Adults
in Japan who drank more green tea had a lower risk of death from all causes
and from heart disease specifically, though not from cancer, a study has found.
In the study, they tracked more than 40,000 adults in northeastern Japan, where
green tea is popular, from 1994 to 2005. Participants had no history of stroke,
coronary heart disease or cancer at the the study’s outset.
Compared
with participants who drank less than one cup daily, those who consumed five or
more had an overall risk of dying 16% lower during the time of the study, the
researchers reported. The reduction was 26% when only the first seven years were
counted. The researchers found no significant link
between green tea consumption and cancer death.
- 12 Sept 2006 Courtesy JAMA and World Science staff
Medical costs in Thailand is only 1/8th of that in the U.S.
You can use your frequent flyer miles to pay for your surgical procedure. Surgery
in India costs only 1/10th of what it costs in the U.S.
- 60 Minutes, 9/4/05
"There is no better exercise for the heart than reaching
down and lifting people up." - JohnAndrew Homer
In most years, about 36,000 people in the United States die
from influenza. A major change in the virus could cause a pandemic.
Vitamin D may
ward off colon cancer. Experts generally recommend about 200 to 800 IUs of vitamin
D a day for adults.
Sex has you live
longer, fight depression, and improves your immune system.
A Cornell University
study finds a cup of hot cocoa has more antioxidants than red wine or tea.
Apples, not caffeine,
are more efficient at waking you up in the morning.
ALWAYS WASH FIRST!
A stock clerk was sent to clean up a storeroom in Maui, Hawaii. When he got back,
he was complaining that the storeroom was really filthy and that he had noticed
dried mouse or rat droppings in some areas.
A couple of days later, he
started to feel like he was coming down with a stomach flu, complained of sore
joints and headaches, and began to vomit. He went to bed and never really got
up again. Within two days he was severely ill and weak. His blood sugar count
was down to 66, and his face and eyeballs were yellow. He was rushed to the emergency
at Pali-Momi, where he was diagnosed to be suffering from massive organ failure.
He died shortly before midnight.
No one would have made the connection
between his job and his death, had it not been for a doctor who specifically asked
if he had been in a warehouse or exposed to dried rat or mouse droppings at any
time. They said there is a virus (much like the Hanta virus) that lives in dried
rat and mouse droppings. Once dried, these droppings are like dust and can easily
be breathed in or ingested if a person does not wear protective gear or fails
to wash face and hands thoroughly.
An autopsy was performed on the clerk
to verify the doctor's suspicions....
This is why it is extremely important
to ALWAYS carefully rinse off the tops of canned sodas or foods, and to wipe off
pasta packaging, cereal boxes, and so on. Almost everything you buy in a supermarket
was stored in a warehouse at one time or another, and stores themselves often
have rodents. Most of us remember to wash vegetables and fruits but never think
of boxes and cans.
The ugly truth is, even the most modern, upper class,
superstore have rats and mice. And their warehouse most assuredly does!
Whenever you buy any canned soft drink, please make sure that you wash the top
with running water and soap or, if that is not available, drink with straw.
The investigation of soda cans by the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta
discovered that the tops of soda cans can be encrusted with dried rat's urine,
which is so toxic it can be lethal. Canned drinks and other foodstuffs are stored
in warehouses and containers that are usually infested with rodents, and then
they get transported to retail outlets without being properly cleaned.
Please forward this message to the people you care about.
TAKE ACTION:
FAILURE OF THE USDA AND FDA
Mad Cow Disease
has officially hit the United States. In Japan and Europe, every adult cow is
tested for Mad Cow Disease at slaughter--before it enters the food chain. U.S.
testing policies are quite a bit more relaxed. Last year, while the E.U. tested
10 million cattle for Mad Cow, the U.S. tested only 20,526 cows out of 35 million
slaughtered. Since the Mad Cow Disease outbreak in the UK, which killed 143 people,
the OCA and its allies have pressured the USDA to create standards that emulate
those of Japan and the EU. Yet the USDA continues to resist. Speaking of the fact
that Japan tests ever single cow it butchers (1.2 million/year), Dr. DeHaven,
the USDA's Chief Veterinarian, told the New York Times that the Japanese are doing
too much testing.
The families and loved
ones of those who have died from CJD in the U.S. would disagree. Join millions
of citizens and sign the Mad Cow USA -- Stop the Madness petition, demanding
that the U.S. Government adopt and enforce: ~ Mandatory testing for all cattle
brought to slaughter, before they enter the food chain. ~ Ban the feeding
of blood, manure, and slaughterhouse waste to animals.
