The FDA and Food Dyes

When a doctor from the Mayo Clinic informed me in February 2008 that Reagan's vertigo was more a migraine issue than an ear problem, he suggested that Reagan avoid foods with additives like artificial sweeteners, MSG, and dyes. While the unofficial diagnosis certainly didn't consider our environmental factor or ask why an 11-year-old would suddenly develop migrainous vertigo, it did help us make the connection between diet and symptoms.

When Reagan experienced a major vertigo attack with a simple piece of chewing gum, I became a believer in the toxicity of artificial sweeteners. When he experienced an even bigger episode after some store-bought birthday cake, I no longer questioned the risks of refined sugars and food dyes.

It soon became apparent that our son Brandon was not helped by these foods, either. That same birthday cake caused him to bounce off the walls and become uncontrollable.

The more I studied neurotoxins (nerve poisons) and their negative effects on health, the more convinced I became that our family needed a complete lifestyle change. Leaving our mold environment would not be enough. According to this article in Natural News:

Almost everything in every kind of grocery store has additives that can cause reactions including asthma attacks, obesity, tinnitus, and restless leg syndrome. While 1 out of every 4 people is sensitive to neurotoxic food additives, only 1 in 250 is aware that these additives are the source of the reactions they are having.

This week the FDA held a series of hearings with the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) in an effort to hear again the evidence linking food colorings to hyperactivity in children. According to this article published today in Money Times,

In an unforeseen reversal of stance, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has asked a panel of experts to review evidence linking food color to behavioral problems.

This is good news for consumer groups like the CSPI.

CSPI executive director Michael F. Jacobson said, “The purpose of these chemicals is often to mask the absence of real food, to increase the appeal of a low-nutrition product to children, or both. The continued use of these unnecessary artificial dyes is the secret shame of the food industry and the regulators who watch over it.”

In its latest petition, the CSPI has asked the FDA to ban Yellow 5 and other food dyes, or at least post mandatory warning label on foods containing them.

Many believe it is the June 2010 report of CSPI, titled Food Dyes: A Rainbow of Risks, that has in fact triggered this federal rethink.

According to the report, most widely used dyes, such as Red 40, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6 are contaminated with known carcinogens.

The report pointed out that Blue 1, Red 40, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6 also have a long history of causing allergic reactions in some people.

NPR published a similar story this week highlighting some of the foods and their respective dyes.

Product	Dye	Common Name	Found In
Twizzlers	Red No. 40	Allura Red	The most widely used food dye in terms of pounds consumed, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Found in cereal, gelatin, candy, baked goods.
Mountain Dew	Yellow No. 5	Tartrazine	The second most widely used food dye, according to CSPI. Found in soft drinks, pudding, chips, pickles, honey, mustard, gum, baked goods, gelatin and other foods.
Reese's Pieces	Yellow No. 6	Sunset Yellow	The third most widely used food dye. Found in cereal, orange soda and other beverages, hot chocolate mix, baked goods and many other foods.
Maraschino cherries	Red No. 3	Erythrosine B	Candy, popsicles, cake decoration and other baked goods, maraschino cherries
Blue M&Ms	Blue No. 1	Brilliant Blue	Ice cream, canned peas, candy, drinks, dessert powders, mouthwash
M&Ms (darker blue ones)	Blue No. 2	Indigotine, Indigo Carmine	Widely used to color beverages, candy and other foods.
Cotton candy	Green No. 3	Fast Green FCF	One of the least used food dyes, according to CSPI. Found in canned peas, vegetables, fish, desserts, cotton candy and other candy.
Sausage casing	Orange B		Hot dog and sausage casings. According to CSPI, batches of Orange B haven't been certified for use in at least a decade.

Let's hope the FDA listens and takes action.

Family's Mold Nightmare

One family's horrific mold experience may lead to legislation in the state of Illinois. The following article appeared today in The Telegraph, based in southwestern Illinois (St. Louis area).

Holly and Sean Farris' nightmare at 111 S. Kingdom St. started more than a year ago when they bought their first house, which turned out to be infested with what they say is toxic mold.

After a series of oversights, the Farrises now say they own a house that they cannot live in; have a First Time Home Buyers tax credit they probably have to pay back; and have a daughter still recovering from severe sinus infections suspected as a result of living in the house.

State Rep. Dan Beiser, D-Alton, said he plans to introduce legislation, inspired by the Farrises' situation, that would require real estate agents to disclose when toxic mold exists in saleable real estate structures.

