Introduction

Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) are smaller versions of the familiar fluorescent strip-lights found in schools, public buildings and many people's kitchens. Like the strip-lights, they are about five times more efficient than tungsten incandescent lamps at turning electrical power into light. They also last many times longer and the saving in energy over their lifetime more than offsets their extra cost. Governments all over the world are either encouraging or coercing us to replace our tungsten lamps with CFLs to save energy and reduce our carbon footprint.

The principle of operation is the same as a fluorescent strip-light. An electric current is driven through a tube containing argon and a small amount of mercury vapor. This generates invisible ultra-violet light that excites a fluorescent coating (the phosphor) on the inside of the tube, which then emits longer-wavelength visible light.

Environmental impact

Unlike incandescent lamps, CFLs contain toxic chemicals. Each one contains about 4mg of mercury, which is a cumulative poison. However, because coal also contains mercury, which is released into the atmosphere when burned, this too is a source of mercury pollution. If we assume that all our electricity came from coal, then the amount of mercury pollution saved by switching to CFLs is about double that in the lamps themselves http://tinyurl.com/68t3u6 so their use could reduce the net mercury burden on the environment.

Nevertheless, there can be problems with local pollution if they are not properly disposed of. In Europe, there are regulations requiring retailers of CFLs to provide free facilities for their recycling, but these are poorly implemented in the UK. Most of them still end up in land-fill, where they may be broken and release their mercury and other toxins. This can give high local concentrations, with a risk of contamination to water supplies.

Breakage

We also have to think of what to do if we actually break one indoors. Because mercury vapor is toxic, the best solution is to open the windows and vacate the room for about 15 minutes until the mercury vapor clears. Then wear rubber gloves to clear up the fragments (which also contain toxic phosphors) with a dustpan and brush (not a vacuum cleaner). Any remaining shards of glass should be cleaned up with a moist paper towel and everything double bagged for disposal.

Light output

CFLs are physically larger than the equivalent tungsten lamps and you may have to use a smaller and dimmer one if it is to fit into an existing fitting. They are also not best suited for outdoor use since they perform poorly in the cold. Even indoors, many of them can take several minutes to reach full brightness and are unsuitable for short periods of use such as in a toilet. Not only may they not reach full brightness during you visit, but their life span will probably be reduced to no more than that of an incandescent lamp under these conditions. A further problem with their brightness is that most of them cannot be dimmed with dimmer switches since they tend to be either fully on or fully off.

Color of the light

The color of a fluorescent lamp is usually described by its color temperature, which is the temperature to which a metal would have to be heated to give that color. For example, a warm white lamp has a color temperature of around 2700 degrees Kelvin (Celsius + 273) whereas natural noon daylight is somewhere between 5000 and 6000 degrees Kelvin. Different colors are obtained by choosing different phosphors. Often, there is a mixture of phosphors to give something that looks like daylight. However, this is an illusion. Real daylight consists of a broad spectrum of all wavelengths, but fluorescent light is a mixture of peaks at different wavelengths with dark areas in between.

Color-rendering

Even a "daylight" fluorescent lamp doesn't give the equivalent of true daylight because of the gaps in its spectrum. These gaps reduce the "richness" of the colors seen under its light and it makes accurate color matching difficult. It is possible to fill some of the gaps by adding extra phosphors, but these also reduce the efficiency of the lamp so that the number normally added is a compromise. Just how good a particular lamp is for matching colors is measured as its color-rendering index. A continuous spectrum from daylight or a tungsten lamp is taken as 100, whereas a fluorescent lamp may have a color rendering index of between about 50 (very poor) and over 90 (good). Triphosphor lamps give good but not perfect, color rendering with a near daylight color temperature. However, many people who are used to incandescent lighting find them too "cold" for a living room and prefer the warmer colors such as warm white.

