Health & WellnessS


Brick Wall

Lawsuit Seeks to Ban Genetically Modified Sugar Beets

Ethan A. Huff
NaturalNews
Wed, 19 May 2010 00:00 UTC
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© iStockphoto
A group of Oregon farmers are seeking an injunction against this year's planting of Monsanto's genetically engineered sugar beets. The groups of organic farmers, food safety advocates and conservationists, is seeking to persuade a judge to ban the crop until the USDA provides a proper environmental impact statement proving that the crops are safe and that they will not cross-contaminate nearby fields.

The debate over whether or not to allow GE crops into the food supply has been a hotly debated one, but the biotech industry has been the side unable to prove that its products are safe. Those concerned about the negative consequences of GE crops have plenty of unresolved questions that demand answers prior to any GE crop being approved. Yet in reality, the USDA has succumbed to industry pressure instead, jeopardizing the entire food industry.

Nearly half of the nation's sugar beets are genetically modified. They can be found planted on more than one million acres across ten states. The beets have been engineered to be resistant to Monsanto's "RoundUp" herbicide, but their components are not limited to the fields in which they are planted, spreading across the landscape via pollen and seeds carried in the wind. Because it is impossible to track where GE plant fragments end up, there is no ensuring that any crop is truly non-GE or organic.
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Magnify

BPA Plastics Chemical Damages Intestines, Study Shows

David Gutierrez
NaturalNews
Wed, 19 May 2010 00:00 UTC
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© Getty Images
The widespread toxin bisphenol-A (BPA) damages the intestines and may lead to a painful condition known as leaky gut syndrome, according to a study conducted by researchers from the National Institute of Agronomic Research researchers in Toulouse, France, and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy Sciences.

The study "shows the very high sensitivity on the intestine of BPA," the National Institute of Agronomic Research said.

BPA is used to make hard clear plastics for products such as water and baby bottles. It is also used to make dental sealants and composites, and is in the liners food cans, beverages and infant formula. More than 130 studies have linked the hormone-mimicking chemical to a wide variety of health problems, including cancers, birth and reproductive defects, obesity, early puberty onset, behavior disorders and brain damage.
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Magnify

Toxic Nail Salons: Why Your Nail Polish Color Could be the Next Agent Orange

Luanne Bradley
Alternet
Wed, 21 Apr 2010 18:27 UTC
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"Pick a color!" a pretty, 38-year-old woman named Pong orders, as I enter Tower Nails, a typical Bay Area nail salon owned and staffed by Vietnamese immigrants of childbearing age.

Reds, corals, pinks, creams, blacks, blues, even Kelly greens. Selecting a polish can be as stimulating as shopping for baby names, a fun and serotonin-releasing, female preoccupation witnessed as early as the teenage years. Perhaps that explains the huge proliferation of the affordable walk-in salons - the number of nail salons in California has tripled in the last two decades. The overwhelming majority of the workers are Asian immigrants, and of the 300,000 nail salon workers in the state, 80 percent are Vietnamese. And these women, and perhaps even their customers, may be at risk from a toxic cocktail of chemicals.

The biggest concern is the trio of toluene, formaldehyde and dibutyl phthalate (DBP) found in most base and top coats and polishes. This combination of chemicals has been linked to cancer, birth defects and skin rashes, especially with frequent exposure. Women in America need to ask themselves, are they picking their color or their poison?
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Sherlock

Health Claims for Food: Good Science, Please


The Atlantic
Mon, 17 May 2010 18:15 UTC
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© Jeff Keen/flickr
If a shopper who is worried about her risk of heart problems notices a box of cereal that says its whole grains reduce cholesterol, she may be that much more inclined to put it and not another brand of cereal into her grocery cart. Like many people, she knows that cholesterol levels are connected to the chances of having a heart attack.

She may not know that she has just made a biomarker-based decision. Blood levels of cholesterol are one measure used as a biomarker - a benchmark that substitutes for clinical outcomes - for risk of heart attack. How much a customer can trust that cereal's health claim, or for that matter the benefits of a cholesterol-lowering drug, depends on how strongly science connects lowering cholesterol levels with a reduced risk for heart disease.
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Better Earth

Flashback Ancient Tradition of Water Purification Could Save Lives


The Ecologist
Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:03 UTC
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© Trees for Life InternationalSeeds from the Moringa tree purify water.
Thousand-year-old Indian method of using tree seeds to purify water should be used more widely for tackling waterborne diseases

Indian tree seeds that purify water could dramatically reduce disease in the less-industrialised world, say researchers.

The technique of crushing seeds from the Moringa Oleifera tree and adding them to water has been used in its native India for thousands of years.