"I don't want this to happen to anybody else," said Holly Farris, who is living with her family in another Bethalto house provided by the Madison County Urban League.

Although they didn't know it at the time, the house was being sold as part of an estate.

"I thought the people living (at Kingdom Street) owned it; it wasn't listed as an estate, which means the owner is dead, and it should have been listed as an estate, because the owner is dead."

Had the house been listed as an estate, which means "as is," the Farrises would not have looked at it at all, she said.

"Because it means no one could help you if there was a problem," she explained.

Beiser is sympathetic to the Farris' situation.

"She is in contact with me and my staff, and I'm glad she has been; it's a terrible situation," he said. "I'm introducing legislation that will, at this point, get something on the books, and knowing this would be a work in progress, so to speak, dealing with the issue. It will deal with proper disclosure at the time of sale of toxic mold being present in the structure."

. . . .

The Farrises bought the house on South Kingdom Street after their offer of $83,000 was accepted, knowing they would put a lot of money into the house to fix what they considered cosmetic flaws. When the Farrises originally went to look at the house, Holly Farris said it was full of people, dogs and smoke from cigarettes and had scented oil burners in every room. They did not notice the smell of mold.

"We went and looked at it, and they all lived there; it was dirty and outdated, but it all was cosmetic as far as I could see," she said. "I'm good with cosmetic; I can fix that."

She said she hired a home inspector after the agent and seller accepted the contract.

Brett Ahring inspected the home Jan. 26, 2010, she said.

"He came out, did the inspection and said the roof needed to be vented, and in his report said vague things about lead paint in a closet," Farris said. "But it wasn't paint, it was water damage."

The inspector told her the roof was sound and only about six or eight years old, she said.

"He put in his inspection that he walked the roof, but the roof is rotted through and leaking for upwards of a decade."

Farris said the water has been coming in on both sides of valleys in the roof.

"The water rotted out the entire common wall and the north wall," which includes a closet wall where the worst mold was found, she said. "The mold and water damage in the house came to $90,000 to fix it; you don't get that in a house unless water had been coming in for a real long time."

Ahring's report did note a breaker box needed to be exchanged, there needed to be a shut-off at the air conditioning unit, and there needed to be an exhaust fan in the bathroom, she said.

Holly said when the Farrises did their final walk-through, someone was standing in front of the closet where the most severe, visible mold was growing inside, and that person was vacuuming. Holly said she did not ask the person to move or stop, because she had paid an inspector to inspect the house.

The Farrises discovered the mold infestation only after they began to move into the house and rip out carpeting.

. . . .

She finally wrote to the Obama administration and showed a reply letter to the Urban League, which helped her family find a home, on which the Urban League pays the rent.

"We didn't have money for legal fees; if you don't have money, you can't recover," she said. "The only person willing to help us was the president (of the United States)."

This month, the Federal Housing Authority assigned an investigator to the situation with the South Kingdom Street house, Farris said.

. . . .

Her daughter, who was 12 years old at the time, slept in a room next to the closed-off bedroom with the moldy closet. She started having severe migraines, running fevers, and on the morning of April 11, 2010, woke up with her eye swollen shut, protruding from her face the size of a softball, Holly Farris said.

"We took her to the emergency room that day," she said. "They thought something was in her eye. They ran all these tests, a CAT scan, and found out her sinus cavity was completely impacted with infection," Holly said. "They put her on steroids and two different antibiotics."

The primary care physician put the Farrises' daughter on more antibiotics, but nothing worked, Holly said.

At the beginning of August 2010, her daughter had to have surgery to clean out the infection, and her physician told them to move out of the house.

"In Illinois, there still are no laws (about mold), because I've been told they say the science isn't in," said Holly, who contacted Beiser and began to work with him about legislation. Beiser and Farris have worked together the last six months on the subject.

The family moved out and stayed with either Holly's or Sean's mother. Holly wrote to President Barack Obama on Aug 17. In October, she received a reply from his office. By Nov. 20, the Urban League found the Farrises a house in which to live.

Now, the Farrises still own the Kingdom Street house, owe the mortgage, as well as the First Time Home Buyers tax credit, because they moved out of the house.

"When we moved out, we voided the homeowners insurance simply by not living there," Holly Farris said.

Allstate dropped them from their home insurance, she said. On Feb. 22, 2011, the arbitrator informed Holly he couldn't make the inspector be responsible for the mold damage, because he is not a mold inspector, she said. The Farrises owe $83,000 on the house to U.S. Bank.