A
huge increase in the incidence of Crohn's disease, a debilitating condition of
the digestive system, is directly related to the availability of refrigerators,
new research suggests.
The theory, published
in today's edition of The Lancet medical journal, is not as strange as it might
seem at first glance.
The researchers believe
that exposure to common food-borne bacteria such a yersinia and listeria overstimulates
the immune system and triggers Crohn's in people who are genetically susceptible.
These bacteria are found in a wide variety of foods that are refrigerated, including
pork, chicken, sausage, hamburger, cheese and lettuce; they can survive at temperatures
near the freezing point. Most domestic refrigerators are kept at about 4 C.
"We
propose a link between Crohn's disease, the cold chain and chronic infestation
of the digestive tract by psychotropic bacteria," said Jean-Pierre Hugot,
a gastroenterologist at Hôpital Robert Debré in Paris. He said that
previous research has already demonstrated, quite clearly, that some people are
genetically predisposed to Crohn's and the genetic traits involve the immune response
to microbes. Yersinia and listeria microbes are also present in Crohn's lesions.
regarding the Atkins diet
People
claiming to be on the Atkins diet is that they rarely follow it correctly. They
tend to think they can eat unlimited quantities of non-carbohydrate foods without
repercussions. If one were to read the diet literature, they would quickly learn
that the diet does not suggest a total elimination of carbohydrates for life,
rather for a 2 week induction period, during which time one is to consume less
than 24 grams of carbs per day (from vegetables). After this induction period,
carbs are gradually reintroduced into the diet. Atkins is a wonderful plan when
followed correctly and coupled with exercise. I truly feel people who are going
to follow a plan such as Atkins should read the materials and actually follow
the true Atkins plan (which has been proven to be successful and healthy), not
come up with their own variation on it, in which balanced nutrition is sacrificed.
Can't give up smoking? Blame your parents!
Tokyo
- Having a particular gene may make it harder for some people to quit smoking,
researchers suggest.
Scientists found that
individuals with the abnormality tend not to be heavy smokers, but seem to find
it especially difficult to give up the habit. However, the same gene appears to
protect against emphysema, a serious illness related to smoking.
The
trait, known as CYP2A6del, is a defective version of a gene that assists with
the breakdown of nicotine in the body. Previous research had suggested genetic
differences related to nicotine metabolism between individuals.
To
investigate this further, scientists in Japan took DNA from 203 current or ex-smokers
with suspected chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and compared it with
DNA from 123 healthy volunteers.
COPD is a
combination of chronic bronchitis and emphysema that causes persistent disruption
of air flow in and out of the lungs. The researchers, led by Dr Hidetoshi Nakamura
from Keio University in Tokyo, noted the number of cigarettes participants smoked
per day, and the length of time they had smoked.
Those
who had quit were asked how long it had been since they had a cigarette. The findings,
published in the journal Thorax, showed that people with the CYP2A6del version
of the gene were significantly more likely to be current than ex-smokers.
A
possible explanation was that the mutant gene held back the normal breakdown of
nicotine, allowing its addictive effects to last longer. The scientists wrote:
"The prolonged presence of nicotine in the circulation may inhibit subjects
with this defective allele (gene variant) from withdrawing their dependence on
nicotine when they try to quit smoking.
"In
future, the CYP2A6 genotype should be determined when nicotine replacement therapy
is considered because the nicotine concentration in the blood is expected to differ
in smokers with different genotypes."
"For
the same reason, the gene mutation would lead people to be light smokers. They
would not need to consume very many cigarettes to get a sufficient nicotine high."
The
DNA analysis suggested that the gene variant provided intrinsic protection against
emphysema, separate from its role limiting the level of cigarette consumption.
This was thought to be due to an absence of certain substances normally obtained
from nicotine metabolism. - Sapa-DPA
New
York (Reuters Health) -Eating lots of tofu may reduce levels of lead in
the blood, new study findings suggest. Researchers suspect that calcium in the
soy-based food may keep the body from absorbing and retaining lead.
Exposure
to high levels of lead can cause decreased intelligence, impaired nervous system
development, stunted growth, hearing abnormalities and learning disabilities.
Found in the air, soil and water, as well as some types of paint and other materials,
lead is absorbed mainly through the gastrointestinal tract.
