Cotton buds: Should we be using them to clean our ears?

Charlotte WrightPolitical Editor, South East PA Media Green Party leader Zack Polanski spoke to Charlotte Wright ahead of the party’s annual conference in Bournemouth The leader of the Green Party says he wants to legalise all drugs, calling for an approach “led by public health experts, not politicians”. Speaking to BBC South East ahead of…

u003c/p>u003cscript type=”text/javascript”>require([‘idcta/idcta-1’], function(idcta) {new idcta.Cta({id: ‘id4-cta-37835d6b-5aa3-43b9-99e9-0e5aa2ba30b2’, states: {}, policyname: ”});});u003c/script>”,”userSettings”:{“isPersonalisationEnabled”:false,”isPerformanceCookieOn”:false,”isUnder16″:false,”isSignedIn”:false,”isFunctionalityCookieOn”:false,”isInUk”:true},”appConfig”:{“baseUrl”:”https://rms.api.bbc.co.uk”,”clientApiKey”:”3A5LU4tQWvWW3lpgF5OT4IWUoyLaju9z”,”personalisedActivitiesUriSegment”:”/v2/my/activities”,”subscribeDelay”:1000,”dials”:{“is16x9CategoryCardEnabled”:true,”isMusicMixesEnabled”:true,”isAnalyticsEnabled”:true,”isOptimizelyEnabled”:true,”isSubscribeButtonEnabled”:true,”isPromoModalEnabled”:true,”areIdServicesEnabled”:true,”hasSurveyBanner”:false,”isWebPEnabled”:true,”msiExperimentOverride”:”text_only”,”smpSignInExperimentOverride”:”default”,”isLivePlayEventsEnabled”:true,”isSubtitlesDialEnabled”:true,”isExukBannerEnabled”:true,”isExukRoutingEnabled”:true,”isCommercialLinksEnabled”:true,”isTracksPollingEnabled”:true,”isTracklistPlayingEnabled”:true,”isLiveExperienceApiEnabled”:false,”isJwtOnLivePlaybackEnabled”:true,”isChaptersDialEnabled”:false,”isTrailersDialEnabled”:true},”pageTitle”:””,”experimentationClientUrl”:”https://static.files.bbci.co.uk/sounds/web/sounds-web/js/tvr-experimentation-client.ddac14b832″,”bumpUrl”:”https://emp.bbci.co.uk/emp/bump-4/bump-4″,”msiUrl”:”//rmp.files.bbci.co.uk/radio-msi/latest”,”bbcUserInfoUrl”:”https://www.bbc.co.uk/userinfo”,”clientSideTelemetryOptions”:{“url”:”https://telemetry.api.bbci.co.uk/tvr-telemetry/sounds-web/telemetry”,”sampleRate”:25,”service”:”sounds-web”,”pageType”:”play-aod-pid”},”isPlayout”:true,”playbackIdentifier”:”m002fvhn”,”pageType”:”aod”,”aodPageType”:”aod-singlePid”,”aodHeartbeatInterval”:30000,”isSelectedSegmentsEnabled”:false,”isMobile”:false,”trailersApiBaseUrl”:”https://mt.api.bbc.co.uk/fd/martech-ott”},”soundsNav”:{“contentType”:”player-episode”},”experimentation”:{“activeRetentionMetrics”:[]},”bookmark”:{“isBookmarksEnabled”:false,”isBookmarkStatusUpdating”:false,”bookmarkDelay”:1000},”subscribe”:{“isSubscribeEnabled”:false,”isSubscribeStatusUpdating”:false,”subscribeDelay”:1000},”smp”:{“isSplashScreenEnabled”:true,”isSplashScreenRunning”:true,”live”:false,”writePlaysData”:false,”jwtFetchWasRetried”:false,”chaptersSmpPluginUrl”:”https://static.files.bbci.co.uk/sounds/web/sounds-web/js/sounds-segments.4dbd15cd5f.js”},”msiModal”:{“open”:false,”shouldShowOnPlayback”:true},”locale”:”en”,”pageType”:”play”,”programmes”:{“current”:{“id”:”p0lmw9ny”,”type”:”playable_item”,”urn”:”urn:bbc:radio:episode:m002fvhn”,”network”:{“id”:”bbc_radio_four”,”key”:”radio4″,”short_title”:”Radio 4″,”logo_url”:”https://sounds.files.bbci.co.uk/3.9.4/networks/bbc_radio_four/{type}_{size}.{format}”,”network_type”:”master_brand”},”release”:{“date”:”2025-07-15T00:00:00Z”,”label”:”15 Jul 2025″},”titles”:{“primary”:”Inside Health”,”secondary”:”Sport and the female body”,”tertiary”:null,”entity_title”:”Sport and the female body”},”synopses”:{“short”:”How does female physiology affect sporting performance?”,”medium”:”As an era-defining summer of women’s sport kicks off, Inside Health asks how does female physiology affect sporting performance?”,”long”:”As an era-defining summer of women’s sport kicks off, Inside…

Michelle RobertsDigital health editor Getty Images People who have cosmetic filler injections in their face should be warned of the risk of a dangerous complication involving blocked arteries that can lead to skin loss and even blindness due to damaged blood flow, say experts. Researchers used ultrasound to study 100 cases of filler injections that…

Gastroesophageal reflux (GER), commonly known as acid reflux, occurs when stomach contents travel up into the esophagus (tube connecting the stomach and throat). Most people experience acid reflux occasionally. However, long-lasting GER (also called GERD) can cause heartburn, nausea, chest pain, pain when swallowing, chronic cough, and other symptoms. Probiotics—microorganisms that support good bacteria in…

Nick TriggleHealth correspondent Getty Images The number of patients in hospital in England with influenza has risen by more than 50% in the past week, with NHS bosses warning there is no sign of “super flu” peaking yet. In the week up to Sunday there were 2,660 flu cases a day on average in hospital…