Here are excerpts from a Frontline transcript, June 2nd 1998, that I thought was worth putting in the spotlight.
The complete transcript can be found at Fooling With Nature
Fredrick Vom Saal is a Professor of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri. A leading researcher in the field of developmental biology, Vom Saal has studied the effects of both natural and synthetic hormones at extremely low doses. His studies have shown that extremely low doses of hormones can permanently alter development of the reproductive system in mice. He has also studied how manmade chemicals, including plastics, can mimic hormones at extremely low doses.
Interview conducted in February 1998 by Doug Hamilton, producer of FRONTLINE's "Fooling With Nature."
DH: You've said that the doses at which hormones affect the body are extremely low. Give me an example to make me understand that.
FvS: The issue of the amount of hormone that actually causes effects is very difficult for scientists to talk to people about because we're dealing with numbers that are outside of the frame of reference that anybody is going to be thinking about. We see changes, profound changes, in the course of development of essentially the whole body of experimental animals, and we're working with mice and rats, and we see these changes at fifty femtograms of the hormone per milliliter of blood. That's 0.05 trillionths of a gram of this hormone in a milliliter of blood.
DH: And what sort of effect does it have?
FvS: We see changes in the functioning of the prostate. We see dramatic change in the sprouting of glands within the fetal prostate. We see changes in testicular sperm production. We see changes in the structure of the endocrine control region in the brain, which is accompanied by changes in sex behavior, aggression, the way these animals behave towards infants, their whole social interaction, the way they age, the time that they enter puberty, the age at which they cease reproduction. It changes their entire life history, and these changes are capable of occurring at very low levels of hormones.
I remember when we first did this and I was a post doctoral fellow, and my advisor and I looked at the hormone levels and said, "My God, these levels are so staggeringly small and the consequences are so immense it's amazing." Even to biologists, it's amazing.
But what you have is the entire field of toxicology thinking of a millionth of a gram of a hormone or a chemical as being this staggeringly tiny amount, and to most people if I said there's only a millionth of a gram of it here you'd say, "How can it do anything?" A millionth of a gram of estradiol in blood is toxic. The natural hormone is actually operating at something like a hundred million times lower than that. So when you have a physiologist thinking of a millionth of a gram, you have that physiologist thinking this is a toxic high dose. When you are raised in the field of toxicology you are looking at that from the other perspective of "My gosh, that's such a tiny dose, it couldn't do anything."...
DH: Can you again describe the results, the developmental effects in your laboratory mice, that you are seeing with these unbelievably small changes in hormone levels?
FvS: We published a paper just a few months ago in the "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences" in which we experimentally elevated estradiol levels in mouse fetuses during the period when their reproductive organs were forming. And what we did was we experimentally elevated estradiol by one tenth of one trillionth of a gram of estradiol in a milliliter of blood. We estimate that we're increasing estradiol by about one molecule of estradiol per cell in the body. Okay? The consequence of this is that at the end of the first day of development of the prostate in the male fetuses we could see dramatic change in the sprouting of prostate glands. We rendered the prostate abnormally enlarged, and this was detectable within twenty-four hours of the beginning of its embryonic development. And when we looked at these treated animals as adults, that difference had persisted. They had abnormally enlarged prostates that were hyper-responsive to hormones.
Now, prostate disease is for every male in this country and for every male in the world a very, very serious concern. It's the largest bill to the medical community. It's the most prevalent disease of aging in humans. Seventy percent of men, by the time you're seventy years old, will have an abnormally enlarged prostate. We caused this to happen at the first day of embryonic life with that change in estradiol. That's how sensitive embryonic organs are to these staggeringly tiny changes in hormones....
DH: These hormone levels you're talking about are inconceivably low, staggeringly low. How do we even begin to measure them?
FvS: For some chemicals, and for some hormones, the technical capacity to measure them is actually less sensitive than the body's ability to detect them. We've been working with a chemical, bisphenol-A. It's what polycarbonate plastic, hard plastics, are made out of: CD's, the plastic in your glasses' lens, milk containers, baby bottles. It's the chemical that they use to line cans with, it's the chemical they put on your teeth as a sealant and it is a very potent estrogen. It mimics the hormone that women produce in their ovaries, and it mimics this hormone estradiol that is actually being produced in fetuses and during pregnancy that is a major coordinator or an alligator or any other animal.
Estradiol plays a critical role in development and then normal functioning of the body for the rest of an individual's life. The amount of estradiol you're exposed to throughout your life is also the best predictor of breast cancer. This chemical mimics that hormone. The body can't tell the difference between bisphenol-A and estradiol. In other words, it sees this chemical and it thinks it's getting exposed to its natural hormone....
DH: So you're saying that the hormone that has the clearest link to breast cancer, the hormone that is responsible for sexual development in any animal or human, is found in plastics?
FvS: Absolutely. The plastic materials, if they are polycarbonates, are made with this chemical bisphenol-A. And you can think of polycarbonate as a house made of bricks. Essentially you take this brick, this building block, which is bisphenol-A, and you link it together with other bisphenol-A molecules. That's a polymerization reaction. The bisphenol-A is the monomer used to construct these plastic materials. When it's attached to another one, that forms a polymer. And unfortunately in the process of making these plastics not all of the bisphenol-A gets linked together. So you put your food or other material in the plastic and it absorbs the unreacted bisphenol-A into it. And now in your food is a sex hormone...
DH: And what are you finding to be the effect?
FvS: Okay, the chemical bisphenol-A passes out of the plastic or out of the dental sealant that's put on your child's teeth or out of the lining of cans, into the food or liquid that's in contact with the plastic. Now the important point about detection by instrumentation of the bisphenol-A is that, based on our research, the ability of the current instruments used to monitor for bisphenol-A in food is a much lower level of detection than what our animals are able to detect. It's a huge difference as a matter of fact. So that you can put food that you have in contact with plastic into a chemical analysis and say there is no plastic material there. We extract from that same food, put it into animals and we get a big effect. The animals are more sensitive to the chemicals than the machinery...
DH: So the plastics we use in daily life, the baby bottles, the food containers, leach chemicals into the food at levels that cause effects in lab animals?
FvS: One of the things that we started doing a number of years ago is we started looking at the effects of the materials that plastics are made out of in cell culture. We used human cells to see how responsive these cells were to these chemicals, and at what doses the chemicals could influence human cells to start growing and doing things differently. So, in other words, we're getting biological responses out of the cells and we were astonished at the incredibly small amounts of these chemicals that were actually able to alter human cell function...
So what we did in mice was based on the studies using human cells. We know that mouse cells are essentially identical to human cells in the way that they respond to these hormones. That's been known actually for quite a long time...
Now one of the surprising things is that when we started looking into the literature concerning the amounts of these chemicals that were being released into food from plastic containers, and we compared that to the doses active in our cell culture studies, they were the same doses. But they were also doses that the toxicological community was saying were absolutely safe...
...But there were no actual experiments that had ever tested to see if that was true. So we did something that had never been done...
DH: And what did you find?
FvS: For the males, decreased sperm count and enlarged prostates. The treatment altered virtually every aspect of the reproductive system...
...In other words, in every aspect of physiology that we look for, we see effects. And they're permanent. And the important thing about what I'm talking about is we are only exposing babies to these chemicals for very, very short periods of time in development and the consequences are for the rest of the life of that individual. Once you change the development of an organ there is no way to undo that effect. It's a life sentence -- that's a lifetime consequence. Medical science can't undo the development of organs.
DH: And you're finding that organs are affected at levels as low as those that are leaching into our food from common plastics?
FvS: That's correct...
DH: Could I just get you to repeat that in simpler terms?
FvS: OK. If you look at the fish or the human or the frog or the bird at the earliest stages of embryonic development, when the reproductive organs are forming, you're hard pressed to tell them apart. And if I were to show you the developing prostate in a human at the very beginning of its development, and the developing prostate in a mouse at the beginning of its development, you wouldn't tell them apart. And at the functional level they're essentially identical...
DH: One of your colleagues actually stumbled onto this problem with plastics. How did that happen?
FvS: Well, it's a fascinating detective story. At Tufts University, they were doing the same types of studies that we have been doing with human cells: culturing them and then looking at the ability of the cells to respond to chemicals in the environment. They had purchased some new test tubes and the test tubes were made of polystyrene plastic, and the cells that we're using to detect estrogens require estrogens to grow and to proliferate, to go through development. And they put the cells in these test tubes and they started growing. And so the natural assumption was, "Somebody spilled some chemical in the lab that is infiltrating all of our cultures, and oh my gosh this is a disaster." Contaminated labs are a real serious problem.
Instead, after months and months of work, they realized that the lab was absolutely clean and that it was the test tube that was causing the cells to grow. So they called up Dow Corning, from whom they had purchased these test tubes, and said, "Your test tubes are causing our estrogen-responsive cells to grow. They must be releasing an estrogen. What could that be?" And Dow Corning said, "We won't tell you. We won't tell anybody what's in our products." And I'll come back to this because this is an extremely critical issue with regard to knowing what chemicals we're exposed to. Because the chemical industry will not inform scientists or the public what the chemicals in the products we're using are, and so it took months of work, of chemical analysis of these plastics, to realize that it's an additive material.