Increasing
evidence suggests that diet--including consumption of calcium, iron, zinc and
vitamins D and C--affects how the body absorbs and processes lead. Tofu is rich
in calcium, which is thought to reduce the absorption and retention of lead in
the body.
In both men and women,
blood levels of lead were lower in people who ate the most tofu. Lead levels were
about 11% lower in people who ate the most tofu than in those who ate the least.
"Although
controlling environmental sources of lead exposure remains the principal means
of preventing lead toxicity, appropriate dietary adjustments may serve as an important
adjunct to these measures."
SOURCE:
American Journal of Epidemiology 2001;153:1206-1212.
New
Way to Chill Out
11/11/00
- Germany - The term
"chill out" can soon become a scientific term. Researchers have found that sitting
naked in a freezer can be a cure for stress. Tests in Germany showed that spending
three minutes in a freezing room makes stress levels plummet. Scientists reportedly
stated that the sub-zero temperatures increase the brain's serotin levels, making
their freezing volunteers feel much calmer. (And all this time I thought it was
called hypothermia.)
Killer
Pollen Antioxidants The Danger of Genetically Engineered Food Gulf
War Disease Dioxin in Meat Preservatives are Poison Tobacco vs Alcohol
vs Marijuana Cancer - The Manufactured Disease
10 Food Guidelines
- Aim
for a healthy weight.
- Become physically active each day.
-
Let the (Food Guide) Pyramid guide your food choices.
- Eat a variety
of grains daily, especially whole grains.
- Eat a variety of fruits and
vegetables daily.
- Keep food safe to eat.
- Choose a diet that
is low in saturated fat and cholesterol and moderate in total fat.
-
Choose beverages and foods that limit your intake of sugars.
- Choose
and prepare foods with less salt.
- If you drink alcoholic beverages,
do so in moderation.
The Food Guide Pyramid, unveiled a decade ago, advises
Americans to make grains, fruits and vegetables the foundation of their diet.
* Saw Palmetto - the extract is 10 times stronger
than the powder.
Healthiest people in the world who live the longest are on the
Pacific island of Okinawa.
Healthiest US Towns
1
- Honolulu
2 - Minneapolis
3
- San Francisco
4 - Colorado
Springs
5 - San Diego
Breast Cancer
Please
read and pass on.
It would be
wonderful if 2000 were the year a cure for breast cancer was found.
The
notion that we could raise $16 million by buying a book of stamps is truly powerful.
As
you may be aware, the US Postal Service recently released its new "Fund the
Cure" stamp to help fund breast cancer research. It is important that we
all take a stand against this disease that kills and maims so many of our mothers,
sisters, and friends. Instead of the normal $0.33 for a stamp, this one costs
$0.40.
The additional $0.07
will go to breast cancer research. A "normal" book costs $6.60. This
one is only $8.00. It takes a few minutes in line at the Post Office and means
so much. If all stamps are sold, it will raise an additional $16,000,000 for this
vital research.
Just as important as the money is our support. What
a statement it would make if the stamp out sold the lottery this week. What a
statement it would make that we care. I urge each of you to do two things TODAY:
1. Go out and purchase some of these stamps.
2. E-mail your friends
to do the same.
Many of
us know women and their families whose lives are turned upside-down by breast
cancer. It takes so little to do so much in this drive.
Please help!
140,000 people die in America each year from being prescribed the
wrong medication.
To minimize
microwave radiation into your brain, if you must use a cellular (wireless) telephone,
get the Motorola StarTAC. Or better yet, use the earpiece jack with whatever model
you use.
Societies
which people very frequently live to the age of 120-140 years of age: Armenian,
Azerbijian, Georgian, Hunza, Tibetan, and Titicaca. People who appear to die from
natural causes die from nutritional defeciency.
Longer Life?
Put
on a Happy Face
Feb
8, 2000 - Rochester, MN (Reuters) -Researchers
at the Mayo Clinic, reporting on a study that spanned three decades, said on Tuesday
they have found that optimistic people live about 19 percent longer than pessimists.
"It confirmed our common-sense belief," said Toshihiko Maruta, a psychiatrist
who was the lead researcher in the project. "It tells us that mind and body
are linked and that attitude has an impact on the final outcome, death."
The finding came from a look at 839 people living in the Minnesota county where
Mayo is headquartered. They were among a group given a personality survey between
1962 and 1965 which detected how people habitually explain the causes of life's
event and then classified them as optimists, pessimists or a bit of both.