Electronics

Fluorescent lamps will only run on alternating current. They also need a pulse of high voltage and heated filaments at either end to start the electrical discharge that lights them. After that, the current must be limited externally, otherwise too much would flow and they would burn out. In a traditional fluorescent strip light, this is accomplished by the starter switch and the choke (a coil of wire wound around an iron core). Once started, the current flows through the tube as a smooth sine wave at mains frequency, which is 50Hz (cycles per second) in Europe and 60Hz in America. This makes the light flash on and off with each half cycle (i.e. 100 or 120 times a second) and some people, such as epileptics and migraine sufferers find this disturbing.

However, almost all CFLs use electronic control gear. This usually incorporates a switched-mode power supply in the base of the lamp itself. It rectifies the AC from the mains to convert it to DC and then chops it electronically into a series of sharp rectangular alternating pulses, which then light the lamp. However, the new frequency, which is usually about 40 kHz (40,000 cycles per second), is so high and the gaps between pulses are so short that the relatively slow response of the phosphors can fill them easily. Consequently, these lamps do not flash.

Biological effects

Despite the absence of flashing, many people have reported ill effects when using CFLs. Typical symptoms include dizziness, nausea, tinnitus (ringing or buzzing in the ears), headaches and various skin disorders. In particular, many sufferers from migraine and epilepsy have found that they still aggravate their conditions.

http://tinyurl.com/6449ed
http://tinyurl.com/6c6hnz
The effects may be due to pulsed electromagnetic radiation.

The symptoms of exposure to CFL radiation are remarkably similar to those reported by electrosensitive individuals when exposed to pulsed electromagnetic fields. Since the lamps do not flash, it seems probable that they are a direct effect of the pulsed radiation on the brain and nervous system. The magnetic component of the radiation is the more dangerous because it can penetrate deep into the human body where it generates electrical voltages proportional to its rate of change. The rapid rise and fall times of these magnetic pulses can therefore give relatively massive and potentially damaging voltage spikes both in living cells and across their membranes.

Contamination of the mains

Poor quality CFLs often allow these pulses to leak back into the mains wiring to contribute to "dirty electricity" and increase the range of their effects to neighboring rooms or houses. You should be able to detect these by holding a portable radio tuned between stations on an AM band near the wiring. This is because pulses, by their very nature, also contain harmonics (multiples of the original frequency) that can extend well into the radio frequency spectrum. If you hear a buzzing sound from the set, it means that pulses are leaking into the mains and you should replace the offending lamp by another of better quality.

Contamination of the mains to give "dirty electricity" can come from many sources, not just CFLs. Measurements made by David Stetzer in the library of an American school showed it to consist of hundreds of sharp spikes that could be up to hundreds of millivolts high, superimposed on each cycle of the 120 volt mains supply. Although the largest of them was only a tiny fraction of the overall mains voltage, their rapid rise and fall times give them biological activity. The sharp magnetic spikes they generate penetrate living tissue easily,

where their sudden changes in field-strength induce large voltage spikes.

Several studies by Dr Magda Havas of Trent University in Canada and various co-workers have shown that simply removing these spikes in the mains with "Graham/Stetzer" filters gave improvements in the health, learning ability and behavior of schoolchildren, reductions in the insulin needed to treat diabetics and an alleviation of the symptoms of electrosensitivity.

Electrosensitivity

People who are affected badly by weak electromagnetic fields in this way are described as being electrosensitive or as suffering from electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS). Only about three percent of the population are thought to suffer from EHS at present, although this proportion is expected to rise as more people become sensitized and people who are already sensitive but do not realize it discover that their symptoms are related to electromagnetic exposure.

The symptoms of electrosensitivity are many and varied and not everyone suffers in the same way or to the same degree. Some of the effects are on the brain and nervous system and often become apparent during or shortly after exposure. They include dizziness, tinnitus, pins and needles, sensations of burning, numbness, fatigue and headaches. Longer-term effects include skin disorders, gut problems and an increased tendency to allergies and multiple chemical sensitivities.

See http://tinyurl.com/6qs8ew.

