A Natural Environmental Health Facts Ezine

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"A NATURAL ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH FACTS Ezine" Here to Inform and Help You Become Healthier and Happier while Achieving Quality Longevity!

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Friday June 22, 2007
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==> Editors' Ranting & or Warnings
==> Something To Think About
==> Health Thought for the day!
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==> Health Today
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Something To Think About
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Researchers recruited about 160 men with prostate cancer who were scheduled to have their prostate glands removed. The men were divided into four groups to follow these regimens for 30 days:
- 30 grams of ground flaxseed daily, combined with a normal diet
- 30 grams of ground flaxseed daily, combined with a low-fat diet
- No flaxseed, normal diet
- No flaxseed, low-fat diet
After the surgeries, researchers examined tumor cells from each subject. Results showed that flaxseed intervention dramatically slowed tumor growth - by as much as 30 to 40 percent - regardless of which diet was followed.

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States' "Locality Rule" Hurts Patients
By Andrea Hughes
June 20, 2007

ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- What is considered malpractice in some states may be considered acceptable practice in others.

Twenty-one states base physicians' standard of care on a "locality rule," which is based on where they practice as opposed to a nationwide standard of care. "Medicine has increasingly become standardized; we use national standards for board certifications, licensing and medical education in medical schools. The majority of states has adopted a nationwide standard of care. However, many states still follow some version of the locality rule," Michelle Huckaby Lewis, M.D., J.D., lead author of this study told Ivanhoe.

Researchers say the locality rule can negatively affect both patients and physicians and should be changed to a nationwide, resource-based standard. This means physicians need to adhere to national standards but only if they have the resources with which to do so. "You want the skill and knowledge of the physician to be the same, but if the nationwide standard of care is, for example, that the physician should use a CT scan to perform a test and a CT scan is not available, then it wouldn't be fair to hold that physician accountable," Dr. Lewis said.

Dr. Lewis explained how the locality rule is unfair to patients for two reasons: the persistence of the locality rule can make physicians slow to adapt to scientific progress, and it also determines who is qualified to testify as an expert witness in a medical malpractice trial. For a medical malpractice trial in states under the locality rule, the patient would have to find an expert witness who is familiar with the standard in that community or a similar community. "If they can't find another physician who is familiar with that particular standard of care and is willing to testify, their case will never get to court," Dr. Lewis said.

"For physicians, the locality rule is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it can limit their liability and not expose them to the same liability. However, the rule can also cause uncertainty for physicians because what is considered malpractice in one state may be considered acceptable practice in another locality," Dr. Lewis explained.

The states that adhere to some form of the locality rule are: Arizona, Virginia, Washington, Idaho, New York, Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Tennessee, Colorado, Louisiana, Montana, Pennsylvania and South Dakota.

Click to read the rest of the long article

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FOOD OF THE WEEK
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A Little Cabbage Wannabe, Brussel Sprouts!

I love these little green cabbage wannabe's, and I wanted to know exactly what they contained and how I am benefiting from them and found some really good things...

Named after the capital of Belgium, where they are believed to have first been cultivated.

The perfect miniature versions of the cabbage, Brussels sprouts are available year round. They are, however, at their best from autumn through early spring when they are at the peak of their growing season.

Brussels sprouts are members of the Brassica (cruciferous) family and therefore kin to broccoli as well as cabbage. They grow in bunches of 20 to 40 on the stem of a plant that grows from two to three feet tall.

Sprouts manage to pack a whollop with folate, beta carotene along with vitamins E, A, B5, B3, B 12, B6, B1, K, tryptophan. Then the minerals present are potassium, phosphorus, iron, manganese, copper, calcium but that's still not all there are omega 3 fatty acids and all this in that little green miniature cabbage wannabe. Healthy eating at it's best?