It's an antioxidant that stops discoloration of the plastic and it's added to the plastic to stop it from discoloring, and it's present in soaps, detergents, hand creams, vaginal creams. It's used in loads of different types of products. This same chemical is also used as an antioxidant in plastics. And it's a potent enough estrogen that when you put human cells into a plastic material made of polystyrene, but it's got this additive material in it, it can cause human breast cells to start proliferating. That's not a good thing...
DH: Could it be cancer causing?
FvS: Well, you can't have breast cancer if you don't have enough estrogen to cause the breast cells to undergo differentiation in development...
DH: And this is coming from soaps, creams, plastics that are in our daily lives?
FvS: That's correct...
DH This issue can't be talked about without getting into politics, it seems. Why is that?
FvS: The political aspects of dealing with the endocrine disrupter issue have really altered the course of what is happening dramatically...In the case of the endocrine disrupter issue, where the chemical that we're publishing about happens to be one of the fifty top chemicals made in the United States, it is worth billions of dollars to a few major corporations such as General Electric, Shell Oil, Dow Chemical. Each of them makes billions of dollars from this chemical...
MC: Steve Safe said to us that the levels of chemicals in the environment have all gone down.
FvS: DDT is at much lower levels in the United States today than it was in the 1970s. Of course it's also being used all over the world, and it's in the atmosphere. And the very current evidence is that while levels decreased after it was banned, we're now somewhat stabilizing. The same with PCBs. Those two chemicals do not encompass endocrine disrupters...
...Every four years, one trillion pounds of plastics are made in the world. They are being thrown away in the landfill. They are leaching these products back into our water. No one is looking for them. So as a general statement, to say that all endocrine disrupting chemicals are at lower levels today than they would have been twenty years ago is just ludicrous. Because nobody's looked. Nobody knew they were endocrine disrupting chemicals...
...what you have is the entire field of toxicology thinking of a millionth of a gram of a hormone or a chemical as being this staggeringly tiny amount, and to most people if I said there's only a millionth of a gram of it here you'd say, "How can it do anything?" A millionth of a gram of estradiol in blood is toxic. The natural hormone is actually operating at something like a hundred million times lower than that...
...We published a paper just a few months ago in the "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences" in which we experimentally elevated estradiol levels in mouse fetuses during the period when their reproductive organs were forming. And what we did was we experimentally elevated estradiol by one tenth of one trillionth of a gram of estradiol in a milliliter of blood. We estimate that we're increasing estradiol by about one molecule of estradiol per cell in the body. Okay? The consequence of this is that at te components of plastics. Every four years, one trillion pounds of plastics are made in the world. They are being thrown away in the landfill. They are leaching these products back into our water. No one is looking for them. So as a general statement, to say that all endocrine disrupting chemicals are at lower levels today than they would have been twenty years ago is just ludicrous. Because nobody's looked. Nobody knew they were endocrine disrupting chemicals.
The complete transcript can be found at Fooling With Nature
*
Friday, December 29, 2006
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Aspartame:
Ant Poison or Human Food Ingredient???
In my little web travels, I came across this tid-bit of interesting information that I thought my readers would enjoy knowing about. By the way, the DORway link down at the bottom is a pretty good site to check out too.
I currently don't have any insect pest problems to test this out, but if any of you do and are willing to try this little toxic concoction I'd love to hear about your results.
From the June 2006 Idaho Observer:
Aspartame - The World’s Best Ant Poison
contributed by Jan Jensen of WELLthy Choices
We live in the woods and carpenter ants are a huge problem. We have spent thousands of dollars with Orkin and on ant poisons trying to keep them under control but nothing has helped.
So when I read somewhere that aspartame (Nutrasweet) was actually developed as an ant poison and only changed to being considered non-poisonous after it was realized that a lot more money could be made on it as a sweetener than as an ant poison, I decided to give it a try.
I opened two packets of aspartame sweetener, and dumped one in a corner of each of our bathrooms. That was about 2 years ago and I have not seen any carpenter ants for about 9 to 12 months. It works better than the most deadly poisons I have tried. Any time they show up again, I simply dump another package of Nutrasweet in a corner, and they will be gone for a year or so again.
Since posting this information I have had many people tell me of their success solving ant problems with this substance, when nothing else worked.
We found later that small black ants would not eat the aspartame. It was determined that if you mixed it with apple juice, they would quickly take it back to the nest, and all would be dead within 24 hours, usually. I have found that sometimes it will kill them, and sometimes it does not. Not sure why, may be slightly different species of ants or something.
Fire Ants: We got our first fire ant hill about 2 weeks ago. Poison did not work. We tried aspartame and the ants ignored it until we got a light rain. It was just a sprinkle, enough to moisten the Nutrasweet and ground, but not enough to wash it away. They went crazy, hundreds of them grabbing it and taking it back into the mound. When I checked the mound 2 days later, there was no sign of the fire ants. I even dug the mound up some, and still saw none of them.
How does it Work: Aspartame is a neuropoison. It most likely kills the ants by interfering with their nervous system. It could be direct, like stopping their heart, or something more subtle like killing their sense of taste so they can’t figure out what is eatable, or smell, so they can’t follow their trails, or mis-identify their colonies members, so they start fighting each other. Not sure what causes them to end up dying, just know that for many species of ants it will kill them quickly and effectively.
As with any poison I recommend wearing gloves and washing any skin areas that come in contact with this poison, and avoid getting it in your mouth, despite anything the labeling may indicate.
I suspect it will work for other insects such as yellow jackets as well, but have not tested that yet.
More information on this fantastic poison can be found at: DORway
The Idaho Observer
P.O. Box 457
Spirit Lake, Idaho 83869
Phone: 208-255-2307
Web: Idaho Observer
I currently don't have any insect pest problems to test this out, but if any of you do and are willing to try this little toxic concoction I'd love to hear about your results.
From the June 2006 Idaho Observer:
Aspartame - The World’s Best Ant Poison
contributed by Jan Jensen of WELLthy Choices
We live in the woods and carpenter ants are a huge problem. We have spent thousands of dollars with Orkin and on ant poisons trying to keep them under control but nothing has helped.
So when I read somewhere that aspartame (Nutrasweet) was actually developed as an ant poison and only changed to being considered non-poisonous after it was realized that a lot more money could be made on it as a sweetener than as an ant poison, I decided to give it a try.
I opened two packets of aspartame sweetener, and dumped one in a corner of each of our bathrooms. That was about 2 years ago and I have not seen any carpenter ants for about 9 to 12 months. It works better than the most deadly poisons I have tried. Any time they show up again, I simply dump another package of Nutrasweet in a corner, and they will be gone for a year or so again.
Since posting this information I have had many people tell me of their success solving ant problems with this substance, when nothing else worked.
We found later that small black ants would not eat the aspartame. It was determined that if you mixed it with apple juice, they would quickly take it back to the nest, and all would be dead within 24 hours, usually. I have found that sometimes it will kill them, and sometimes it does not. Not sure why, may be slightly different species of ants or something.
Fire Ants: We got our first fire ant hill about 2 weeks ago. Poison did not work. We tried aspartame and the ants ignored it until we got a light rain. It was just a sprinkle, enough to moisten the Nutrasweet and ground, but not enough to wash it away. They went crazy, hundreds of them grabbing it and taking it back into the mound. When I checked the mound 2 days later, there was no sign of the fire ants. I even dug the mound up some, and still saw none of them.
How does it Work: Aspartame is a neuropoison. It most likely kills the ants by interfering with their nervous system. It could be direct, like stopping their heart, or something more subtle like killing their sense of taste so they can’t figure out what is eatable, or smell, so they can’t follow their trails, or mis-identify their colonies members, so they start fighting each other. Not sure what causes them to end up dying, just know that for many species of ants it will kill them quickly and effectively.
As with any poison I recommend wearing gloves and washing any skin areas that come in contact with this poison, and avoid getting it in your mouth, despite anything the labeling may indicate.
I suspect it will work for other insects such as yellow jackets as well, but have not tested that yet.
More information on this fantastic poison can be found at: DORway
The Idaho Observer
P.O. Box 457
Spirit Lake, Idaho 83869
Phone: 208-255-2307
Web: Idaho Observer
Monday, December 25, 2006
When Was the Last Time You...
My gift to all for the holidays and the New Year...
You will need to click on this link and scroll down to nearly the bottom of the page and click on "A Knock at the Door" to view the Flash movie.
A Knock at the Door
Enjoy, and may you all have a most inspired 2007, and remember to open the door to your dreams.
You will need to click on this link and scroll down to nearly the bottom of the page and click on "A Knock at the Door" to view the Flash movie.
A Knock at the Door
Enjoy, and may you all have a most inspired 2007, and remember to open the door to your dreams.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Cranberry Holiday Salad
1 - 1/2 cups water
3/4 cup Agave
2 cups fresh Cranberries
1/2 cup diced Celery
1/3 cup chopped Walnuts
1 Tablespoon Agar-Agar
1/8 teaspoon Sea Salt
In a two-quart saucepan combine the water and Agar-Agar, bring to boil then reduce heat to simmer, stirring often until Agar-Agar is dissolved.
