One More Link in the Mercury-High Fructose Corn Syrup Chain: Autism

We really, really have to demand the FDA reforms! Knowingly, for years it's been pushing mercury laden high fructose corn syrup on kids. E.g., HEINZ ketchup--I sadly won't use any ketchup if I'm out...blech, I remember the years as a kid I regarded french fries merely as a vehicle for ketchup.

This is from a different writer on the Huffpo:

Until now, parents of children with autism who have spoken up about their fears that their child's disorder came on the heels of vaccination have been given the status of heretic. But it turns out that the increase in autism we have been witnessing over the last few decades could also be a result of the over-all increase in the body burden caused by mercury in our air and water, and by proxy the fish we eat, our vaccines and dental fillings, and now, in our high fructose corn syrup, a substance marketed and consumed most often by those most at risk: children.

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Our Melamine: There's Mercury in High Fructose Corn Syrup, and the FDA Has Known for Years

Ooooh, all I can say about this: blech. Ah, and this article also mentions King Corn--you must see this documentary!!! From the Huffpo:
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Maybe Jeremy Piven didn't get mercury poisoning from fish at all -- according to the results of a new study released by the Institute for Agriculture and Trace Policy (IATP), the actor may well have been sickened by soda or candy or anything that contains high fructose corn syrup, which, if you eat processed food in this country means, well, just about anything.

Foodies and nutritionists alike have been griping about high fructose corn syrup for years, and the industry has responded with an "astroturf" campaign and a level of secrecy generally reserved for military officials or secret societies (see Corn Refiners' Association president Audrae Erickson's stonewalling performance in King Corn).

read more here.

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Mercury and High Fructose Corn Syrup

If you watch the delightful documentary, King Corn, there's a funny (?) scene where the goofball filmmakers try to make High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)...and it involves a lot of chemicals with skull and crossbone warnings on them. If you read anything about health you already know that HFCS is an unnatural substance that wreaks havoc on the human body. Further, this news story combines nmercury and HFCS, I can't think of a better reason to avoid this COMPLETELY. Sadly, this means no Heinz ketchup:

Much High Fructose Corn Syrup Contaminated With Mercury, New Study Finds

Brand-Name Food Products Also Discovered to Contain Mercury

http://www.iatp.org
(A list of products and the study can be found here: http://www.healthobservatory.org/library.cfm?refID=105026)

Minneapolis – Mercury was found in nearly 50 percent of tested samples of commercial high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), according to a new article published today in the scientific journal, Environmental Health. A separate study by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) detected mercury in nearly one-third of 55 popular brand- name food and beverage products where HFCS is the first or second highest labeled ingredient—including products by Quaker, Hershey’s, Kraft and Smucker’s.

HFCS use has skyrocketed in recent decades as the sweetener has replaced sugar in many processed foods. HFCS is found in sweetened beverages, breads, cereals, breakfast bars, lunch meats, yogurts, soups and condiments. On average, Americans consume about 12 teaspoons per day of HFCS. Consumption by teenagers and other high consumers can be up to 80 percent above average levels.

“Mercury is toxic in all its forms,” said IATP’s David Wallinga, M.D., and a co-author in both studies. “Given how much high fructose corn syrup is consumed by children, it could be a significant additional source of mercury never before considered. We are calling for immediate changes by industry and the FDA to help stop this avoidable mercury contamination of the food supply.”

In the Environmental Health article, Dufault et al. found detectable levels of mercury in nine of 20 samples of commercial HFCS. Dufault was working at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration when the tests were done in 2005. She and co-authors conclude that possible mercury contamination of food chemicals like HFCS was not common knowledge within the food industry that frequently uses the sweetener. While the FDA had evidence that commercial HFCS was contaminated with mercury four years ago, the agency did not inform consumers, help change industry practice or conduct additional testing.

