HARVARD STUDY FINDS FLUORIDE LOWERS IQ - PUBLISHED IN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT JOURNAL

*Reuters is not responsible for the content in this press release.

NEW YORK, July 24, 2012

Tue Jul 24, 2012 PR Newswire

NEW YORK, July 24, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Harvard University researchers' review of fluoride/brain studies concludes "our results support the possibility of adverse effects of fluoride exposures on children's neurodevelopment." It was published online July 20 in Environmental Health Perspectives, a US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences' journal (1), reports the NYS Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation, Inc. (NYSCOF)
"The children in high fluoride areas had significantly lower IQ than those who lived in low fluoride areas," write Choi et al.
Further, the EPA says fluoride is a chemical "with substantial evidence of developmental neurotoxicity."
Fluoride (fluosilicic acid) is added to US water supplies at approximately 1 part per million attempting to reduce tooth decay.
Water was the only fluoride source in the studies reviewed and was based on high water fluoride levels. However, they point out research by Ding (2011) suggested that low water fluoride levels had significant negative associations with children's intelligence.
Choi et al. write, "Although fluoride may cause neurotoxicity in animal models and acute fluoride poisoning causes neurotoxicity in adults, very little is known of its effects on children's neurodevelopment. They recommend more brain/fluoride research on children and at individual-level doses.
"It's senseless to keep subjecting our children to this ongoing fluoridation experiment to satisfy the political agenda of special-interest groups," says attorney Paul Beeber, NYSCOF President.  "Even if fluoridation reduced cavities, is tooth health more important than brain health? It's time to put politics aside and stop artificial fluoridation everywhere," says Beeber.
After reviewing fluoride toxicological data, the NRC reported in 2006, "It's apparent that fluorides have the ability to interfere with the functions of the brain."
Choi's team writes, "Fluoride readily crosses the placenta. Fluoride exposure to the developing brain, which is much more susceptible to injury caused by toxicants than is the mature brain, may possibly lead to damage of a permanent nature."
Fluoride accumulates in the body. Even low doses are harmful to babies, the thyroid, kidney patients and heavy water-drinkers. There are even doubts about fluoridation's effectiveness (2). New York City Legislation is pending to stop fluoridation. Many communities have already stopped.
Infant formula when mixed with fluoridated water delivers 100-200 times more fluoride than breastmilk. (3)
More information on fluoride's impact on the brain is here.
Contact: Paul Beeber, JD, 516-433-8882 nyscof@aol.com
http://www.fluoridation.webs.com
http://www.FluorideAction.Net
SOURCE NYS Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation, Inc.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/24/idUS127920+24-Jul-2012+PRN20120724

FUKUSHIMA-CONTAINED TUNA CAUGHT OFF CALIFORNIA COAST

  Published: 29 May, 2012

 

Reuters/Romeo Ranoco

A new study has revealed elevated radioactivity in bluefin tuna caught off the coast of San Diego, California. Contamination concerns have plagued Japan after a massive earthquake and nuclear crisis rocked the country over a year ago.
­A fish prized for its market value and as a delicacy in sushi restaurants worldwide, bluefin tuna are known for their great migratory patterns that start in coastal Japanese waters and span the entire Pacific Ocean, taking them as far San Diego.
While the scientists have said the fish they studied are safe to eat, their findings do raise new questions about the risk of fish from Japanese waters.
“Frankly, we were surprised,” Nicholas Fisher, a professor of marine sciences at Stony Brook University, New York, and a member of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute team that completed the study, told the Associated Press.
The results noted two radioactive isotopes in particular that were discovered in the bluefin tuna; cesium-137 and cesium-134. Neither isotope occurs naturally in the Pacific. But while cesium-137 is known to have entered the Pacific Ocean artificially as a result of 1960s nuclear weapons tests, the only possible explanation for the cesium-134 is fallout from the Fukushima reactor.
The scientists told AP the results were “unequivocal”.
In attempts to quell contamination concerns, Japan has recently introduced even stricter radioactivity tests in the wake of the disaster a year ago. As of April 1, 2012, the limit on allowable radioactive cesium in food in Japan was lowered from 500 becquerels (a unit for measuring radiation in food) per kilogram to an incredibly stringent 100 becquerels.
However, the institute’s study leaves new cause for concern. The team plans on continuing its study on a new sample of bluefin tuna to be caught on the coming months in order to preclude any potential health hazards.
http://www.rt.com/news/tuna-fukushima-california-radioactive-472/