In looking at the test subjects 30 years later and comparing them against their
expected survival rates, the researchers found that those classified as optimists
had a significantly better survival rate while there was a 19 percent increase
in the risk of death for the pessimists.
The
report, published in the February issue of the Mayo Clinic Proceedings, did not
try to explain why positive attitude was equated with longevity. It said that
optimists may be less likely to develop depression and helplessness or they
might be more positive in seeking medical help and taking care of themselves,
with less fatalistic thinking about their own health.
In
an editorial published in the same issue commenting on the study, Martin Seligman,
a psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania, said pessimism is both identifiable
early in life and can be changed.
As
a result, he said, it might be possible to put people into programs to change
their way of thinking and lower their risk for physical illness.
How to Fight Cancer
Eat
a lot of fresh fruit and fresh vegetables. Avoid eating processed foods - they're
full of preservatives that are unhealthy and make you fat. Our ancestors did not
have cancer. Cancer is MANufactured. We're poisoning our environment and therefore
we're poisoning ourselves.
Alcoholism
People
who start drinking alcohol by age 15 are four times more likely to become alcoholics
than those who wait until age 21 to start drinking alcohol.
Food in Argentina by
Andrew Homer
I lived in Villa
Carlos Paz, Provincia de Cordoba, in Argentina for 22 months.
VEGETABLES
- Their vegetables in Argentina look like they were retrieved from a dumpster,
but they're scrumptuous. You believe that squash is the standard for blandness,
right? Squash in Argentina is so tasty that I got excited knowing that it was
being served. You know that you're eating healthy vegetables when they DON'T last
long.
BEEF - Unlike the practice of American cattle ranchers, cattle
in Australia and Argentina are NOT shot-up with hormones. In Argentina, my steaks
were so tender that I could cut my steak with only the side of a fork. And that
uncorrupted beef tastes so much better than an American steak.
PRESERVATIVES
- Most Argentines have lithe figures. My theory is because they eat little food
that has been processed. Us Americans eat a lot of food that's processed and the
average American is overweight.
CHICAGO -
Adults whose childhood's were marked by problems such as abuse are more likely
to smoke, perhaps because nicotine helps them feel better, according to a study
published Tuesday.
That
crutch, the report added, may make it all the harder for those smokers to kick
the habit.
Researchers
at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention said they quizzed more than 9,000
adults about conditions in their homes when they were growing up.
They found that ``smoking was strongly associated with adverse childhood experiences.''
Topics that participants were asked about included emotional, physical and sexual
abuse; having had a battered mother; divorce or separation of parents, and growing
up with a substance-abusing, mentally ill or jailed household member.
The study was published in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association.
``Nicotine has demonstrable psychoactive benefits in the regulation of affect;
therefore persons exposed to adverse childhood experiences may benefit from using
nicotine to regulate their mood,'' the study said.
``For such persons attempts to quit may remove nicotine as their pharmacological
coping device for the negative emotional, neurobiological and social effects of
adverse childhood experiences,'' it added.
Smokers who consciously or unconsciously use nicotine to help them cope ``may
need special assistant to help them quit,'' the study said.
It
also said early intervention to help children caught in abusive situations is
one way to prevent people from taking up the habit.
It noted that the decline in smoking in the United States that had been occurring
for 30 years has slowed and nearly halted.
Eat Right, Live Longer Women
with prudent diet cut death risk 30% by Edward Edelson
04-25-00
(HealthSCOUT) -- A nationwide study has given the
first solid evidence that eating a prudent diet -- low in fat, high in fiber,
rich in fruits and vegetables -- is associated with a reduced risk of death from
the major killers -- cancer, heart disease, stroke and the like.
"What
is new about this study is that it looks at diet as a whole," says Dr. Arthur
Schatzkin, chief of the nutritional epidemiology branch at the National Cancer
Institute. "Other studies tend to look at single nutrients, like fat or fiber.
This study comes up with a way to look at the complexity of what people eat."
The findings, reported in the April 26 issue of the Journal of the American
Medical Association, are based on data from the Breast Cancer Detection Demonstration
Project, which had more than 42,000 women fill out questionnaires about the kind
of food they were eating. The results were tabulated to produce a recommended
food score (RFS), based on current national dietary guidelines.
