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We live in a day and age where germ theory has undergone a sort of apotheosis, assuming an almost Godlike power to affect and permeate every area of our lives with the fear of infection.
Not only are external institutions increasingly attaining the authority to force us to inject ourselves and children with preparations purported to defend us against germs, but even our inner thoughts are often infected uncontrollably with fears about exposure to them. Even the CDC has declared itself impotent against so-called "nightmare" bacteria, adding to the sense of powerlessness so many feel about their health destinies.
© Paulo Santos / ReutersBrazilian mothers breastfeed their babies during the Tenth National Conference on Breastfeeding in Belem in 2008.
The other day here, I saw something I rarely encounter back home in Washington. A young woman holding a toddler sat down at the table next to me at a boardwalk cafe. When the little boy got fussy, she tugged down her tank top and fed him in plain view of one of Rio's largest thoroughfares. No blanket. No shame.
It's not just that Cariocas are far less body-conscious than Americans. Brazil promotes breastfeeding much more aggressively than the U.S. does, and perhaps as a result, breastfeeding is far more common here. More than half of Brazilian mothers exclusively breastfeed their children until they're six months old, according to the Health Ministry, compared with 16 percent of American moms.
The girls' parents came forward after the Sunday Independent revealed similar claims from 131 young women last weekend.
The fresh allegations come as a senior doctor in Denmark - where the Gardasil drug has been replaced by an alternative - has linked some chronic symptoms to the vaccination. A TV3 documentary, Cervical Cancer Vaccine: Is It Safe?, will air tomorrow at 10pm.
Comment: Evidence that the HPV vaccine causes long term side effects - Scientists explain why HPV vaccines are unsafe:
- No benefit to Gardasil vaccine
- Gardasil: New study brings more safety questions to light
- HPV vaccine should scare the living daylights out of everyone
- Deaths Associated with HPV Vaccine Start Rolling In, Over 3500 Adverse Affects Reported
- Lead developer of HPV vaccines comes clean, warns parents & young girls it's all a giant deadly scam
- Why is the CDC ignoring explosion of Recorded HPV Vaccine injuries, as other countries move to take protective action?
- Study Reveals Serious HPV Vaccine Problems: Fainting, Blood Clots, Death Among Risks
- 'Disastrous adverse effects' of HPV vaccine exposed in court testimony, the horrors of this industry can no longer be censored
François used Lasso for over 15 years, and in 2004 accidentally inhaled the product. After the incident, the farmer began getting severe headaches and experienced moments of mental absence and an inability to speak.
The chemical's effects on François were so severe that he fainted, was hospitalized and fell into a coma. François was diagnosed with monochlorobenzene poisoning by his doctors, who found that the chemical permanently damaged his brain. Monochlorobenzene makes up 50% of the herbicide Lasso.
Comment: Congratulation Mr. Francois. Hopefully others will find the same success.
© Tony Kemp / The New York TimesDuPont Washington Works in Washington, West Virginia, viewed from Little Hocking, Ohio, over the Ohio River on August 2, 2004. A federal jury has found DuPont liable for Carla Bartlett's kidney cancer, agreeing with the defendant that the company had negligently contaminated her water supply in Tuppers Plain, Ohio, for years.
"I was scared to death," Bartlett, now 59, told an Ohio federal jury this fall during hearings in the first of more than 3,500 personal injury and wrongful death suits by West Virginia and Ohio residents against the chemical giant DuPont. "And all I could think of was not being there, not being able to be there for my family." Bartlett's tumor and part of her rib were removed in a surgery in 1997 that, she said, involved cutting her "virtually in half." Though the cancer hasn't recurred since, for Bartlett, the harm, both physical and emotional, has lingered. "It's never out of my mind, because you worry constantly about it," she said. "And then I have the reminder of the scar, every day, that, you know, this... this is... this was cancer; this could come back."
© patrisyu/Shutterstock
"Creamy milk chocolate and rich peanut butter flavors."
No, these are not excerpts from the dessert menu at a fancy hotel. They're some of the latest offerings from the makers of vape pens and e-cigarettes—which are the same thing, more or less. As e-cigs gain traction (sales are expected to soar seventeenfold over the next 15 years), manufacturers are having a heyday concocting flavors that can be inhaled—an estimated 7,000 to date. Public health experts warn of the addictive nicotine in e-cigs and vaping fluids, and their potential to serve as a "gateway" to tobacco, especially for teens. But a new Harvard study instead took a hard look at those tantalizing flavors—and found that a majority, at least of the samples tested, contained chemicals linked to a dangerous lung disease.