Plant phytochemicals found in Brussels sprouts spur on the activity of the body's natural defense systems to protect against disease, including cancer. Scientists have found that sulforaphane, a potent phytonutrient found in Brussel sprouts and other brassica vegetables, boosts the body's detoxification enzymes, potentially by altering gene expression, thus helping to clear potentially carcinogenic substances more quickly. Additionally, researchers in the Netherlands investigated the effect of a diet high in Brussel sprouts on DNA damage. They compared two groups of healthy male volunteers. Five men ate a diet that included 300 g (about 10 ounces) of cooked Brussels sprouts daily, while the other five men ate a diet free of cruciferous vegetables. After three weeks, the group that ate Brussels sprouts had 28% decrease in measured DNA damage. Reduced DNA damage may very well translate to a reduced risk of cancer since mutations in DNA allow cancer cells to develop.

When brussels and other cruciferous vegetables are cut, chewed or digested, a sulfur-containing compound called sinigrin is brought into contact with the enzyme myrosinase, resulting in the release of glucose and breakdown products, including highly reactive compounds called isothiocyanates. Isothiocyanates are not only potent inducers of the liver's Phase II enzymes, which detoxify carcinogens, but research conducted at the Institute for Food Research in the U.K. shows one of these compounds, allylisothicyanate, also inhibits cell division and stimulates programmed cell death in human tumor cells. A very good thing!

Brussels sprouts are an excellent source of vitamin C, the body's primary water-soluble antioxidant. Vitamin C supports immune function and the manufacture of collagen, a protein that forms the ground substance of body structures including the skin, connective tissue, cartilage, and tendons. A large study conducted on nearly 20,000 men and women in England found that people with the highest vitamin C levels had half the risk of dying from heart disease, stroke or cancer. Risk of dying from heart disease was reduced by 71% in men and 59% for women in the group with the highest vitamin C levels.

How to Select and Store

Brussels sprouts should be firm, compact and vivid green. No yellowed or wilted leaves and should not be puffy or soft in texture. If Brussels sprouts are sold individually, choose those of equal size to ensure that they will cook evenly.

Cleaning Fresh Brussels;
Before washing Brussels sprouts, remove stems and any yellow or discolored leaves. Wash them well under running water or soak them in a bowl of water to remove any insects that may reside in the inner leaves.

Brussels sprouts are usually cooked whole. Cut an ?X? in the bottom of the stem before cooking to allow the heat to permeate throughout all of the leaves and better ensure an even texture.

While Brussels sprouts are usually served as a side dish, warm, they also make a nice addition to cold salads.

My favorite ways of eating brussel sprouts are;
Braise Brussels sprouts in steamed with salt and pepper. Or toss quartered cooked Brussels sprouts with sliced red onions, walnuts, black olive slices and your favorite mild tasting cheese such as a goat cheese or feta. Toss with olive oil and balsamic vinegar for an exceptionally healthy, delicious side dish.

Keep unwashed and untrimmed Brussels sprouts in the vegetable compartment of the refrigerator, in a perforated plastic bag, for three to four days. If you want to freeze Brussels sprouts, blanch them first for between three to five minutes. They will keep in the freezer for up to one year. If kept at room temperature, their leaves will turn yellow quickly.

Those are the reasons I love these little things!
Lena

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HEALTH TODAY
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Consumer Safety and Access to Natural Health Options Threatened
By Byron J. Richards, CCN

Under the false pretense of improved food and drug safety the FDA is re-inventing itself as a kingpin drug company. This charade has so far hoodwinked virtually all members of Congress. The Senate has already approved this FDA transformation. The House will bring similar legislation out of committee next week, with a vote in the full House likely in July. The measure will then go to a conference committee to work out the differences. The final chapter in this transformation occurs when the Reagan-Udall Foundation for the FDA becomes law, which is scheduled to happen some time before September 30, 2007.

Even well-intended FDA employees are actively seeking new employment in more meaningful work. Such is the case with Rosemary Johann-Liang, former FDA deputy director of the Division of Drug Risk Evaluation. Last year she was reprimanded for trying to put a black box warning on Avandia, a move the FDA itself made last week in a damage-control effort to cover its complicity with GlaxoSmithKline. After 6 1/2 years Johann-Liang is leaving the FDA. As USA Today reports:

She begins working Monday as chief medical officer in the vaccine injury compensation program at the federal Health Resources and Services Administration. Still, she says, she might have tried to figure out how to stay at the FDA "if the agency had a vision of promoting and protecting public health."

