Chemicals in fast food wrappers show up in human blood

(NaturalNews)Toxic chemicals used to line fast food wrappers migrate easily into human blood, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Toronto and published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. Oily foods such as fast food and microwave…

Hundreds of brave dentists speak out against water fluoridation

(NaturalNews) It takes a special kind of humility for a medical professional to admit that something he or she was taught in medical school, and has long since clung to as fact, is actually false. But a growing number of dentists from around the world, many of whom formerly supported water fluoridation, are now boldly speaking out against it as a long-held, unsubstantiated medical dogma purported to prevent tooth decay, but that actually damages health and provides no legitimate oral health benefits. Recently, there has been intense pressure in many communities to remove fluoride chemicals from water supplies. Particularly in the US where fluoridation is quite common, many local residents have been sending information about fluoride’s dangers to their city council members, and even attending and speaking at meetings. But what is often missing from reports about anti-fluoridation efforts is the fact that many medical professionals, including dentists, are also in agreement that fluoride ingestion is dangerous. In other words, these are not just concerned citizens without medical degrees that are raising an issue, but they are people that have been extensively educated in oral health. “When I graduated from University, we weren’t given any information about where [fluoride] came from,” says Dentist Caree Alexander, a former Navy practitioner who also had a private dental practice for 20 years, in the documentary FIRE WATER: Australia’s Industrial Fluoridation Disgrace . “We all assumed it was [pharmaceutical-grade] calcium fluoride.” You can watch the official full-length documentary for free at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfiCP3HYxFg Other prominent dentists that have spoken out against fluoride include Dr. Thomas Connelly from New York City; Dr. Andrew Harms, former president of the Australian Dental Association; Dentist Hardy Limeback, PhD, from the University of Toronto’s Department of Preventive Dentistry; Dentist Bill Osmunson from the Fluoride Action Network (FAN); and Dentist David Kennedy from the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology (IAOMT), just to name a few. “My [published] work showed that fluoride accumulates in the human pineal gland and lowers melatonin production in animals,” says Dentist Jennifer Luke, PhD. “I find it extraordinary that no government promoting fluoridation has chosen to pursue these worrying findings.” Beyond simply ignoring the science surrounding fluoride’s dangers, the US government and its media pawns routinely take the offensive against those opposed to water fluoridation, slandering them as paranoid conspiracy theorists. But there is no denying that thousands of medical professionals, including dentists, are adamantly against it as well. More than 3,790 professionals, 324 of which are dentists, have already signed FAN’s Call for an End to Water Fluoridation , which you can view here: http://www.fluoridealert.org/professionals-statement.aspx You can also learn more about the dangers of fluoride by visiting: http://www.fluoridealert.org Sources for this article include: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/prominent-dentists-say-drinking-nycs-fluoridated-water-is-risky-131137168.html

US Homeland Security now tracking medical records of Canadians

(NaturalNews) If you are a Canadian citizen trying to visit the US, but have a history of mental illness — even just a minor, non-violent incident that was recorded in official records — you could be denied entry by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), according to a recent report by CBCNews in Canada. Sixty-five year old Lois Kamenitz from Toronto found this out the hard way recently when US customs officials at Pearson International Airport (PIA) refused to allow her to board a flight she booked to Los Angeles, Cal. Because Kamenitz had tried to take her life back in 2006, which was recorded by police who were present after the woman’s partner called them to the scene, DHS ultimately refused her entry. When questioned about the incident, DHS officials claimed they did not actually access Kamenitz’ medical records, but instead obtained information via a “contact note from the police” that had visited her home. According to a Wikileak report released earlier this year, all information that is entered into the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) database, including Kamenitz’ suicide incident, is fully accessible to US authorities. In Kamenitz’ case, her suicide attempt was not a crime, it did not involve violence, and she has not had any further incidents since that date. But because DHS was able to access her private information without so much as a cursory review of the circumstances, they ultimately prevented her from traveling on the basis that she might be a threat to herself or others. But the real question is this. Why do US authorities have access to private information about Canadians in the first place? CBCNews explains that both the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and DHS have “reciprocal direct access” to criminal databases, but it also appears that they might have reciprocal access to details, which they then use to gain further access to private medical records. “These are private and personal medical records that I’m now handing over to a foreign government,” said Kamenitz to CBCNews , following her eventual admittance into the US. DHS ultimately forced her to surrender a copy of her medical records, and pay a DHS-approved doctor $250 to gain official clearance into the US. Sources for this story include: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/09/08/f-border-mental-health-privacy.html

