Health & WellnessS


Heart - Black

The cholesterol - heart disease scam: How the medical-industrial complex is raking in billions at our expense

Richard Clark
OpEdNews
Sat, 22 Nov 2008 01:38 UTC
Although a staggering amount of money has been spent on research to conclusively prove the link between saturated fat, cholesterol and Coronary Heart Disease (CHD), there exists a massive volume of scientific evidence published in peer-reviewed journals that completely absolves dietary cholesterol, saturated fat and elevated blood cholesterol of any harmful role in CHD.
Read More...
Bell

Latest GMO Research: Decreased Fertility, Immunological Alterations and Allergies

Dr. Gregory Damato, Ph.D.
Natural News
Thu, 04 Dec 2008 14:31 UTC
Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are created through an inexact science of shooting genes spliced from bacteria, viruses, insects, animals or humans with a .22 caliber pistol into the DNA of plants or animals laced with a metal such as tungsten. This unsafe science ostensibly supplants millions of years of evolution with little or no scientific justification. In fact, recent research on GMO crops have reported yields to be between 4 to 20 percent less than conventional crops [1-6].
Read More...
Info

US: Traces of medicines found at Tinkers Creek


Metro
Fri, 05 Dec 2008 04:52 UTC
Image
© Lynn Ischay/Plain Dealer/fileAccording to a U.S. Geological Survey study dozens of compounds such as antibiotics, prescription and nonprescription pharmaceuticals, personal-care products and household and industrial chemicals were all found in trace amounts Tinkers Creek.
Next time you get up in the middle of the night to visit the bathroom, you might think about where the medications you took earlier in the evening are heading next.

Downstream is the polite answer.

More and more, biologists are finding out that traces of those in-and-out-of-body pharmaceuticals -- and dozens of other compounds, from caffeine to pseudoephedrine -- are making it through wastewater treatment plant operations and into the environment.

What that could mean in the long run, however, is not yet known.

But the U.S. Geological Survey reported in a new study Tuesday that dozens of compounds such as antibiotics, prescription and nonprescription pharmaceuticals, personal-care products and household and industrial chemicals were all found in trace amounts in June 2006 along Tinkers Creek.
Read More...
Magnify

Media Bombardment Is Linked To Ill Effects During Childhood

Donna St. George
The Washington Post
Thu, 04 Dec 2008 23:16 UTC
In a detailed look at nearly 30 years of research on how television, music, movies and other media affect the lives of children and adolescents, a new study released today found an array of negative health effects linked to greater use.

The report found strong connections between media exposure and problems of childhood obesity and tobacco use. Nearly as strong was the link to early sexual behavior.

Researchers from the National Institutes of Health and Yale University said they were surprised that so many studies pointed in the same direction. In all, 173 research efforts, going back to 1980, were analyzed, rated and brought together in what the researchers said was the first comprehensive view of the topic. About 80 percent of the studies showed a link between a negative health outcome and media hours or content.
Read More...
Health

Traumatic Brain Injuries Linked to Long-Term Health Issues for Iraq Vets

Amanda Gardner
The Washington Post
Thu, 04 Dec 2008 23:06 UTC
A new report provides evidence linking traumatic brain injury sustained by troops in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan to a variety of long-term health problems including dementia, aggression, depression and symptoms similar to those seen in Parkinson's disease.

But the Institute of Medicine committee charged with developing the report also pointed to a troubling lack of scientific data on such injuries, which are fairly recent in the history of warfare.

"The real bottom line significant finding is that there's not a good human literature on the kinds of neurotrauma seen in Iraq and Afghanistan caused by blasts," said Dr. George W. Rutherford, vice chair of the department of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine. "The human literature is really about people who've had [brain injury] from car crashes or falling down stairs and, in the military, from shrapnel or gunshots. We're all worried that blast neurotrauma hasn't really made it into the human literature."
Read More...
Star

Truman Syndrome: 21st century plague?


Russia Today
Thu, 04 Dec 2008 20:12 UTC
trumanesque
More and more people in the world believe their life is nothing more than a reality show - surroundings are just decorations, events are script-written and staged, and people around are actors. Psychologists say this delusion named 'Truman Syndrome' has become the 'syndrome of the 21st century.'
Read More...
Pills

FDA Reluctantly Admits Mercury Fillings Have Neurotoxic Effects on Children


Reuters
Tue, 02 Dec 2008 04:28 UTC
Image
unknown

(NaturalNews) For the first time, the FDA has issued a warning that the mercury contained in silver dental fillings may pose neurological risks to children and pregnant women.

"Dental amalgams contain mercury, which may have neurotoxic effects on the nervous systems of developing children and fetuses," reads a statement that has been added to the agency's Web site. "Pregnant women and persons who may have a health condition that makes them more sensitive to mercury exposure, including individuals with existing high levels of mercury bioburden, should not avoid seeking dental care, but should discuss options with their health practitioner."

The warning was one of the conditions that the FDA agreed to in settling a lawsuit filed by several consumer health groups.
Read More...
Bizarro Earth

Diabetes is an epidemic in Canada

Sean Chase
The Daily Observer
Fri, 19 Dec 2008 05:18 UTC
Diabetes is a far more serious condition than people think with more than 5,000 people with the disease in Renfrew County. The Canadian Diabetes Association Pembroke and District Branch was driving that point home last week as it marked the second annual World Diabetes Day.

"The United Nations recognizes it as an epidemic," said branch coordinator Laura Murphy. "Nearly 40 per cent of heart attacks treated in hospital are a result of diabetes. More than 50 per cent of dialysis patients develop kidney disease as a result of diabetes."

There are even more sobering statistics.

Currently, 2.4 million Canadians are affected by diabetes with that number rising to three million by 2010. In addition, more than six million Canadians are living with prediabetes, which increases their risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
Read More...
Stop

Sick babies denied treatment in DNA patent row

Julie Robotham
Sydney Morning Herald
Sun, 30 Nov 2008 18:40 UTC
Babies with a severe form of epilepsy risk having their diagnosis delayed and their treatment compromised because of a company's patent on a key gene.

It is the first evidence that private intellectual property rights over human DNA are adversely affecting medical care.

Deepak Gill, head of neurology at the Children's Hospital at Westmead, said he would test at least 50 per cent more infants for the SCN1A gene - which would diagnose the disabling Dravet syndrome - if the hospital could conduct the test in-house.

But rights to the gene are controlled by the Melbourne-based Genetic Technologies, which has already threatened to stop public hospitals testing for breast cancer gene mutations, and the hospital will not risk a similar problem.
Read More...
Bizarro Earth

India slaughters after bird-flu outbreak


IOL
Mon, 01 Dec 2008 18:22 UTC
Authorities in India's north-eastern Assam state culled 40 000 poultry of some 60 000 infected birds ordered to be killed after an outbreak of bird flu in the state, a news report said Monday.

Culling operations have been mounted in nearly 50 villages of central Kamrup district since Friday and 40 000 chickens and ducks have been killed, Manoranjan Choudhury, an official of the state veterinary department, told the IANS news agency.

The culling operations are expected to be completed by 22 teams in the next three days.
Read More...