According to the EPA, dioxins are highly toxic, and they take a very long time to break down in the environment, meaning they are classified as POPS, persistent organic pollutants. These very toxic chemical compounds came to the attention of the public during the Vietnam war, when Agent Orange and other such agents were used by the US military to defoliate vegetation hiding enemy troops. From the severe health effects that exposed veterans suffered, during and years after the war, we learned a lot about the serious harm to humans and the environment caused by these poisons.

            The EPA says that dioxins are now found in the environment, throughout the world. Exposure has been associated with all types of cancer, skin conditions, compromised immunity, bone deformities and hormonal imbalances. Spina Bifida in children of Agent-Orange exposed veterans is just one piece of evidence connecting dioxin exposure to reproductive and developmental problems.

            Dioxins accumulate in the food chain and are stored in the fat cells of animals. This is why the EPA has estimated that 90% of the current human exposure to dioxins is through consuming animal fats in meat, dairy products, shellfish and fish. Contamination of industrially produced feed has been the problem with farm or factory-raised animals. Water and sediment contamination and bioaccumulation affect seafood. (Big fish get more dioxin as they eat smaller contaminated fish.)

            However, there are other sources of exposure people […]

Medication and Sun do not always mix. If you enjoy the sun you must be sure that your medications will not interfere with your sun exposure. Photosensitivity can be caused by some antibiotics, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medicines, cholesterol-lowering birth control, anti-diabetes containing sulfa, alpha-hydroxy acids (Some makeup also contains this). The two types of photosensitivity reactions; phototoxicity (more common) and photoallergy (rarer). A phototoxic reaction looks like a sunburn with additional swelling and sometimes blisters.

The reaction to the sun-exposed area can occur after the first use of a drug or new makeup and the reaction can happen within a minute or a few hours. The more medication and exposure to the sun can exaggerate the reaction. Once the use of the medication or makeup is discontinued the reaction usually goes away.  This is not considered an immune response.Photoallergy involves your immune system and is far less common than Phototoxicicity.  It is not related to the amount of medicine taken or how many times you use the makeup and it takes up to 72 hours to appear, can spread to other parts of the body,  and takes a longer for the rash to clear. This reaction can appear looking like eczema, hives, hardened patches, or blisters. It can even look like small broken blood vessels. It is believed that UV-A rays are usually the main. 

Side effects of prescribed pharmaceuticals can not only harm human health, but their residue is also harming the environment and our wild animals. According to an analysis, reported by Alliance for Natural Health (ANH), this pharmaceutical pollution poses “… a significant risk to freshwater ecosystems and the global food chain.”

Active pharmaceutical ingredients found in drugs (API’s), number over 2000. These can get into our water systems, through waste disposal and by human excretion, and include up to 90% of the active ingredients. Also farm animals, fed hormones and antibiotics, excrete these drugs into the environment, and pharmaceutical plants discharge drug polluted wastewater.

One result of this pollution is that humans and animals are getting at least low levels of the APIs in their drinking water. Even though levels of one ingredient might be low, we must realize there can be low levels of several APIs consumed at the same time and over a long period of time. Neither the health impact of one low-level exposure nor the effects of long-term consumption nor synergistic effects of multiple exposures on humans is yet known.

ANH says that not even reverse osmosis filtration can remove all of the drug residue. And as usual, those who can afford more expensive filtration systems or costly bottled water, have a health advantage over those with low incomes—and also over the animals who are exposed.

Environmental studies have been able to discover effects of some contaminants on certain animal species, says ANH. For example, diclofenac, in NSAIDs, is contributing to […]

We now know from recent research that getting stuck on negative thoughts, itself, can actually result in physical damage to the brain. Becoming abnormally consumed with negative thoughts, feelings and actions, continually turning a situation over and over in the mind, focusing only on its negative aspects, or “ruminating,” can actually damage the neural structures in the brain that regulate feelings, emotions and memory, according to Andrew Newberg, M.D, a pioneer in the field of neurotheology.

Newberg and co-author Mark Waldman write about fascinating new research that reveals the effect that just seeing or hearing negative words can have on the brain.

