Jan 27 Hadcorp News -- Important articles

[Guest guest]

Hadcorp News: January 27, 2007 In this edition of our newsletter: Botoxic? (USA) Patients lose $50,000 to plastic surgery center in Delray (USA) After plastic surgeries, more do an about-face (USA) Brazilian carnival star takes aim at record for most plastic surgery (Austria) Infections common, costly after mastectomy, implant surgery (USA) Revenge Killer To Get Cosmetic Surgery (Scotland) Actor Surprised by Continued Popularity of Plastic Surgery (Switzerland) Plastic surgery pullback (UK) What Are The Risk Factors for Breast Cancer? (USA) Cosmetic Surgery Among Ethnic Groups and Across Borders (USA) Surviving Starts With An Assumption (USA) Datin critical after cosmetic surgery (Malaysia) Surgeon who operated on MP's wife under probe

(Malaysia) More men turning to implants for chests of gold (USA) VETERAN RELATED NEWS Agent Orange & Birth Defects (USA) Veteran backs PM’s call for all to be on UK donor list (UK) H-bomb test veterans fight for compensation (UK) BIOFUELS MPs call for moratorium on biofuel targets (UK)

Botoxic? Message from Public Citizen USA ly, we'd be worried if anyone told us they were going to inject botulinum toxin - the same toxin that causes food poisioning - into our body. However, that doesn't stop many people from choosing Botox and Myobloc for therapeutic, as well as purely cosmetic reasons. What many of these people don't know is that those injections could kill them. Public Citizen has petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to immediately ramp up its warnings to doctors and patients about the risk of the toxin spreading to other parts of the body -- with serious, sometimes fatal, consequences. LEARN MORE. READ our petition.

Patients lose $50,000 to plastic surgery center in Delray By Chrystian Tejedor South Florida Sun-Sentinel Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA January 24, 2008 A ruptured implant and a sweet deal advertised on the radio made the Florida Aesthetic Surgery Center seem too good to pass up for a Deerfield Beach woman. But the deal, offering a buy one surgical procedure, get one free, was too good to be true, according to patient Novello and the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, which is investigating the clinic. Things started honestly enough on Aug. 1 when Novello went to the clinic at 5258 Linton Blvd., across from Delray Medical Center, and was examined by a surgeon. She paid the full $7,200 bill up front and scheduled the procedure for Aug. 23.

"Everything seemed fine when I went in there, of course," Novello said. "You think you're doing the right thing by checking the individual doctor, but you're not investigating the company he works for." Problems crept up two days before the surgery was scheduled, according to a search warrant filed by Sheriff's Detective Engelbert H. . That's when Florida Aesthetic Surgery Center staff called to reschedule Novello's appointment. Novello, who said she was in pain, wanted her money back so she could have a different doctor perform the procedure at an earlier date. Staff first told Novello she would have her money back in 90 days but a refund check never came, Novello said. She later had a hard time reaching the clinic's staff or was given the runaround by employees who promised that a check was in the mail. "I'm disgusted," she said. "I'm out $7,200 for nothing." According to a search warrant filed by the

Sheriff's Office, Novello wasn't the only person who lost money on a procedure that was never performed. At least seven other victims lost a total of $49,980, according to the warrant. Detectives are still investigating Novello's case and have seized patients' files and at least five computers from the clinic's now-vacant office west of Delray Beach. No charges have been filed against the Florida Aesthetic Surgery Center or its employees, who could not be reached because the clinic's phone number is disconnected. Novello plans to take the case to small claims court to try to recoup at least $5,000, the maximum allowed.

After plastic surgeries, more do an about-face By Kirsten Scharnberg | TRIBUNE CORRESPONDENT Chicago Tribune - United States January 21, 2008 After two nose jobs and thousands of dollars, Debra Dunn hated her face so much that she avoided mirrors, didn't want to leave the house and hid behind her long hair anytime she had to be out in public. "Every time I saw myself, I wanted to punch myself in the nose to make it all go away," said the 40-year-old New Yorker, referring to the five years that followed a cosmetic surgery intended to even out a bump on her nose from a childhood injury. "I just kept thinking, 'Why did I do this to myself?'" Doctor after doctor told Dunn her new nose was lovely. "Anyone would kill for a cute little nose like that,"

