It’s banned but not gone: Lead paint is still a danger – USATODAY.com
Jun 28th, 2009 by DrB
It’s banned but not gone: Lead paint is still a danger – USATODAY.com.
NDF detoxification factors. Available at
Aluminum in Drinking Water Connected to Dementia
Mar 15th, 2009 by DrB
Aluminum in Drinking Water Connected to Dementia: “Exposure to aluminum in drinking water can increase your person’s risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, but silica could reduce the risk. In a recent study, researchers followed elderly subjects for 15 years to learn whether the presence of aluminum in their drinking water would increase their chances of experiencing dementia, Alzheimer’s disease or cognitive decline.
Aluminum Drinking Bottles
Researchers found that consuming at least 0.1 milligram per day of aluminum was associated with greater cognitive decline. However, they also determined that consuming 10 milligrams per day of silica reduced the chances of dementia by 11 percent.
The investigators believe that further studies are needed to settle the debate over the link between aluminum in drinking water and neurological disorders.
How Cranberries Prevent Urinary Tract Infections
Mar 15th, 2009 by DrB
How Cranberries Prevent Urinary Tract Infections: ”
Chemicals present in cranberries prevent infection-causing bacteria from attaching to the cells that line the urinary tract. It was previously thought that the acidity of cranberry juice caused the effect.
Cranberries
Adhesion of bacteria to cells lining the urinary tract is the first step in the development of a urinary tract infections (UTIs). Chemicals found in cranberry products called proanthocyanidins (PACs) prevent E. coli, which is the cause of about 85 percent of UTIs, from adhering to these urinary tract epithelial cells by affecting the surface properties of the bacteria.
Researchers exposed E. coli grown in culture to either light cranberry juice cocktail or cranberry PACs and measured the adhesion forces between the bacteria and a silicon surface using atomic force microscopy. They demonstrated that the longer the bacteria were exposed to either the cranberry juice or the PACS, the greater the decrease in bacterial attachment.
Cuomo warns AIG over year-end bonuses
Mar 15th, 2009 by DrB
Cuomo warns AIG over year-end bonuses
Tue Nov 18, 2008 6:00pm EST 
By Grant McCool
NEW YORK (Reuters) – New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo warned American International Group Inc (AIG.N) on Tuesday of “significant legal ramifications” over executive bonuses as part of his drive to force rescued firms to drop year-end payments.
“Please inform my office as soon as possible what AIG plans to do with respect to executive bonuses and pay raises this year,” Cuomo wrote in a letter to AIG Chief Executive Officer Edward Liddy. “As you know, I believe AIG’s decision has significant legal ramifications.”
Public outrage over lavish banker pay has prompted Goldman Sachs (GS.N) and UBS (UBSN.VX) to announce their executives would not be receiving year-end bonuses.
Bonuses have been strongly criticized as U.S. taxpayers, suffering the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, question the U.S. Treasury Department’s $700 billion bailout of the industry that played a large role in creating the crisis.
Cuomo and California Congressman Henry Waxman are investigating executive pay, putting pressure on firms over their policies of paying out millions of dollars in bonuses to executives each year.
In his letter to Liddy, Cuomo said, “it seems hard to imagine that AIG could pay significant bonuses or give raises to its executives after the company has quite literally been bailed out by the American taxpayer.”
Cuomo said in a statement on Monday that it was time for the rest of Wall Street “to look in the mirror” and follow UBS and Goldman Sachs. He said Citigroup (C.N), which is cutting 52,000 jobs, should announce quickly that top executives will not receive bonuses.
Earlier in November, the U.S. government invested $125 billion in Goldman, Citigroup and seven other large U.S banks. Companies receiving funds agreed to restrictions on executive compensation.
Compensation for executives below the very top level is not disclosed, but banks are expected to cut their bonuses by 50 to 70 percent compared with last year.
(Additional reporting by Joseph Giannone; Editing by Bernard Orr)
Eat fish, eat smart
Feb 28th, 2009 by DrB
The folk wisdom that fish is a remarkable food has been confirmed by scientists who have found that omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil lower ‘bad’ cholesterol levels and lessen the risk of cardiovascular disease. Recent studies suggest that fish consumption can also improve eye and brain development, help avert macular degeneration and adult-onset diabetes and alleviate rheumatoid arthritis, Parkinson’s disease and even some mental illnesses.
