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Flame retardants in consumer products are linked to health and cognitive problems

Liza Gross
Washington Post
Mon, 15 Apr 2013 17:16 UTC
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Synthetic chemicals added to consumer products to meet federal and state flammability standards are showing up in waterways, wildlife and even human breast milk.

Studies in laboratory animals and humans have linked the most scrutinized flame retardants, called polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs, to thyroid disruption, memory and learning problems, delayed mental and physical development, lower IQ, advanced puberty and reduced fertility. Other flame retardants have been linked to cancer. At the same time, recent studies suggest that the chemicals may not effectively reduce the flammability of treated products.

The potential risks of flame retardants have been known for some time. In 1977, brominated tris was banned from use in children's pajamas after researchers showed that it could damage DNA in animals. Two PBDEs, penta and octa, were pulled from the U.S. market in 2004. But another chemical that was removed from pajamas decades ago based on evidence that it could mutate DNA is still being used in furniture and some other baby products.
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Chess

Will Monsanto ties influence Nutritionists' stance on GMOs?

Tom Philpott
Mother Jones Magazine
Sat, 13 Apr 2013 17:08 UTC
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© Andrey_Kuzmin/Shutterstock
The GMO seed giant Monsanto recently flexed its muscles in Congress, working with a senator to sneak a friendly rider into an unrelated funding bill. Now it appears to be having its way with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. As the New York Times reports, a dietician who'd been working on crafting the group's GMO policy claims she was pushed aside for pointing out her colleagues' links to Monsanto.

The controversy started during last fall's highly contested battle over a ballot initiative that would have required labeling genetically modified food in California. The prestigious dieticians' group was incorrectly listed by the official state voters' guide as one of the scientific organizations that had "concluded biotech foods are safe." Actually, the AND had taken no position on the issue, but it promised to come out with a position paper on it. (The ballot initiative ultimately failed.)
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Alarm Clock

Report on U.S. meat sounds alarm on resistant bacteria

Stephanie Strom
New York Times
Tue, 16 Apr 2013 16:59 UTC
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More than half of samples of ground turkey, pork chops and ground beef collected from supermarkets for testing by the federal government contained a bacteria resistant to antibiotics, according to a new report highlighting the findings.

The data, collected in 2011 by the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System - a joint program of the Food and Drug Administration, the Agriculture Department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - show a sizable increase in the amount of meat contaminated with antibiotic-resistant forms of bacteria, known as superbugs, like salmonella, E. coli and campylobacter.

The government published the findings in February, but they received scant attention until the Environmental Work Group issued its report, "Superbugs Invade American Supermarkets," which was partly underwritten by Applegate, which sells organic and antibiotic-free "natural" meats.
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Cow

USDA starts new livestock ID program

M.L. Johnson
Associated Press
Wed, 17 Apr 2013 16:26 UTC
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© Associated Press Photo/Laurie Lawrence
The federal government has launched a new livestock identification program to help agriculture officials to quickly track livestock in cases of disease.

It is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's second attempt at implementing such a system, which officials say is critical to maintaining the security of the nation's food supply. An earlier, voluntary program failed because of widespread opposition among farmers and ranchers who described it as a costly hassle that didn't help control disease.

There has been talk for years among consumer advocates about establishing a program that would trace food from farm to plate. The livestock identification system doesn't go that far and isn't meant to. Its main goal is to track animals' movements so agriculture and health officials can quickly establish quarantines and take other steps to prevent the spread of disease.
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Health

Update: 16 dead from total of 77 cases of H7N9 'bird flu' in China

Russell Flannery
Forbes
Wed, 17 Apr 2013 04:43 UTC
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China steps up monitoring as new bird flu cases confirmed
The number of confirmed H7N9 bird flu cases in the country increased last night after Shanghai reported another six illnesses, five of them "diagnosed retrospectively," the state-run Shanghai Daily said today.

Two fatalities among the group have raised the total number of H7N9 deaths in the country to 16. Yesterday's increase in reported cases by 14 was the biggest single-day increase in the spread of the disease so far. The total number of illnesses to date is 77, including the deaths.

Besides Shanghai, the latest reported cases of the new virus were in eastern China provinces where the disease has been concentrated all along. Three cases were reported in Jiangsu and five in Zhejiang.
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People 2

Men and women get sick in different ways

Ulrike Lippe
Versita
Tue, 16 Apr 2013 17:04 UTC
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© Think Stock
Recent research in laboratory medicine has revealed crucial differences between men and women with regard to cardiovascular illness, cancer, liver disease, osteoporosis, and in the area of pharmacology.

At the dawn of third millennium medical researchers still know very little about gender-specific differences in illness, particularly when it comes to disease symptoms, influencing social and psychological factors, and the ramifications of these differences for treatment and prevention. Medical research conducted over the past 40 years has focused almost exclusively on male patients.

