Welcome to Sott.net
Sat, 16 Oct 2021
The World for People who Think

Health & Wellness
Map

Question

Is Your Faucet Making You Sick?

Image
Your drinking water may be contaminated with lead, even if you're using faucets claiming to be 'lead-free.' Here's what we can do about it.

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.

Red Flag

Long-Lasting Sensory Loss in World Trade Center Workers from Airborne Toxins After 9/11 Attacks

Image
© iStockphoto
Ground Zero, New York City.
New research from the Monell Center and collaborating institutions reports that workers exposed to the complex mixture of toxic airborne chemicals following the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City had a decreased ability to detect odors and irritants two years after the exposure.

"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."

Info

Warning: This Common Food Causes Devastating Offspring Defects in New Research Study



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

Ambulance

Study Links Weak Immune Systems, PTSD

A study shows that there may be a reason that those with chronic post-traumatic stress disorder deal with more physical health issues as they age: Their immune system has been compromised.

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.

Attention

Study Finds: Large Number of Public Wells in U.S. Have Potentially Harmful Contaminants in Source Water

Image
© USGS
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.
More than 20 percent of untreated water samples from 932 public wells across the nation contained at least one contaminant at levels of potential health concern, according to a new study by the U.S. Geological Survey.

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

Cell Phone

Cell Phones and Brain Cancer: The Real Story

Image
The long awaited World Health Organization Interphone study of more than 5,000 brain tumors that occurred between 2000-2004 and cell phone use failed to deliver a knock-out punch. This thirteen country report found what every study that has ever examined people who have used phones for a decades or more has determined - top users of cell phones had a doubled risk of malignant tumors of the brain. When looking at all those in their study who had used cell phones to make one call a week for six months or more, compared to those who used cell phones less no such risk was evident. This is unsurprising.

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.

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:
They document serious scientific concerns about current limits regulating how much EMF is allowable from power lines, cell phones, and many other sources of EMF exposure in daily life.

The report concludes the existing standards for public safety are inadequate to protect public health.
Electromagnetic radiation and its effect on the brain: an insider speaks out

The Hidden Dangers of Cell Phone Radiation

Is 'Electrosmog' Harming Our Health?


Magnify

If Ultrasound Destroys Sperm, Why is it Safe for a Fetus?

Image
© NaturalNews
Ultrasound is extremely damaging to the health of any unborn child (fetus). The natural health community has been warning about ultrasound for years, but mainstream medicine, which consistently fails to recognize the harm it causes, insists ultrasound is perfectly safe and can't possibly harm the health of a fetus.

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?

Magnify

High-intensity interval training is twice as effective as regular exercise

Image
© Getty Images
Recent research is indicating that traditional approaches to exercise that involve spending hours in the gym every day may not be the best way to stay strong and healthy. Interval training, a high-intensity type of workout that was originally created for Olympic athletes, may actually be twice as effective as regular exercise, and it can be done in a fraction of the time.

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.

Magnify

Bolivia Launches "Coca-Colla" Drink Made from Medicinal Coca Plant

Image
© Dado Galdieri/AP Photo
The Bolivian government has announced plans to launch a carbonated soft drink called Coca-Colla, to be made with actual coca leaves.

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.

Magnify

The Best, and Worst, Laundry Detergents with 1,4-dioxane Contamination

Image
© ECOS
One of the major issues being tackled by consumer watchdog groups this year is the presence of 1,4-dioxane, a synthetic petrochemical carcinogen, in consumer products. Since hair care products, cleaning formulas and laundry detergents are all susceptible to containing this toxic chemical byproduct, which is not listed on product labels, David Steinman from the Green Patriot Working Group (GPWG) began a study in 2007 to see which consumer products are the worst offenders.

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.