M / s documents concerns about tax powers must visit

  who plans the tax authority for tax debt by accounts that the tax agency to settle unpaid claims by you to make money from people's bank accounts was criticized plans by a group of m/s allowing.

The Treasury Committee says that it is very concerned, because the financial officials have a history of failures.

Chancellor George Osborne unveiled the plan on this year's budget.

But in a comprehensive report, the Committee a new budget plan - allows greater flexibility as retirement savings be used to welcome.

In the budget, Mr Osborne discusses plans for new powers for HM Revenue and customs (HMRC) back tax debt from someone, of more than £1,000 in tax or tax credits owed.

Thus, the IRS would to take directly from the debtor bank accounts owed tax.

HMRC performance

But the Committee said problematic due to HMRCs performance in the past planned, since it was not for the exact calculation of the tax bills.

Read the main story new individual savings accounts (composed) % tax rate is tax-free up to £15,000 per year by July10 savings AbolishedNumber month £1 m premium bond prices rose to two generous premium bond savings LimitsNew pensioners bond for the over 65s shelter. "People should pay the correct amount of taxes. But HMRC asks not always for the right amount, "Committee Chairman Andrew Tyrie said.

"Some taxpayers find money taken their accounts, which should be paid back later. That would be unacceptable."

He said that the Committee had also "reserved" about changes in tax policy, the advance payment in the amount of disputed taxes associated would require avoiding tax.

"Review should be considered only in very exceptional circumstances. The latest measure would be justified on these grounds, said Mr Tyrie.

"Looking back relies on a slippery path arbitrary taxation policy, discourages investment and innovation and the scope for the great injustice create."

At the moment, the Committee Member said Mark Garnier, a Conservative MP, a court order, to be able to use money from accounts required the HMRC.

The Committee is concerned that the current system of checks and balances could be applied.

"That, as judge and jury will be concerned, what is... in the main HMRC" said Mr Garnier of the BBC.

HMRC recently explained how the system works.

There are only those target received the non-current liabilities and at least four claims for payment and will ensure that at least £5,000 remains over all debtor accounts, including savings accounts, after the unpaid tax is seized.

HMRC freezing the accounts for 14 days at the time for the debtor to pay, before the money is seized amount owed.

The low incomes tax reform group urged HMRC to more concrete back to challenge the right of a seizure.

But the ACCA accountancy body, according to the budget plans as "Ernst draconian", described now calls her "less fearsome than first thought" after appeared accurate.

"On paper, the protection measures provide relatively robust, and the reality is, it is unlikely that someone will be left penniless,", said Chas Roy-Chowdhury, head of taxation at the ACCA...

The plans are now through a consultation process. If approved by the Parliament, they will take effect in 2015-16.

Bed and breakfast

The Treasury Committee also calls for pensions and savings in the same way be taxed.

Important changes in the way to save such people include the budget

The most prominent measure in Mr Osborne's budget was a plan that effectively creates the precondition for some annuity - a retirement income to buy life.

From the next year, millions of people will reach the retirement age in able to spend their retirement pot in any way they want, including cashing in their pension savings in a taxed lump sum. Temporary rules are in the meantime.

The Committee said that all the witnesses by heard the "Greater flexibility and choice" welcomes the fact that the reforms proposed.

However the orientation that was promised before the retirement, agrees that it should be clear and offer at least the possibility of personal assistance.

The changes are the result in creation of a variety of new financial products for pensioners, and the Committee said, it must be sold responsibly.

"After the financial crisis and the MIS scandals, the reputation of the industry under the microscope, is selling", said Andrew Tyrie, who chairs the Committee.

He added that it would be a "Grand Prix" the tax treatment of retirement, who were treated in the same way.

The Chancellor has announced an extension to the amount that could be saved in a tax-free individual savings account (ISA) from July 1, 2014 to up to £15,000 either as cash or shares.

View the original article here

Lib Dems "Face questions" about Smith must visit

said the Crown Prosecution Service, Sir Cyril would have pursued liberal Democrats President Tim Farron says his party has "serious questions" to answer about who knew that his former MP Sir Cyril Smith, allegations of sexual assault confronted.

Police investigating allegations that the former MP for Rochdale, died 2010 at the age of 82 sexually young in homes and hostels in the city abused.

Mr Farron said the best way to deal with the demands of the police inquiry.

The Crown Prosecution Service said that Sir Cyril should be prosecuted.

