health and wellness – Page 46

WARNING! Hold Your Breath / Air Quality Alert

Posted on 2017/06/122017/06/13 by admin

By Daniel Brouse

Many days in the Philadelphia region are not healthy for breathing. On “Ozone Action Alert Days” you are advised to avoid outside activities. Children should not play outdoors. Avoid running and other fitness activities. Do not breathe in unconditioned air. Low level ozone is volatile and causes micro-explosions in your lungs that result in chronic respiratory and immune system damage. The more and harder you breathe, the more damage you cause to your body. Avoid exercise.

Pollution is the leading cause of death and illness. Low level (tropospheric) ozone is a major contributor to air pollution diseases.

Also see: “Why Fresh Air + Sunshine = Dangerous”

View the current air quality for Philadelphia.

The Philadelphia Region started the season with three Action Alert days in a row.

June 13, 2017

June 12, 2017

June 11, 2017

NOTE: Graphics are from the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency of the United States of America)

Death By Ozone | The Ozone Know Zone

Ozone is not only killing humans, it is also killing the trees. The chain reaction is known as an adverse feedback loop.

Dying Trees, The Membrane Domain

Exterminate All Insects?

Posted on 2017/05/132017/07/11 by admin

By Daniel Brouse

Are pesticides exterminating all the insects?

Recent studies show a decline of 80% across all species of insects. There could many causes contributing to the rapid decline including changes in land use and global warming; however, the biggest concern is pesticides.

Neonicotinoids are a class of neuro-active insecticides chemically similar to nicotine. In the 1980’s Shell and in the 1990’s Bayer, started work on their development. Imidacloprid is the most widely used insecticide in the world. In the late 90’s neonicotinoids came under increasing scrutiny over their environmental impact. Neonicotinoid use was linked in a range of studies to adverse ecological effects, including honey-bee colony collapse disorder (CCD) and loss of birds due to a reduction in insect populations, according to Wikipedia.

From the Science article Where have all the insects gone?
12 May 2017
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/356/6338/576.full

Entomologists call it the windshield phenomenon. “If you talk to people, they have a gut feeling. They remember how insects used to smash on your windscreen,” says Wolfgang Wägele, director of the Leibniz Institute for Animal Biodiversity in Bonn, Germany. Today, drivers spend less time scraping and scrubbing. “I’m a very data-driven person,” says Scott Black, executive director of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation in Portland, Oregon. “But it is a visceral reaction when you realize you don’t see that mess anymore.”

Neonicotinoid pesticides, already implicated in the widespread crash of bee populations, are a prime suspect.

Paying attention to what E. O. Wilson calls “the little things that run the world” is worthwhile, Sorg says. “We won’t exterminate all insects. That’s nonsense. Vertebrates would die out first. But we can cause massive damage to biodiversity—damage that harms us.”

Name	Company	Products	Turnover in million US$ (2009)
Imidacloprid	Bayer CropScience	Confidor, Admire, Gaucho, Advocate	1,091
Thiamethoxam	Syngenta	Actara, Platinum, Cruiser	627
Clothianidin	Sumitomo Chemical/Bayer CropScience	Poncho, Dantosu, Dantop, Belay	439
Acetamiprid	Nippon Soda	Mospilan, Assail, ChipcoTristar	276
Thiacloprid	Bayer CropScience	Calypso	112
Dinotefuran	Mitsui Chemicals	Starkle, Safari, Venom	79
Nitenpyram	Sumitomo Chemical	Capstar, Guardian	8

Is Oxygen A Carcinogen?

Posted on 2017/05/062017/05/06 by admin

There are some people that believe in a fluoride conspiracy. They take out all the minerals (elements) in their drinking water because they have a fluoride-phobia.

Fluoride is naturally present in the food and drink we consume and is considered a normal constituent of the human body. The fluoride concentration in bones and teeth is about 10,000 times that in body fluids and soft tissues. Fluoride is ingested from several sources including foods, fluoridated and unfluoridated water, fluoridated toothpastes and some dietary supplements. (NIH 2017)

Recommended fluoride intake.

Moderation is the key. Not enough fluoride and you’ll have weak teeth and bones. Too much fluoride can kill you. Did you know that too much oxygen can kill you, too?

NIH
Med Hypotheses. 1983 Sep;12(1):55-60.
Oxygen: our major carcinogen?
Evidence has accumulated implicating that atmospheric oxygen can be considered as an important environmental mutagen, whose action can be potentiated by a variety of environmental factors. Under normal conditions oxygen genotoxicity is largely prevented by a cellular antioxygenic defense system, which must be extremely efficient, but might not be entirely safe. A better understanding of this defense system may help to suggest how the incidence of carcinogenesis can be minimized.