Mechanisms of electrosensitivity

Electrosensitive individuals are physiologically different to the rest of the community. Eltiti and her co-workers at Essex University showed this very clearly in a project for the mobile phone industry and the UK Government. They wanted to see if electrosensitive individuals could detect the radiation from mobile phone masts. They excluded epileptics and people wearing pacemakers for cardiac arrhythmia who might be particularly sensitive and most of their results were less conclusive than they should have been. However, they did show very clearly that their group of EHS sufferers had skins with a significantly higher electrical conductance than the non-sensitive controls (p < 0.001). This means that their skin cells were more permeable to ions (charged atoms and molecules) that normally carry electricity in living tissues. There is now considerable evidence that most of the symptoms of electrosensitivity result from ions leaking through membranes in response to electromagnetic fields. Consequently, if electrosensitive individuals already have abnormally leaky membranes, they will be more likely to be affected by these fields.

Sensory disturbances

Membrane leakage can account for the neurological symptoms of EHS sufferers. We know that weak electromagnetic radiation can temporarily remove structurally important calcium ions from cell membranes to make them leak.

http://tinyurl.com/2nfujj

Unfortunately, all of our senses depend on ions flowing through the membranes of sensory cells at a rate that depends on the strength of the stimulus. This works well for most of us most of the time, but if the sensory cells of electrosensitive individuals are already leaky, any further electromagnetically-induced leakage will be more likely to trigger them to generate nerve impulses and give false sensations.

The effects on the ear are like motion sickness

The main sensory cells of the ear are the hair cells. Hairs at the apices of these bend when they sense movement in the surrounding medium. This makes ions leak through their membranes to reduce the voltage across them. They respond by releasing neurotransmitters that stimulate neighboring nerve cells to send signals to the brain. Those at the ends of the semicircular canals have their hairs embedded in a light jelly, which deforms in response to movements of the fluid within. Because the fluid inside the canals tends to stay stationary when the head twists suddenly, it appears to flow past the jelly so that it measures rapid changes in the orientation of the head. The jelly in other parts of the ear is weighted with mineral granules (otoliths) and deforms in response to gravity and linear acceleration. The hair cells in these regions act like plumb-lines and give us most of our sense of balance.

We are all familiar with what happens if we feed them false information. If we spin our bodies rapidly and suddenly stop, the fluid in the semicircular canals continues to swirl for a while, the signals from the hair cells conflict with what we see around us and we feel dizzy. The stress and nausea of people who get motion sickness is due to a similar conflict between the signals from the ear and those from the other senses such as touch, sight and pressure on specific regions of the skin. It is therefore not surprising that false signals generated by electromagnetically-induced leakage in the hair cells cause dizziness and nausea in some electrosensitive individuals.

It can also cause tinnitus

The hair cells in the cochlea (the hearing part of the inner ear) respond to sound. They are arranged in a graded sequence with different length hairs along the length of the cochlea. Like the strings of a harp, they resonate at different frequencies. When an incoming sound matches their resonant frequencies, the hairs vibrate more strongly. This makes the cells concerned leak more ions, and trigger neighboring nerve cells to send impulses to the brain. Which cells are stimulated tell it the pitch of the note. The frequency of the impulses tells it the loudness. False stimulation of these cells by electromagnetic radiation can in some people cause tinnitus, which can range from a mild ringing in the ears to buzzing and complex sounds that may be loud enough to drown out normal conversation.

Effects on the other senses

There are countless cells all over our bodies that sense various forms of touch (mechanoreceptors) temperature (thermoreceptors) and pain (nocireceptors). Each group contains many specialized variants but they nearly all function by letting ions flow through their membranes at a rate that depends on the strength of the stimulus. This reduces the voltage across the cell membrane, which triggers the transmission of nerve impulses to the brain, either by the cell itself or by releasing neurotransmitters to stimulate neighboring nerve cells. Electromagnetically-induced membrane leakage in sensory cells in the skin explains the pins and needles, sensations of burning and pain experienced b EHS sufferers.

The eye is different

The light-sensing rods and cones in the retina of the eye are an exception in that when they respond to light they increase rather than decrease the voltage across their membranes. Consequently, any uncontrolled electromagnetically induced leakage here might be expected to reduce their sensitivity. It may be no coincidence that electrosensitive people whose vision is affected usually report a blurring or partial loss of vision rather than seeing things that aren't there.

