Health & WellnessS


Family

Unbelievable!! Toxic Chemicals Injected Into Wells, Report Says

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© Matt Nager/The New York TimesA sign warns against swimming in a holding lake in Texas, where Fountain Quail Water Management separates and cleans hydrofracking water.
Washington - Oil and gas companies injected hundreds of millions of gallons of hazardous or carcinogenic chemicals into wells in more than 13 states from 2005 to 2009, according to an investigation by Congressional Democrats.

The chemicals were used by companies during a drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking, which involves the high-pressure injection of a mixture of water, sand and chemical additives into rock formations deep underground. The process, which is being used to tap into large reserves of natural gas around the country, opens fissures in the rock to stimulate the release of oil and gas.

Hydrofracking has attracted increased scrutiny from lawmakers and environmentalists in part because of fears that the chemicals used during the process can contaminate underground sources of drinking water.

"Questions about the safety of hydraulic fracturing persist, which are compounded by the secrecy surrounding the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing fluids," said the report, which was written by Representatives Henry A. Waxman of California, Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts and Diana DeGette of Colorado.

Evil Rays

Dramatic increase in radiation found at German nuclear waste depot

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© unknownThe former salt mine holds some 127,000 waste containers
Increased levels of radiation have been found in the controversial Asse nuclear waste depot in the German state of Lower Saxony. The discovery has led to new calls for the depot to be emptied and closed.

German nuclear safety officials have found increased levels of radioactivity in a borehole at the Asse atomic waste depot in the northwestern state of Lower Saxony.

A spokesman from the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) said its measurement of the radioactive substance cesium were 24 times over the allowed limit - the highest level recorded since nuclear waste stopped being stored in the depot in 1978.

The BfS measured a concentration of the radioactive substance cesium of 240,000 becquerels per liter. The measurement was taken 750 metres below ground level.

Comment: Two things stand out about this case:

1) It's reasonable to assume that they have above-ground radiation monitors at radioactive waste dumps. Is it possible the readings are picking up on the fallout from Fukushima and that the idea that these readings were taken underground is just disinfo?

2) Or that radiation really IS leaking from this waste dump, which - considering the timing of Japans disaster - speaks to a phenomenon which might not be easily explainable. An example that comes to mind is of the many construction cranes collapsing around the US and in other countries prior to, and at the beginning of the housing crash.

See:
Florida: Crane Collapse Blamed For Fuel Spill
Illinois: Man dies in crane collapse
Deadly crane collapse probed in Hunan, China
Crane collapse kills seven at Vietnam port


Bizarro Earth

Radioactivity rises in sea off Japan nuclear plant

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© The Associated PressJapanese police officers carry a body during a search and recovery operation for missing victims
Tokyo - Levels of radioactivity have risen sharply in seawater near a tsunami-crippled nuclear plant in northern Japan, signaling the possibility of new leaks at the facility, the government said Saturday.

The announcement came after a magnitude-5.9 earthquake jolted Japan on Saturday morning, hours after the country's nuclear safety agency ordered plant operators to beef up their quake preparedness systems to prevent a recurrence of the nuclear crisis.

There were no reports of damage from the earthquake, and there was no risk of a tsunami similar to the one that struck the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant March 11 after a magnitude-9.0 earthquake, causing Japan's worst-ever nuclear plant disaster.

Since the tsunami knocked out the plant's cooling systems, workers have been spraying massive amounts of water on the overheated reactors. Some of that water, contaminated with radiation, leaked into the Pacific. Plant officials said they plugged that leak on April 5 and radiation levels in the sea dropped.

But the government said Saturday that radioactivity in the seawater has risen again in recent days. The level of radioactive iodine-131 spiked to 6,500 times the legal limit, according to samples taken Friday, up from 1,100 times the limit in samples taken the day before. Levels of cesium-134 and cesium-137 rose nearly fourfold. The increased levels are still far below those recorded earlier this month before the initial leak was plugged.

Cards

Pain relief - it is just an illusion

It was supposed to be a trick of the mind to entertain the crowds, but a visual illusion that gives the impression your hand is being massaged could actually turn out to be an effective treatment for arthritis.

Researchers at the University of Nottingham demonstrating the trick at an open day were amazed when a number of pensioners told how it had miraculously reduced the pain in their joints.

The computer simulation was later tested on a sample of sufferers and in 85 per cent of cases it reduced their pain by 50 per cent.

The discovery was made by chance during a community open day at the university when visitors were invited to experience some of the body distortion illusions used in every day research.

A person places their hand inside a box containing a camera, which then projects the image in real-time onto a screen in front of them.

The subject then sees their fingers being apparently stretched and shrunk by someone gently pushing and pulling from the other side of the box.

It is supposed to just trick the mind into thinking your hand is being massaged - but it had the added bonus of relieving the pain of arthritis.

Cow

Drug-Resistant Bacteria Found in 1/4 of US Meat, Poultry

meat @ grocery
© AFP
A sampling of grocery store meat in five US cities has shown a type of drug-resistant bacteria is contained in about one quarter of beef, chicken, pork and turkey for sale, a study said Friday.

Staphylococcus aureus, a bacteria that can cause skin infections, pneumonia, sepsis or endocarditis in people with weak hearts, was found in 47 percent of samples, said the study in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

The study drew fire from the meat industry, which pointed to the "small sample" taken and said its findings were misleading.

More than half -- 52 percent -- of the infected samples contained a tough strain of S. aureus that was resistant to at least three types of antibiotics.

Most of the time, the bacteria would be killed off during cooking, but risks of contamination can come from handling raw meat in the kitchen and touching other utensils, or from eating meat that is not fully cooked.