Science News
from research organizations
Can inhaled oxygen cause cancer?
Date: January 13, 2015
Source: PeerJ
Summary:
The ancient physician/alchemist, Paracelsus, said: ‘The dose makes the poison.’ According to a new study, even oxygen may fall prey to the above adage. While essential to human life, aspects of oxygen metabolism may promote cancer. Capitalizing on the inverse relationship of oxygen concentration with elevation, researchers found lower rates of lung cancer at higher elevations, a trend that did not extend to non-respiratory cancers, suggesting that carcinogen exposure occurs via inhalation.

Oxygen toxicity
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Oxygen toxicity is a condition resulting from the harmful effects of breathing molecular oxygen (O2) at increased partial pressures. It is also known as oxygen toxicity syndrome, oxygen intoxication, and oxygen poisoning. Historically, the central nervous system condition was called the Paul Bert effect, and the pulmonary condition the Lorrain Smith effect, after the researchers who pioneered its discovery and description in the late 19th century. Severe cases can result in cell damage and death, with effects most often seen in the central nervous system, lungs and eyes. Oxygen toxicity is a concern for underwater divers, those on high concentrations of supplemental oxygen (particularly premature babies), and those undergoing hyperbaric oxygen therapy.

You can also consume too much water — drowning. Listen to your body for the happy medium.

Fluoride

Posted on 2017/05/062017/05/06 by admin

By Daniel Brouse

Fluoride occurs naturally in the body as calcium fluoride. Calcium fluoride is essential for the bones and teeth. It is difficult to consume the daily recommended intake of fluoride that naturally occurs in food.

Sources Of Fluoride
The best source of fluoride is through consuming public drinking water. “Almost all water contains some naturally-occurring fluoride, but usually at levels too low to prevent tooth decay. Many communities adjust the fluoride concentration in the water supply to a level known to reduce tooth decay and promote good oral health (often called the optimal level). This practice is known as community water fluoridation, and reaches all people who drink that water. Given the dramatic decline in tooth decay during the past 70 years since community water fluoridation was initiated, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) named fluoridation of drinking water to prevent dental caries (tooth decay) as one of Ten Great Public Health Interventions of the 20th Century.” (CDC)

A 12-ounce glass of fluoridated water contains about 0.248 mg of fluoride or about 6 percent of the daily recommended intake for a man.

A glass of wine contains 7.5 percent of a man’s daily fluoride requirement and 10 percent for a woman.

A large Russet potato baked in the skin contains about 3.5 percent of a man’s daily fluoride requirement 5 percent of woman’s recommended daily intake.

Sea water is high in fluoride making seafood a good source of fluoride.

Daily Recommended Fluoride Intake

Infants and young children

Age	AI
0-6 months*	–
7-12 months*	0.5 mg/day#
1-3 yr*	0.6 mg/day
4-8 yr*	1.1mg/day

Children & adolescents

Boys
9-13 yr	2.0 mg/day
14-18 yr	3.0 mg/day
Girls
9-13 yr	2.0 mg/day
14-18 yr	3.0 mg/day

Adults:
Men 4 mg/day
Women 3 mg/day

Too Much Fluoride
Some drinking water contains dangerously high levels of fluoride that can lead to serious health problems. “Chronic exposure to fluoride in large amounts interferes with bone formation. In this way, the most widespread examples of fluoride poisoning arise from consumption of ground water that is abnormally fluoride-rich.” (Wikipedia)

Minerals (Elements) and Drinking Water

Air Pollution: Getting All Choked Up

Posted on 2017/03/112017/03/12 by admin

By Daniel Brouse

Air pollution may be the largest problem facing the world. Emissions of CO2, methane and other greenhouse gases are causing irreversible climate change. Since the effects of global warming take years to become apparent, many people don’t even notice the change; however, air pollution is already the leading cause of death worldwide. Again, since the pollution can’t be seen with the naked eye, many people are in denial of the dire consequences. 92% of the world’s population lives where outdoor air quality fails to meet the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines.

In March of 2017, Dr. Margaret Chan, director general of the World Health Organization, said air pollution is “one of the most pernicious threats” facing global public health today and is on a much bigger scale than HIV or Ebola. Dr. Chan attributed the deaths of 600,000 children per year to indoor and outdoor air pollution.

UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake said, “Pollutants don’t only harm children’s developing lungs, they can actually cross the blood-brain barrier and permanently damage their developing brains, and, thus, their futures. No society can afford to ignore air pollution.”

“Protecting children from air pollution is not only in their best interests; it is also in the best interests of their societies — a benefit realized in reduced health costs, in increased productivity, in a cleaner, safer environment, and thus, in more sustainable development,” Lake said.

It is estimated that 5-7 million people are dying prematurely every year as a result of air pollution.

The American Lung Association says, “Two types of air pollution dominate in the U.S.: ozone and particle pollution. These two pollutants threaten the health and the lives of millions of Americans. Thanks to the Clean Air Act, the U.S. has far less of both pollutants now than in the past. Ozone pollution is the most widespread pollutant in the U.S. and is also one of the most dangerous.”

Ozone Action Alert Days are a frequent occurrence throughout the United States. During an Ozone Alert, you should not breath outside. During any days near metropolitan areas, you should limit outdoor physical activities as deep breathing causes more severe damage. The young and old are at greater risk at all times.

Particle pollution comes from small particles in exhaust and increase the risk of heart disease, lung cancer and asthma attacks. Particulates can interfere with the growth and work of the lungs.

The Environ Health Perspect Study states, “First and foremost, short-term exposure to particle pollution can kill. Peaks or spikes in particle pollution can last for hours to days. Deaths can occur on the very day that particle levels are high, or within one to two months afterward. Particle pollution does not just make people die a few days earlier than they might otherwise—these are deaths that would not have occurred if the air were cleaner.”

In February of 2017, the EPA released an update on air quality in the U.S.:

Today, pollution levels in many areas of the United States exceed national air quality standards for at least one of the six common pollutants:

Although levels of particle pollution and ground-level ozone pollution are substantially lower than in the past, levels are unhealthy in numerous areas of the country. Both pollutants are the result of emissions from diverse sources, and travel long distances and across state lines.
An extensive body of scientific evidence shows that long- and short-term exposures to fine particle pollution, also known as fine particulate matter (PM_2.5), can cause premature death and harmful effects on the cardiovascular system, including increased hospital admissions and emergency department visits for heart attacks and strokes. Scientific evidence also links PM to harmful respiratory effects, including asthma attacks.

Ozone can increase the frequency of asthma attacks, cause shortness of breath, aggravate lung diseases, and cause permanent damage to lungs through long-term exposure. Elevated ozone levels are linked to increases in hospitalizations, emergency room visits and premature death.

Both pollutants cause environmental damage, and fine particles impair visibility.

Fine particles can be emitted directly or formed from gaseous emissions including sulfur dioxide or nitrogen oxides. Ozone, a colorless gas, is created when emissions of nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds react.
For unhealthy peak levels of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide, EPA is working with states and others on ways to determine where and how often unhealthy peaks occur. Both pollutants cause multiple adverse respiratory effects including increased asthma symptoms, and are associated with increased emergency department visits and hospital admissions for respiratory illness. Both pollutants cause environmental damage, and are byproducts of fossil fuel combustion.
Airborne lead pollution, a nationwide health concern before EPA phased out lead in motor vehicle gasoline under Clean Air Act authority, now meets national air quality standards except in areas near certain large lead-emitting industrial facilities. Lead is associated with neurological effects in children, such as behavioral problems, learning deficits and lowered IQ, and high blood pressure and heart disease in adults.
The entire nation meets the carbon monoxide air quality standards, largely because of emissions standards for new motor vehicles under the Clean Air Act.

MORE REFERENCES
Health And Air Quality
Air Pollution Deaths
Air Pollution Killing Millions
Largest Health Risk

Bottom Of The Ocean Trashed

Posted on 2017/02/132017/02/13 by admin

by Daniel Brouse

EARTH — How much of the Earth have humans polluted? Scientists sent robots to the bottom of the ocean… deeper than man has ever explored. The findings are disturbing.

“We often think deep-sea trenches are remote and pristine, untouched by humans,” says Alan Jamieson, a deep-ocean researcher at the University of Aberdeen, UK. “It’s even higher than in the estuaries of two of the most polluted rivers — the Pearl River and the Liao River — in China.”

“Crustaceans at depths of 10,000 metres contain higher concentrations of chemicals than do some animals in coastal waters.”

The small animals retrieved from the ocean’s bottom contained PCB’s (polychlorinated biphenyls used to make plastics and as anti-fouling agents to stop barnacles from growing on ships’ hulls), as well as, flame retardants (polybrominated diphenyl ethers, PBDEs).

