NaturalNews) It’s no secret mercury is a dangerous toxin that accumulates in the human body and can produce disastrous health problems involving multiple organ systems. It’s known to be a risk to unborn babies, too. Unfortunately, as NaturalNews has reported, mercury contamination of our environment and food sources is rampant. For example, scientists have found that fish(http://www.naturalnews.com/025935_m…) and high fructose corn syrup (http://www.naturalnews.com/026528_m…) are often loaded with the dangerous heavy metal. Now comes this worrisome news: deposits of mercury in the bodies of Americans are increasing at an alarming rate and the health repercussions could be staggering.

Mercury especially targets the liver, the immune system and the pituitary gland. Numerous studies have associated chronic mercury exposure with elevated risks for autism, mental impairment and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease. Previous research by U.S. Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) researchers estimated that chronic mercury exposure caused between 300,000 and 600,000 American children to be born with elevated risks of neurodevelopmental disorders between 1999 and 2000...read more here…

Swine Flu Could Infect Half of U.S.
Presidential Panel’s Estimate Is First To Gauge Possible Impact of Pandemic

By Rob Stein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Swine flu could infect half the U.S. population this fall and winter, hospitalizing up to 1.8 million people and causing as many as 90,000 deaths — more than double the number that occur in an average flu season, according to an estimate from a presidential panel released Monday.

The virus could cause symptoms in 60 million to 120 million people, more than half of whom might seek medical attention, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology estimated in an 86-page report to the White House assessing the government’s response to the first influenza pandemic in 41 years.

Although most of the cases probably would be mild, up to 300,000 people could require intensive care, which could tie up all those beds in some parts of the country at the peak of the outbreak, the council said.

“This is going to be fairly serious,” said Harold E. Varmus of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, co-chair of the 21-member council. “It’s going to stress every aspect of our health system.”

The estimates mark the first time experts have released specific calculations about the possible U.S. impact of the pandemic. The “plausible scenario” is based on previous pandemics and how the swine flu behaved in the United States this spring and during the Southern Hemisphere’s winter over the past few months, said Marc Lipsitch of the Harvard School of Public Health, who helped prepare the estimate...read more here…

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Learn how vitamin D can help prevent swine flu

This is a very insightful documentary about environmental toxins and how they affect our boys and men.

Watch the video below and  support the cause.  Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere with the average family living off less than $450 per year.   Support organizations like ChildCry from NYC and Haiti Endowment Fund from Southern California. These grassroot  organizations  help feed over 3,000 Haitian kids each and every day  while providing  education  to  their  beautiful young minds.  I recently spent a week in Haiti with Child Cry and Haiti Endowment fund  and saw first hand how  they  impact and help those in need.

Baby Bottle Makers Ditch BPA

March 6, 2009 — The top six makers of baby bottles in the U.S. have agreed to stop using the polycarbonate plastic chemical bisphenol A (BPA) in their bottles.

Connecticut’s Attorney General Richard Blumenthal announced that news yesterday.

The six bottle makers who agreed to stop using BPA are Avent, Disney First Years, Gerber, Dr. Brown, Playtex, and Evenflo.

In a news release, Blumenthal says he and the attorneys general of Delaware and New Jersey wrote to those companies last October to ask that they stop using BPA in baby bottles because of concerns about possible health risks.

Blumenthal calls the companies’ voluntary decision to quit using BPA “a major public health victory.” Blumenthal also says he is seeking “complete prohibition” of BPA in any product marketed for use by children younger than 3, in containers of infant formula and baby food, and any reusable food or beverage container if a safe alternative is available.

The FDA is studying bisphenol A, but hasn’t issued any warnings about BPA in baby bottles or other consumer products...read more

(NaturalNews) In a groundbreaking study, research recently published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives has revealed that pregnant women who are exposed to hairspray while at work have more than double the risk of giving birth to a son with hypospadias, a common genital birth defect.

About Hypospadias

Hypospadias, a condition whereby there is displacement of the urinary opening to the underside of the penis, is one of the most common birth defects to affect the male genitals. It is estimated that, in the United States and the United Kingdom, hypospadias hits about 1 in every 250 boys.

Typically, the condition can be treated using surgery after the child turns one, although serious cases of the disease can cause problems with urination, sex and fertility. As of now, the causes of hypospadias are not well understood.

Details of Study

In the said study, which was jointly conducted by the Imperial College in London, University College Cork and the Centre for Research in Environment Epidemiology in Barcelona, researchers conducted detailed interviews via telephone with 471 mothers across London whose sons had hypospadias. For the control group, interviews were also carried out with 490 mothers whose sons were not affected by the condition. A range of dietary and lifestyle factors were looked at, including occupation, family history of the condition, type of diet, smoking, intake of folate supplements as well as possible exposure to chemicals.

Read rest of story here….

Warning Given on Use of 4 Popular Asthma Drugs, but Debate Remains

WASHINGTON — Two federal drug officials have concluded that asthma sufferers risk death if they continue to use four hugely popular asthma drugs — Advair, Symbicort, Serevent and Foradil. But the officials’ views are not universally shared within the government.

The two officials, who work in the safety division of the Food and Drug Administration, wrote in an assessment on the agency’s Web site on Friday that asthma sufferers of all ages should no longer take the medicines. A third drug-safety official concluded that Advair and Symbicort could be used by adults but that all four drugs should no longer be used by people age 17 and under.