The 10,000 or so laid off Pfizer employees should cheer up, gainful employment for a legion of drug reps will soon be available through spin-off companies of the FDA's Regan-Udall Foundation. Yes indeed, times are a changing.

How Did this Happen? The Bush administration figured out that the fastest way to get the FDA out of the way of Big Pharma's profits was to appoint FDA critics to key positions, thereby changing the FDA from within. This began in August of 2001 when Bush appointed Daniel Troy as chief counsel of the FDA, a man best known for defending tobacco companies. Mr. Troy invited Big Pharma to submit cases to him so that the FDA could help Big Pharma defeat citizens who were complaining that drugs and medical devices injured them. This has resulted in legal case precedent that ties up damage claim cases indefinitely and creates "trade secret laws" wherein the FDA claims it is legally obligated to withhold drug risks from the public to protect Big Pharma's proprietary knowledge.

Another active critic of the FDA, Scott Gottlieb, M.D., a Wall Street biotech sales rep and member of the American Enterprise Institute was invited into the FDA to rewrite its medical policy. Shortly after that Bush appointed him to the number two position at the FDA, even though he was a young and inexperienced physician with no expertise in drug safety -- just a major agenda to bring unproven drugs to the market with far less safety or effectiveness testing for the benefits of Wall Street.

These appointments were just warm-ups for Bush. His appointment that floored the drug-safety world and sent well-intentioned FDA employees running for cover was the appointment of Andrew von Eschenbach to head the FDA, an appointment that the Senate made permanent in last year's Lame Duck session. The FDA is now headed by a representative of the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. It is informative to understand the chain of events enabling von Eschenbach to attempt his transformation of the FDA into a drug company.

C-Change Andrew von Eschenbach is a founding member of C-Change, short for Cancer Change (originally called The National Dialogue on Cancer) -- a group that was created and funded in 1998 by the American Cancer Society. This group has become a conglomeration of the most powerful players in the cancer treatment industry, as can readily be judged by looking at their member list. Their unstated goal is taking the national cancer agenda away from the public sector and placing it into private for-profit hands. The group is headed by former President Bush and his wife, Barbara. Until recently von Eschenbach was the vice chairman of the board. Since becoming permanent head of the FDA he relinquished his board position and is now only a member.

Von Eschenbach is an oncologist by trade, a cancer survivor himself, and had a long career running the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas. He parlayed his close relationship with the Bushes and cancer-industry players into an appointment to head the National Cancer Institute (January 2002). And thus began the final stages in the transfer of power from public health interests to Big Pharma and Big Biotech. The initial and extensive C-Change conflicts of interest are fully explained in a revealing article on the Cancer Prevention Coalition website, including the assistance of tobacco companies and their PR firms in setting up this arrangement.

On February 22, 2002, Diane Feinstein (D-CA), the only Senator that is a member of C-Change, introduced The National Cancer Act of 2002 (S.1976). While this legislation never became law, it was quite telling as regards the C-Change plan -- to shift the national cancer agenda and funding away from the public interest and into the hands of the American Cancer Society, C-Change, and related pharmaceutical companies.

Astonishingly, then director of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson approved a waiver allowing von Eschenbach to remain vice chairman of C-Change while heading NCI, a dramatic conflict of interest. Tommy Thompson, like von Eschenbach, is a founding member of C-Change. During the von Eschenbach rein at NCI hundreds of millions of dollars in research grants were channeled to his C-Change friends and away from basic cancer research and public health measures relating to easily preventable cancers.

As head of NCI, von Eschenbach reorganized its administration bringing in a new layer of management spearheaded by the chairperson of the C-Change cancer research team and former biotech CEO, Anna Barker, Ph.D. Part of this new team included C-Change member Mark Clanton, M.D., as deputy director for cancer care and delivery. This C-Change management team met behind closed doors, setting NCI priorities independent of NCI's traditional scientific advisors.

Von Eschenbach then funneled NCI money into Big Biotech projects relating to genomic-based cancer research, nanotechnology, proteomics, and the establishment of biomarkers relating to disease and cancer identification. While such innovative projects are on the one hand admirable, they are quite detached from the real-world issues that cause cancer in many Americans and are in many ways a diversion from what should be done now to realistically help many people not get cancer. Furthermore, there is no near-term tangible result. The problem for all of this type of research is how to get potential products to the market when the cost for drug development is so high and the FDA has no guidelines as to how these drugs even work or can be monitored for safety.