“It’s really surprising to find pollutants so deep in the ocean at such high concentrations,” said Jeffrey Drazen, a marine ecologist at the University of Hawaii.

The findings raise concern about how microbial activities are adversely affected, the impact on the carbon cycle and climate change.

Protectionism: The Costs and Benefits of Trade Wars

Posted on 2017/01/262017/01/27 by admin

by Daniel Brouse

Protectionism is the theory or practice of shielding a country’s domestic industries from foreign competition by restricting imports. There are no known benefits to protectionism. The costs of protectionism include being financially destructive, negatively impacting health and wellness, as well as, causing death. (also see: Trade War! What Is It Good For?)

Following are a few examples:

GOLDEN RICE AND THE TRANS PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP
Trade restrictions are often put on agricultural products in an effort for a country to protect its farmers. The result is to harm the general population. Rice is a good example of a crop that is widely protected by trade restrictions. USA Rice states, “The barriers range from ongoing phytosanitary restrictions by Colombia on imports of U.S. paddy rice; a discriminatory and very complex tariff regime in the EU; the trade distorting impact of Thailand’s rice support program; government management of rice imports in Japan and Taiwan; and Korea’s new rice import regime.”

The United States Patent and Trademark Office stated, “Despite current interventions, vitamin A deficiency is the leading killer of children globally (2-3 million annually) and also the leading cause of childhood blindness (500,000 cases annually). Most cases arise in Asia where the staple food eaten by 3.5 billion people daily, white rice, lacks vitamin A sources typically found in meat and leafy vegetables. These deaths and blindness are preventable.”

In 2015, Golden Rice won a humanitarian award. Not only is Golden Rice more nutritious than white rice, it is also less harmful to the environment (since less of it needs to be grown.) There are numerous health benefits from Golden Rice including β-Carotene that provides vitamin A to children. It is estimated that millions of children’s lives could be saved and childhood blindness could be dramatically reduced.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) would have eliminated trade restrictions on Golden Rice by the participating countries.

1930 SMOOT-HAWLEY TARIFF ACT
The Tariff Act of 1930 was signed into law on June 17, 1930 by President Herbert Hoover. The act raised U.S. tariffs on over 20,000 imported products. The tariffs imposed an effective tax rate of 60% on many of the goods. The Act also started a trade war with America’s trading partners resulting in reduced American exports and imports by more than 50% contributing to The Great Depression.

Historians estimate at least 3 million civilians died from the Great Depression in the United States, mostly young children, the elderly and women. The main causes were:

malnutrition
infectious disease
attempted child birth
starvation
suicide

THE SHOE TAX
The shoe tax is a remnant of the Smoot–Hawley Act. United States’ shoe tariffs are 10 times higher than the average U.S. tariff rate. According to the U.S. International Trade Commission, in 2011 shoes accounted for 1 percent of merchandise imports, but provided 7.9 percent of U.S. tariff revenue.

Regressive taxes disproportionately hurt the poor. A regressive tax “imposes a greater burden (relative to resources) on the poor than on the rich.” The money paid in taxes has a larger impact on the ability of lower-income households to satisfy their basic needs, like food, clothing, healthcare and shelter.

PHARMACEUTICAL TARIFFS
In 2006 the WTO said scrapping the tariffs on medicines and drug ingredients would result in “effective action to improve access to medicines and medical devices needed to treat a wide variety of diseases effectively and ensure that these goods reach patients expeditiously at a lower cost.”

“It is ironic that many of the countries that are in urgent need of cheap medicines also have a significant tax added to drugs and medical devices they import,” said Peter Allgeier, the US ambassador to the WTO.

The National Institute of Health stated:
A group of countries, including members of the European Union, Canada, the United States, Japan, Switzerland, and Norway, agreed to eliminate import tariffs on thousands of finished drugs and intermediate ingredients in the Uruguay round trade talks between 1986 and 1994. As a result, out of an average global trade in drugs worth $145bn between 1999 and 2001, $114bn was covered by the initiative. But almost $33bn is still subject to duty, the joint proposal noted.

AL-SHIFA PHARMACEUTICAL FACTORY
Operation Infinite Reach was the codename for an American cruise missile strike on a pharmaceutical plant in Sudan. After helping Sudan build a pharmaceutical factory, the United States blew it up. Initially, the U.S. claimed the plant was making chemical weapons. Eventually, the U.S. admitted there was no evidence the plant was making chemical weapons. The side-effects to the local population included:

no supplies of chloroquine (the standard treatment for malaria)
relief workers fleeing the country resulting in starvation
fostering the attack of 9/11

The trade disruption is estimated to have killed or maimed hundreds of thousands of people many of which were children.