Add Agave and the cranberries and cook without stirring until all skins pop open. This should take about 5 minutes.
Chill until mixture is slightly thickened. Then stir in the celery and walnuts. Pour into serving bowl and chill until firm.
Makes 6 servings.
If you don't know about Blue Agave here are some details: Blue Agave nectar is a delicious natural sweetener preferred by health-conscious people for use in foods and beverages. It has a low glycemic index rating, making it ideal for diabetics, hypoglycemics, dieters, and athletes, as well as those who wish to avoid sucrose or artificial sweeteners. Use it in recipes by reducing the amount of liquid called for, just as with honey. There are about 189 servings per 8 oz. bottle.
Calories: 20 per serving, Carbohydrates: 5.2 grams per serving, Sugars: 5.2 grams per serving
How to use Organic Blue Agave: It is much sweeter than sugar, but with a glycemic index of only 11 (sugar has a glycemic index of 68-85). In recipes, use 1/2 to 3/4 cup in place of 1 cup sugar. You may also need to reduce the amount of liquid, just as you would for honey. Use like honey in beverages or on cereal, bread, etc.
If you'd like to purchase Blue Agave (item # 3221) it is available at my product website: The Very Essence
3/4 cup Agave
2 cups fresh Cranberries
1/2 cup diced Celery
1/3 cup chopped Walnuts
1 Tablespoon Agar-Agar
1/8 teaspoon Sea Salt
In a two-quart saucepan combine the water and Agar-Agar, bring to boil then reduce heat to simmer, stirring often until Agar-Agar is dissolved.
Add Agave and the cranberries and cook without stirring until all skins pop open. This should take about 5 minutes.
Chill until mixture is slightly thickened. Then stir in the celery and walnuts. Pour into serving bowl and chill until firm.
Makes 6 servings.
If you don't know about Blue Agave here are some details: Blue Agave nectar is a delicious natural sweetener preferred by health-conscious people for use in foods and beverages. It has a low glycemic index rating, making it ideal for diabetics, hypoglycemics, dieters, and athletes, as well as those who wish to avoid sucrose or artificial sweeteners. Use it in recipes by reducing the amount of liquid called for, just as with honey. There are about 189 servings per 8 oz. bottle.
Calories: 20 per serving, Carbohydrates: 5.2 grams per serving, Sugars: 5.2 grams per serving
How to use Organic Blue Agave: It is much sweeter than sugar, but with a glycemic index of only 11 (sugar has a glycemic index of 68-85). In recipes, use 1/2 to 3/4 cup in place of 1 cup sugar. You may also need to reduce the amount of liquid, just as you would for honey. Use like honey in beverages or on cereal, bread, etc.
If you'd like to purchase Blue Agave (item # 3221) it is available at my product website: The Very Essence
Make Your Own Furniture Polish
How to Make:
16 ounce spray bottle
Two teaspoons olive oil ( preferably the light kind)
15 drops of lemon essential oil
1/4 cup white distilled vinegar
fill the rest of the bottle with distilled water
How to use:
Spray formula on your rag or directly onto the furniture. Wipe it dry immediately. The olive oil conditions and the vinegar cleans. You can also squirt some on your dust mop for your hardwood floors. This recipe is nontoxic and smells terrific! Plus, it's a lot cheaper than the store bought polishes!
Disclaimer: The recipes in this blog are for educational purposes only and intended for those seeking nontoxic solutions. Please use common sense when trying anything new.
Pure lemon essential oil can be purchased at my website: The Very Essence
16 ounce spray bottle
Two teaspoons olive oil ( preferably the light kind)
15 drops of lemon essential oil
1/4 cup white distilled vinegar
fill the rest of the bottle with distilled water
How to use:
Spray formula on your rag or directly onto the furniture. Wipe it dry immediately. The olive oil conditions and the vinegar cleans. You can also squirt some on your dust mop for your hardwood floors. This recipe is nontoxic and smells terrific! Plus, it's a lot cheaper than the store bought polishes!
Disclaimer: The recipes in this blog are for educational purposes only and intended for those seeking nontoxic solutions. Please use common sense when trying anything new.
Pure lemon essential oil can be purchased at my website: The Very Essence
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Pets & Essential Oils
If you've been wondering if essential oils can be used with most pets, the answer is yes.
However, I must CAUTION you should NOT use regular store-bought essential oils on your pets as they are not pure and could case great damage to your beloved companion. A reminder, when I refer to essential oils in my blog I ONLY refer to the Young Living oils, because they are AFNOR - ISO quality, in layman terms it means, you can't get any better. And remember, a little bit goes a very long way.
Here is an excerpt from one of Gary Young's books and his experiences using essential oils on his animals...
by Gary Young, N.D.
I have raised animals all my life and presently have several miniature horses as well as four teams of draft horses. I also have pygmy goats, barbadoes sheep and llamas at my ranch where I reside. On my 1300 acre herb farm at Whispering Springs in Mona, Utah, I have an animal petting zoo with Bactrian camels. zeeboos from Africa (miniature Bhramas), Watusi cows and bulls, Walleroos (miniature kangaroos), llamas, buffalos, miniature donkeys, as well as horses and goats. As you can see we have a wide variety of animals.
We have used the oils extensively on many of the animals and are continually making discoveries. The animals respond extremely well and we feel they have benefited greatly. In my experience, I have found that animals respond to essential oils much the same as humans. Animals are not as sensitive to the phenol and sesquiterpene constituents so they can be applied "neet" or full strength. One needs only to determine which oils are applicable to the situation and then apply a few drops 3-4 times daily.
Where and How Much to Apply
The amount for small animals, like cats and dogs is like the application for a child: 3-4 drops each time applied. For larger animals, like large dogs apply 6-7 drops, for horses, apply 15-20 drops.
After applying the oils, I have found it beneficial to cover the open wound with Rose ointment, which keeps the skin soft and helps promote the healing. I have applied the oils in the following ways.
Note: treating cats is different than other animals, be sure to avoid using the citrus oils on and around cats.
1. Apply on their paws where absorption is very fast.
2. On cloven hoofed animals, apply on the auricular points of the ears and/or spine or both.
3. Underneath the top lip on the gums and on the tongue.
4. Sprinkle a few drops on the spine and then massage into the skin, just like with humans.
Conditions and Oils Applied
For various problems I have experimented with the following oils and herbal/mineral products:
1. Strangle in horses, I used a combination of the oil blends Exodus II and Melrose together.(4 parts Exodus II to 1 part Melrose.)
2. Ear mites in cats and dogs - purification and peppermint.
3. Ticks and fleas - Tansy and tansy floral water.
4. Tumors- all animals - Frankincense and lavender mixed together, frankincense and clove mixed together.
5. Worms and parasites- all animals - Parafree and Di-tone.
6. Open wounds- all animals -Melrose, Helichrysum and gentle care Rose Ointment.
7. Trauma- all animals - Trauma Life, Valor, Peace & calming, Melissa, rosewood, lavender, valerian, and chamomile.
8. Bones- all animals - PanAway, birch or wintergreen, lemongrass and spruce.
9. Nervous anxiety with horses - Valor, Trauma Life, geranium, lavender and valerian.
10. Saddle sores- Melrose and Rose ointment.
11. Mineral deficiencies- Mineral Essence( liquid tincture, taken internally) may help meet the animals needs and when met, they will quit chewing on the furniture and engaging in other undesirable activities.
12. Tissue repair and healing directly on wound - Melrose.
13. May help with pain and stop bleeding - Helichrysum.
14. Healing of wounds and abrasions - Rose Ointment.
* * * * *
SOME OF MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCES
I have a lovely dog. He's 6 or 7 years old now and sometimes is a bit gimpy. He's a mix of Flat-coated retriever and Irish Setter (a beautiful dog with a fantastic disposition!) And our experiences using essential oils on him have been wonderful. His favorite essential oil is Palo Santo (which by the way, you will only find through Young Living, no one else distills it). He enjoys having a drop rubbed onto his back. After a couple minutes he has what we call "puppy energy."
I also use either the Young Living Pet Shampoo or one of "my" Young Living Shampoos on him. Not only does he smell terrific but the scent of the pure essential oils keeps flea's and ticks away. He loves being groomed, and actually loves having a bath, which he gets once a month. I would think that having a bath that often with these products contributes greatly to keeping those nasty insects off of him.
Young Living also has a fantastic pet ointment. Naturally it has essential oils in it as well. Of course it's like all the other Young Living products, nontoxic. The pet ointment can also be used on people. I used it one day for a scrape I had, I didn't have my bag of essential oils with me, so I thought... Well, I know what all of the ingredients are and they're safe, so I gave it a try. I was impressed how well it worked and wouldn't hesitate again to use it on myself. It also worked great on my dog when he got a nasty insect bite on his eye lid, it took the swelling down within minutes.
What I like best is that I don't have to use those toxic flea collars and other nasty products, things that I would never think of putting on my body... So why would I want to put them on my lovely dog???
