Americans spending more on healthcare: report
Last Updated: 2009-01-13 14:13:09 -0400 (Reuters Health)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Americans spent about 40 percent more out of their own pockets for healthcare over the past decade, according to a report in the latest issue of the health policy journal Health Affairs. An increase in chronic conditions, especially diabetes and high blood pressure -- not just among the "oldest old" but among baby boomers and older adults -- is to blame, researchers say.
"Chronic conditions are more than just a health issue for the elderly. They are a household economics issue for every American," lead co-author Kathryn Paez said in a statement. "Taking the time and making the effort to prevent diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes will save Americans money and increase their quality of life," Paez, a research scientist at the Silver Spring, Maryland-based Center for Health Policy and Research, Social and Scientific Systems, added.
Paez and colleagues compared 1996 and 2005 out-of-pocket healthcare costs using data from the national Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, which represents 292 million Americans.
They found that the average annual out-of-pocket spending on healthcare rose from $427 in 1996 to $741 in 2005. This represents a 39.4 percent inflation-adjusted increase in healthcare spending assumed directly by the consumer for things like insurance co-payments, deductibles, and other related medical items not covered by health insurance.
Prescription medications, by far, were the costliest out-of-pocket expenditures. According to Paez and colleagues, Americans over age 65 with multiple chronic diseases spent an average of $1,292 per year on prescription drugs in 2005 - more than five times more than what they spent on office visits. "The new Medicare Part D drug benefit may mitigate the financial burden of drug costs for this group," the researchers say.
The greatest spike in spending occurred among people with multiple chronic conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes. Between 1996 and 2005, reports of multiple chronic diseases roles 9.7 percentage points among Americans between 45 and 64 years old.
Whites reported having more chronic conditions than other races and women were more likely than men to report having at least one chronic medical condition, the results show.
Poor, near-poor and low-income Americans who did not receive Medicaid spent double what Medicaid recipients spent for care. This finding, Paez and colleagues say, highlights the need to expand coverage to non-elderly adults who are unable to obtain insurance through employers or other means. This is the group that is "increasingly developing chronic conditions while becoming more likely to be uninsured," they note.
Because many chronic ailments stem from poor lifestyle habits and get better as lifestyle habits improve, health insurance benefits and healthcare reform should include incentives for people to adopt lifestyle practices that reduce the risk of chronic conditions and improve health, Paez and colleagues conclude.
"Employers are increasingly recognizing the value of wellness programs and making them available to employees. However, more dramatic and systematic efforts are needed to induce a societal shift where primary and secondary prevention is considered a basic benefit and healthy lifestyles are the cultural norm," they wrote.
SOURCE: Health Affairs, January/February 2009.
http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2009/01/13/eline/links/20090113elin007.html

Vicks VapoRub can harm children under 2 years old
Last Updated: 2009-01-13 11:15:38 -0400 (Reuters Health)
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Vicks VapoRub, a common cold remedy, can cause respiratory distress in children under 2 when inappropriately applied directly under the nose, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.
They said using the Procter & Gamble Co product in this way can cause a young child's tiny airways to swell and fill with mucus, triggering severe breathing problems.
"The only problem we've seen is in a small child when it has been put under the nose," Dr. Bruce Rubin of Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina, said in a telephone interview.
Rubin said the ingredients in Vicks can be irritants, causing the body to produce more mucus to protect the airway. And since infants and young children have airways that are much narrower than those of an adult, any increase in mucus or swelling has more severe effects.
"The company is really clear it should never go under the nose or in the nose for anybody and it shouldn't be used in children under 2," said Rubin, whose study appears in the journal Chest.
While the researchers only tested the Vicks product, Rubin said similar products, including generic versions, could cause the same negative effects in infants and toddlers.
Rubin and his colleagues began looking at use of the medication after treating an 18-month-old girl who developed respiratory distress after the salve was put under her nose.
They studied ferrets, which have an airway anatomy similar to humans. In the animals with a chest infection, the product increased mucus secretion and decreased the animal's ability to clear mucus.
"We were able to document changes that we think explain this," Rubin said.
David Bernens, a spokesman for P&G, said the finding came as a surprise. "Vicks VapoRub has been proven safe and effective through multiple clinical trials. It has been in the market for over 100 years," Bernens said, noting that the label says the product should not be used in children under age 2 without a doctor's advice, and not under the nose.
"We warn people not to do that," he said.
Since the initial episode, emergency doctors at the medical center have begun asking all parents of children in respiratory distress if they used the Vicks product in a similar way and they have seen two more cases, Rubin said.
"I recommend never putting Vicks in, or under, the nose of anybody -- adult or child," Rubin said in a statement, adding that he would never use it in a child under age 2.
Dr. James Mathers, president of the American College of Chest Physicians, said in a statement that parents should consult their doctor before giving any over-the-counter medication to infants and young children, particularly cough and cold medications, which can be harmful.
http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2009/01/13/eline/links/20090113elin010.html

Biblical diet 'not very healthy'
Ancient Israel was far from "the land of milk and honey," and instead people suffered from the lack of a balanced diet, according to a theologian.
Dr Nathan MacDonald, an Old Testament lecturer at St Andrews University, used biblical texts and archaeological evidence to study the ancient diet.
He has concluded that there were frequent famines and people's meals often lacked vitamins and minerals.
However, he believes the Bible contains important messages about sharing food.
Dr MacDonald feels his study disputes the notion held by many that the bible provides not just religious instruction and moral guidance, but the recipe for healthy living.
In North America, books based on the diet of the bible such as What Would Jesus Eat? and The Maker's Diet are bestsellers.
Dr MacDonald explained: "Though many people have thought otherwise, the evidence is that the diet in biblical times was not very healthy.
"Except for times of famine and food shortage - which were relatively frequent - it provided the necessary calories, but was lacking in certain key vitamins and minerals.
"A number of books propound a biblical diet because it is thought to be a low fat, high fibre diet.
"True, many Israelites rarely ate meat, but vegetables and fruit also featured far less than they needed to. In reality, it was not a balanced diet."
By examining human remains from the Israelite period, Dr MacDonald found evidence of iron-deficiency anaemia, consistent with a diet high in flat bread and low in meat and vegetables.
He believes pregnant women and children would have been especially vulnerable to malnutrition.
However, Dr MacDonald, the author of What Did the Ancient Israelites Eat? Diet in Biblical Times, said the bible had messages about food that were still relevant today.
"The bible never purports to provide dietary advice. Even the biblical food laws serve very different purposes than modern nutritional advice," he said.
"Nevertheless, the bible has much to say about food that deserves attention, such as the importance of sharing food with those less fortunate then ourselves."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/7826163.stm

Elderly May Have Higher Blood Pressure In Cold Weather

ScienceDaily (Jan. 14, 2009) — Outdoor temperature and blood pressure appear to be correlated in the elderly, with higher rates of hypertension in cooler months, according to a report in the January 12 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Seasonal variations in blood pressure have been recognized among the general population for 40 years, according to background information in the article. However, few previous studies have looked specifically at older adults. "Elderly persons may be particularly susceptible to temperature-related variations in blood pressure," the authors write. "The baroreflex, which is one of the mechanisms of blood pressure regulation, is modified in elderly subjects, and it has been hypothesized that disorders of baroreflex control and enhanced vasoreactivity [sensitivity of blood vessels] could contribute to the aging-associated increase in cardiovascular morbidity [illness]."
Annick Alpérovitch, M.D., of the Institut National de la Santé et de la Récherche Médicale, Paris, and colleagues assessed the relationship between blood pressure and temperature in 8,801 individuals 65 or older. All were part of the Three-City study, conducted in three French metropolitan areas. Participants' blood pressure was measured at the beginning of the study (starting in 1999) and again about two years later. Outdoor temperatures on the day of measurement were obtained from local meteorological offices.
Both systolic (top-number) and diastolic (bottom-number) blood pressures differed across the four seasons and across the distributions of outdoor temperatures. Average systolic blood pressure was 5 millimeters of mercury higher in winter than in summer. High blood pressure—defined as a systolic blood pressure of 160 millimeters of mercury or higher, or a diastolic blood pressure of 95 millimeters of mercury or higher—was detected in 33.4 percent of participants during winter and 23.8 percent during summer.
On average, each individual's blood pressure decreased between the initial and follow-up measurements. This decrease was also strongly correlated with outdoor temperature. "The higher the temperature at follow-up compared with baseline, the greater the decrease in blood pressure," the authors write. These differences over time were larger in participants age 80 and older.
"Mechanisms that could explain the association between blood pressure and temperature remain undetermined," the authors continue. The sympathetic nervous system (which helps control involuntary actions, such as stress response) is activated and the hormone catecholamine is released in response to cold temperatures, which may increase blood pressure by speeding the heart rate and decreasing the responsiveness of blood vessels, they suggest.
"Although our study does not demonstrate a causal link between blood pressure and external temperature, the observed relationship nevertheless has potentially important consequences for blood pressure management in the elderly," the authors write. It may explain well-established seasonal variations in illness and death from stroke, aneurysm ruptures and other vascular diseases. "Because the risk of stroke or aneurysmal rupture is highest in the elderly, improved protection against these diseases by close monitoring of blood pressure and antihypertensive medication when outdoor temperature is very low could be considered."
Alperovitch et al. Relationship Between Blood Pressure and Outdoor Temperature in a Large Sample of Elderly Individuals: The Three-City Study. Archives of Internal Medicine, 2009; 169 (1): 75 DOI: 10.1001/archinternmed.2008.512

