October 2009 Health in the News Archive

[ Monthly Index of New Briefs ]

Obama's daughters got both seasonal and swine flu shots

When I saw this news, I thought to myself: "Well, what else is he going to do? He is the leader of the country; the conventional wisdom states that swine flu vaccination is the way to go. It's probably a battle that he chose not to fight. I would have chosen otherwise, but I am not the President of the United States, fortunately, so I don't have to worry about what half the country and all the vaccine manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies think."

American Cancer Society's about-face on screenings

Mammography is far from a perfect screening tool. It was never good for women with dense breasts, implants, or women pregnant or nursing. One risk of mammography is that if you do have a cancerous mass, the last thing you want to do is to squeeze it which can cause the cancer to spread. Another risk is that annual mammograms deliver an annual dose of radiation, and radiation is carcinogenic. In fact, the only acknowledged cause of cancer by the American Cancer Society is radiation.

Many groups like the Susan G. Komen society have radiologists on the board of directors. Radiologists invested in mammography machines and have not wanted to switch to thermography. Lobbying efforts brought about the removal of thermography coverage by insurance companies. And that's unfortunate because thermography can spot suspicious tissue sometimes 10 years before it can be detected by mammography.

Cancer cells are typically in the body 10-20 years before the mass gets large enough to be noticed. When a tumor is forming, it develops its own blood supply to feed its accelerated growth and this increased blood flow can increase the surface temperatures of the breast. Pre-cancerous tissues can start this process well in advance of the cells becoming malignant. Thermography measures the skin's autonomic response to that inflammation – it's "heat signature."

Modern thermography is the cancer society's answer to screening that can help raise suspicions of breast cancer at an early stage, when there is still chance of complete cure.

HMF in high fructose corn syrup linked to DNA damage in humans

HFCS is a processed, liquid sweetener used generously throughout the food supply. It is in a long list of processed foods many people consume every day including juice, sodas, salad dressings, peanut butter, and ketchup. But more worrisome, it is in many things that will get heated again – like bread and pizza sauce. Many were already calling HFCS the worst of all non-synthetic sweeteners because it is metabolized to fat in the body far more rapidly than any other sugar, and most HFCS is made from genetically modified corn which has it own set of health concerns. The state of Florida even went so far as trying to ban HFCS from schools in 2006.

It pays to read labels.

Dr. Andrew Weil rebuked by FDA for swine flu claims

The majority of the FDA/FTC warning letters involved dietary supplements. The rest cited an array of products ranging from air and water filters, to biohazard kits and fake "Tamiflu" pills from India. But Dr. Weil was selling a legitimate product, saying essentially that boosting the immune system can offer some protection against swine flu.

Earlier this year, a Swine Flu task force initiated by the FDA and the FTC essentially made it illegal to make ANY claim that any product for sale has any effect on swine flu other than pharmaceutical drugs. The government is prosecuting this more aggressively than questionable cancer claims.

Dr. Weil's site raises the issue of just how much suppression of natural approaches is part of the FDA's agenda. Who can forget the 2008 episode when the FDA threatened legal action against 29 companies that market cherries? The FDA demanded they stop using scientific information describing the health benefits of natural cherries, such as the anthocyanins that reduce inflammation for arthritis sufferers.

Taking bogus Tamiflu pills off the market is the government's job, but censoring the concept that a strong immune system makes human beings healthier is just plain wrong.

Public resistance to swine flu vaccination grows

To put that in perspective, consider that malaria kills one million people every year, worldwide.

The British Medical Journal published a comparative analysis of several flu pandemics, saying the evidence shows that the H1N1 swine flu is of "the same subtype as seasonal H1N1 that has been circulating since 1977." The author asks, "What is the proper response to clinically mild or epidemiologically limited (small number) outbreaks caused by new viruses? Over the past four years, pandemic preparations have focused on responding to worst case scenarios. As a result, officials responded to the H1N1 outbreak as an unfolding disaster. Measures were taken that in hindsight may be seen as alarmist, overly restrictive, or even unjustified."

The November issue of The Atlantic Monthly had an article questioning, "What if everything we think we know about fighting influenza is wrong? What if flu vaccines do not protect people from dying? Where does that leave us if a bad pandemic strikes?"

Great question. Health officials have already reported H1N1 resistance to Tamiflu.

Herbicide Atrazine is a Common Water Contaminant

The EPA could do much to reduce the costs of health care by reducing toxins in our environment. To do that would be an honest to goodness case of prevention. There are more than 400 pesticides legally used in the USA. Apples, for example, can be sprayed up to 16 times with 36 different pesticides.

According to the Department of Health and Human Services, organophosphate pesticides (OP) are now found in the blood of 95% of Americans tested, and the levels are twice as high in blood samples taken from children. Exposure to OPs is linked to hyperactivity, behavior disorders, learning disabilities, developmental delays and motor dysfunction.

What about using natural selection, and natural pesticides which appear to co-exist happily with humans on the planet? Chrysanthemums, for example, are a natural pesticide used for thousands of years in China. So too are tobacco and ladybugs. People are flocking to organic foods to avoid synthetic, toxic chemicals because they are beginning to realize that their children's health is at stake. Our "living better through chemistry" approach is literally killing us.

