Food and Drug Administration

Horror for Bath-Salt Buffs: DEA Acts Against Synthetic Stimulants Used in Vanilla Sky, Bliss, Ivory Wave & Purple Wave. Oh, They Acted Against Fake Weed, Too

The Drug Enforcement Administration took steps today against synthetic stimulants and cannabinoids So if that little froggie pictured above used synthetics to get the sly semi-smile look some drug users get when they finally figure out the world (only to eventually forget what it was that had occur ... More >>

Sitting Pretty

Houston's 10 Best Patios

Fraudulent Fish: 50 Percent of Seafood Sold in Texas Mislabeled, New Oceana Study Reports

Think that tai sushi you're eating is red snapper? It's far more likely to be tilapia, says Oceana, a Washington D.C.-based ocean conservancy organization. This isn't a new concern, of course. Former Houston Press food critic Robb Walsh wrote a scathing expose of the issue back in 2001, "Fish Fraud, ... More >>

El Tiempo Cantina on Navigation, Opening Today, Comes Full Circle

In a big, bold move that throws The Original Ninfa's on Navigation an ever-so-slightly threatening glance, El Tiempo Cantina opens today on Navigation Boulevard, just a stone's throw away from Ninfa's. While the El Tiempo building structure is brand spanking new to Navigation, the family that owns t ... More >>

How To Survive A Plague

David France's stirring history of ACT UP.

Pradaxa Lawsuits Consolidated in Beautiful East St. Louis, Illinois

Families suing the maker of anti-clotting drug Pradaxa will have their cases consolidated in an East St. Louis, Illinois, court -- a decision the Texas-based law firm leading the suits is calling a coup. Pradaxa hit the U.S. market in 2010, hailed by manufacturer Boehringer Ingelheim as a major le ... More >>

CVS: No Birth Control

Won't sell morning-after pill

Party Hard, Claus: Vintage Ads Featuring Santa with Booze, Cigs & Frat-House Kegger Supplies

Soda?! I ain't drinkin' no soda.​Christmas is a time for parties, and apparently no one knows more about hard partying than Kris Kringle himself. You can't blame the man -- anyone facing the pressure of successfully overnighting millions of gifts and checking the goddamn list twice needs to b ... More >>

CVS Refused To Sell Man A Morning-After Pregnancy Pill

No Plan B for you, dude​If you keep a Plan B morning-after pill around for emergencies, sometimes it's going to get used, which means you're going to have to go get a new one, right? And if you're a chivalrous dude, you'll offer to do the chore yourself. That's what Isaac Kurtz set out to do ... More >>

Wine Time: Wine and Sulfur Dioxide

Image via HomeBrewers.com.No, that's not cocaine. It's potassium metabisulfite, one of the many forms of sulfites employed by winemakers for a variety of purposes.​A post earlier this week ("Wine of the Week: A Wine with No Detectable Sulfites") inspired a lot of acidic (pun intended) discussi ... More >>

I'd Like To Teach the World To Sing: 5 Songs About Coca-Cola

​It's hot outside, folks. We're starting to think the Aztecs were onto something, and if we could find a virgin and a sharp knife we might see if a little human sacrifice would appease the hateful sun god. Until then, we'll have to settle for staying indoors and drinking many tall glasses of f ... More >>

The Fish That Got Away

The Gulf of Mexico produces some of the world's most delicious seafood, but we're not processing it for sushi. What gives?

Comment of the Day

​Today Katharine Shilcutt wrote about Dr Pepper sort of suing itself - that is, parent company Dr Pepper Snapple suing the Dublin Dr Pepper plant for allegedly violating the terms of its franchise agreement. Which led commenter Stuart Reb Donald to present his theory about what's going on: ... More >>

A Possible Houston Cure For Crack Addiction Runs Into Red-Tape Problems

Thomas R. Karsten believes he has a vaccine for coke​While a Houston doctor thinks he has found the cure for cocaine addiction, bureaucratic red tape is hindering the vaccine's approval and building doubts for its future success. "My hopes are pretty simple: number one, find some company in t ... More >>

Valley of the Dolls

One pill makes you smarter in a one-note movie.

Come and Bake It

Local movement fights for cottage food bill.

Four Loko Madness On Rice Campus: EMS Calls Jump, Friends Left Abandoned

Sammy the Owl is drunk and abandoned​The scourge of Four Loko is turning Rice University into a depraved, body-strewn landscape where desperate students guzzle the possibly deadly drink with scant consideration of the niceties of society. At least that's the only conclusion we can draw from a ... More >>

Raw Materials Issues Blamed for Shortage of Lethal Injection Drugs

Perhaps a firing squad?​Sodium thiopental, the drug that the state of Texas so desperately needs for its executions, is approved by the FDA for use only as an anesthetic. On the market for more than 70 years, it has been largely replaced in American hospitals by other anesthesia, according to ... More >>

Four Loko No Mo'

Drink faces Texas ban.