Vitamin D Is The 'It' Nutrient Of The Moment

ScienceDaily (Jan. 14, 2009) — Vitamin D is quickly becoming the "it" nutrient with health benefits for diseases, including cancer, osteoporosis, heart disease and now diabetes.
A recent review article published by researchers from Loyola University Chicago Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing concluded that adequate intake of vitamin D may prevent or delay the onset of diabetes and reduce complications for those who have already been diagnosed. These findings appeared in the latest issue of Diabetes Educator.
"Vitamin D has widespread benefits for our health and certain chronic diseases in particular," said Sue Penckofer, Ph.D., R.N., study co-author and professor, Loyola University Chicago Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing. "This article further substantiates the role of this nutrient in the prevention and management of glucose intolerance and diabetes."
Many of the 23 million Americans with diabetes have low vitamin D levels. Evidence suggests that vitamin D plays an integral role in insulin sensitivity and secretion. Vitamin D deficiency results in part from poor nutrition, which is one of the most challenging issues for people with diabetes. Another culprit is reduced exposure to sunlight, which is common during cold weather months when days are shorter and more time is spent indoors.
One study examined for this review article evaluated 3,000 people with type 1 diabetes and found a decreased risk in disease for people who took vitamin D supplements. Observational studies of people with type 2 diabetes also revealed that supplementation may be important in the prevention of this disease.
"Management of vitamin D deficiency may be a simple and cost-effective method to improve blood sugar control and prevent the serious complications associated with diabetes," said Joanne Kouba, Ph.D., R.D., L.D.N., study co-author and clinical assistant professor of dietetics, Loyola University Chicago Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing.
Diet alone may not be sufficient to manage vitamin D levels. A combination of adequate dietary intake of vitamin D, exposure to sunlight, and treatment with vitamin D2 or D3 supplements can decrease the risk of diabetes and related health concerns. The preferred range in the body is 30 - 60 ng/mL of 25(OH) vitamin D.
"People at risk for diabetes should be screened for low vitamin D levels," said Mary Ann Emanuele, M.D., F.A.C.P., study co-author and professor of medicine, division of endocrinology and metabolism, Loyola University Health System. "This will allow health care professionals to identify a nutrient deficiency early on and intervene to improve the long term health of these individuals."
Vitamin D deficiency also may be associated with hyperglycemia, insulin resistance, hypertension and heart disease. In fact, Penckofer recently published another study in Circulation that reported on the role of chronic vitamin D deficiency in heart disease. The Circulation study authors included Glen W. Sizemore, MD, emeritus professor of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, and Diane E. Wallis, MD, Midwest Heart Specialists, Downers Grove, Ill.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090112121821.htm

High Caffeine Intake Linked To Hallucination Proneness

ScienceDaily (Jan. 14, 2009) — High caffeine consumption could be linked to a greater tendency to hallucinate, a new research study suggests.
People with a higher caffeine intake, from sources such as coffee, tea and caffeinated energy drinks, are more likely to report hallucinatory experiences such as hearing voices and seeing things that are not there, according to the Durham University study.
‘High caffeine users’ – those who consumed more than the equivalent of seven cups of instant coffee a day - were three times more likely to have heard a person’s voice when there was no one there compared with ‘low caffeine users’ who consumed less than the equivalent of one cup of instant coffee a day.  With ninety per cent of North Americans consuming some of form caffeine every day, it is the world's most widely used drug.
The researchers say the findings will contribute to the beginnings of a better understanding of the effect of nutrition on hallucinations. Changes in food and drink consumption, including caffeine intake, could place people in a better position to cope with hallucinations or possibly impact on how frequently they occur, say the scientists.
In the study, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and the Medical Research Council, 200 students were asked about their typical intake of caffeine containing products, such as coffee, tea and energy drinks as well as chocolate bars and caffeine tablets. Their proneness to hallucinatory experiences, and their stress levels, were also assessed. Seeing things that were not there, hearing voices, and sensing the presence of dead people were amongst the experiences reported by some of the participants.
The researchers, whose paper is published in the academic journal Personality and Individual Differences, say their finding could be down to the fact that caffeine has been found to exacerbate the physiological effects of stress. When under stress, the body releases a stress hormone called cortisol. More of this stress hormone is released in response to stress when people have recently had caffeine. It is this extra boost of cortisol which may link caffeine intake with an increased tendency to hallucinate, say the scientists.
Lead author, Simon Jones, a PhD student at Durham University’s Psychology Department, said: “This is a first step towards looking at the wider factors associated with hallucinations. Previous research has highlighted a number of important factors, such as childhood trauma, which may lead to clinically relevant hallucinations. Many such factors are thought to be linked to hallucinations in part because of their impact on the body’s reaction to stress. Given the link between food and mood, and particularly between caffeine and the body’s response to stress, it seems sensible to examine what a nutritional perspective may add.”
Co–author Dr Charles Fernyhough, also from Durham University’s Psychology Department, noted “Our study shows an association between caffeine intake and hallucination-proneness in students. However, one interpretation may be that those students who were more prone to hallucinations used caffeine to help cope with their experiences. More work is needed to establish whether caffeine consumption, and nutrition in general, has an impact on those kinds of hallucination that cause distress.”
Mr Jones added: “Hallucinations are not necessarily a sign of mental illness. Most people will have had brief experiences of hearing voices when there is no one there, and around three per cent of people regularly hear such voices. Many of these people cope well with this and live normal lives. There are, however, a number of organisations, such as the Hearing Voices Network, who can offer support and advice to those distressed by these experiences.”
Caffeine use can lead to a condition called caffeine intoxication. Symptoms include nervousness, irritability, anxiety, muscle twitching, insomnia, headaches, and heart palpitations. This is not commonly seen when daily caffeine intake is less than 250mg.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090113203901.htm

Probiotics May Prevent Certain Allergies In Cesarean-delivered Children But Not In All Children

ScienceDaily (Jan. 14, 2009) — According to a recent study from the University and the University Central Hospital of Helsinki, Finland, no allergy-preventive effect is extended to age 5 years by perinatal supplementation with probiotics in babies at risk for developing allergies; protection is conferred only to Cesarean section babies.
Childhood allergies have increased significantly in industrialized countries during the past few decades. Researchers theorize that this rising incidence is the result of a lowered exposure to bacteria in early childhood. This exposure to microbes appears to be essential in jump-starting the immune system to develop healthy pathways that do not result in allergic conditions.
Additionally, it’s been observed that infants who develop allergies have intestinal bacteria that are distinctly different from those of non-allergic infants, suggesting that the type of intestinal microflora is an important factor in forming allergic conditions.
In a study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (online January 2009) researchers from the University and University Central Hospital of Helsinki conducted a clinical trial of more than 1200 mothers whose infants would be at high risk to develop allergies. During the last month of their pregnancies, the mothers took daily doses of a probiotic mixture or a placebo, and their infants were given the same probiotic mixture plus a prebiotic or a placebo for the first 6 months of their lives. The children were followed for 5 years and evaluated for incidence of allergic diseases.
The authors found that the frequencies of allergic and IgE-associated allergic disease and sensitization were similar in the children who had received probiotic and those who’d gotten placebo. Although there appeared to be a preventive effect at age 2, there was none noted at age 5. Interestingly, in babies born by cesarean section, the researchers found less IgE-associated allergic disease in those who had received the probiotic.
“No allergy-preventive effect is extended to age 5 years by perinatal supplementation with probiotics in babies at risk for developing allergies; protection is conferred only to C-section babies”, says Dr. Mikael Kuitunen from the University Central Hospital of Helsinki. “However, it is possible that stronger and longer stimulation of the infant immune system possibly by varying the strains of bacteria, may result in better allergy-preventive effects.”
Kuitunen M, MD, PhD, Kukkonen K, MD, Juntunen-Backman, MD, PhD, Korpela, Riitta, PhD, Poussa, Tuija, Tuure, Tuula, PhD, Haahtela, Tari, MD, PhD, and Savilahti, Erkki, MD, PhD. Probiotics prevent IgE-associated allergy until age 5 years in cesarean-delivered children but not in the total cohort. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, (in press)

Herbal medicine sales up in sour economy; consumers seek cheaper, but often unproven, options

AP Medical Writer

2:15 PM PST, January 13, 2009

CHICAGO (AP) — The choice between $75 prescription sleeping pills or a $5 herbal alternative is a no-brainer for Cathy and Bernard Birleffi, whose insurance costs have skyrocketed along with the nation's financial woes.

The Calistoga, Calif., couple seem to reflect a trend. With many Americans putting off routine doctor visits and self-medicating to save money, use of alternative treatments is on the rise — even though evidence is often lacking on their safety and effectiveness.

Climbing sales of herbal medicines have paralleled the tanking economy, according to an Associated Press review of recent data from market-watchers and retailers.

One prominent example: Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods Market Inc. says its stores nationwide have seen an increase in sales of nutritional supplements and herbal products in the past several weeks. That's "noteworthy" given the retail industry's financial slump, said Whole Foods spokesman Jeremiah C. McElwee.

While winter is usually a busy time for herbal medicine sales because it's the season for colds and flu, "more people are value shopping" now because of the economy, McElwee said.