Cow Skull

Drugs, Poisons and Metals in Our Meat - USDA Needs A Major Overhaul

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© animalwelfareapproved.org
Washington dumped some more bad news Friday afternoon when the USDA's Office of Inspector General issued a damning and unsettling report on the department's "National Residue Program for Cattle." It found gaping holes in the safety of American beef production, including residue of drugs, poisons and heavy metals in the meat we eat.

It's a stomach-turning, chilling read, even for a federal government document with the driest of titles: "Audit Report 24601-08-KC." And it's something that every omnivore in America should take the time to read.

"Based on our review, we found that the national residue program is not accomplishing its mission of monitoring the food supply for harmful residues," the USDA's oversight office wrote. The audit revealed that USDA's Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS), along with the FDA and EPA, "have not established thresholds for many dangerous substances (e.g., copper or dioxin), which has resulted in meat with these substances being distributed in commerce."

Syringe

People with diabetes have higher risk of heart disease

Diabetes is a condition in which a person's blood sugar is higher than what is accepted as normal. It is a condition that is increasing in the United States every year. It is a condition that is associated with age and increased weight. In recent years, diabetes has reached epidemic numbers in the United States. Recently published in one of the Nation's premier medical magazines was a study that looked at 5200 American men and women who participated in the on-going Framingham Heart Center. This study found that diabetic women had more than twice the risk of developing heart disease than non-diabetic women. The study went on to say that diabetic women, who already had heart disease, were more than twice as likely to die compared to non-diabetic women. Among men the researchers found that those with diabetes also had twice the risk of developing heart disease and faced a 1.7 times higher risk of dying after developing heart trouble compared with non-diabetic men. One of the most startling aspects of this study found that those 50 years and older, the diabetic men lived an average of 7.5 years less than men without diabetes.

Ambulance

Stillbirth epidemic claims more lives each year than HIV-AIDS and malaria combined

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© Globe and Mail
When Christine Jonas-Simpson's son Ethan was born, there was an eerie quiet in the delivery room, and then a piercing wail.

"The only cry I heard was my own," she said sombrely.

Ethan was dead, "born still" in the language of grieving parents; "stillborn" in the medical vernacular. The umbilical cord was constricted, essentially suffocating the baby in the womb, a condition impossible to detect with an ultrasound.

Ms. Jonas-Simpson, who was almost 38 weeks pregnant, knew her son was dead before she went into labor. When he was born, she held Ethan in her arms, stroking his shock of curly red hair. So did her husband.

The nurses were wonderfully supportive, even explaining to Ethan's young siblings how his air tube was broken, something that could happen to an astronaut. The family was able to mourn on their terms.

Butterfly

Mountain Healing

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© FOTOLIAPretty and potent: Foxglove is the source of digitalis, a cardiac stimulant extracted from the leaves that has kept millions of heart patients alive.
From pretty and potent foxglove to the aromatic Oswego tea plant, the southern region of the Appalachian Mountains is home to a wealth of diverse medicinal flora with a rich history of healing.

In 1776, while the Declaration of Independence was being drafted, the great French botanist Andre Michaux stood atop North Carolina's Grandfather Mountain and sang the French national anthem. It was a moment that represented the culmination of years of exploration into the magnificent variety of plants that flourish in the southern Appalachians - a concentration of flora unequaled on the North American continent or even in the whole of Europe.

As significant as was the work of Michaux, Native American tribes such as the Cherokee and the Catawba had been roaming the lush hillsides and gorges for centuries before his time, discovering a multitude of uses for these plants - one of the most significant being medicinal. The region is a veritable outdoor pharmacy of medicinal plants, which were not only part of the recipes of yesterday's tribal medicine men, but continue to occupy a place in today's pharmacopoeias. In fact, so important are the botanical sources of modern medicines that environmental scientist G. Tyler Miller has estimated that 40 percent of all the medicine on the shelves of today's drugstores have plant origins.

While any attempt at a complete listing of known medicinal plants of the southern Appalachians might require volumes, a brief walk along their paths will, I hope, serve to illustrate the enormous impact the area has had on modern medical practice.

Cow Skull

"There is no safe dose of radiation"

Fukushima radiation fire
© Unknown
"There is no safe dose of radiation"
~ Prof. Edward P. Radford, Physician and Epidemiologist


While a highly coordinated effort is underway by the nuclear industry, mainstream media, medical establishment and world governments to define, justify and reinforce a "safe level of radioactivity" pertaining to the air, the water, the food, and our bodies, the unspoken truth contained within the precautionary principle that there is no safe dose of radiation, nor a safe level of exposure to the 200+ radioisotopes released by the Fukushima reactor complex meltdown, is but an inaudible whisper in the cacophony of a world dominated by universal deception.

north pacific jet stream
© Unknown
Regardless of whether we chose to pay attention or not, over the past month a massive number of radiotoxic and genotoxic particles have been released into the atmosphere, oceans and biosphere, and due to the continuous westerly circular flow of the Jet stream no one in the Northern latitudes will be spared some degree of exposure as time proceeds.

bioaccumulation radiation food chain
© UnknownBioaccumulation radiation in the food chain
The question of exposure should not be "if" but "when," and "how" we deal with it once it happens. Cesium-137 for instance, has a half-life of 30 years (90 years later 12.5% of its radioactivity remains), and due to its similarity to potassium will make its way up the food chain bioaccumulating and distributing broadly in the tissues of both plants and animals as it goes. Eventually all such radioisotopes must meet mankind who is perched precariously on top of an unsustainable, highly toxic food pyramid of his own making, and from which he has an exceedingly difficult time escaping and/or detoxifying.