If you've been looking for nontoxic solutions for your pet you may want to consider the Young Living products. They can be seen and ordered at my website: The Very Essence
Disclaimer: The information in this post is for educational purposes only. It is not intended to prescribe, treat or diagnose any condition. Please refer to your veterinarian or other health care provider.
However, I must CAUTION you should NOT use regular store-bought essential oils on your pets as they are not pure and could case great damage to your beloved companion. A reminder, when I refer to essential oils in my blog I ONLY refer to the Young Living oils, because they are AFNOR - ISO quality, in layman terms it means, you can't get any better. And remember, a little bit goes a very long way.
Here is an excerpt from one of Gary Young's books and his experiences using essential oils on his animals...
by Gary Young, N.D.
I have raised animals all my life and presently have several miniature horses as well as four teams of draft horses. I also have pygmy goats, barbadoes sheep and llamas at my ranch where I reside. On my 1300 acre herb farm at Whispering Springs in Mona, Utah, I have an animal petting zoo with Bactrian camels. zeeboos from Africa (miniature Bhramas), Watusi cows and bulls, Walleroos (miniature kangaroos), llamas, buffalos, miniature donkeys, as well as horses and goats. As you can see we have a wide variety of animals.
We have used the oils extensively on many of the animals and are continually making discoveries. The animals respond extremely well and we feel they have benefited greatly. In my experience, I have found that animals respond to essential oils much the same as humans. Animals are not as sensitive to the phenol and sesquiterpene constituents so they can be applied "neet" or full strength. One needs only to determine which oils are applicable to the situation and then apply a few drops 3-4 times daily.
Where and How Much to Apply
The amount for small animals, like cats and dogs is like the application for a child: 3-4 drops each time applied. For larger animals, like large dogs apply 6-7 drops, for horses, apply 15-20 drops.
After applying the oils, I have found it beneficial to cover the open wound with Rose ointment, which keeps the skin soft and helps promote the healing. I have applied the oils in the following ways.
Note: treating cats is different than other animals, be sure to avoid using the citrus oils on and around cats.
1. Apply on their paws where absorption is very fast.
2. On cloven hoofed animals, apply on the auricular points of the ears and/or spine or both.
3. Underneath the top lip on the gums and on the tongue.
4. Sprinkle a few drops on the spine and then massage into the skin, just like with humans.
Conditions and Oils Applied
For various problems I have experimented with the following oils and herbal/mineral products:
1. Strangle in horses, I used a combination of the oil blends Exodus II and Melrose together.(4 parts Exodus II to 1 part Melrose.)
2. Ear mites in cats and dogs - purification and peppermint.
3. Ticks and fleas - Tansy and tansy floral water.
4. Tumors- all animals - Frankincense and lavender mixed together, frankincense and clove mixed together.
5. Worms and parasites- all animals - Parafree and Di-tone.
6. Open wounds- all animals -Melrose, Helichrysum and gentle care Rose Ointment.
7. Trauma- all animals - Trauma Life, Valor, Peace & calming, Melissa, rosewood, lavender, valerian, and chamomile.
8. Bones- all animals - PanAway, birch or wintergreen, lemongrass and spruce.
9. Nervous anxiety with horses - Valor, Trauma Life, geranium, lavender and valerian.
10. Saddle sores- Melrose and Rose ointment.
11. Mineral deficiencies- Mineral Essence( liquid tincture, taken internally) may help meet the animals needs and when met, they will quit chewing on the furniture and engaging in other undesirable activities.
12. Tissue repair and healing directly on wound - Melrose.
13. May help with pain and stop bleeding - Helichrysum.
14. Healing of wounds and abrasions - Rose Ointment.
* * * * *
SOME OF MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCES
I have a lovely dog. He's 6 or 7 years old now and sometimes is a bit gimpy. He's a mix of Flat-coated retriever and Irish Setter (a beautiful dog with a fantastic disposition!) And our experiences using essential oils on him have been wonderful. His favorite essential oil is Palo Santo (which by the way, you will only find through Young Living, no one else distills it). He enjoys having a drop rubbed onto his back. After a couple minutes he has what we call "puppy energy."
I also use either the Young Living Pet Shampoo or one of "my" Young Living Shampoos on him. Not only does he smell terrific but the scent of the pure essential oils keeps flea's and ticks away. He loves being groomed, and actually loves having a bath, which he gets once a month. I would think that having a bath that often with these products contributes greatly to keeping those nasty insects off of him.
Young Living also has a fantastic pet ointment. Naturally it has essential oils in it as well. Of course it's like all the other Young Living products, nontoxic. The pet ointment can also be used on people. I used it one day for a scrape I had, I didn't have my bag of essential oils with me, so I thought... Well, I know what all of the ingredients are and they're safe, so I gave it a try. I was impressed how well it worked and wouldn't hesitate again to use it on myself. It also worked great on my dog when he got a nasty insect bite on his eye lid, it took the swelling down within minutes.
What I like best is that I don't have to use those toxic flea collars and other nasty products, things that I would never think of putting on my body... So why would I want to put them on my lovely dog???
If you've been looking for nontoxic solutions for your pet you may want to consider the Young Living products. They can be seen and ordered at my website: The Very Essence
Disclaimer: The information in this post is for educational purposes only. It is not intended to prescribe, treat or diagnose any condition. Please refer to your veterinarian or other health care provider.
Monday, December 11, 2006
My Vanilla Wolfberry Granola Recipe
4 cups Rolled Oats
1 cup Spelt Flour
1/2 cup Blue Agave
1/3 cup Hemp Seed Oil
1 cup NingXia Wolfberries (slightly rehydrated)
4 Tablespoons pure Vannila Extract
1/4 teaspoon Sea Salt
Preheat oven to 325°.
In small bowl add wolfberries, add enough hot tap water to cover, let sit for 4 minutes, then drain.
In large bowl combine all ingredients and stir well until mixture is evenly moistened. Spread entire mixture onto a cookie sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes.
Recipe by Evelyn Vincent
ABOUT THE INGREDIENTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM
Ningxia wolfberries rank as powerful antioxidants and as the most nutritious fruit, and provide an array of nutrients and protein. Ever so slightly tart in flavor, use Ningxia wolfberries in cooking (not at too high heat though), as an added nutritional boost in cereals, salads and other foods, or snack on them right out of the bag (far more nutritous than raisins and no added sugar!).
The NingXia Wolfberry is different than other wolfbrries, this species rates the highest in antioxidants. To get more info on the NingXia Wolfberry and the delicious tasting NingXia Red juice click on this link:
1 cup Spelt Flour
1/2 cup Blue Agave
1/3 cup Hemp Seed Oil
1 cup NingXia Wolfberries (slightly rehydrated)
4 Tablespoons pure Vannila Extract
1/4 teaspoon Sea Salt
Preheat oven to 325°.
In small bowl add wolfberries, add enough hot tap water to cover, let sit for 4 minutes, then drain.
In large bowl combine all ingredients and stir well until mixture is evenly moistened. Spread entire mixture onto a cookie sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes.
Recipe by Evelyn Vincent
ABOUT THE INGREDIENTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM
Ningxia wolfberries rank as powerful antioxidants and as the most nutritious fruit, and provide an array of nutrients and protein. Ever so slightly tart in flavor, use Ningxia wolfberries in cooking (not at too high heat though), as an added nutritional boost in cereals, salads and other foods, or snack on them right out of the bag (far more nutritous than raisins and no added sugar!).
The NingXia Wolfberry is different than other wolfbrries, this species rates the highest in antioxidants. To get more info on the NingXia Wolfberry and the delicious tasting NingXia Red juice click on this link:
Very Red and sign up for my free newsletter.
Blue Agave nectar is a delicious natural sweetener preferred by health-conscious people for use in foods and beverages. It has a low glycemic index rating, making it ideal for diabetics, hypoglycemics, dieters, and athletes, as well as those who wish to avoid sucrose or artificial sweeteners. Use it in recipes by reducing the amount of liquid called for, just as with honey. There are about 189 servings per 8 oz. bottle.
Calories: 20 per serving
Carbohydrates: 5.2 grams per serving
Sugars: 5.2 grams per serving
How to use Organic Blue Agave: It is much sweeter than sugar, but with a glycemic index of only 11 (sugar has a glycemic index of 68-85). In recipes, use 1/2 to 3/4 cup in place of 1 cup sugar. You may also need to reduce the amount of liquid, just as you would for honey. Use like honey in beverages or on cereal, bread, etc.
If you'd like to purchase NingXia Wolfberries (item # 6360) (Lycium barbarum) or Blue Agave (item # 3221) they are available at my product website: The Very Essence
The anti-inflammatory effects of both omega-3 and omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids have been demonstrated in many studies, in particular in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. However this only occurs when these fats are consumed in roughly similar amounts, such as what is found in hemp oil.
What is particularly interesting about hemp oil is that the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fat is 3:1, which is generally the ratio recognized as being ideal for optimum health. Most North Americans consume a ratio of 10:1 as a result of a heavy reliance on oils and products that contain significantly more omega-6 fat (e.g. soybean/vegetable oil). Hemp Seed Oil can be purchased at: Manitoba Harvest
Saturday, December 09, 2006
For the Photographer in Each of Us
I've always had a passion for photography. I got my first camera back in 1976, a second-hand Canon 35mm SLR with 5 different lenses, and B&W dark room equipment for $100 from an old timer photographer, I was in heaven! I have since sold the dark room equipment, but still have that Canon and lenses. Boy, they sure knew how to make a good camera back then, to this day that Canon has never failed me, nor has it ever needed a repair!