Cathy Birleffi says she's among them.

"The doctors are so much higher (in cost), the insurance isn't paying as much," said the 61-year-old self-employed bookkeeper and notary. Her husband, a retired dispatcher, has high blood pressure and seizures. Recent changes in their health insurance coverage resulted in $1,300 in monthly premiums, double what they used to be.

Until they tried herbal alternatives, including valerian for insomnia, "every time I turned around, it was $50 here, $75 there" for prescriptions, Cathy Birleffi said.

High costs of conventional health care and worries about the economy also led Kristen Kemp of Montclair, N.J., to alternatives.

"Just going to the doctor will cost me $20 per kid and I have three kids," said Kemp, 34. Prescriptions are $20 each, too, under the family's insurance plan, so Kemp said she's been giving her kids tea with honey for sore throats and various Chinese herbs for colds and stomachaches. At $10 for a big bottle, the herbs are cheaper even than regular over-the-counter medicines, Kemp said.

"I'm trying to save money," said Kemp, an editor for Cafe Mom, a social networking Web site for mothers. Her husband is in the shaky banking industry.

"Just in case something bad happens to our jobs, I want more money in the bank," she said.

Among data reflecting the trend:

—For the three months that ended Dec. 28, nationwide retail sales of vitamins and supplements totaled nearly $639 million, up almost 10 percent from the same period in 2007. That includes a nearly 6 percent increase in sales of herbal supplements alone, according to Information Resources Inc., a Chicago-based market research firm. Its numbers do not include Wal-Mart or club stores.

—Nationwide herbal and botanical supplement sales totaled $4.8 billion in 2007, when the recession began, up 4.3 percent over 2006. That was a marginally higher increase compared with the previous year, according to Jason Phillips of the Nutrition Business Journal, an industry-tracking publication. Sales of animal oil supplements — mostly fish oils — were up 29 percent from 2006. While that was a decline from the previous year, both categories continued to show strong growth in a faltering economy.

—A government survey released in December said concerns about the cost of conventional medicine influenced Americans' decisions to try alternative remedies. "Nonvitamin, nonmineral natural products," including fish oil and herbal medicines, were the most commonly used alternatives, taken by almost 18 percent of Americans in 2007, the report said. Among those users, roughly a quarter said they delayed or didn't get conventional medical care because of the cost.

Report co-author Richard Nahin of the National Institutes of Health's National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine offered cautionary advice on the topic.

People taking herbal and other supplements should let their doctor know what they're using, said Nahin, acting director of the center's branch that oversees outside research the agency funds.

Supplements and other alternative treatments don't require rigorous testing and government approval. They also can interfere with prescription drugs, and combined, can be life-threatening in rare cases, Nahin said.

His agency also conducts its own research on alternative medicine and offers information about some of the most popular products at its Web site, http://www.nccam.nih.gov.

For example, echinacea is sometimes used for colds and flu. The agency Web site says evidence is mixed on whether it is effective, although one rigorous federally funded study found the herb worked no better against colds than placebo treatment. Echinacea can cause gastrointestinal upsets and allergic symptoms in people with ragweed allergies, the NIH site notes.

Valerian, the herb the Birleffis have used for insomnia, has been shown in some studies to help people sleep better, but evidence from well-designed research is lacking, the agency says. Using it for several weeks is generally thought to be safe, but long-term effects are unknown.

There's scant Western research on fritillary bulb remedies, the ancient Chinese herbal medicine that the Kemp family uses for colds. A test sample examined in a recent Chinese study found elevated amounts of cadmium, a heavy metal linked with cancer.

In December, an American Academy of Pediatrics task force report unrelated to the economic downturn noted that increasing numbers of children are using alternative remedies. It advised pediatricians to get more familiar with some of these treatments and to talk to parents about them.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-meltdown-supplement-sales,0,6155121.story

Could solar industry be storing up a toxic nightmare?
New study argues solar industry must act early to tackle potential toxic eWaste dangers arising from solar panels
John Sterlicchi, BusinessGreen, 14 Jan 2009
Decades after the fledgling semiconductor manufacturing industry caused contamination, deaths and established a still ongoing legacy of millions of tons of e-waste, experts are warning that the booming solar energy sector could be on track to repeat history.
According to new white paper to be released later today by watchdog group the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC), there is a significant environmental impact to today’s manufacture of solar panels that is being widely ignored.
The SVTC - which is starting a new Clean and Just Solar Industry campaign to try and force the emerging industry to clean up its act - argues that the most widely used solar panels are built with materials and processes from the microelectronics industry and therefore can expose workers to a pot pourri of hazardess materials, such as cadmium, lead, mercury, brominated flame retardants and chromium.
The report warns that the solar industry should avoid the mistakes made by the electronics industry, where a lack of environmental planning and oversight resulted in widespread toxic chemical pollution that caused death and injury to workers and people living in nearby communities.
Its legacy includes a growing global tide of toxic electronic waste and now solar panels have the potential to create a huge new wave of e-waste at the end of their useful lives in around 20 to 25 years, the report said.
Consequently, the SVTC is calling for manufacturers to initiate a producer take back scheme, which requires companies to take back their products when users are done with them and ensure that they are recycled safely and responsibly.
It is also advising that manufacturers act early to try and clean up the industry by seeking viable alternatives to known hazardous materials and other substances, such as nanomaterials, which may cause as-yet unknown health and environmental risks.
The watchdog says that while the solar sector is still emerging, there is a limited window of opportunity to ensure that industry is truly clean and green, from its supply chains through product manufacturing, use and end-of-life disposal.
One of the first moves all companies should make, according to SVTC executive director Sheila Davis, is to ensure the safety and wellbeing of workers, which for cost reasons are mainly in China. As consumer product companies have done, she called for solar firms to regularly inspect manufacturing facilities in Asia to ensure conditions are safe.
Solar has tremendous potential to solve energy crises and climate change, she said, but added that the industry's green credentials would take a blow if it did not act early to address the threats posed by hazardous substances.
"We have a tremendous opportunity right now to make sure it is truly sustainable and doesn't create any additional crises in terms of its toxicity and its end-of-life-cycle impacts," she argued.

Growing produce at the White House?

By KATHRYN REM, THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER
Posted Jan 14, 2009 @ 12:23 AM
One by one, Illinois luminaries are migrating to Washington, D.C., to be a part of the Barack Obama presidential administration.
Could a local farmer be part of the mix?
Yes, if a grassroots movement to turn five acres of the White House’s south lawn into an organic fruit and vegetable garden becomes a reality. It’s an idea championed by a central Illinois woman, Terra Brockman of Congerville.
She started a Web site (www.whitehousefarmer.com) that gives the public the chance to nominate candidates for the possible title of White House farmer.
Brockman, founder of The Land Connection, a nonprofit that supports farmers and helps save family farms, said she thinks an Obama garden would encourage other Americans to grow their own produce.
“People in this country should be concerned about having a self-sufficient food supply. What if we were dependent on foreign sources of food? We are becoming more dependent. It’s a matter of national security as much as foreign oil,” said Brockman, a fourth-generation farmer.
The idea of a White House produce garden originated with an October 2008 New York Times Magazine article by food activist Michael Pollan.
“Since enhancing the prestige of farming as an occupation is critical to developing the sun-based regional agriculture we need, the White House should appoint, in addition to a White House chef, a White House farmer,” he writes.
A garden at the White House could turn out to be, he says, the “most symbolically resonant step in building a new American food culture.”
When Eleanor Roosevelt started growing her own produce in 1943, it spawned backyard Victory Gardens that helped feed the nation during wartime. The home gardens were so successful that there were 20 million of them by the end of the war, and they supplied 40 percent of the produce consumed in America.
“The president should throw his support behind a new Victory Garden movement, this one seeking ‘victory’ over three critical challenges we face today: high food prices, poor diets and a sedentary population,” Pollan writes.
The White House chef could use the harvest from a national plot for state dinners and the first family’s meals. Surplus food could be donated to local food banks.
Brockman would like to see a variety of crops in the garden, including those from other countries that reflect ethnic diversity in America.
“A diverse garden is the best kind because it’s sustainable. You don’t have to use any pesticides. I’d like to see my favorites there — arugula, beets, carrots and 30 to 40 varieties of heirloom tomatoes.
And for enormous diversity, Asian greens like bok choy, okra to represent Southern cooking, African greens, Egyptian spinach.”
On her Web site, Brockman cast her own vote for Dennis and Emily Wettstein of Wettstein Organic Farm in the McLean County community of Carlock.
“They can grow anything,” she said.
When told about the nomination, Emily Wettstein said, “I’m kind of flabbergasted.”
The Wettsteins, farmers for more than 20 years, raise corn, soybeans, wheat, oats, hay, chickens, turkeys, beef, lamb, pork, ducks, fruits and vegetables.
In addition to a call for White House farmer, Pollan has a few other suggestions for the new president:
* Double the value of food stamp debit cards when swiped at a farmers market.
* Have the White House observe one meatless day a week.
* Install gardens and kitchens in every primary school, and let the lunchroom staff teach students how to cook.
* Have the first family, when at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., sit down for dinner together at a table (not on TV trays like the Reagans), to set an example for the nation.
* Post White House daily menus on the Web, along with recipes and the names of farmers supplying the food.
Brockman said the idea for www.whitehousefarmer.com came from her father, Herman Brockman, and sister, Beth Brockman.
Nominators have until Inauguration Day next Tuesday to make suggestions for the nation’s official farmer.
“It’s a symbolic gesture,” she said, “but it has the power to change thinking.”

