On diabetes When Sonia Sotomayor was nominated for a seat on the US Supreme Court, news stories stressed that she would be the first Hispanic justice. Less noted was the probability that she would be the first justice with diabetes. Among her endorsements from labor unions, feminists, and Hispanics was one from the American Diabetes Association. Perhaps, said its chief medical officer, Sotomayor's nomination would shatter the stigma of diabetics as people incapable of living long, productive lives. This stigma was especially strong in the 1960s when Sotomayor was diagnosed, at age eight, with a form of the disease then known as juvenile diabetes. That's when she began injecting herself daily with insulin to regulate the level of sugar, or glucose, in her blood. Sotomayor's quiet struggle with diabetes did have political implications: Supreme Court justices, eligible to serve for life, are scrutinized with an actuarial table. Sotomayor was 54 when she was nominated, and some people raised the question of whether someone with diabetes had a shorter life expectancy. There was a time when few people with juvenile diabetes survived past 60. Concern about Sotomayor's longevity was largely dispelled by a letter from the physician who had treated her for 25 years. He said she kept control of her blood sugar and showed no signs of the damage – to her eyes, kidneys, nerves, blood pressure, or heart – that the disease can inflict. Her test results suggested she'd probably be sitting on the bench next to Roberts and Alito when they all were in their eighties. – Washingonian.com Bad toys Just as 2.1 million drop-side cribs are being recalled, holiday shoppers are once again being warned of hazardous toys. There have been four known suffocations following hardware failures involving Stork Craft cribs, reports the Consumer Product and Safety Commission. Parents who own Stork Craft drop-side cribs – 147,000 of which carry the Fisher-Price logo – are being asked to wait for a free repair kit before attempting to fix the side panel. Hardware has repeatedly failed or been damaged when installed incorrectly. Cribs without drop-down sides are not subject to this recall. Meanwhile, the Illinois Public Interest Research Group issued its 24th annual warning to shoppers, asking them to avoid dangerous toys – such as a red Elmo lunchbox and a too-loud Fisher Price phone. While toys are improving, problems persist, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan tells the Chicago Tribune: “In spite of the improvements that we have seen over the last year at the federal level and the improvements that we have seen in the last several years in the state of Illinois, Illinois PIRG every single year is able to walk into toy stores and purchase toys that are dangerous for children.”
