Insanity, Salt and the Japanese

Insanity, Salt and the Japanese



In 2007, 8 million people visited US hospital emergency departments (ED) with a mental disorder, 3 million with a substance abuse problem, and 1 million suffering both conditions.

According to latest figures released by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, this accounts for one in eight of the 95 million visits to emergency departments by adults that year. (1)

Depression and other mood disorders accounted for 43 percent of the visits, while 26 percent were for anxiety disorders, and 23 percent involved alcohol-related problems. The World Health Organisation (WHO) say depression is a major health problem and predict that by 2020, depression will be the second- largest cause of the global health burden.

The disease is the highest prevalent disorder of the central nervous system (CNS) with about 40 million diagnosed cases in the US, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK, and Japan. In the US alone, there are 15 million cases. Depression can lead to more severe health risks such as suicide and manic-depressive insanity, or, as it is more commonly known, Melancholia. (2)

Approximately 10% of people with depression suffer from Melancholic Depression.(3)

“Melancholia’s almost unique position amongst diseases in that it is characterized by only one essential symptom – mental or emotional depression,” says Robert Thompson, M.B., B.CH.(BELP.), D.P.M.(LOND) former resident medical superintendent, County Mental Hospital, Armagh, Ireland. (4)

In a manic state, attention span is low and a person may be easily distracted. Judgment may become impaired; sufferers may go on spending sprees or engage in behavior that is quite abnormal for them. They may indulge in substance abuse, particularly alcohol or other depressants, cocaine or other stimulants, or sleeping pills. Their behavior may become aggressive, intolerant or intrusive. People may feel out of control or unstoppable. (5)

Suicide

Research by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), a component of the US Department of Health and Human Services, shows that 90 percent of people who die by suicide suffer from depression and other mental disorders, or a substance-abuse disorder (often in combination with other mental disorders).

In 2006, suicide was the eleventh leading cause of death in the US, accounting for 33,300 deaths. The overall rate was 10.9 suicide deaths per 100,000 people. An estimated 12 to 25 attempted suicides occur per every suicide death. (6)

Signs of Depression

• Fatigue

• Headaches

• Pain

• Irritability

• Changes in sleep patterns, such as sleeping too much or too little

• Changes in appetite

• Loss of interest in or lack of ability to perform daily activities

• Feelings of hopelessness and pessimism

• Difficulty concentrating

There is no single cause of depression. The condition is associated with an imbalance of brain chemicals, triggered by stress, life events as well as a combination of biological, psychological and social factors, and the physical components of air pollution.

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Coca Cola: Pollution in a Bottle?

Coca Cola: Pollution in a Bottle?



Coca-Cola currently offers more than 400 brands in over 200 countries or territories, and sells 1.6 billion servings each day with estimated global sales for Coca-Cola and all of its bottling partners of $60 billion. (1)

The company has operated a franchised distribution system dating from 1889. They produce a syrup concentrate which is then sold to various bottlers throughout the world who add water and sugar to the secret concentrate and turn it into soda, distributing it in cans and bottles.(2)

The first person to bottle Coke was Joseph Biedenharnin in Vicksburg, Miss., in 1894. In 1912 he bought a bottling franchise in Monroe, Louisiana and moved to Monroe to establish the plant in 1913.

In July, 2010, Coca-Cola Enterprises announced it will cease its bottling production in Monroe in September at the historic Ouachita Coca-Cola plant. A Coca-Cola Enterprises spokesperson said the company will continue to employ 180 at the Monroe facility, which will operate as a distribution and sales center. The facility currently produces 2-liter and 20-ounce plastic bottles of Coke.(3)

So where will the soda originate from?

Let’s hope its not the UK or India. Why?

read full article at Heroin and Cornflakes............

Cancer and the Environment: A Smokescreen?

Cancer and the Environment: A Smokescreen?



“Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk: What we can do now” is a report, April 2010, which appraises the National Cancer Program. The following letter was submitted to the President of the United States by the President’s Cancer Panel;

Dear Mr. President
Though overall cancer incidence and mortality have continued to decline in recent years, the disease continues to devastate the lives of far too many Americans. In 2009 alone, approximately 1.5 million American men, women, and children were diagnosed with cancer, and 562,000 died from the disease. With the growing body of evidence linking environmental exposures to cancer, the public is becoming increasingly aware of the unacceptable burden of cancer resulting from environmental and occupational exposures that could have been prevented through appropriate national action…..