Legal action

It was alleged that he raped young at knowl view residential school, which closed in 1992 and abused boys in the privately held Cambridge House children's Hospice, which 1965 closed.

He had a long connection with knowl look, where he was Managing Director, when he was a Council member.

Sir Cyril was originally Labour councillor in Rochdale, and later a liberal Liberal Democrat MP for the town from 1972 to 1992.

Mr Farron said: "the party anyway, because the labour party must also civil society as a whole... and in fact Rochdale serious questions, who knew what and when."

Last year, lib described the allegations against Sir Cyril leader Nick Clegg as shocking and horrible, and said they must be investigated, "until the bitter end".

Lawyers for those who have made allegations of abuse, said they were considering legal action against the Lib Dems.

New book

Sir Cyril family have said that he always denied such accusations against him, if he were alive, and they were sad that the accusations now undertaken, when he could no longer defend himself.

Sir Cyril's allegations were in a new book by the current Labour MP for Rochdale, Simon Danczuk.

He claimed that Sir Cyril his position of power to the young sexually abuse and then to escape the persecution.

Mr Danczuk previously said he asked the police to re-examine the case after "a number of victims came to see me and concerns".

Mr Danczuk claimed in the year 2012, there was "little doubt" that Sir Cyril raped some of his victims.

Schmidt family said it would continue to work with further research together.

Allegations about Sir Cyril were published for the first time in 1979 behavior.

An independent review in the manner that view was executed knowl, is because of Rochdale Council report next month.

View the original article here

Comment on 10 Crazy Urban Legends About Creepy-Crawlies by 10 Crazy Urban Legends About Creepy-Crawlies - Trneng

Most people find insects, spiders, snakes, rodents, and other creeping, crawling creatures to be disturbing and often frightening. Whatever the reason, we have long been fascinated by the slimy, horrid tales of these creatures (whether they’re true stories or not). Warning: You might not want to eat during this one.

This legend has many different variations, likely due to the incredible amount of people who have actually tried to sue soft drink companies over allegedly finding all or most of a mouse or rat in their soda. The most recent one was a man who bought a can of Mountain Dew from a vending machine at work. After taking a hearty swig, he realized there something was horribly, horribly wrong about the taste. He spit it out and found a dead mouse curled up inside his previously sealed can of soda.

He sued PepsiCo after the alleged incident, citing trauma and stress caused by getting a mouthful of dead mouse. However, PepsiCo’s defense is possibly the most disturbing part of this tale. The company supplied an expert witness who explained that the man’s claims were quite literally impossible. According to this expert, the mouse’s body would have been completely dissolved and impossible to distinguish as anything but jelly after spending so long in an acidic soda like Mountain Dew.

This legend very likely predates the Internet, as the beehive hairstyle hasn’t been popular since the 1960s. The story goes that a teenager was preparing for an upcoming dance and really wanted to make her hair stand out, so she used sugar water in her hair in an effort to keep it really stiff. She then wrapped it up tightly overnight in a coiling beehive shape. The next day, her hair looked just as good as she had hoped, and she continued with life as usual.

As the weeks went on, she started to become a little obsessed with her ‘do. She did whatever it took to keep it looking nice, including not shampooing the sugar water out of her hair. She started to get headaches and just feel physically terrible in general. She didn’t understand what was going on, but she failed to see a doctor. Eventually, she collapsed as rivers of blood ran from under her hair. Upon examination, it turned out that she had a colony of bugs living under her hair and literally eating her alive.

Our story goes that a woman had licked an envelope and received a painful paper cut. For a while, she didn’t think anything of it because it was just a small cut, but it continued to be painful for a long time. It even started to swell. It eventually got so bad that she knew she needed to go to the hospital. The doctor who examined her saw the swelling on her tongue and decided to operate right then and there, either to remove the lump or drain pus. (It varies depending on the version of the tale.) As the woman sat wide awake and the doctor prepared to make an incision, a live cockroach crawled its monstrous way out of her mouth in one of the most horrifying birth cycles imaginable.

This story involves a couple who had a very large pet python but didn’t bother keeping it locked up. They kept the snake properly fed, they reasoned, so there wasn’t much to worry about. Eventually, the snake stopped eating for a while, and they wondered if he was sick. Even stranger, they started finding their pet lying out lengthwise next to them. They decided to take the snake to the vet to find out the cause of this disturbing behavior. Alarmingly, the vet told them that they needed to get rid of the snake right away. When they asked why, he explained that the snake had been measuring them and starving himself in preparation to gorge himself on some fresh, delicious human owner.

