Positive News Update 3-22-06

Here's a quick view of some of this week's
Positive News. We continue to witness
progress on all fronts and these stories
demostrate there is progress being made.

US NEWS

Wal-Mart doubling organic food offerings

Having paid close attention to the growing demands
for organic food over the last few years, Wal-Mart,
already a major retailer of groceries, has decided it
wants to create a niche for itself: over the next two
weeks, it will double its stock of organic foods.

Cigarette sales hit a 55-year low in 2005

Cigarette sales have fallen by more than 21 percent
since state attorneys general negotiated a landmark
settlement with the industry eight years ago, newly
released figures show.

The National Association of Attorneys General said
Wednesday that the 378 billion cigarettes sold in the
United States last year marked the lowest number
sold since 1951, a time period in which the U.S.
population more than doubled.

``The continuing long-term decline shows that we
are winning the battle against cigarette smoking,''
the attorneys general of Iowa, Idaho, California
and Utah said at the association's annual spring
conference.

Cigarette sales declined 4.2 percent last year from
2004, one of the largest one-year percentage
decreases since 1999.

New software tackles color blind challenges

In a world where more and more work is conducted
online, few efforts have gone into improving the view
for people with color blindness, even though about
8 per cent of men and roughly a half of 1 per cent of
women have some form of it.

Now 'EyePilot' has been developed. The new program
gives colourblind people several ways to filter multi-
chromatic images on their computer screens and lets
users pinpoint particular shades on a screen or shift
hues to bring out easier-to-detect contrasts.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Hong Kong launches non-smoking campaign

The Department of Health in Hong Kong has begun
a campaign to educate patrons not to smoke in
restaurants in preparation for a total ban on
restaurant smoking that will occur in 2007.

Study shows tofu, oatmeal lower cholesterol

Researchers in Toronto, Canada, report that a
diet including tofu, oatmeal, and nuts can
significantly lower cholesterol.

The diet includes low-fat dairy products, and
substituting soy products for animal foods
when possible.

The more dieters combine foods rich in viscous
fibre, such as oat bran, barley, okra, and eggplant,
as well as raw almonds and walnuts, the more
their cholesterol dropped.

Research study shows global
drop in blood pressure

According to a new study published by the
British Medical Journal, levels of unhealthy
blood pressure have declined worldwide.

Physicians and researchers suspect that the
decline has more to do with lifestyle changes
than medication.

Dr Hugh Tunstall-Pedoe, author of the study
and professor of cardiology and epidemiology
at Ninewells Hospital Medical School, in Dundee,
Scotland, commented: 'There is a lot more to
health than popping pills; there is a greater
dimension to blood pressure and its control
than simply a prescription of medication.'

I encourage all of you to look out for more
Positive News Stories and share them here.

Thanks, Mr. Positive!