Final Roundup

+A HUNDRED HEALTH SAPPING NEUROTOXINS HIDDEN IN PACKAGED AND RESTAURANT FOOD
+ANTIINFLAMMATORY FOODS
+ASTAXANTHIN: THE MIRACLE ANTIOXIDANT AND ANTI-INFLAMMATORY NUTRIENT
+BOTTLED WATER FOUND CONTAMINATED WITH MEDICATIONS, FERTILIZER, DISINFECTION CHEMICALS
+BUILD NATURAL CO Q-10 IN YOUR BODY
+CANOLA OIL IS ANOTHER VICTORY OF FOOD TECHNOLOGY OVER COMMON SENSE
+CHEMICALS USED TO DISINFECT WATER CREATE DANGEROUS TOXINS
+CINNAMON IS THE WONDER SPICE FOR HEALTH AND WELLBEING
+COMMON SPICES WORK BETTER THAN ASPIRIN TO STOP BLOOD CLOTS
+COURT ORDERS PARENTS TO POISON THEIR 13-YEAR-OLD CHILD WITH CHEMOTHERAPY
+DEMAND FOR PURPLE CORN MAY SOON EXPLODE
+DISCOVER THE BENEFITS AND USES OF GOTU KOLA
+DRINK A HEALTHY CUP OF COFFEE
+EASE EXCRUCIATING EARACHES NATURALLY
+FIND NUTRITIONAL BENEFITS IN TAHINI
+FLUORIDATION IS THE ULTIMATE DECEPTION
+GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISMS ARE UNFIT FOR CONSUMPTION
+GM-SOY DESTROYS THE EARTH AND HUMANS FOR PROFIT
+GOJI BERRIES ARE A SUPER FOOD FOR OPTIMUM HEALTH
+HEALTH MINDED CONSUMERS ARE TRICKED INTO EATING MORE PROCESSED SUGAR
+HOSPITALS ARE BREEDING GROUNDS FOR SUPERBUGS
+INDIAN CURRY SPICES EXPLAINED
+INEXPENSIVE MAGNESIUM PROVES IMPRESSIVE AT PROTECTING THE BRAIN
+JAPANESE VEGETARIAN CUISINE EXPLAINED
+LEAD IN EVERYDAY PRODUCTS
+MSG IN HEALTH FOOD STORE PRODUCTS
+MSG NOW USED TO SPRAY CROPS
+NATURAL VITAMIN E SLASHES LUNG CANCER RISK BY 55%
+NEW STUDY: PROBIOTIC STRAIN BOOSTS IMMUNE RESPONSE TO FLU VIRUS
+PROTECT YOURSELF FROM MSG AND ASPARTAME EXCITOTOXICITY
+PROTECT YOURSELF FROM POISONS IN THE SKY
+RESEARCH REVEALS WHICH CONVENTIONAL PRODUCE CAN BE SAFELY EATEN
+SHATTERED ILLUSIONS: TEN THINGS ABOUT THE NATURAL WORLD YOU THOUGHT YOU KNEW
+SILK, SOYDREAM, PACIFIC NATURAL FOODS AND VITASOY ALL REBUKED IN NEW SOY SCORECARD RATINGS
+SOY PROTEIN USED IN "NATURAL" FOODS BATHED IN TOXIC SOLVENT HEXANE
+SPINACH KNOCKS OUT CANCER AND BOOSTS BRAIN POWER
+STOP NEEDLESS AMPUTATIONS WITH CALCIUM BENTONITE CLAY
+SWINE FLU (INFLUENZA): ALL YOU WANTED TO KNOW
+SWINE FLU OUTBREAK COULD BE LINKED TO SMITHFIELD FACTORY FARMS

Chow Blog

+NOTES FROM THE DIY FOOD REVOLUTION

+THE EVIDENCE AGAINST ALLERGY TESTS PILE UP

+KATIE COURIC LAYS INTO ANTIBIOTIC USE IN LIVESTOCK
_____________________________________________

Bisphenol A

ECOHOLIC by Adria Vasil
Busting Bisphenol A
[NowToronto.com - Sept.08-15/2009]

Q: Now that it’s been revealed that Sigg bottles leach bisphenol A, should we be worrying about other secret sources?