The American Heart Association promotes eating fish at least twice a week.
But some fish, particularly larger, long-lived species, contain mercury, a powerful neurotoxin that can inflict severe damage on the developing brain and nervous system. Mercury-contaminated fish poses particular dangers to pregnant women, women of childbearing age, infants and young children.
Which fish are likely to contain the most omega-3s and the least mercury? The federal Food and Drug Administration and Environmental Protection Agency offer only sketchy guidance.
But eating fish doesn’t have to be a roll of the dice. To help consumers make more informed choices, Gary L. Ginsberg and Brian F. Toal, scientists with the Connecticut state Department of Public Health and authors of the book What’s Toxic — What’s Not, have come up with a detailed risk/benefit analysis of popular food fish, species by species. 
In a study published in the February 2009 edition of Environmental Health Perspectives, the influential journal of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Ginsberg and Toal lay out their calculations in painstaking detail.
And, for consumers who just want to know which types of fish will give them the biggest health benefit with the least mercury content, there’s a speed-read:
For best neurodevelopmental results:
- Unlimited — Tilapia, pollack, flounder, shrimp, trout, herring, salmon
- Twice per week — Canned light tuna, cod
- Once per week — Canned white tuna, tuna steak, halibut, sea bass, lobster
- Do not eat — Swordfish, shark
For best cardiovascular benefits:
- Unlimited — Tilapia, pollack, flounder, shrimp, trout, herring, salmon, canned light tuna, cod
- Twice per week — Canned white tuna, halibut, sea bass, lobster
- Once per week — Tuna steak
- Do not eat — Swordfish, shark
With one caveat: the advice to eat ‘unlimited’ quantities of tilapia, pollack, flounder, shrimp, trout, herring and salmon ‘may need to be tempered for certain fish (e.g., farm-raised salmon) because of other contaminants and end points (e.g., cancer risk).’
Ginsberg and Toal also warn that more research needs to be done on the impact of varying doses of both omega-3s and mercury, particularly concerning how mercury exposure may affect the cardiovascular system.
Although there is still much to be learned, the Ginsberg-Toal study’s well-researched, soundly-reasoned and essentially positive message is a must-read for those who want straight facts and smart analysis.
”
(Via Enviroblog.)
House holds hearing on broken toxic law
Feb 28th, 2009 by DrB
House holds hearing on broken toxic law: “
Special to Enviroblog by Sandra Schubert, EWG Director of Government Affairs
Yesterday’s hearing in the House of Representatives clearly showed the need for reform of TSCA. All ten witnesses – representatives from labor, the environmental and public health and environmental justice communities, government, medical care providers, and the chemical industry – agree that TSCA needs to be reformed. In addition, there was widespread agreement that we need to prioritize chemicals that we find in people, have more data on the adverse effects of these chemicals, focus on risk, have companies prove that chemicals are safe before they are put on the market, and protect babies and children – the most vulnerable members of our society.
EWG was happy to hear this as it is exactly what the Kid-Safe Chemicals Act will do. Based on their comments, we are hopeful that the chemical industry will join us in our strong support of the bill, due to be reintroduced in the coming weeks.
”
(Via Enviroblog.)
With Photos, It’s All About Timing
Feb 28th, 2009 by DrB
With Photos, It’s All About Timing: “Sometimes, a good photo is all about exactly when you take it.
“
(Via Vital Votes – Natural Health Articles by Dr. Joseph Mercola.)
Smoke Inhalation in Souther California
Nov 15th, 2008 by DrB
The recent fires in Montecito and Sylmar in Southern California have taken a terrible toal.
- Sylmar Fire
Many people have lost there homes and in these economic times may not be able to recover. Countless thousands are also having to breathe in smoke and ash from these fires as the plumes stretch for miles. I would like to recommend one amazing product to help with expectoration and lung function it is called Clear Lung, amazingly helpful in clearing particles and mucous from the lungs. Clear Lung by Pacific Health Sciences
Vaccination’s Possible Links to Childhood Behavioral Disorders
Oct 26th, 2008 by DrB
Study makes the case for further CDC investigation: links between vaccinations and neurobehavioral disorders?
