Broccoli the 'miracle vegetable' prevents stomach cancer

Broccoli the 'miracle vegetable' prevents stomach cancer
08 April 2009

It’s already known as the miracle vegetable, and now researchers have discovered that broccoli can also prevent stomach cancer.

Eating just two and a half ounces of broccoli sprouts for two months can help prevent you getting the stomach bug Helicobactor pylori, responsible for gastritis, ulcers and stomach cancer.

Scientists reckon the vegetable, eaten in these proportions, can reduce the level of HpSA, a measure of H pylori presence, by 40 per cent. By comparison, HpSA levels didn’t go down in people who ate alfalfa sprouts.

Broccoli’s magic ingredient is sulforaphane, and it’s found more in the sprouts than the vegetable’s heads.

Sulforaphane was first recognised as a potent antibiotic against the H pylori bug in 2002.

(Source: Cancer Prevention Research, 2009; 2: 353).

Mobile phone use may increase brain cancer risk.

Mobile phone use may increase brain cancer risk.

Apr 10, 2009

Kundi, M. 2009. The controversy about a possible relationship between mobile phone use and cancer. Environmental Health Perspectives. 117 (3): 316-324.
Synopsis by Jonathan Chevrier, Ph.D.

An analysis of previously published studies suggests that long-term mobile phone use may increase the risk of brain cancer.

While the number of people who own mobile phones has dramatically increased in the last decade, so has the controversy about the possible relationship between cell phone use and brain cancer risk.

The electromagnetic field that mobile phones generate is suspected of causing brain cancer.

Most of the studies investigating the effect of using mobile phones for less than 10 years found no association with brain cancer risk. However, the risk of glioma, a type of brain cancer, was increased by 50 percent in people who used mobile phones for 10 years or more relative to people who never used mobile phones. Risks of other types of brain cancers, such as acoustic neuroma and meningioma also tended to increase with mobile phone use.

Although a 50 percent increase in brain tumors would have significant impacts in terms of public health, Micheal Kundi, the author of the report, indicated that the individual risk would remain low given that lifetime brain tumor risk is only 4 to 8 per 1,000 persons in industrialized countries. More research on long term mobile phone use is however needed as these types of cancers take many years to develop.

Kundi reviewed results from 25 brain tumor studies published between 1999 and 2008. The information in those studies was collected through in-person interviews, computer-assisted interviews or mail-in questionnaires. Researchers then assessed mobile phone use in those with brain cancers relative to those without (controls).

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Ginger, Turmeric, Neem Declared "Hazardous" in Thailand After Chemical Companies Try to Protect Pesticide Profits

Ginger, Turmeric, Neem Declared "Hazardous" in Thailand After Chemical Companies Try to Protect Pesticide Profits

The government of Thailand has classified 13 plants - traditionally used as herbal medicines and natural pesticides - as "hazardous substances," causing outrage among farmers and advocates of traditional medicine.

The plants - including ginger, turmeric, neem and chili - have been classified by the Industry Ministry as "hazardous substances type 1," requiring all manufacturers, growers, importers or exporters of any products made from the plants to follow strict safety and quality control rules or face up to six months in jail and a 50,000 baht ($1,400) fine.

Farmers' groups have objected to the new rules as an unfair burden on organic farmers, who will now have to pay more for the registration, packaging and testing of non-synthetic pesticides. They have also objected that the list was developed without any consultation of farmers who would be affected.

"The government keeps promoting organic farming and reduction of chemical use," said Tussanee Verakan, coordinator of the Alternative Agriculture Network. "Why did they put such heavy restrictions on organic substances which are the heart of organic farming?"

Witoon Lianchamroon of the organic farming nonprofit Biothai said he suspects that the move is intended to benefit chemical companies by putting obstacles in the path of those who would otherwise prefer natural alternatives. Because natural pesticides are less toxic and substantially cheaper than imported chemical pesticides, recent years have seen large numbers of Thai farmers abandoning chemical products.