Newberg explains that if you were put into an MRI scanner (a device that takes a video of your brain), and the word “NO” was flashed in front of you for less than even a second, the picture your brain would produce would show “a sudden release of dozens of stress—producing hormones and neurotransmitters,“ chemicals that would “immediately interrupt the normal functioning of your brain, impairing logic, reason, language processing, and communication.”

Seeing a list of negative words for just a few seconds, says Newberg, can have an even greater impact. They have the power to make an anxious or depressed person feel worse, and the more you focus on them the more disruptive these words can be, even to the point of disrupting your life  affecting sleep, appetite, and your ability to experience long-term joy and satisfaction.

Vocalizing, on top of seeing the word, “No,” adds Newberg, increases the effects […]

Many, if not all, doctors will likely tell you not to worry about cellulite – that it’s not only not a health threat, it’s not at all rare, especially among most women.  Like it or not, we have to come to grips with the fact that if we have it, there’s really no way to get rid of it. Still some seem to suffer more from the dent it creates in their self-image than those it creates under their skin.

Even knowing we can’t eliminate it, many understandably want to make it as less noticeable as possible. A lot of this may be because of conditioning from the fashion industry.  But also some find it unsightly and more so on their own bodies than on others’.

For those wanting to know more about what cellulite is and how to fade that orange-peel appearance, Christine Heathman has published an informative article on the subject in Dermascope Magazine, titled “The Ugly Truth of Cellulite.”

 First, Heathman agrees that cellulite is nothing to stress over. In fact, stress can make it worse. After explaining what cellulite is and what might cause it, she offers a few tips to help those who would like to minimize its appearance.

Cellulite, says Heathman, is made up of “inflammatory adipose material.” According to Science Daily, adipose is just a fancy word for fat, more specifically “loose connective tissue composed of adipocytes.” Its purpose is not only to store energy but also to insulate and cushion with protective padding […]

For years the EPA, U.S. States and U.S. territories have issued health advisories warning people not to consume fish caught from certain lakes and rivers and even oceans, due to pollution. The contaminants of most concern in many areas are mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and dioxins, as in North Carolina, for example. Usually the bigger the fish, the more poison it contains due to bioaccumulation (bigger fish eat smaller contaminated fish).

More recently there is serious concern over another contaminant, one that not only poisons fish and the waters where they swim, but one that has the capacity to eliminate fish altogether. In May, 2019, The Guardian reported on this newly investigated source of water contamination worldwide – antibiotics.

The testing found Africa’s waters, overall, to be the most contaminated, with some rivers in Kenya so riddled with antibiotics that “no fish can survive” in them. Europe’s second largest river, the Danube, is its most polluted, and eight percent of Europe’stested sites were found to exceed safe limits. Even England’s Thames River, considered to be one of Europe’s cleanest, was found to contain high levels of five antibiotics – those often used to treat respiratory, skin and urinary tract infections.

Interviewed by The Guardian, University of Exeter microbial ecologist William Graze explains the gravity of these findings. This kind of environmental bacteria, he notes, contributes to the current global emergency of human resistance to life-saving medicines. Because, in many cases, these antibiotics are being detected at unsafe levels, “…resistance is much more […]

Green Med Info has been gathering and reporting on a growing body of evidence indicating that taking calcium supplements to “keep bones strong,” is a bad idea. GMI’ s founder Sayer Ji says there are three main reasons for this. First, healthy bones require more than calcium; they are made up of living tissue, which needs vitamins, like C, D and K, along with magnesium, amino acids and more. Second, humans are “designed to get their calcium from foods.” And third, the form of calcium most commonly sold as a supplement comes from either limestone, oyster or egg shells, which can deposit in our bodies’ soft tissues and lead to strokes or heart attacks.

More recently GMI has found yet another reason for concern. Calcium supplements may also be associated with elevated volumes of brain lesions in older adults. This information, reported in a GMI blog last October, is based on a 2014 study published in the British Journal of Nutrition, which Ji says got very little mainstream medical attention at the time.

