Health & WellnessS


Bulb

Men's Minds Decline More with Age

Everyone becomes a little more forgetful as they get older, but men's minds decline more than women's, according to the results of a worldwide survey.

Certain differences seem to be inherent in male and female brains: Men are better at maintaining and manipulating mental images (useful in mathematical reasoning and spatial skills), while women tend to excel at retrieving information from their brain's files (helpful with language skills and remembering the locations of objects).

Health

Flashback Marijuana Compound May Fight Lung Cancer

While smoking marijuana is never good for the lungs, the active ingredient in pot may help fight lung cancer, new research shows.

Harvard University researchers have found that, in both laboratory and mouse studies, delta-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) cuts tumor growth in half in common lung cancer while impeding the cancer's ability to spread.

Magic Wand

Passengers, not just mobile phones, contribute to road accidents. So being anti-social loner is the safest way to drive.

The new study, by The George Institute for International Health, was designed to determine the risk of a crash associated with passenger carriage compared with that of using a mobile phone while driving. Both the carrying of passengers, and having a larger number of passengers in the car, are associated with an increased likelihood of a crash, though not to the same extent as mobile phone use. Earlier studies at The George Institute found that a driver's use of a mobile phone was associated with a four-fold increase in the likelihood of crashing.

The study's lead investigator, Dr Suzanne McEvoy, says that "carrying passengers in the car has a number of potentially distracting effects that also occur with mobile phone use while driving. Moreover, carrying passengers may have additional effects on the driver, including peer influence."

"Drivers with passengers were almost 60% more likely to have a motor vehicle crash resulting in hospital attendance, irrespective of their age group. The likelihood of a crash was more than doubled in the presence of two or more passengers," noted Dr McEvoy.

Evil Rays

Flashback Epidemiologic evidence relevant to radar (microwave) effects

Abstract from Environ Health Perspect. 1997 December; 105(Suppl 6): 1579 - 1587.

Public and occupational exposures to microwave (RF) are of two main types. The first type of exposures are those connected with military and industrial uses and, to some extent broadcast exposures. It is this type that most of the data cited in this study draw upon. The second type, cellular telephones and their associated broadcast requirements, have raised concerns about current exposures because of their increasingly widespread use. Four types of effects were originally reported in multiple studies: increased spontaneous abortion, shifts in red and white blood cell counts, increased somatic mutation rates in lymphocytes, and increased childhood, testicular, and other cancers. In addition, there is evidence of generalized increased disability rates from a variety of causes in one study and symptoms of sensitivity reactions and lenticular opacity in at least one other. These findings suggest that RF exposures are potentially carcinogenic and have other health effects. Therefore, prudent avoidance of unneeded exposures is recommended as a precautionary measure. Epidemiologic studies of occupational groups such as military users and air traffic controllers should have high priority because their exposures can be reasonably well characterized and the effects reported are suitable for epidemiologic monitoring. Additional community studies are needed.

Comment: To read the full document go here


Evil Rays

Call the harmful technologies by their true names

Why would a corporation call energy it promotes "nonionizing radiation" when it could call it more accurately "radiofrequency radiation"? Why would a group describe RF absorption levels "nonthermal" when there IS heat deposition, and they could call the levels more correctly "microthermal"? Why would one call weapons "nonlethal" when they were more properly called "direct-energy" or "electromagnetic" weapons?

Here's why: because public relations firms advised the corporations promoting these technologies to do so, in order to convey SAFETY to the public mind, SAFETY that is actually HARM.

Evil Rays

The psychology of self-deception when talking about the dangers of electropollution

When talking about the dangers of electropollution, very often the reaction of many people is that of denial, skepticism, and self-deception. Some people work for the military where the use of this technology is not to be questioned and a whole paradigmatic mindset has been created to counter such questions, others work for the cell phone industry where the money to be made is astronomical, others own profitable stock in these companies, whereas others are just addicted to the convenience of owning one of these mini weapons of mass destruction.

Ambulance

Africa facing major cancer blight

Speaking before the conference began, the former British health minister Alan Milburn, who is chairing the conference, said the geography of cancer was indeed changing and that a new cancer epidemic was facing Africa.

Evil Rays

Allergic Reactions Enhanced by Cell Phone Use

Cellular phone use for one continuous hour exacerbates allergic responses to dust and pollen in adults with eczema, according to a new study in International Archives of Allergy and Immunology (2002;129:348 - 50). The findings of the study, while only preliminary, suggest that the microwave radiation emitted from cell phones may increase sensitivity to specific allergens, potentially making allergy symptoms worse.

Evil Rays

Radiation from baby monitors 'poses risk'

Baby monitors, bought by parents to keep their children safe, may instead be harming them, some scientists fear. They warn that the devices are bathing the infants in radiation at an age when they are most vulnerable to it.

The radiation, similar to that given off by modern cordless phones, is part of the increasing electronic smog to which mobile phones, their masts and Wi-Fi systems also contribute. The monitors use the same digitally enhanced cordless telecommunication (Dect) technology as cordless phones.

Evil Rays

Flashback Digital Cordless Baby Monitors - Our Experiences

Over the past five years we, with the help of parents, have measured a variety of baby monitors and the DECT pulsing ones seem to be far more disruptive of the infant's sleep and state of contentment (causing restlessness, irritability and crying). The old wired ones and the older "analogue" cordless ones do not seem to cause the same problems if kept at least one metre from the cot / bed.