Shortly after Hurricane Katrina, an urban legend was going around that had a lot of homeowners running scared. According to an email forward, many of the trees that had fallen in the hurricane were being turned into cheap mulch that was coming soon to a store near you. Unfortunately, this mulch likely contained large numbers of Formosan termites.

This legend has a grain of truth to it, as termites could potentially spread through mulch. However, the particular story is unlikely. New Orleans has carefully quarantined any wood that might be infested with termites.

Our tale begins with a small boy who was tired from playing and decided to lie down for a nap. He fell asleep with some candy scattered around near him, and this attracted some ants that were nearby. The little boy woke up unaware that anything was amiss until he started to feel itchy. As time went on, the itchiness got worse, and he started to get headaches. When the headaches got worse and nothing would make the itchiness go away, the little guy’s mother took him to the hospital.

At first, the doctor was utterly baffled by the problem. After taking an X-ray of the child’s head, he discovered that ants had crawled into the child’s brain and formed an entire colony. Because the insects were crawling all around his brain, the colony was inoperable, and the little fella did not survive. Of course, leaving candy lying around actually results in little more than some inconvenience and a can of Raid, so this tall tale was no doubt invented by some very cruel and lazy mothers.

The story goes that an older woman, the type who’s not likely to be very computer-savvy, called tech support with a serious problem. The night before, she had started hearing rather strange hissing sounds coming from her computer. She explained that when the noises began, she decided to shut down the machine for the night and see if it just needed a rest. When she tried to restart the computer the next morning, it emitted more of the same strange hissing sounds and began to smoke. The support tech quickly realized they were out of their depth over the phone and sent someone to the old woman’s house to deal with the problem. When the technician opened the case, they found a snake curled up inside: It had been attracted to the power source.

Pictures of the so-called snake in the computer have been going around for a while and are actually apparently legit. However, the details of the true story are quite different from the legend. It actually took place in an office in Australia, not an elderly woman’s home. While the snake was a venomous red-bellied black snake, it didn’t prove to be very dangerous, because it turns out that snakes can’t survive large amounts of electricity coursing through their slithery, slimy bodies.

The story starts in Atlanta, Georgia, and surrounds a small chain of Chinese restaurants. Imagine you’ve just eaten at your local Asian-American food joint. After you go home, you check the news and see them mentioned. Your stomach starts to turn as you learn that one franchise of the chain restaurant you just visited was shut down for having some very strange secret ingredients in their food.

The police had received a tip about some suspicious imports the restaurant had been receiving and decided to investigate. Upon searching the restaurant, the police found evidence that the owners of the establishment had secretly been serving mice and rats to their customers. They also found puppies and kittens ready to be cooked and served as food. The legends often include pictures of some of the packaged, frozen rodents, but there is no evidence of such a closure occurring.

According to legend, a woman visited a local discount clothing outlet to try on new winter coats. While wearing one of them, she felt a strange prick on her skin. Instead of inspecting the coat further, she simply put it back and went about her day. Before long, she fell ill and eventually ended up in a coma. Though the coma lasts several weeks in the tale, she is somehow able to ascertain what happened. The winter coat she had been trying on was imported from another country and had a deadly viper sewn into the lining.

The story is a bit over-the-top, as it seems impossible for a snake to survive a trip overseas alive while trapped inside a coat. Strangely, though, this tale is widely believed, with outlets like Burlington Coat Factory receiving calls on a regular basis to ask questions about the story.

A woman in Texas was supposedly out walking her dog when it started sniffing around a twig near their garage. The dog recoiled in pain, and the woman realized the “twig” was actually an insect known as a walking stick. At first, she didn’t think much of it, but then her dog’s eye started swelling up badly. When she took him to the vet, she found out that the poor dog had a chemical burn on his eye that was caused by the poison that the insect had secreted. The woman sent pictures of the insect to entomologists, who identified the specimen as a foreign walking stick that had made its way to our shores and was much more poisonous than the ones we are used to.

While no evidence exists of any such foreign species, the story is plausible. There is a species of walking stick insect native to the United States that is capable of excreting a toxin that could be very painful and cause burns on sensitive areas like the eyes. Perhaps next time you are near a twig, you should keep your retinas shielded. Don’t take any walks in the woods.

