Take with a pinch of salt and come back in the morning

See how this gets shoe-horned into twitter!

I am still trying to get used to the opportunities and/or constraints of writing for multi-platform publication. Frankly I don't think I can effectively compose a 'one size fits all' and might not even try. This blog is still the main source, and with luck the others will serve well enough to feed back, though I must try and bear in mind the first sentence as a 'lure'.

Anyway, to the point.

About 35 years ago I was very sick. Sparing the grim details, it turned out I had lost a lot of blood internally from my stomach lining. The culprit was deemed to be Aspirin, and I have kept away from it ever since. No biggie in the headache stakes, as there are plenty of alternatives.

However, as I hit my hypochondriac dotage, it has irked that I cannot be spared the simple heart attack preventative that it represented/represents. Hardly a day went by without its miraculous benefits being advocated.

Or... er... have I dodged a (magic) bullet here?

I must say I always wondered how what is evidently an aggressive drug could be safely advocated for regular, endless use.

Because over the weekend I heard a massive cautionary story. Trying to Google for more was... an eye-opener.

No doubt we'll be continue to be treated to a bunch of major scares with extremes on both sides.

But it has to be wondered how well we are served by science by the 'establishment', from researchers to quangos to ministers to media.