June 26, 2007
Parents of children with ADD, ADHD, and autism spectrum disorders have been asking the Centers for Disease Control to do further research into a possible correlation between vaccinations containing mercury and neurobehavioral disorders for years. Now Generation Rescue, a small non-profit formed by parents of children with neurological disorders, has released a study that the CDC should be hard pressed to ignore.
The study, which was conducted by an independent opinion research firm, surveyed the parents of more than 9,000 boys in California and Oregon and found that vaccinated boys were 2.5 times more likely to have a diagnosed neurological disorder than unvaccinated boys.
Generation Rescue is quick to admit that this is just a phone survey, but the findings show a strong trend and suggest the need for further research. Among boys aged 11-17, there is not a single developmental condition where the survey detected a higher incidence rate for unvaccinated boys.
Which brings us to the next big question: why hasn’t the CDC done a more refined version of this study already? One excuse trotted out is that that it would be next to impossible to identify a cohort of unvaccinated children, but Generation Rescue has blown that excuse right out of the water. If a small parent led group can find more than 900 unvaccinated children in just two states, surely the CDC can find a statistically significant number of them nationwide.
Some theorists say that the CDC is not institutionally capable of doing such a simple and elegant study. Bureaucratic inertia, they say, would introduce so many irrelevant and complicating factors into the study design that costs would escalate out of control and the truth would be buried in irrelevant details.
We think, however, that the CDC could do it. And more to the point, to retain any integrity on this issue at all, the CDC must do this study.
The time has come for answers. After all, if mercury in vaccines is not implicated in autism spectrum disorders, what better way to find out than looking at vaccinated versus unvaccinated children?
More on Charles Bonnet Syndrome
Jun 8th, 2008 by DrB
Chuck Bonnet and the Hallucinations
From DamnInteresting.com
In the year 1760, a Swiss naturalist named Charles Bonnet became concerned when his grandfather Charles Lullin began to experience a parade of “amusing and magical visions.” The eighty-nine-year-old Lullin was being visited by visions of people, birds, carriages, and buildings, all of which were invisible to everyone but him. Apparently these mysterious objects materialized spontaneously among the few bits of the world he was still able to perceive through his cataracts.
Bonnet’s grandfather did not demonstrate any other signs of marble loss, in fact he seemed quite sane aside from the vivid hallucinations. Moreover, the elderly man was keenly aware that the strange sights were all in his mind. Bonnet cataloged his grandfather’s curious circumstances, and over time the condition he described came to be known as Charles Bonnet Syndrome, or CBS. Numerous similar cases have been recorded in the decades since, and though it has long been regarded as a rare disease, recent evidence suggests that it is much more widespread than previously believed.
For those stricken with Charles Bonnet Syndrome, the world is occasionally adorned with vivid yet unreal images. Some see surfaces covered in non-existent patterns such as brickwork or tiles, while others see phantom objects in astonishing detail, including people, animals, buildings, or whatever else their minds may conjure. These images linger for as little as several seconds or for as much as several hours, appearing and vanishing abruptly. They may consist of commonplace items such as bottles or hats, or brain-bending nonsense such as dancing children with giant flowers for heads.
Most of those afflicted with Charles Bonnet Syndrome are people in the early stages of sight loss, and the hallucinations usually begin while their vision is still present but slowly diminishing. The most common culprit is macular degeneration, a disease where certain light-sensing cells in the retina malfunction and cause a slowly worsening blind spot in the center of one’s vision. Other eye diseases such as glaucoma and cataracts can cause the symptoms as well, and in a few rare cases it has been diagnosed in people without any detectable vision problems whatsoever. The likelihood of Bonnet visions also seems to increase in people who have limited social interaction, such as people who live alone.
Even people with damaged sight are often startled by the clarity of these hallucinations. The condition does not cause a series of vague, floating images; the visions are highly detailed, and quite often they will conform to their surroundings. A nonexistent man might sit down and relax in a real-life recliner, or a convoy of poached eggs may drape themselves on a legitimate mantelpiece. Sometimes a significant segment of reality is altered– such as staircase which becomes a steep mountain slope or a room which morphs in size and shape– making the world difficult to navigate. Real objects can even vanish for periods of time, leaving little or no evidence of their prior presence.