…..The Panel was particularly concerned to find that the true burden of environmentally induced cancer has been grossly underestimated. With nearly 80,000 chemicals on the market in the United States, many of which are used by millions of Americans in their daily lives and are understudied and largely unregulated, exposure to potential environmental carcinogens is widespread……

…..Most also are unaware that children are far more vulnerable to environmental toxins and radiation than adults. Efforts to inform the public of such harmful exposures and how to prevent them must be increased. All levels of government, from federal to local, must work to protect every American from needless disease through rigorous regulation of environmental pollutants……

….. The Panel urges you most strongly to use the power of your office to remove the carcinogens and other toxins from our food, water, and air that needlessly increase health care costs, cripple our Nation’s productivity, and devastate American lives.

Sincerely,
LaSalle D. Leffall, Jr., M.D., F.A.C.S. Chair
Margaret L. Kripke, Ph.D.

In the accompanying report it was pointed out that although mortality from childhood cancers has dropped dramatically since 1975 – due to vastly improved treatments over the same period (1975–2006) – cancer incidence in US children under 20 years of age has increased .

The causes of this increase are not known but the report emphasized these increases cannot be explained by the advent of better diagnostic techniques.(1)

Ironically, in the past two decades, improved imaging technologies, nuclear medicine examinations, and new pharmaceutical interventions have made significant strides in diagnosing and treating human disease, including cancer.

Americans now are estimated to receive nearly half of their total radiation exposure from medical imaging and other medical sources, compared with only 15 percent in the early 1980s. The increase in medical radiation has nearly doubled the total average effective radiation dose per individual in the US. Computed tomography (CT) and nuclear medicine tests alone now contribute 36 percent of the total radiation exposure and 75 percent of the medical radiation exposure of the US population.

Why is this ironic?

Through radiation, human cancers can develop, grow, and spread, by damaging DNA. This damaged DNA can result in gene mutations that permit or promote cancer development and can, in some cases, be passed on to subsequent generations.

People who receive multiple scans or other tests that require radiation may accumulate doses equal to, or exceeding, that of Hiroshima atomic bomb survivors.(2)

The report states efforts are needed to eliminate unnecessary testing and improve both equipment capability and operator skill to ensure that radiation doses are as low as reasonably achievable without sacrificing image or test data quality.

No mechanism currently exists to enable individuals to estimate their personal cumulative radiation exposure “which would help patients and physicians weigh the benefits and potential harm of contemplated imaging and nuclear medicine tests.”

The report seems a reasonable assessment of environmental dangers facing folk in the US and bringing awareness of these dangers to the President.

Not so......read full article at Heroin and Cornflakes

Mississippi, Pesticides and the Poor

Mississippi, Pesticides and the Poor

In 2004, Congress enacted, and President Bush signed, the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, which recognizes the “child in utero” as a legal victim if he or she is injured or killed during the commission of any of 68 existing federal crimes of violence. The law defines “child in utero” as “a member of the species Homo sapiens, at any stage of development, who is carried in the womb”.

The population of Homo sapiens has experienced continuous growth since the end of the Black Death around the year 1400. The population of the more developed regions will remain mostly unchanged, at 1.2 billion. An exception is the population of the US which is expected to increase by 44 percent from 305 million in 2008, to 439 million in 2050. (1)

Overpopulation can result from an increase in births, a decline in mortality rates due to medical advances, or from an increase in immigration.(2)

Is better health-care in the US fueling overpopulation?

Medical advances and care would appear to be sound in the US. More money per person is spent on health care in the United States than in any other nation in the world. A greater percentage of total income in the nation is spent on health care than in any United Nations member state except for East Timor. The US has the third highest public health care expenditure per capital. It also has the highest number of mandated vaccines of any country in the world. (3)

You would expect this to mean lower infant mortality rates.

Although the under-5 mortality rate in the US has fallen in recent decades, it is still higher than many other wealthy nations – 2.3 times that of Iceland and more than 75 percent higher than the rate of the Czech Republic, Finland, Italy, Japan, Norway, Slovenia and Sweden. It comes in at 34th place for under 5 mortality.

Why? read full article at Heroin and Cornflakes