Wall Street Robber Barons Ride Again

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090113_wall_street_robber_barons_ride_again/

Posted on Jan 13, 2009

By Robert Scheer
Why rush to throw another $350 billion of taxpayer money at the Wall Street bandits and their political cronies who created the biggest financial mess since the Great Depression? And why should we taxpayers be expected to double our debt exposure when the 10 still-secret bailout contracts made in the first round are being kept from the public?
We don’t have time, President-elect Barack Obama’s key economic adviser, Lawrence Summers, insisted in a letter to Congress on Monday, promising that the new infusion would not be squandered as was the first installment. But given that Summers is personally as responsible for this meltdown as anyone, why should we trust him on this? Yes, it sounds wonderfully bipartisan that Obama is backing President Bush’s request for spending the money now, short-circuiting congressional inquiry, but it was just that sort of bipartisan politics that created this nightmare.
How insulting that we must now accept Summers’ assurance that the Obama administration will “move quickly to reform a weak and outdated regulatory system to better protect consumers, investors and businesses.” This from the guy who, as President Bill Clinton’s treasury secretary, pushed the deregulation legislation making the subsequent financial crimes of Wall Street legal. The “toxic derivatives” that we taxpayers are now forced to purchase from the Wall Street hustlers were deliberately shielded from all government regulation, thanks to the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, which Summers got Congress to pass in the closing days of the Clinton administration with the same urgency that he now pushes for the new Wall Street handout.
Back then, Summers was a disciple of Robert Rubin, who just last week resigned from his director’s position at Citigroup, the financial conglomerate that grew to unmanageable and corrupt proportions thanks to the empowering legislation that Rubin initiated when he was Clinton’s first treasury secretary. Rubin has been paid more than $115 million plus stock options at Citigroup, and despite his horrid record is a close Obama adviser. It is one of the great swindles of U.S. financial history that Citigroup was bailed out with $45 billion in a deal that could eventually cost taxpayers an additional $269 billion to guarantee those toxic assets that would have been illegal if not for the legislation backed by Rubin and Summers.
How did Obama allow himself to become ensnared with the very same folks who are the most culpable? His treasury secretary nominee, Timothy Geithner, is another Rubin protégé, who, as head of the New York Fed, worked tirelessly with Rubin to concoct the Citigroup bailout. When candidate Obama gave his major economic address back on March 27, he couldn’t have been clearer in condemning the deregulation that Rubin and Summers had engineered:
“Unfortunately, instead of establishing a 21st century regulatory framework, we simply dismantled the old one—aided by a legal but corrupt bargain in which campaign money all too often shaped policy and watered down oversight. In doing so, we encouraged a winner-take-all, anything-goes environment that helped foster devastating dislocations in our economy.”
He was referring to the deregulation legislation that Summers hailed on the day that Clinton signed it into law as “a major step forward to the 21st century.” Now Obama is relying on Summers to reverse a disaster of his own creation. It’s like returning to the same surgeon who almost killed the patient in the first operation to once again cut open the body to repair the damage.
What we need is a second opinion.
Where is the openness and accountability that Obama promised? Why not pause for a few weeks for congressional hearings on how to spend the new money? We don’t even know where the last batch went. On Monday, the Treasury Department finally agreed, and only after a subpoena threat, to turn over to Sen. Carl Levin and his Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations the 10 secret contracts that it signed with top Wall Street firms in the first round of the bailout. Unfortunately, the subcommittee has no plans to make those contracts public, according to a Levin aide quoted in The New York Times.
That is outrageous. This is our money we’re talking about. Why don’t we get to read the fine print in what will end up being trillions of dollars in taxpayer obligations? Because we are suckers, that’s why, and the folks who swindled us into this disaster can count on it.

Economic PTSD: The Psychological Effects of the Recession

By Michael Bader, AlterNet
Posted on January 14, 2009, Printed on January 14, 2009
http://www.alternet.org/story/117762/

