Health Risks and Industrial Wind Turbines

UPDATE: 28 April, 2010 - Wind farm off Cape Cod approved
Perhaps Barry is ignorant of the risks of wind turbines.

SAVE OUR SOUND announces law suits to be filed

ORIGINAL POST 1/24/09
Dr. Magda Havas Ph.D., Associate Professor of Environmental and Resource Studies at Peterborough’s Trent University and one of the world’s leading research experts in the areas of electromagnetic pollution, radio frequency radiation, ground current and dirty electricity delivered alarming warnings about the dangers to human and animal health, posed by Industrial Wind Turbines.

full article

Wind Farm raising issues on Nantucket Sound

UPDATE: 3 March, 09
Wind Turbine Syndrome

HEP C - and another effective natural treatment

UPDATE: 20 April, 2010
Having worked extensively with people who have Hep C it is always good to educate people about the natural and helpful options available to the Hep C community.

It is even more rewarding to see the results of natural care when you consider the profit motive from Big PhRMA that really doesn't correct the problem.

Of course prevention is critical but considering human health needs in a more humane way is too.

Warehoused Hepatitis C Patients May Boost Merck, J&J

ORIGINAL POST 2/2/09
I have approximately 26 posts here at Natural Health News about Hep C.

I am pleased to be able to add a new one this morning.

RESEARCH AND PRACTICE
Chinese Herbal Medicine and Interferon in the Treatment of Chronic Hepatitis B: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized, Controlled Trials

Results. Chinese herbal medicine significantly increased seroreversion of HBsAg and was equivalent to interferon alfa in seroreversion of HBeAg and hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA; Chinese herbal medicine combined with interferon alfa significantly increased seroreversion of HBsAg, HBeAg, and HBV DNA. The Chinese herbal medicine active component bufotoxin combined with interferon alfa significantly increased HBeAg and HBV DNA seroreversion. The Chinese herbal medicine active component kurorinone was equivalent to interferon alfa in seroreversion of HBeAg and HBV DNA.

October 2002, Vol 92, No. 10 | American Journal of Public Health 1619-1628
© 2002 American Public Health Association

Childhood Obesity Campaign: Issues in Health

UPDATE: 4 August, Sugar Cut in Cereals

Remember that most of the big name cereals have been loaded with high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) for years.  And also consider that it is the organic brands of cold, boxed cereal that is also loaded with sugar, only they use the organic kind.  Either way you look at it the sugar has to go, the HFCS has to go, and all of the cereals with any GMO grain or other ingredient - like beet sugar that now is about 100% of the market -) nneds to come out of these and any other product containing them.

15% cut in sugar coming in 2011 to Coco Pops

3 February, 2010  Michelle Obama Kicks Off Childhood Obesity Drive
Mrs. Obama is taking on her first substantive policy role in overseeing the Obama administration programs and partnerships dealing with what is considered a national epidemic of childhood obesity.

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/02/01/michelle-obama-kicking-off-childhood-obesity-drive-feb-9/

My hope is that Michelle addresses the role of vaccines, fluoride, environment, lack of physical education in schools, the USDA food pyramid that promotes obesity, unhealthy school lunches, artificial sweeteners proven to cause obesity, HFCS, soy formula, microwave cooking, GMO soy and canola oil disguised as " plant sterols" and not healthy saturated fat, TV ads and cold cereals, and some of Tom Vilsack's GMO buddies, and more to be concerned with.  We are just a nation of starving children who are malnourished because of the focus of today's government guidelines.


Some 30+ related articles on obesity can be found here at Natural Health News

Originally posted  3/6/09

Somehow I think the lineal thinking process, or lack of any kind of meaningful thinking, is a very real issue as we address the needs for health care change and reform in the US, and of course in the world.

I also think that as long as we have this mind set those who see themselves as power brokers just might not be hitting the target, so to speak.

Try to put a few puzzle pieces together here as I give you food for thought.

First of all, look at the USDA. This is the place where dietitians get their basic education. Since most of this is funded by Big AG is it no wonder RDs end up on the short end when it comes to how this translates to a role in health care delivery. Remembering too that the ADA (American Dietetics Association) wants to control ALL nutrition education, and they support aspartame, sucralose (both known obesity promoters) and the faulty food pyramid.

