Kim, Y, EH Ha, EJ Kim, H Park, M Ha, JH Kim, YC Hong, N Chang and BN Kim. 2011. Prenatal exposure to phthalates and infant development at six months: Prospective Mothers and Children's Environmental Health (MOCEH) Study. Environmental Health Perspectives http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1003178.

A woman's exposure to commonly used plasticizers - called phthalates - during pregnancy may be associated with suboptimal development in babies, finds a South Korean study.

Increasing exposure to plastic-softening chemicals in pregnant women was associated with poorer development in their baby boys, finds a study that examined mental and motor skills in 6-month-old infants.

The results show that the higher the exposure to phthalates in the moms, the lower the scores of infant development, including both cognitive and motor behavior. However, the association was only identified in sons, not in daughters.

Given that phthalates are short-lived in people, reducing exposure in pregnant women will effectively reduce the possibility of fetal exposure to these chemicals. The study is important because it adds more evidence to the growing human health concerns about these chemicals, especially with boys.

Kim, Y, JC Ryu, H Choi and K Lee. 2011. Effect of 2,2,'4,4'-tetrahydroxybenzophenone (BP2) on steroidogenesis in testicular Leydig cells. Toxicology http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tox.2011.06.013

A UV-blocking chemical added to stabilize personal care products works as an endocrine disruptor and reduces the production of male reproductive hormones.

Researchers show an ultraviolet (UV) radiation blocker - designated BP2 - found in a variety of cosmetics and personal care products decreases testosterone hormone production in both cultured human testes cells and in male mice.

This is the first study to report that BP2 exposure can impact reproductive processes in mammals, including human cells. The new findings - when combined with results from prior studies - suggest more research is needed to understand if BP2 poses endocrine-related health risks when used to stabilize personal care products.

Benzophenone (BP) chemicals absorb and thus filter out ultraviolet light. The one known as BP2 is added to cosmetics and personal care products to prevent sunlight from breaking down the products. Perfumes, lipstick, hair and skin care products and plastics for packaging can contain BP2. People can be exposed as BP2 has been detected in human urine.

Diseases such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes are some of the biggest health challenges facing the world, experts have said.

The number of new cancer cases worldwide stands at 12 million a year - up a fifth in under a decade.

This is more than four times the annual number of new HIV infections, and 2.8 million of these cancers are linked to poor diet, a lack of exercise and being overweight.

The number of cancers that could potentially be prevented is expected to rise dramatically over the next decade as more people lead sedentary lifestyles and become obese.

Morgellons Disease. Maybe you heard or read about it on the web somewhere? It's that crazy-sounding condition where people who've contracted it have bizarre looking fibers growing out of their skin and parasites that cause intense itching all over their bodies. It's the disease that seems too horrible to be true - too 'sci-fi' to be real. And, as the old cliché goes, it's that type of thing that always happens to other people; it couldn't and certainly shouldn't happen to you. Then, it does happen to you. It afflicts more people every day it seems, and its affliction is connected to much MUCH more than meets the eye. That's what I learned when I realized that it wasn't just a nightmare-sounding thing that happened to other people - it happened to me.

For me, Morgellons started with an itch. Well, several itches to be accurate. I woke up one morning after a night of restless and fitful sleep to find myself in a state of extreme creepy-crawliness; like my skin was alive with things crawling on it, biting it, burrowing in it. My eyebrows felt like they were moving all on their own, and as soon as I put my glasses on, there was little tiny stuff moving around on my glasses. Where the heck were these awful sensations coming from? As I flew into the bathroom, I went straight to the mirror to investigate.

After searching a while on my face, I finally saw what appeared to be a tiny mite-like thing taking a stroll on my forehead. Then I took a look at my glasses and noticed some of those same critters right there on the lenses. Holy smokes! I called my wife into the bathroom and showed her what I was seeing. She could see them too. What the heck did I have now, I remember thinking?! Some kind of infestation of mites! Even after a hot shower I felt little to no relief. These things on me - mites, or whatever they were, were relentless. The idea of having them on my skin, crawling around, and seemingly in my skin was horrific. Well, whatever it was, it definitely wasn't something that could wait to be treated. But first, I wondered, what the heck did I really have?

I love to eat grassfed beef fat. I actually will put a large piece of crisp, hot, grassfed beef fat in my mouth, and eat it with great enjoyment and satisfaction.

Animal fat used to be the favorite food of most of humanity. But that has changed.

Fat is taboo. Especially animal fat. Animal fat is supposed to be the ultimate poison. Even looking at it could cause a heart attack, or so people seem to think. Well, I do not believe this anymore, especially where grassfed fat is concerned.

Grassfed fat has a very different composition than the fat of factory meat. Factory meat has far too much omega-6 fatty acids, and is lacking in CLA and various fat-soluble vitamins. Grassfed fat has a perfect omega-3 to omega-6 ratio, and is full of nutrients like CLA and fat-soluble vitamins. The healthy peoples studied by Dr. Weston A. Price ate plenty of animal and fish fat. But nutrition is not the only reason I eat grassfed fat.