Having recently lost 40 percent of my own retirement savings, it's not hard to empathize with others in the same boat, including their feelings of helplessness, rage, guilt and shame.
Empathy for oneself and others is necessary but not sufficient. The antidote to helplessness begins with compassion and acceptance, but it doesn't end there. It involves grief but can't rest there. We need psychological healing but not apart from healing the world.
Outrage is part of the healing that we need. But our public outrage at being betrayed by the greed, mismanagement and political shenanigans that created the current crisis is compromised by all the subtle and secret ways that we avoid confronting painful feelings of helplessness and, instead, irrationally hold ourselves accountable.
This creates a political problem: While the helplessness we feel is legitimate, our ability to rationally respond to it by trying to correct its real structural causes is compromised by the guilt and shame that we've internalized.
Our real responsibility to change the world -- something we can do -- is undermined by the false and self-blaming feelings of responsibility for things that we didn't and can't do. The paradox is that we have to face the ways that we're really helpless in order to own the ways that we're not.
What is the alternative? The alternative to irrational guilt is real innocence. The alternative to denial is grief. And the solution to helplessness is to get angry and fight back.
The problem for progressives is psychological as well as practical. Like everyone else, we struggle with passivity, cynicism and confusion about how to effect change in the current climate.
Some of us are waiting on the sidelines to see what Obama will do, criticizing or celebrating his choice of advisers. Others are actively organizing and participating in various efforts to influence political outcomes. But most of us, I believe, are facing the difficulty of maintaining and building on the hope and passion generated over the last year in the presidential campaign.
In my view, our capacity and energy for political engagement is sapped by hidden psychological reactions to the current economic catastrophe, reactions complicated by feelings of guilt, responsibility and helplessness.
We feel responsible for things we didn't do and helpless in the face of things we could do. We feel guilty when we should feel innocent, cynical when we should feel hopeful and powerless when we should feel powerful. Understanding and resolving this confusion should help progressives enormously.
Everyone processes economic stress and anxiety differently. For every rational response to this recession, there is an irrational one -- one that derives less from objective circumstances and more from the peculiarities of the human psyche. Such peculiarities are no less unreasonable because they are common. Irrational feelings of envy, self-blame and denial rear their ugly heads in many of us, often with painful results. I see them in myself. I see them in friends. And I see them in my clients.
Self-blame is one of the most insidious and common of these reactions. It's not that we blame ourselves for failing to anticipate the exact moment when the stock market began to collapse, although some do. Most of us are too rational to openly fault ourselves for not being that omniscient.
Instead, the self-blaming is subtler and starts a little later in the time-line, e.g., I should have moved everything to cash when it first happened, or I was in denial and now I'm paying for it, or So-and-So predicted that the bottom was falling out, and I just didn't listen.
Sometimes, such guilt is spiced up with a dash of envy: My neighbor just sold his house and was sitting on the profits waiting to buy another one -- the lucky bastard. Or, my brother-in-law saw this coming and moved to the sidelines a year ago, or even, from one patient, my best friend consulted a psychic last spring who convinced her to get completely out of the stock market!
Such stories, real and apocryphal, invariably provoke twinges of envy and self-criticism. Their good fortune highlights our failure. Often, such self-castigation continues right up to the present: I should probably get out now, but am afraid I'll miss the recovery. The implied judgment here is "fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me." Whatever the facts of the matter (even the savviest of investors are not sure what to do at the moment), the underlying sentiment involves blaming oneself for some mistake, failure of nerve, intelligence or judgment.
In fact, while individuals here and there may have outguessed the markets, most of us didn't. And when "most of us" find ourselves in a similar predicament, that predicament can't possibly be an individual problem or be reasonably solved by individuals making smarter or more rational decisions.
When the dot-com bubble burst in the spring of 2000, many of my patients blamed themselves for being too greedy, or for going against their common sense by listening too much to their brokers, or for going along with the herd even though they knew better.
The fact that millions of people were saying the exact same thing didn't mitigate the painful feelings of responsibility and guilt that they had then, and such facts don't seem to alter similar feelings today. People feel a deep need, almost a compulsion, to take on individual responsibility for their lot in life, despite oceans of evidence that they're victims of forces they cannot individually control. And every story of someone who beat the odds, bet against the market, or escaped unscathed just serves to reinforce this self-blaming tendency.
If there's one thing I've learned from my work over 30 years with people who have been hurt or traumatized, it's this: Human beings can't tolerate helplessness. When we're helpless, we feel an unconscious need to spin a story about it, a story in which we somehow had choices or one in which our suffering had some transcendent meaning.
One of my patients lost everything in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. Even though she had retrofitted her house in exactly the same casual way as her neighbors, she criticized herself for not hiring a top-flight structural engineer to insure that the retrofit was state-of-the-art.
Another patient dealt with feelings of loss about finally leaving her abusive boyfriend of seven years by feeling guilty that she hadn't given him enough "chances." Abused children routinely blame themselves for their parents' neglect and violence. In each of these cases, we see someone who can't feel cleanly and simply victimized, who can't feel helpless and who certainly cannot feel innocent.
Innocence and helplessness are intertwined in our psyches. After all, if we're truly helpless, we should feel innocent and not guilty. If we can't really control a situation, then we can't be responsible for its outcome. But since our psyches can't tolerate facing helplessness, then we will also have a problem feeling innocent. For example, when people are given a chance to talk at length about financial losses over which they had no control, there is usually more than a trace of guilt.
Recently, I've had the opportunity to listen to people who were swindled by Bernard Madoff blame themselves for having trusted him. Their outrage and despair is contaminated by an irrational guilt, irrational because while they might have been legally responsible for their investment, it was obviously not a "choice" in the sense for which they blame themselves. Madoff had impeccable credentials and came highly recommended by all the "experts."
It would be like women in the 1950s blaming themselves for babies born with birth defects because they took the Thalidomide prescribed by their doctors for morning sickness. Choice, responsibility and guilt would hardly be reasonable considerations here, and yet, we all know that this is exactly what many of these women felt then, and it's what victimized shareholders privately feel now. We have a difficult time feeling innocent and helpless. 
Why is this? Well, we certainly have a culture that idealizes individual responsibility, that idealizes the "self-made man" who succeeds despite all obstacles. Despite abundant evidence demonstrating the near-impossibility of overcoming the combined constraints of social class, education, early child-rearing, cultural norms and even chance, it's almost impossible to shake off the notion that we live in a meritocracy that rewards the worthy. Because some people overcome the odds, just like some people anticipated this recession, there can be no innocent victims here. Since everybody in the same situation doesn't fail, then failure has to be an individual matter.
Or perhaps there is something quintessentially human about free choice -- namely, that even in the harshest and most constrained of environments, we are compelled to believe we're free, that we have choices, that, we believe, with philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, that "freedom is what you do with what's been done to you." Perhaps I can't control my external environment, but I can control how I feel about it.
Thus, despite being objectively helpless, whether in the face of a stock market crash or an economic recession, a natural disaster or the gross injustice of other people, we will always believe that there's something we could have done about it then or can do about it now, and blame ourselves if such reactions are absent.
A deeper and, in my view, more important source of the difficulty most people have feeling helpless and innocent lies in the psychology of childhood. The psychoanalyst W.R.D. Fairbairn once said, "Children would rather be sinners in heaven than saints in hell." What he meant was that children would prefer to believe that they come from a just and good family in which they were bad than an unjust or bad family in which they were good.
For this reason, abused children often report that they provoked their parents' violence, and adults often qualify accounts of their own early beatings with the caveat that they were "difficult" children.
Most people can't let themselves feel innocent, because in a truly moral universe their caregivers would then have to be guilty, and that recognition is intolerable. It would mean that they, as children, were not protected, that the attachment necessary to their psychological survival was absent, disturbed or even dangerous, and that the beings upon whom they helplessly depended might, at times, have meant harm.
Children can rarely face this emotional reality, and neither can most adults. It is not even necessary that these perceptions be objectively true -- it is the subjective experience of parental failures that is so frightening, it leads to self-blaming.
I think that the residue of this childhood denial can be found in the last-ditch psychic efforts of many of the people I know and treat to continue to believe in the goodness of our political and financial institutions. Our public outrage at being betrayed by the greed, mismanagement and political shenanigans that created the current crisis is compromised by all the subtle and secret ways that we irrationally hold ourselves accountable.
This creates a political problem: While the helplessness we feel is legitimate, our ability to rationally respond to it by trying to correct its real structural causes is compromised by the guilt and shame that we've internalized. Our real responsibility to change the world -- something we can do -- is undermined by our false and self-blaming feelings of responsibility for things that we didn't and can't do.
To say the obvious: We're not children objectively helpless in the face of overwhelming parental authority. The system has been rigged against us, but it doesn't have to be. Our culpability is not in having trusted this system, but in not seeing that -- unlike children in a family -- we currently have the freedom to change it. The paradox is that we have to face the ways that we're really helpless in order to own the ways that we're not.
The argument that most of us irrationally resist feeling helpless and innocent may seem spurious given how often we hear parents, teachers, pundits and politicians extol the importance of personal responsibility. And isn't it true that too many, not too few, people seem to blame others constantly for their own problems? How can I argue that people suffer from an inability to feel helpless and innocent rather than an inability to take responsibility?
Here's why: Public displays of innocence are almost always defenses against private feelings of self-blame. In both my personal and clinical experience, the louder someone proclaims his or her victimization, the more guilty that person is liable to feel underneath. The reason is simple: guilt and self-blame are too painful for most people to consciously tolerate for too long. They're compelled to externalize it, vainly trying to convince themselves and others that they're innocent victims and that everyone else is to blame for their predicament.
Such folks -- and there are many -- appear to wrap themselves in the flag of helpless and blameless innocence. Secretly, however, they feel guilty. This system isn't stable because it rests on a foundation of guilt and its denial, and thus the cycle of blame and guilt goes on endlessly.
Most of us are, in fact, helpless and innocent victims of the breakdown of an economic system rigged to benefit the rich. However much we might have, at times, followed our worst instincts when it came to spending, debt and investments, we are not to blame for our current predicament.
We need to develop compassion for ourselves and each other. We need to mourn the loss of our money and the financial dreams that they fueled. This is not to say that we won't recover some of our losses or shouldn't have dreams, but we can't turn back the clock and pretend that this catastrophe hasn't happened.
Thus, like mourning the death of a loved one, we have to come to terms with a new reality in a way that allows us to experience a range of normal reactions, reactions we can openly share with others rather than hide in the closet as if they were private failures and sources of shame. I have too many patients and friends who are ashamed of talking about their financial losses for fear of being judged. Shame makes loss and trauma indigestible.
And, finally, we have to get angry, get organized and empower ourselves to change a system over which we have had too little control. It is -- and should be -- infuriating that economic elites, along with their political enablers, have gamed the system such that they've reaped astronomical benefits while exposing the rest of us to the toxic byproducts of their greed and indifference.

Skin Pigment Disease Reversed with Piperine Nutrient From Black Pepper

(NaturalNews) An extract derived from black pepper may be able to help reverse the effects of the skin pigmentation disease known as vitiligo, according to research conducted by scientists from Kings College London and published in the Ridge Journal of Dermatology.

Vitiligo is a disease in which sections of the skin lose their pigmentation and turn white, often leading to a blotchy, mottled look. Because melanin, the chemical that gives skin its pigmentation, also protects against the ultraviolet radiation causes skin cancer, people with vitiligo may be at increased risk for that disease.

The current study focused on piperine, the chemical that gives black pepper its spiciness. Researchers applied piperine and its synthetic derivatives to the skin of mice, and found that doing so caused the animals' skin to turn an even light brown after only six weeks.

When combined with ultraviolet radiation treatment, piperine caused the mice's skin to become darker faster. The effect was also more long-lasting

The researchers noted the advantages of piperine over the current methods used to treat vitiligo. While ultraviolet radiation alone does cause repigmentation of the skin, the color produced is patchy, and the use of frequent radiation treatments increases a patient's risk of skin cancer. Corticosteroid treatments, on the other hand, only work in 25 percent of patients.

"Vitiligo is a highly visible disease that can greatly affect patients psychologically and emotionally," said Nina Goad of the British Association of Dermatologists. "Any breakthrough in treatments of this disease is most welcome. These findings could potentially lead to the development of treatments that not only provide improved results, but could also reduce the need for ultraviolet radiation in vitiligo treatment, in turn lowering the risk of skin cancer."

Approximately one in 100 people in the United States suffer from vitiligo, which is believed to result from a combination of autoimmune, environmental and genetic factors. Among most well-known sufferers is pop musician Michael Jackson.

http://www.naturalnews.com/025302.html

Four Herbs to Ease the Symptoms of Menopause

(NaturalNews) Menopause can cause a number of mild to severe symptoms such as mood disturbances, vaginal dryness, sleep disturbances and hot flashes. Yet many people don`t realize that these symptoms are a result of a physical imbalance. Herbs, along with plenty of exercise and a healthy diet can bring the body into balance and ease the symptoms durng this time of life. Here are 4 herbs that can effectively alleviate menopausal symptoms.

Black Cohosh

Black cohosh grows in Eastern North America. It contains phytochemicals that have been shown to help with menopause. It is believed that Black cohosh may contain phytoestrogens that work very much like natural estrogen. Black cohosh may work directly on the hypothalamus, which is located at the base of the brain and regulates body temperature, hormone production, and other functions associated with menopause.

Black cohosh can relieve symptoms including night sweats, hot flashes, anxiety, and depression. In a recent study, 80% of women taking a black cohosh supplement experienced an improvement in their hot flashes, sweating, and heart palpitations.

Dong Quai

Dong quai, also known as Chinese Angelica, is a Chinese herb and is one of the most well known herbs for treating the symptoms of menopause. Dong quai contains phytoestrogens that bind to the estrogen receptors in our body, increasing the levels of estrogen. Benefits include a reduction in hot flashes, mood swings, anxiety, and vaginal dryness. In clinical studies, women taking dong quai reported a 25% decrease in the severity of their symptoms.

Maca Root

Maca comes from South America, and has been used for centuries to treat menopause and other sexual health complaints. It helps to balance out estrogen and progesterone, as well as other hormones to relieve symptoms and promote optimum health. It is known to be highly effective at reducing hot flashes and vaginal dryness. It can also restore sex drive that was lost during menopause, boost memory and decrease the effects of osteoporosis.