A year and a half ago I got my first good digital camera, a Nikon CoolPix 5900. As much as I love my old Canon, there is an ease of use with the digital. What I like is that I don't have to keep buying film and getting the color prints developed. But the best part is I can download the photo's onto my computer and into iPhoto. If there's a shot I really like and want to do some creative things with it I export it into PhotoShop CS2, WOW!
I came across something that may be of interest to many during this gift giving season and for all those budding photographer's. It's Derrick Story's Top 10 Digital Phtography Tips.
Derrick Story is the digital media evangelist for O'Reilly, and his experience includes more than 20 years as a photojournalist, a stint as the managing editor for Web Review, and a speaker for CMP, IDG, and O'Reilly conferences, author of 'Digital Photography Hacks', and co-authored 'iPhoto the Missing Manual.
A year and a half ago I got my first good digital camera, a Nikon CoolPix 5900. As much as I love my old Canon, there is an ease of use with the digital. What I like is that I don't have to keep buying film and getting the color prints developed. But the best part is I can download the photo's onto my computer and into iPhoto. If there's a shot I really like and want to do some creative things with it I export it into PhotoShop CS2, WOW!
I came across something that may be of interest to many during this gift giving season and for all those budding photographer's. It's Derrick Story's Top 10 Digital Phtography Tips.
Derrick Story is the digital media evangelist for O'Reilly, and his experience includes more than 20 years as a photojournalist, a stint as the managing editor for Web Review, and a speaker for CMP, IDG, and O'Reilly conferences, author of 'Digital Photography Hacks', and co-authored 'iPhoto the Missing Manual.
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Root Canal Interview & My Toothache Experience
(an eye-opener)
I wanted to share this information with you because this past September one of the reasons, other than being exhausted from a too busy August, that I was unable to attend the Young Living '06 Convention was because of a toothache I got 2 days before the event.
I knew that others had used Young Living essential oils for toothache, so I went to my computer files and dug them up. This tooth that was hurting was a tooth I had a root canal in some 8+ years ago. After reading what others had done, I got out my bottle of Thieves and Helichrysum essential oils and would put a couple drops on a Q-Tip and rubbed all sides of the tooth, I layered the oils. I knew teeth have all these little tubes in which nutrients and so forth flowed through and that teeth are porous, I thought if I could work the essential oils into the tooth sides as much as possible that it would help the beneficial properties of the oils get "inside" the tooth. I did this several times a day. I also rinsed my mouth with the Young Living Fresh Essence/Thieves Mouthwash before applying the essential oils.
Even though it still hurt and the side of my face was swollen due to the infected tooth, I was able to sleep just fine. I couldn't really talk much or normal, or eat/chew, but I was able to get sleep which I think says a lot.
I also found that I had the best results when I applied the essential oils every 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours that it made a big difference and alleviated a good bit of the pain. I tried not to get too much oil down the inside of my mouth because I knew the skin there is quite delicate and because I'd be doing many applications a day I certainly didn't want to risk irritating the skin. I did rub the Q-Tip at the tooth & gum area thinking that it would help the oils to get down deeper as I knew the infection was also spreading into my jaw. I also applied Helichrysum on my face focusing around the jaw and neck area.
After using the mouthwash and essential oils about 4 days later I was almost pain-free and able to chew soft foods slowly. By the 5th day, the pain was 100% gone, swelling gone, and I could chew anything I wanted to eat. No trip to the dentist either!
What I just discovered today (below) at Dr. Mercola's website in this interview is the reason "why" I got the toothache in the first place - and - "why" the Thieves and Helichrysum worked. Be sure to read the interview clear to the end because I think there is a lot of information about oral care that we have never been fully aware of, I know I am walking away form all of this with a completely different take on the how's and why's.
What I am going to be doing in the future as a preventative is this: at least once a week applying Young Living's Thieves essential oil using a Q-Tip to that root canal tooth and neighboring teeth, and be certain to use the Fresh Essence/Thieves Mouthwash at least twice a day. If I find the tooth is giving me health problems in the future I will have it taken out.
Hope this experience of mine and this interview can help others.
VIDEO UPDATE -- Why You Want to Avoid Root Canals - Dr. Mercola reviews the reasons why root canals can destroy your health and some practical alternatives, Why You Want To Avoid Root Canals and Interview with George Meinig, D.D.S. author of Root Canal Cover Up Exposed.
The Thieves and Helichrysum essential oils and Thieves/Fresh Essence Mouthwash are avaialable at: The Very Essence
Disclaimer: Information found here refers solely to products from Young Living Essential Oils and is for educational purposes only. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent disease. We urge you to do the health related research necessary to learn what is right for you. Young Living uses only AFNOR-ISO grade oils. Perfume grade or poor quality oils may possibly be harmful due to unknown additives and poor plant or distillation conditions.
I knew that others had used Young Living essential oils for toothache, so I went to my computer files and dug them up. This tooth that was hurting was a tooth I had a root canal in some 8+ years ago. After reading what others had done, I got out my bottle of Thieves and Helichrysum essential oils and would put a couple drops on a Q-Tip and rubbed all sides of the tooth, I layered the oils. I knew teeth have all these little tubes in which nutrients and so forth flowed through and that teeth are porous, I thought if I could work the essential oils into the tooth sides as much as possible that it would help the beneficial properties of the oils get "inside" the tooth. I did this several times a day. I also rinsed my mouth with the Young Living Fresh Essence/Thieves Mouthwash before applying the essential oils.
Even though it still hurt and the side of my face was swollen due to the infected tooth, I was able to sleep just fine. I couldn't really talk much or normal, or eat/chew, but I was able to get sleep which I think says a lot.
I also found that I had the best results when I applied the essential oils every 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours that it made a big difference and alleviated a good bit of the pain. I tried not to get too much oil down the inside of my mouth because I knew the skin there is quite delicate and because I'd be doing many applications a day I certainly didn't want to risk irritating the skin. I did rub the Q-Tip at the tooth & gum area thinking that it would help the oils to get down deeper as I knew the infection was also spreading into my jaw. I also applied Helichrysum on my face focusing around the jaw and neck area.
After using the mouthwash and essential oils about 4 days later I was almost pain-free and able to chew soft foods slowly. By the 5th day, the pain was 100% gone, swelling gone, and I could chew anything I wanted to eat. No trip to the dentist either!
What I just discovered today (below) at Dr. Mercola's website in this interview is the reason "why" I got the toothache in the first place - and - "why" the Thieves and Helichrysum worked. Be sure to read the interview clear to the end because I think there is a lot of information about oral care that we have never been fully aware of, I know I am walking away form all of this with a completely different take on the how's and why's.
What I am going to be doing in the future as a preventative is this: at least once a week applying Young Living's Thieves essential oil using a Q-Tip to that root canal tooth and neighboring teeth, and be certain to use the Fresh Essence/Thieves Mouthwash at least twice a day. If I find the tooth is giving me health problems in the future I will have it taken out.
Hope this experience of mine and this interview can help others.
VIDEO UPDATE -- Why You Want to Avoid Root Canals - Dr. Mercola reviews the reasons why root canals can destroy your health and some practical alternatives, Why You Want To Avoid Root Canals and Interview with George Meinig, D.D.S. author of Root Canal Cover Up Exposed.
The Thieves and Helichrysum essential oils and Thieves/Fresh Essence Mouthwash are avaialable at: The Very Essence
Disclaimer: Information found here refers solely to products from Young Living Essential Oils and is for educational purposes only. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent disease. We urge you to do the health related research necessary to learn what is right for you. Young Living uses only AFNOR-ISO grade oils. Perfume grade or poor quality oils may possibly be harmful due to unknown additives and poor plant or distillation conditions.
Monday, December 04, 2006
The Best Drug: Love
Over the past two decades, Dr. Dean Ornish has scientifically proven that people can open their blocked arteries without drugs or surgery through diet, exercise and meditation.
However, the most interesting find was that loneliness is more toxic than a cheeseburger.
“Love and intimacy are at the root of what makes us sick and what makes us well,” Ornish declares. “I am not aware of any other factor in medicine—not diet, not smoking, not exercise—that has a greater impact.”
Ornish’s research corroborates what is know as the ‘Roseta Effect’. Until 1965, the people who lived in the small town of Roseta, Pennsylvania, seemed immune to heart disease. Compared to the residents in the nearby town of Bangor, they smoked as much and ate similar food. The striking distinction was Roseta’s tightly bonded social life. The communite comprised mostly third-generation italian immigrants, all of whom had strong commitments to family and friends.
Isolation is definitely a health hazard. Here are a few startling facts from actual clinical studies:
• Women who felt isolated were 3 ½ times as likely to die of breast, ovarian or uterine cancer over a 17-year period.
• Heart patients who felt the least loved had 50% more arterial damage than those who felt the most loved.
