EPA and The Union of Concerned Scientists – More Evidence Against the White House
By Mark Schauss | May 15, 2008
The Union of Concerned Scientists, the leading science-based nonprofit working for a healthy environment and a safer world, has published a scathing report about the interference by the Bush White House on the scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency. In it they reveal just how much of an influence the White House administrators have on scientific fact when it does not match their political policy.
This is political interference at its worst. When honest science is reversed or covered up it is lie. Our children and their children’s lives are being threatened in a way far worse than a terrorist act from afar could ever hope to do to our people. The stated goal of the EPA is “To protect human health and the environment.” They are being stopped from doing that by greedy people who want to continue allowing businesses to put profit ahead of stakeholder responsibility.
The most telling quote from the 108 page report is the one from a scientist at an EPA regional office:
“Do not trust the Environmental Protection Agency to protect your environment. Ask questions. Be aware of political and economic motives. Become politically active. Elect officials with motives to protect the environment and hold them accountable.”
What is so disturbing about this administration is the breadth of interference to promote their hideous agenda. This cuts across so many agencies that it looks as if everything that has been done in the past 7 years is a total scam to enrich the few on the backs of the many. This is how communism and dictatorial administrations work, not democracies (until now).
Topics: Environment, Global Warming, Health, Life, Opinion, Our World, Politics | No Comments »
Pollution and the Birds and the Bees (and spiders too) – Another Indictment of Our Handling the Environment
By Mark Schauss | May 9, 2008
The White House’s recent evisceration of the EPA edict to lower pollution and smog may be another stake in the heart of beekeepers everywhere. Turns out smog and other parts of air pollution may be confusing the bees as well as other pollenators such as moths and bats so they can’t find the flowers. Under ideal situations, the floral scent of a flower can travel for miles, air pollution can cut the scent in half within 200-300 yards.
We, in our yearning to use up fossil fuels have again disrupted natural processes that are having devastating consequences. Another study shows that methylmercury is accumulating in high levels in spiders, which then moves up the food chain into birds that prey on the arachnids. Spiders, because they tend to be predatory, eat insects that are exposed to mercury. According to aquatic ecologist, David Schindler of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, “Anything that lengthens the food chain pushes mercury up and is biomagnified by about a factor of 10 with each step.” Guess what? Humans are at the top of that food chain.
Topics: Environment, Food, Health, heavy metals, Mercury, Politics, Research, Toxicity | No Comments »
What do the Numbers on Your Fruits and Vegetables Mean?
By Mark Schauss | May 7, 2008
Yesterday, before I started juicing some veggies and fruits, I became a bit annoyed at those little stickers on the fruits. I noticed the numbers and wondered what they meant. Turns out there is a lot of information in those numbers. Here is a brief description of the numbers:
Conventionally grown fruits have four digits and do not start with a 9. Most start with a 4. These can and usually are grown using pesticides and non-organic fertilizers.
Organically grown have five digits and start with a 9.
Genetically modified fruits start with the number 8.
Next time you go to the supermarket, get out the magnifying glass and check out your fruits numbers and make the choices that you feel most comfortable with. I will be looking for the number 9 and staying far away from the ones starting with the number 8.
Topics: Environment, Food, Opinion, Toxicity | 9 Comments »
An Apollo Program for Clean Energy?
By Mark Schauss | May 6, 2008
Back in the early 1960s, President John F. Kennedy proposed the Apollo plan to land a man on the moon. Back then, energy was cheap, pollution wasn’t a big issue so he had us focus, as a nation, on a project to get us in space. We need that type of program when it comes to clean energy.
Mother Jones magazine did an interview with US Congressman Jay Inslee from the state of Washington where he talks about the proposal. Very interesting insight into the whole idea behind clean energy production.
Topics: Environment, Opinion, Our World, Politics | 2 Comments »
Why You Drink Soda – Why Not to Drink Soda
By Mark Schauss | May 5, 2008
Nice little post on eMedExpert about 8 reasons why people drink sodas and 16 reasons why you should stop. If just for the weight gain problem, people have to stop drinking this toxic waste. Hopefully this article will convince people to change.