A: Oh Sigg, why’d you dupe us like that? We swallowed every line you fed us about your canisters being better than bisphenol A-heavy polycarbonate bottles and now you’ve confessed yours were lined with the same stuff all along.

Looking back, we should have spotted the signs. The Swiss company never flat-out told us its lining was free of estrogen-mimicking bisphenol A. No, no, it just said its “proprietary water-based epoxy resin” didn’t leach the hormone disruptor.

So basically, Sigg danced around the topic like a prima ballerina during a performance of Midsummer Night’s Greenwash.

Back in 2007, I blogged about an Environmental Working Group report on tin cans that, as an aside, noted that Sigg bottles contained a BPA-based lining. The company quickly pounced and threatened to sue if EWG didn’t cough up proof. EWG backed down, removing the reference from its report. To outsiders, Sigg was still in the clear.

Sonya Lunder of EWG says, “It was a sign of how aggressively they were misleading customers.”

While Sigg now struggles to convince greenies that – ta-dah! – it’s new and improved liner is totally bisphenol-free, who can blame you for looking over your shoulder wondering who else is hiding toxic contents.

The sad truth is that the sensitive estrogen mimicker is present in all kinds of products, from dental fillings to compact discs. Now, you may have heard that canned foods and drinks come in cans lined with bisphenol A, but holy mother of Gaia, BPA is turning up in food in good old-fashioned glass jars, too.

Why? Don’t blame the glass.

It’s lurking in the tin lids’ liner, that glossy white part under the cap. You can’t win for losing, can you?

You also fondle BPA whenever you get a credit card or store receipt. That waxy, thin thermal paper is coated with the stuff. Turns out all sorts of printing industry inks and varnishes contain BPA epoxy resins.

And wouldn’t you know it, European studies have fingered the recycling of BPA-laced paper as the biggest source of bisphenol A in the environment. Worse still, when PBA-heavy paper is mixed with chlorinated compounds in the recycling process, the breakdown products in waste water are 28 times more estrogenic.

That thermal paper and BPA-heavy inks then get recycled into food boxes and, um, gulp, toilet paper. The latter hasn’t been as heavily researched as BPA bottles, but European scientists point to the flushing of TP made from recycled paper as a serious source of estrogenic emissions to wastewater.

You could boycott toilet paper in protest – but more realistically, we should all demand that our federal reps take all bisphenol A out of all our products. End of story.

BISPHENOL A IN HIDING

• Some microwaveable plastic containers

• Recycled cardboard takeout containers

• PVC products, including cling wrap

• CDs

• Clear, hard plastic glassware END

Take Your SIGG, BPA Infested, Bottles Back to Major Retailers and Likely Get a New 'Clean' One
BPA is everywhere: in plastic bottles, in metal food cans, in food and toys. But where we did not think it existed were in our SIGGs. I have gone on the Oprah Winfrey Show, the Martha Stewart Show, the Ellen DeGeneres Show and told scores of magazines, newspapers, radio programs and lecture audiences to get reusable water bottles. My follow-up line has often been, “I use SIGGs” – accompanied by a gesture towards the bottle that was nearly always on my person, one that I had known and loved for years. [...]
_____________________________________________

What's That Leaching From Your Cans?
Early exposure (like, say, in the womb) has been tied to birth defects, attention disorders, miscarriages, infertility you name it. Most recently, scientists at an American Association for the Advancement of Science meet said that exposure to estrogenic chemicals like BPA in the womb might even lead to obesity later in life. Same goes for breast cancer and prostate cancer. [...]

How to Save Your Cast-off Nalgene Bottle From a Life of Landfill Leaching
Q: What are we supposed to do with our old polycarbonate bottles now that we know they’re dangerous? Won’t they leach in landfill? [...]

FDA Draws Fire Over Chemicals in Baby Formula

maive by mistybliss (flickr.com)
We're talking about babies, about the most vulnerable. This really makes me angry.

washingtonpost.com

Nov.27-08

Public health groups, consumer advocates and members of Congress blasted the Food and Drug Administration yesterday for failing to act after discovering trace amounts of the industrial chemical melamine in baby formula sold in the United States.

