'Second Thoughts about Fluoride,' Reports Scientific American

PR Newswire January 2, 2008

"Some recent studies suggest that over-consumption of fluoride can raise the risks of disorders affecting teeth, bones, the brain and the thyroid gland," reports Scientific American editors (January 2008). "Scientific attitudes toward fluoridation may be starting to shift," writes author Dan Fagin.

"Fluoride, the most consumed drug in the USA, is deliberately added to 2/3 oFf public water supplies theoretically to reduce tooth decay, but with no scientifically-valid evidence proving safety or effectiveness," says lawyer Paul Beeber, President, New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation.

Fagin, award-wining environmental reporter and Director of New York University's Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program, writes, "There is no universally accepted optimal level for daily intake of fluoride." Some researchers even wonder whether the 1 mg/L added into drinking water is too much, reports Fagin.

After 3 years of scrutinizing hundreds of studies, a National Research Council(NRC) committee "concluded that fluoride can subtly alter endocrine function,especially in the thyroid -- the gland that produces hormones regulating growth and metabolism," reports Fagin.

Fagin quotes John Doull, professor emeritus of pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Kansas Medical Center, who chaired the NRC committee thusly, "The thyroid changes do worry me."

CONTINUED . . .

Some Strand polling places have changed

By Tonya Root - The Sun News

Horry and Georgetown voters should double-check where they will be voting in the upcoming presidential primaries because some locations have changed, according to county election officials.

A few polling locations were temporarily moved for this month's primaries and new ones were added after reorganization, local officials said.

The Republican primary is Saturday, and the Democratic primary is Jan. 26. Polling place changes affect 12 sites in Horry County and one in Georgetown County, according to election officials, but all other voters should be able to vote at their normal polling site, officials said.

Statewide, one-fifth of regular state polling places will be closed as a result of a state law passed last year that gives control of the primaries to the S.C. State Election Commission. About 400 of 2,200 polling places will be merged, said State Election Commission spokesman Chris Whitmire.

Officials said the change was meant to ensure a professionally run election, using state resources and electronic voting machines.

And in an effort to limit costs, the legislature required local election officials to merge some precincts into one polling place.

In Georgetown County, officials moved one polling site because the previous location was no longer available for use, said Billy Altman, chairman of the county's Board of Election and Registration. The location of the Bethel precinct was moved to the Georgetown County Fire Station No. 5, 303 Georgetown Highway, Altman said.

But no sites had to be consolidated, he said.

Horry County officials said they also did not consolidate any polls for the primaries but did change four polling sites for the primaries.

"Last year we did some reorganization of precincts and so we've got several new places voters will be voting at because of that," said Sandy Martin, Horry County's Voters Registration and Election director.

In addition to four temporary sites, Martin said four new precincts were added and four were changed.

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POLLING PLACES
HORRY COUNTY

New precincts

Carolina Forest No. 2 at Carolina Forest High School, 700 Gardner Lacy Road, Myrtle Beach

Emerald Forest No. 2 at St. Mary's Missionary Baptist Church, 300 Ronald McNair Blvd., Myrtle Beach

Emerald Forest No. 3 at Ocean Bay Middle School, 905 International Drive, Myrtle Beach

Windy Hill No. 2 at North Myrtle Beach Fire Station No. 5, 4740 Barefoot Resort Blvd., North Myrtle Beach

Temporary voting precincts

Myrtlewood No. 3 at St. John Green Orthodox Church, 3301 U.S. 17 Bypass, Myrtle Beach

Ocean Drive No. 2 at North Myrtle Beach Primary School, 901 11th Ave. N., North Myrtle Beach

Ocean Forest No. 2 and No. 3, both at FUM Church Britton Center, 904 65th Ave. N. next to the YMCA, Myrtle Beach

New permanent voting location changes

Adrian at Academy of Technology and Academics, 5639 U.S. 701 N., Conway

Deerfield at Lakewood Conference Center, 5901 S. Kings Highway, Myrtle Beach

Enterprise at Socastee Library, 141 U.S. 707 Connector Road, Myrtle Beach

Jet Port No. 2 at Myrtle Beach Recreation Center, 800 Gabreski Lane, Myrtle Beach

GEORGETOWN COUNTY

Temporary voting precinct

Bethel at Georgetown County Fire Station No. 5, 303 Georgetown Highway, Georgetown

Study "Disproving" Mercury-Autism Link Published in Journal with Financial Ties to Vaccine Manufacturers

(NewsTarget) While the mainstream press is widely reporting a new study "disproving" any link between autism and mercury-containing thimerosal in vaccines, no one has bothered to point out that the study was published in a medical journal stacked full of ads from the very same drug companies that manufacture and market vaccines. The Journal, the Archives of General Psychiatry, is the pro-drug psychiatric arm of the American Medical Association, a pill-pushing organization tarnished by a history of conspiracy against alternative medicine and the promotion of toxic substances like cigarettes with full-page ads in its flagship publication, JAMA.

From the outset, the fact that this study appears in a pro-drug, pro-psychiatry journal should bring pause to any scientific-minded person. There is obviously a serious conflict of interest here, especially if this study is to be taken as "fact" and applied to public health policy. There also need to be a close look at any financial links between the researchers involved in this study and various vaccine manufacturers, as virtually all pro-drug "science" (if you can call it that) being published these days is influenced by Big Pharma money.