Topics: Health, Opinion | No Comments »
Smog and Premature Death – Science Has Linked Them, The White House Denies It
By Mark Schauss | April 22, 2008
If the White House wants to look any dumber, I honestly cannot see how after reading a report on MSNBC.com about the link between the ozone in smog and premature deaths. The National Academy of Sciences review of the data clearly shows that people are dying because of effects of short-term exposure to pollution. The White House claims that the science isn’t there which of course flies in the face of the evidence.
So why wouldn’t the Bush Administration want this type of data to show the ill effects? Because their buddies are the major polluters causing this and get this, they don’t want anyone to calculate the benefits of saving lives because that would show that curbing pollution is economically beneficial as well. Which leads me to the thought, who is the bigger terrorist, Al Qaida or this administration when it comes to the lives and safety of American citizens? They refuse to protect the citizens of our country when the evidence is truly overwhelming.
The EPA estimated that we would go from a cost of $20 billion to a savings of $23 billion if we tightened smog rules yet the White House tried to (and succeded) in lowering the regulations to reduce pollution recently. That represents a net benefit to our society in financial terms of $43 billion dollars! But more importantly, it would immeasurably improve the lives of people and lengthen life spans. We need to continue to pressure Congress to force the Administration to beef up the regulations on polluters.
Most importantly, we need to elect pro-science people to the government before its too late.
Topics: Environment, Health, Life, Opinion, Our World, Petrochemicals | 10 Comments »
Anticholinergic Drugs and Memory Loss – Better Wear Diapers Instead
By Mark Schauss | April 18, 2008
Incontinence drugs like Detrol, have now been linked to memory problems and other psychological ills. According to this article on MSNBC.com, “The people who took the drugs had a 50 percent faster rate of cognitive decline compared to those who didn’t take any.” That is pretty staggering if you ask me. Other drugs in the same class, known as anticholinergics also have similar effects.
So what does Pfizer, who makes Detrol say? Here is a quote from Ponni Subbiah, Pfizer’s vice president of medical affairs, “Detrol has been on the market since 1998. It has been prescribed more than 100 million times worldwide.” further more he states “the frequency of events and the role of Detrol in their causation cannot be reliably determined,” Huh? So basically they say that despite what the research tells us, lots of people are taking it and there is no way you are ever going to prove that it’s bad. Pfizer’s mind-numbing denial just goes to show how they clearly think money over health of their customers. I guess they must be working on a brain enhancing drug to make up for the brain numbing effect of Detrol. I think that maybe they have the people working at Pfizer on Detrol in order to come up with the kind of nonsensical comments they make.
My favorite part of the article was the following comment – “Our message is to be careful when using these medicines,” said U.S. Navy neurologist Dr. Jack Tsao, who led the study. “It may be better to use diapers and be able to think clearly than the other way around.” I would add that it might behove you to try some GPC (glycerophosphocholine) or PS (phosphatidyl serine) to boost brain function as well
Topics: brain nutrition, Drugs, Healthcare, Neurological Disorders, Research, Supplements | No Comments »
Another Con Job by the President On Global Warming
By Mark Schauss | April 18, 2008
I guess if you take the U and the H out of President George Bush’s name you get the two letters that match his rhetoric when it comes to the environment. The nonsense that spews from the White House about Mr. Bush’s “concern” about the environment and the issue of glabal warming is piled so high that nothing can get over it. Here is the latest comment by Press Secretary Tony Fratto – “‘The president will announce tomorrow an intermediate goal that will lead to a long-term goal through ongoing negotiations on global climate change.” Translation, I won’t do a damn thing and I’ll blame everything on the Chinese and India. Thanks for nothing Mr. President.
For a nice commentary on the silliness that is the Bush Administrations stance on the environment and global warming read Dan Froomkin’s article for the Washington Post here.