Effects on the brain

It isn't just the sensory cells that are affected by electromagnetic radiation. False nerve impulses can be generated by electromagnetic fields in the neurons of the brain. These can cause hyperactivity, make it more difficult to sleep, trigger random thoughts, and result in a loss of concentration and confused thinking.

http://tinyurl.com/55286a
It may therefore not be advisable to use CFLs in a study or any other place where a great deal of concentration is required, especially if you are electrosensitive. This effect is probably the real reason why we are four times more likely to have an accident by using a mobile phone when driving, since using a hands-free type is no better but talking to a passenger has little or no effect.

Non-neurological effects

Spurious action potentials caused by membrane leakage in the heart muscle can give rise to cardiac arrhythmia and an increased risk of heart attacks. Increases in the permeability of skin cells can give rise to dermatological problems as well as a greater tendency to develop allergies and multiple chemical sensitivities. Electromagnetically-induced increases in the permeability of the gut to toxins, carcinogens and its partially digested contents might be expected to cause a whole array of disorders and have been implicated as a risk factor in the development of autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis and type-1 diabetes.

http://tinyurl.com/55286a

All of these illnesses have been linked scientifically to electromagnetic exposure, so people with a tendency to any of them should take the utmost caution in the use of CFLs and avoid using them totally if possible.

Are there alternatives?

If you are affected by CFLs, an obvious solution is to stock up on incandescent bulbs before they are phased out. If this is not an option, try using high voltage halogen incandescent lamps as a replacement since there are no immediate plans to phase these out. However, do not use the low voltage types, since many of them use switched mode power supplies to reduce the voltage. These could well give the same symptoms as CFLs.

What next?

It is becoming increasingly obvious that CFLs are not the best option for low energy lighting, and special dispensation needs to be made to supply alternatives to people whose health is unduly affected by them. Even so, we should regard CFLs as being just a stopgap until LED (light emitting diode) lighting is perfected. LEDs last indefinitely, they run on DC or rectified AC without generating damaging electromagnetic pulses, and the best of them are already more efficient than CFLs. At the moment, the main problem with them is with their color; the most efficient "white" ones have a harsh blue tint. Although they are commonly used in flashlights, they have very poor color rendering abilities and aren't really suitable for domestic lighting. Their spectrum can be improved by adding phosphors to absorb some of the blue light and re-emit it as other colors, but this causes a dramatic loss of efficiency. An alternative is to use an array of differently colored LEDs so that between them they give a spectrum that corresponds more closely to true white light. Hopefully, research on these devices will be given a high priority so that cheap high-quality LED lighting for domestic and industrial installations becomes available and CFLs, with all their attendant problems, become things of the past.

Dr. Andrew Goldsworthy

Reprinted with Permission

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Fragrances

Carcinogenic Culprits

The article in The Minneapolis Star Tribune, “Bill to fund childhood cancer research moves to white house,” made me both sad and glad.

http://tinyurl.com/5wzmfe

I'm sad that exposures to environmental pollutants can predispose children to cancer so easily, yet glad that research may finally uncover what is so obvious that it has gone unrecognized; fragrance chemicals contain many of the same cancer-causing toxicants that are in tobacco smoke, and they are everywhere.

Fragrances are unavoidable and found in scented laundry products, for example, which emit volatile organic compounds into the air and people’s lungs 24 hours a day.

How can this be allowed, one might ask?

The fragrance industry is unregulated and under trade secret laws the fragrance industry does not have to disclose the ingredients in fragrance.

Most of today’s fragrances are either petroleum, formaldehyde, or terpene-based despite industry claims that they are “organic,” “non toxic,” “safe” or “natural.”

They contain a host of other hazardous toxicants, including phthalates, known hormone disrupters, which are also in plastics. Yet plastics are easier to avoid than fragrances, which contaminate the air indiscriminately in classrooms, malls, stores, workplaces, and our homes.