"At the very end of the hearing, the arbitrator goes off and says the house never should have been sold," she said.

The article can be viewed in its entirety by clicking here.

Colin's Diagnosis: What I Wish I'd Heard

It’s been 3 1/2 years since Colin was diagnosed with type 1 juvenile diabetes. I took him to the doctor for what I was certain was a bladder infection, due to his frequent urination. We ended up in the emergency room. Thus began our odyssey: a 24-hour-a-day, 7-day-a-week journey into the world of keeping our child alive.

I am grateful for the compassion of doctors. “You can do anything you want in life,” the first on-call physician told my son. “Anything except drive a truck, fly an airplane, or serve in the military.” I started crying when she said this. In truth, she was talking to me, not my 7-year-old son who only wondered when the IV could be removed.

The next doctor assured me we didn’t need to change anything drastically. No big dietary changes, no social changes. In retrospect, I’m grateful for the assurances. My brain could not have handled too much change. I was trying to learn how to give shots and calculate carbs.

“Before you know it, this will become a natural part of your lives,” the next doctor consoled us.

I can’t say enough about the care we received. Kind and compassionate. Reassuring and comforting.

But there are two things I wish I had heard. Pieces to the puzzle that might have changed the course of our lives.

1. Consider your environment.

Imagine if we had heard this: “We’re not sure what triggers the onset of this disease. Environmental factors may or may not play a part. But since there is no family history of diabetes and we know there are numerous toxins in the world that put stress on a young child’s body, let me ask you, have there been any changes in your environment recently? Any type of water damage in the home, mold issues, repairs?”

“Funny you would say that,” I might have responded. “We are in the middle of a major mold remediation. We discovered and exposed this mold 7 weeks ago.” Perhaps the doctor would have been interested in the fact that our dog had been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes two years prior, which might have validated the environmental factor.

Had we connected the hazards of toxic mold to the diagnosis, perhaps we would have tested our home. Perhaps we would have left. Perhaps we would have been spared the next 12 months of suffering. Our other children became seriously ill within weeks of Colin’s diagnosis.

I can’t say for sure the mold caused my son’s diabetes. What I can say is it contributed to the onset. It seems plausible to me that an attacked immune system (assaulted by the same toxins found in yellow rain) can easily get confused and attack its own healthy cells.

2. Radical diet change will help.

I wish we had heard this: “No need to make any immediate dietary changes. I know this is a lot to assimilate. But when you are ready, there are numerous dietary changes that can help your son. These are difficult changes, but they will benefit him as well as every member of your family.”

If a friend had told me to cut out the sugars and refined foods, I would have inwardly rolled my eyes. If an endocrinologist had explained the stress fructose puts on the liver, I would have listened.

If a doctor had explained that gluten irritates a compromised digestive tract—something that Colin suffered severely from—I would have listened.

If a doctor had explained the incredible benefit of fresh vegetables, I would have listened.

We left our environment 15 months after Colin’s diagnosis. I wish we had left the day we came home from the hospital.

We have made the massive dietary changes. I can’t believe the difference this has made. Colin uses 75% less insulin than we used in that first year. He typically goes an entire day with less than 10 units of fast-acting insulin.

Since we left our home, and since the diet change, Colin’s migraines have disappeared. He rarely complains of abdominal pain and his rashes have improved.

He still has a life-threatening illness, but we’re managing it. And just as promised, Colin is thriving and enjoying life.

Somewhere there’s a family coping with the new diagnosis of their child. Perhaps our experience will help.

Pancake Recipe

We enjoyed some "green pancakes" last week for St. Patrick's Day. The recipe is as follows:

4 eggs
1 c. milk (we use kefir--can substitute coconut milk or milk of choice)
2 tsp. vanilla
Pinch of stevia
1/2 c. coconut flour (an excellent article on the benefits of coconut flour can be found here)
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
Coconut oil or ghee or butter for frying

Beat eggs in medium mixing bowl. Add milk or kefir along with vanilla, stevia, baking soda, sea salt, and cinnamon. Mix in coconut flour until all clumps are gone. (We added veggie/lime green juice for the holiday.) Fry in coconut oil/ghee/butter on griddle or skillet until browned on both sides. Keep pancakes small (3 inches diameter) and thick for best consistency. Total carb content of each pancake is less than 10 net carbs.

Go for the Greens!

St. Patrick's Day is the perfect time to think about the health benefits of green foods.