• Unmarried heart patients were 3 times more likely to die within 5 years.
The authenticity and intensity of our relationships appears to be the deciding factor in health. Your cheeseburger might not be as harmful if you eat it with someone you love.
Here's the link to Dean Ornishes webiste and article ttitled: Love & Survival. Be sure to look around his website as he has some terrific information to share.
Much love, happiness and great health to all my readers!
However, the most interesting find was that loneliness is more toxic than a cheeseburger.
“Love and intimacy are at the root of what makes us sick and what makes us well,” Ornish declares. “I am not aware of any other factor in medicine—not diet, not smoking, not exercise—that has a greater impact.”
Ornish’s research corroborates what is know as the ‘Roseta Effect’. Until 1965, the people who lived in the small town of Roseta, Pennsylvania, seemed immune to heart disease. Compared to the residents in the nearby town of Bangor, they smoked as much and ate similar food. The striking distinction was Roseta’s tightly bonded social life. The communite comprised mostly third-generation italian immigrants, all of whom had strong commitments to family and friends.
Isolation is definitely a health hazard. Here are a few startling facts from actual clinical studies:
• Women who felt isolated were 3 ½ times as likely to die of breast, ovarian or uterine cancer over a 17-year period.
• Heart patients who felt the least loved had 50% more arterial damage than those who felt the most loved.
• Unmarried heart patients were 3 times more likely to die within 5 years.
The authenticity and intensity of our relationships appears to be the deciding factor in health. Your cheeseburger might not be as harmful if you eat it with someone you love.
Here's the link to Dean Ornishes webiste and article ttitled: Love & Survival. Be sure to look around his website as he has some terrific information to share.
Much love, happiness and great health to all my readers!
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Mercury Tooth Fillings A Toxic Time Bomb?
Here is another article I came across on yet more reasons why we need to insist that our fillings and any other substance or product we use not contain mercury. It boggles my mind to think that mercury is still being used at all and that there is debate on whether or not it's safe in any amount.
by Charles W. Moore
Sweden has banned mercury amalgam dental fillings, effective January, 1997, after determining that at least 250,000 Swedes have immune and other health disorders directly related to the mercury in their teeth. Denmark will ban amalgams beginning in January 1999.
In 1991, Germany's Health Ministry recommended to the German Dental Association that no further amalgam fillings be placed in children, pregnant women, or people with kidney disease, and in 1993 this was extended to include all women of child-bearing age, pregnant or not. Austria is also phasing out mercury fillings.
By contrast, the American Dental Association (ADA) says replacing amalgam fillings from non-allergic patients for the purpose of removing toxic substances from the body is “improper and unethical.” The Canadian Dental Association (CDA) insists that there is no scientific evidence linking medical illness symptoms to mercury fillings, except relatively rare allergic sensitivity to mercury. (The number of persons with a specific and detectable sensitivity to mercury may not be so small. According to a Health Canada report, as many as 15 percent of people with amalgam fillings show signs of sensitivity to mercury. Some American researchers claim that at least 20 percent of people with amalgam fillings are “mercury toxic.”)
What gives? Are the Europeans and Scandinavians hysterical Cassandras, in a sweat about nothing, or are the North American dental associations concerned about things other than patient health? Are mercury amalgam tooth fillings dangerous or not?
Amalgam tooth fillings are an alloy of 50 percent mercury, 35 percent silver, 13 percent tin, 2 percent copper, and a bit of zinc. Mercury toxicity was known in the 19th century, but amalgam's cheapness, ease of placement, and durability kept it popular. Dentists argue that mercury fillings last longer than resin composites, and are more gentle to tooth pulp. Composites also require more skill and time to place.
Unfortunately, mercury is a poison that penetrates all living cells of the human body. It is more toxic than lead, cadmium and arsenic. The smallest amount of mercury that won't damage human cells is unknown. Autopsy studies show a correlation between the number of mercury fillings and mercury levels in the brain and kidneys. Research also indicates that amalgams have an adverse effect on the immune system's T-lymphocyte count.
Scrap dental amalgam is classified hazardous waste by the American Environmental Protection Agency, and by law must be stored in unbreakable, sealed containers, and handled without touching. Dr. Sandra Denton, M.D., who specializes in treating chronic mercury toxicity, asks: “What is it about the mouth that makes this same stuff non-toxic?” Referring to American Dental Association (ADA) claims that amalgams have been proved safe in studies, Dr. Denton challenges them to produce such studies. They have not. “On the other hand,” says Denton, “research documenting mercury toxicity is voluminous.” She has collected some 3,000 articles and several books on the topic.
A Danish study found that Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients had eight times higher levels of mercury in their cerebrospinal fluid than healthy controls. An article in the Journal of Forensic Medicine & Pathology states: “Slow retrograde seepage of mercury from root canal or Class V amalgam fillings...may lead to multiple sclerosis in middle age.” Dr. Hal Huggins of Colorado Springs, Colorado, a dentist who has MS himself, treats MS victims and people with other chronic health problems by removing mercury amalgam fillings as well as with detoxification and nutritional supplementation. He claims that 80 to 85 percent of his patients improve significantly.
Despite Huggin's successes, the U.S. Multiple Sclerosis Society opposes mercury amalgam removal, stating that they have found no scientific correlation between amalgams and MS. Dr. Huggins counters that if his results are to be written off as “anecdotal” or “placebo effect”, then he has the largest collection of sustained recurring anecdotal placebo responses in the world.
Antibiotic resistant bacterial disease has become a significant and growing public health problem over the past decade. Studies show that genes protecting bacteria against mercury poisoning often bundle together with other genes that give bacteria antibiotic resistant qualities. If amalgam fillings stimulate and maintain populations of mercury-resistant bacteria, it's no major stretch to suggest that they might also be an agent in developing antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Research by Dr. Anne O. Summers, et al., at the University of Georgia shows such a relationship in monkeys. Dr. Summers put mercury fillings into the molars of monkeys. Within five weeks bacteria in the animals' intestines became resistant not only to mercury, but also to common antibiotics like penicillin, streptomycin, and tetracycline.
Another monkey study by Dr. Stuart B. Levy at Tufts University found that before having mercury fillings, an average of one percent of the monkeys' oral, and nine percent of their intestinal Enterobacteriacae were antibiotic-resistant. After receiving mercury fillings, 13 percent of oral and up to 70 percent of intestinal bugs became antibiotic resistant. The ADA responds by reiterating its stand that mercury fillings are safe, and arguing that animal studies “cannot be viewed as affecting humans.”
It is well-established that elemental mercury vapour emits from amalgam tooth fillings during chewing, brushing, and eating hot and/or acidic foods. Most of this vapour is inhaled. allowing efficient absorption across the alveolar membrane in the lungs. Mercury easily crosses the blood/brain barrier – the brain and nervous system's main natural defense against many toxic substances. It can bind strongly to sulfur-containing proteins in nerve tissue (which may explain the association with MS – a disease of the nerve sheaths), and deposits in virtually all body tissues and organs. In experiments on mercury fillings in sheep, Dr. Murray Vimy, a dentist at the University of Calgary, proved that mercury migrates from the teeth into nearly all body tissues, especially the brain, kidneys, and liver.
The average dentist handles two or three pounds of mercury annually. According to Consumer Reports, up to 10 percent of dental offices have mercury vapour levels exceeding 50 micrograms per cubic metre of air – the upper limit considered safe for eight-hour workplace exposures. Dr. Sandra Denton cites a study at the University of North Texas that found neuropsychological dysfunction in 90 percent of dentists tested. Female dental personnel have a higher spontaneous abortion rate, higher incidence of premature labour, and elevated perinatal mortality, which has been substantiated by the EPA to be characteristic of women chronically exposed to mercury vapour. Stillbirths are significantly correlated with maternal blood mercury levels. Methyl mercury, the organic form of mercury that forms after oral ingestion of mercury, is 100 times more toxic than elemental mercury. Methyl mercury easily crosses the placental barrier and builds up 30 percent higher red blood cell levels in the unborn child than the mother.
The CDA counters that with billions of mercury amalgam fillings placed, there is no apparent epidemic of ill health effects. However, others argue that so many people have mercury fillings that no effective control group exists. Former Health Canada biologist Mark Richardson, who researched the scientific literature on mercury toxicity in preparing a risk assessment, notes that it is people wanting to maintain the status quo who conclude that there is no evidence that mercury toxicity is a health problem. He refers to the tobacco industry's stalwart insistence that studies linking smoking to lung cancer are unscientific. Richardson's report, under consideration by Health Canada, recommends limiting the number of mercury fillings per person.
Stubborn reluctance of dental associations to acknowledge the health risk of mercury toxicity from amalgam fillings may indeed have much in common with tobacco company tactics. If diseases like Multiple Sclerosis, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity are linked to mercury exposure from tooth fillings, significant potential exists for individual or class action lawsuits against dentists. Indeed, the German Dental Association has stated that if the government recommends further limitations on amalgam use, it will advise its members to stop using amalgams completely due to increasing risk of legal liability. The truth will eventually out, and if mercury fillings are indeed eventually proved harmful, a history of foot-dragging will not bolster the dental community's case in court.
