Health & Wellness
By now we've all heard the dangers of lead - at any level. The American Heart Association, the Centers for Disease Control, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the World Health Organization, and every other health-based organization that has reviewed the available studies have concluded that there is no safe level of lead in the human body. Human lead exposure has been associated with reduced cognitive function, aggressive behavior, increased criminal activity, digestive ailments, nervous system disorders, cardiovascular impairment, and bone marrow damage, just to name a few. Recent medical research has demonstrated that many of these ailments are caused by low levels of lead exposures - levels that were previously believed to be safe. Lead in our bloodstream robs us of our future, as it is particularly toxic to our children's health. Furthermore, unlike other toxins that our bodies can remove, lead accumulates over time and can have adverse impacts throughout adulthood and can even shorten our lives.
"The nose performs many sensory functions that are critical for human health and safety," said lead author Pamela Dalton, PhD, MPH, an environmental psychologist at Monell. "The sensory system that detects irritants is the first line of defense to protect the lungs against airborne toxic chemicals. The loss of the ability of the nose to respond to a strong irritant means that the reflexes that protect the lungs from toxic exposures will not be triggered."
In this interview, Jeffrey Smith, author of the bestseller Seeds of Deception, and Genetic Roulette, discusses the latest GMO research findings coming out of Russia, which adds fuel to previous concerns about long-term sterility and other highly bizarre physiological side effects.
Sources:
Institute for Responsible Technology, "Genetically Modified Soy Linked to Sterility, Infant Mortality"
The Voice of Russia April 16, 2010
Grist April 20, 2010
Jeffrey Smith Interview Transcript (PDF)
Huffington Post April 20, 2010
The study is yet more evidence to support the idea that people with PTSD go through chemical changes after a psychological injury.
Lead author Monica Uddin, a researcher with the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, and her colleagues began with the theory that the increase in physical health issues - such as heart disease - in those with PTSD may come from immune system problems.
To that end, they used blood samples from 100 people in the Detroit Neighborhood Health Study. Of those, 23 had been diagnosed with chronic PTSD while 77 had not, though many had been diagnosed with other mental health issues, such as depression.
By looking at genes in those blood samples, they found that the people with PTSD had three areas where genes had been methylated - turned on, essentially - at higher levels than those without PTSD. One of those areas was hearing.

Twenty-two percent of 932 source-water samples from public wells contained one or more chemical contaminants at concentrations greater than Maximum Contaminant Levels or Health-Based Screening Levels.
About 105 million people - or more than one-third of the nation's population - receive their drinking water from one of the 140,000 public water systems across the United States that rely on groundwater pumped from public wells
The story behind the story needs to be told. First of all, although the news reports so far do not acknowledge this fact, Interphone is not the only study to find an increased risk in brain tumors with prolonged cell phone use. All studies that have been able to examine people a decade after heavy use began have found increased risk of brain tumors. Second the Interphone study completely ignored the fact that there is a growing experimental literature showing that pulsed microwave-like radiation from modern cell phones disrupts living cells and causes our DNA to become unstable - signs of cancer and other chronic disease. Third, the Interphone study was delayed close to six years, while authors debated how to present their results. Completed in 2004 and promised by 2005, publication was delayed til now.
Now, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is funding a project that aims to temporarily sterilize men by blasting their scrotums with ultrasound. The burst of ultrasound energy, it turns out, disrupts the normal biological function of the testes, making the man infertile for six months.
Ultrasound, in other words, contains enough energy to temporarily deaden the testes and basically destroy sperm function for half a year. So why is it considered "safe" to blast an unborn baby with the same frequencies?
Most people are familiar with workout regimens that claim to build strength and endurance in mere minutes a day. Though seemingly deceptive, there may be more truth to such claims than one would have originally thought, depending on the technique. A few minutes of strenuous exercise a couple days out of the week is actually more effective than spending an hour or two every day in the gym.
According to Jan Helgerud, an exercise expert at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, interval training is far superior to traditional exercise. She believes that everyday people should aim to do four, four-minute workout sets with three-minute recovery times in between. In order to maximize results and achieve optimal muscle response, these sets should be intense and somewhat straining to the body.
The name (pronounced koka koya) is an allusion to Colla suyu, the quadrant of the Inca empire that contained the modern territory of Bolivia.
The plan for the beverage was submitted by coca farmers from the country's Chapare region as part of a wider initiative to increase production of the plant. President Evo Morales, a former coca grower and head of the Chapare cocalero union, has made increased commercialization of the plant a key part of his plan for the country's economic development.
Coca leaves, chewed or brewed into tea, have been a part of Andean cultures for thousands of years. The plant is considered sacred by indigenous people and is also prized for its nutritional and medicinal benefits. According to Morales, an estimated 10 million people chew the leaves throughout the Andes.
This year, his organization along with the Organic Consumers Association (OCA), released the results of a portion of the study conducted last year on laundry detergents.
When cleaning products and detergents are processed using ethoxylation, a cheap technique that lessens the severity of the harsher ingredients, 1,4-dioxane is created. Since it is considered a byproduct of ethylene oxide reacting with other ingredients, 1,4-dioxane is technically considered a contaminant and thus does not have to be included on product labeling. As a result, consumers are largely unaware of its presence in major household products.












Comment: For more of the 'Real Story' behind the health issues associated with cell phone use and Electromagnetic radiation read the following information:
The BioInitiative Report - The Dangerous Health Impacts of Microwave Radiation
From the article: Electromagnetic radiation and its effect on the brain: an insider speaks out
The Hidden Dangers of Cell Phone Radiation
Is 'Electrosmog' Harming Our Health?