The brain lesions are caused by decreased blood flow that leads to neurological damage. Common in older adults, the lesions increase the risk of serious health problems, including dementia, depression, cognitive decline, hip fractures and death. The role calcium plays in reducing blood flow is through calcium deposits, which can block blood vessel openings. Excess calcium can also get into brain cells and cause cell death and calcification of the pineal gland and other brain structures.

The study found that those […]

The public is mostly unaware of cosmetic safety issues, so they assume they are harmless. Yet, no one knows exactly how extensive the problem may be and the damage that can occur. The cosmetic industry brings in over 35 million dollars each year. Despite regulation from the US Food and Drug Administration, the cosmetic industry has avoided any serious FDA consequences for years. 

In February of 2005 (Daily News), the FDA sent a letter to the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association informing over 600 of its manufacturers that it plans to put cosmetics safety first. Lauren Sucher, a spokeswoman, along with the group ‟of toxicology, biology, public health, and environmental engineering specialists, says one out of every 120 cosmetic products, including: lip balms, lotions, make-up, foundations, and shampoos harbor known or possible carcinogens. A representative of a cosmetics association denies this by saying, “We wouldn‟t use ingredients like that.” 

We don’t know if the amount of these ingredients is high enough to cause health problems, or if they even absorb through the skin‟s barrier. Dr. Barbara Gilchrest, professor and chairwoman of the dermatology department at the Boston University School of Medicine says, “When cosmetics are put onto the skin very little gets into the systemic circulation.” Regardless, there is enough concern about the safety of cosmetics that the FDA feels it is time to do something. According to the Environmental Working Group, U.S. manufacturer‟s gives us cause to worry over sketchy ingredients contained in nail polish, personal-care products, moisturizers, […]

A lot of us are looking for ways to reduce the stress in our lives. One sure fire way to extinguish the inflammatory effects of too much stress is to recognize and change our negative thoughts.

Science has recently informed us that we are genetically wired to focus on the negative. It’s what used to help us survive the danger of our early “mastandon-eats-man” days. Studies show spending too much time listening to negative news or just seeing or hearing the word, “No, “ can physically change our brains, making us feel depressed, afraid and expecting the worst.

However, just because we’re wired to take a negative or fearful outlook on life, it doesn’t mean we can’t retrain our brains to focus on the positive. If you persist, the positives will begin to replace the negatives and eventually the changes will stick. It may take a little time but we can alter our perspective.

Here are 5 Tips to help you tap into the power of “Yes, , I Can” and create more “yes” answers in your life. Studies prove thinking, “Yes, I can”, ignites positive change. As simple or obvious as these tips may seem, there are now a lot of studies to back them up and lots of reasons to remind us to practice them. As you read them, remember to focus on progress instead of perfection.

Daily

 – Bombard your senses with ”yes,” positive messages, written or otherwise. It can take as many as 20 positive messages to counter the effect of simply hearing the word, […]

Excess stress can have a negative effect on all the muscles and organs in our bodies. This blog focuses on how stress effects our largest organ, our skin, and how too much stress can make the skin dry, appear dull and sallow, break out, wrinkle and sag. There are no quick fixes that can help us when the skin becomes flabby, or saggy.  However, we can have healthier and better-looking skin, if we can address the underlying stress that is a major cause of skin problems.

Stress attacks collagen, one of the main factors in damaging our skin. Collagen is the most abundant component of the extra-cellular matrix of our skin tissue. The ECM as defined by Wikipedia, is the “three-dimensional network of extracellular macromolecules, such as collagen, enzymes and glycoproteins, that provide structural and biochemical support of surrounding cells.” It maintains the elasticity, rigidity and integrity of the skin.

The quantity and integrity of collagen can be impaired not only by stress, but also by aging and autoimmune disease. More specifically, collagen is degraded by what is called a glucocorticoid (GC)-mediated process, and the most important human glucocorticoid is cortisol. Put simply, stress triggers the body’s fight or flight response, which increases production of the hormone cortisol, and cortisol interferes with collagen production and integrity, which in turn affects the skin. GC’s also cause loss of muscle tissue, or muscle atrophy, contributing to skin sagging.

The body’s stress response can be very beneficial when a person is facing an emergency situation. Stress hormones are carried […]