Boom Town: Trying Out Boom Boom

Boom Boom boom, take it back to your room​In the wake of the Four Loko odyssey weeks back, I started getting weird offers through e-mail and Twitter for other energy drinks and novelty products. Once you let out the dirty secret that you will try anything for journalistic voyeurism, it's bound ... More >>

Shock the Junkie

Is ibogaine really an addict cure-all?

Four Loko Soon Banned In Texas?

Four Loko: Someone has to cover it​It's funny how certain things become your beat. Some guys get latched onto animal rights, some find their niche working for homeless people, while other find themselves covering a can of liquid death, in my case, Four Loko. I was the one who drank three can ... More >>

Urban Food Legends - Part I: Deadly Pop Rocks, Undead Twinkies and Corrosive Coca-Cola

They didn't blow up Mikey and they won't kill you either.​It would be convenient to say that urban legends and myths can be traced back to some shred of a fact, but the disturbing truth is that some, especially the more entertaining rumors, appear to have no real logical foundation whatsoever ... More >>

Stanlislaw Burzynski: New Movie Proves He's A Cancer-Fighting Giant

Photo by Daniel KramerStanlislaw Burzynsk: Coming soon to a theater near you​Houston's Stanislaw Burzynski, who sells a so-called cancer treatment to patients who have had to mortgage homes to meet his steep fees, has found another major supporter: A NYC-based animator named Eric Merola has just c ... More >>

Pop Rocks: Life Goes On, Even After Lost And 24

​In case you hadn't heard, this week marked the series finales of both 24 and Lost, leaving fans of Byzantine plots, glacial pacing, and right-wing propaganda with huge, empty spaces in their lives. At least until the next Tom Clancy novel comes out. But have no fear, brave TV watchers. For t ... More >>

Songs To Help Kinky Friedman Learn What the Texas Agriculture Commissioner Does

Craig Hlavaty​​Musician, author, animal-rights activist (and probably a couple of other titles we're leaving out) Kinky Friedman announced Monday he was withdrawing as a candidate for governor in next March's Democratic primary and instead seeking the office of Agriculture Commissioner, a post p ... More >>

This Week In Deliciousness

Liven up your Halloween parties this year with some carne asada con silly string.​ Welcome back to the weekly roundup here at Eating Our Words, where we defiantly eat summer sausage in the winter and we don't care who knows it. We kicked off this week at a sort of cookout triathlon with a plot ... More >>

From Sea to Shining Seafood Platter

Photos by J.C. Reid Coming to a seafood platter near youChances are that if you eat seafood in Houston on a regular basis then Jim Gossen provides at least some of it. Gossen is the founder and CEO of Louisiana Foods, one of Houston's largest seafood distributors. The history of Louisiana Fo ... More >>

Calorie Restrictors Stay Hungry in Hopes of Living Longer

An SMU biologist searches to unlock the secrets to the fountain of youth

Ike, Cancer, KBR and Oysters

Waking Life

Fen-Phen Side Effects: Irritable Lawyers

Deceased Inmate's Mother Files Suit Against Harris County and Taser International

Mail Call

Vlog Spot

Oh, Baby Baby

There's a lot of money to be made in adoptions. Jennalee Ryan moved to Texas to continue doing that.

That's Hotze

Letters

Brave New Art

Artists take on corporations and the government in "Thought Crimes"

I Hate It

This Spike Lee joint is a cockeyed, self-righteous and graceless diatribe

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Money and Masa

A few words with underground rapper/tamale kingpin Chingo Bling

Keep On Shuckin'

Live dangerously with the Double Dumbass Combo at Gilhooley's Raw Bar

How Now Mad Cow?

Europe has a problem with diseased cattle. Should Texans be wary?

Side Order of Worms?

You like fresh salmon? So do marine parasites.

Junk-Food Journalism

A new book detailing the "dark side of the all-American meal" could use a little more beef itself

Lights Out

Fireflies are dissapearing from the night sky

News Hostage

End of the Road

Image Augmentation

Plastic surgeon Franklin Rose saves his best makeover for himself

Dish

Mission Impossible

Even without the low pay, high turnover and oppressive conditions, city health inspectors can't manage the load

Cameron Frye Has a Big Idea

And he's put his own money behind it. But who's Cameron Frye?