One legend that’s been passed around the Internet for a long time occurs in an unspecified foreign country, where a young woman purchased a package of Oreo cookies with chocolate cream. Excited to eat the delicious cookies, she opened the package and saw something very strange. Where she would normally expect pure chocolate goodness, there were small white spots all over and inside the cream. She examined the packaging but found nothing to suggest that the white dots should be there. To her horror, she realized that the entire cookie was full of maggot eggs. She returned the cookies, although some of the eggs had horrifyingly dissolved into the cream. She got her money back, but presumably her taste for Oreos was never to return.

You can follow Gregory Myers on Twitter.

View the original article here

Comment on 10 Crazy Urban Legends About Creepy-Crawlies by 10 Crazy Urban Legends About Creepy-Crawlies | Kronosim/must visit

Most people find insects, spiders, snakes, rodents, and other creeping, crawling creatures to be disturbing and often frightening. Whatever the reason, we have long been fascinated by the slimy, horrid tales of these creatures (whether they’re true stories or not). Warning: You might not want to eat during this one.

This legend has many different variations, likely due to the incredible amount of people who have actually tried to sue soft drink companies over allegedly finding all or most of a mouse or rat in their soda. The most recent one was a man who bought a can of Mountain Dew from a vending machine at work. After taking a hearty swig, he realized there something was horribly, horribly wrong about the taste. He spit it out and found a dead mouse curled up inside his previously sealed can of soda.

He sued PepsiCo after the alleged incident, citing trauma and stress caused by getting a mouthful of dead mouse. However, PepsiCo’s defense is possibly the most disturbing part of this tale. The company supplied an expert witness who explained that the man’s claims were quite literally impossible. According to this expert, the mouse’s body would have been completely dissolved and impossible to distinguish as anything but jelly after spending so long in an acidic soda like Mountain Dew.

This legend very likely predates the Internet, as the beehive hairstyle hasn’t been popular since the 1960s. The story goes that a teenager was preparing for an upcoming dance and really wanted to make her hair stand out, so she used sugar water in her hair in an effort to keep it really stiff. She then wrapped it up tightly overnight in a coiling beehive shape. The next day, her hair looked just as good as she had hoped, and she continued with life as usual.

As the weeks went on, she started to become a little obsessed with her ‘do. She did whatever it took to keep it looking nice, including not shampooing the sugar water out of her hair. She started to get headaches and just feel physically terrible in general. She didn’t understand what was going on, but she failed to see a doctor. Eventually, she collapsed as rivers of blood ran from under her hair. Upon examination, it turned out that she had a colony of bugs living under her hair and literally eating her alive.

Our story goes that a woman had licked an envelope and received a painful paper cut. For a while, she didn’t think anything of it because it was just a small cut, but it continued to be painful for a long time. It even started to swell. It eventually got so bad that she knew she needed to go to the hospital. The doctor who examined her saw the swelling on her tongue and decided to operate right then and there, either to remove the lump or drain pus. (It varies depending on the version of the tale.) As the woman sat wide awake and the doctor prepared to make an incision, a live cockroach crawled its monstrous way out of her mouth in one of the most horrifying birth cycles imaginable.

This story involves a couple who had a very large pet python but didn’t bother keeping it locked up. They kept the snake properly fed, they reasoned, so there wasn’t much to worry about. Eventually, the snake stopped eating for a while, and they wondered if he was sick. Even stranger, they started finding their pet lying out lengthwise next to them. They decided to take the snake to the vet to find out the cause of this disturbing behavior. Alarmingly, the vet told them that they needed to get rid of the snake right away. When they asked why, he explained that the snake had been measuring them and starving himself in preparation to gorge himself on some fresh, delicious human owner.

Shortly after Hurricane Katrina, an urban legend was going around that had a lot of homeowners running scared. According to an email forward, many of the trees that had fallen in the hurricane were being turned into cheap mulch that was coming soon to a store near you. Unfortunately, this mulch likely contained large numbers of Formosan termites.

This legend has a grain of truth to it, as termites could potentially spread through mulch. However, the particular story is unlikely. New Orleans has carefully quarantined any wood that might be infested with termites.

Our tale begins with a small boy who was tired from playing and decided to lie down for a nap. He fell asleep with some candy scattered around near him, and this attracted some ants that were nearby. The little boy woke up unaware that anything was amiss until he started to feel itchy. As time went on, the itchiness got worse, and he started to get headaches. When the headaches got worse and nothing would make the itchiness go away, the little guy’s mother took him to the hospital.

