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Avoid Genetically Modified Food: Doctors and Animals Alike Tell Us

Jeffrey M. Smith
Wellnessuncovered.com
Thu, 16 Sep 2010 07:07 UTC
Image
© Greenpeace
The farmer grinned as he told the visitor, "Watch this!" He called his pigs, which ran frantically towards him to be fed. But when he scooped out corn and threw it on the ground, the pigs sniffed it and then looked up at the farmer with confused expectation. The farmer then scooped corn from another bin and flung it near the pigs, which ran over and quickly devoured it.

The farmer said, "The first corn is genetically engineered. They won't touch it."

It's not just pigs that swear off genetically modified organisms (GMOs). In South Africa, Strilli Oppenheimer's chickens won't eat genetically modified (GM) corn. Most buffalo in Haryana, India, refuse cottonseed cakes if made from GM cotton plants. Geese migrating through Illinois only munched sections of the soybean field that was non-GMO. When given a choice, elk, deer, raccoons, and rats all avoided GMOs. And even during the coldest days of Iowa winter, squirrels, which regularly devour natural corn, refused to touch the GM variety.

One skeptical farmer who read about the squirrels wanted to see for himself if it was true. He bought a bag full of GM corn ears, and another of non-GM, and left them in his garage till winter. But by the time he fetched the bags, mice had done the experiment for him. They broke into the natural corn bag and finished it; the GM cobs were untouched.
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Health

HFCS Name Sanitized to Boost Flagging Sales

Barry Groves, Phd
Barry Groves Blog
Wed, 15 Sep 2010 02:26 UTC
A rose by any other name?

The Corn Refiners Association (CRA) has been trying for years to make high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), which I prefer to call the 'Corn Refiners Association Product' (CRAP), as acceptable as all other forms of sugar. As more and more studies show that CRAP (HFCS) is a major cause of the recent dramatic increases in obesity, diabetes and other 'metabolic diseases' in the US, UK and other westernised countries, consumers are getting the message and are abandoning CRAP laden foodstuffs in their droves.

Does the CRA give up? No sirree! The CRA think that if they change its name, the gullible public won't notice. According to the Associated Press, CRA is now petitioning the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to allow it to change the name of the highly-processed, controversial sweetener to 'Corn Sugar', which they fervently believe will make it more acceptable.

No matter how you look at it, CRAP (HFCS) is a highly-processed, unnatural form of refined sugar that inflicts a heavy burden on the liver. Besides being derived from corn, most of which is genetically-modified (GM), HFCS is linked to metabolic syndrome, heart disease and type-2 diabetes. If that weren't bad enough, a study last year also found that much of the HFCS contains high levels of toxic mercury caused by the chemical refining process necessary to produce the HFCS. Nearly a third of the HFCS-containing breads, cereals, sodas and other consumer foods tested as part of the study showed up positive for mercury.
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People

Interview with Dan Olmsted, Mark Blaxill: 'Age of Autism-Mercury, Medicine, and a Manmade Epidemic'

Mike Frandsen
Examiner.com
Wed, 15 Sep 2010 18:08 UTC
In their new book, The Age of Autism: Mercury, Medicine, and a Manmade Epidemic, Dan Olmsted and Mark Blaxill make a convincing case that the autism epidemic is largely environmental rather than genetic. They argue that mercury from pollution, commercial products, and vaccines has contributed greatly to the rise in autism over the last 70 years.

In doing research for the book, Olmsted and Blaxill investigated the backgrounds of the parents of some of the first children identified with autism by Leo Kanner in the 1930s. Olmsted, a reporter who has devoted his career to writing about autism, and Blaxill, a parent of a girl with autism, found links to mercury in the backgrounds of some of the parents of the children who were the original cases of autism.