Chlorophyll is what gives green foods their color and is considered to be the "blood" of plants. In fact, the molecular structure of chlorophyll is similar to that of the hemoglobin in our blood. The difference lies in the fact that hemoglobin revolves around iron and chlorophyll revolves around magnesium. "Therefore, when you eat plants in their living, unheated state, the chlorophyll actually feeds oxygen to your body. Cooked food does not contain this organic type of oxygen. This is why, when you eat lots of greens or drink wheatgrass juice, you immediately feel a surge of energy. Wheatgrass is an especially good source of oxygen." (Susan Schenk, The Live Food Factor.)

In its natural state, chlorophyll is fat-soluble and readily absorbed by the body. This is in contrast to some of the more water-soluble liquid chlorophylls on the market, which are better for skin rashes and body odor.

Chlorophyll has been shown to counteract the effects of radiation and bind to heavy metals and other toxins in the body. In addition, chlorophyll has strong anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties.

It makes sense that greens are a healthy addition to any diet.

Here are a few suggestions for incorporating greens:

1. Green Juice

A good beginning green juice is romaine lettuce, celery, and cucumber. Slowly incorporate greener foods like chard, parsley, kale, and any other leafy greens. Add lemon or lime to help with taste. If I have some particularly bitter greens in the juice, I offer it as a challenge to my younger kids and then praise them for their bravery.

2. Green Juice Pulp

I take the pulp and store it in the refrigerator. We use it in stir-fries and mix it into meatloaf, meatballs, or sausage. (This is why grass-fed beef is so critical. If the animals eat lots of chlorophyll, so do we!) Granted, some of the nutritional content is lost, but not all of it. The pulp can be food-processed with soaked flax seeds. Add salt and other spices and dehydrate them. Click here for a recipe example.

3. Spirulina

Micro-algae in general is an excellent source of chlorophyll. Spirulina in particular contains over 100 nutrients, including beta-carotene, iron, copper, manganese, selenium, zinc, trace minerals, gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), vitamin E, vitamin D, vitamin K, and vitamin
B-12 and other B vitamins.

One interesting note in light of the current crisis in Japan: In 1994, a Russian patent was awarded for spirulina as a medical food to reduce allergic reactions from radiation sickness. Research showed that 5 grams of spirulina a day for 45 days lowered radionucleides by 50% and normalized allergic sensitivities.*

There are many sources of this nutrient. I like the Nutrex Hawaii brand available in powder or tablet form.

*More information here.

4. Chlorella

Chlorella is another algal food containing a little less protein than spirulina but twice the nucleic acid and chlorophyll. In order for the nutritional value of Chlorella to be realized, the cell wall must be broken down to make it digestible. There are questions concerning the final quality of its nutritional content when Chlorella is processed in any way. We like the Chlorenergy brand.

Who's the Best Pancreas?

It's not easy being a pancreas. Frankly, I don't like the job. If my son's life didn't depend on it, I'd happily resign. Colin was seven years old when he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. We did our best to explain that since his pancreas wasn't working, Dad and I were happy to fill in. The idea took hold. Whenever he'd test in range he'd give us a high five and say, "Who's the best pancreas?"

The problem is we're not the best pancreas. We fall short. We go an entire day with perfect blood sugars and hit 300 for seemingly no reason. It's a constant learning curve.

The other morning I woke up at 6:45 a.m. and did what I do most every morning. Checked his log book to see if he was up in the night. (Thankfully, Chris becomes lead pancreas between the hours of 10 p.m. and 5 a.m.) Sure enough, Colin went low during the night. Sigh. I thought our dose of 7.1 Lantus was conservative. Guess not.

Chris wrote about the episode in a recent blog entry:

I hate the smell of insulin at 1:30 a.m. I hate the smell of just about anything that early, but especially insulin. It smells like something stored in an army footlocker. Maybe old combat boots. Perhaps a textbook on WWII tactical weaponry.

At 1:14 this morning Colin awakened me, his face close to mine. “I feel low.”

I hate those three words, too. Not because I have to get out of bed but because I know what it’s doing to his body. How ravenous he will be. I’ll need to act counterintuitive to that.

Okay, I won’t lie, I hate getting out of bed. It’s a long way up from the air mattress and my bones want to stay close to the ground.

So we do the pancreas dance. He trudges from the room and slumps in a chair, his jaw slack, panting. He gets out his insulin case, opens it, retrieves the poker, gets up, washes his hands, goes back, pokes, gets blood, inserts the strip into the meter, waits for it... waits for it...