Prevention may not cut healthcare costs

They don't get it. This assumes that "prevention" means lots of (expensive) tests for "early diagnosis." By the time a test shows that there is an illness, it's too late for prevention – the train has already left the station, the horse is out of the barn. Prevention means a clean environment and eating healthy foods from childhood, which means finding an economically viable way to educate parents. The only time lawmakers envision prevention as something other than tests is when they talk about smoking. Ah, yes, cutting out cigarettes makes us healthier. What if we cut out high fructose corn syrup, synthetic sugars, and trans fats?

According to the CDC, three-quarters of health care spending now goes to treat preventable chronic diseases. Most of these diseases have their roots in diet and environmental toxins. "The American way of eating has become the elephant in the room," as Michael Pollen recently said. We need the political will to take a much firmer stand on what constitutes "food", and on what the government is willing to pay for with food stamps. It means refusing to allow chemicals and additives into the food chain. It means making foods that have more omega-3 fatty acids and a shorter shelf life. It's a different way of thinking. We cannot afford any longer to travel the same old path, and expect to arrive at a different destination.

Unsafe Levels of Toxins Found in Drinking Water at Schools

We know that babies are born with some 200 chemicals in their bodies. We also know that the "body burden" of toxics build over time and contribute to chronic disease. Contaminated water is one way the body burden increases. Many schools have turned to buying bottled water because it is less expensive than fixing old pipes or trying to find clean well water. But bottled water itself is a problem. Throwing away all that plastic is bad for the environment, and tests show that many bottled waters are not free of contaminants.

In the "old days," kids used to get water at schools from drinking fountains. Is it impossible to filter that water? Some experts say we can only mitigate the problem, no filter has been designed that can get rid of everything we'd like to get rid of. Contaminated water is an unfortunate legacy of mankind's footprint on the earth.

Autism Rates Are Officially Increasing

Are these new numbers a real increase, or as some want to say, mostly just better reporting or expansion of the ASD classification within the public schools? I don't think that is as important as figuring out how to reduce the incidence of autism and lost potential that comes with it.

In 1999, mercury was removed from many vaccines. Yet the rates increase. This lends credence to the school of thought that autism follows an overload of toxicity. Newborn babies have some 200 chemicals in their blood and that "body burden" increases as they grow up. A vaccine, which interacts with the immune system, is sometimes the straw that breaks the camel's back. Autism is an unfortunate combination of exposure to more toxins than the system can handle, and genetic susceptibility. Some of us excrete mercury and other toxins better than others. Chelation has proven successful for many children because it significantly decreases the inflammation caused by heavy metal contaminants.

Some physicians remain hesitant about H1N1 vaccine

Well, it is finally being reported that not every physician is as sold on the H1N1 vaccine as the government would suggest. The vaccine is untested, contains adjuvants, is preserved with thimerosal - a mercury compound – and might protect us against what has been a relatively mild form of influenza in most people. I personally cannot think of a really good reason for me to vaccinate myself or my family.

Fat Deficiency Kills More People than Breast Cancer

In Great Britain, the Food Standards Agency this week considered what claims can be made about omega-3s on labels. Some of the world's leading omega-3 scientists are concerned that labels need to help consumers distinguish between marine-sourced EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and plant-based ALA (alpha-linolenic acid) because only the fish-derived omega-3s have the scientific backing for their health benefits. ALA from plant oils is cheaper, but does not deliver the wider range of health benefits.

Omega-3 fatty acids, most notably DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid), have been linked to a wide-range of health benefits, including reduced risk of heart disease, some cancers, good development of a baby during pregnancy, joint health, and improved behaviour and mood. A University of Barcelona study earlier this year showed diets rich in omega-3 fatty acids protect the liver from damage caused by obesity and the insulin resistance it provokes.

The Harvard study found that most deaths linked to a lack of healthy omega-3s are from heart diseases. Omega-3 fatty acids are a type of unsaturated fatty acid that reduces inflammation throughout the body. Many of the anti-inflammatory and clot-inhibiting prostaglandins are made from omega-3 fatty acids, of which there are very few in commercial vegetable oils, or indeed in fruits, vegetables, farmed fish, and eggs raised by modern farming methods.

These studies, and those that follow, will hopefully put an end to the low-fat diet fad. Fats have been demonized for the last 40 years or more. And yet Americans are more overweight and more prone to chronic disease than ever before, due in part to misinformation about fats.

GM sugar beets ruled illegal

A different federal judge made a similar ruling in 2007; Judge Charles Breyer ordered a halt to the nationwide planting of Monsanto's genetically engineered strain of alfalfa until the USDA conducted an environmental study. A federal appeals court upheld Breyer's decision last year. There is still no environmental study and the alfalfa, with rare exceptions, is not being grown.

A telling comment was made by David Berg, president of American Crystal Sugar Company, the nation's largest sugar beet processor. He said food companies had accepted the biotech beets. "They've been a big nonevent in terms of customer acceptance." I think he clearly misspoke. There was a lot of consumer pushback. This lawsuit was spearheaded by the Center for Food Safety and was joined by the Sierra Club, the Organic Seed Alliance, and High Mowing Organic Seeds, a small seed company. The defendant was the Department of Agriculture.