she remembers many of them saying, despite the fact her new nose was so narrow that it whistled when she breathed. But Dunn deeply regretted messing with what nature had given her and felt she no longer bore any resemblance to herself. Desperate, Dunn eventually spent more than three times the amount of her original surgery in an attempt to rebuild her nose to resemble the one she was born with. "I don't think you can ever go completely back to square one," she said last week, "but for the most part I now look like myself again." As plastic surgery has become increasingly common in America -- some 16 million procedures were performed in 2007 -- so has the consumer backlash. Thousands of patients find themselves so displeased with the results of their surgeries that they are paying top dollar to undo what they had done. The demand for such procedures is so high that some doctors now promote themselves as "revision plastic

surgeons" and devote up to 50 percent of their practices to such cases. The surgeries have earned their own nickname in the trendy nip-tuck world: undo-plasties. "I'd say at this point that one out of about every two or three procedures I do is a revision surgery," said Dr. Jacono, chief of facial plastic and reconstructive surgery at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y. If Hollywood, with its Joan Rivers cheekbones and Angelina Jolie-inspired lip injections, led the plastic surgery craze, it also has pioneered the developing trend of regretting many of the results. Rocker Love recently wrote on her MySpace page that she hated her face-lift and wanted to go back to "the mouth God gave me." Porn star Jenna on had breast implants removed last year, saying, "Why don't I be who I am?" Singer Julio Iglesias went public last year about plastic surgery on his sagging neck and jaw line, calling it the

"worst thing" he'd ever done. The 'standardized' look Actress belle Gurwitch recently contributed a heartfelt commentary on National Public Radio in which she agonized over her choice to follow the Hollywood crowd to the plastic surgeon's operating table. Instead of loving her new, youthful face, she spoke of missing the bags under her eyes that had taken her "40 years to accumulate" and of feeling "like a sheep." "Have I flouted nature and tampered with an essential, defining part of my being?" she said. "People are saying I look prettier, while I think I just look more standardized, like a new house where all the corners meet." Jacono said the idea of feeling standardized is exactly what bothers so many of his clients. He said the combination of plastic surgery's popularity and the fact that so many doctors are jumping into the largely unregulated profession without specialized training has resulted in millions of

"cookie cutter" surgeries that he calls "the Dr. rhinoplasty and the Dr. face-lift." "Everyone kind of ends up looking the same," he said, adding that patients from as far away as Italy have recently come to him to revise surgeries they hate. Jacono said many plastic surgeons not only tend to do all noses and face-lifts alike but also do more aggressive procedures than clients had envisioned. He said clients often tell him they wanted to look like a younger version of themselves but "came out looking like they had been trapped in a wind tunnel." Patients like Dunn who hate the results of their initial plastic surgeries often become reclusive, unwilling to even leave home. Jacono said by the time many of them come to him, they are depressed and ashamed. Kathy Kater, a St. psychotherapist who specializes in body image disorders, said such reactions make sense. "There is a human hunger to be our most

authentic self," she said. "Such dramatic surgeries can make people feel as though their permanent self is not their genuine self -- at least on the outside. That can lead to a real feeling of internal discontent or even a very deep grief for a self who now seems to have disappeared." Kater said she has some clients who have spiraled into deep depressions after having weight-loss surgeries and then gaining the weight back. "They feel like even bigger failures at that point," she said, "and regret doing the surgery in the first place." 'I have myself back' Since Dunn had Jacono reconstruct her nose -- not an easy process because so much tissue and cartilage had been removed in the first nose job -- she said she has returned to her former outgoing self. She works outside the home again and doesn't try to shrink behind her hair. "I feel like I have myself back -- and my life back," she said. When asked whether this

new wave of revision surgeries is another symptom of the nation's addiction to plastic surgery, Jacono quickly discounted the theory. "A lot of these people come to me completely reclusive because they are so inhibited by the person they've been turned into," he said. "And after I restore the face they want to them, they never have another plastic surgery again."