I stumble into the kitchen without glasses and stare at the green numbers on the microwave.

1:14.

I hate diabetes.

“Beep.”

“58,” he says.

Normal people have a pancreas that works. Normal people take their pancreas for granted. You eat a bag of Doritos or a Snickers bar and never pray your pancreas will produce insulin. Your pancreas regulates your body’s blood glucose levels to remain steady somewhere between 80 and 120. Don’t hold me to that, it’s early. But that’s basically where you stay. Fall below 70 and you feel it. Fall below 60 and you shake. Keep going down and you’ll eventually pass out. Some people don’t feel it anymore, they can’t tell they’re getting low, but Colin can. Sometimes I think that’s God’s gift to us.

He has a spoonful of organic honey that organic bees have been spitting into organic buckets on organic bee farms somewhere in Organicville.* That will bring him up a notch and take the edge off. But we’ve only begun. He has 3 little mini-peeled carrots which aren’t approved by the organic bee society, but I don’t see anybody from that organization in the kitchen at 1:40 and their 800 number isn't staffed at this hour. So he eats the three mini-peeled carrots.

I’ve been known to make a stir fry at this point, chopping onions and cabbage and mixing with an egg or two. It’s protein and will help him hang on until morning. I grab two eggs from the refrigerator in the garage and Colin meets me there, pulling out a special drawer.

“I was thinking this,” he says, holding out a Granny Smith apple. The organic kind with the orange ring around it.

I roll my eyes like it’s fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We haven’t had fruit for a long time but apples are slowly being reintroduced to the diet. I have no idea what this is going to do to his levels. His body will react wildly to the fructose. You will say, “But it’s an apple, leave the kid alone.”

Exactly. It’s just an apple. That’s why I hate diabetes. I have to dose him for a stupid apple.

I hate dosing a shaking kid who gets up in the middle of the night. I hate drawing up the insulin and handing him a needle he shoves into his skin. But if I don’t, his number will rise above 120, above 200, above 300.

So I write all this down in his book I also hate that says when he went to bed he was 111. And I see how much insulin I gave him to keep him in range overnight. We obviously overdid it, but when I compare the number from the previous night that was exactly the same, I wonder. Did he have more exercise? Did he not have something right before bed to hold his levels steady? Am I supposed to click my heels three times and say some magic incantation to keep him above 80? How does a pancreas do it?

... I hand him the eggs and get out the insulin bottle. We have determined that there were 24 carbs in the apple. There were also a few in the honey and the mini-peeled carrots.

“How much would you have for just the apple?”

“Mom would give me 2 units.”

My wife would give this dose without thinking. She rattles carbs in her brain like a supercomputer. I am right-brained, more creative, which is wonderful if you’re writing a song or a book or an essay on civility, but if you want to keep a kid’s glucose meter from saying “HIGH” and playing Mozart’s Requiem at 1:55, you need the left hemisphere of your brain and I do not have as much as my wife does.

I can’t give him 2 units. I do not want him shaking in an hour or two. But I don’t want him to go high either. That is my conundrum at 2 a.m. Forty-five minutes ago I was under the covers. I'm beginning to think I won't be going back to bed.

I decide on 1.25 units. I feel good about that. It’s a safe dose. I hand him the needle and he puts it in his thigh. Was it enough? Probably not.

He looks in the refrigerator again, the light reflecting off his face and the robe that makes him look like Hugh Hefner’s son. He sighs, closes the door, and rubs his eyes on his way back to bed.

“Goodnight,” he says.

“Goodnight.”

“I love you,” he says.

It won’t be long before he’s doing all of this by himself. It won’t be long before he’s staring into his own refrigerator in his own house or apartment. I’ll be asleep somewhere, oblivious to all of this.

“Love you, too,” I say.

And I do.

No matter how much I hate diabetes and organic bees and sharp needles and writing down statistics of a little boy who didn't do anything to deserve this, I love him. And that’s what will keep me up until 4 when I’ll check him again.

*Addendum*
4:20 a.m. It took me five minutes to wake him, but we tested. His level is 148. Within the acceptable range. Sigh

(* Not sure about Organicville, but the honey is called Really Raw Honey and can be found here.)

Sigh. Chris is right. Colin will be his own pancreas one day. In the meantime, we'll keep "filling in." As for that 1.25 dose? All I can say is, "Who's the best pancreas?"