"Instead of tightening controls on these farmer-friendly herbal plants, the committee should crack down on multinational companies who exploit Thai farmers by luring them into buying their highly toxic and costly products," Witoon said.

Alternative medicine practitioners have also reacted angrily to the decision. According to Prapot Paetrakas, deputy director-general of the Department for Development of Thai Traditional and Alternative Medicine, all 13 newly regulated plants are central to the practice of traditional Thai medicine.

Sources for this story include: www.bangkokpost.com.

Green burials: A dying wish to be 'home for fish'

Green burials: A dying wish to be 'home for fish'
Carole Dunham, 69, loved the ocean. Last July, she was diagnosed with cancer and had only a few months to live. Dunham knew her last footprint had to be a green one, and she started looking into eco-friendly alternatives to traditional burial.
Carole Dunham, 69, had her remains memorialized on an offshore reef.

Carole Dunham, 69, had her remains memorialized on an offshore reef.
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The concept of "going green" has taken new life in the death care industry as eco-minded companies tap into the needs of those like Dunham.

From biodegradable caskets to natural burial sites, death is becoming less of a dark matter than a green one.

Dunham, an avid scuba diver, chose an eco-friendly company that would combine her cremated remains to form an artificial memorial reef.

"She loved the idea of always being in the water as an alternative to being cremated and scattered," said her daughter Nina Dunham.

Dying is arguably the most natural phenomenon in the world, but modern death rituals -- embalming with formaldehyde-based solutions and traditional burial in concrete vaults -- are not nature-friendly, according to environmentalists.

Along with its dead, the United States buries 1.6 million tons of reinforced concrete, 827,060 tons of toxic embalming fluid, 90,000 tons of steel (from caskets), and 30 million tons of hardwood board each year, according to the Green Burial Council, an independent nonprofit organization based in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

"We can rebuild the Golden Gate Bridge with that amount of metal," said Joe Sehee, the council's executive director. "The amount of concrete is enough to build a two-lane highway from New York to Detroit."
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* In Depth: Solutions

Sehee established a burgeoning network of death-care providers that have earned a green thumbs-up in the council's eco-certification program, the first of its kind in the industry.

"We want to reduce carbon emissions, waste and toxins in the death care industry and utilize burial to steward natural areas in the U.S.," said Sehee.

Among the certified eco-providers is Eternal Reefs, based in Decatur, Georgia.

"We're the surf and turf of natural burial," said George Frankel, CEO of Eternal Reefs.

The company takes the green movement to sea level by offering a living legacy in the form of underwater reefs used to create new marine habitats for fish and other sea life. The artificial reefs are cast from a mixture of environmentally safe cement and cremated remains.

Eternal Reefs was the logical choice for Dunham, who died on November 3. "She liked the idea of being a home for fish," said her daughter.

This month, Dunham will travel to Florida to see her mother's reef lowered off the coast of North Miami Beach. Other families will join her, wearing shorts and T-shirts instead of dark suits and dresses. They will have a chance to decorate the reefs with flowers and other sea-friendly mementos.

A brass plaque will help Dunham identify her mother's reef. She intends to visit the underwater memorial by scuba diving there in the future.

"These reefs will be covered up with sea life in a very short period of time, so they make a significant contribution," Frankel said. The reefs last about 500 years, and so far about 300 have been dropped off the coasts of Florida, South Carolina, Maryland, New Jersey, Texas and Virginia.

Another eco-provider certified by the Green Burial Council is UK-based Eco Coffins Ltd., which allows its customers to design their own 100 percent biodegradable coffins, made from 90 percent recycled grid honeycomb cardboard. The company says the coffins release 72 percent less carbon monoxide in the cremation process compared to a traditional coffin.

"We are appealing to customers to make the responsible choice," said Sophie Dansie, founder and director of Eco Coffins. "The fact that standard chipboard is full of resins and formaldehyde, which is either released into the earth when buried or as emissions when burnt, is really unknown to the general public."
Buried yearly

* Reinforced concrete: 1.6 million tons
* Toxic embalming fluid: 827,060 tons
* Steel from caskets: 90,000 tons
* Hardwood from caskets: 30 million tons


Source: Green Burial Council

The vibrant coffins have even captured some attention in Hollywood. They have a cameo as props in the upcoming film "Powder Blue."