Olmsted and Blaxill also state their belief that the rise in autism is related to the use of mercury in childhood vaccines. They point out that they are not anti-vaccine, but are pro-vaccine safety.
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Attention

Bisphenol A Used in Dental Sealants


United Press International
Tue, 14 Sep 2010 18:24 UTC
Image
© Getty Images
Bisphenol A - a chemical linked to behavioral, prostate and urinary tract changes -- is found in sealants used in pediatric dentistry, U.S. researchers say.

Researchers at New York City's Mount Sinai School of Medicine reviewed 10 years of toxicology studies.

The review, published in the journal Pediatrics, finds bisphenol A detectable in saliva for up to 3 hours after sealants containing BPA derivatives were used in children's teeth but concluded the overwhelming benefits to oral health outweighed the brief exposure to BPA.

"These dental products are still safe and an effective way to promote good oral health, but dentists should take precautions to reduce potential absorption of this chemical and the negative side effects associated with it," study leader Dr. Philip Landrigan says in a statement.

Precautions suggested include using less risky BPA derivatives -- such as bis-GMA over bis-DMA -- and taking action that lessens exposure, such as rubbing the surface with pumice to remove the top liquefied layer of the sealant and encouraging the patient to rinse for 30 seconds.

Comment: To read more on BPA, see the following articles carried on SOTT:

Bisphenol A Has Not Gone Away

New Study Confirms Bisphenol A Found in Plastic is Linked to Heart Disease

Bisphenol A (BPA) Found In Many Plastics May Cause Heart Disease In Women, Research Shows

Bisphenol A Exposure Dangerous for Human Heart and Reproduction

Bisphenol A, Chemical Used to Make Plastic, Lingers in Body

Bisphenol A Linked to Metabolic Syndrome in Humans

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Magnify

Bisphenol A (BPA) May Affect Testosterone Levels


United Press International
Fri, 27 Aug 2010 18:51 UTC
British and other researchers have identified changes in testosterone levels in men exposed to bisphenol A, a chemical used in food and drink containers.

Researchers at the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry and the University of Exeter, both in England, and colleagues linked higher BPA exposure with small increases in levels of testosterone in the blood.

The large population study, published in Environmental Health Perspectives, found the average BPA daily of more 5 micrograms per day exposure in the European study population was slightly higher than recent comparable estimates for the U.S. population.

"This is the first big study of BPA from a European country and confirms that 'routine' exposures in the population are not negligible," David Melzer of Peninsula Medical School said in a statement. "This finding is consistent with the evidence from laboratory experiments. However, this is just the first step in proving that at 'ordinary' exposure levels, BPA might be active in the human body. This new evidence does justify proper human safety studies to clarify the effects of BPA in people."

Comment: To read more on BPA, see the following articles carried on SOTT:

Bisphenol A Has Not Gone Away

New Study Confirms Bisphenol A Found in Plastic is Linked to Heart Disease

Bisphenol A (BPA) Found In Many Plastics May Cause Heart Disease In Women, Research Shows

Bisphenol A Exposure Dangerous for Human Heart and Reproduction

Bisphenol A, Chemical Used to Make Plastic, Lingers in Body

Bisphenol A Linked to Metabolic Syndrome in Humans

      Read More...
Magnify

Yawning: Why is it Contagious?

Emily Sohn
Discovery News
Wed, 15 Sep 2010 06:00 UTC
Image
© Getty Images
Although all vertebrates yawn, contagious yawning only exists only humans, chimpanzees and possibly dogs.
Yawning when others yawn is a sign of empathy and a form of social bonding.

Watch someone yawn, and try not to yawn yourself. It can be impossible to resist. Even reading about yawning can make you do it.

Now, a new study offers insight into why contagious yawning is such a powerful force.

Yawning when others yawn, the study suggests, is a sign of empathy and a form of social bonding. Kids don't develop this deeply rooted behavior until around age four, the study found. Kids with autism are half as likely to catch yawns. In the most severe cases, they never do.

