Good and bad preventive health ideas ... and where 'drunken cooking' fits in

In making the world a better place -- or, rather, a healthier place --  some people have a positive effect. Some have a negative effect. And others can only do so much in the face of overwhelming odds ...

Prevention Matters, the blog over at Partnership for Prevention, calls attention to the standouts. Each week, it offers up winners for Best Prevention Idea of the Week and Worst Prevention Idea of the Week.

This week's winner in the "best" category is a tobacco cessation program that managed to cut smoking rates among poor people in Massachusetts. Hard to argue with that choice ...

This week's winner in the "worst" category is radio host Glenn Beck for stating that the federal healthcare bill would offer insurance for dogs. Apparently that wasn't quite true. 

More interesting, however, was last week's winners.

The description of one honoree began: "People should get carryout instead of cooking while drunk, a senior fire officer has warned."

If the headache-inducing obviousness of such a statement elicits an expectation that such advice would handily win the "worst" honor, think again. The judge liked it. 

What the judge didn't like was Health News Review's decision not to rate TV health news for claims of accuracy and responsibility. It was apparently just too overwhelming for reviewer Gary Schwitzer. It's hard to fault the judge for wanting more analysis of TV news. It's impossible to fault Schwitzer for acknowledging he can't hold back the floodwaters. 

-- Tami Dennis

Photo: Not even a working smoke alarm could wake the man who prompted the "never cook after drinking" warning. He was rescued however -- and local fire officials were praised for their sage advice.

Credit: Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Damon Thompson/Partnership for Prevention]

Thanks so much for mentioning our "best" and "worst" idea awards, Tami! Glad you enjoy them. Anyone who would like to get our award announcements via e-mail each week should write me at dthompson@prevent.org and put "send best/worst" in the subject line of your e-mail.

BTW, the weekly awardees are nominated and voted on by the entire staff at Partnership for Prevention in Washington DC. We also welcome nominations from the public.