An eco-friendly funeral can also help conserve land and protect it from development. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is working with the Green Burial Council to become the first state-park agency to offer cremation-based green burials. The funds raised from the services will be used to acquire new state park lands.

"We want burials to be more sustainable for the planet, more meaningful for the planet and economically viable for the provider," said Sehee. "We don't want this to be a marketing gimmick that diminishes the social and ecological benefits of this concept," he emphasized.

The death care industry, like others, has its share of green hype. While it might be a bit macabre for some, CoffinCouches.com sells eclectic couches made out of used coffins. Founder Vidal Herrera buys unwanted or slightly damaged coffins from funeral homes that would otherwise go to a landfill.

From these discarded materials, Herrera designs artsy Goth couches you might see in a music video or a tattoo parlor. Herrera's clientele includes musicians, actors and others who can afford $3,500 for a couch.

Hype or no hype, the decision is a personal one that ultimately rests with an individual or family. Sehee emphasizes that the Green Burial Council is careful not to diminish anyone's choices or make recommendations about the greenest way to go.

"There are shades of green and people can distinguish one shade from another," he said.

Source

The Economy: Why it feels even worse

The Economy: Why it feels even worse

As you've heard us and others report, the U.S. economy, more so than other worldwide economies, is dependent on spending decisions made by consumers. Consumer behavior drives spending habits, spending habits drive corporate profitability, and corporate profitability drives the stock market.

Success in the stock market is one of those things that make Americans feel better about the economy, along with increases in wages (not happening) and increases in home prices (also not happening).

Typically, we measure economic strength or weakness using the GDP, or Gross Domestic Product, which is historically thought of as the broadest measure of economic activity.

But, while GDP may be a good measure of the whole economy (and it may not be, but that's another story), it doesn't reflect all the things that matter to you.

In the fall, we took a look at five measures of the economy that reflect how things really are out there, to see if your fears and concerns are justified. The measures we chose are those that we "touch" on a daily basis.

We looked at how the economy is affecting you, via jobs, personal income, personal savings, industrial production, and home prices.

We charted them on a scale of 0-to-10: 0 being the worst that each of them has been since 1980; 10 being the best.

1980 was our starting point because experts agree that the economy before then was so different from what it is now that it would be like comparing apples and oranges.

Now, over a year into the recession, we're taking a look at it again.
We call it the CNN "Real Feel Economic Index."

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Irradiated Foods Cause Severe Neurological Damage

Irradiated Foods Cause Severe Neurological Damage

In a study just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison) report on cats developing severe neurological symptoms due to a degradation of myelin, the fatty insulator of nerve fibers called axons. Because myelin facilitates the conduction of nerve signals, when it is lost or damaged there can be impairment of sensation, movement, thinking and other functions, depending on what particular nerves are affected. This loss of myelin is found in several disorders of the central nervous system in humans -- the best known being multiple sclerosis (MS).

So what caused the cats to develop neurological problems? Although the researchers' statement to the media practically buries the fact, a close read shows the animals were fine until fed irradiated food. What's more, when they were taken off the irradiated diet, the animals' nervous systems began healing.

The new study took place when the researchers were faced with reports of a mysterious illness in pregnant cats. A commercial company had been testing various diets on the animals to see how the food impacted growth and development in the felines. The food used, it turns out, had been irradiated. Irradiation, which is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for many human as well as animal foods, involves exposing foods briefly to a radiant energy source such as gamma rays or electron beams in order to kill bacteria.

Some of the cats eating the irradiated cat food exhibited very severe neurological symptoms, including movement disorders, vision loss and even paralysis. "After being on the diet for three to four months, the pregnant cats started to develop progressive neurological disease," said Ian Duncan, a professor of medical sciences at the UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine and an authority on demyelinating diseases, in a statement to the media.