At first, the doctor was utterly baffled by the problem. After taking an X-ray of the child’s head, he discovered that ants had crawled into the child’s brain and formed an entire colony. Because the insects were crawling all around his brain, the colony was inoperable, and the little fella did not survive. Of course, leaving candy lying around actually results in little more than some inconvenience and a can of Raid, so this tall tale was no doubt invented by some very cruel and lazy mothers.

The story goes that an older woman, the type who’s not likely to be very computer-savvy, called tech support with a serious problem. The night before, she had started hearing rather strange hissing sounds coming from her computer. She explained that when the noises began, she decided to shut down the machine for the night and see if it just needed a rest. When she tried to restart the computer the next morning, it emitted more of the same strange hissing sounds and began to smoke. The support tech quickly realized they were out of their depth over the phone and sent someone to the old woman’s house to deal with the problem. When the technician opened the case, they found a snake curled up inside: It had been attracted to the power source.

Pictures of the so-called snake in the computer have been going around for a while and are actually apparently legit. However, the details of the true story are quite different from the legend. It actually took place in an office in Australia, not an elderly woman’s home. While the snake was a venomous red-bellied black snake, it didn’t prove to be very dangerous, because it turns out that snakes can’t survive large amounts of electricity coursing through their slithery, slimy bodies.

The story starts in Atlanta, Georgia, and surrounds a small chain of Chinese restaurants. Imagine you’ve just eaten at your local Asian-American food joint. After you go home, you check the news and see them mentioned. Your stomach starts to turn as you learn that one franchise of the chain restaurant you just visited was shut down for having some very strange secret ingredients in their food.

The police had received a tip about some suspicious imports the restaurant had been receiving and decided to investigate. Upon searching the restaurant, the police found evidence that the owners of the establishment had secretly been serving mice and rats to their customers. They also found puppies and kittens ready to be cooked and served as food. The legends often include pictures of some of the packaged, frozen rodents, but there is no evidence of such a closure occurring.

According to legend, a woman visited a local discount clothing outlet to try on new winter coats. While wearing one of them, she felt a strange prick on her skin. Instead of inspecting the coat further, she simply put it back and went about her day. Before long, she fell ill and eventually ended up in a coma. Though the coma lasts several weeks in the tale, she is somehow able to ascertain what happened. The winter coat she had been trying on was imported from another country and had a deadly viper sewn into the lining.

The story is a bit over-the-top, as it seems impossible for a snake to survive a trip overseas alive while trapped inside a coat. Strangely, though, this tale is widely believed, with outlets like Burlington Coat Factory receiving calls on a regular basis to ask questions about the story.

A woman in Texas was supposedly out walking her dog when it started sniffing around a twig near their garage. The dog recoiled in pain, and the woman realized the “twig” was actually an insect known as a walking stick. At first, she didn’t think much of it, but then her dog’s eye started swelling up badly. When she took him to the vet, she found out that the poor dog had a chemical burn on his eye that was caused by the poison that the insect had secreted. The woman sent pictures of the insect to entomologists, who identified the specimen as a foreign walking stick that had made its way to our shores and was much more poisonous than the ones we are used to.

While no evidence exists of any such foreign species, the story is plausible. There is a species of walking stick insect native to the United States that is capable of excreting a toxin that could be very painful and cause burns on sensitive areas like the eyes. Perhaps next time you are near a twig, you should keep your retinas shielded. Don’t take any walks in the woods.

One legend that’s been passed around the Internet for a long time occurs in an unspecified foreign country, where a young woman purchased a package of Oreo cookies with chocolate cream. Excited to eat the delicious cookies, she opened the package and saw something very strange. Where she would normally expect pure chocolate goodness, there were small white spots all over and inside the cream. She examined the packaging but found nothing to suggest that the white dots should be there. To her horror, she realized that the entire cookie was full of maggot eggs. She returned the cookies, although some of the eggs had horrifyingly dissolved into the cream. She got her money back, but presumably her taste for Oreos was never to return.

You can follow Gregory Myers on Twitter.

View the original article here

Secretion secrets: things you didn’t know about ear wax/must visit

Cleaning ear wax with a cotton bud Earwax is one of those bodily substances which few of us like to discuss in polite company.

Like other secretions, it is something that most of us deal with in private. Yet it also holds a fascination for many.

In the past, it has been used as a lip balm and salve for puncture wounds.