A new article titled "Gender medicine: a task for the third millennium" presents research on gender-related differences conducted by Giovannella Baggio of Padua University Hospital and her team.

The article, which appears in the Journal Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (CCLM), highlights evidence for considerable differences between the sexes in five domains - cardiovascular disease, cancer, liver diseases, osteoporosis, and pharmacology.

Typically perceived as a male illness, cardiovascular disease often displays markedly different symptoms among women. While a constricted chest and pain that radiates through the left arm are standard signs of heart attack in men, in women the usual symptoms are nausea and lower abdominal pain. Although heart attacks in women are more severe and complicated, when complaining of these non-specific symptoms women often do not receive the necessary examination procedures, such as an ECG , enzyme diagnostic tests or coronary angiography.
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Mr. Potato

Hoarding, skin picking and temper tantrums now classified as mental disorders in controversial revision of 'psychiatric bible', DSM-5

Sadie Whitelocks
Daily Mail
Fri, 12 Apr 2013 16:22 UTC
People who hoard, pick their skin, binge eat or throw temper tantrums will soon be classed as having a serious mental illness.

The fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), to be released on May 22, includes an extended list of psychological behaviors.

But the decision to categorize seemingly benign habits as full-fledged disorders has divided opinion, and many believe it just extends the 'reach of psychiatry further into daily life.'

Temper tantrum
© Unknown
Behavioral patterns: Temper tantrums should be classed as a mental illness, according to the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
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Nuke

Study reveals GMO corn to be highly toxic


RT
Mon, 15 Apr 2013 14:25 UTC
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© AFP Photo / Paul J. Richards
A leaked study examining genetically-modified corn reveals that the lab-made alternative to organic crops contains a startling level of toxic chemicals.

An anti-GMO website has posted the results of an education-based consulting company's comparison of corn types, and the results reveal that genetically modified foods may be more hazardous than once thought.

The study, the 2012 Corn Comparison Report by Profit Pro, was published recently on the website for Moms Across America March to Label GMOs, a group that says they wish to "raise awareness and support Moms with solutions to eat GMO Free as we demand GMO labeling locally and nationally simultaneously." They are plotting nationwide protests scheduled for later this year.

The report, writes the website's Zen Honeycutt, was provided by a representative for De Dell Seed Company, an Ontario-based farm that's touted as being Canadian only non-GMO corn seed company.

"The claims that 'There is no difference between GMO corn and NON Gmo corn' are false," says Honeycutt, who adds she was "floored" after reading the study.
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Sherlock

Should women with gluten sensitivity breast feed?

Dr. Peter Osborne
Gluten Free Society
Tue, 16 Apr 2013 10:00 UTC

Gluten and Breastfeeding

The questions about breast feeding come up often in regards to gluten intolerance, sensitivity, and celiac disease. I have had patients tell me that their pediatrician would prefer they not breastfeed because of gluten issues in the baby. I have also had patients be told that their baby is allergic to breast milk and that formula is a better option. This is terrible advice, but unfortunately is is common advice.

Breast Milk is the Ultimate Human Nutrition

Breast feeding is the best source of nutrient dense food in babies regardless of disease status of the mother or the baby. The only exception to this rule is when the mother is taking medications that might harm the baby, or if the mother is eating a diet high in foods that the baby is allergic to. The diagram below illustrates some of the benefits of natural feeding VS. artificial formula use:

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Key

Brain development is guided by junk DNA that isn't really junk


Science Blog
Mon, 15 Apr 2013 09:41 UTC
Specific DNA once dismissed as junk plays an important role in brain development and might be involved in several devastating neurological diseases, UC San Francisco scientists have found.

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Brain development is guided by junk DNA that isn’t really junk
Their discovery in mice is likely to further fuel a recent scramble by researchers to identify roles for long-neglected bits of DNA within the genomes of mice and humans alike.

While researchers have been busy exploring the roles of proteins encoded by the genes identified in various genome projects, most DNA is not in genes. This so-called junk DNA has largely been pushed aside and neglected in the wake of genomic gene discoveries, the UCSF scientists said.

In their own research, the UCSF team studies molecules called long noncoding RNA (lncRNA, often pronounced as "link" RNA), which are made from DNA templates in the same way as RNA from genes.

"The function of these mysterious RNA molecules in the brain is only beginning to be discovered," said Daniel Lim, MD, PhD, assistant professor of neurological surgery, a member of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCSF, and the senior author of the study, published online April 11 in the journal Cell Stem Cell.

Alexander Ramos, a student enrolled in the MD/PhD program at UCSF and first author of the study, conducted extensive computational analysis to establish guilt by association, linking lncRNAs within cells to the activation of genes.

Comment: For more information about the implications of this topic see On viral 'junk' DNA, a DNA-enhancing Ketogenic diet, and cometary kicks.

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