The Critical Path Initiative The FDA "solution" to this problem, announced in March of 2004, was to set up a collaboration with industry to design the next generation of drugs. This plan is called the Critical Path Initiative and it refers to streamlining the path for approval to get new drugs on the market faster with less expense and less testing for safety or effectiveness. I would like to point out that the entire Critical Path Initiative, admirable as it may seem to some, is going to produce an increase in public health disasters like Vioxx. This is because the FDA (or more specifically von Eschenbach and friends) think the pharmaceutical industry's problems are all based on a failure to get approval of new drugs fast enough.

In reality, the pharmaceutical industry's real problem is a failure to get results in the marketplace. When a new drug is approved very little is actually known about how it will perform in the real world. This problem is complicated by direct to consumer promotion that typically misrepresents the drug, massive off label promotion and use of the drug, and no system that monitors what is really happening with the drug as it is used. By rushing more drugs onto the market faster, the failure to get results issue will be magnified -- and the safeguards proposed in S.1082 are inadequate. Any savings in the cost of bringing a drug to market will be offset by the costs of lawsuits related to damages. The FDA is trying to "solve" that problem by preventing citizens from suing drug companies when an FDA-approved drug injures or kills. Von Eschenbach and the FDA have pushed forward with this very misguided marketing strategy.

In June of 2004 von Eschenbach's NCI awarded SRI International a long term grant to evaluate the safety and pharmacology of these new biological drug cancer treatments. More related grants have followed. SRI specializes in cancer biology and toxicology research, as well as helping to patent, license, and spin off inventions into commercial applications. SRI also does extensive work for the Department of Defense and Homeland Security. Some of SRI's largest clients besides government are the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

In March of 2005 the FDA announced its first Critical Path collaboration known as the C-Path Institute in Tucson, Arizona. This is a collaboration between the University of Arizona, the FDA, and SRI International. One of its first projects is the establishment of cardiovascular biomarkers, working in conjunction with the University of Utah. Following this announcement the governors of the States of Arizona and Utah joined C-Change.

Conflict of interest reached a new level in October of 2005 when President Bush appointed von Eschenbach as temporary head of the FDA, a position he took while maintaining his roles as head of NCI and as vice chairman of the board of C-Change.

The Reagan-Udall Foundation for the FDA Once von Eschenbach took over at the FDA, and eventually gave up his role at NCI, his main priority became promoting the Critical Path Initiative (not food or drug safety). He worked diligently with Senators Mike Enzi (R-WY) and Edward Kennedy (D-MA) to create a vehicle within the FDA to develop the next generation of biotech drugs. In last year's version of this legislation (which never came out of committee), this project was called The Reagan-Udall Institute for Applied Biomedical Research. This legislation would have set up the Institute within the FDA.

This year, Kennedy and Enzi tacked this piece of legislation onto required FDA funding, lumping numerous FDA issues into one huge bill (S.1082) and telling everyone it is a safety bill. Within this new legislation is the creation of the Reagan-Udall Foundation for the FDA, set up as an independent non-profit Foundation that will be under the control of the FDA. The Senate fought bitterly over various drug-safety issues unrelated to the Reagan-Udall Foundation, as if these issues acted as a smoke screen to slip past members of the Senate the creation of the Reagan-Udall Foundation for the FDA, the von Eschenbach dream come true.

Not a single Senator raised one concern about the significant safety issues inherent in the Critical Path Initiative/Reagan-Udall Foundation or conflicts of interest when Big Pharma and the FDA work side by side to develop, patent, and license drugs. The entire history of von Eschenbach's relationship with Big Pharma, Big Biotech, and C-Change has been conveniently ignored. This issue now moves to the House, where it will be interesting to see if Representatives are as poorly informed as Senators as to what is actually going on.

