Arrogant scientists say NY students’ neurological symptoms caused by mass hysteria, not chemicals

At least 16 students from Le Roy Junior-Senior High School in Le Roy, N.Y., have now come down with a mystery illness very similar to Tourette syndrome that NaturalNews reported on just a few weeks ago. As the number of victims, almost all of which are female, continues…

LA school district students would rather starve than eat healthy menu items

A massive school lunch menu overhaul implemented by the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) in California last year has been met with widespread resistance among district students. CBS 2 in Los Angeles reports that many students are actually choosing to go hungry…

At least 12 schoolgirls in New York develop debilitating mystery illness, health department refuses to disclose cause (Gardasil?)

Twelve young schoolgirls from Le Roy Junior – Senior High School near Rochester, New York, recently became afflicted with a mysterious condition that caused them to develop tics and other symptoms similar to those associated with Tourette Syndrome. But administrators…

Study – statin drugs linked to higher diabetes risk

A new study confirms a dangerous statin drug side effect: diabetes. Researchers at Harvard Medical School report women over the age of 45 are much more likely to develop diabetes if they’re taking a statin drug. The study followed more than 153,000 postmenopausal…

Study finds connection between prenatal exposure to BPA and aggression during toddler years

(NaturalNews) Researchers from the Harvard University School of Public Health have made a disturbing new discovery about the plastics chemical bisphenol-A (BPA). It turns out that prenatal BPA exposure can spur aggressive and undesirable behaviors in girls after they are born and reach their toddler years. Published in the journal Pediatrics , the study analyzed a group of 244 mothers and their three-year-old daughters living in the Cincinnati, Oh., area. The study team gathered and studied gestational and childhood BPA exposures using urine samples from the mothers, and compared various exposure levels among the children to their respective behavioral profiles. The team discovered that for each ten-fold increase in gestational BPA exposure levels, young girls exhibited significantly more indicators of anxiety and depression than their less- or non-exposed counterparts. Young girls exposed to high BPA levels were also more emotionally disturbed than the others and had a more difficult time controlling their inhibitions. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) jointly funded the study as part of an investigation into the safety of BPA. “Parents should be concerned about these findings,” says study author Joe Braun. “As the mothers concentration of BPA rose, the girls born to those mothers had higher scores on these behavior problem indices. If pregnant women or parents are concerned about exposure to BPA, they can try to reduce it by limiting their exposure to canned foods and packaged foods.” Although these particular findings were limited strictly to females, previous studies have found a similar connection between prenatal BPA exposure and poor behavior in both sexes. Back in 2009, a study published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives found that BPA’s endocrine-disrupting effects can harm both girls and boys. Besides impairing proper neurological development, which is likely the reason for behavior problems later in life, prenatal BPA exposure was found to “masculinize” unborn females, and “feminize” unborn males. It appears, based on that study, that BPA actually blocks the proper growth and development of human sex hormones (http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/48065/title/Science_%2B_the_Public__BPA_in_the_womb_shows_link_to_kids%E2%80%99_behavior). Both the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the American Chemistry Council (ACC), however, continue to insist that BPA is safe, despite the plethora of scientific data showing that the chemical is harmful. Sources for this article include: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/study-links-bpa-exposure-in-womb-to-behavior-problems-in-toddler-girls/2011/10/24/gIQA6ihRDM_story.html http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/48065/title/Science_%2B_the_Public__BPA_in_the_womb_shows_link_to_kids%E2%80%99_behavior

Congress pushes to classify pizza as a ‘vegetable’

(NaturalNews) In an absurd attempt to fight back at federal regulations that greatly limit the amount of junk food that can be served as part of government-funded school lunch programs, Congress has proposed a new spending bill that classifies pizza as a “vegetable.” Reports indicate that the bill would allow for just two tablespoons of tomato paste to be considered a serving of vegetables. Recommendations made by the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine back in 2009 for reforming subsidized school lunch programs include reducing the use of starchy vegetables like potatoes and corn to just two days a week, cutting sodium use, and promoting the use of whole grains. But the new Congressional bill, which is alleged to be a product of the frozen food industry lobby, seeks to undo these changes. Proponents of the bill in Congress say it will “prevent overly burdensome and costly regulations and provide greater flexibility for local school districts to improve the nutritional quality of meals.” But opponents insist that the legislation is a thinly-veiled attempt at satisfying the demands of special interest groups rather than promoting better nutrition for public school children. The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a group that supports the Obama Administration’s initial lunchroom reform measures, has expressed vehement opposition to the Congressional bill. CSPI’s Nutrition Policy Director Margo G. Wootan recently wrote that the legislation, if passed, “may go down in nutritional history as a bigger blunder than when the Reagan Administration tried (but failed) to credit ketchup as a vegetable in the school lunch program.” First off, the kind of pizza served in most school lunchrooms can hardly be considered a health food in any way, shape, or form. From the refined, brominated white flour-based dough to the recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) laden cheese, this processed food product is a detriment to the health of school children. Even the sauce used on most processed pizzas contains chemical additives and preservatives, as well as potential pesticide residues from conventional tomatoes. While the original Obama Administration proposal represents an attempt at improving lunchroom food quality, it is inadequate at promoting real nutrition. Once the genetically-modified organisms (GMOs), refined sugars, processed flours, unhealthy GM oils, chemical salt additives, and preservatives are removed from the menu, then we can truly begin a discussion on better health through nutrition. Sources for this article include: http://www.cspinet.org/new/201111151.html http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/11/17/pizza-as-vegetable-congress-proposes-new-school-lunch-bill/

