Hair dye. Sunscreen. Band-Aids.

If you believe this week's medical news, the stuff in your bathroom cabinets may pose a substantial health risk. Or it may not. It's hard to tell with the mixed information we hear in the media.

First, there's hair color [0]. A couple weeks ago, TV news shows sounded an alarm: Hair dye could be linked to an increased risk of lymphoma [0]. Since some 54% of women regularly color their hair, they understandably wanted more information. Yesterday's New York Times [1] tried to put the risk in perspective with this quote: "...using hair dye may present a remote risk to your health, but it would still be less risky than crossing the street..."

The newspaper also knocked [2]two popular TV news shows for misleading the public with "often breathless press coverage" that "stokes fears."

Then, there's sunscreen [2]. For years, physicians, mothers, editors, cosmeticians, pretty much everyone except the dog has drilled it into our heads: Slather on as much sunscreen as possible. Then slather on some more to guard against skin cancer and wrinkles.

Now comes the news that sunscreen may actually be harmful [3]because we need a daily dose of UVB rays -- or Vitamin D -- to fight 12 types of cancer. I don't what to believe. But I've decided to throw caution to wind and keep using it.

And finally, there are Band Aids. The New York Times [4] devoted highly valuable space on its editorial page to inform us about a radical change in scientific thinking about Band-Aids [5]. Old science: If you cut yourself, apply antibiotic cream and pop on a Band Aid. New science: If you cut yourself, apply Vaseline [6], expose the wound to open air and pick at the scab whenever tempted.

I'm not sure which is more startling — that we should pick at our scabs or that the Times is surprised by a 180-degree turn regarding medical advice.

Stay tuned for next week, when I'm sure we'll learn that seatbelts don't save lives after all, and smoking is a great for the lungs, breath and crows feet.