In a
5.6-year follow-up period, 2,065 women died. The 25 percent of the women who had
the highest RFS readings -- the more healthy foods they consumed, the higher the
score -- had a 30 percent lower death rate than those with the lowest RFS readings.
Schatzkin cautions that the results aren't definitive because people
who follow the dietary guidelines are also likely to do other things right, like
exercising and not smoking.
"We can't rule out that there may be
other factors than diet that lead to a lower mortality rate, he says. "But
this is a provocative result, and we hope it encourages others to do the same
kind of study."
Nevertheless, the finding "certainly presents
a prudent approach to changing the diet," he says. "There isn't much
of a downside."
"This study is very nicely supportive of many
of the guidelines that have been recommended for the past several years,"
says Cindy Moore, director of nutrition therapy at the Cleveland Clinic and a
spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. "They give credence to
the importance of the food we eat in reducing our risk of chronic disease."
she says.
On heels of disappointing results
Schatzkin's caution
is based in part on last week's widely publicized results of two studies showing
that high fiber intake provides no protection against colorectal cancer. That
was a disappointment, Schatzkin says, because "we had high expectations that
it would raise the level of proof." But he, like other dietary experts, still
recommends a high-fiber diet.
"There is a large body of evidence
that at least suggests that eating food that is rich in whole grains can reduce
the risk of cardiovascular disease and other chronic disease," Schatzkin
says.
Fiber-rich foods such as bread, cereal, rice and pasta, are at
the base of the Food Guide Pyramid of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, which
recommends six to 11 servings of them daily. One step up are vegetables (three
to five servings) and fruits (two to four servings). The pyramid narrows, with
two to three servings each of milk and cheese products and the meat, fish, poultry,
beans, eggs and nuts group. The recommendation for fats, oils, sugars and sweets
is: "Use sparingly."
"We eat a combination of foods in
our diet that contribute multiple nutrients," Moore says. "When you
look at only one or two, you don't get the total picture."
What
To Do
Last week's studies finding that high-fiber diets don't prevent
colon cancer came as a disappointment to both doctors and people who've adopted
that regimen. But even the researchers say that diet is good for you and may even
protect against other cancers.
The basic lesson here: Eat well, and
you may live longer.
SOURCES: Interviews with Arthur Schatzkin, M.D., Dr.P.H., chief, nutritional epidemiology
branch, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Md., and Cindy Moore, R.D., director
of nutrition therapy, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, and spokeswoman,
American Dietetic Association; U.S. Department of Agriculture; April 26, 2000
Journal of the American Medical Association.
A
chocolate a day might keep the doctor away
NEW
YORK, Aug 06 (Reuters Health) -- Chocolate -- particularly
dark chocolate - contains high levels of antioxidants, suggesting that the much-maligned
sweet might actually be good for you.
In
a new study, chocolate was found to have four times the level of catechins, a
type of antioxidant, compared with black tea. Some studies have suggested that
tea-drinkers have a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and possibly cancer --
though the link is not conclusive. However, if the protective health effect is
due to the catechins in tea, the health benefit may extend to chocolate as well,
according to Dr. Ilja C.W. Arts, of the National Institute of Public Health and
Environment, Bilthoven, the Netherlands, and colleagues.
In
the study, the Dutch researchers analyzed the amount of six different catechins
and found that dark chocolate contained the highest level, at 53.5 milligrams
of catechins per 100 grams. Milk chocolate contained 15.9 milligrams per 100 grams,
and black tea contained 13.9 milligrams per 100 milliliters, according to a report
in the August 7th issue of The Lancet.
"Since
it is probably more enjoyable to drink 1 liter of tea than to eat 1 kilogram of
chocolate, we aimed to find out the importance of chocolate as a source of catechins
in the habitual diet," the authors write.
They found that tea was
the most important source of the antioxidants, making up 55% of total intake of
the antioxidants by Dutch citizens. However, chocolate was an important source
too, making up 20% of the total intake in this population.
The findings have important implications for studies of the
health effects of tea, the investigators note, which should take into account
other sources of catechins, such as chocolate.
"In the end,"
the researchers conclude, "the old Dutch habit of drinking a cup of tea and
eating a chocolate cookie might be not only enjoyable but healthy as well."