Dr. Murray Vimy is certain that every time you chew, brush, or grind your teeth you absorb mercury. However, he councils against panic and suggests that mercury fillings be replaced with non-mercury materials like resin composites, porcelain, or gold, as needed. There is some risk that mass replacements could expose the patient to more mercury than if old fillings were left alone.
Charles Moore is a freelance writer living in rural Nova Scotia who specializes in health issues.
Source: www.life.ca
by Charles W. Moore
Sweden has banned mercury amalgam dental fillings, effective January, 1997, after determining that at least 250,000 Swedes have immune and other health disorders directly related to the mercury in their teeth. Denmark will ban amalgams beginning in January 1999.
In 1991, Germany's Health Ministry recommended to the German Dental Association that no further amalgam fillings be placed in children, pregnant women, or people with kidney disease, and in 1993 this was extended to include all women of child-bearing age, pregnant or not. Austria is also phasing out mercury fillings.
By contrast, the American Dental Association (ADA) says replacing amalgam fillings from non-allergic patients for the purpose of removing toxic substances from the body is “improper and unethical.” The Canadian Dental Association (CDA) insists that there is no scientific evidence linking medical illness symptoms to mercury fillings, except relatively rare allergic sensitivity to mercury. (The number of persons with a specific and detectable sensitivity to mercury may not be so small. According to a Health Canada report, as many as 15 percent of people with amalgam fillings show signs of sensitivity to mercury. Some American researchers claim that at least 20 percent of people with amalgam fillings are “mercury toxic.”)
What gives? Are the Europeans and Scandinavians hysterical Cassandras, in a sweat about nothing, or are the North American dental associations concerned about things other than patient health? Are mercury amalgam tooth fillings dangerous or not?
Amalgam tooth fillings are an alloy of 50 percent mercury, 35 percent silver, 13 percent tin, 2 percent copper, and a bit of zinc. Mercury toxicity was known in the 19th century, but amalgam's cheapness, ease of placement, and durability kept it popular. Dentists argue that mercury fillings last longer than resin composites, and are more gentle to tooth pulp. Composites also require more skill and time to place.
Unfortunately, mercury is a poison that penetrates all living cells of the human body. It is more toxic than lead, cadmium and arsenic. The smallest amount of mercury that won't damage human cells is unknown. Autopsy studies show a correlation between the number of mercury fillings and mercury levels in the brain and kidneys. Research also indicates that amalgams have an adverse effect on the immune system's T-lymphocyte count.
Scrap dental amalgam is classified hazardous waste by the American Environmental Protection Agency, and by law must be stored in unbreakable, sealed containers, and handled without touching. Dr. Sandra Denton, M.D., who specializes in treating chronic mercury toxicity, asks: “What is it about the mouth that makes this same stuff non-toxic?” Referring to American Dental Association (ADA) claims that amalgams have been proved safe in studies, Dr. Denton challenges them to produce such studies. They have not. “On the other hand,” says Denton, “research documenting mercury toxicity is voluminous.” She has collected some 3,000 articles and several books on the topic.
A Danish study found that Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients had eight times higher levels of mercury in their cerebrospinal fluid than healthy controls. An article in the Journal of Forensic Medicine & Pathology states: “Slow retrograde seepage of mercury from root canal or Class V amalgam fillings...may lead to multiple sclerosis in middle age.” Dr. Hal Huggins of Colorado Springs, Colorado, a dentist who has MS himself, treats MS victims and people with other chronic health problems by removing mercury amalgam fillings as well as with detoxification and nutritional supplementation. He claims that 80 to 85 percent of his patients improve significantly.
Despite Huggin's successes, the U.S. Multiple Sclerosis Society opposes mercury amalgam removal, stating that they have found no scientific correlation between amalgams and MS. Dr. Huggins counters that if his results are to be written off as “anecdotal” or “placebo effect”, then he has the largest collection of sustained recurring anecdotal placebo responses in the world.
Antibiotic resistant bacterial disease has become a significant and growing public health problem over the past decade. Studies show that genes protecting bacteria against mercury poisoning often bundle together with other genes that give bacteria antibiotic resistant qualities. If amalgam fillings stimulate and maintain populations of mercury-resistant bacteria, it's no major stretch to suggest that they might also be an agent in developing antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Research by Dr. Anne O. Summers, et al., at the University of Georgia shows such a relationship in monkeys. Dr. Summers put mercury fillings into the molars of monkeys. Within five weeks bacteria in the animals' intestines became resistant not only to mercury, but also to common antibiotics like penicillin, streptomycin, and tetracycline.
Another monkey study by Dr. Stuart B. Levy at Tufts University found that before having mercury fillings, an average of one percent of the monkeys' oral, and nine percent of their intestinal Enterobacteriacae were antibiotic-resistant. After receiving mercury fillings, 13 percent of oral and up to 70 percent of intestinal bugs became antibiotic resistant. The ADA responds by reiterating its stand that mercury fillings are safe, and arguing that animal studies “cannot be viewed as affecting humans.”
It is well-established that elemental mercury vapour emits from amalgam tooth fillings during chewing, brushing, and eating hot and/or acidic foods. Most of this vapour is inhaled. allowing efficient absorption across the alveolar membrane in the lungs. Mercury easily crosses the blood/brain barrier – the brain and nervous system's main natural defense against many toxic substances. It can bind strongly to sulfur-containing proteins in nerve tissue (which may explain the association with MS – a disease of the nerve sheaths), and deposits in virtually all body tissues and organs. In experiments on mercury fillings in sheep, Dr. Murray Vimy, a dentist at the University of Calgary, proved that mercury migrates from the teeth into nearly all body tissues, especially the brain, kidneys, and liver.
The average dentist handles two or three pounds of mercury annually. According to Consumer Reports, up to 10 percent of dental offices have mercury vapour levels exceeding 50 micrograms per cubic metre of air – the upper limit considered safe for eight-hour workplace exposures. Dr. Sandra Denton cites a study at the University of North Texas that found neuropsychological dysfunction in 90 percent of dentists tested. Female dental personnel have a higher spontaneous abortion rate, higher incidence of premature labour, and elevated perinatal mortality, which has been substantiated by the EPA to be characteristic of women chronically exposed to mercury vapour. Stillbirths are significantly correlated with maternal blood mercury levels. Methyl mercury, the organic form of mercury that forms after oral ingestion of mercury, is 100 times more toxic than elemental mercury. Methyl mercury easily crosses the placental barrier and builds up 30 percent higher red blood cell levels in the unborn child than the mother.
The CDA counters that with billions of mercury amalgam fillings placed, there is no apparent epidemic of ill health effects. However, others argue that so many people have mercury fillings that no effective control group exists. Former Health Canada biologist Mark Richardson, who researched the scientific literature on mercury toxicity in preparing a risk assessment, notes that it is people wanting to maintain the status quo who conclude that there is no evidence that mercury toxicity is a health problem. He refers to the tobacco industry's stalwart insistence that studies linking smoking to lung cancer are unscientific. Richardson's report, under consideration by Health Canada, recommends limiting the number of mercury fillings per person.
Stubborn reluctance of dental associations to acknowledge the health risk of mercury toxicity from amalgam fillings may indeed have much in common with tobacco company tactics. If diseases like Multiple Sclerosis, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity are linked to mercury exposure from tooth fillings, significant potential exists for individual or class action lawsuits against dentists. Indeed, the German Dental Association has stated that if the government recommends further limitations on amalgam use, it will advise its members to stop using amalgams completely due to increasing risk of legal liability. The truth will eventually out, and if mercury fillings are indeed eventually proved harmful, a history of foot-dragging will not bolster the dental community's case in court.
Dr. Murray Vimy is certain that every time you chew, brush, or grind your teeth you absorb mercury. However, he councils against panic and suggests that mercury fillings be replaced with non-mercury materials like resin composites, porcelain, or gold, as needed. There is some risk that mass replacements could expose the patient to more mercury than if old fillings were left alone.
Charles Moore is a freelance writer living in rural Nova Scotia who specializes in health issues.
Source: www.life.ca
Friday, December 01, 2006
The Dangers of Mercury
(you HAVE to see these video's!)
by Townsend Letters for Doctors
Editor:
Just recently, the Director for Science in the Public Interest, based in Washington, DC, suggested that there is a higher level of mercury in tuna than that which is safe for children.
If a child ingests mercury-containing tuna regularly, blood levels won’t rise until a tissue saturation has taken effect. Long before this tissue saturation takes place, such a child might experience speech and motor development delays, allergies, energy problems, learning disabilities, digestive problems, tooth decay, emotional and severe psychiatric problems.
When we see elevated levels in a child’s blood, the exposure has been severe and symptoms of toxicity are present. In other words, the child’s mental and physical well-being is affected, sometimes severely and irrevocably.
As early as 1982, Dr. Martin Laker of the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Bristol wrote in his Lancet article which accurately assessed the differences between hair, blood and urine analysis: “…in the future, when an assessment of body trace elements is needed, it might be wise to pause before rushing to take a blood sample. A specimen of hair might be more appropriate.”
