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Health

February 27, 2008

Damaging 4 Your Health

In a fashion that's both typical and telling for Los Angeles, last night's "4 Your Health" segment of the Channel 4 local news featured a story on a new form of Botox-like treatment called GFX.  Apparently, GFX works by

            temporarily damag[ing] each nerve, and break[ing] the frown signals without poisoning the tissue
            the way Botox does, reported [Dr. Bruce] Hensel.

There are two things to notice here. 
1.)  The language. This new procedure damages and breaks your body and its natural processes, while the old procedure poisoned them. 
2.)  In another example of the language being co-opted in a way that normalizes cosmetic procedures as wellness, this was reported under the auspices of being "4 Your Health."

Death By Botox

Did the FDA learn nothing from the Vioxx disaster?  Despite new findings that Botox treatments can result in death, according to Public Citizen, the FDA "has not required the issuance of direct warnings to either doctors or patients."  See Stephanie Brail's article Death By Botox: The Hidden Cost of the Quest for Beauty.