Yawning might eventually help doctors diagnose developmental disorders. The work could also lead to a better understanding of the subtle ways that people communicate and connect.
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Magnify

The World Seen Differently By Children And Adults

Clare Ryan
Medical News Today
Wed, 15 Sep 2010 00:00 UTC
Unlike adults, children are able to keep information from their senses separate and may therefore perceive the visual world differently, according to research just published.

Scientists at UCL (University College London) and Birkbeck, University of London have found that children younger than 12 do not combine different sensory information to make sense of the world as adults do. This does not only apply to combining different senses, such as vision and sound, but also to the different information the brain receives when looking at a scene with one eye compared to both eyes.

The results, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, imply that children's experience of the visual world is very different to that of adults.

Dr Marko Nardini, UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, and lead author said, "To make sense of the world we rely on many different kinds of information. A benefit of combining information across different senses is that we can determine what is out there more accurately than by using any single sense."
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Magnify

Aerobic Exercise Relieves Insomnia


ScienceDaily
Wed, 15 Sep 2010 16:00 UTC
Image
© Getty Images
The millions of middle-aged and older adults who suffer from insomnia have a new drug-free prescription for a more restful night's sleep. Regular aerobic exercise improves the quality of sleep, mood and vitality, according to a small but significant new study from Northwestern Medicine.

The study is the first to examine the effect of aerobic exercise on middle-aged and older adults with a diagnosis of insomnia. About 50 percent of people in these age groups complain of chronic insomnia symptoms.

The aerobic exercise trial resulted in the most dramatic improvement in patients' reported quality of sleep, including sleep duration, compared to any other non-pharmacological intervention.

"This is relevant to a huge portion of the population," said Phyllis Zee, M.D., director of the Sleep Disorders Center at Northwestern Medicine and senior author of a paper to be published in the October issue of Sleep Medicine. The lead author is Kathryn Reid, research assistant professor at Feinberg.
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How Our Brains Get Tripped Up When We're Anxious


ScienceDaily
Tue, 14 Sep 2010 19:00 UTC
Image
© Marie Banich
Competing neurons in this part of the brain help us make decisions, such as choosing words.
A new University of Colorado at Boulder study sheds light on the brain mechanisms that allow us to make choices and ultimately could be helpful in improving treatments for the millions of people who suffer from the effects of anxiety disorders.

In the study, CU-Boulder psychology Professor Yuko Munakata and her research colleagues found that "neural inhibition," a process that occurs when one nerve cell suppresses activity in another, is a critical aspect in our ability to make choices.

"The breakthrough here is that this helps us clarify the question of what is happening in the brain when we make choices, like when we choose our words," Munakata said. "Understanding more about how we make choices, how the brain is doing this and what the mechanisms are, could allow scientists to develop new treatments for things such as anxiety disorders."

Researchers have long struggled to determine why people with anxiety can be paralyzed when it comes to decision-making involving many potential options. Munakata believes the reason is that people with anxiety have decreased neural inhibition in their brain, which leads to difficulty making choices.
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Magnify

False Memories of Self-Performance Result from Watching Others' Actions


ScienceDaily
Tue, 14 Sep 2010 15:00 UTC
Image
© Claire Steinbeck/faculty.mercer.edu
Did I turn off the stove, or did I just imagine it? Memory isn't always reliable. Psychological scientists have discovered all sorts of ways that false memories get created, and now there's another one for the list: watching someone else do an action can make you think you did it yourself.

The team of psychological scientists who found the new way to create false memories weren't setting out to make a big discovery. They were trying to learn more about imagination, another way that false memories get created. But then in an experiment, they found that people who had watched a video of someone else doing a simple action -- shaking a bottle or shuffling a deck of cards, for example -- often remembered doing the action themselves two weeks later.

"We were stunned," says Gerald Echterhoff, of Jacobs University Bremen. He cowrote the study, published in the journal Psychological Science, with Isabel Lindner of the University of Cologne, Patrick S.R. Davidson of the University of Ottawa, and Matthias Brand of the University of Duisburg-Essen. They changed course to examine this phenomenon more closely with a series of experiments.
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