Scented products even contain toxins that are on the EPA’s Top Hazardous Waste list!

May skyrocketing cancer rates be a wake-up call to clean up fragrance chemicals in our homes, for the sake of children and people everywhere!

Fragrance-free laundry products can be purchased at most grocery stores at no additional cost.

Julie Mellum

President, Take Back the Air

Website: www.takebacktheair.com

Email: info@takebacktheair.com

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Scientific Study

Teaching Medical Students About Unexplained Illnesses

Patients with unexplained illnesses are broadly underserved by the medical profession. By and large this is due to poor reception from doctors and the stigmatization of having an unexplained illness.

Researchers have proposed that these attitudes may be due to a fundamental lack of education and understanding of factual information on the part of medical providers.

Unexplained illnesses are medical conditions for which science had yet to find a concrete cause or confirmatory diagnostic test. Some unexplained illnesses include fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and multiple chemical sensitivity.

Friedberg and colleagues at the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Stony Brook University, New York, recognized the difficulty that patients with unexplained illnesses have when obtaining medical care and how it impacts their ability to recover.

Seeking a solution, they examined how an interactive seminar focusing on two medically unexplained illnesses, chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and fibromyalgia (FM), influenced medical student attitudes towards stigmatized illness.

The study was geared toward forth year medical students. Forty-five students attended a 90 minute seminar on the management of medically unexplained illness which focused on CFS.

Prior to the seminar, the students took an attitudes test. This test was administered again immediately after the seminar. Student attitudes at the end of the seminar were more favorable towards CFS and showed recognition of the need for:

Supporting more CFS research funding,
Employers providing flexible hours for people with CFS, and
Viewing CFS as not a physical rather than psychological disorder.

This data has led Friedberg and colleagues to conclude that, “This type of instruction may lead to potentially more receptive professional attitudes toward providing care to these underserved patients.”

Activists have long fought for additional education for medical professionals in this area.

In 2005, MCS Awareness (www.mcs-awareness.org) petitioned the America n Medical Association and Association of America Medical Colleges to include extensive training in toxicology and environmental illness for all new physicians and to require continuing education in these fields for all currently practicing physicians.

A 2007, MCS America (www.mcs-america.org) further petitioned the American Medical Association, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and National Institute of health regarding multiple chemical sensitivity. The petition clearly asserts, “Physicians and health care systems lack education and training in chemical injury, toxicology, and environmental controls and are ill prepared to serve this population of patients.”

Clearly, MCS, CFS, and FM each require additional research funding, education, and training of physicians so that underserved patients may obtain the care they require to heal and live the fullest lives possible.

Reference

Friedberg F, Sohl SJ, Halperin PJ. Teaching medical students about medically unexplained illnesses: A preliminary study. Med Teach. 2008 May 20:1-4.

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Scientific Study

Science Lacking Integrity

Science is trusted to provide accurate information to help us understand how the world works and to guide doctors to make proper medical decisions, policy makers to enact beneficial laws, and others to make decisions for the greater good.

Domenico Franco Merloand his colleagues at the National Institute for Research on Cancer, Genoa, Italy say, “It is the task of us, scientists, to create an atmosphere of trust within the scientific community and more widely in society.” However, science is not always trustworthy.

By definition, science is the process by which we discover and understand how the physical world works. The basis of science is empirical evidence. This means that scientific findings are based on observable evidence and experimental data that either proves or disproves a hypothesis (suggested explanation for a phenomenon).

Scientists first theorize how something works and then form a testable hypothesis, which is then studied for validity using observation and experimentation in a scientific experiment.

While this seems honorable and trustworthy as an accurate information source, there are a quite a few challenges.

Focus on Familiarity

The scientist must be objective and unbiased. A scientist who has a specific interest in mind is likely to experience swayed observations based on currently held opinions and knowledge. Observable evidence viewed through a biased lens may produce recorded observations that are more subjectively based, rather than objectively based. For example, a psychologist observing someone trembling in an interview may assume, based on his education, experience, and opinion, that the individual is experiencing “interview anxiety”. A physician doing the same interview may suspect low blood sugar, while a neurologist may see a neurotransmitter imbalance and be thinking about Parkinson’s. In reality, the individual may have entirely different reasons for the visible trembling.