For its report “Not So Sweet: Missing Mercury and High Fructose Corn Syrup,” IATP sent 55 brand-name foods and beverages containing HFCS as the first or second ingredient to a commercial laboratory to be tested for total mercury. Nearly one in three products tested contained detectable mercury. Mercury was most prevalent in HFCS-containing dairy products, followed by dressings and condiments. Attached is the summary list of the 55 products and their total mercury content.

In making HFCS, caustic soda is used, among other things, to separate corn starch from the corn kernel. For decades, HFCS has been made using mercury-grade caustic soda produced in industrial chlorine (chlor-alkali) plants. The use of mercury cells to produce caustic soda can contaminate caustic soda, and ultimately HFCS, with mercury.

“The bad news is that nobody knows whether or not their soda or snack food contains HFCS made from ingredients like caustic soda contaminated with mercury,” said Dr. Wallinga. “The good news is that mercury-free HFCS ingredients exist. Food companies just need a good push to only use those ingredients.”

While most chlorine plants around the world have switched to newer, cleaner technologies, many still rely on the use of mercury cells. In 2005, 90 percent of chlorine production was mercury-free, but just 40 percent of European production was mercury-free. Four U.S. chlor-alkali plants still rely on mercury cell technology. In 2007, then-Senator Barack Obama introduced legislation to force the remaining chlor-alkali plants to phase out mercury cell technology by 2012.

The Environmental Health article by Dufault et al. can be found at: www.ehjournal.net.

“Not So Sweet: Missing Mercury and High Fructose Corn Syrup,” by David Wallinga, M.D., Janelle Sorensen, Pooja Mottl and Brian Yablon, M.D., can be found at: www.iatp.org.

IATP works locally and globally at the intersection of policy and practice to ensure fair and sustainable food, farm and trade systems. www.iatp.org.

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Another Sailing Thru the Recession Column

Sale! Sale! Sale!

Actually, in French sale means dirty. Anyway, we did a column on being careful about buying gift cards from stores secretly about the go out of business, now here's some interesting tips about avoiding the temptation from those EVERYTHING MUST GO sugns--they DON'T have to go home WITH YOU:

From the Street.com:

There are bound to be a large number of store liquidation sales this year, but you'd be smart to skip them.

Circuit City recently announced it had hired liquidators to sell off its inventory. While you might think this is a great time to find deals, the truth is that liquidation sales offer few bargains. Keep these facts in mind before spending your hard-earned money.

You don't need it: If you heard about a liquidation sale where a company is selling some type of gadget and now you find yourself wanting one, you did exactly what the liquidator wanted you to do. If you really wanted the gadget, it would have been on your list, after all.

The first rule of smart shopping is that, if you don't need it, it's not a bargain no matter what the price. Liquidation sales are a good way to convince yourself that a want is within reach, and therefore a need.

The prices aren't that good: When people hear the words "liquidation sale," they assume the main purpose is to get rid of merchandise quickly, meaning cheaply. While moving the inventory is one goal, it's not the primary goal. The main point is to make money.

read more here.

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Risk from Fashion Hair Acessories

So who wasn't totally stunned and moved by the inauguration. Wow!

So I'm a little behind on the posts.

Anyway, I never thought of this, but it's pretty thought provoking, especially if you have a little girl:

Newswise —

Blunt head trauma is commonly encountered by pediatric neurosurgeons and emergency physicians. Every year, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission provides head injury statistics for patients treated at U.S. hospital emergency rooms. More than 550 product codes were included in the 2007 Product Summary Report. In 2007, an estimated 1.1 million people were treated for head injuries related to common products found inside the home. Beds are among the top five products that contribute to head injuries, with an estimated 106,513 injuries in 2007, 63,269 of which were in children age 14 and younger. Common household products that can actually penetrate the head include wires, plugs, nails, kitchen utensils, writing instruments, hair accessories, scissors, and toys, among others.