The only truly honest, independent, peer-reviewed medical journal operating today is PLoS Medicine, an open-source journal that takes no money from drug companies. Notice that the autism/mercury link study did not appear in PLoS Medicine? No, it had to be published with a home field advantage in a pro-drug publication that maintains a strong bias in favor of pharmaceuticals and chemicals.


Junk science and faulty conclusions

Aside from these obvious and worrisome conflicts of interest, the conclusions being made about autism and vaccines in the mainstream media are simply not supported by the study. The (distorted) logic we're hearing goes like this:

Yes, vaccines used to contain mercury. And yes, all those little kids were injected with mercury. And yes, autism rates skyrocketed. But then when the mercury was taken out of the vaccines, the autism rates didn't come back down. Therefore, the logic goes, vaccines are safe!

Continued . . .

MB Council to get a public meeting report from DHEC on AVX pollution

By Steve Porter
The Herald

Myrtle Beach—Myrtle Beach City attorney Tom Ellenburg reported to the Myrtle Beach City Council at its regular meeting on Tuesday that the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control would likely appear before the council, in public session, at its next meeting on Jan. 22.

The purpose would be to give the council a full report on the cleaning solution that spilled into the area surrounding the AVX plant, causing concerns about longterm health effects and financial damage to owners of surrounding properties.

A recent public hearing on the problem was held by DHEC for local property owners and residents and the severity of the problem at the time was significantly downgraded, but concerns remain and Ellenburg said he asked a DHEC official at that meeting to consider making a report to city council. That is now apparently in the works.

“Hopefully it will provide more finality than we have heard to date,” said Ellenburg.

He also reported that he and Tom Leath, the city manager, other city officials, and AVX officials and legal counsel had also been meeting and having what he called “frank discussions about the past and future,” of the problem.He said the next phase of the issue would be for remediation options to be discussed, but that those options cannot be determined until the “boundaries of the pollution plume” can be determined by continuing measurements of the area around the plant.

Continued . . .

60 Years of Empire

By SAUL LANDAU

Look at 2008 symbolically! Some 60 years ago, the United States emerged as the world power. Henry Luce formally announced the arrival of "The American Century" even before the country entered World War II. Luce thought the United States should become the world's missionary, spreading Christian values and democracy. US history had woven together a people with noble purpose, Luce argued, and had "the most exciting flag of all the world and of all history," blowing toward the "triumphal purpose of freedom."

Luce, owner of the publishing empire (Time, Life and Fortune), waxed eloquent, calling on all Americans "each to his own measure of capacity, and each in the widest horizon of his vision, to create the first great American Century.

It happened. After World War II, Luce's dream conditions became reality. The United States possessed more than 50% of the world's manufacturing capacity. The powers of Europe and Asia lay in ruins. But politicians and media eschewed the word "empire" to describe the nation that used its dollar as world currency base, set up vast military alliances (NATO, CENTO and SEATO) and, by the early 1950s, had established military bases in scores of other countries and begun to stockpile nuclear weapons.

Continued . . .

What Happens to Your Body Within an Hour of Drinking a Coke

Do you want to be healthy? Drinking soda is bad for your health in so many ways; science can’t even state all the consequences. Here’s what happens in your body when you assault it with a Coke:

Within the first 10 minutes, 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. This is 100 percent of your recommended daily intake, and the only reason you don’t vomit as a result of the overwhelming sweetness is because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor.

Within 20 minutes, your blood sugar spikes, and your liver responds to the resulting insulin burst by turning massive amounts of sugar into fat.

Within 40 minutes, caffeine absorption is complete; your pupils dilate, your blood pressure rises, and your livers dumps more sugar into your bloodstream.

Around 45 minutes, your body increases dopamine production, which stimulates the pleasure centers of your brain – a physically identical response to that of heroin, by the way.

After 60 minutes, you’ll start to have a sugar crash.

Sources:
Nutrition Research Center October 24, 2007

Does Animal Testing Help Human Medicine?

33 Facts to be Considered

(1) Less than 2% of human illnesses (1.16%) are ever seen in animals.
(2) According to the former scientific executive of Huntingdon Life Sciences, animal tests and human results agree only "5%-25% of the time".
(3) 95% of drugs passed by animal tests are immediately discarded as useless or dangerous to humans.
(4) At least 50 drugs on the market cause cancer in laboratory animals. They are allowed because it is admitted the animal tests are not relevant.
(5) Procter & Gamble used an artificial musk despite it failing the animal tests, i.e., causing tumours in mice. They said the animal test results were "of little relevance for humans".
(6) When asked if they agreed that animal experiments can be misleading "because of anatomical and physiological differences between animals and humans", 88% of doctors agreed.
(7) Rats are only 37% effective in identifying what causes cancer to humans. Flipping a coin would be more accurate.
(8) Rodents are the animals almost always used in cancer research. They never get carcinomas, the human form of cancer, which affects membranes (e.g lung cancer). Their sarcomas affect bone and connecting tissue: the two cannot be compared.
(9) Up to 90% of animal test results are discarded as they are inapplicable to man.
(10) The results from animal experiments can be altered by factors such as diet and bedding. Bedding has been identified as giving cancer rates of over 90% and almost nil in the same strain of mice at different locations.

Continued . . .