Red Clover

Red clover grows naturally in Europe and Asia. It is well known as a powerful herb for all menopausal symptoms. Red clover is one of the primary sources of phytoestrogens, which are plant estrogens that mimic the female sex hormone. These phytoestrogens help to increase the levels of estrogen in the body, thus relieving menopausal symptoms.

Studies on red clover have verified that it does reduce menopause symptoms such as hot flashes and mood swings. In a recent study in the Netherlands, women taking a red clover reported a 44% decrease in their hot flashes over 8 weeks. Red clover is also believed to fight osteoporosis, and increase the amount of high-density lipoprotein, or "good" cholesterol, in the bloodstream. This has been linked to reducing the risk of heart disease in menopausal women.

http://www.naturalnews.com/025300.html

FDA Scientists Accuse Own Administration of Corruption, Intimidation and Scientific Censorship

by Mike Adams, NaturalNews Editor

(NaturalNews) FDA scientists have become so fed up with the criminal behavior of their own administration that they've filed a strongly-worded complaint with President-elect Obama, alleging the FDA has been deeply "corrupted and distorted."

FDA managers, the letter explains, are "placing the American people at risk" by using tactics of intimidation to censor scientific debate within the FDA. This scientific censorship agenda, of course, mirrors the exact same tactics used by the FDA outside the agency against makers of nutritional supplements or herbal products. Intimidation and censorship, it seems, are part of the very fabric of the FDA.

The letter explains that FDA managers "have ignored serious safety and effectiveness concerns of FDA experts." It then goes on to explain:

"Managers have ordered, intimidated and coerced FDA experts to modify scientific evaluations, conclusions and recommendations in violation of the laws, rules and regulations, and to accept clinical and technical data that is not scientifically valid."

In other words, the FDA is being run like a criminal mob operation with a complete disregard for actual science.

Fascinatingly, this letter shows that the FDA's own scientists agree with the NaturalNews view that the FDA is running a criminal racket, using the very same tactics relied on by organized crime!

The scientists also complain that FDA managers "committed the most outrageous misconduct by ordering, coercing and intimidating FDA physicians and scientists to recommend approval, and then retaliating when the physicians and scientists refused to go along."

This is the latest escalation in a war of words between FDA scientists and FDA managers. A previous incident occurred in November, 2008, when many of the same scientists sent a letter to members of Congress and the House Energy and Commerce Committee (http://www.naturalnews.com/024910.html). NaturalNews characterized the action as a "revolt" of FDA scientists.

That revolt has apparently escalated into something that might turn into outright mutiny.

The fraud of mammography

In this most recent letter, which was acquired by the Wall Street Journal (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1231425...), the scientists also specifically named mammography devices as being fraudulently approved by the FDA. Mammography equipment has never been proven safe and effective at preventing breast cancer, and the FDA's own scientists explain that the equipment produces far too many false positives which result in unnecessary (toxic) cancer treatments being given to otherwise healthy women.

Mammography equipment, of course, emits so much radiation that it actually causes breast cancer. As previous scientific studies have shown, ten women are harmed by mammograms for every one woman that's helped (http://www.naturalnews.com/024536.html).

But the FDA approved mammography equipment anyway, despite its complete lack of scientific support. Why did they do that? Because mammography is a recruiting tool for the profit-focused cancer industry, and the more women get mammograms, the more can be scared into submitting to expensive, profitable breast cancer treatments.

It's quite a scam. And the FDA's own scientists are onto it.

The bottom line? FDA bureaucrats need to be arrested

It's quite clear that there's a war brewing between FDA scientists and FDA bureaucrats (managers). The managers are operating as criminals, using intimidation, censorship, and all sorts of other arm-twisting tactics to try to force the scientists to approve dangerous medical devices or drugs.

The scientists, on the other hand, are trying to protect consumers. They're attempting to apply good science to their decisions, but they're being overruled by the political decisions of FDA managers, many of which have undisclosed financial ties to drug companies and medical device manufacturers.

It's time to end this criminal racket at the FDA. NaturalNews urges Obama to announce a clean sweep of the FDA where top managers are placed under arrest, investigated and prosecuted for their crimes against the People of the United States of America.

NaturalNews will be sponsoring an online petition later this month that calls for the Obama administration to reform the FDA and restore health freedoms to the American people.

To put it bluntly, the FDA has become an enemy of the People, and in order to protect the People, we must end the tyranny of the FDA.

This inescapable fact is now so apparent that even the FDA's own scientists are saying much the same thing.

NaturalNews is available to receive leaks from FDA scientists who wish to serve the public interest by exposing certain pieces of information from inside the FDA. Our commitment to protecting our sources is unparalleled. We will guarantee 100% anonymity to any source from inside the FDA that leaks information to us, as long as you follow our instructions below (you can assume your home phone and personal emails are tapped).

Contact us through a public internet cafe, public library computer or a friend's computer. Post your information to our feedback form and provide a way that we can (indirectly) reach you or get you a message. Do NOT use your FDA email, home phone number, cell phone number or other information that could be linked directly back to you. It would not be beyond the FDA to use secret police-style tactics to conduct surveillance on their own dissenting scientists, or to even put a bullet in the head of a scientist they discovered was leaking secrets. After all, if the agency is willing to sacrifice the lives of millions of American consumers in order to protect the profits of drug companies and medical device manufacturers, they certainly wouldn't hesitate to take out a rogue scientist who threatened to expose their crimes. Please exercise extreme caution and take all necessary steps to protect yourself.

NaturalNews supports FDA scientists like Dr. David Graham. We understand that the managers and bureaucrats have corrupted the agency, and we support the plight of FDA scientists who wish to see their own agency reformed and credibility restored. The way to do that is to see the removal or arrest of top FDA managers. And the easiest way to accomplish that is to go public with information that would expose their crimes.

Remember this: The FDA is only one scandal away from total reform. If a big enough scandal can be made public, the outcry for reform would give Washington lawmakers the political clout they need to take serious action at the FDA. And that's the only way FDA scientists are ever going to get their power back.

http://www.naturalnews.com/025298.html

Brussels Sprouts Defend against All Types of Cancer

(NaturalNews) Plant phytonutrients found in Brussels sprouts boost the body`s natural defense systems to protect against cancer and other diseases. Brussels sprouts and other cruciferous vegetables disarm cancer causing chemicals and encourage the body`s detoxification enzymes.

Evidence in the Netherlands suggests that Brussels sprouts keep the body free from cancer by promoting healthy DNA. DNA is responsible for cell division in the body. When DNA gets damaged, cells may begin to replicate much more rapidly than normal, which can cause a cancerous tumor to begin to form. Several studies reveal that Brussels sprouts have the ability to help protect DNA from damage.

Researchers compared two groups of healthy men. Half of these men ate 300 grams of Brussels sprouts daily, while the other men didn`t have any cruciferous vegetables in their diet. After three weeks, the men who ate their daily dose of Brussels sprouts had a 28% decrease in measured DNA damage.

Diminish Digestive Cancers with Brussels Sprouts

The phytonutrients in Brussels sprouts have been shown to protect against heterocyclic amines, which are the carcinogenic compounds found in grilled and charbroiled meat. These carcinogens are particularly associated with colon cancer. The study, published in Carcinogenesis, found that animals that were given Brussels sprout juice and heterocyclic amine carcinogen were less likely to develop the cancer.

The animals given Brussels sprouts had a reduction in pre-cancerous cells in the colon of 41-52% in the colon and 27-67% in the liver, and drastically diminished the size (85-91%) of pre-cancerous lesions in the liver. These amazing results seem to be a result of Brussels sprouts potent ability to detoxify the body and clear out the colon.

Brussels sprouts are also packed with fiber, which nourishes the cells lining the walls of the colon and prevents colon problems including cancer.

Brussels Sprouts Fight Bladder Cancer

Research published in the International Journal of Cancer shows that Brussels sprouts protect against bladder cancer. The diets of 697 people who were recently diagnosed with bladder cancer were compared with 708 people with the same age, gender and ethnicity who were healthy. The average daily intake of Brussels sprouts and other cruciferous vegetables was significantly lower in those with bladder cancer than in their healthy counterparts. Those who had the highest intake of Brussels sprouts and cruciferous vegetables had a 29% lower risk of bladder cancer that those who ate the least.

The benefits of these vegetables were highest in those who have the highest risk of bladder cancer, including men, smokers and older individuals.

Brussels sprout`s bladder cancer properties appear to come from their high levels isothiocyanates, which are potent anti-carcinogens. Isothiocyanates travel through the bladder to be excreted, making them particularly powerful against this form of cancer.

Breast Cancer Protection

Sulforaphane is released by Brussels sprouts and has been proven to trigger the liver to produce enzymes that detoxify the body of cancer-causing chemicals They have been shown to inhibit chemically-induced breast cancers in animal studies. Research published in the Journal of Nutrition shows that sulforaphane can halt the proliferation of breast cancer cells, even in the later stages of their growth.

Defend Against Prostate Cancer

Research at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle studied 1,000 men. It was shown that eating 28 servings of different vegetables a week reduced their risk of prostate cancer by 35%. But those who ate 3 or more servings of cruciferous vegetables each week had a 44% lower prostate cancer risk.