But it can do a little more than that. Recent research suggests it can indicate a build up of pollutants in the body - and it could even be used to diagnose certain conditions.

Here are five things you - probably - didn't know about ear wax.

1. How it gets out The cul-de-sac of the ear canal

The cells inside the ear canal are unique in the human body - they migrate. "You could put an ink dot on the eardrum and watch it move over a few weeks and it would be 'carried out' by the movement of the cells." according to Prof Shakeel Saeed at London's Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear hospital.

If this didn't happen the mini cul-de-sac of the ear canal would soon fill up with dead cells created by the natural process of skin shedding.

This movement also propels the wax - produced by the modified sweat glands which line the ear canal - towards the outside. It's thought that normal movements of the jaw - through eating and talking - assist with this movement.

Prof Saeed has noticed that ear wax does sometimes get darker as we age - and that men whose ears get noticeably hairier as they age sometimes find that the wax can't escape through this jungle of hair.

2. It has anti-microbial properties Cerumen or ear wax secreted by a gland in the ear canal

Ear wax contains waxy oils but much of it is made up of keratinocytes - dead skin cells. The rest of cerumen - to give it its technical name - is a mixture of substances.

Between 1,000 to 2,000 glands produce anti-microbial peptides - whilst sebaceous glands close to hair cells add into the mix alcohols, an oily substance called squalene, cholesterol and triglyceride.

The production of earwax doesn't vary much between men and women. young or old - but in one small study its triglyceride content decreased from November to July.

Cerumen also contains lysozyme, an antibacterial enzyme capable of destroying bacterial cell walls. Other researchers are less convinced and claim that it is the perfect medium in which bacteria can grow.

3. It matters where your family is from

Asian and non-Asian ears produce different types of earwax according to scientists at the Monell Institute in Philadelphia. Chromosome 16 is home to the "wet" or "dry" gene for earwax - with the wet variant dominating.

A small change in the gene ABCC11 is related to both the dry-type earwax and also for reduced underarm body odour found in Chinese, Japanese and Korean individuals.

The American study measured the concentration of 12 volatile organic compounds found in earwax - in groups of East Asian and white men.

In 11 out of the 12 compounds the Caucasian earwax had greater amounts of odorous compounds.

Kate Prigge from Monell says their analysis of the smell of ear wax is a first step towards finding out whether they might eventually use it to detect disease.

The institute studies a rare genetic disorder called maple syrup urine disease, which can be easily diagnosed through the scent of earwax compounds. Swabbing someone's ears is a much simpler and cheaper process then doing a genetic test.

Dr Prigge does realise how odd her choice of career might sound. She says: "You tell someone that you work in human body odour you get a good laugh," says Prigge. "But when you explain the importance behind it or how much information can be gained in these types of studies, people often understand why."

4. A vacuum rather than a syringe might help clear it Carrie Roberts said the procedure was "miraculous"

Carrie Roberts is in her 40s and has an ear wax problem. She had her ears syringed at the GPs several times, tried hot oil with no success - and ended up with both ears blocked.

Ms Roberts decided to pay for micro-suction treatment, where the ear canal is cleaned with an instrument like a tiny vacuum cleaner.

Prof Saeed prefers this method to syringing. "With syringing you are going in 'blind' - not under direct vision. If you use water it has to get past the wax and come back, bringing the wax with it.

"If there is no gap it can't get through and it shouldn't be forced. It is uncommon to damage the ear drums during syringing, but it does happen."

With the micro-suction the whole procedure is carried out whilst looking into the ear canal with a microscope.

Carrie said the procedure was "painless, a little noisy and very quick".

She adds: "It felt like one of those things they put in your mouth at the dentist to suck water out while you are having a filling, but in your ear. It has been miraculous."

Carrie is a convert. "I will go every time now. Much better than syringing as I didn't feel dizzy and faint afterwards, it was much quicker and I didn't have to mess about with olive oil for a week first.

5. It can be a pollution monitor Ear implements from the 1800s

Earwax, like many other bodily secretions, can show traces of certain toxins in the body such as heavy metals. But it's an odd place to look and no more reliable than a simple blood test.

There are also some rare metabolic disorders that affect earwax. The most notable earwax scientific discovery of recent times is that of a 24cm wax earplug from a blue whale.

Unlike humans which shed their earwax and dead skin cells, filter-feeding whales retain their earwax, recording life events similar to the way tree rings reveal arid and wet seasons during its lifetime.