Researchers at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health analyzed various e-cig and vape pen liquids for the presence of three related chemicals—diacetyl, 2,3-pentanedione, and acetoin—that are also used in artificial butter flavorings. By the turn of the 21st century, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had deemed diacetyl safe to eat, but little was known about what happened when a person inhales it. Then, in the early 2000s, workers at several plants that manufacture microwave popcorn came down with a nasty lung disease after prolonged exposure to the fake-butter fumes. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) investigated cases of this so-called popcorn lung and later released guidelines for dealing with diacetyl in the workplace, along with a list of foods that contain the chemical. "Current evidence points to diacetyl as one agent that can cause flavorings-related lung disease,"notes the CDC's National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health. NIOSH says it is uncertain whether the other two compounds pose health risks, but it points out their chemical similarities to diacetyl.
Comment: Indeed, natural organic tobacco has been demonized since the early twentieth century. This new fad may be more dangerous. For more information on smoking, check out these two pieces by Sott.net:
Let's All Light Up!
© Rehen et al.The neurons treated with apigenin (right) show more formation of synapses (red) than the neurons that were not treated.
Previous experiments with animals had already shown that substances from the same chemical group as the apigenin, known as flavonoids, positively affect memory and learning. Many studies highlight the potential of flavonoids to preserve and enhance brain function. While the effectiveness of flavonoids for brain health is not an entirely new concept, this research is the first to show the positive effects of apigegin directly on human cells and the first to unraveling its mechanism.
The scientists observed that just by applying apigenin to human stem cells in a dish they become neurons after 25 days -- an effect they would not see without the substance. Moreover, the neurons that were formed made stronger and sophisticated connections among themselves after being treated with this natural compound.
Comment: Apigenin is also found in other herbs and spices such as rosemary, oregano, basil, coriander, cloves, peppermint, lemon balm and licorice.
Imagine if before and after a hectic day of work, everyone took twenty minutes to stretch and objectively contemplate their life's journey.
According to a Harvard study, such simple practices could change our world - and the healthcare system - dramatically
The study, conducted by Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)'s Institute for Technology Assessment and the Benson-Henry Institute (BHI), concluded that evoking a relaxation response or a physiologic state of deep rest helps alleviate stress and anxiety while positively benefiting one's heart and rate and blood pressure.
Comment: Comment: 'The best 'medicine' stems from within and begins with the breath' Read more about how yoga & meditation can help alleviate stress and numerous health ailments:
- Meditation Better Than Morphine?
- Why Yoga? Healing research
- Reprogramming inflammation with meditation
- Power of Meditation in Response to Stress
- Yoga: An Alternative Treatment for Depression
- Yoga Therapy can Counteract Stress and Depression
- Research Says: Meditation can improve heart health, manage stress and relieve pain
- The fascinating ways meditation transforms your brain - and why it makes you feel better
- Study finds yoga effectively improves physical health, pain, energy and mood in arthritis patients
More kids than ever are being prescribed powerful antipsychotic drugs that are intended for adults, the New York Times reports.
Nearly 20,000 prescriptions for risperidone, commonly known as Risperdal, quetiapine (Seroquel) and other antipsychotic medications were written in 2014 for children ages 2 and younger, a 50% rise from the year before, according to the prescription data company IMS Health. Nearly 83,000 kids in this age group were prescribed the antidepressant fluoxetine (Prozac), a 23% rise from the year before.
Comment: Additional articles about Big Pharma's antipsychotic drugging of American kids!
- Why Have Antipsychotic Prescriptions in Children Skyrocketed?
- Two-Year-Old Toddlers Being Dosed Up with Antipsychotic Drugs
- Foster Children Given Harmful Antipsychotics and Tranquilizers as Frequently as Mentally Disabled
- The Psychiatric Drugging of Infants and Toddlers: An American Phenomenon
- Poor Children Likelier to Get Antipsychotics
- Child Abuse! More Toddlers, Young Children Given Antipsychotics
- FDA to Probe Risk of Weight Gain in Kids Using Antipsychotic Drugs
- Pathological: Antipsychotics get tentative OK for kids
Comment: Turning classrooms into labs: ADHD diagnosis and the drugging of kids