Dr. Badrul A. Chowdhury, director of the division of pulmonary and allergy products at the agency, cautioned in his own assessment that the risk of death associated with the drugs was small and that banning their use “would be an extreme approach” that could lead asthmatics to rely on other risky medications.

Once unheard of, public disagreements among agency experts have occurred on occasion in recent years. The agency is convening a committee of experts on Wednesday and Thursday to sort out the disagreement, which has divided not only the F.D.A. but also clinicians and experts for more than a decade.

Sudden deaths among asthmatics still clutching their inhalers have fed the debate. But trying to determine whether the deaths were caused by patients’ breathing problems or the inhalers has proved difficult.

The stakes for drug makers are high. Advair sales last year were $6.9 billion and may approach $8 billion this year, making the medication GlaxoSmithKline’s biggest seller and one of the biggest-selling drugs in the world. Glaxo also sells Serevent, which had $538 million in sales last year. Symbicort is made by AstraZeneca and Foradil by Novartis.

Whatever the committee’s decision, the drugs will almost certainly remain on the market because even the agency’s drug-safety officials concluded that they were useful in patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, nearly all of whom are elderly.

Dr. Katharine Knobil, global clinical vice president for Glaxo, dismissed the conclusions of the agency’s drug-safety division as “not supported by their own data.” Dr. Knobil said that Advair was safe and that Serevent was safe when used with a steroid.

Michele Meeker, a spokeswoman for AstraZeneca, said that the F.D.A.’s safety division improperly excluded most studies of Symbicort in its analysis, and that a review of all of the information shows that the drug does not increase the risks of death or hospitalization.

Dr. Daniel Frattarelli, a Detroit pediatrician and member of the American Academy of Pediatrics’s committee on drugs, said that he was treating children with Advair and that his committee had recently discussed the safety of the medicines.

“Most of us felt these were pretty good drugs,” Dr. Frattarelli said. “I’m really looking forward to hearing what the F.D.A. committee decides.”

About 9 percent of Advair’s prescriptions go to those age 17 and under, according to Glaxo. Ms. Meeker could not provide similar figures for Symbicort.

In 1994, Serevent was approved for sale, and the F.D.A. began receiving reports of deaths. A letter to the New England Journal of Medicine described two elderly patients who died holding Serevent inhalers. Glaxo warned patients that the medicine, unlike albuterol, does not work instantly and should not be used during an attack.

In 1996, Glaxo began a study of Serevent’s safety, but the company refused for years to report the results publicly. In 2001, the company introduced Advair, whose sales quickly cannibalized those of Serevent and then far surpassed them.

Finally in 2003, Glaxo reported the results of its Serevent study, which showed that those given the medicine were more likely to die than those given placebo inhalers. Glaxo said problems with the trial made its results impossible to interpret.

Asthma is caused when airways within the lungs spasm and swell, restricting the supply of oxygen. The two primary treatments are steroids, which reduce swelling, and beta agonists, which treat spasms. Rescue inhalers usually contain albuterol, which is a beta agonist with limited duration. Serevent and Foradil are both beta agonists but have a longer duration than albuterol and were intended to be taken daily to prevent attacks.

Advair contains Serevent and a steroid. Symbicort, introduced last year, contains Foradil and a steroid. In the first nine months of this year, Symbicort had $209 million in sales.

The problem with albuterol is that it seems to make patients’ lungs more vulnerable to severe attacks, which is why asthmatics are advised to use their rescue inhalers only when needed. The long-acting beta agonists may have the same risks.

But drug makers say this risk disappears when long-acting beta agonists are paired with steroids. The labels that accompany Serevent and Foradil instruct doctors to pair the medicines with an inhaled steroid.

Become informed- talk to your doctor about  vaccinations and your children… I do not recommend anyone avoid vaccinations- simply make informed choices.  Evidence shows that vaccinations have great public health benefits but some children may be sensitive to added preservatives put in the vaccines. Fortunately, these preservatives are not required for the vaccine to work.

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9 Great Breakfast Ideas for Kids of All Ages

“Consumer Reports” finds that many cereals are more sugary than doughnuts. What to do?

A bowl of cereal can be less healthful than a doughnut, according to a new ranking of kids’ breakfast cereals published by Consumer Reports. Eleven cereals ranked by the venerable group had more sugar than a glazed Dunkin’ Donut. The culprits include Kellogg’s Honey Smacks (nee Sugar Smacks) and Post Golden Crisp, both of which get almost 60 percent of their calories from sugar. Talk about a sugar high!

What’s a parent to do? Registered dietitians know how to eat smart at breakfast—without denying your sweet tooth. This is good news not just for kids but for the many grownups who still love sugared cereal. Sarah Krieger, a registered dietitian who teaches kids how to make a wholesome breakfast at All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Fla., is among them. Right now she craves Cocoa Krispies, which she attributes to being pregnant. Otherwise, her sugary fave is Frosted Mini-Wheats. Here are nine ways to build a breakfast that’s both healthful and satisfying:

• Go for protein. Study after study has shown that eating breakfast makes for better cognitive performance through the day and less weight gain over time. To make that happen, a key ingredient is protein, which provides lasting energy. One good choice: peanut butter on a whole-grain English muffin…..read more here…..