Academics who lend their names to Big Pharma ghostwriting schemes should be charged with fraud, say university professors

(NaturalNews) A college student who pays his friend to write a paper for him is guilty of plagiarism — and if he is caught, he could receive a failing grade or even be expelled from school. But when drug companies secretly pay doctors or academics to pretend as though they wrote journal-published studies actually written by Big Pharma ghostwriters, it is considered a mere “marketing strategy.” But two university professors are working to change this injustice by pushing for such cheats to be prosecuted for fraud. “It’s a prostitution of their academic standing, and it undermines the integrity of the entire academic publication system” said Professor Trudo Lemmens, a Faculty of Law professor at the University of Toronto (UT). He and Professor Simon Stern, also from UT, rightly believe that taking credit for a journal article written by someone else constitutes criminal activity, and should be considered fraud under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). “Guest authorship is a disturbing violation of academic integrity standards, which form the basis of scientific reliability,” said the two in a recent article published in the journal PLoS Medicine . “Pharmaceutical sponsors borrow the names of academic experts precisely because of the value and prestige attached to the presumed integrity and independence of academic researchers.” Back in 2008, for instance, it was revealed that Wyeth Pharmaceuticals (now part of Pfizer) paid ghostwriters to compose articles hyping the supposed benefits of its hormone replacement therapy (HRT) drug Prempro, and solicited academics to then stamp their names on them claiming authorship. The forged articles then appeared in prestigious journals where thousands of doctors ended up reading and absorbing the information as if it was independent, evidence-based medicine (http://www.naturalnews.com/News_000614_Wyeth_medical_journals_ghostwriting.html). If academics who participate in ghostwriting fraud were held accountable in the way Lemmens and Stern are suggesting, it would have the potential to revolutionize the way drugs are approved, as well as the way drug litigation is handled in court. No longer would drug companies be able to use fraudulent medical research to convince the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to approve a drug, and Big Pharma lawyers would no longer be able to use ghostwritten studies as court evidence to defend the safety of harmful drugs. “[Ghostwritten studies] are often used in litigation to support the manufacturer’s arguments about a drug’s efficacy and safety, or to establish a record of scientific acceptance for Daubert purposes, or to credentialize an expert witness,” added Lemmens and Stern. “Each of those uses, if attempted by a party that had helped to create the article, could risk sanction.” Sources for this story include: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/08/03/law-professors-academics-guest-authoring-ghostwritten-studies-should-be-charged-with-fraud/

Law experts speak out – academics who "guest author" medical journal articles guilty of fraud