Many people claim to not enjoy eating Brussels sprouts. If you are not a fan of this incredible food, try chopping them up into tiny peices and sprinkling them over a salad. You won`t even be able to taste them but you will still get the health enhancing benefits and defend your body against disease.

http://www.naturalnews.com/025297.html

Orange drinks with 300 times more pesticide than tap water

Last updated at 12:53 AM on 05th January 2009

Fizzy drinks sold by Coca-Cola in Britain have been found to contain pesticides at up to 300 times the level allowed in tap or bottled water.
A worldwide study found pesticide levels in orange and lemon drinks sold under the Fanta brand, which is popular with children, were at their highest in the UK.
The research team called on the Government, the industry and the company to act to remove the chemicals and called for new safety standards to regulate the soft drinks market.
The industry denies children are at risk and insists that the levels found by researchers based at the University of Jaen in southern Spain are not harmful.
The researchers tested 102 cans and bottles of soft drinks, bought from 15 countries, for the presence of 100 pesticides. The UK products were bought in London, Cambridge, Edinburgh, St Andrews and at Gatwick Airport.
The experts said the levels found were low under the maximum residue levels allowed for fruit, but they were 'very high' and 'up to 300 times' the figure permitted for bottled or tap water.
The chemicals detected included carbendazim, thiabendazole, imazalil, prochloraz, malathion and iprodione. They are mainly applied to fruit after harvest to stop it developing fungal infections and rotting.
A total of 19 products were bought in the UK, all made by Coca-Cola.
Two orange drinks bought in the UK contained imazalil at 300 times the limit permitted for a single pesticide in drinking water.
Two similar products contained 98 times the legal drinking water limit for thiabendazole.
The average level of the total pesticide contamination of the British drinks was 17.4 parts per billion  -  34.6 times the EU maximum residue level for water.
Coca-Cola GB insisted the products are safe. A spokesman said: 'All of the drinks tested meet the safety regulations relating to food products made from agricultural ingredients, which include drinks with fruit juice as an ingredient.
'The generally miniscule levels that were detected were well within the acceptable daily intake levels and these findings should reassure consumers there is no safety issue here.'

US lets drugmakers advise doctors on unapproved uses
Last Updated: 2009-01-12 13:00:51 -0400 (Reuters Health)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. regulators issued guidelines on Monday that make it easier for drug companies and medical device makers to advise doctors about unapproved uses of their products.
The Food and Drug Administration finalized a proposal issued in February 2008 that lets companies distribute medical journal articles describing unapproved uses.
By law, manufacturers are prohibited from marketing their medicines for uses not approved by the FDA. But doctors can prescribe drugs for unapproved uses, a practice known as "off-label" use.
Distribution of medical literature suggesting a drug may have merit for an unapproved use is a marketing area that has been in dispute for years.
The new guidelines say the FDA "recognizes that the public health can be served when health-care professionals receive truthful and non-misleading scientific and medical information on unapproved uses of approved or cleared medical products."
The agency said it added a statement encouraging companies to seek FDA approval for the unapproved uses.

Most U.S. health agency heads replaced before Obama
Last Updated: 2009-01-12 11:00:40 -0400 (Reuters Health)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Most of the heads of the U.S. agencies under the Health and Human Services Department will be replaced by their deputies by Jan. 20, when Barack Obama is sworn in as president, employees learned on Friday.
An e-mail issued on Friday evening listed all of the agency heads who will go, ranging from the director of the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention to the head of the Food and Drug Administration.
Incoming presidents traditionally name the heads of agencies, especially with a change of party. Obama, a Democrat, is replacing Republican George W. Bush.
Obama has named Tom Daschle, a former senator, to be head of the Health and Human Services Department. Daschle has said he will act quickly to name permanent new heads of agencies such as the FDA.
Here is a list of some of the affected agencies:
FDA - Frank Torti, now principal deputy commissioner and chief scientist, will replace Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach.
CDC - William Gimson, now chief operating officer, will replace Dr. Julie Gerberding, who resigned this week.
Rear Adm. Steven Galson is already the acting U.S. surgeon-general.
Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services - Charlene Frizzera, now chief operating officer, will replace acting director Kerry Weems.
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality - Dr. Carolyn Clancy will stay on as director.
Administration for Children and Families - Curtis Coy, now deputy assistant secretary for administration, will replace Daniel Schneider.
National Institutes of Health - Raynard Kington is already acting director after Dr. Elias Zerhouni resigned last year.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration - Eric Broderick will stay on as acting administrator.

Making The Most Of It: Study Reveals Motivating Factor For Enjoying The Present

ScienceDaily (Jan. 13, 2009) — It is common knowledge that when something becomes scarce, its value goes up. This concept does not just apply to material goods—time can be an extremely valuable commodity, especially when it is in short supply. According to a new study, thinking that we have a limited amount of time remaining to participate in an activity makes us appreciate the activity that much more and motivates us to make the most of it.
Psychologist Jaime L. Kurtz from Pomona College investigated how our behavior and attitude towards an activity change when there is a limited amount of time remaining to engage in it. A group of college seniors participated in this study, which occurred 6 weeks prior to graduation. Every day for two weeks, the students were to write about their college experiences, including the activities they participated in. The experiment was designed so that some of the students were to think about graduation as a far-off event and some students were told to think about graduation as occurring very soon.
The results, reported in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, reveal that the students' behavior was influenced by how the graduation deadline was framed (that is, whether graduation was occurring shortly or in the future).
It turns out that the students who thought of graduation as occurring very soon reported participating in more college-related activities compared to the students who thought of graduation as a far-off event. Kurtz surmises that when faced with the imminent end of college, students were more motivated to take advantage of the time they had left in school and participate in as many events as possible—the students realized it would be their last chance to engage in college-related activities.
Kurtz notes that although it may seem counterintuitive, these findings support the idea that "thinking about an experience's future ending can enhance one's present experience of it". In addition, Kurtz suggests that "focusing on the fact the experiences like these are fleeting enhances enjoyment by creating a 'now or never' type of motivation".

Letting Infants Watch TV Can Do More Harm Than Good

ScienceDaily (Jan. 13, 2009) — A leading child expert is warning parents to limit the amount of television children watch before the age of two, after an extensive review published in the January issue of Acta Paediatrica showed that it can do more harm than good to their ongoing development.
Professor Dimitri A Christakis, from the Seattle Children’s Research Institute and the University of Washington, USA, has also expressed considerable concerns about DVDs aimed at infants that claim to be beneficial, despite a lack of scientific evidence.
And he points out that France has already taken the matter so seriously that in summer 2008 the Government introduced tough new rules to protect the health and development of children under three from the adverse effects of TV.
Professor Christakis’ extensive review looked at 78 studies published over the last 25 years and reiterates the findings of numerous studies he has carried out with colleagues into this specialist area.
He points out that as many as nine in ten children under the age of two watch TV regularly, despite ongoing warnings, and some spend as much as 40 per cent of their waking hours in front of a TV.
“No studies to date have demonstrated benefits associated with early infant TV viewing” says Professor Christakis, whose review looked at the effect that TV has on children’s language, cognitive skills and attentional capacity, as well as areas for future research.
“The weight of existing evidence suggests the potential for harm and I believe that parents should exercise due caution in exposing infants to excessive media” he says.
“For example, the American Academy of Paediatrics discourages TV viewing in the first two years of life, but only six per cent of parents are aware of this advice despite ongoing publicity.”
Key findings of Professor Christakis’ review includes:

• 29 per cent of parents who took part in a survey of 1,000 American families published in 2007 said they let their infants watch TV because they thought it was “good for their brains”. But claims made by manufacturers are not substantiated by peer-reviewed medical papers and industry studies.
• Watching TV programmes or DVDs aimed at infants can actually delay language development, according to a number of studies. For example, a 2008 Thai study published in Acta Paediatrica found that if children under 12 months watched TV for more than two hours a day they were six times more likely to have delayed language skills. Another study found that children who watched baby DVDs between seven and 16 months knew fewer words than children who did not.
• Infants as young as 14 months will imitate what they see on a TV screen, but they learn better from live presentations. For example, one study found that children learnt Mandarin Chinese better from a native speaker than they did from a video of the same speaker.
• A study of 1,300 children conducted by the author and colleagues in 2004 found a modest association between TV viewing before the age of three and attentional problems at the age of seven, after a wide range of other factors were ruled out.
• In another study, the author and colleagues looked at the effects of early TV viewing on cognitive development at school age. They found that children who had watched a lot of TV in their early years did not perform as well when they underwent tests to check their reading and memory skills.
• More than one in five parents who took part in another study said that they got their infants to watch TV when they needed time to themselves. This, says the author, is an understandable and realistic need, but not one that should be actively promoted.

