Around the world, scientists are finding trace amounts of substances—from sugar and spice to heroine, rocket fuel, and birth control—that might be having unintended consequences for humans and wildlife alike.
Cocaine, Spices, Hormones Found in Drinking Water
Eggplant Cures Skin Cancer
An ingredient in common eggplant has been shown to cure cancer. The eggplant extract is a phytochemical called solasodine glycoside, or BEC5. Dr. Bill E. Cham discovered it, after hearing of a folk medicine cure from Australian farmers. They told him of eye cancers cured in cattle after application of a poultice made from the fruit of a weed called Devil's Apple, known in Latin as Solanum linnaeanum. This plant is part of the Solanacea family, which includes other common vegetables such as tomato and eggplant.
BEC5 works by bonding to a receptor on the surface of the cancer cell. After the cell digests the eggplant extract, it causes the cell to rupture. The cancer cell is destroyed and its contents are then reabsorbed by the body.
National intelligence director to evaluate CIA missions
Reporting from Washington - Sensitive CIA operations overseas will face new scrutiny from the nation's intelligence director under a plan approved by the White House and outlined in a memo to the espionage workforce last week.The move marks an attempt by Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair to assert greater authority over clandestine operations at a time of mounting bureaucratic frictions between the CIA and Blair's office.
Study: Chemicals in plastic can make boys act more like girls
A team at the University of Rochester studying the safety of phthalates -- chemicals in the plastic used in many household objects – found that they can actually disrupt hormones, according to BBC News. The chemicals affect the baby's developing brain by deactivating testosterone, the male sex hormone, according to the BBC.
Analysis finds 4% of U.S. children have food allergies
The number of children who have food allergies is not only increasing, it now encompasses 4% of all kids in the United States, according to an analysis of four large, national surveys published today in the journal Pediatrics.
The study is the first to make a broad estimate about the prevalence of food allergies among U.S. children and supports previous studies suggesting that allergy rates are rising rapidly for reasons that are unclear. Government researchers found that self-reported food allergies increased 18% between 1997 and 2007.
Government Is This Public's Enemy!
The current and continuing invasion of the public's right to travel-by-air was created by TSA, and became further complicated by the illegal no-fly lists that now contain over two million names of individuals that are being denied their right-to-fly; based on secret information that cannot be confronted or legally refuted; despite the fact that no one has been arrested for terrorism under these draconian and unconstitutional "new Rules," since they were created. Despite the ravings of our national-lunatic Snarling Dick Cheney!
Fluoridation Increases Infant Death Rates
Fluoridation causes more premature births, one of the top causes of infant death in the USA. It poses the greatest risk to poor non-white mothers and babies. This is the finding State University of New York researchers from data spanning 1993 to 2002.
New U.S. guidelines: routine mammograms start at 50
Sweeping new U.S. breast cancer guidelines released on Monday recommend against routine mammograms for women in their 40s, and suggest women 50 to 74 only get a mammogram every other year.
The new guidelines by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, an influential panel of independent experts, would sharply curtail the number of breast mammograms done in the United States, sparing women the worry of false alarms and the cost and trouble of extra tests. But U.S. cancer experts say the altered schedule may mean more women will die from breast cancer.
Drug firms raise prices in face of health reform
Even as drug makers promise to support Washington’s health care overhaul by shaving $8 billion a year off the nation’s drug costs after the legislation takes effect, the industry has been raising its prices at the fastest rate in years.
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