Luise Light, PhD, the originator of the first food pyramid with real food, might give you more to think about. Her opinion of grains is certainly not the same as ADA or USDA or for that matter, Big AG.

Today, you can read about a culture of bias in ADA education. If it is found in students of dietetics (dietetics is not nutrition) then you can be sure it is in the faculty and the field as well.

Bias Against Obesity Is Found Among Future DietitiansBy Carolyn Colwell Healthday Reporter
Mar 5, 2009

THURSDAY, March 5 (HealthDay News) -- Just 2 percent of those training to be dietitians have positive or neutral attitudes toward people who are obese, and the rest are moderately biased against their prospective patients, a new study has found.

"Essentially, this shows that future dieticians are not immune to weight bias, and there are negative attitudes toward obese patients that may have a negative impact on the quality of care," said Rebecca Puhl, the study's lead author and the director of research and stigma initiatives at Yale University's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity.

Most of the almost 200 dietetic students who participated in the study had pejorative views about the attractiveness, self-control, overeating, insecurity and self-esteem of people who are obese. They also rated obese patients as being less likely than non-obese patients to comply with treatment recommendations. The findings were published in the March issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

But the students aren't alone in their beliefs and share the biases with other health-care providers, Puhl said, adding that other studies have shown that many health professionals have negative perceptions about very overweight patients. Patients have reported "very many examples of providers who really make very stereotypical comments that suggest that they are making assumptions about a patient's character, intelligence or abilities because of their weight," she said.

Other signs of professional insensitivity, Puhl said, include weighing obese patients on freight scales because scales in a doctor's office don't accommodate their weight and not having blood pressure cuffs big enough for a heavy patient.

She said that the attitudes expressed by the dietetic students in the study show a lack of appreciation for how difficult it is to lose weight and for the biological factors involved. Also, the message that obesity results from a lack of self control ignores mounting scientific evidence that it's difficult to lose weight and keep it off for a sustained period of time, she said.

"Most people, when they walk into an office, have already tried to lose weight and, more likely, they've lost weight and regained the weight," Puhl said. "I think a better understanding and appreciation of the complexities and difficulties of weight loss are needed to reduce the stigma."

The 182 students who completed the study were from 14 universities and had been enrolled in an undergraduate dietetics program for about two years. With an average age of 23, 92 percent were women, and 85 percent were white.

The researchers asked the students to respond to questions about a normal-weight male and female and an obese male and female. The people they were asked about shared the same health characteristics except for weight.

Dr. Nicholas H.E. Mezitis, an assistant professor of clinical medicine and nutrition at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, said that the findings might be misleading because of the small number of minority students and the predominance of white females among the participants. "If you get into ethnic communities, such as a black population, they all have different views," he said. In some groups, he explained, being thin might not be seen as desirable.

"We also have to bear in mind that a lot of what these students are reading in magazines and such are taking them to the other extreme," Mezitis said. "What's desirable is very thin, and … these [obese] patients are way on the other extreme."

Lona Sandon, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, added that students' mentors need to provide positive role modeling. "If mentors reflect weight bias, then students are likely to do the same," she said. "In addition, one's own attitudes about body image may influence attitudes towards other's weight."

The study recommends adding stigma reduction to the standard curriculum for dietetics programs. The Obesity Society has more on weight-related bias.

Then we have to give some attention to this announcement of the joint venture between the heart association (AHA), Nickelodeon and Bill Clinton's organization to allegedly fight childhood obesity.

Then consider the Healthy School Lunch Program and what actually took place over a decade ago in Wisconsin, and you have to wonder about why all of this has been taking so long.

Then remember when the push started for the Hepatitis B vaccine? It was pretty clearly established that no long term studies had been done with this vaccine, and it contributed to the development of diabetes and some other scary for parents kinds of issues.

Then, if you recall history, Mr. Bill awarded the developers of the Hepatitis B vaccine the National Technology Award.

Is it guilt, is it greed, or is it that there is a real interest in change this issue for our children.

One has to ask because we haven't seen a response on aspartame even though the FDA knows it causes diabetes and obesity.