Erin Brockovich and Toxic Mold

The following 48 Hours segment features consumer advocate Erin Brockovich and her battle against toxic mold. The segment (originally aired in 2008) is 13 minutes long and worth viewing. I found myself tearfully reliving our experience, grateful for the information contained in the piece.



Erin Brockovich continues her role as an activist in the areas of oil spills, product liability, environmental hazards, and toxic mold. The following statement appears on her website:

"Mold has certainly made its way into people's homes as well as the headlines recently. Many people still don't fully understand the health hazards of fungal exposure. The term toxic mold is somewhat misleading as it exudes an idea that certain molds are toxic, when actually certain types of molds produce secondary metabolites that produce toxins. The correct term is mycotoxins. Airborne mycotoxins from mold can definitely destroy one's health. Sometimes, people are unaware that they are breathing mold spores and mycotoxins until they are very sick. Certain people have minor allergic reactions to the non-toxic mold, but once they leave the affected area they most likely recover with few serious side effects. However, if they have been exposed to the dangerous molds such as Stachybotrys or Chaetomium, they could suffer from a myriad of serious symptoms and illnesses such as chronic bronchitis, learning disabilities, mental deficiencies, heart problems, cancer, multiple sclerosis, chronic fatigue, lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple chemical sensitivity, bleeding lungs and much more."

Erin has a webpage devoted to the issue and invites those with stories or information to contact her. Click here to find out more.

Healing Baths

Baths have been used for centuries for healing and detoxifying the body. Epsom salts and baking soda are two of the most popular remedies and appropriate for those recovering from chronic and/or environmental illness.

• Epsom Salt Baths

Epsom salts consist of magnesium and sulfate (sulphate).

Magnesium is a vital mineral necessary for proper functioning of muscles, nerves, sleep, and more. Research by the National Academy of Sciences suggests that most Americans are deficient in magnesium.

Sulphates play a critical role in the formation of brain tissue. They disinfect the blood and flush toxins from cells. They stimulate the pancreas to produce digestive enzymes. Sulphates also contribute to the production of collagen, which contributes to healthy, young-looking skin.

Both nutrients are readily absorbed into the skin. According to this study by Dr. Rosemary Waring at the School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, UK,

"... all individuals had significant rises in plasma magnesium and sulfate at a level of 1% Epsom salts. This equates to 1g MgS04/100ml water; 600g Epsom salts/60 litres, the standard size UK bath taken in this project (~15 US gallons). However, most volunteers had significantly raised Mg/S04 levels on baths with 400g MgS04 added."

This translates to roughly two cups of Epsom salts per bath.

We find Epsom salt baths to be extremely calming. Often we add essential oils like lavender or frankincense. I order Epsom salts in bulk and find that we go through more than 60 pounds each month.

• Baking Soda Baths

Baking soda baths are also affordable and effective. Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) helps alkalize the body. It is excellent for rashes and relieves itching.

Baking soda can be combined with Epsom salts in equal parts. 1/2 cup of each is commonly suggested. Adding essential oils can bring further benefit. Suggested oils include tea tree oil, lavender, and peppermint.

Healing baths can be rotated. Additional options include:

Ginger (grated or powdered)

Sea Salt (preferably Dead Sea salt)

Aalgo (seaweed)

Apple Cider Vinegar

Bentonite Clay

As with any healing protocol, it's best to start small and build. Tolerance should be monitored. Hot water is preferable in most cases. I add a Crystal Ball to improve water quality.

Most of all, relax and enjoy!

The Link Between Pesticides, Thyroid, and Health

The rampant use of pesticides is one of the great social tragedies of our day, in my opinion.

Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR)'s Environmental Health Policy Institute, an online forum of physicians, health professionals, and environmental health experts, published the following article last week in response to the question, "How does our food production system drive our exposure to toxic chemicals?"

The author, Dr. Joanne Perron, offers this eye-opening answer, drawing on her personal journey with breast cancer and her years of experience as a physician.

As an OB/GYN who trained at Los Angeles County/USC Women’s Hospital during its heyday of 18,000 deliveries per year, I saw countless women with fibroids and ovarian masses the size of term pregnancies and an overwhelming number of third-world-like adverse birth outcomes, maternal and fetal. In those ancient times of the late 80s-early 90s, the prevailing wisdom was that these women, who often lacked preventive care, were the unfortunate carriers of bad genes. When people ask me how I first became interested in environmental causes of disease, I recall that I privately thought, never risking professional scorn as a resident, there had to be another component that conventional medical teachings ignored which contributed to the adverse reproductive disorders I was learning about.

