UnSymmetrical

In the 20s, the U.S. Public Service, the precursor of the NIH and the CDC, decided that the pellagra epidemic in this country that killed tens of thousands of farmers was an infectious disease, transmitted very much like AIDS, by sex and poor hygiene. Until a doctor...a pharmacologist from New York, finally discovered it was a nutritional deficiency that turned out to be a vitamin B deficiency.

Most recently we are saying that cervical cancer in women is due to human papillomavirus. Ten years ago, it was herpes virus, you remember. There was just a study at Berkeley. It studied 400 female students on the Berkeley campus. 250 were papillomavirus positive. In reality, 50% of all women in this country have these papillomaviruses and men have them too, and the incidence of cervical cancer is totally independent of it. The percentage of women with cervical cancer with and without papillomavirus reflects exactly the percentage of papillomavirus in this country. No evidence whatever.

Posted by Vitamin Z at 04:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Researchers at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences report that exposure to a chemical found in mothballs, air fresheners, and toilet deodorizers can cause lung damage and possibly even lung cancer, heart disease, and stroke.

The chemical in question is called 1,4-dichlorobenzene or 1,4-DCB. If you know what mothballs smell like, you know exactly what 1,4-DCB smells like. 1,4-DCB is a volatile organic compound - a chemical that is given off as a gas from common household products.

Researchers found that people with the highest blood levels of 1,4-DCB performed 4 percent worse on lung function tests than people with the lowest blood levels of 1,4-DCB.

Four percent may not seem significant, but this "modest reduction" in lung function can translate to serious health complications for people who already have lung challenges, like asthma, or for the young and elderly, who may not have strong immune systems. For example, a study published in 2005 found that children between 6 months and 3 years of age face a risk of developing asthma that is in direct correlation to their exposure to 1,4-DCB in their homes.

Continue reading "A Common Household Chemical That Can Cause Lung Damage" »

Posted by Vitamin Z at 10:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is somewhat long, but very fascinating article from the interview of Professor Duesberg by Spin magazine.(em)

Professor Peter Duesberg believes HIV doesn't cause AIDS. Is he the heretic the medical establishment claims, or a 20th-century Galileo? Bob Guccione, Jr. tries to find out.

In March 1987, Dr. Peter Duesberg, professor of molecular biology at the University of California, Berkeley, and one of the world's leading experts on retroviruses, a field he helped pioneer, wrote in Cancer Research that he didn't believe HIV, a retrovirus, caused AIDS. He argued that HIV was too inactive, infected too few cells, and was too difficult to even find in AIDS patients to be responsible. And since the virus is notoriously difficult to isolate, antibody detection became the indicator of infection-something Duesberg protested is highly inconsistent. Antibodies dominant over a virtually unfindable virus has always meant the immune system has triumphed over the invader, not capitulated to it. Finally, there were AIDS cases without any HIV, virus or antibody, further weakening the hypothesis. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) swept those under the carpet by changing the definition of what an AIDS patient is to necessarily include HIV infections. But hundreds of HIV-free, certified AIDS cases surfaced again at the 1992 International Conference on AIDS, and now total over 4,000. This time the CDC changed the name of the disease. Duesberg contends it's AIDS nonetheless and changing the name only further distracts from the likelihood that HIV doesn't cause it.

Continue reading "Professor Peter Duesberg Believes HIV doesn't Cause AIDS" »

Posted by Vitamin Z at 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Fifteen years ago, Horizon Organic milk couldn't be found in conventional supermarkets.

Since then, the organic foods industry has skyrocketed. Sales hover at $14 billion annually. Products no longer are relegated to shelves of health food stores.

And even though the industry's explosion has made it possible for good-for-you products to reach a wider audience, the growth hasn't come without pain.

With potential regulatory change as a backdrop, a public battle has erupted within the organic dairy sector, pitting consumer groups and family farm lobbyists against some of the industry's corporate newcomers and longtime veterans.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is determining what role pasture plays in organic dairy farming. Some have recommended cows need to be out in the grassy fields acting like they do in their natural environment for at least four months of the year.

Continue reading "Horizon Organic Starting to Feel the Pain from Organic Consumers Boycott" »

Posted by Vitamin Z at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A judge ruled Tuesday that a 16-year-old cancer patient who has refused conventional medical treatment does not have to report to a hospital as previously ordered and scheduled a trial to settle the dispute.

Starchild Abraham Cherrix, who is battling Hodgkin's disease, a cancer of the lymphatic system, refused a second round of chemotherapy when he learned early this year that the cancer had returned.

Abraham chose to instead go on a sugar-free, organic diet and take herbal supplements under the supervision of a clinic in Mexico.

A social worker asked a juvenile court judge to require the teen to continue conventional treatment, and the judge on Friday ordered Abraham to report to a hospital Tuesday. Accomack County Circuit Court Judge Glen A. Taylor set aside that order.

Continue reading " Judge Says Teen Can Skip Conventional Treatment for Now" »

Posted by Vitamin Z at 12:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

That ice-cold watermelon may be refreshing, but it can be less nutritious than watermelon served at room temperature, U.S. Department of Agriculture scientists reported on Wednesday.

Watermelons stored at room temperature deliver more nutrients than refrigerated or freshly picked melons, they reported in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Penelope Perkins-Veazie and Julie Collins of the USDA's South Central Agricultural Research Laboratory in Lane, Oklahoma, looked specifically at carotenoids -- antioxidants that can counter the damage caused by sun, chemicals and day-to-day living.

Watermelon is rich in lycopene, an antioxidant that makes watermelons and tomatoes red and may help prevent heart disease and some cancers.

Continue reading " Ice-Cold Watermelon is Less Nutritious" »

Posted by Vitamin Z at 12:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)