Theory and Truth

Scientists may hold theories very strongly in their beliefs and come to believe their theory is true when it is only a theory and has yet to be proven. It is extremely difficult for a scientist to objectively evaluate data when he is certain he already knows what the outcome will be.

Confounding Variables

It is very hard to identify and eliminate all variables. For example, a study may show that children in polluted China are more likely to have asthma than children in America. Such a study is likely to conclude that air pollution in China is correlated with childhood asthma. However, other variables may also affect childhood asthma rates. Though there is pollution in China, Chinese children also eat a different diet than children in other countries. There are cultural variables, religious differences, climate variations, and many other factors that may also be at play which the study does not examine.

Special Interest Funding

Most scientific research is funded by governments, pharmaceutical companies, and special interest groups. Scientists are often forced to tailor their agenda and findings accordingly, lest they lose their funding. Large corporations and industry hire scientists to prove that their products are safe. Pharmaceutical companies hire scientists to prove their drugs are effective. These special interest groups are not interested in unbiased findings, rather they have a specific financial goal in mind and often a ton of money rests on it. The outcome frequently produces studies which are altered, changed, fabricated, falsified, plagiarized, or have other manipulated the statistical findings in a misleading way. This can be observed in similar studies which contradict one another with extremely opposite findings.

An example of a special interest group is vaccine manufacturers. Most are familiar with the autism/vaccine debate and the unreasonable claims to vaccine safety, which outcome the vaccine manufacturers have vested interests in.

Theory Replacement

Most researchers will not reject a former theory which has been proven incorrect until a new replacement theory is proposed that is widely accepted. This leads to promoting mistruths as objective evidence and truth.

Non-existent Data

Science has a tendency to declare that something does not even exist if it cannot be measured or a way to measure it has not yet been discovered. This leads to claiming something is not true simply because no evidence exists to prove it, while at the same time no evidence exists to disprove it either.

For example, it is common for health problems to be denied simply because science has not yet discovered a way to “prove” they exist. Patients often endure the humiliation of a psychiatric diagnosis until science figures out a way to measure and prove a complaint. This is an ignorant approach that only compounds real health problems. Merlo and colleagues confirm that “cases of misconduct in medical sciences have been documented.”

Environmental Health Research

No where is there more of a problem with medical science than in environmental health research, where the mere finding that a product, drug, or chemical is harmful to human health produces uproar from industry. With lots of funds to protect investments and products, industry has well paid staff with the corporate responsibility of nothing more than to aggressively debunk science, ensure the scientist is bullied into submission, and misrepresent information in an attempt to falsely prove that health effects are merely psychological.

The integrity of science is lost in environmental health research as the majority of peer-reviewed journals are owned by chemical and pharmaceutical industry with vested financial interest in protecting and promoting their products.

Merlo and colleagues say “Integrity is central to environmental health research searching for causal relations. It requires open communication and trust and any violation (i.e., research misconduct, including fabrication or falsification of data, plagiarism, conflicting interests, etc.) may endanger the societal trust in the research community as well as jeopardize participation rates in field projects.”

Scientific integrity, according to the Institute of Medicine, "embodies above all a commitment to intellectual honesty and personal responsibility for one's actions and to a range of practices that characterize responsible research conduct. It is an aspect of moral character and experience” and “a commitment to creating an environment that promotes responsible conduct."

The public assumes that science follows standards of excellence to produce trustworthy research findings that can be confidently relied upon. This is not always the case for various reasons as described above.

Merlo and colleagues explain that the other end of the spectrum is a strict regulation of the scientific community which may lead to paralysis of innovation and research as well as new deviant behaviors designed to circumvent the regulations.

It’s a double edged sword, but if we don’t institute strict and unbiased regulation, then what value is misrepresented science providing... other than human suffering?

