Health & Wellness
Hundreds of millions of people indulge in one of the most dangerous drugs which is sold right over the counter. When it comes to harm done to other people and the users themselves, not heroin, crack cocaine, methamphetamines, marijuana or even tobacco come close to the health and safety hazards caused by this one depressant.
Drug harms fall into two broad categories: those that affect you, and those that affect others. The personal ones include death, health problems (including mental health), accidents, addiction, relationship breakdown and legal trouble. Harms to other people include violence, financial problems, crime and environmental damage -- both at home and where the drugs are produced.
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It seems that across the country, more and more water crises are occurring, underlining the need for all households to possess an emergency water supply.
The contamination was discovered after residents complained that the color of the water coming from their taps was "off." Testing was performed and the following advisory was issued:
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Ian Crozier
Ian Crozier
At the time, his eyes were the least of his worries.
"There were lots of things sort of higher on the food chain," he told CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360." "I was struggling to learn to walk again."
But not long after, mild burning and light sensitivity afflicted his eyes.
Less than two months later, he was back at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta; testing showed the virus was still living in his eye.
Perplexed
His case has left doctors stunned and highlighted the need for eye checkups for Ebola survivors.
Crozier, 44, was hospitalized at Emory University Hospital for more than a month in September after contracting the disease in Sierra Leone, where he worked at a hospital.
At the time, the hospital said he was the sickest of all the four Ebola patients treated there.
Crozier was discharged in October, and about two months later, he developed eye problems and returned to Emory. Doctors stuck a needle in his eye and removed some fluid, which tested positive for the virus.
Comment: "It wouldn't be surprising, in a very severe infection that is spread all over the body, to have some long-term damage to sensitive tissues like nerves," In addition, after a patient is cured, the virus may also persist in some parts of the body, including the eyes, and cause inflammation and vision problems, Goodman said.
After the 1995 Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, about 15 percent of survivors developed eye problems, such as eye pain and vision loss. In the most recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa, there have also been reports of survivors with vision problems, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). These eye problems typically respond well to treatment, but if left untreated, they can lead to blindness, Goodman said.
Long term effects of Ebola?
Dr. Michael Noonan
But it seems a new one has been added to the list: dementia, including Alzheimer's disease. According to one review of the published literature, diabetic patients had a 46 percent higher risk of developing Alzheimer's and a whopping 250 percent increased risk of dementia caused by problems with blood supply to the brain. This is why these problems sometimes are called "Type 3" diabetes.
It appears the chronic high blood sugar associated with Types 1 and 2 diabetes is hard on the blood vessels. This, in turn, affects the tissues that rely on the oxygen and fuel these vessels' supply, including the brain.
I did not write this column to add to the woes of diabetics. But during my work with nutrition, I am amazed at how many diabetics, Types 1 and 2, still are eating carbohydrate-based diets, even if they are avoiding processed sugar.
Comment: Adopting a ketogenic diet could be the best thing you do for your brain and overall health.
Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that spread the Zika virus are found throughout the world, meaning outbreaks could spread to new countries, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control has stated.
Costa Rica's Health Ministry reported that the alert was prompted by the confirmation last month of the first cases of Zika in Brazil and on Chile's Easter Island.
"The island's proximity to the Polynesian Triangle prompted alerts for the Americas," Roberto Castro, from the ministry's Health Surveillance Department, said.
A Zika infection may go unnoticed or be misdiagnosed because like dengue and Chikungunya it causes fever, rashes, swelling of joints, headaches and red eye. Symptoms appear within three to 12 days after the bite of an infected mosquito. Symptoms are usually mild and last from two to seven days.
The virus, also known as ZIKV, was first found in the Aedes africanus mosquito and later in the Aedes Aegypti and Aedes polynesiensis mosquitoes. There are also documented cases of transmission by other Aedes species including Albopictus, currently found in Costa Rica and which also carry Chikungunya.
As the controversial bill advances through the California legislature, SB 277 has been met with strong and growing public resistance. This citizen movement is drawing attention to the legal implications of the arcane National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act (NCVIA) of 1986.
This amendment gives consumers in California the opportunity to sue vaccine manufacturers in the event of injury or death.
It also creates the opportunity to challenge the constitutionality of the federal government's attempts to block any lawsuits against vaccine manufacturers.
What I find absolutely stunning about Sharyl's reporting is that she apparently is fearless in laying out the skullduggery involved with the feds deliberate actions, which seem to be efforts to 'salvage' a sinking ship: vaccines—due to their adverse reactions reporting and claims settlements by the U.S. Vaccine Court. I wonder what the feds will do to skew the VAERS reporting system where U.S. citizens report adverse reactions.
Comment: Read the following articles written by Catherine J. Frompovich to learn more about the skullduggery involved with the feds and efforts to 'salvage' a sinking ship: vaccines
- Exposing the FDA's Vaccine Injury Cover-up: An Interview With Walter Kyle
- What does the U.S. Treasury do with Vaccine Excise Taxes it collects?
Sometimes it almost seems like the drugs industry works overtime to find new ways to hurt, cripple or even kill us. Scientist Peter Nelson of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle in a write-up of a study of why cancer cells were so easy to kill in the lab but not inside our bodies, found that healthy cells damaged by chemotherapy secreted more of a protein called WNT16B which boosts cancer cell survival. "The increase in WNT16B was completely unexpected," Nelson told AFP.
He added that,"WNT16B, when secreted, would interact with nearby tumor cells and cause them to grow, invade, and importantly, resist subsequent therapy." That would explain why in cancer treatment, tumors often respond well initially, followed by rapid regrowth and then resistance to further chemotherapy.
The study was conducted by a team of scientists from different cancer research centers, universities as well as from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories. It was published online in August 2012 in the journal Nature Medicine. Among their alarming conclusions was that, "The expression of WNT16B in the prostate tumor microenvironment attenuated the effects of cytotoxic chemotherapy in vivo, promoting tumor cell survival and disease progression."
Comment: The only reason that chemotherapy is used so widely is that doctors and pharmaceutical companies make huge amounts of money from the business of cancer. There are non-toxic efficacious methods for killing cancer, but as there is no money to be made by using such therapies, most are ignored or demonized in order to continue milking the chemo cash cow, despite the enormous suffering this barbaric treatment protocol inflicts on millions.
- Scientists cure cancer, but no one takes notice
- Greed: Why an accepted "cure" for cancer won't be found
- Diet for cancer cure: Starving cancer ketogenic diet a key to recovery
- Breast Cancer Virtually "Eradicated" with Higher Levels of Vitamin D
- High dose IV vitamin C kills cancer cells
- 97 Percent of the time, chemotherapy does not work! Bigpharma greed and profits assure it's continued use, despite more effective and less toxic alternatives
© ShutterStock | Aaron Amat
The report identifies several possible areas of concern, including: "water withdrawals in times of, or in areas with, low water availability; spills of hydraulic fracturing fluids and produced water; fracturing directly into underground drinking water resources; below ground migration of liquids and gases; and inadequate treatment and discharge of water."
However, the report says, "We did not find evidence that these mechanisms have led to widespread, systemic impacts on drinking water resources."
Comment: At what point is such an impact on the water supply considered "systemic" or "widespread", and why is it only worth doing something about after it reaches such a point and the damage is irreversible? Even beyond the potential impact on groundwater supply, what about the potential for other disasters such as earthquakes or increasing drought problems? The evidence is clear that fracking poses a severe systemic threat to America's groundwater supplies, but apparently keeping the fracking industry going is more important than the overall health and well-being of the American people. How long before people say that enough is enough?
Comment: Alcohol gravest threat to society, claims sacked scientist