SOURCE: The Lancet 1999;354:488. August
6, 1999
Just Say NO to Genetically Engineered Food
Genetic
engineering differs fundamentally from traditional breeding. The insertion of
a gene may cause the generation of substances detrimental to health. There are no foolproof methods for detecting such harmful
substances. The effects on the environment are incompletely known. They may be
potentially serious and irreversible. New and dangerous viruses may be created
in genetically engineered crops. There are no genetically engineered products
today that may contribute to the solution of the world food supply problem and
it may take long time before really valuable and safe products can be developed.
The logical conclusion is that there is
no sound scientific justification for the rapid exploitation today of genetically
engineered organisms for food production as the present products are of very limited
value and constitute both a potentially serious health risk and a potential risk
of upsetting the ecological balance of the environment. Much
research remains to be done before it can be judged whether production and consumption
of genetically engineered foods can be justified at all. Until this has been done,
we require a moratorium on the commercial release of genetically engineered products. - from the Physicians against Genetically Engineered Food
The Cover-up about Genetically Engineered
Food by Jaan Suurkula, MD
The
situation is potentially more serious than for Nuclear Energy as the pollution
of Genetically Engineered genes will, contrary to radioactivity, not decay and
remain localized. It may in stead increase with time and spread globally. And
while radioactivity can easily be detected, harmful genes released into nature
are difficult or impossible to detect. And harmful effects like unexpected toxins
likewise.
The toxin hazard is unnecessarily
accentuated because no rigorous testing is required in the case of substantial
equivalence. Because of the rubbery nature of this principle, recommended by international
scientific authorities , virtually anything will pass as "substantially equivalent".
Therefore, in the worst case, millions may suffer before the cause is
detected. And because of absence of labeling or highly deficient labeling rules
(as is the case in the European Union), the discovery of the real cause of such
a catastrophe would be greatly delayed.
The
Nuclear Energy history thus shows that the majority of scientists and leading
authorities may be wrong in their judgement about safety issues of a new technologies.
The striking parallels with the situation of Genetically Engineered gives reasons
to suspect that the same may be true in this case. This leads is to the question
- are there common mechanisms in these two cases that may contribute to the serious
judgement errors by leading scientists?
Tea May Help Guard Against Heart
Disease October 10, 1999
CHICAGO (Reuters) - More
evidence published Sunday indicates that tea may ward off heart disease -- in
this case coronary artery disease, especially in women.
A Dutch study
found that those who drank one to two cups of tea daily lowered their risk of
severe aortic atherosclerosis, a narrowing of the arteries caused by a build-up
of fat and other substances on the inner walls, by 46 percent. At four cups a
day the risk dropped by 69 percent.
The finding, based on a study of
3,454 people in the Netherlands who were free of cardiovascular disease, was published
in this week's issue of the Chicago-based Archives of Internal Medicine.
Tea's protective effect may come from flavonoids, which act as antioxidants, the
researchers from Erasmus University Medical School in Rotterdam said.
Flavonoids, found in plant products such as tea, wine and onions, neutralize harmful
chemicals that damage cells and can lead to illnesses such as heart attacks, strokes
and cancer.
The report said tea's protective effect
was more evident in women than in men for reasons that were not clear. It also
said more study was needed on the whole subject of tea's impact on the cardiovascular
system.
The authors cautioned that tea's apparent protective effect may
not be absolute since tea drinking in Western populations is generally associated
with a healthy lifestyle and diet.
"Also in our study, the intake
of tea was somewhat higher in lean, educated people who smoked less and had a
relatively low intake of alcohol, coffee, and fat," it added.
The
study adds to a number of recent reports showing that tea can protect against
heart disease.
Earlier this year a team at Brigham and Women's Hospital
and Harvard Medical School in Boston showed that people who had a cup or more
of tea a day had a 44 percent reduction in heart attack risk compared to non-tea
drinkers.
~ ~ ~
Editor
-Green tea retains more of the nutritional ingredients
then the more oxidized tea which turns black. Don't brew green tea with boiling
water. Try to get the water at 175 degrees.
Pesticides in the pollen
Genetically
altered crops make a dangerous harvest
WASHINGTON,
Aug. 5 -The Corn Belt’s annual dance of windborne sexuality
is well underway.
From Ohio
to Nebraska, tassels - the male sex organs that sit atop corn stalks and bear
pollen - have emerged, waiting for the winds that will unite the pollen with the
corresponding female organs. This is typically an anxious time for corn farmers,
because good ear production depends on good pollination, which can suffer from
too much heat, too little rain, and all manner of unpredictables. But this year,
it’s also an anxious time for anyone worried about the unintended and unforeseen
hazards of transgenic crops - plants manipulated with genes from other species.