Yes, the FDA is going into the drug development business. According to Senate bill S.1082, the purpose of the Foundation is to advance the mission of the Food and Drug Administration to modernize medical, veterinary, food, food ingredient, and cosmetic product development, accelerate innovation, and enhance product safety. It will do this by taking into consideration the Critical Path reports and priorities published by the Food and Drug Administration, identify unmet needs in the development, manufacture, and evaluation of the safety and effectiveness, including postapproval, of devices, including diagnostics, biologics, and drugs, and the safety of food, food ingredients, and cosmetics.

The board of directors is composed of four primary members: the Commissioner of the FDA, the Director of the National Institutes of Health, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. These members will then select the remaining board members to be composed of 4 representatives from Big Pharma and Big Biotech, 3 representatives from academia (which is funded by Big Pharma), 2 more from the FDA and NIH, 2 from consumers groups, and 1 from health care providers. This means that the FDA/Big Pharma/Big Biotech voting block always has 13 votes -- to at the most 3. An executive director of the Foundation will be appointed by the board and serve at the pleasure of the board.

The bill says the Foundation will ensure that "action is taken as necessary to enable the licensing of inventions developed by the Foundation or with funds from the Foundation; and (C) executed licenses, memoranda of understanding, material transfer agreements, contracts, and other such instruments, promote, to the maximum extent practicable, the broadest conversion to commercial and noncommercial applications of licensed and patented inventions of the Foundation."

Since the Foundation is responding to the needs of the Critical Path Initiative, and that initiative is primarily about the development of new drugs, it is clear that the Foundation will not only help with drug development but it will have significant business relationships as a result. Do not be confused by the Foundation's non-profit status, this is simply a useful vehicle that SRI International has used to coordinate collaboration while securing patents and licenses and then spinning off business ventures. The FDA is trying to reduce its legal liability to the federal government by setting up the Regan-Udall Foundation as a non-profit, in case the drugs it helps design injure or kill people. Make no mistake about it, the FDA will be fully in control of the Reagan-Udall Foundation for the FDA. Once this becomes law, as anticipated by September 30, 2007, we will enter a new era with the FDA as a quasi drug company.

Click to read the full article

Pharmaceuticals contaminating public water supplies; anti-seizure meds found in Lake Michigan
NewsTarget/Truth Publishing,

Pharmaceuticals, including birth-control hormones and anti-seizure medications, have been found in Lake Michigan and public water supplies, according to a new study. The study was jointly sponsored by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the American Pharmacists Association.

The water system examined serves more than a quarter-million people in Grand Rapids, East Grand Rapids, Walker, part of Kentwood, Ada, Cascade and Grand Rapids townships, as well as parts of Ottawa County.

In Lake Michigan, near the Grand Rapids water filtration plant, tests found traces of Tylenol, ibuprofen, hormones from birth-control pills, and some beta blockers in heart medication, Department of Environmental Quality toxicologist Amy Perbeck stated.

In treated water at the Grand Rapids water filtration plant, scientists found traces of the anti-seizure medication carbamazepine, she said. The drugs were measured in parts per trillion -- too small to be considered a "therapeutic dose" in humans, said Perbeck.

"Someone would have to drink 17,000 gallons of water to get the concentration they would get in one ibuprofen pill," she said.

However, Perbeck expressed concern about the effect of birth-control hormones on fish, stating "The fish are constantly exposed to hormones." In some parts of the country, scientists have found male fish with female ovarian tissues.

Professor Rick Rediske, senior program manager at Grand Valley State University's Annis Water Resources Institute, pointed out even the smallest amounts of pharmaceuticals, as well as substances such as anti-bacterial soap, could harm aquatic life.

He referred to shellfish, which excrete serotonin to signal they are ready to mate. Trace amounts of serotonin in anti-depressants such as Prozac could send false messages.

"It can mess up part of their life cycle," he said, "It's very complicated when there are very low levels of exposure over a long time."

While some scientists claim the drugs are too diluted to harm humans, they acknowledge no one knows the dangers of lifetime exposure.

"Pharmaceuticals are toxic chemicals that pollute the environment, and the pharmaceutical industry has so far refused to take responsibility for the environmental impact of its products," explained Mike Adams, author of The Real Safety Guide to Protecting Your Environment, "Consumers need to be warned that popping pills is not just harmful to your own health; it's also harmful to the health of water supplies and aquatic systems."