(NaturalNews) Back in 2008, Mike Adams sounded an alarm about something the mainstream media seemed to know little about — Big Pharma companies had long been paying in-house writers to ghostwrite scientific research articles then paying (Adams called it “bribing”) doctors and high-level academics to pretend they were the authors (http://www.naturalnews.com/023074_ghostwriting_drug_trials.html). Unfortunately, the use of ghostwriters and guest authored journal papers hasn’t gone away. But here’s good news: two prominent attorneys are speaking out that the practice is not just a sham but constitutes legal fraud. So why be concerned about ghostwriting in the medical profession? It turns out that Big Pharma and other medical industry sponsored research has been published with the names of academic “guest authors” tacked on — although these highly degreed “authors” may have made slim to no contributions to the so-called research. Yet these very articles have been published in leading medical journals and through the years have helped hype hormone replacement therapy, numerous anti-depressants and other potentially dangerous drugs including Vioxx, Neurontin and Fen-Phen. In turn, these articles are often cited by their drug company sponsors to promote off-label use of their products and bring in more millions to the prescription pharmaceutical industry. The ghostwriting and guest authoring of industry-controlled studies clearly raise what the law experts call “serious ethical and legal concerns, bearing on integrity of medical research and scientific evidence used in legal disputes.” It is such a breach of ethics that Professors Simon Stern and Trudo Lemmens of the University of Toronto law faculty have flat out called for “guest” authors of medical and scientific articles to be charged with professional and academic misconduct and fraud, even if the articles attributed to the “ghost” or “guest” writers contain factually correct information. The law experts compare the academic “ghostwriting” and tacked on bogus academic authorships to racketeering and even the world’s oldest profession. In a media release about their article (which was just published in the journal PLoS Medicine ), the law professors stated: “Guest authorship is a disturbing violation of academic integrity standards, which form the basis of scientific reliability. The false respectability afforded to claims of safety and effectiveness through the use of academic investigators risks undermining the integrity of biomedical research and patient care.” Lemmens, who is also a member of the University of Toronto’s school of medicine faculty, had particularly hard hitting words for academics who participate in guest authorship which involves “lending” their names and receiving substantial credit where little or none is due. “It’s a prostitution of their academic standing,” said Lemmens. “And it undermines the integrity of the entire academic publication system.” In their article, entitled “Legal Remedies for Medical Ghostwriting: Imposing Fraud Liability on Guest Authors of Ghostwritten Articles,” Stern and Lemmens argue that because medical journals, academic institutions, and professional disciplinary bodies have done little if anything to enforce effective sanctions against this practice of bogus authorship of research papers, a more successful effective approach would be to take legal action. Imposing liability on the guest authors “..may give rise to claims that could be pursued in a class action based on the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).” “The same fraud could support claims of fraud on the court against a pharmaceutical company that has used ghostwritten articles in litigation,” the law professors added. Moreover, that kind of claim could prevent the Big Pharma sponsor of “ghosted” and “guest authored” articles from presenting them as evidence in court, and could result in sanctions against attorneys who try to use any of these articles as legally valid evidence in a malpractice, drug injury or other case. For more information: http://media.utoronto.ca/media-releases/

Microwave popcorn contains dangerous chemical

(NaturalNews) Would you like salt, butter — and a helping of perfluorinated carboxylic acids (PFCAs) with your popcorn? You may say “yes” to the first two ingredients and “certainly not!” to the last one. But the problem is, if you are eating microwaved popcorn or packaged snack foods, you are most likely getting dosed with these potentially toxic chemicals without any choice. PFCAs, the best known of which is perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), have been found to accumulate in the blood of people, as well as in wildlife, worldwide. PFOAs are the breakdown products of chemicals used to make non-stick and water-resistant and stain-repellant products that coat kitchen pans, some clothing and food packaging. In research just reported in Environmental Health Perspectives , University of Toronto (U of T) scientists have concluded PFCAs, which are found in virtually all junk food wrappers and microwave popcorn bags, migrate into food and are then ingested by people. No one knows exactly what the long-term health risks are from exposure to these chemicals. But earlier this year, Japanese scientists at Osaka University published an animal study in the journal Prostaglandins, Leucotrines and Essential Fatty Acids showing that PPCAs impact the function of platelets — components of blood that are important for regulating bleeding and clotting in the body. “We suspected that a major source of human PFCA exposure may be the consumption and metabolism of polyfluoroalkyl phosphate esters or PAPs,” Jessica D’eon, a graduate student in the U of T Department of Chemistry, said in a statement to the media. “PAPs are applied as grease proofing agents to paper food contact packaging such as fast food wrappers and microwave popcorn bags.” For their U of T study, D’eon and Scott Mabury, the lead researcher and a professor in the U of T Department of Chemistry, exposed rats to PAPs either orally or by injection. Then the animals were monitored for a period of three weeks to document the concentrations of the PAPs and PFCA metabolites, including PFOA, in their blood. Because human exposure to PAPs was calculated by the scientists in an earlier study, the research team used the PAP concentrations observed in human blood together with the PAP and PFCA concentrations observed in the rats to come up with figures on human PFOA exposure from PAP metabolism. “We found the concentrations of PFOA from PAP metabolism to be significant and concluded that the metabolism of PAPs could be a major source of human exposure to PFOA, as well as other PFCAs,” Mabury said in the press statement. “This discovery is important because we would like to control human chemical exposure, but this is only possible if we understand the source of this exposure.” Mabury pointed out that some people claim the contamination of humans with PFCAs is simply the result of exposure to past chemical exposure, instead of chemicals currently found in food wrappers and home products. But the U of T research shows that’s a false assumption. “In this study we clearly demonstrate that the current use of PAPs in food contact applications does result in human exposure to PFCAs, including PFOA. We cannot tell whether PAPs are the sole source of human PFOA exposure or even the most important, but we can say un equivocally that PAPs are a source and the evidence from this study suggests this could be significant,”Mabury concluded. Editor’s note: NaturalNews is opposed to the use of animals in medical experiments that expose them to harm. We present these findings in protest of the way in which they were acquired. For more information: http://ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/article/fetchArticle.action?articleURI=info%3Adoi%2F10.1289%2Fehp.1002409#abstract0 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20678909