URINARY TRACT INFECTION? GO AHEAD AND DRINK CRANBERRY JUICE

By Mary MacVean, Los Angeles Times July 11, 2012

Women who get urinary tract infections – and that’s nearly half of all women -- likely know this already: Try cranberry. It’s a treatment that’s been passed around among women for a long time to prevent the recurrence of this annoying infection.
Unlike some folk remedies, this one has gained credence through the years from the experts – the medical experts, that is. And a study in the Archives of Internal Medicine reinforces the use of cranberry products to prevent UTIs – one of the most common bacterial infections among adult women, with about 7 million doctor visits a year in the United States alone.
The authors of the study published Monday looked at 13 trials, which included 1,616 people, to see what effect cranberry products – juice or capsules, for example – had and concluded that they protect some people. But the authors also said the results should be interpreted “with great caution” because the trials were so different – different forms of cranberry or dosage or other factors.
Over time, various aspects of cranberry have been looked at as the potential helpful substance. In 1989, compounds known as A-type proanthocyanidins, or PACs, were identified as having the potential to keep the bacteria from doing their damage. But authors of the recent analysis said there are hundreds of other compounds in cranberries that might be helpful and have yet to be studied.

Copyright © 2012, Los Angeles Times

latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-urinary-cranberry-20120711,0,5088993.story

THERE ARE DRUGS IN DRINKING WATER. NOW WHAT?

Originally published in The Mikiverse, 8/3/10. Republished in Mikiverse Health July 16, 2012.
By MIKE NIZZA

There are traces of sedatives in New York City’s water. Ibuprofen and naproxen in Washington, D.C. Anti-epileptic and anti-anxiety drugs in southern California.
A 2,550 word article from The Associated Press is drawing attention to the widespread problem of trace amounts of pharmaceutical chemicals turning up in the drinking water supply of millions of Americans, but no one seems to know how to react. The report itself culminated with a doctor offering a tried-and-true deduction for the Ages: “That can’t be good.”
But how bad is it, exactly? The answers range in degrees of confidence and alarm, though no one was ready to predict imminent doom.
”We recognize it is a growing concern and we’re taking it very seriously,” said Benjamin H. Grumbles, the Environmental Protection Agency’s water chief. But the government has not established any safety limits for pharmaceutical drugs in drinking water, as it has for many other chemicals; the agency is just learning how to detect low concentrations of drugs in water, let alone assess the risk posed by them.
The American Water Works Association, a trade group representing thousands of water utilities, seemed to suggest that the problem is the testing data, not the water. A California water official warned The A.P. before it published the article that that the public “doesn’t know how to interpret the information” from the tests.
Tom Curtis, the deputy executive director of the association, explained. “Today’s advanced technology has allowed scientists to detect more substances — at lower levels — than ever before,” he said. He called for calm, saying there was no research demonstrating “an impact on human health” from the detected levels of drugs in public water supplies.
So why has this burdensome fact of life been dropped on the shoulders on Americans? The lack of scientific proof of a threat does not rule one out, of course. Little study has been devoted to the long-term effects of low-concentration exposure on humans. But as the A.P. relates, research on the effects on wildlife has yielded some scary examples: Pharmaceuticals in river and lake water are being blamed for “feminized” male fish and other changes observed in earthworms and zooplankton.
So how are all these drugs getting in the water in the first place? Some fraction of every dose a person takes passes through unmetabolized and is evacuated by the body and flushed into sewage systems. Sewage treatment plants are meant to remove the more familiar kinds of pollutants, and typically do not remove pharmaceuticals from waste water as it is cleaned up and released back into the environment, eventually to find its way into other water supply systems. In some places, treated sewage water is reused directly for drinking water after several filtration processes to make it safe, although none of the systems in wide use effectively remove pharmaceuticals.
That Brita filter in your kitchen is not likely to do the trick, either. As for bottled water, it, too, may come from a tap, rather than some remote mountain spring. And the trade group representing bottled-water sellers told The A.P. that they aren’t testing for the presence of trace drugs anyway.
RELATED: Last April, Cornelia Dean covered drugs in the water in Science Times: Drugs Are in the Water. Does It Matter?
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/there-are-drugs-in-drinking-water-now-what/

EUREKA! THE CHEMICAL THAT ENDS TOOTH DECAY

Yahoo!7 July 11, 2012,
For all those who fear a trip to the dentist, fear no more - perhaps.
Two researchers claim to have found a chemical that would make teeth cavity proof - and perhaps do away with trips to the dentist.
Two dentists in Chile are behind the discovery, which they're calling Keep 32, a reference to the number of teeth in a person's mouth.
The chemical works by wiping out bacteria that cause cavities - in just 60 seconds.
Keep 32 could be added to dental care products including toothpaste, mouthwash and chewing gum. The chemical has been tested for the past seven years but is only now going into human trials. Researchers José Córdoba from Yale University and Erich Astudillo from the University of Chile said Keep 32 could be on the market in about 18 months.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/world/14192562/eureka-the-chemical-that-ends-tooth-decay/