December 6, 2008
Study Confirms Genetically Modified (GM) Crops Threaten Human Fertility
A long-term feeding study commissioned by the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety, managed by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Health, Family and Youth, and carried out by Veterinary University Vienna, confirms genetically modified (GM) corn seriously affects reproductive health in mice. Non-GMO advocates, who have warned about this infertility link along with other health risks, now seek an immediate ban of all GM foods and GM crops to protect the health of humankind and the fertility of women around the world.
Feeding mice with genetically modified corn developed by the US-based Monsanto Corporation led to lower fertility and body weight, according to the study conducted by the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna. Lead author of the study Professor Zentek said, there was a direct link between the decrease in fertility and the GM diet, and that mice fed with non-GE corn reproduced more efficiently.
In the study, Austrian scientists performed several long-term feeding trials over 20 weeks with laboratory mice fed a diet containing 33% of a GM variety (NK 603 x MON 810), or a closely related non-GE variety used in many countries. Statistically significant litter size and pup weight decreases were found in the third and fourth litters in the GM-fed mice, compared to the control group.
The corn is genetically modified with genes that produce a pesticidal toxin, as well as genes that allow it to survive applications of Monsanto’s herbicide Roundup.
A book by author Jeffrey M. Smith, Genetic Roulette, distributed to members of congress last year, documents 65 serious health risks of GM products, including similar fertility problems with GM soy and GM corn: Offspring of rats fed GM soy showed a five-fold increase in mortality, lower birth weights, and the inability to reproduce. Male mice fed GM soy had damaged young sperm cells. The embryo offspring of GM soy-fed mice had altered DNA functioning. Several US farmers reported sterility or fertility problems among pigs and cows fed on GM corn varieties. Additionally, over the last two months, investigators in India have documented fertility problems, abortions, premature births, and other serious health issues, including deaths, among buffaloes fed GM cottonseed products.
The principle GM crops are soy, corn, cottonseed and canola. GM sugar from sugar beets will also be introduced before year’s end.
6 Ways to Reduce Inflammation—Without a Statin or a Heart Test
There’s been a lot of hoopla this week over research showing that the cholesterol-lowering drug Crestor lowers the risk of heart attacks and strokes in those with normal cholesterol but high levels of inflammation—measured by a marker called C-reactive protein, or CRP. The Jupiter study, which involved nearly 18,000 people and appears in the current issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, found that people taking the statin Crestor for two to five years cut their risk of having a heart attack or stroke by 50 percent during that period. They also had a lower risk of bypass surgeries and angioplasties.
Experts predict that as a result of the study, many millions of seemingly healthy people will be screened for inflammation using a blood test called high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and that millions of them will be put on statins to combat inflammation. While statins certainly are lifesaving for those with high cholesterol or established heart disease, their benefits are more modest for those at fairly low risk of heart disease: About 0.72 percent of the statin takers in the trial had a heart attack or stroke compared with 1.5 percent of those taking placebos.
So, some experts say, if you have high CRP but are otherwise healthy, “go slow,” and consider all the benefits and risks of statins before you decide to take them. Where that hs-CRP screening test might come in handy is to spur you to make lifestyle changes that will naturally lower excess inflammation—and your heart disease risk. Try these six measures:
1. Stop smoking. Smoking hardens the arteries and could send CRP levels surging. But research shows you can reverse all the damaging effects to your arteries within 10 years of quitting. (For help quitting, you can click here.)
2. Think olive oil, fish, and nuts. Researchers have shown that overweight folks who stick with a Mediterranean-style diet—based on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and olive oil—can lower their levels of inflammation. “An anti-inflammatory diet is about reducing saturated fat and trans fats and eating more foods rich in alpha-linolenic acid—like flaxseed, walnuts, and canola oil—and omega-3 fats, which fight inflammation,” says Evangeline Lausier, a staff physician at Duke Integrative Medicine. On the flip side, scientists have shown that the typical American fast-food diet increases heart attack risk by 30 percent. (Here’s the latest on four healthful diets and on 11 easy ways to load up on omega-3s.)
3. Get active. No one wants to exercise, but it’s a great way to lower inflammation without any side effects associated with medications. An ideal amount? Not too much (which raises inflammation) and not too little. Aim for five days a week of steady exercise (brisk walking, swimming, biking) for 30 to 45 minutes. (You can read up on how to make your workout quick and sweaty.)
November 20, 2008
Copper door handles kill 95% of superbugs
Making door handles, taps and light switches from copper could help the country beat superbugs, scientists say.
A study found that copper fittings rapidly killed bugs on hospital wards, succeeding where other infection control measures failed.
November 13, 2008
B.C. man paralyzed after flu shot warns of risks
A New Westminster man is raising a warning flag after he contracted a rare and debilitating condition linked to the flu shot that left him paralyzed for almost five months.
Every fall, health care workers across Canada distribute 10 million influenza vaccinations, and for the vast majority of people, the flu shot causes no major problems.
Within two weeks of getting his annual flu shot in 2007, however, Richard Ryan, 44, went from being happy and healthy to being in excruciating pain.
