. Even though there is a wealth of printed and manuscript documentation available many vital aspects of the poisoning remain unclear. What kind of incident was it: an act of terrorism and attempted mass murder, a war crime, a criminal conspiracy, an act of commercial sabotage, an accident or even an imagined or imaginary event? Throughout, our focus remains firmly fixed on the central act of the poisoning itself and on what it reveals about the precarious nature of early colonial Hong Kong. Interpretations have swarmed over the available ‘facts'. Equally ironic is what happened to the afterlife of how the event was understood. This article seeks to rescue the Hong Kong poisoning from being a freakish and isolated footnote of only local interest. Accepting this historical verdict would be a mistake as it is of significance not only at a local level, but geopolitically in Britain and across the empire

Can environmental or occupational hazards alter the sex ratio at birth? A systematic review

More than 100 studies have examined whether environmental or occupational exposures of parents affect the sex ratio of their offspring at birth. For this review, we searched Medline and Web of Science using the terms ‘sex ratio at birth’ and ‘sex ratio and exposure’ for all dates, and reviewed bibliographies of relevant studies to find additional articles. This review focuses on exposures that have been the subject of at least four studies including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxins, pesticides, lead and other metals, radiation, boron, and g-forces. For paternal exposures, only dioxins and PCBs were consistently associated with sex ratios higher or lower than the expected 1.06. Dioxins were associated with a decreased proportion of male births, whereas PCBs were associated with an increased proportion of male births. There was limited evidence for a decrease in the proportion of male births after paternal exposure to DBCP, lead, methylmercury, non-ionizing radiation, ionizing radiation treatment for childhood cancer, boron, or g-forces. Few studies have found higher or lower sex ratios associated with maternal exposures. Studies in humans and animals have found a reduction in the number of male births associated with lower male fertility, but the mechanism by which environmental hazards might change the sex ratio has not yet been established

Politics ahead of patients: The battle between medical and chiropractic professional associations over the inclusion of chiropractic in the American Medicare System

Health care professions struggling for legitimacy, recognition, and market share can become disoriented to their priorities. Health care practitioners are expected to put the interests of patients first. Professional associations represent the interests of their members. So when a professional association is composed of health care practitioners, its interests may differ from those of patients, creating a conflict for members. In addition, sometimes practitioners’ perspectives may be altered by indoctrination in a belief system, or misinformation, so that a practitioner could be confused about the reality of patient needs. Politicians, in attempting to find an expedient compromise, can value a “win” in the legislative arena over the effects of that legislation. These forces all figure into the events that led to the acceptance of chiropractic into the American Medicare system. Two health care systems in a political fight lost sight of their main purpose: to provide care to patients without doing harm. Dans leur recherche de légitimité, de reconnaissance et d’une juste part sur le marché de la santé, les professionnels de la santé peuvent perdre de vue leurs priorités. Ces praticiens doivent donner préséance aux intérêts des patients tandis que les associations professionnelles représentent ceux de leurs membres. Lorsqu’une association professionnelle regroupe des praticiens de la santé cependant, ses intérêts s’opposent parfois à ceux des patients, créant ainsi un conflit pour les membres. De plus, les praticiens peuvent être endoctrinés par un système de valeurs ou mal informés, au point de se tromper dans l’évaluation des besoins réels des patients. De leur côté, les politiciens peuvent préférer une « victoire » dans l’arène législative à une juste appréciation des impacts d’une loi. Ces forces ont toutes participé aux évènements qui ont mené à l’acceptation de la chiropraxie par le système américain Medicare. Dans cette bataille politique, deux systèmes de santé ont négligé leur principal objectif : soigner des patients sans leur nuire