How a Bonnet vision might appear to someone with glaucomaA significant percentage of patients also describe floating, disembodied faces that squirm into their field of vision at random times. These often have wide, unblinking eyes; prominent teeth; and features reminiscent of a stone gargoyle.
Images of people are a common occurrence, though familiar faces are seldom seen. Most of the apparitions are strangers, although there are many reports of grieving people seeing their deceased loved ones during such hallucination episodes. These phantom people normally wear pleasant expressions on their faces as they loiter in eerie silence, and they make frequent eye contact with the viewer. Curiously, a great number of these imaginary characters are described as wearing hats, sometimes along with elaborate costumes.
Although these strikingly realistic images are usually non-threatening, they cannot be easily banished. Often variations of the same images appear repeatedly, but the items are seldom anything with any particular emotional meaning. In fact, they are frequently mundane items such as trucks or trees, though there are reports of dramatic scenes involving such things as funeral processions and dragons. The subjects of these visions are sometimes life-sized, but it is not uncommon for the hallucinations to appear in miniature, an effect called “lilliput hallucinations,” named after the small Lilliputian people from Gulliver’s Travels. Less frequently, visions will appear larger-than-life.
Although a Charles-Bonneter realizes at a rational level that the hallucinations are manufactured by the mind, it is nonetheless troubling to wake up to a room full of strangers, or to see vivid faces staring out of the shrubbery. It can also be disconcerting when visions of ordinary objects appear in ordinary places– such as a bottle on a table or a truck on the street– making fiction more difficult to separate from reality. In one case, a woman pointed out to her maid how cruel it was for her neighbor to leave the cows at pasture in the bitter winter cold, and she was embarrassed to learn that her maid could see no cows.
Some CBS visions are so outlandish that the viewers describe a moment of astonishment as they bid a premature farewell to their sanity. One woman was visited by several tiny chimney sweeps in stovepipe hats that paraded around her home, and another man spoke of a gaggle of monkeys in blue coats and red hats frolicking in his front yard day after day. Given the basic human tendency to trust one’s senses, these hallucinations can stir up lively struggles between emotion and reason. In an ironic demonstration of their intact rationality, many people afflicted with CBS choose not to report these strange visions for fear of having their sanity cast in doubt. In contrast, people with psychosis tend to immerse themselves in elaborate fictions to explain their hallucinations, and seldom question their own mental health.
The construction of the human eyeThe exact cause of Charles Bonnet Syndrome is not presently known, but the popular theory suggests that the brain is merely attempting to compensate for a shortage of visual stimuli. Consider that each human eye normally receives data at a rate of about 8.75 megabits per second, a bandwidth which is significantly greater than most high-speed Internet connections. The visual cortex is the most massive system in the human brain, and it is packed with pathways which manipulate the rush of visual data before handing it over to the conscious mind. When disease begins to kink this firehose of information, a legion of neurons are left standing idle.
It is worth noting that the human brain already has significant talent in dealing with partial blindness. Every human eye has a blind spot where the optic nerve passes through the retina, and the visual cortex automatically fills in these blind spots by extrapolating what should be there based on the surrounding detail. Since a person’s two blind spots do not overlap, the brain can also cross-reference the eye data when both eyes are active. In gradual-onset blindness, it is possible that these brain pathways attempt to fill in the new obscured areas. Since the eyes are sending reduced amounts of data with a greater frequency of errors, the visual cortex may produce more and more outlandish guesses.
You can indirectly perceive your own blind spot by using the image below. Simply sit close to your screen with your right eye covered, and focus on the word “Interesting.” Maintain that focus while slowly moving away from the screen, and at a particular distance the logo will disappear although the blue lines and the word “Damn” will still be visible. If you change your gaze, the logo will no longer be in the blind spot, and it will reappear.
Some have suggested that Bonnet visions are the product of the same mechanisms that generate dreams. Clearly the mind is starved of visual input during sleeping periods, so it stands to reason that both dreams and CBS hallucinations may be the result of the same thing: the visual cortex becomes bored due to lack of stimulation, and gratifies itself using stored imagery. This notion is further supported by sensory deprivation experiments, where subjects experience hallucinations when placed in complete darkness for long periods of time. But the explanation fits the problem imperfectly, because dreams include sound and sensations, whereas Bonnet-visions are confined to sight.