"This FDA, this Bush administration, instead of protecting the public health, is protecting industry," said Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), who chairs the Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the FDA budget. In an interview, DeLauro said she wants the agency to disclose its findings and to develop a plan to remove melamine from formula. "We're talking about babies, about the most vulnerable. This really makes me angry."

The FDA found melamine and cyanuric acid, a related chemical, in samples of baby formula made by major U.S. manufacturers. Melamine can cause kidney and bladder stones and, in worst cases, kidney failure and death. If melamine and cyanuric acid combine, they can form round yellow crystals that can also damage kidneys and destroy renal function.

Melamine was found in Good Start Supreme Infant Formula With Iron made by Nestle, and cyanuric acid was detected in Enfamil Lipil With Iron infant formula powder made by Mead Johnson. A spokesman for Nestle did not respond to repeated calls and e-mails for comment yesterday.

Gail Wood, a spokeswoman for Mead Johnson, said the company does not think that cyanuric acid poses a health threat to infants. "Cyanuric acid is approved by the FDA to sanitize processing equipment," she said. "The risks of not sanitizing equipment are far greater than ultra trace amounts of residual cyanuric acid found in the formula."

The FDA has been testing hundreds of food products for melamine in the aftermath of a scandal this year involving Chinese infant formula tainted with melamine. Chinese manufacturers deliberately added the chemical to watered-down formula to make it appear to contain higher levels of protein. More than 50,000 Asian infants were hospitalized, and at least four died.

The FDA collected 87 samples of infant formula made by American manufacturers, tested all but 10 of them and held a conference call Monday with manufacturers to alert them to the preliminary findings, FDA spokeswoman Judy Leon said. She said she did not know when the agency was planning to inform the public.

The test results were unearthed by the Associated Press, which had filed a request for records under the Freedom of Information Act.

Leon said that the amounts discovered are safe and that parents should continue to feed formula to their children. "We know that trace levels do not pose a risk whatsoever," she said.

That contradicts the agency's recent statements about melamine, including a position paper that was on its Web site yesterday that asserted there are no safe levels of melamine for infants. "FDA is currently unable to establish any level of melamine and melamine-related compounds in infant formula that does not raise public health concerns," the document said.

Agency scientists have maintained they could not set a safe level of melamine exposure for babies because they do not understand the effects of long-term exposure on a baby's developing kidneys. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that infant formula is a baby's sole source of food for many months. Premature infants absorb an especially large dose of the chemical, compared with full-term babies.

"Just one month ago, the FDA had been very clear about how they could not set a safe level of melamine in formula for babies," said Sonya Lunder, a senior analyst at the Environmental Working Group, an advocacy organization. "Now they're saying trace levels are no problem. What changed?"

The FDA thinks the melamine and cyanuric acid got into the U.S. formula as a byproduct of manufacturing and not as a result of tampering, Leon said. Melamine is found in plastic food packaging and in cleaning solutions that are sometimes used in food processing equipment.
The FDA spokeswoman said no illnesses have been linked to melamine consumption in the United States.

But Jean Halloran, director of food policy initiatives for Consumers Union, said that may not be true. "Given that this is not a problem that American doctors are used to dealing with, we can't be sure that if a small number of these cases developed, the connection would be made," said Halloran, who wants the formulas to be recalled from store shelves. "We just don't know."

Halloran said it is also possible some babies are receiving a variety of infant formula and could be ingesting melamine in one bottle and cyanuric acid in another bottle, creating a dangerous mix.

Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), who is on the House Commerce and Energy Committee, is also seeking a recall. "Until they establish a safety standard, how can they say what's safe?" he said. "They need to pull this."

Critics said the FDA's reassurances about products carry less weight after the recent controversy over bisphenol-A, a chemical found in plastic baby bottles, dinnerware and the linings of food cans. The FDA dismissed a growing body of scientific evidence that has linked BPA to health problems even as worried consumers stopped buying BPA-containing products. Instead, the FDA relied on two industry-funded studies that concluded that BPA did not pose a health risk. Last month, the agency's science advisory board said the agency should no longer maintain that BPA is safe.