BABY FORMULA IN CHINA
For years China had stiff tariffs on imported baby formula. The lack of competition forced the price higher and the quality lower. In 2012, China’s consumer quality regulator found an “unusual amount” of mercury in baby formula produced by Yili Industrial Group Co. “At present, the country has no standards on mercury limits in milk powder. But to be responsible to consumers, the company decided to recall all related products,” said the company.

It is unclear how many children have been malnourished or poisoned due to China’s trade policy. Under free-trade agreements, such as the TPP, countries can not put tariffs on the product and the product must meet the health and safety standards of the USA.

Trade War! What Is It Good For?

Posted on 2017/01/252017/01/26 by admin

By Daniel Brouse

International Economics 101
What do you think of when you hear the term “trade war”?
The costs and benefits to society are very similar to traditional warfare.
1) Financial Cost. A war is expensive. In a trade war, huge tariffs are placed on the purchase of imports. A tariff is a sales tax paid for by the citizen. Quite often this tax can be as high as 45% or the product even banned altogether. The tax is paid by the citizen to their government. The financial loss from the in-efficiency of paying large taxes is a tremendous burden on the country’s own citizens. In addition, there are usually large costs to the private sector. These costs can include high interest rates, inflation and loss of value to liquid assets. The standard of living declines.
2) Casualties / Loss Of Life. Millions of people are maimed or die in a trade war. The easiest examples in recent history would be the impacts on baby formula or pharmaceuticals. Hundreds-of-thousands of children, as well as, adults in need of medication died because these items were targeted in trade wars. Another example is maiming children by targeting vitamin A (causing childhood blindness.) Typically, trade wars impact the most vulnerable first — babies, the sick and the elderly.

Examples of Protectionism Costs

Hottest Year

Posted on 2017/01/19 by admin

By Daniel Brouse
For The Human Induced Climate Change Experiment

2016 was Earth’s warmest year in at least the last 125,000 years. It marks the third record year in a row.

NOAA reported, “The globally averaged temperature over land and ocean surfaces for 2016 was the highest among all years since record keeping began in 1880. During the final month, the December combined global land and ocean average surface temperature was the third highest for December in the 137-year record . During 2016, the globally-averaged land surface temperature was 2.57°F (1.43°C) above the 20th century average. This was the highest among all years in the 1880–2016 record, surpassing the previous record of 2015 by 0.18°F (0.10°C).”

Experts believe that a 1.5°C to 2°C increase is a tipping point that could make global warming irreversible. The 1.43°C increase is of grave concern.

Arctic ice also reached a record low. “Recent trends in the decline of Arctic polar sea ice extent continued in 2016.” The estimated average annual sea ice extent in the Arctic was approximately 3.92 million square miles. The smallest annual average on record.

Energy, Heat and Global Warming

Posted on 2017/01/012017/01/01 by admin

By Daniel Brouse and Sidd Mukherjee for Sidd’s Science Center

I ask:
Is there anything humans do with energy that results in less heat?

For example, furnaces generate heat, refrigerators generate heat, light bulbs generate heat, computers, cars, fans and even air conditioners create more heat.

Is there anything that we do that has a net loss of thermal energy or does the use of energy (period. both fossil fuel and renewable energy) by humans add to global warming?

Sidd replies:
Not just humans. Anytime energy is converted from one form to another and work is extracted by any agency, not just humans, some is lost as heat energy. That’s the second law of thermodynamics.

But to put it in perspective, lets say you burn a pound of coal, and take all the chemical energy out as heat. The amount of heat you directly obtain is several hundred times smaller than the heat trapped by the carbon dioxide generated over the next many thousand years that it remains in the atmosphere… so, don’t burn coal, oil or any fossil carbon.

Thus, for example conversion of AC to DC electricity can be very close to 100% efficient… but if you take out some of the energy and do work with it, you will lose some energy as heat.

The second law of thermodynamics states that the total entropy of an isolated system always increases over time, or remains constant in ideal cases where the system is in a steady state or undergoing a reversible process. The increase in entropy accounts for the irreversibility of natural processes, and the asymmetry between future and past.

The second law has been expressed in many ways. Its first formulation is credited to the French scientist Sadi Carnot in 1824, who showed that there is an upper limit to the efficiency of conversion of heat to work in a heat engine.