The earwax was analysed by Sascha Usenko, a environmental scientist at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He and his team found that during the 12-year-old male whale's life it came into contact with 16 different pollutants such as pesticides.

There was a peak of exposure during the first year of life - suggesting that these were transferred from its mother either in the womb or through her milk.

High levels of the stress hormone cortisol appeared in the waxy plug as the animal reaches sexual maturity - when competing for a mate would have been a priority.

View the original article here

Secretion secrets: things you didn’t know about ear wax/must visit

Cleaning ear wax with a cotton bud Earwax is one of those bodily substances which few of us like to discuss in polite company.

Like other secretions, it is something that most of us deal with in private. Yet it also holds a fascination for many.

In the past, it has been used as a lip balm and salve for puncture wounds.

But it can do a little more than that. Recent research suggests it can indicate a build up of pollutants in the body - and it could even be used to diagnose certain conditions.

Here are five things you - probably - didn't know about ear wax.

1. How it gets out The cul-de-sac of the ear canal

The cells inside the ear canal are unique in the human body - they migrate. "You could put an ink dot on the eardrum and watch it move over a few weeks and it would be 'carried out' by the movement of the cells." according to Prof Shakeel Saeed at London's Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear hospital.

If this didn't happen the mini cul-de-sac of the ear canal would soon fill up with dead cells created by the natural process of skin shedding.

This movement also propels the wax - produced by the modified sweat glands which line the ear canal - towards the outside. It's thought that normal movements of the jaw - through eating and talking - assist with this movement.

Prof Saeed has noticed that ear wax does sometimes get darker as we age - and that men whose ears get noticeably hairier as they age sometimes find that the wax can't escape through this jungle of hair.

2. It has anti-microbial properties Cerumen or ear wax secreted by a gland in the ear canal

Ear wax contains waxy oils but much of it is made up of keratinocytes - dead skin cells. The rest of cerumen - to give it its technical name - is a mixture of substances.

Between 1,000 to 2,000 glands produce anti-microbial peptides - whilst sebaceous glands close to hair cells add into the mix alcohols, an oily substance called squalene, cholesterol and triglyceride.

The production of earwax doesn't vary much between men and women. young or old - but in one small study its triglyceride content decreased from November to July.

Cerumen also contains lysozyme, an antibacterial enzyme capable of destroying bacterial cell walls. Other researchers are less convinced and claim that it is the perfect medium in which bacteria can grow.

3. It matters where your family is from

Asian and non-Asian ears produce different types of earwax according to scientists at the Monell Institute in Philadelphia. Chromosome 16 is home to the "wet" or "dry" gene for earwax - with the wet variant dominating.

A small change in the gene ABCC11 is related to both the dry-type earwax and also for reduced underarm body odour found in Chinese, Japanese and Korean individuals.

The American study measured the concentration of 12 volatile organic compounds found in earwax - in groups of East Asian and white men.

In 11 out of the 12 compounds the Caucasian earwax had greater amounts of odorous compounds.

Kate Prigge from Monell says their analysis of the smell of ear wax is a first step towards finding out whether they might eventually use it to detect disease.

The institute studies a rare genetic disorder called maple syrup urine disease, which can be easily diagnosed through the scent of earwax compounds. Swabbing someone's ears is a much simpler and cheaper process then doing a genetic test.

Dr Prigge does realise how odd her choice of career might sound. She says: "You tell someone that you work in human body odour you get a good laugh," says Prigge. "But when you explain the importance behind it or how much information can be gained in these types of studies, people often understand why."

4. A vacuum rather than a syringe might help clear it Carrie Roberts said the procedure was "miraculous"

Carrie Roberts is in her 40s and has an ear wax problem. She had her ears syringed at the GPs several times, tried hot oil with no success - and ended up with both ears blocked.

Ms Roberts decided to pay for micro-suction treatment, where the ear canal is cleaned with an instrument like a tiny vacuum cleaner.

Prof Saeed prefers this method to syringing. "With syringing you are going in 'blind' - not under direct vision. If you use water it has to get past the wax and come back, bringing the wax with it.

"If there is no gap it can't get through and it shouldn't be forced. It is uncommon to damage the ear drums during syringing, but it does happen."

With the micro-suction the whole procedure is carried out whilst looking into the ear canal with a microscope.

Carrie said the procedure was "painless, a little noisy and very quick".