At first, Ryan thought he had injured his back, and he checked into the local hospital emergency room, he told CBC News on Wednesday.
But Ryan was also suffering some numbness, and when a neurologist tested his reflexes, he found Ryan had none, he said.
“The doctor asked me what was going on in my life. And as soon as I said I was feeling ill after getting a flu shot, he said, ‘Stop right there, I know what you have,’” Ryan said.
November 11, 2008
Energy Discovery Could Lead To Unlimited Solar Power
Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have discovered a new way of storing energy from sunlight that could lead to ‘unlimited’ solar power.
The process, loosely based on plant photosynthesis, uses solar energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen gases. When needed, the gases can then be re-combined in a fuel cell, creating carbon-free electricity whether the sun is shining or not.
According to project leader Prof. Daniel Nocera, “This is the nirvana of what we’ve been talking about for years. Solar power has always been a limited, far-off solution. Now, we can seriously think about solar power as unlimited and soon.”
September 18, 2008
How to Cook Whole Food From Scratch—and Keep Your Day Job!
Whole fresh foods should be the basis of what we all eat, whether your nutritional type is protein type, carb type or mixed type. Whole foods, whether meat, vegetable or fruit, do two things: they provide all the nutrients that nature put into the food—not just as a sum of nutrients, but even more, as a synergy of nutrients that work together because they naturally interact within the living plant or animal. When we eat these foods, which have been connected with our whole existence as a species, the total health benefit to us is much greater than the sum of the parts. The second practical advantage of eating whole fresh foods is that they substitute, by their sheer bulk, the chemicals and denatured food derivatives that we might otherwise eat.
But you work non-stop and when you get home there is no time or energy to do anything but nuke half-synthetic processed food in the microwave. How do we get into that trap?
September 16, 2008
10 First Aid Mistakes
Sometimes, the first aid measures taken on the scene before a patient arrives at the hospital can make all the difference. Here are the 10 most common first aid mistakes — and what you should do instead.
August 24, 2008
Ten Healthiest Foods Under $1
You can’t tune into the news today without hearing about the rising cost of living, be it gas for your car, heat for your home, or food for your family. Many baby boomers are giving up — or at least stretching out — food luxury items such as those coveted fancy coffees, because their pocketbooks are thinning, along with their hairlines.
In this report, I will give you some ideas for selecting delicious, nutritious items that won’t empty out your bank account.
August 16, 2008
12 Foods You Don’t Have to Buy Organic
Why Should You Care About Pesticides?
There is growing consensus in the scientific community that small
doses of pesticides and other chemicals can adversely affect people,
especially during vulnerable periods of fetal development and childhood
when exposures can have long lasting effects. Because the toxic
effects of pesticides are worrisome, not well understood, or in some
cases completely unstudied, shoppers are wise to minimize exposure to
pesticides whenever possible.
What’s the Difference?
An EWG simulation of thousands of consumers eating high and low
pesticide diets shows that people can lower their pesticide exposure
by almost 90 percent by avoiding the top twelve most contaminated
fruits and vegetables and eating the least contaminated instead. Eating
the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables will expose a person to
about 14 pesticides per day, on average. Eating the 12 least contaminated
will expose a person to less than 2 pesticides per day. Less dramatic
comparisons will produce less dramatic reductions, but without doubt
using the Guide provides people with a way to make choices that lower
pesticide exposure in the diet.
August 2, 2008
Is HPV Vaccine to Blame for a Teen’s Paralysis?
About a month after being vaccinated against the cervical cancer-causing HPV virus, 13-year-old Jenny Tetlock missed the lowest hurdle in gym class, the first hint of the degenerative muscle disease that, 15 months later, has left the previously healthy teenager nearly completely paralyzed. Did the vaccine, Gardasil, cause her condition? Her father, Philip Tetlock, a psychology professor at UC-Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, has embarked on an odyssey to find out whether the vaccine or random coincidence is to blame.
As father and scientist, Tetlock has contacted top medical experts, posted pleas on discussion boards looking for other teens who’ve experienced neurological problems post-vaccination and has been desperately trying to get the government to open an investigation into his daughter’s case. “The weakening process is gradual so it may take months for parents to notice what is going on,” he writes me in an E-mail. He started a blog a few weeks ago that shows photos of his sweet-faced teen and reveals his anger and frustration in the form of a box counting the days that he has yet to get a response from the government’s Clinical Immunization Safety Assessment Network. As of today, it’s 28.
He’s not the only one to raise an alarm. The conservative public watchdog group Judicial Watch has been periodically obtaining adverse event reports on Gardasil from the Food and Drug Administration. I received the group’s latest warning this week: of 10 deaths linked to Gardasil since September 2007 and 140 reports so far this year of serious effects such as miscarriage and Guillain-Barré syndrome, a nervous system disease that causes weakness and tingling in the arms and legs. (But these reports filed by patients or doctors with the government’s vaccine adverse event reporting system may or may not reflect true vaccine risks.