"When FDA claims there isn't any reason to worry, that's exactly what the consumer should do," said Ken Cook, president of Environmental Working Group. "The once-revered public health agency has morphed into a taxpayer-funded public relations arm for the very industries it was created to oversee."


washingtonpost.com COMMENT
You're all so polite, and articulate -- my first response was to tell the corporate and Bush spokespeople to blow it out their *ss.
Often times, the corporate PR and/or government people aren't even informed or intelligent enough to understand the garbage they spew -- they just follow that corporate PR template, no matter how cliche, or mundane.
And they'll still shill for those who through laziness and malfeasance poison children, and adults, worldwide, even though they should know better.
Corporations are still accountable to the people, no matter what the CEO's tell themselves, or whom they think they own, politically.
Bad business, and they wonder WHY they go broke... -thegreatpotatospamof2003

FDA Draws Fire

Bitter Pills

(gawker.com)

>Big Pharma: Exposing the Global Healthcare Agenda by Jacky Law

More info

"What's the difference between good journalism and honey? Not a lot. Both run smooth, hit the spot when it comes to taste; and both as they have no bitter aftertaste leave you wanting for nothing but more.

Big Pharma - a revelation of a book - is written with skill and concision. With the right facts supporting the most telling of arguments that just keep on coming. Over 250 pages of paragraph after illuminating paragraph making it a honey of a read. What Jacky Law has to report could have been just an eye-opener for the inside few, but her riveting, forceful and fair-minded telling of it, makes it a true `must-read' for us all."

>Bitter Pills by Stephen Fried
More info

"Bitter Pills started as a magazine story, inspired by Stephen Fried's wife's frightening reaction to an antibiotic. After he won a National Magazine Award for that article, he expanded his investigation into this book. What he has uncovered is astounding, starting with the fact that, in the U.S. alone, between 45,000 and 200,000 people die annually of reactions to legal drugs (2 to 9 percent of the 2.3 million Americans who die each year) versus the 5,000 to 10,000 who die of illegal drug use."

>Death by Prescription: The Shocking Truth Behind an Overmedicated Nation by Ray D. Strand, M.D.

More info

"This book was recommended to me by a nurse. I was having terrible side effects to cholesterol medication, and my doctor kept urging me to stay on it, despite the side effects. This book informed me that these side effects were nothing to mess with, and could cause serious harm to my liver and kidneys. I just hope I didn't find out too late...I really believe if I hadn't stopped the zocor when I did, I'd be dead."

>Inside the FDA: The Business and Politics Behind the Drugs We Take and the Food We Eat by Fran Hawthorne
More info

"For those who have ever wondered how the FDA makes decisions and how those decisions effect companies this is a great starting point. Hawthorne takes an objective stance towards the FDA and shows their faults along with the positives. She tracks several instances of FDA oversight and gives their results. I think the part that tracks the companies progress through the FDA's is the most instructive. One of my fields of study was health and pharmaceutical economics and this was a great way to start learning about the FDA."

>Murder by Injection: The Story of the Medical Conspiracy Against America by Eustace Clarence Mullins
More info

"This is a very fine book. Eustace Mullins is an expert researcher. Previous to this book he was the FIRST person to reveal the true nature of the Federal Reserve (which has nothing to do with Federal). In this book he details the history of how control of the medicinal market has been won by the FDA and the AMA (and similar organizations in other Nations), and how the healing of citizens has been put in the hands of the Government rather than in the hands of the citizens themselves. Their choices for treatment have been downsized to that of Allopathic medicine, a way of trreatment that is relatively new, only a few hundred years old, if at that, as compared to medicine that has been practiced for thousands of years. This book details the methods used by the Rockefellers to control the medicinal market to their advantage. It also guarantees a level of population control....read on! You will be surprised!"

>On the Take: How Medicine's Complicity with Big Business Can Endanger Your Health by Jerome P. Kassirer, M.D.
More info

"I rarely write reviews, but in this case feel obligated to point out what a tremendous service Dr. Kassirer has provided. As a physician, I have always been concerned about the influence of gifts and outright payments to doctors and researchers in promoting pharmaceuticals and other healthcare. However, I had no idea how extensive and pervasive it is. Dr. Kassirer has done an outstanding job in giving us a picture of the truth. This is a very well written book. I strongly recommend that all medical students and physicians read it, and suggest that everyone interested in healthcare do so."