Reference

Merlo DF, Vahakangas K, Knudsen LE. Scientific integrity: critical issues in environmental health research.. Environ Health. 2008 Jun 5;7 Suppl 1:S9.

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Scientific Review

Children in Danger

The insensate denial of the ability of low-level chemical exposure to injure the brain and nervous system of infants, children, and adults is enduring.

Occasionally, scientific literature acknowledges information regarding the effects of low-level exposures to common indoor environmental contaminants. More frequently, this data is ignored or denied publication by medical journals, which are largely owned by chemical and pharmaceutical companies with vested industrial interest in the selling and use of the very products which negatively impact human health.

A rather large percentage of the population reports negative effects from exposures to pesticide, fragrance, flame retardants, plastics, formaldehyde, and other pollutants customarily found and used in the home, school, and work place.

Samarawickrema and colleagues, researchers it the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Kelaniya, Ragama, Sri Lanka, recognized that little scientific information exists on the health effects of exposure to organophosphate pesticides.

Samarawickrema says, “The possible deleterious effects of low-grade, chronic environmental and occupational exposure to organophosphorus compounds (OPCs) are not well documented.”

Samarawickrema was particularly interested in the effects of OPCs on pregnant mothers and their fetus. Infants and children are well known to be more susceptible to environmental exposures during development. This is compounded by their small body size which increased the chances of a smaller dose having a larger effect.

A single drop of food color in a glass of water, for example, will generate a much darker fluid than a single drop of food color in a pitcher of water. Similarly, the same exposure will be much more concentrated in a smaller individual than a larger individual.

Samarawickrema’s focus was primarily on oxidative stress and oxidative tissue damage as a result of maternal OPC exposure

Cord blood samples obtained during the spray season showed significant inhibition of BChE activity, increased oxidative stress, and DNA fragmentation. Samples taken during non-spray seasons did not show these changes.

Samarawickrema concluded that, “Inhibition of cord blood BChE (butyrylcholinesterase) activity indicates fetal exposure to organophosphorus compounds during times when there is a high probability of environmental drift.”

Pesticides are capable of drifting a great distance and affecting individuals out of the immediate spraying area. This aerial drift has been documented to cause illness in school children playing in school yards within a few miles proximity to farm lands.

Individuals may not immediately know what caused illness, and some may never know. Simply not spraying in one’s own home is not sufficient protection from exposure. These clearly toxic substances must be strongly regulated to avoid their use in any area which may impact nearby human inhabitants.

These exposures, according to Samarawickrema, cause oxidative stress and high DNA fragmentation in the fetus. Oxidative stress is causes an imbalance between reactive oxygen and the ability to detoxify the body and easily repair any resulting oxidative damage.

Oxidative stress is involved in many diseases, including cancer, heart disease, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, multiple chemical sensitivity, Gulf War illness, and aging.

Reference

N, Pathmeswaran A, Wickremasinghe R, Peiris-John R, Karunaratna M, Buckley N, Dawson A, de Silva J. Fetal effects of environmental exposure of pregnant women to organophosphorus compounds in a rural farming community in Sri Lanka. Clin Toxicol (Phila). 2008 Jul;46(6):489-95.

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Scientific Review

Money-Spinning Fungi

There may be more than 1.5 million types of fungi, including yeast and mold.

Fungi. according to the American Society for Microbiology, are largely ignored by science and doctors as a disease predicament despite causing toenail infections, athlete's foot, asthma, allergy, and life threatening systemic infections. The lack of information on fungi diseases makes proper treatment almost impossible.

Agriculture is also at risk as the majority of plant disease are caused by fungi, which increases toxic pesticide use, health problems, and costs to consumers.

Nevertheless, modern life is about making money and, unbeknownst to most citizens, fungi spin money in the worlds of food and vaccine manufacturing. Therefore the mantra is “harm not thy fungi reputation” as agriculture and human health are shoved under the rug. Biotechnology utilizes fungi and some high profit-making vaccines are produced on yeast, a fungi.