“Children younger than age 2 are at particularly high risk for neurological injury because the skull is not fully ossified and small forces may lead to penetration of the skull and dura,” stated Dr. Anderson. The complications of these injuries can be severe, including skull fracture, subdural and epidural hematoma, pneumocephalus, cerebral hemorrhage, infection, seizure, focal neurological deficits, and vascular complications.

“Hair beads are radiolucent and thus are difficult to differentiate on radiologic scans from the adjacent soft tissue — the air-filled hollow core may be mistaken for benign air that became entrapped at the time of injury. Fashion hair accessories present a hidden and often overlooked health risk in children who have suffered blunt head trauma, significant enough to cause skull fractures and complicate diagnosis and treatment,” remarked Dr. Anderson.

Injury from blunt trauma by common household objects carries the potential for significant morbidity and mortality. “The absence of an obvious foreign body on physical examination in one of these two cases, demonstrates the importance of considering fashion hair accessories in the differential diagnosis when children present with head injury following blunt trauma,” concluded Dr. Anderson.

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F.D.A. Is Lax on Oversight During Trials, Inquiry Finds

Ahhhh, okay, this explains the earlier post, why the FDA seems to approve any old thing:

From the NY Times:

The Food and Drug Administration does almost nothing to police the financial conflicts of doctors who conduct clinical trials of drugs and medical devices in human subjects, government investigators are reporting.

Moreover, the investigators say, agency officials told them that trying to protect patients from such conflicts was not worth the effort.

In 42 percent of clinical trials, the agency did not receive forms disclosing doctors’ financial conflicts and did nothing about the problem, according to the investigation, which was conducted by the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services and whose results were scheduled to be made public Monday.

In 31 percent of the trials in which the agency did receive the required forms, agency reviewers did not document that they looked at the information. And in 20 percent of the cases in which doctors revealed significant financial conflicts, neither the F.D.A. nor the sponsoring companies took any action to deal with the conflicts, the investigators found.

read more here.

Use our stuff: username & password: GreenFertility

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If this is what the FDA approves...

Yikes, look at what the FDA approves--strong hormones for "vaginal atrophy." May cause blindness, but hey, your lady parts will look better!:
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On November 28, the FDA approved synthetic conjugated estrogens-A 0.625 mg/g vaginal cream (SCE-A Vaginal Cream; Duramed Pharmaceuticals, Inc) for the treatment of moderate to severe vaginal dryness and moderate to severe dyspareunia, which are both symptoms of vulvar and vaginal atrophy due to menopause. SCE-A vaginal cream is administered intravaginally at a recommended dose of 1 g daily for 1 week, followed by a 1-g intravaginal dose twice a week.

SCE-A vaginal cream contains a blend of 9 plant-derived estrogenic substances in a nonliquefying base. According to a company news release, the product is designed to complement Duramed's existing line of therapies for postmenopausal symptoms.

The approval was based on data from a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter study (n = 275), showing that SCE-A vaginal cream was significantly more effective than placebo for reduction of symptoms of vaginal dryness (P = .0016) and dyspareunia (P = .0002) during a 12-week period.

Other significant results included a mean increase in superficial cells (25.9% SCE-A vs 3.8% placebo), a mean decrease in parabasal cells (36.3% SCE-A vs 5.7% placebo), and a mean reduction in pH (1.47 SCE-A vs 0.30 placebo).

Common adverse effects include headache, vulvovaginal infection, upper respiratory tract infection, and hot flashes. Because the use of unopposed estrogens increases the risk for endometrial cancer, a progestin should be considered for postmenopausal women with a uterus who are treated with an estrogen. The addition of a progestin has been shown to reduce the risk for endometrial hyperplasia, a potential precursor to endometrial cancer, in women taking estrogen therapy.

Estrogen therapy also has been shown to increase the risk for gallbladder disease, and probable dementia in women older than 65 years of age. Women who are also receiving thyroid hormone replacement therapy should be monitored, and estrogen therapy should be discontinued in women who develop severe hypercalcemia, loss of vision, severe hypertriglyceridemia, or cholestatic jaundice.

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