In cases where patients see gargoyle-like floating faces, it is likely that the lateral occipital region of the brain is contributing. That chunk of the visual cortex participates in plucking human faces out the river of incoming visual data, and it is the same wad of neurons that is tickled by any pattern that vaguely resembles a face, such as the front of a car. When this region becomes starved for input, it is quite possible that its lowers its standards considerably, and reveals faces that do not exist.
Formal studies have found that Charles Bonnet Syndrome has a higher rate of occurrence in those with higher education and those with creative leanings, a finding which suggests that the concept-association skills inherent in creativity and intelligence may be playing a role. The whole condition is also reminiscent of phantom limb syndrome, where people with missing limbs experience sensations as though the body parts are still present.
Of course there are some who believe that these bizarre Charles Bonnet visions have nothing to do with attention-starved brain cells, but rather they are real images from some alternate reality that is parallel to our own. The theory suggests that people cannot normally perceive these parallel realities because they are drowning in a flood of visual data from our own world. It is implied– though not stated outright– that these parallel realities must be strange places where people sometimes have flowers instead of heads, and preposterous guesses instead of evidence.
Visualizing the visual cortexOne of the most thorough studies of the phenomenon was undertaken at the University Hospital in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, where 505 visually handicapped patients were involved. Of those, it was found that sixty-three had experienced complex visual hallucinations in the four-week period before screening. Psychiatric examination of the patients revealed no other disorders which might cause such side effects. This and other studies suggest that as many as 15% of people with vision loss experience Charles Bonnet Syndrome hallucinations to some degree. It is even rumored that Charles Bonnet himself followed in his grandfather’s footsteps, witnessing his own set of inexplicable visions when his eyes began to fail him later in life.
Given the high rate of Bonnet-visions among patients in these studies, it seems that it is not so rare as it was once thought. The small number of reported cases is probably due to the sufferers’ universal reluctance to describe their experiences; most of those afflicted with CBS will not speak of the hallucinations at all unless they are asked directly. One of the most effective treatments is to simply inform the patient that these visions are not a reflection on their mental well-being. This may not prevent future hallucinations, but in many cases it will greatly reduce the related anxiety.
Some Charles-Bonneters are able to banish their phantoms by changing the environment in some way– such as turning the lights on or off– though most of the time a patient is subject to their visions’ whims. Others have resorted to befriending the apparitions, making idle one-sided conversation as the imaginary guests stare quietly. Fortunately the condition is almost always temporary, and in most cases the visiting visions fade away forever after twelve to eighteen months.
Human perception is patently imperfect, so even a normal brain must fabricate a fair amount of data to provide a complete sense of our surroundings. We humans are lucky that we have these fancy brains to chew up the fibrous chunks of reality and regurgitate it into a nice, mushy paste which our conscious minds can digest. But whenever one of us notices something that doesn’t exist, or fails to notice something that does exist, our personal version of the world is nudged a little bit further from reality. It makes one wonder how much of reality we all have in common, and how much is all in our minds
Further reading:
Details on Charles Bonnet Syndrome and related studies
CBS FAQ at the RNIB
Macular Degeneration
Information on the human blind spot
Nothing Changes
Sep 11th, 2007 by DrB
Did you know you were too dumb to order health products?
Well according to many nutritional companies, you are.
Its happening all over again and this time in the natural health industry.
Several major companies in the natural food industry are establishing hierarchical guidelines regarding the use of their products. Are their products any different than the ones they have been selling for the last 10-20 years? No they are not. Are they suddenly more dangerous? No. Are they responsible for many side effects or deaths? No.
Well then what’s the problem?
Good Question.
Probably due to a number of factors intertwining each other, (from establishing perceived market value, to reducing liability, to illusions of grandeur), some major players in the natural health industry are establishing restrictive guidelines that are beginning to create what was formerly considered the industries worst nightmare. A restrictive regulatory body that controls vitamin, minerals, herbs and other nutritional substances, heretofore marketed under the DSHEA regulatory statute as Dietary substances.
This has come about with the restriction of internet sales of their products to practitioners only. Cutting out the public from direct sales.