Food wrappers leach harmful chemicals into food

(NaturalNews) Man-made chemicals are all over the place in today’s environment, and many of them regularly come into direct contact with the food supply. A new study out of the University of Toronto has found that one of the primary sources of exposure to perfluorinated carboxylic acids (PFCAs), toxic chemical endocrine disruptors (EDs) used in many consumer products, is food wrappers. Fast-food burger and fries paper wraps, potato chip bags, microwave popcorn bags, and many other forms of processed food product packaging contain various non-stick NS grease-resistant chemicals that are known to cause severe health problems. Clothing, bedding, carpet, cookware, and other common consumer products also contain applications of PFCAs like perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a highly-persistant, toxic chemical that is known to pollute human blood and disrupt hormonal balance. “We suspected that a major source of human PFCA exposure may be the consumption and metabolism of polyfluoroalkyl phosphate esters or PAPs,” explained Jessica D’eon, a graduate student in the University of Toronto’s Department of Chemistry, and co-author of the study. “PAPs are applied as grease-proofing agents to paper food contact packaging such as fast food wrappers and microwave popcorn bags.” The team administered and observed the effects of PAPs and PFCAs in rats over the course of three weeks. They compared their findings to previous findings in human participants, and discovered that PAPs definitely build up in the body and cause long-term damage to health — and people all over the world are exposed to them on a regular basis. Previous studies have linked PFOA chemicals to high cholesterol (http://www.naturalnews.com/029676_PFOA_non-stick_cookware.html), as well as thyroid problems, lowered immune function, and cancer (http://www.naturalnews.com/022645.html). Editor’s Note: NaturalNews is strongly against the use of all forms of animal testing. We fully support the implementation of humane medical experimentation that promotes the health and well-being of all living creatures. Sources for this story include: http://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/main/newsitems/food-wrappers

Boost good cholesterol with monounsaturated fats

(NaturalNews) Consuming “good” fats will help your body produce high levels of “good” cholesterol, also known as high-density lipoprotein (HDL). And a new study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal has found that, when consumed as part of a healthy diet that encourages a reduction in “bad” cholesterol levels, monounsaturated fats like those found in nuts and avocados work to prevent heart disease and raise good cholesterol levels. Dr. David Jenkins and his colleagues from the University of Toronto and St. Michael’s Hospital in Ontario, Canada, studied the effects of monounsaturated fats on a group of 24 patients with high cholesterol. They instructed all the patients to begin eating a vegetarian diet consisting of foods low in saturated fats. Halfway through, they told half the group to replace 13 percent of their daily carbohydrate consumption with monounsaturated fats from either sunflower oil or avocados. At the end of the two-month study period, participants from both groups experienced a 35 percent reduction in bad cholesterol (LDL) levels. But those in the monounsaturated fat group also experienced a simultaneous 12 percent increase in good cholesterol levels (HDL), while those in the other group experienced no change at all in HDL cholesterol levels. Jenkins noted that he hopes the study results will be an inspiration for people “who want to give diet a serious try before resorting to medication.” Part of this includes cutting refined flours, refined sugars, and processed foods from their diets, and instead replacing them with things like nuts, avocados, and olive oil, which are staples of the acclaimed Mediterranean diet. The Mediterranean diet, which is composed of healthy fats like olive oil, as well as plenty of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, is low in bad fats. Conventional meat and dairy products, which are high in bad fats, are not typically part of the Mediterranean diet. The Mediterranean diet is also known to lower the risk of other diseases like metabolic syndrome, diabetes, obesity, and even heart disease. To learn more about the benefits of the Mediterranean diet, visit: http://www.naturalnews.com/mediterranean_diet.html Sources for this story include: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6A04ZD20101101