Of course then, my cursory knowledge was only of acute pesticides exposures since many of my patients were migrant farm workers. I surmised that there were mutagenic or genotoxic mechanisms from pesticides responsible for their health problems, but other than the nature vs. nurture debate, had never heard of epigenetic mechanisms in my medical training. So fast forward to 2001 when I started training in integrative medicine with Andrew Weil at the University of Arizona, Tucson. This is when I first heard the term xenoestrogens. I started wondering if chemicals in the water and food supply could be related to the reproductive disorders I was increasingly seeing in a middle class population. I say increasingly, because even women who came to see me for their annual “well woman” exam seemed to have an inordinate number of complaints such as abnormal bleeding, pelvic pain, endometriosis, fibroids, fibrocystic breasts, ovarian cysts, or PMS. And most of these women did not work in agriculture.

I also started wondering if all of the cases of non-familial pre-menopausal breast cancer were due to some environmental causes. And then in 2004, at age 45, having breast fed my sons, never smoked, eaten healthy, and exercised regularly, I too got the diagnosis of breast cancer. And I was the kid who actually liked eating eggplant and other “weird” vegetables. With no family history of breast cancer, I started serious study of the potential environmental causes of breast cancer and while I am aware of the multitude of other environmental contaminants, pesticides were something, as a beginner, I could wrap my mind around.

A close friend from childhood, Kristie, who lived 4 houses away, died at 38 from breast cancer. She had no family history of breast cancer. Additionally, both of her sisters had unexplained infertility (their mom was a “fertile Myrtle”). With every high school reunion, I heard of former classmates who had passed away from different types of cancer. We grew up in the west San Fernando Valley, which had mostly ranches and agriculture until the post WWII building boom. In the late 1950s to early 1970s, many of the schools and residences abutted orange groves, onion fields, and corn fields. Not only do I recall frequent spraying of nearby fields, but also the sweet smell of regular misting from the mosquito trucks during the summer months.

Did early pesticide exposure cause my individual case of breast cancer? My scientific training informs me that I will never know for sure. However, a large body of data is beginning to point the finger at early life, including in-utero, pesticide exposure as a crucial factor in many adverse health outcomes, some occurring many years after initial exposure, that clinicians see on a daily basis, including birth defects, reproductive disorders (male and female), cancers, metabolic disease, neurodevelopmental disorders, and neurological diseases.

To this day, when I talk about epigenetics to same-age colleagues in the trenches, some are disbelieving because they didn’t learn about it in medical school and the journals that they read don’t mention epigenetics, oxidative stress, or even endocrine disruption with linkage to adverse health outcomes. The sentinel 2009 Endocrine Society Scientific Statement should be mandatory reading for every health care professional before assuming practice or getting recertified. Most importantly, it states that there is evidence that endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) can have effects on human reproduction, breast development and cancer, prostate cancer, neuroendocrinology, thyroid, metabolism and obesity, and cardiovascular endocrinology. I admit it took my brain a bit of time to rewire and integrate an understanding of the mechanisms underlying epigenetic factors of disease and to appreciate that disruption of the intricate orchestrated endocrine signaling is more complicated than the lock and key theory of hormone function that I learned many moons ago.

This is just a brief summation of the science and concerns that scientists have about pesticides and other EDCs, but what about the local anecdotes that I frequently observe or hear about? From two different sources, I have learned that Stanford hospital receives most of its cases of congenital cardiac defects and childhood cancers from the Salinas valley. Also, that the Monterey/Salinas cancer clinicians are seeing more cases of premenopausal breast cancer from the Salinas area. Monterey County, the salad bowl of the US and the biggest producer of strawberries, is my home. It is an area of exquisite natural beauty, but has some of California’s most polluted streams and rivers from agricultural run-off. I shudder to think of the quality of our drinking water. To add to our woes and potentially contaminate our ground water even more, a great big experiment may soon occur on those who live in proximity to strawberry fields with the December 2010 approval by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation for the use of Über-toxic methyl iodide to fumigate those fields.

Neither does the Pacific Ocean escape the toxic effects of pesticides; the Salinas and Pajaro river watersheds drain those same pesticide laden fields and empty into the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS). Perusal of the MBNMS maps on this site clearly illustrates the color red to indicate “impaired” rivers. Meanwhile, the fishermen wonder where all the salmon have gone and I wonder about the local tide pools that once teemed with loads of hermit crabs, urchins, and starfish for John Steinbeck and my little boys to learn about.