But why does television have such a negative effect on children of this age? “We believe that one reason is the fact that it exposes children to flashing lights, scene changes, quick edits and auditory cuts which may be over stimulating to developing brains” says Professor Christakis. “TV also replaces other more important and appropriate activities like playing or interacting with parents.”
There have been concerns about infants viewing TV for the last four decades but it has only been in recent years that studies have provided the empirical data to back up those concerns.
“The explosion in infant TV viewing and the potential risks associated with it raise several important policy implications” concludes Professor Christakis.
“First and foremost, the lack of regulation related to claims made by people promoting programmes and DVDs aimed at infants is problematic. Educational claims should, and can, be based on scientific data. Despite this, the names of the products and the testimonials they use often convince parents that TV viewing has a positive impact on their infants.
“Secondly, parents need to be better informed about what activities really do promote healthy development in young children. This may provide some defence against the aggressive marketing techniques being employed.
“Last, but not least, more resources need to be made available to fund critical research related to the effects of media on young children.”
Journal reference: Acta Paediatrica. 98, pp 8-16. (January 2009).
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090113074419.htm

HRT 'can shrink women's brains'
Some forms of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) can slightly shrink the brains of post-menopausal women, a US study has suggested.
The findings may help explain previous work linking HRT to an increased risk of memory loss and dementia.
A team led by researchers at Wake Forest University carried out brain scans on 1,400 women aged 71 to 89 who took part in an earlier HRT trial.
But UK experts said the study, published in Neurology, had flaws.
Significant numbers of women take hormones, including the female sex hormone oestrogen, to reduce the unpleasant symptoms of the menopause, such as hot flushes, mood changes, and thinning of the bones.
However, research has linked HRT to a raised risk of some forms of cancer.
The latest study found two key areas of the brain involved in thinking and memory were smaller in women who had taken HRT than in those who had been given a "dummy" placebo pill.
Brain volume was 2.37 cubic centimetres lower in the frontal lobe and 0.10 cubic centimetres lower in the hippocampus.
However, the researchers admit they were unable to carry out brain scans before the women began taking HRT.
And the results suggest shrinkage was most pronounced in women who may already have started to develop memory problems before they started taking hormones.
Lead researcher Dr Susan Resnick, from the US National Institute on Ageing, said: "Our findings suggest that hormone therapy in older post-menopausal women has a negative effect on brain structures important in maintaining normal memory functioning.
"However, this negative effect was most pronounced in women who already may have had some memory problems before using hormone therapy, suggesting that the therapy may have accelerated a neurodegenerative disease process that had already begun."
Dr David Sturdee, president of the International Menopause Society, said 49% of the women in the study were over 70.
In contrast, women in the UK are typically offered HRT between the ages of 45 and 60.
He said brain shrinkage among women of a relatively advanced age was not a surprising finding.
"The benefits (of HRT) are still way in excess of the risks."
HRT is known to increase the risk of a stroke, and it had been assumed that women's memory might be affected by the build up of damage caused by "silent" strokes.
However, researchers found no evidence of an increase in the volume of such damage among women taking HRT.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/7825116.stm

Vitamin C may improve blood pressure: Study

Nutraingredients.com, 13-Jan-2009

High intakes of vitamin C may protect against blood pressure increases in young women, according to a new study from the US.

Researchers, led by Gladys Block from the University of California, Berkeley, report that a one mg per decilitre increase in blood vitamin C levels was linked to a 4.1 and 4.0 mmHg in systolic and diastolic blood pressures.
The study, said to be the first to report a relationship between blood vitamin C levels and blood pressure in young women with normal blood pressure, is published in the open-access Nutrition Journal.
“Lowering BP or attenuating increases in BP in healthy young adults may lead to lower BP in older adults and reduced risk of age-associated vascular events,” wrote the authors.
“This study suggests that vitamin C may be an important factor in BP regulation even among health young adults, and that further study is warranted.”
High blood pressure (hypertension),defined as having a systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP) greater than 140 and 90 mmHg, is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) - a disease that causes almost 50 per cent of deaths in Europe, and reported to cost the EU economy an estimated €169bn ($202bn) per year.
Study details
Block and her co-workers recruited 242 women aged between 18 and 21. Two-thirds of the women were African-American, while the other third was Caucasian. The blood levels of vitamin C of the women ranged from 0.22 to 3.13 mg/dL.
During follow-up over a ten year period, the researchers noted that blood vitamin C levels were inversely associated with both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. The effects were still observed after the researchers accounted for the race, body mass index, and dietary intake of fat and sodium of the women.
Indeed, women with the highest vitamin C levels were found to have systolic and diastolic blood pressure 4.66 mmHg and 6.04 mmHg lower than women with the lowest vitamin C levels.
“A 1 mg/dL increase in plasma ascorbic acid levels was associated with 4.1 mmHg lower systolic blood pressure and 4.0 mmHg lower diastolic blood pressure,” wrote Block and her co-workers. “Plasma ascorbic acid levels in this cohort ranged from 0.22 to 3.13 mg/dL, indicating that a 1 mg/dL change in plasma ascorbic acid level is achievable in this young population.”
Mechanism
While the researchers did not perform a study to elucidate the mechanism, they did state that other studies have offered a “substantial biologic rationale for a causal role of ascorbic acid in maintaining normal BP”.
While a potential role for vitamin C may via an antioxidant mechanism, there is also the possibility that he nutrient’s other functions may be having an effect. These include a role in the function of smooth muscle function, or prevention of nitric oxide (a vasodilator or compound that opens up the blood vessels), they said.
Source: Nutrition Journal
7:35 doi:10.1186/1475-2891-7-35
“Vitamin C in plasma is inversely related to blood pressure and change in blood pressure during the previous year in young Black and White women”
Authors: G. Block, C.D. Jensen, E.P. Norkus, M. Hudes, P.B. Crawford
vitamin C and Blood Pressure

Probiotics may improve alcoholics’ liver health: Study

Nutraingredients.com, 13-Jan-2009

A pilot study from Russia and the US indicates that supplements of Bifidobacterium bifidum and Lactobacillus plantarum 8PA3 may improve the health of an alcoholic’s liver.

Writing in the journal Alcohol, researchers from Northern State Medical University in Russia and the University of Louisville School of Medicine also report that short-term supplementation improved the gut health of alcoholics.
“The present study demonstrates several potentially important and novel results,” wrote lead author Irina Kirpich. “First, it is the largest study to date demonstrating specific alterations in the bowel flora of alcoholics.
“Secondly, this is the first human pilot study demonstrating a potential therapeutic role for probiotics in the short-term treatment of alcoholic liver disease. Probiotic therapy was associated with an increase in the number of fecal bifidobacteria and lactobacilli. This suggests that probiotic therapy played a causal role in the improvement in liver enzymes.”
The study adds to a small but growing body of research supporting the potential of probiotic bacterial strains for alcoholics. Previously, researchers at University College London reported that Lactobacillus casei Shirota supplements could restore the immune function of white blood cells in alcoholics (Journal of Hepatology, Vol. doi: 10.1016/j.jhep.2008.02.015).
Study details
For the new study, Kirpich and her co-workers recruited 66 Russian men with alcoholic psychosis. The prospective, randomized, clinical trial assigned them to receive Bifidobacterium bifidum and Lactobacillus plantarum 8PA3 (Algibif and Algilac, Microgen/Imbio, Moscow), or the standard therapy, which involved vitamin supplements and abstaining from alcohol.
The gut microflora of the alcoholics before the study started was found to contain significantly less bifidobacteria, lactobacilli, and enterococci than the healthy controls. After five days of supplementation, the researchers noted that both the bifidobacteria and lactobacilli numbers increased in alcoholics receiving the probiotics, from 6.3 to 7.9 log CFU/g, and lactobacilli from 3.15 to 4.2 log CFU/g.
Improvements in levels of certain enzymes, like alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), were also noted in the probiotic-receiving men.
“These data suggest that modulation of the bowel flora may play a role in the pathogenesis and treatment of alcoholic liver disease and indicate a need for larger and more rigorously designed clinical trials to support the use of probiotics in alcoholic liver disease,” wrote the researchers.
“Furthermore, this study calls for future animal studies to better define the mechanism of action of B. bifidum and L. plantarum 8PA3 in alcoholic liver disease.”
Source: Alcohol
Volume 42, Issue 8, Pages 675-682
“Probiotics restore bowel flora and improve liver enzymes in human alcohol-induced liver injury: a pilot study”
Authors: I.A. Kirpich, N.V. Solovieva, S.N. Leikhter, N.A. Shidakova, O.V. Lebedeva, P.I. Sidorov, T.A. Bazhukova, A.G. Soloviev, S.S. Barve, C.J. McClain, M. Cave
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Medicinal plants slowly going extinct
TIMES OF INDIA  11 Jan 2009, 0034 hrs IST, AGENCIES

The health of millions could be at risk because medicinal plants used to make traditional remedies, including drugs to combat cancer and malaria,

are being overexploited.

"The loss of medicinal plant diversity is a quiet disaster," says Sara Oldfield, secretary general of the NGO Botanic Gardens Conservation International, told New Scientist.

Most people worldwide, including 80% of all Africans, rely on herbal medicines obtained mostly from wild plants. But some 15,000 of 50,000 medicinal species are under threat of extinction, according to a report this week from international conservation group Plantlife. Shortages have been reported in China, India, Kenya, Nepal, Tanzania and Uganda.

Commercial over-harvesting does the most harm, though pollution, competition from invasive species and habitat destruction all contribute. "Commercial collectors generally harvest medicinal plants with little care for sustainability," the Plantlife report says. "This can be partly through ignorance, but [happens] mainly because such collection is unorganised and competitive."

Medicinal trees at risk include the Himalayan yew (Taxus wallichiana), a source of the anti-cancer drug, paclitaxel; the pepper-bark tree (Warburgia), which yields an antimalarial; and the African cherry (Prunus africana), an extract from which is used to treat a prostate condition.

The solution, says the report’s author, Alan Hamilton, is to provide communities with incentives to protect these plants. Ten projects in India, Pakistan, China, Nepal, Uganda and Kenya showed this approach can succeed

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