>Overdosed America: The Broken Promise of American Medicine by Jerome Abramson, M.D.
More info

"As a community health nurse, I have been observing the increasing commercialization of medicine and medical knowledge over the past decade. Dr. Abramson has hit the nail on the head - while the cost of health care continues to rise, the quality of the care and the outcomes have not increased. It is a travesty that the elderly and patients suffering from chronic conditions are being hoodwinked into choosing between food and pills , and that we are not focusing on lifestyle changes that will enhance and prolong the quality of life."

>Over Dose: The Case Against the Drug Companies by Jay S. Cohen, M.D.
More info

"This book should be required reading for every practicing physician as well as for everyone who takes medicine. After reading this book, a major regret is that it was not available to me when I was first starting out in practice.It shames me to think how completely brainwashed I was by the drug companies. And I was not alone. All doctors in my acquaintenance seemed to share my misguided reverence for drug company marketing ploys. The essence of Doctor Cohen's message in this book is that we are all different in our reactions to drugs and the one size fits all mentality used for convenience by the drug industry inevitably results in underdosing some and overdosing others, frequently with serious or even lethal side effects. Start low, go slow is the author's message to doctors and I heartily endorse it."

> Selling Sickness: How the World's Biggest Pharmaceutical Companies Are Turning Us All Into Patients by Ray Moynihan
More info

"After oil production peaks, higher energy prices are likely to sink the world economy into a never-ending depression, so it will be important to stay healthy, because everything, and especially medical costs, are likely to be more expensive in the future. Before you incur high medical costs you can little afford, make sure you're even ill first. A great deal of fat could be cut out of the health care system right now and used instead to help people who are truly ill.

Getting healthy people to buy drugs they don't need, which won't cure what they don't have, and potentially have unpleasant to dire side effects, sounds like such a crazy premise, even Hollywood wouldn't buy it.
Yet that's just what's happened, as Moynihan and Cassels document in their book "Selling Sickness". The 500 billion dollar pharmaceutical industry has plenty of money to spend convincing us that our ordinary travails mask mental illnesses, and common aches and pains need treatment.
Americans represent five percent of the world's population, but we consume fifty percent of prescription drugs."

>The Truth About the Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What to Do About It by Marcia Angell
More info

"I should start with a disclaimer. I'm a Vice President within one of the largest drug companies in the world and I have spent close to twenty years marketing drugs. So I guess I'm not supposed to like this book. But the truth is I thought it was fantastic.

First, for those of you who are not familiar with the healthcare industry, you should know that Ms. Angell is better capable of writing this masterpiece than any other author. She used to be Editor-in-Chief of The New England Journal of Medicine, which is considered the most prestigious medical journal in the world. Don't let her credentials scare you off, though. This is easy reading and the book captures your attention like a true business thriller, only this is real life suspense."

>The Whistleblower: Confessions of a Healthcare Hitman by Peter Rost, M.D.
More info

"This is a fascinating read, very credibly told. It is really a business thriller, especially for anyone familiar with the workings of large corporations, a sort of David and Goliath epic. I picked it up to read the first chapter and literally could not put it down for about the first 130 pages, cliché notwithstanding. It moves fast, develops characters nicely and retains suspense as the story expands. For a book about business it provide a lot of action in a way that gives you insight into the drug industry, the greed of large drug corporations and their CEOs, the behavior of people in large organizations, the role of government institutions, big legal & PR firms and the media - and it does all of this not only painlessly but also interestingly. Quite a ride!"

>What Your Doctor Doesn't Know About Nutritional Medicine May Be Killing You by Ray D. Strand, M.D.
More info

"This book is very important for modern health concerns. It offers treatment for problems that conventional medicine is unable to address.

Arguments are presented in a clear professional manner that is convincing of their truthfulness. This is no pseudo medicine full of a quacks mumbo jumbo. The case histories are very helpful to illustrate and confirm the points.
Also the availability of online consultation, presented in the book, is of unique value.
I use this book as a reference with my friends who have health questions and problems."

MORE LINKS

Cheerleader Drug Reps

Ex Drug Rep on Manipulating Doctors
"Statistics were the semantics of research."

Drug Reps vs Doctors

Scrubs & Drug Reps