And certainly there has to be consideration of cultural concerns because in the American Indian and other ethnic and forgotten communities, nuttrition, diabetes and weight issues are major public health problems.

Now you have some real food for thought.

MRSA - Alternative Cure For 'Flesh-Eating' Bacteria

UPDATE: 26 December 2009 -

A new study reports a surge in drug-resistant strains of a dangerous type of bacteria in US hospitals: Acinetobacter strikes patients in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) and others and often causes severe pneumonias or bloodstream infection, some of which are now resistant to imipenem, an antibiotic that is reserved for last-line treatment. 

Read Complete Story - New Strain of Resistant Bacteria Reported

I'm not sure how many times we have to read similar articles over the 16 years I have been involved in this issue in me effort to get some repsonse from MS medicine and MS media, while thousands suffer or die.

Once again I'm posting my challenge, a repost originally from August 2006.  I'm expecting a response, as I usually do. 

"How many times...? "as the song goes.

Alternative Cure For 'Flesh-Eating' Bacteria
From Gayle Eversole, DHom, PhD, MH, CRNP, ND, Creating Health Institute
4-8-5

A CHALLENGE TO MAINSTREAM MEDICINE TO VENTURE OUTSIDE THE BOX

Reported today by Gene Emery of Reuters, flesh-eating bacteria is once again making headlines.

Emery reports, according to Loren Miller of UCLA Medical Center and Scott Fridkin of the CDC, that skin infections are now found outside hospital and include a new strain of antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
Emery writes that doctors need to be aware of this and "switch to different antibiotics at the first sign of trouble."

He quotes Fridkin saying that "the alarm does need to be raised to people and clinicians that if you have a staph infection and it's not getting better, you'd better go back to your doctor." Later reports on findings from Miller's team saying that "doctors must shift their attitudes toward cases of necrotizing fasciitis -- the "flesh-eating" part of such a bacterial infection -- and check to see if methicillin-resistant staph is to blame."

Almost a decade ago, when flesh-eating bacteria were beginning to be reported, I called upon my experience as an intensive care nurse and manager of a burn center. I wanted to address this serious health problem from a natural healing perspective because I knew of the decades old problem with antibiotics that were not effectively treating the condition.

Emery's article further defines the problem of antibiotic resistance.

Consulting with a colleague of mine from the herbal traditions of Korea who spent a number of years at Dana Farber Institute at Harvard, I developed a protocol using a combination of his formulas that could be used for this condition. I submitted a package to a Washington State Department of Health researcher with clinical findings on the use of the formulas.

Time has passed quickly, yet at no time did I ever receive a reply, or even a glimmer of thought from this man about the possibility of a trial.

In response to a public health problem, I believed my approach deserved consideration because people were dying.

Subsequently, during the past decade I have responded to numerous media reports of flesh-eating bacteria, asking only for consideration. The closed minds locked in the Newtonian model prevalent in mainstream medicine never once gave consideration to a different way of seeing.

In addition to the herbal protocol I developed a series of fully referenced papers using pure essential oils to attack these bacteria. One of the texts I used as a reference is a medical textbook written by two French physicians. In France physicians are educated in the use of herbs and essential oils as therapeutic modalities.

Essential oils have a very long history and several have very effective anti-bacterial and anti-fungal capacity. Herbs used throughout thousands of years have this same capacity as well.

Seriously hoping to at least have one response, I am saddened to say that not one reply has ever been received.

One would now have to ask the question: What drives these health professionals to so totally disregard non-traditional treatment possibilities?

Today, I am placing my challenge on the table.

Doctors, if you are truly interested in treating and curing this problem, my protocols await.

NB: In early 2006 I was able to connect a research physician at Georgetown Medical School who is doing invetigation 'outside the box'. He advised me that "mainstream medicine is not ready to accept this." Of course, I do understand his comment but I have to wonder about the unwillingness to change and the cost of lives!