Since vaccine makers are notorious for pushing under-tested vaccines full of neurotoxicant fillers on the unsuspecting population with little regard for human casualties, it is not surprising that this greedy and wealthy industry would also defend fungi.

Fungi are an vital part of the ecosystem and aid in breaking down plants into organic matter which is used by other plants. However, fungi behaving badly also play and crucial role in the toxic black mold seen in many homes and schools.

A balanced perspective must be sought which addresses the concerns of human health, agriculture, environment and industry. Science Daily has adapted several tips from the American Society for Microbiology, including:

Evaluate the Impacts of Mold in Homes and Businesses
Create a Fungal Genomes Database
Report and Track Fungal Infections

It is only through mutual cooperation that a common ground can be found. After all, if fungi kill off the population in diseased despair, who will be left to buy industry products?

It may seem far fetched, however the large and hearty dinosaurs never thought they’d be extinct either.

Reference

American Society for Microbiology (2008, July 3). Fungi The Cause Of Many Outbreaks Of Disease, But Mostly Ignored. ScienceDaily. Retrieved July 19, 2008, from:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080701145522.htm

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Scientific Study

When Violence is not a Behavioral Problem

It’s always easy to blame the victim, especially when so-called behavioral issues arise. We view behavior as voluntary actions, decisions, and reactions. In this way, we convince ourselves that behavior can be controlled with mere self-control. Further, since we ourselves have self-control, behavioral issues will never affect us. It’s “their” problem and “they” need to fix it. It’s just learned violence. It’s just weakness. It’ll never happen to me.

Surprisingly, science disagrees. Behavior is not all-in-the-head in the sense of being voluntary or simple “stinking thinking”.

Researchers Wash, Glab, and Haakenson from the Illinois based Pfeiffer Treatment Center have found that violent behavior is greatly reduced with the implementation of biochemical therapy.

Biochemical therapy is the discovery through testing and medical treatment of biochemical imbalances, including metal-metabolism disorders, methylation abnormalities, heavy-metal overload, blood glucose imbalance, and malabsorption.

Toxicity from environmental exposures is commonly correlated with many of these chemical imbalances.

Each and every subject who followed through with the testing and therapy achieved relief from behavioral manifestations previously diagnosed as behavioral disorders.

The results of this scientific study strongly suggest that individualized biochemical therapy may be an effective treatment that results in behavioral improvements. Further, it is important to note the environmental connection to these disorders.

Toxicants are impossible to avoid in our modern environment. These common exposures may inflict biochemical imbalances described above. Mercury leads to heavy metal intoxication and can be found in vaccinations, thermometers, switches, light bulbs, and fish.

Pesticides are known metabolic disruptors which lead to disorders of metabolism including thyroid disease, adrenal dysfunction, and diabetes. Even fragrances contain neurotoxic ingredients.

As autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, antisocial behavior disorders, violence, and aggression are on the rise, one has to ask if our environment is becoming too toxic for human inhabitants.

This study clearly shows that the answer is a resounding yes! We need safer products!

Reference
Walsh WJ, Glab LB, Haakenson ML. Reduced violent behavior following biochemical therapy. Physiol Behav. 2004 Oct 15;82(5):835-9.

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Scientific Study
Fragranced Products Proven Toxic by Scientist

A new study reveals that your air freshener pollutes the air. Your laundry soap and fabric softener may make you sick or contribute to your asthma. Both contain highly toxic carcinogenic chemicals that are not revealed on the label by manufacturers.

For decades, people with multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) have been the highly susceptible canaries in the coal mine who report the toxic effects of everyday products. The larger community has received these reports with doubt and even denial, often misguided by industry’s misrepresentation that their products are benign in the name of financial profits.

However, there is now proof that every day fragranced consumer products such as air fresheners, laundry supplies, personal care products, and cleaners are as toxic as people with MCS say they are.

A University of Washington study of six top-selling

MCSA NEWS – Online Edition

August 2008, Volume 3, Issue 8

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Fragranced Products Proven Toxic by Scientist