In
laboratory tests reported this May, Cornell University scientists found that the
pollen from Bt corn, a widely-planted transgenic variety endowed with the ability
to churn out the Bt insecticide, kills the larvae of monarch butterflies.
Killing the Butterflies
No
one knows how the monarchs will be affected this year on their annual migration
through the Corn Belt. But since roughly one-third of U.S. corn area — more than
20 million acres — is planted in Bt corn, the losses could be heavy.
The
monarch finding highlights our glaring ignorance of the risks of genetically altered
crops, even as the area planted to such crops soars. In the United States — home
to three-quarters of the world’s transgenic acreage -- the area planted to engineered
plants has expanded 20-fold just since 1996. In addition to corn, about half of
this year’s cotton and soybean crops are genetically altered.
Government Seal of Approval
Would
you know if you were eating a genetically engineered food? * 2586 responses
Yes 7% No 78% Don't Know 15% Do you
think the government should require genetically engineered food products to be
labelled? * 2600 responses Yes 79% No 18% Don't know 3%
Do you think there should be pre-market testing of genetically
engineered foods before they are marketed, as with any food additive? * 2607
responses Yes 88% No 9% Don't know 2%Are
you concerned about the potential unforeseen consequences of genetically engineered
plants and animals to our health or the environment? * 2651 responses
Yes 75% No 21% Don't know 4%
Live
Votes reflect respondents' views and are not scientifically valid surveys.
The government agencies charged with ensuring
the environmental safety of transgenics — the Environmental Protection Agency
and the US Department of Agriculture — failed to consider the threat of toxic
pollen to monarchs in their review of Bt corn. This oversight illustrates the
primary weakness of the US regulatory scheme — the rapid approval of engineered
crops without a thorough assessment of their environmental risks.
The
government’s seal of approval creates the illusion that transgenic crops have
been put through some sort of pre-release testing. In fact, the small-scale, short-term
field trials that constitute the principal requirement for crop approval are grossly
inadequate to measure real-world pitfalls. The USDA is now in its seventh year
of spending just one percent of its biotechnology research funds on risk assessment,
while EPA has disbanded its risk program.
Widespread Ignorance
No
one, including the producers of such crops, knows the long-term risks of seeding
tens of millions of acres with these organisms. Field studies on the effects of
Bt corn on monarchs and other insects are just getting underway - millions of
acres too late.
U.S. regulation
— or lack thereof — seems all the more reckless given the response in Europe.
Spurred
by the monarch studies, the European Union has indefinitely suspended approvals
for commercial planting of transgenics pending additional research. EU ministers
stress that the decision does not reflect certainty that such crops are dangerous
for the environment, but simply the great uncertainty over whether such crops
are safe.
Mandatory Labeling — But Not Here
This
transatlantic divide on precaution also extends to food safety. EU officials —
as well as officials in Brazil, Australia, Japan, South Korea, and other nations
— have begun drafting mandatory labeling schemes for transgenics, so that consumers
can avoid such foods until proven safe, and so that any adverse effects can be
tracked.
American regulators,
in contrast, refuse to label, arguing that transgenic foods are “substantially
equivalent” to their non-engineered counterparts. Given that the Food and Drug
Administration has not established criteria for equivalence, nor done long-term
feeding studies, Americans may be surprised to know that most processed food items
on supermarket shelves already contain engineered ingredients.
Consumer Rights
As
Europeans revolt against genetically altered foods, American consumers may ask
why these foods aren’t labeled in a nation high on consumer rights and freedom
of information. They may also wonder why we are rushing these seeds to market
before taking basic measures to evaluate environmental risk.
Industry
officials claim that European foot-dragging will stifle movements towards a more
sustainable agriculture and a well-fed world-though engineered crops are not noticeably
improving the way we farm or nourishing the world’s hungry. US trade officials
call European regulations “unscientific” or “protectionist.” (Transgenics will
no doubt figure prominently in upcoming World Trade Organization meetings.)
But
Europe’s actions deserve consideration in the highly politicized global debate
on biotech crops. When dealing with a poorly understood technology that carries
potential harm, there’s good reason to exercise precaution.
Brian
Halweil is a staff researcher at the Worldwatch Institute. Jane Rissler is a senior
staff scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists. - MSNBC
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