March 2008 Health in the News Archive

[ Monthly Index of New Briefs ]

A mobile-phone industry group dismissed Khurana's claims as exaggerated and pointed out that health groups say cell phones are safe. The American Cancer Society also says there is no link.

But consider this: It took until the 1960's for people to accept the idea that cigarette smoke was harmful. It was another 20 to 30 years before secondhand smoke was accepted as dangerous and outlawed in the work place. Cigarette proponents for decades offered that health claims were exaggerated, that "It's not for sure," and "It needs more study."

It is good to see appearing in mainstream literature what has been common knowledge in functional medicine circles for years. Yes, anti-oxidants are very helpful to treat all forms of oxidative stress, including cancer. Resveratrol is one of the polyphenol antioxidants abundant in grapes, berries, tea, red cabbage, eggplant, beans, whole grains, and cocoa. It is most abundant in blue, red, and purple grapes. Resveratrol is also abundant in a Chinese medicinal root called hu zhang (Polygonum cuspidatum), which is often the source of resveratrol in dietary supplements.

Resveratrol is produced by the grape plant to protect it against environmental stress. How fitting that it will also help to protect us against environmental stress – because what is cancer, if not the ultimate result of environmental stress? And when we eat the grapes, we derive the same benefit as the plant – this is called xenohormesis – messages through our food from other species. How much better to eat these helpful messages, rather than the terrified hormonal messages from the modern meat slaughterhouses.

rBGH is sold as Posilac. Monsanto has been forced to admit to about 20 toxic effects, including mastitis, on its Posilac label. Mastitis causes increased amounts of pus in milk. The use of it increases the amount of milk cows give.

According to Dr. Samuel Epstein, rBGH milk is supercharged with high levels of a natural growth factor (IGF-1), which is readily absorbed through the gut. Excess levels of IGF-1 have been incriminated as a cause of breast, colon, and prostate cancers; IGF-1 blocks natural defense mechanisms against early submicroscopic cancers.

WalMart's move sends a powerful signal to food manufacturers about the growing mainstream demand for food that is free of hormones and other man-made contaminants. Educated consumers have the power to move mountains.

In 2000 the Institute of Medicine (medical arm of the National Academy of Science) published the results of a long term study on medical errors titled "To Err is Human".

Among its findings-
Every single year in the US direct medical errors result in:

• at least 100,000 deaths (half medication error, half surgical error)
• 116 million extra doctors visits
• 77 million extra prescriptions
• 17 million extra emergency room visits
• 8 million extra hospitalizations

Another 225,000 deaths occur from preventable adverse events such as hospital borne infections.

It is estimated that only 5 to 20 percent of adverse reactions and medical mistakes are ever reported.

The "To Err is Human" report concluded that if put in their own category, medical errors would be the 5th leading cause of death in the US killing more people than stroke, Alzheimer's, most forms of cancer, and car accidents.

According to Dr. Carolyn Dean, author of Death by Modern Medicine in 2005, the mainstream medical industry kills 784,000 people each year in America; "Saddam Hussein did not kill that many people each year," she wrote.

Lots of genetic variants can certainly explain in part why some people get a disease and others don't, with exactly the same predisposing factors. However, it is important to realize that there still has to be a "provoking incident" in order for the genetic variant to result in an actual expression of disease. This is called an "epigenetic" factor, something which happens to the person with the genetic variant. So… genetic variants exist. They do not result in disease unless the epigenetic factors are sufficient to overwhelm the system. Thus, post traumatic stress disorder does not occur in the absence of a significant traumatic stress. Heart disease and osteoporosis do not occur in the absence of a diet and lifestyle predisposing to chronic inflammation. We can't change our genetic variants, but we certainly have a great deal of influence over their expression.

So maybe those people who respond poorly to a low glycemic diet would respond better if they were simultaneously taking something to increase their insulin sensitivity – like the hops rho alpha iso acids pioneered by the Metagenics company, or even like metformin, pioneered by the pharmaceutical industry. It is helpful to know the genotype, in order to be able to treat the individual in the most appropriate and economic way.

When reading labels on personal products and makeup, you can avoid ingredients with "myreth," "oleth," "laureth," "ceteareth," any other "eth," "PEG," "polyethylene," "polyethylene glycol," "polyoxyethylene," or "oxynol," in the names.

Consumer beware. Your best bet is to purchase products whose ingredients you can pronounce or are certified under the USDA National Organic Program.

Violence is a tough way to make a point, but their point is valid. There are no studies that show GM foods are safe, but there are studies that raise serious doubts.

This study speaks for itself. We keep coming back to the same old statement, if we can't pronounce it, and it has to be made in a laboratory, we probably should not eat it (or breathe it).

At least this delay gives us time to inform our parents that the vaccination schedule, as it is currently established, is unsafe and needs to be significantly modified in order to be safe for those of our children who have difficulty with detoxification. And is it possible that the recorded drop in IQ scores over the past 10 years may reflect the difficulty of ALL our children with these injections of toxic and infectious compounds? We have an entire lost generation, those children who received vaccinations between 1990 and 2002, who are at risk for developmental and immune system dysfunction for the rest of their lives. If we learn from the events, then we can do something to help future generations of children. It is up to us, one child at a time.

Phoenix's water was not tested as part of this AP investigation. According to the Arizona Republic edition of 03-14-08, both Phoenix and Scottsdale plan to initial testing of their drinking water for pharmaceutical medications. Other cities in the area are choosing to wait and see if the Federal Government tells us that the levels of pharmaceuticals are dangerous. I must confess that I am VERY glad I live in one of the cities which is choosing to be proactive about this potentially extremely dangerous issue.

Recent laboratory research has found that small amounts of medication have affected human embryonic kidney cells, human blood cells and human breast cancer cells. The cancer cells proliferated too quickly; the kidney cells grew too slowly; and the blood cells showed biological activity associated with inflammation.

The federal government doesn't require any testing and hasn't set safety limits for drugs in water. Given the power and influence of the pharmaceutical industry, safety limits – if there are such things – could be a long time coming.