Fail: New superbug drugs cause 500 percent increase in infections

(NaturalNews) Governments around the world have been trying to work with the pharmaceutical industry to come up with (conventional) new ways to tackle the growing “superbug” problem. But an experimental new drug treatment regime touted as a potential solution for superbugs has been exposed as a complete failure, as those who receive it are five times more likely to develop serious infections than those who are treated the old way. Professor David Neal from the University of Cambridge and his colleagues at the school’s Addenbrooke Hospital evaluated 709 prostate cancer patients who were undergoing diagnosis surgery for their conditions. One group received the typical ciprofloxacin drug treatment, while the other received an experimental combination of co-amoxiclav and gentamicin, which are two types of antibiotics. Published in the British Journal of Urology , their study revealed that patients treated with co-amoxiclav and gentamicin have a 500 percent increased risk of developing serious infective complications compared to patients given the typical drug treatment. While only 2.4 percent of the 454 patients in the ciprofloxacin group developed infections, nearly 13 percent of patients in the co-amoxiclav / gentamicin group ended up developing infections — and nearly five percent from the latter group ended up back in the hospital with severe cases of sepsis or septic shock. “Any alteration to existing departmental antibiotic policies should be linked to strong clinical evidence,” commented Prof. Neal concerning the findings. “[S]uch changes may potentially result in significant ill health and potential harm, as well as the financial burden of treating new complications.” The experimental switch was prompted by new UK government guidelines which purported that ciprofloxacin treatments were spurring increases in Clostridium difficile infections. While this is true, at least in part, the government’s unfounded “solution” is an embarrassing indictment of what happens when the drug industry is entrusted with finding fixes to the problems it played a role in creating. Overprescribing and overuse of antibiotics like fluoroquinolones, cephalosporins, clindamycin, and penicillins among the general population has been demonstrated as one of the primary causes of superbug proliferation (http://www.naturalnews.com/026969_antibiotics_antibiotic_bacteria.html). The overuse of antibiotics in agriculture to make livestock grow more quickly is another primary cause (http://www.naturalnews.com/antibiotic.html). Sources for this article include: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2055824/New-drugs-used-tackle-superbugs-INCREASE-risk-infection.html

Soda consumption linked to teen violence, study finds

(NaturalNews) A new study has found that teenagers who consume high amounts of sugary soda appear to be more prone towards violence than teenagers who consume less or no sugary soda. The more soda a teenager consumes, in other words, the more likely he or she is to show violent aggression towards classmates, a significant other, and even family members. David Hemenway, a professor at Harvard University’s School of Public, and his colleagues instructed a group of 1,878 public school students from inner-city Boston to fill out questionnaires about how much soda they had consumed in the previous seven days. The questionnaires also asked the students how often they carried weapons, consumed alcohol, smoked, and had a violent interaction with another person. The students, who ranged in age between 14 and 18, also answered other background questions about how often they ate meals with their families, and their race. After compiling the data and accounting for other outside factors, the research team discovered that soda intake was directly proportional to violence levels. “What we found was that there was a strong relationship between how many soft drinks that these inner-city kids consumed and how violent they were, not only in violence against peers but also violence in dating relationships, against siblings,” said Hemenway. “It was shocking to us when we saw how clear the relationship was.” The results showed that students who drank one or no cans of sugary soda a week were nearly half as likely as students who drank 14 cans a week to carry a gun or knife to school. The one or no soda group was also about half as likely to commit violence against a partner, or show violent aggression against peers, compared to the high-consumption group. “We don’t know why (there is a strong association),” added Hemenway. “There may be some causal effect but it’s also certainly plausible that this is just a marker for other problems — that kids who are violent for whatever reason, they tend to smoke more, they tend to drink more alcohol and they tend to maybe drink more soft drinks. We just don’t know.” Sources for this article include: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.a78af65cc128f522f558eaa64f38258c.3d1&show_article=1

Exposed: Illinois law financially penalizes public schools when vaccination rates drop below 90 percent