Now researchers from Canada say it is time to publicize the technique more widely in order to reduce water born diseases across the world.
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Attention

U.S. Cancer Institute Issues Stark Warning on Environmental Cancer Risk


The Ecologist
Mon, 17 May 2010 20:02 UTC
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We are underestimating the risk of exposure to everyday chemicals, says US cancer body

A leading US research body has said the range of confirmed or suspected carcinogens to which we are exposed on a daily basis is cause for serious concern, but UK campaign groups refuse to change their views

The link between exposure to everyday chemicals and cancer risk has been 'grossly underestimated' according to the National Cancer Institute in the US.

The Institute, which advises the US President, has previously focused on better-known causes of cancer such as diet and smoking.

However, its latest report, published this month, urges the US Administration to identify and eliminate environmental carcinogens from workplaces, schools and homes. It estimates there are nearly 80,000 'largely unregulated' chemicals on the market.
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Info

C-Sections May Raise Celiac Disease Risk in Offspring

Jenifer Goodwin
USNews.com
Tue, 18 May 2010 16:45 UTC
Children born by cesarean section may be more likely to develop celiac disease, a chronic digestive disorder, than children born vaginally, new research finds.

Researchers analyzed data on almost 2,000 children seen at gastrointestinal outpatient clinics for celiac disease, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis and other gastrointestinal diseases, and compared their rates of C-section vs. vaginal delivery to children who had not been diagnosed with any gastrointestinal conditions.

Compared to children born vaginally, children delivered by C-section were 80 percent more likely to develop celiac disease.

"We did not find any association with the inflammatory bowel diseases, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis," said lead study author Dr. Mathias Hornef of Hannover Medical School in Germany. "We did see a moderate but significant association with celiac disease."

People with celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder, have an abnormal immune reaction to gluten, the protein found in wheat, barley and rye. This leads to inflammation and damage to the lining of the small intestine.
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Magic Wand

Unplugging From Your Medicine Cabinet: Respecting the Body's Intelligence

Dana Ullman
Huffington Post
Wed, 19 May 2010 16:32 UTC
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It may be time to go on a special type of vacation: a drug vacation.* A drug vacation is a time in which you reduce the doses or eliminate entirely whatever drug or drugs you are taking. A drug vacation may give you (and your doctor) an opportunity to learn whether you really need to continue taking this drug or not. More important, this vacation will give your body an opportunity to manifest its everyday self-regulating and self-healing propensities without the crutch of a pharmaceutical agent inhibiting or suppressing its important work.

IF you are ready, step away from the medicine cabinet. You may not even recognize it, but you may be addicted to one or more of the drugs there. It may be time that you received an intervention, though this time, you should probably intervene on yourself rather than have anyone do it for or to you.
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Target

Homeopathy is witchcraft, says British Medical Association

Laura Donnelly
UK Telegraph
Wed, 19 May 2010 06:23 UTC
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© GETTY The BMA has previously expressed scepticism about homoeopathy
Homeopathy is "witchcraft" and the National Health Service should not pay for it, the British Medical Association has declared.

Hundreds of members of the BMA have passed a motion denouncing the use of the alternative medicine, saying taxpayers should not foot the bill for remedies with no scientific basis to support them.

The BMA has previously expressed scepticism about homeopathy, arguing that the rationing body, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence should examine the evidence base and make a definitive ruling about the use of the remedies in the NHS.

Now, the annual conference of junior doctors has gone further, with a vote overwhelmingly supporting a blanket ban, and an end to all placements for trainee doctors which teach them homeopathic principles.

Dr Tom Dolphin, deputy chairman of the BMA's junior doctors committee in England told the conference: "Homeopathy is witchcraft. It is a disgrace that nestling between the National Hospital for Neurology and Great Ormond Street [in London] there is a National Hospital for Homeopathy which is paid for by the NHS".
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Cheeseburger

Study Suggests: Burger and Fries Worsen Asthma


LiveScience
Mon, 17 May 2010 19:22 UTC
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A burger and fries are not only bad for the waistline, they might also exacerbate asthma, a new study suggests.

Patients with asthma who ate a high-fat meal had increased inflammation in their airways soon afterward, and did not respond as well to treatment as those who ate a low-fat meal, the researchers found.

The results provide more evidence that environmental factors, such as diet, can influence the development of asthma, which has increased dramatically in recent years in westernized countries where high-fat diets are common. In 2007, about 34.1 million Americans had asthma, according to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. From 1980 through 1994, the prevalence of asthma increased 75 percent. While the results are preliminary, they suggest cutting down on fat might be one way to help control asthma.
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