I try not to turn into an Eeyore when I discuss these issues with those I am trying to educate. I often think about the messaging we use in this line of work and how we could better persuade those who are comfortable with the status quo or those who lack knowledge and understanding of the connections between the pervasive use of dangerous chemicals and the health of future generations. At one time I preached about a future scenario similar to the book and movie “Children of Men,” but that didn’t win me any converts. Now, I jokingly tell colleagues that I want to design tee shirts that say “Bugger off, don’t methylate my DNA or perturb my thyroid!” or “Halogens are not for children and other living things.” Mostly, I just breathe deep and acknowledge that I am a foot soldier to take this information to clinicians, policy makers, and patients, but as with many issues in public health this may be a long and arduous march.

To read the article in its entirety, click here.

Warning Signs of Chemical Exposure

In light of the growing number of chemical-related illnesses, the website Chemical Injury.net offers a page titled Preventing Chemical Injury. Included are the following guidelines for recognizing the early warning signs of chemical exposure.

RECOGNIZE EARLY WARNINGS!

The body often provides early warnings of chemical damage. Being alert to these warnings helps prevent more serious or permanent chemical damage. Take steps to promptly reduce your exposure. This can prevent chemical injury.

Warning symptoms in the beginning are often worse when you are near the chemical exposure and get better away from the exposure. You can “be a detective” and prevent chemical injury with disability. Find out what chemicals you are exposed to. Using drugs to make symptoms go away can “turn off” early warning, allowing further, more silent, chemical damage. Helping symptoms with medications temporarily is okay but repeated symptoms can be a warning. Do not neglect the warning since drugs cannot heal chemical injury.

The types of warning symptoms differ somewhat with the chemical(s) involved, and with the individual(s) exposed. At first only one or a few symptoms may occur. With more exposure, symptoms often get worse and more symptoms develop. Look for these warnings:

RESPIRATORY

Irritation, Inflammation: Burning, sore/irritated, congested, painful ears, nose, sinuses, throat, voice box, bronchi/chest, lungs.

MIGRAINES

Migraines are commonly caused or made worse by chemicals in the air, food and/or by skin contact. A migraine is often a headache with increased sensitivity to light and/or sound/noise. It may occur with nausea/upset stomach and can last hours to days.

BRAIN SYMPTOMS

Scientists now know there is no barrier between the nose and the brain. The brain extends into the nose with small nerve endings in the lining of the nose. This is called a cranial nerve for smell (olfactory nerve). Chemicals breathed in the air or put or sprayed into the nose can pass through the nose lining (mucosa) and enter the brain. This can cause warning symptoms with chemical exposure:

• Headache
• Dizziness, lightheaded feeling
• Problems with attention span/concentration, difficulty with short term memory
• Impaired balance/coordination
• “Pins and needles” feeling or numbness.

If you notice repeated, significant, or worsening of any of the above symptoms, seriously consider a chemical cause.

EYES

Burning, irritated eyes are typical of chemical exposure. (Itchy eyes suggest allergy while yellow pus suggests infection.)

SKIN

Rashes with burning suggest chemical exposure. Hives may indicate chemical exposure or regular allergy. Redness with itching on back or upper center chest where you sweat may be your body’s attempt to clear out chemicals. Watch what you are exposed to when rashes/skin effects are worse.

CHRONIC FATIGUE, ACHING

These are often later warning signs that chemical inflammation is becoming chronic. Usually when chemical exposure is a factor, you will also have some of the symptoms above. Carefully think about your exposures. The longer/more severely you have been affected, the longer it may take you to notice some improvement with reduced exposure.

However, even a weekend or week with lots of fresh air (avoid pesticides, etc. there) may give you a hint if some of your symptoms get better even temporarily. If they again get worse returning to your former situation, a chemical link is more likely. More severely affected people need more time away from exposure to notice improved symptoms.

GASTROINTESTINAL SYMPTOMS

“Acid reflux-like” symptoms are common in chemical injury. This can include irritation/burning feeling in the stomach or esophagus area (mid upper abdomen, lower middle chest), gas/bloating. If these symptoms are or become frequent or serious, consider a chemical cause.

These warning signs are similar to the ill effects of toxic mold. Toxic mold emits VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds), which act like chemicals in the body.

To read this document in its entirety, click here and follow the link to "Recognize Early Warnings."