(NaturalNews) One of the primary reasons for the big push among public school districts across the country to vaccinate as many students as possible appears to have a lot to do with maintaining their eligibility to receive local and state funding, at least in the state of Illinois. Section 27-8.1.7 of the Illinois Compiled Statutes (ILCS) Health examinations and immunizations law explains that if a school vaccination rate falls below 90 percent, state aid payments to that school are automatically cut by 10 percent until the school comes into “compliance” (http://www.isbe.state.il.us/accountability/html/105_public_health.htm). According to the current Illinois General State Aid fiscal schedule, Illinois schools receive $6,119 per student from the state. Ten percent of this amount equates to roughly $612. So if a school has 2,000 students, for instance, and it maintains at least a 90 percent vaccination rate, it will receive $12,238,000 from the state per year. But if the vaccination rate falls below 90 percent at the same school, a whopping $1,223,800 will be shaved off this amount (http://nced.info/schoolfinance/files/2011/06/Illinois2011.pdf). Suddenly it all becomes clear why school administrators are aggressively pushing parents to have their children receive the full vaccination schedule. If students do not comply, the administrators own salaries are on the line! These vaccine quotas also explain why some school districts are actually having to resort to bribary campaigns like giving away free iPods to students who get their shots (http://www.naturalnews.com/032330_vaccines_iPod.html). It all appears to be nothing more than a sick “pay-for-play” system where state officials pressure school administrators to comply with the vaccine agenda or else face budget cuts. And they do this because federal officials are pressing them to push the vaccine agenda or else lose funding. In other words, from the top down, Big Pharma has rigged an entire system that forces government workers to push the vaccine agenda or else face a loss of funding — and all this funding, of course, ultimately comes directly from taxpayers. Illinois law currently allows for students to opt-out of school vaccination requirements on both medical and religious grounds (http://www.nvic.org/Vaccine-Laws/state-vaccine-requirements.aspx). But if the vaccination rate ever consistently falls below the 90 percent threshold on a widespread scale, you can expect to see a lot more forced vaccination attempts fueled by lies and fear-mongering tactics.

Women endangered by high rate of false-positive mammograms

(NaturalNews) According to mainstream medicine, mammograms are the key to surviving breast cancer because they supposedly catch the disease early for quick treatment. What this advice invariably leaves out is evidence that exposure to the radiation used in the tests may actually cause breast cancer in some women. For example, a study presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) concluded annual mammography screening significantly increases breast cancer risk in women with a genetic or familial predisposition to the disease (http://www.naturalnews.com/027641_mammograms_breast_cancer.html#ixzz1arooKmoK). Now there’s another reason to be concerned about the push for women to have yearly mammograms. In a new study by University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) research shows that among women who receive a decade of annual mammograms, more than half of those women will be called and told the gut-wrenching news that their tests are positive when they are actually cancer-free. The victims of false-positive results — not a malignancy — are then subjected to more tests. In fact, one in twelve of these women will undergo invasive, potentially breast-scarring biopsy surgery. “This study provides accurate estimates of the risk of a false-positive mammography and breast biopsy for women undergoing repeat mammography in community practice, and so provides important information about the potential harms of undergoing regular mammography,” states Karla Kerlikowske, a professor of medicine at the UCSF School of Medicine. Karla is also the co-author of the study, which was just published in the Annals of Internal Medicine . False-positive mammogram results are rampant The research, led by Group Health Research Institute of Seattle for the Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium, investigated false-positives in mammography by studying the records of approximately 170,000 women between the ages of 40 and 59 from seven regions around the United States. Almost 4,500 of these research subjects were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer. The study found that women who started having mammograms at age 40 instead of 50 were far more likely to have false-positive findings that resulted in more expensive and needless medical tests, including biopsies. Just by changing breast screening from every year to every other year, the researchers documented that a woman’s risk of having a false-positive finding dropped from 61 percent to 42 percent (about a third) over the course of ten years. What’s more, they found that if radiologists would simply review a patient’s previous mammograms it “may halve the odds of a false-positive recall.” The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force guidelines now recommend biennial mammograms starting at age 50 and continuing until age 74. However, many doctors still recommend annual mammograms, often beginning at age 40. The new study concluded that after a decade of yearly screening, a majority of women will receive at least one false-positive result. Out of these, 7 to 9 percent will face having a biopsy and the risks that involves — from anesthesia complications to scarring to infection — although these women are, in fact, cancer-free. And what about the argument that yearly mammograms are needed to catch cancer early enough to cure? The researchers found that women screened every two years were not significantly more likely to be diagnosed with late-stage cancer. “We conducted this study to help women know what to expect when they get regular mammograms over the course of many years,” study leader Rebecca Hubbard, PhD, an assistant investigator at Group Health Research Institute, explained in the media statement. “We hope that if women know what to expect with screening, they’ll feel less anxiety if – or when – they are called back for more testing. In the vast majority of cases, this does not mean they have cancer.” Sources for this article include: http://www.ucsf.edu/news http://www.annals.org/ http://www.naturalnews.com/024901.html

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