Daily Rounds: Pivotal Senate Race Issue; Dirty Seafood; Pop Warner Concussions; Chewing Gum Required

In Mass. Senate race, heath care a pivotal issue (AP via The Boston Herald) - "For both candidates, the fight over the health care law is critical as they try to appeal to key voting groups during the final two weeks of the campaign. Brown, who needs to drive up his support among independent voters, is portraying the law as an example of federal intrusion. Brown supported Massachusetts’ health care law and says all Americans deserve health care coverage, but he says Obama’s law goes too far. Warren, who needs to maintain enthusiasm among Democrats and women while also reaching out to independent voters, says the federal law includes additional benefits for Massachusetts residents that were not part of the state’s 2006 health care law."

Why is the FDA inspecting so little imported seafood? (Mother Jones) - "If you eat a lot of fish, likely as not you're eating something that was raised on a farm and hauled in from thousands of miles away. According to NOAA, we import about 86 percent of the seafood we consume, about half of which comes from from aquaculture. And just because you find it in a gleaming supermarket fish case or on a well-presented restaurant plate doesn't mean it's safe to eat. Over at BusinessWeek, there's a pretty startling piece on the sanitary conditions on some of those farms. In Vietnam, farmed shrimp bound for the US market are kept fresh with heaps of ice made from tap water that teems with pathogenic bacteria, BusinessWeek reports. Tilapia in China's fish farms, meanwhile, literally feed on pig manure."

One Pop Warner game results in five concussions (The Boston Globe) - "In an alarming case of young athletes being put at risk, five children suffered concussions last month in a Pop Warner football game that resulted in disciplinary action against both coaches and association presidents. The injured children, all 10 to 12 years old, played for the Tantasqua Pee Wees Sept. 15 when they were overrun, 52-0, by a Southbridge team whose website’s banner states, “Are You Tough Enough.’’ The five children missed various numbers of school days because of their injuries, and one has not returned to the field."

Your assignment for today: Chew gum (The New York Times) - "When I was growing up, you would be sent down to the principal’s office for chewing gum in school. We were told chewing gum was bad; it caused cavities. Like chocolate and coffee, gum is now being rehabilitated. It turns out that sugar-free gum can actually prevent cavities in children. Instead of banning it, we should require children to chew it in school to promote their oral health."