Health & WellnessS


Health

Airport body-scan radiation under scrutiny

They're arriving at airports across the country. Some complain they are invasive and an assault on our privacy. But are body scanners at security checkpoints dangerous?

Some scientists and two major airline pilots unions contend not enough is known about the effects of the small doses of X-ray radiation emitted by one of the two types of airport scanning machines.

The Transportation Security Administration's advanced imaging technology machines use two separate means of creating images of passengers -- backscatter X-ray technology and millimeter-wave technology.

Evil Rays

Airport Body Scanners Under Pressure: Experts Now Warn X-ray Devices "could give you cancer"

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© AFP/Getty ImagesDose of radiation may be 20 times higher than estimated

As we wrote in our newsletter this week: scanners and backscatter devices are under pressure from all sides. Despite the best efforts of Michael Chertoff and the TSA, word is out that Backscatter X-ray scanner technology that is being used in airports is exceedingly harmful, along with being an invasion of privacy.

An increasing number of people are becoming informed and are deciding to opt-out of the radiation and the X-rated detail of you and your family. Naturally, this has forced the TSA to threaten more invasive physical searches, as they try to coerce people into taking the "easier" option. This is a sign of desperation, since the success of these machines in airports will determine the future of their presence throughout America. They already are being deployed in street roving vans, and are most likely headed to a mall near you if the public doesn't continue to raise its voice.

Info

Fructose-rich sodas, orange juice boost gout risk in women too

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Drinking fructose rich beverages such as high-fructose-corn-syrup-based sodas and orange juice may boost risk of gout in women, a study scheduled to appear in the Nov 24, 2010 issue of Journal of American Medical Association suggests.

The study led by Hyon K. Choi, M.D., Dr.P.H., of the Boston University School of Medicine, and colleagues found an association between fructose consumption and increased risk of gout in women.

The findings were also presented at the American College of Rheumatology annual scientific meeting.

Gout, which has something to do with uric acid, is a common and very painful inflammatory arthritis and fructose-rich beverages like sugar-sweetened sodas and orange juice are known to increase uric acid levels in the blood, which suggests that using fructose beverages may increase gout risk, according to the background information in the study report.

Red Flag

Monsanto and the Big Fat Lie of Food Safety

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Vandana Shiva doesn't mince words. Food safety is food fascism:

"Risk Assessment in the hands of centralized corruptible agencies is no protection for consumers as the disease and health epidemic in the U.S. linked to over processed, industrial foods show. Even while the U.S. is at the epicenter of the food related public health crises, the U.S. government is trying to export its Food laws which deregulate the industry and over regulate ordinary citizens and small enterprise. This deregulation of the big and toxic and over regulation of the small and ecological is at the core of
Food Fascism ..."

The Nazi Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, is equally straightforward:
"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State."
What's the truth?

Michael Taylor, the Monsanto executive who gave this country rBGH, deregulated GMOs, and kept GMOs all unlabeled, thanks to Obama, is "The Food Safety Czar" at the FDA.

That Czar, "[t]he person who may be responsible for more food-related illness and death than anyone in history," has been using "food safety" as a weapon against small local farms and local food co-ops. (For any who missed the Rawesome Raid, here's the video on youtube.)

Cow

Why Women In China Do Not Get Breast Cancer

"Why I believe that giving up milk is the key to beating breast cancer..."
I had no alternative but to die or to try to find a cure for myself. I am a scientist - surely there was a rational explanation for this cruel illness that affects one in 12 women in the UK?

I had suffered the loss of one breast, and undergone radiotherapy. I was now receiving painful chemotherapy, and had been seen by some of the country's most eminent specialists. But, deep down, I felt certain I was facing death. I had a loving husband, a beautiful home and two young children to care for. I desperately wanted to live.

Fortunately, this desire drove me to unearth the facts, some of which were known only to a handful of scientists at the time.

Anyone who has come into contact with breast cancer will know that certain risk factors - such as increasing age, early onset of womanhood, late onset of menopause and a family history of breast cancer - are completely out of our control. But there are many risk factors, which we can control easily.

Stop

Washington, US: State ban on caffeinated alcohol drinks starts Nov. 18

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© Agence France-Presse
The state Liquor Control Board on Wednesday approved an emergency ban of caffeinated alcohol drinks, the type of beverage that sickened nine Central Washington University students last month.

The state Liquor Control Board on Wednesday approved an emergency ban of caffeinated alcohol drinks, the type of beverage that sickened nine Central Washington University students last month during an off-campus party.

Board members said they acted out of concern for public health and safety. The ban will start Nov. 18 and remain in place for 120 days while the board goes through rule-making procedures for a permanent ban.

The Legislature is also expected to consider a ban early next year.

Toys

Fighting Bullying With Babies

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© NA
Imagine there was a cure for meanness. Well, maybe there is.

Lately, the issue of bullying has been in the news, sparked by the suicide of Tyler Clementi, a gay college student who was a victim of cyber-bullying, and by a widely circulated New York Times article that focused on "mean girl" bullying in kindergarten. The federal government has identified bullying as a national problem. In August, it organized the first-ever "Bullying Prevention Summit," and it is now rolling out an anti-bullying campaign aimed at 5- to 8-year old children. This past month the Department of Education released a guidance letter to schools, colleges and universities to take bullying seriously, or face potential legal consequences.

Beaker

Chemicals in fast food wrappers migrating into humans, study suggests

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© NA
Chemicals used in fast food wrappers and microwave popcorn bags to prevent grease from seeping through are being absorbed by food, ingested by people, and showing up as contaminants in their blood, research at the University of Toronto has found.

The study was published in the open-access journal Environmental Health Perspectives Monday and led by environmental chemists Scott Mabury and Jessica D'eon from the University of Toronto.

The contaminants investigated by the study are perfluoroalkyls, synthetic chemicals that repel oil, grease, and water. The chemicals are used in a number of products such as carpeting and coating for paper and cardboard packaging.

Bizarro Earth

Town in "Erin Brockovich" Suffers as Groundwater Grows Even More Toxic

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© Getty Images
A tiny desert town whose plight was made famous by the movie Erin Brockovich has seen a dramatic increase in the size of a toxic plume of chromium as it has spread to multiple groundwater wells.

Water regulators earlier this year discovered a well with increasing concentrations of the cancer-causing pollutant and now even more wells have been uncovered with elevated levels, said Lauri Kemper, assistant executive officer of the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control board.

The water board on Monday ordered Pacific Gas & Electric to do additional groundwater monitoring at the site near Hinkley, about 120 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

Health

The Problem with Traditional Weight Loss Programs

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The problem with many weight loss systems is that they cater to the masses without considering individual need. They use a "one size fits all" approach. This approach works for some but leaves many to ponder why the weight will not come off the way it used to.

The Calorie Myth & the Hormonal Effect of Food

Most diet plans are based on Calorie consumption. Not enough thought is given to the quality of the Calories being consumed. For example, there are a number of companies that provide Calorie controlled meals. This concept works well for portion control; however, the quality of the food being used is poor and as the age old adage goes - "You are what you eat." Chemicals, radiated foods, ultra pasteurization, processing, lack of nutrient density, genetically modified foods, cloned meats, unidentified food intolerances, etc. all taint many of these so called "healthy foods". Many of these factors can cause internal inflammation when ingested leading to an increased risk for cancer, heart disease, diabetes, weight gain and more.