Brazilian carnival star takes aim at record for most plastic surgery By PETER MUELLO - Associated Press Writer Pressemitteilung Wien, Austria 2008-01-27 05:32:39 - RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) - Brazilian model Bismarchi will dance nearly nude ahead of a 300-person drum corps in next month's Carnival parade, hoping her sculpted beauty as a «percussion queen» will lead her samba group to the championship. But she has another goal in mind as well. In preparation for Rio's five-day Carnival blowout in February, she's having her 42nd plastic surgery _ closing in on the Guinness World Record of 47 surgical procedures held by 52-year-old American , who calls herself a «Living Doll» and now promotes her own skincare line. «I always was

vain,» Bismarchi, 36, acknowledges at the medical clinic near Rio where her plastic surgeon husband has operated on her 10 times. «And for carnival, you have to feel especially pretty. Just days before Brazil's Feb. 2-6 carnival begins, Bismarchi will have nylon wires implanted in her eyes to give them an Asian slant, in line with this year's theme of her samba group, Porto da Pedra: the centennial of Japanese immigration to Brazil. Bismarchi's unabashed passion for plastic surgery has made her a celebrity in this image-mad country, where even the poor get surgical enhancements on the installment plan. Brazilians see no shame in touching up their bodies, which are routinely exposed at carnival and flaunted on the beach in thong bikinis so tiny they're called «dental floss. Born poor in Rio, Bismarchi had her first cosmetic surgery in 1992 after her daughter was born. She was just 21, but said she was depressed after nursing caused

her breasts to sag. So she had them lifted, adored the results, and became so fascinated with cosmetic surgery that her next two husbands were plastic surgeons. «I put in a prosthesis and loved it. I was beautiful and sensual again,» Bismarchi said, a striking figure at 6 feet (1.81 meters) _ taller in white high heels _ with long blond hair flowing over her white minidress. Carnival has a special place in Bismarchi's career. She first made headlines in 2000, when police tried to arrest her after she paraded partly nude with the Brazilian flag painted on her body. «I became famous all over,» she said. «The power of carnival is amazing. Two years later, she paraded with the face of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva painted across her exposed body. Police released her after she explained it was a gesture to Silva's anti-hunger program. A wardrobe malfunction at last year's carnival put Bismarchi back

in the news _ when her G-string broke and dangled from her waist, Porto da Pedra was threatened with a penalty for total nudity, forbidden under parade rules. But the resourceful Bismarchi hid from the judges behind the drum section, changed her tiny «sex cover» and finished the parade. Today, Bismarchi promotes an exclusive line of sexy lingerie, gives beauty tips and responds to the 500 to 700 letters and e-mails she receives each day. To care for her famous figure, she does two and a half hours of exercise daily, takes dance lessons and spends hours tanning on the beach. «I consider myself quite timid. I'm just a little girl grown big,» she said. «I never imagined I would be famous. Things just happened.

Infections common, costly after mastectomy, implant surgery By MICHELLE FAY CORTEZ Kansas City Star - MO,USA Bloomberg News Infections commonly follow breast surgery, particularly for cancer, and generate about $4,000 in extra hospital costs per patient, researchers said. One in eight women, or 12.4 percent, who underwent a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery with a breast implant developed an infection within a month and a half, a study in the Archives of Surgery found. About 6.2 percent of women who had reconstruction with abdominal tissue and 4.4 percent who chose against reconstruction developed infections. The data show it makes financial sense for hospitals to add staff and improve computer systems if needed to ensure infection-fighting measures are taken, said lead researcher Margaret

Olsen, assistant professor of medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Steps include giving antibiotics before surgery, controlling blood sugar in diabetics and having medical workers thoroughly wash their hands. “Preventing infections is extremely important no matter what, but this is looking at whether it’s cost-effective,” Olsen said in a telephone interview. “Because these infections are expensive, the answer is yes, it clearly is.” In the study, researchers tracked infection rates for 949 women admitted to the -Jewish Hospital in St. Louis for mastectomy or breast reconstruction between July 1999 and June 2002. Fifty women, 5.3 percent of the group, had infections at the site of surgery. Eighteen of the 22 with infections after getting implants needed to have the devices removed. Cancer patients are particularly vulnerable to infections, Olsen said. They often are older than women

undergoing cosmetic surgery and have other health complications such as obesity and diabetes. The treatments for cancer, including chemotherapy and radiation, may also increase their risk of infection, she said. Two of the 185 women who had reduction surgery and none of the 24 who underwent an operation to enlarge their breasts developed infections, the study found. About half of women who receive a mastectomy for cancer decide against reconstruction, though the rates vary across the country, Olsen said. For those who do chose it, most elect immediate reconstruction with a breast implant, she said. About 180,000 U.S. women were diagnosed with breast cancer last year, the most common tumor in women, and 41,000 died from it, according to the American Cancer Society.