The sick cats were shown to have widely distributed the very severe demyelization of the central nervous system. Their neurological symptoms were very much like those seen in people with MS and other demyelization disorders. When the felines were taken off the irradiated foods, they began to recover slowly. However, according to Dr. Duncan, the restored myelin sheaths were no longer as thick as normal myelin sheaths.

The finding is important, the scientists concluded in their study, because it shows the central nervous system retains the ability to reestablish myelin -- so strategies that could be developed to spur the growth of new myelin sheaths anywhere nerves themselves are preserved could be a possible therapy for treating a host of severe neurological diseases in humans. "The key thing is that it absolutely confirms the notion that remyelinating strategies are clinically important," Duncan stated.

Curiously, although the scientists' related their findings to possible human applications, they were quick to dismiss a possible connection between people, irradiated food and health risk. "We think it is extremely unlikely that (irradiated food) could become a human health problem," Duncan explained in the media statement. "We think it is species specific."

However, not everyone agrees irradiated food is fine for humans or animals. According to the Center for Food Safety, studies have shown irradiation produces volatile toxic chemicals such as benzene and toluene, which are known or suspected to cause cancer and birth defects. A 2001 study found an association between colon tumors and 2-alkylcyclobutanones (2-ACB's), a new chemical compound detected only in foods that have been irradiated.

For more information:
http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/...
http://firedoglake.com/2008/08/23/n...
http://www.fda.gov/opacom/catalog/i...

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Beware for Conficker

Last-minute Conficker survival guide

Tue Mar 31, 2009 1:42PM EDT

See Comments (2105)
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Tomorrow -- April 1 -- is D-Day for Conficker, as whatever nasty payload it's packing is currently set to activate. What happens come midnight is a mystery: Will it turn the millions of infected computers into spam-sending zombie robots? Or will it start capturing everything you type -- passwords, credit card numbers, etc. -- and send that information back to its masters?

No one knows, but we'll probably find out soon.

Or not. As Slate notes, Conficker is scheduled to go "live" on April 1, but whoever's controlling it could choose not to wreak havoc but instead do absolutely nothing, waiting for a time when there's less heat. They can do this because the way Conficker is designed is extremely clever: Rather than containing a list of specific, static instructions, Conficker reaches out to the web to receive updated marching orders via a huge list of websites it creates. Conficker.C -- the latest bad boy -- will start checking 50,000 different semi-randomly-generated sites a day looking for instructions, so there's no way to shut down all of them. If just one of those sites goes live with legitimate instructions, Conficker keeps on trucking.

Conficker's a nasty little worm that takes serious efforts to bypass your security defenses, but you aren't without some tools in your arsenal to protect yourself.

Your first step should be the tools you already have: Windows Update, to make sure your computer is fully patched, and your current antivirus software, to make sure anything that slips through the cracks is caught.

But if Conficker's already on your machine, it may bypass certain subsystems and updating Windows and your antivirus at this point may not work. If you are worried about anything being amiss -- try booting into Safe Mode, which Conficker prevents, to check -- you should run a specialized tool to get rid of Conficker.

Microsoft offers a web-based scanner (note that some users have reported it crashed their machines; I had no trouble with it), so you might try one of these downloadable options instead: Symantec's Conficker (aka Downadup) tool, Trend Micro's Cleanup Engine, or Malwarebytes. Conficker may prevent your machine from accessing any of these websites, so you may have to download these tools from a known non-infected computer if you need them. Follow the instructions given on each site to run them successfully. (Also note: None of these tools should harm your computer if you don't have Conficker.)

As a final safety note, all users -- whether they're worried about an infection or know for sure they're clean -- are also wise to make a full data backup today.

What won't work? Turning your PC off tonight and back on on April 2 will not protect you from the worm (sorry to the dozens of people who wrote me asking if this would do the trick). Temporarily disconnecting your computer from the web won't help if the malware is already on your machine -- it will simply activate once you connect again. Changing the date on your PC will likely have no helpful effect, either. And yes, Macs are immune this time out. Follow the above instructions to detect and remove the worm.

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