Alternative birthing centers reduce drug use, promote more natural births

(NaturalNews) Where you have your baby can determine how natural the birth is, says a new review in The Cochrane Library . According to an analysis of over 10,000 women from various randomized trials, those who bear children in alternative birthing centers rather than in conventional hospital rooms require less pregnancy drugs and other unnatural interventions. Hospital rooms, where most women have their babies, can be dreary and drab, indicative more of sickness and death than of a new life coming into the world. Alternative birthing centers, on the other hand, feel more like home with comforting, peaceful decor in a relaxed setting. In the alternative birth setting, women use roughly 18 percent less epidural anesthesia, 22 percent less oxytocin, and are 17 percent less likely to have an episiotomy. They are also 11 percent less likely to require a Caesarean section. According to Ellen Hodnott, author of the study and chair of perinatal nursing research at the University of Toronto, woman who give birth in alternative facilities are nearly twice as likely as those who birth in hospitals to be satisfied with the overall experience. And these same women are more likely to breastfeed their children as well. “Birth environment affects not only the women who are laboring but also the behavior of care providers,” explained Hodnett. “In a setting that seems less ‘medical’, staff might listen to women more, empowering them to make their own choices.” Because all the women were randomly assigned to birth settings apart from their personal preferences, it is undeniable that the birth setting itself plays a primary role in both the quality of the pregnancy and in how natural it ends up being. Sources for this story include: http://www2.cochrane.org/reviews/en/ab000012.html http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/features_julieshealthclub/2010/09/study-alternative-birth-centers-help-increase-vaginal-birth.html

Doctors needlessly order blood transfusions for cancer patients in order to qualify them for drug studies

(NaturalNews) A new report published in the New England Journal of Medicine reveals a shocking trend in the medical industry that is putting countless patients at needless risk. According to Dr. Jeannie Callum and her colleagues from the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center in Toronto, doctors often order dangerous blood transfusions for their cancer patients in order to artificially qualify them for drug trials. Before a new drug can be approved, it first has to be clinically tested in order to prove its safety. Clinical trials are often skewed to begin with, since drug companies conduct their own trials that typically yield positive results (http://www.naturalnews.com/029394_clinical_trials_drug_industry.html). But they still have to gather volunteers in order to conduct them, and one way they do that is by getting doctors to illegitimately recruit their patients. As far as cancer patients go, their blood hemoglobin levels must fall within a certain range in order to qualify for research studies on new drugs. But when levels do not fall within that range, many doctors simply order a blood transfusion that temporarily provides a quick fix for qualification. “It’s not an unusual practice,” explained ethicist Blair Henry in a recent Reuters article. “Patients can develop fatal and life-threatening transfusion complications…[i]n these causes, the patients only take risk, with no benefit. No patient (or their physician) should be placed in this situation.” It is difficult to know precisely how widespread the practice actually is, though, because transfusion requests are not validated for legitimacy. Such a practice not only puts patients at unwarranted risk, but it skews trial data as well. “We’re concerned that tweaking patients up to a certain criteria for eligibility is providing data that may bias a trial,” added Henry. “There should be few situations, if any, in which a patient receives a transfusion solely for the purpose of temporarily altering a laboratory value to gain admittance to a clinical trial.” Sources for this story include: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE69J68620101020

Next Page »