Related posts, 2 of about 2 dozen other similar articles in Natural Health News
http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/2006/08/mrsa.html
http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/2007/10/it-isnt-stopping-and-you-need-to-get.html
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UPDATE: 11 January 2009 - A new product, Allicin-C, and Alli-Derm, add to your anti-MRSA arsenal. Purchase via our link in the right column.
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More than 10 years ago this issue was repeatedly reported in the press. More than 30 years ago this was an issue discussed often by medical practitioners such as me. Thirty plus years ago doctors used to test anti-biotics in a test called 'C & S' (culture and sensitivity) not utilized too much today.

Mainstream medicine refuses to take my challenge, previously possted on this BLOG. I have added it in below for ease of reference. Maybe now someone might take a chance. Nothing to lose, and maybe save some lives along the way!...

Maybe intravenous high dose vitamin c might be tried. And at least you know this would not hurt you. This treatment saved a client of mine from liver and kidney transplant. Interferon treatments did not work and she developed liver and kidney failure. UW docs were baffled, yet they wouldn't ask...

Wash any suspicious area with pure soap and water and allow to dry thoroughly. Using specific pure essential oils will be very effective in treating and resolving this problem. Above all avoid the use of anti-bacterial soaps. These contain Triclosan and will kill off naturally occurring bacteria on your skin that serves to protect you from infection.

Many non-effective anti-biotics are on the market today and some of these have very serious side effects. Avoid fluoride based products for this reason.

Make sure you ask your doctor what kind of treatment is being prescribed. It is your right to know under the law.

Staph skin infections on rise in U.S.
By MARILYNN MARCHIONE, AP Medical Writer

A once-rare drug-resistant germ now appears to cause more than half of all skin infections treated in U.S. emergency rooms, say researchers who documented the superbug's startling spread in the general population.

Many victims mistakenly thought they just had spider bites that wouldn't heal, not drug-resistant staph bacteria. Only a decade ago, these germs were hardly ever seen outside of hospitals and nursing homes.

Doctors also were caught off-guard — most of them unwittingly prescribed medicines that do not work against the bacteria.

"It is time for physicians to realize just how prevalent this is," said Dr. Gregory Moran of Olive View-UCLA Medical Center, who led the study.

Another author, Dr. Rachel Gorwitz of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said: "I think no one was aware of the extent of the problem."

Skin infections can be life-threatening if bacteria get into the bloodstream. Drug-resistant strains can also cause a vicious type of pneumonia and even "flesh-eating" wounds.

The CDC paid for the study, published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine. Several authors have consulted for companies that make antibiotics.

Researchers analyzed all skin infections among adults who went to hospital emergency rooms in 11 U.S. cities in August 2004. Of the 422 cases, 249, or 59 percent, were caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. Such bacteria are impervious to the penicillin family of drugs long used for treatment.

The proportion of infections due to MRSA ranged from 15 percent to as high as 74 percent in some hospitals.

"This completely matches what our experience at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital has been," said Dr. Buddy Creech, an infectious-disease specialist whose hospital was not included in the study. "Usually what we see is a mom or dad brings their child in with what they describe as a spider bite that's not getting better or a pimple that's not getting better," and it turns out to be MRSA.

The germ typically thrives in health-care settings where people have open wounds and tubes. But in recent years, outbreaks have occurred among prisoners, children and athletes, with the germ spreading through skin contact or shared items such as towels. Dozens of people in Ohio, Kentucky and Vermont recently got MRSA skin infections from tattoos.

The good news: MRSA infections contracted outside a hospital are easier to treat. The study found that several antibiotics work against them, including some sulfa drugs that have been around for decades. A separate study in the journal reports the effectiveness of Cubicin, an antibiotic recently approved to treat bloodstream infections and heart inflammation caused by MRSA.

However, doctors need to test skin infections to see what germ is causing them, and to treat each one as if it were MRSA until test results prove otherwise, researchers said.

"We have made a fundamental shift in pediatrics in our area" and now assume that every such case is the drug-resistant type, Creech said.

And, doctors need to lance the wound to get rid of bacteria rather than relying on a drug to do the job.

"The most important treatment is actually draining the pus," Gorwitz said. Many times that is a cure all by itself, she said.

The study was done in Albuquerque, N.M.; Atlanta; Charlotte, N.C.; Kansas City, Mo.; Los Angeles; Minneapolis; New Orleans; New York; Philadelphia; Phoenix; and Portland, Ore.