She adds: "It felt like one of those things they put in your mouth at the dentist to suck water out while you are having a filling, but in your ear. It has been miraculous."

Carrie is a convert. "I will go every time now. Much better than syringing as I didn't feel dizzy and faint afterwards, it was much quicker and I didn't have to mess about with olive oil for a week first.

5. It can be a pollution monitor Ear implements from the 1800s

Earwax, like many other bodily secretions, can show traces of certain toxins in the body such as heavy metals. But it's an odd place to look and no more reliable than a simple blood test.

There are also some rare metabolic disorders that affect earwax. The most notable earwax scientific discovery of recent times is that of a 24cm wax earplug from a blue whale.

Unlike humans which shed their earwax and dead skin cells, filter-feeding whales retain their earwax, recording life events similar to the way tree rings reveal arid and wet seasons during its lifetime.

The earwax was analysed by Sascha Usenko, a environmental scientist at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He and his team found that during the 12-year-old male whale's life it came into contact with 16 different pollutants such as pesticides.

There was a peak of exposure during the first year of life - suggesting that these were transferred from its mother either in the womb or through her milk.

High levels of the stress hormone cortisol appeared in the waxy plug as the animal reaches sexual maturity - when competing for a mate would have been a priority.

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Gove to write to schools about FGM/must visit

26 February 2014 Last updated at 19:43 By Angela Harrison Social affairs correspondent, BBC News  Female genital mutilation is often carried out on girls as young as four Education Secretary Michael Gove is to write to schools in England to ask them to help protect girls from female genital mutilation (FGM).

Schools will receive guidance before Easter, aimed at stopping "this very serious form of child abuse".

FGM, sometimes called female circumcision, involves the cutting or cutting away of external female genital organs.

It is common in some African, Asian and Middle Eastern communities.

Official figures put the number of victims of FGM in the UK at about 66,000, but this is thought to be an underestimate.

Mr Gove made the announcement after meeting campaigners on Tuesday.

They included Bristol student Fahma Mohamed, who started a petition backed by the Guardian newspaper, asking for Mr Gove to send guidance to schools before the summer, when many girls are taken away to be cut.

The petition, signed by 234,000 people, states that 24,000 girls in the UK are currently at risk of FGM.

Fahma Mohamed started the petition

In a statement released last night, Mr Gove said: "I was very pleased to meet Fahma Mohamed today.

"She has been running an inspirational campaign. Fahma and her supporters have done fantastic work in raising awareness of female genital mutilation.

"It is a truly horrific crime. We must do everything we can to end it."

This will include signs to look out for that a child may have been a victim of FGM, as well as facts about the practice and a guidance that the legal safeguarding duties teachers and school staff have to children include protection from FGM.

Mr Gove added: "I thank Fahma - and other courageous public campaigners against female genital mutilation - for their efforts.

"We all want to see this very serious form of child abuse consigned to history."

FGM has been a criminal offence in the UK since 1985, but no-one in Britain has been prosecuted.

It is often carried out without anaesthetic and victims are usually aged between four and 10. Some are babies.

Continue reading the main story Somalia - more than 97% of women aged 15-39 have been cut in this way Guinea - 99% of women aged 35-39 and 89% of those aged 15-19Egypt - 96% of women aged 35-39 and 81% of those aged 15-19Sierra Leone - 96% of those aged 35-39 and 75% of those aged 15-19

Source: International Development Committee, June 2013

The children are cut for cultural, not medical, reasons and campaigners say it is a way of oppressing and controlling women and a practice that can leave life-long physical and mental scars.

Researchers believe most cases go unreported because the girls are young and do not want to speak out against their families.

Earlier this month, schools in Scotland were told all teachers should receive training about the issue and that parents should be educated too.

The Scottish Parliament was told 3,000 girls in Scotland were at risk.

After meeting Mr Gove, Fahma Mohamed said: "I just want to thank everyone for signing the petition. Without them, without Malala and without Ban Ki-moon, this issue wouldn't have been in the spotlight and he never would have agreed to meet us and say yes!".

The student is a junior trustee of a charity called Integrate Bristol.

A spokesman for the group said: "We are thrilled by this positive response and commitment from the Education Secretary. This is big news for the cause and something the young people have been campaigning for over seven years.

"It's time that FGM is universally recognised as a form of child abuse that cannot be ignored by anyone. For too long the UK has been engaging with the rhetoric but not taking serious steps to combat FGM."

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