Topics: Environment, Global Warming, Life, Our World, Politics, Research | 4 Comments »
Pharmaceutical Scams Continue
By Mark Schauss | April 17, 2008
It just keeps coming it seems, the pharmaceutical industry has stooped to levels even I didn’t think possible. Merck was just found to have paid academic scientists to put their names on papers they didn’t write. Who wrote the papers? Company hired medical writers of course.
According to Dr. Catherine DeAngelis, JAMA’s editor-in-chief, “The manipulation is disgusting. I just didn’t realize the extent.” I think her use of the word disgusting pretty much sums up my opinion of this revelation. The article about this scandal is in today’s Journal of the American Medical Association. You can read the two articles, one by Ross, Hill, Egilman, and Krumholz and the other by Psaty and Kronmal.
One JAMA report says internal company data showed in 2001 that Vioxx patients in two Alzheimer’s studies had a higher death rate than patients on dummy pills. Merck didn’t publicize that “in a timely fashion” and provided information to federal regulators that downplayed the deaths, the report said. It’s time to reign in the industry through Congressional legislation.
Lest you think that only Merck is guilty of this deception, think again. I am sure that you will see more of this cropping up in the coming months. In my opinion, this type of behavior is driven by executives of pharmaceutical companies need to impress Wall Street and fluff up their balance sheets instead of having patient’s health in mind.
Here is the result of a paper done by Choudry, et al published in JAMA about how pervasive the industry’s hooks into medicine is:
“Eighty-seven percent of authors had some form of interaction with the pharmaceutical industry. Fifty-eight percent had received financial support to perform research and 38% had served as employees or consultants for a pharmaceutical company. On average, CPG authors interacted with 10.5 different companies. Overall, an average of 81% (95% confidence interval, 70%-92%) of authors per CPG had interactions. Similarly, all of the CPGs for 7 of the 10 diseases included in our study had at least 1 author who had some interaction. Fifty-nine percent had relationships with companies whose drugs were considered in the guideline they authored, and of these authors, 96% had relationships that predated the guideline creation process. Fifty-five percent of respondents indicated that the guideline process with which they were involved had no formal process for declaring these relationships. In published versions of the CPGs, specific declarations regarding the personal financial interactions of individual authors with the pharmaceutical industry were made in only 2 cases. Seven percent thought that their own relationships with the pharmaceutical industry influenced the recommendations and 19% thought that their coauthors’ recommendations were influenced by their relationships. “
What is truly sad is how many people have suffered health and financial wise due to the greed and immoral behavior by the pharmaceutical industry.
Topics: Health, Healthcare, pharmaceuticals, Research | 1 Comment »
Bisphenol A – The Time To Ban Is Now!!!
By Mark Schauss | April 16, 2008
Bisphenol A, a compound found in numerous plastic products has been found to be harmful to the brain and cause damage to reproductive organs in children. It was also found to be mildly estrogenic which can affect the thyroid and other hormonal systems. In my book, Achieving Victory Over a Toxic World, I talk about it on pages 121 – 2, and I have blogged numerous times about how this chemical should be eliminated from not just products that come in contact with children but in all products. I reported that “On average, humans ingest 6.3 micrograms per day of bisphenol A from the linings of food cans alone. And the exposures don’t stop there.
According to reporter Anna Boyd, “The National Toxicology Program, part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, conducted experiments on about 500 rats that were exposed to BPA levels similar to human exposure. The experiment found precancerous prostate tumors, urinary system problems and early puberty when the animals were given low doses of BPA. ” This is after the FDA said that it was safe based on two studies, one that was never published, one that was roundly criticized because of a flawed design, both of which was funded by the American Chemical Society, which represents makers of this toxic product. Do you see a problem here? I do.
The National Institutes of Health is the first U.S. government agency to conclude that low levels of BPA could be harmful to humans. Time to ban this chemical is now, except that our government is so anti-individual, pro-business it won’t happen unless a new administration with some scientific morality takes over.
Topics: Environment, Health, Neurological Disorders, Opinion, Petrochemicals, Politics, Research, Toxicity | No Comments »