Grassfed meat is delicious, but the grassfed fat on the meat can be even tastier.

The symptoms can be abject misery: searing abdominal pain, debilitating stomach cramps, an excruciating, rising burn, acid-filled hiccups, tightened throat, constant sleep disturbance, and even the rare but terrifying bouts of choking from nighttime acid inhalation. I'm talking of course about acid reflux or GERD as it's commonly called these days. I personally suffered from occasional bouts of GERD and experienced all the symptoms above for years during and even after my endurance days. (It wasn't until I gave up grains that my GERD completely disappeared.) Maybe you've had it. Maybe you know someone who's had it. GERD, by the way, isn't your run-of-the-mill occasional heartburn (which isn't much fun either) but a chronic pattern of heartburn in which you experience symptoms at least a few times a week. I get emails about it all the time, and it's little wonder.

Statistics suggest that 25-30% of American adults experience GERD related heartburn multiple times a week (PDF). Of all the pharmaceutical categories, proton pump inhibitors (a predominant prescription for GERD) have ranked consistently in the top twenty for years. And that doesn't even take into account the old-fashioned antacids like Tums and Rolaids that people pop like candy. What, for the love, is going on here? It used to be heartburn was generally confined to women in their last months of pregnancy or to the annual Thanksgiving overindulgence. It certainly wasn't a chronic condition plaguing a large percentage of the population. I sense a familiar pattern here, no?

I love bacon. And steak. It makes me feel awesome. It gives me nutrient dense energy. Grass fed ground beef is an inexpensive superfood - you can't say that about goji berries! Fish provides me with the EPA & DHA forms of omega 3 fatty acids... not a single plant source can say that! Pastured eggs and grass fed beef gives me a little bit too.

Vitamin B12 is an essential nutrient. Guess what? The only source is animal foods.

I could end this post right there. I am thinking about it...

I'll elaborate. I'll explain 7 reasons why I will never be a vegetarian. I am not a nutritionist, physician, etc. I believe I am well educated in basic nutrition after reading. I read constantly. I've even read a little bit of Skinny Bitch. I'll admit that book is hilarious but it truly makes me sad that it's a #1 NY Times Bestseller. I feel like writing a primal edition of it. What do you guys think - should I?

From 100-mile diets to vertical farming, from green markets to organics, from obesity to genetically modified organisms, food is always in the news. The issues are political, social, emotional, psychological, ecological and economic. Take the current popularity of urban farming, for example. A renewed interest in what and how we eat combined with the aftershocks of the Great Recession have inspired city dwellers to cultivate whatever little plots of land they might have. The last time people were this keen on growing their own vegetables was during World War II. So what's going on?

The short answer is: another war. The new food movement is an act of popular resistance against a system hardly less harmful to life and limb than military conflict. Food isn't just something we need to shovel down our gullets each day to survive. It's far more potent: the means, more than any other, by which we humans shape our planet and ourselves. Recognition of food's true power demands we treat it in a completely different way. Rather than think of it as cheap fuel, we need to embrace food as a cultural force. We need to understand food in the way our ancestors did, before fossil fuel blurred our sense of its importance.

We need a new food manifesto - one that enables us to start thinking not just about food but through it. We need to understand how profoundly food affects every aspect of our lives, depending on the way it's produced, transported, bought and sold, cooked, eaten and wasted. Food is much too important to be left in the hands of megacorporations. We must take back control of food, and start wielding that ­control ­positively and ­collectively as a tool to shape a better world.

Although sleazy "scratcher shops" with unskilled artists and dubious safety records are largely a thing of the past, scientists are growing concerned about what's going into tattooed skin, not just how it got there.

New research has turned up troubling findings about toxic chemicals in tattoo inks, including carcinogens and hormone disruptors.

Inks, which are injected into the skin with small needles, have caused allergic rashes, chronic skin reactions, infection and inflammation from sun exposure, said Elizabeth Tanzi, co-director of the Washington Institute of Dermatologic Laser Surgery in Washington, D.C. A study published in July suggested that phthalates and other chemicals may be responsible for some of those problems.

That raises questions about more serious, long-term risks such as skin cancer, scientists say.

The crony capitalism in vaccines just gets worse. And don't expect any help from so-called small government candidate Gov. Rick Perry.

The US Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) has unveiled a new roadmap for increased vaccination and immunization for the 21st century, the National Vaccine Plan or NVP. It calls for new vaccines, at a time when children already get far too many vaccinations, especially when given all at once and at too young an age.

Why are the vaccines piled on top of each other in one doctor visit? Because the medical establishment is afraid to ask parents to bring their children back over and over again. So for reasons of "compliance" and "convenience" the child's immune system is assaulted all at once.