Just a few days after Parenting Magazine hit the shelves, a medical doctor’s wife brought in a hair sample of their 4-yeaar old son who has severe speech delays and motor developmental problems. Because of apparent learning disabilities, the boy had been admitted to a special school for the mentally disabled. While no medical or psychiatric tests or help had been spared in this child’s evaluation treatment, a hair mineral analysis had never been performed. Since the child had always been a fussy eater, his daily diet consisted of tuna fish sandwiches and huge amounts of soymilk. A subsequent hair mineral analysis showed very high mercury levels.
Biochemically, mercury compounds readily react with sulfhydryl groups in proteins and inhibit important enzyme activities. Both organic and inorganic mercury compounds are highly toxic to humans and animals, yet the present worldwide production of this toxic element is in excess of 10,000 tons per year and the toxic by-products of this heavy metal industry are a well documented danger to the environment. Frequent consumption of large fish such as tuna, shark or swordfish caught in contaminated waters can cause considerable mercury accumulation in tissue. It is a well known fact that insoluble mercury compounds in industrial waste are discharged into rivers an lakes, because it is incorrectly assumed that these compounds remain insoluble and thus non-toxic. In fact, it has been proven that soluble compounds which are absorbed by fish and plants enter the human food chain. Methyl mercury, a compound which is easily absorbed and deposited in the brain, causes CNS disorder and paralysis.
Reprinted from: Townsend Letters for Doctors and Patients, June 2000, as reprinted in Extended Health Newsletter
* * *
PRESS RELEASE: August 2, 2000 Content: Charles Brown, (202) 462-8800
Judge blocks Maryland Dental Board from gagging dentists who discuss risks of mercury fillings.
Mercury, the most toxic nonradioactive element, is now disfavored in virtually every health use. Mercurochrome is banned. Mercury preservatives have been ordered removed from vaccines, and were earlier taken out of contact lens solutions. Some cities have banned the use of mercury thermometers. The American Public Health Association and the California Medical Association have condemned all mercury use in health care.
Reprinted from: The International DAMS Newsletter, Vol. 11 (1), March 2000, as reprinted in Extended Health Newsletter
* * *
MERCURY IN ACTION (you have got to see these!)
This first video is of a 50 year old chunk of mercury amalgam tooth filling wafting mercury vapor, 15 years after it was extracted! Click on this link and scroll half way down the page to the video The Smoking Teeth be sure to also watch the video by the International Academy of Oral Medicine & Toxicology while there. This website is also selling a mercury detox product, I do not know enough about it to say whether it's good, safe or even works, therefore I cannot endorse it's efficacy, but the video's are terrific.
Here is a link to the The University of Calgary Faculty of Medicine Dept. of Physiology & Biophysics to view the video on how mercury causes brain neuron degeneration and obtain more information.
Editor:
Just recently, the Director for Science in the Public Interest, based in Washington, DC, suggested that there is a higher level of mercury in tuna than that which is safe for children.
If a child ingests mercury-containing tuna regularly, blood levels won’t rise until a tissue saturation has taken effect. Long before this tissue saturation takes place, such a child might experience speech and motor development delays, allergies, energy problems, learning disabilities, digestive problems, tooth decay, emotional and severe psychiatric problems.
When we see elevated levels in a child’s blood, the exposure has been severe and symptoms of toxicity are present. In other words, the child’s mental and physical well-being is affected, sometimes severely and irrevocably.
As early as 1982, Dr. Martin Laker of the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Bristol wrote in his Lancet article which accurately assessed the differences between hair, blood and urine analysis: “…in the future, when an assessment of body trace elements is needed, it might be wise to pause before rushing to take a blood sample. A specimen of hair might be more appropriate.”
Just a few days after Parenting Magazine hit the shelves, a medical doctor’s wife brought in a hair sample of their 4-yeaar old son who has severe speech delays and motor developmental problems. Because of apparent learning disabilities, the boy had been admitted to a special school for the mentally disabled. While no medical or psychiatric tests or help had been spared in this child’s evaluation treatment, a hair mineral analysis had never been performed. Since the child had always been a fussy eater, his daily diet consisted of tuna fish sandwiches and huge amounts of soymilk. A subsequent hair mineral analysis showed very high mercury levels.
Biochemically, mercury compounds readily react with sulfhydryl groups in proteins and inhibit important enzyme activities. Both organic and inorganic mercury compounds are highly toxic to humans and animals, yet the present worldwide production of this toxic element is in excess of 10,000 tons per year and the toxic by-products of this heavy metal industry are a well documented danger to the environment. Frequent consumption of large fish such as tuna, shark or swordfish caught in contaminated waters can cause considerable mercury accumulation in tissue. It is a well known fact that insoluble mercury compounds in industrial waste are discharged into rivers an lakes, because it is incorrectly assumed that these compounds remain insoluble and thus non-toxic. In fact, it has been proven that soluble compounds which are absorbed by fish and plants enter the human food chain. Methyl mercury, a compound which is easily absorbed and deposited in the brain, causes CNS disorder and paralysis.
Reprinted from: Townsend Letters for Doctors and Patients, June 2000, as reprinted in Extended Health Newsletter
* * *
PRESS RELEASE: August 2, 2000 Content: Charles Brown, (202) 462-8800
Judge blocks Maryland Dental Board from gagging dentists who discuss risks of mercury fillings.
Mercury, the most toxic nonradioactive element, is now disfavored in virtually every health use. Mercurochrome is banned. Mercury preservatives have been ordered removed from vaccines, and were earlier taken out of contact lens solutions. Some cities have banned the use of mercury thermometers. The American Public Health Association and the California Medical Association have condemned all mercury use in health care.
Reprinted from: The International DAMS Newsletter, Vol. 11 (1), March 2000, as reprinted in Extended Health Newsletter
* * *
MERCURY IN ACTION (you have got to see these!)
This first video is of a 50 year old chunk of mercury amalgam tooth filling wafting mercury vapor, 15 years after it was extracted! Click on this link and scroll half way down the page to the video The Smoking Teeth be sure to also watch the video by the International Academy of Oral Medicine & Toxicology while there. This website is also selling a mercury detox product, I do not know enough about it to say whether it's good, safe or even works, therefore I cannot endorse it's efficacy, but the video's are terrific.
Here is a link to the The University of Calgary Faculty of Medicine Dept. of Physiology & Biophysics to view the video on how mercury causes brain neuron degeneration and obtain more information.
Under Our Skin: Lyme Disease
..."There is general agreement that most cases are mild to moderate if treated promptly. But therein lies a problem. As of yet, there are no reliable tests for Lyme disease. Fewer than 50% of patients diagnosed with Lyme ever find the offending tick, and the telltale bull's eye rash associated with the disease is only seen in 10-40% of the cases. Available blood tests yield a high percentage of false negatives due to the crafty nature of the spirochete, which is able to change into a dormant, undetectable cyst form, or hide within white blood cells, the very cells that are supposed to destroy invading bacteria.
Further, new research shows that the bacteria are able to exchange genetic material with one another and change the outer proteins of its cell walls, allowing the organisms to mutate and effectively hide from targeted human antibodies. The situation is complicated by the fact that there are over 300 strains of the bacteria that cause Lyme disease, and the test kits used by most labs don't detect all of these varieties. This results in thousands of false negative Lyme tests, delaying the treatment of many infected patients.
Lyme disease has been called the new "great imitator" because of its ability to mimic other diseases. Patients are routinely told they might have multiple sclerosis, Lou Gehrig's disease, fibromyalgia, systemic Lupus, Alzheimer's, chronic fatigue syndrome or rheumatoid arthritis. According to one physician, there is not one diagnostic feature of Lyme disease, except for the rash, that is different from any of these other conditions...."
Go to Under Our Skin to watch the informatonal trailer. It may be the fastest growing infectious disease in the United States, yet each year, thousands are misdiagnosed. In this upcoming documentary feature (in 2007), we investigate the shocking human, scientific, and political dimensions of Lyme disease.
Go to Under Our Skin: The Untold Story of Lyme Disease for more information.
Further, new research shows that the bacteria are able to exchange genetic material with one another and change the outer proteins of its cell walls, allowing the organisms to mutate and effectively hide from targeted human antibodies. The situation is complicated by the fact that there are over 300 strains of the bacteria that cause Lyme disease, and the test kits used by most labs don't detect all of these varieties. This results in thousands of false negative Lyme tests, delaying the treatment of many infected patients.
Lyme disease has been called the new "great imitator" because of its ability to mimic other diseases. Patients are routinely told they might have multiple sclerosis, Lou Gehrig's disease, fibromyalgia, systemic Lupus, Alzheimer's, chronic fatigue syndrome or rheumatoid arthritis. According to one physician, there is not one diagnostic feature of Lyme disease, except for the rash, that is different from any of these other conditions...."
Go to Under Our Skin to watch the informatonal trailer. It may be the fastest growing infectious disease in the United States, yet each year, thousands are misdiagnosed. In this upcoming documentary feature (in 2007), we investigate the shocking human, scientific, and political dimensions of Lyme disease.
Go to Under Our Skin: The Untold Story of Lyme Disease for more information.
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