Is this done purely in the interest of safety for the consumer? Well perhaps partly, but it also prevents internet entrepreneurs from driving down the market value of the company’s products by discounting. And in doing so also prevents educated and responsible individuals from direct purchasing of the products without going through a third party the “health practitioner,” many of whom overprice the suggested retail of these products in their offices.
What are other consequences of these actions?
Well in a word “restriction.”
Elimination of internet sales of the product.
Reduction of health freedoms of the individual.
Inevitable introduction of new restrictive legislation regarding health products.
The danger of leading us into a restrictive era , where health nutrients are sold by prescription only and regulated by a hierarchy of nutritional companies and health practitioners. Vis-à-vis German Codex commission E.
Ah yes Germany, a lovely country where if you want some Vit C, you have to get a prescription from your doctor.
Establishing a hierarchy of health practitioners allowed to purchase nutrients and herbs. The ‘good ol boy’ networks. And the ultimate stripping of power from the individual lay person. The process of dumbing down the consumers. Easily done by intimidation with some technical jargon and research language.
Wether or not the general populace is intelligent, or really so dumb they need to be told what to do about almost everything or wether they just act according to the expectations put upon them so as to be perceived as agreeable is a matter for another article.
Meanwhile.
Meet the new boss.… same as the old boss.
Continue Reading »
FTC rejects Monsanto’s complaint against rBST-free dairies
Sep 6th, 2007 by DrB
FTC rejects Monsanto’s complaint against rBST-free dairies:
by Chris O’Brien
9/4/2007 4:03:59 PM
Last May, Monsanto filed complaints with the Federal Trade Commission asking it to stop “deceptive labeling and advertising” by dairies that produce milk free of synthetic hormones. On August 28, the FTC denied that request, saying that in its review of the ads and packaging, it found no misleading claims.
Monsanto, producer of Posilac, a brand of recombinant bovine somatotropin, says rBST helps cows produce a greater volume of milk without putting bovine or human health at risk. The company said in its complaint that ads and labels including hormone-free production claims mislead consumers into believing that hormone-free dairy products are healthier and safer.
While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved rBST in 1993, and finds no health risk, other governing agencies and associations disagree.
“Monsanto and the FDA claim that there is no scientific basis for rBST- and rBGH [recombinant bovine growth hormone]-free dairy being safer or healthier,” said Charles Margulis, spokesman from the Center for Food Safety in San Francisco. “But the EU, Japan, Canada believe that there are risks and have banned the use of hormones from their dairy supplies for that reason.”
In addition to speculation on human health risks from consumption of dairy produced by hormone-supplemented cows, an ongoing animal welfare debate exists. While the hormone stimulates greater production of milk, rBST has been found to increase the risk of mastitis, infertility and lameness in cows, according to a 2003 report by the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association.
Monsanto also claimed that the ads and labels were “artificially increasing demand” for rBST-free dairy products.
“There’s nothing artificial about that demand,” said Margulis. “That is completely real.”
As evidence of increasing consumer demand for hormone-free dairy, last January Starbucks began regionally eliminating rBGH and rBST milk from its stores. Recently, the Michigan Milk Producers Association decided to offer only rBST-free milk and asked its producers to comply with this change.
“Our major customers have indicated that it was their intent to transition to a rBST-free line of dairy products come next year,” said Carl Rasch, director of raw milk sales at MMPA. “Kroger initiated the action a month ago by notifying us of their decision to process and label products not containing synthetic growth hormone and their competitors have followed suit.”
This ruling by the FTC primarily affects conventional dairies that choose not to supplement their milk herds with hormones. Organic dairy is regulated by the USDA and already prohibited from using any hormones in the cows or feed, as well as pesticides, fungicides or synthetic fertilizers, and therefore any production claims by organic dairy farmers would fall outside the scope of Monsanto’s complaint.
But for mainstream producers and packagers who choose to use the hormone-free production claim on their dairy, the FTC ruling can be seen as a small triumph.
“The agency rejected Monsanto’s complaint, and that’s a victory for consumers who demand to know what is in their milk,” said Margulis. “A complete victory would be to require labels on all milk to inform consumers exactly what is in there and what the production standards are, but that probably won’t be happening too soon.”
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