Your Health

By Janice M. Horowitz

Good News for Diabetics

Blood simple! The FDA last week okayed Lasette, a portable laser device that enables diabetics to draw blood easily, with little or no pain. Many patients test their blood-glucose levels every day--in some cases 10 times--by pricking their skin with a razor-sharp steel lancet. By contrast Lasette sends a beam of light that vaporizes skin and creates a tiny hole so quickly--30 millionths of a second--it's barely felt. Cost: $2,000.

Bad News on Heroin

Heroin use is up among teens--up the nose. A study published this month concludes that 2% of 12th-graders have tried the drug, double the percentage who had in 1990. Apparently most are snorting it in the mistaken belief that inhaling it is less addictive than injecting it. Plus, heroin is cheap: average price has dropped two-thirds in this decade.

Good News on Smoke

Clear the air already! A study out last week examined the respiratory health of bartenders in California before and after smoking was banned in bars earlier this year. The finding? Just two months after the ban took effect, 59% of bartenders said their wheezing, coughing and other respiratory problems had cleared up. Lung function--a measure of the rate of breathing and volume of air exhaled--also improved.

Bad News on Water

Watch your water softener if you have kidney disease or hypertension. A recent case study suggests that using potassium-based softeners may lead to a dangerously high buildup of the mineral in the blood in certain high-risk folks.

--By Janice M. Horowitz

Sources: Food and Drug Administration; Pediatrics; Journal of the American Medical Association; New England Journal of Medicine