Revenge Killer To Get Cosmetic Surgery Jan 22 2008 Exclusive by McLeod Glasgow Daily Record - Glasgow,Scotland,UK A MURDERER who stabbed her pregnant victim 30 times is to get cosmetic surgery at the taxpayers' expense. Mother-of-two Gurmit Bassi, 42, and a hired hitman also cut the woman's throat. Bassi has told friends she has been self-harming in her room at Cornton Vale Prison to the extent that doctors believe plastic surgery is necessary. She has been told by prison authorities that she will be allowed the surgery, to the lower part of her body, if she stops the abuse. A source said: "She has told close friends that the surgery is on offer. "But she has told other inmates that she is to get

liposuction on her stomach and hips because she is carrying too much weight. "No one is buying in to that and everybody knows the real reason for the surgery. "Some of the girls think she is trying to abuse herself in a similar way to the way her victim was abused, though, obviously, at a much, much lower level. "They reckon it's just another way of her grabbing attention. "She likes the idea of being special in the Vale. Having thousands spent on surgery is a good feather in her cap, to her way of thinking." Bassi was jailed for life in 1998 along with hitman , then 25, for the appalling murder and mutilation of eight-months-pregnant Rajwinder Bassi, 32. Rajwinder had married Bassi's former husband Harbhej who still carried on a secret sexual relationship with Gurmit. Bassi was obsessed with Rajwinder and exploded when she learned she was pregnant.

She and , who was given £500 and jewellery, went to Rajwinder's home in Woodlands Road, Glasgow, on April 13, 1998, during the Sikh holy festival of Basaki, known as "day for revenge". Rajwinder's throat was cut with such violence that her head was nearly severed. And as she lay dying with her jugular vein cut, Bassi continued the frenzied attack, stabbing her repeatedly in the back. Pathologist Jeanette McFarlane told the trial: "I have never seen injuries like that before." During her trial Bassi tried to blame her ex-husband and 14-year-old son for the murder. Rajwinder's frail mother travelled 4000 miles from the Indian part of the Punjab to be in court to see Bassi's face. Bassi has made no effort to rehabilitate herself while in Cornton Vale. She is still in the highest-security part of the jail, Bruce Hall, which most prisoners pass through within a month of being jailed.

She has shunned education opportunities and has surrounded herself with Sikh religious symbols such as the Khanda, a double-edged sword. She also has a gold-leafed copy of the Sikh holy book, Gur Granth Sahib, which is on constant display in her cell. Bassi is also in a long-distance correspondence relationship with a male lifer in another Scots jail. The source said: "She has shunned every attempt at rehabilitation. She is just not interested. She will be due for parole in just a few years but she is in no way ready for that. "Normally, prisoners go through the various halls and then complete their sentences by going to on day trips outside and living in the 'houses' - the last place you go before release. "She has told other inmates that she was forced into murder by others and that she was a victim. "She has been self-harming in a bid for attention." A

spokesman for the ish Prison Service said: "We do not comment on individual prisoners."

Actor Surprised by Continued Popularity of Plastic Surgery Zug, Switzerland Updated Jan 18, 2008 at 0:10 EST. Forty-four year old star of the TV show, Nick/Tuck, Dylan Walsh was convinced that watching the show would result in fewer persons wanting to go under the knife. "It`s weird to think that (the more) people see how graphic and violent the surgery is, more and more people each year sign up for it," Walsh was quoted on WENN as saying. A survey done in 2007 revealed that many persons decided on having cosmetic surgery because of watching reality plastic surgery shows. The American actor is best known for playing the role of Dr. McNamara on Nip/Tuck. He has also appeared on a number of other popular television series such as Outer Limits, Everwood and Kate

and Allie. Walsh is married to actress Joanna Going with whom he has a four-year old daughter. He also has another daughter and a son with his first wife, Melora Walters. Written by the CareFair.com Editorial Team.

Plastic surgery pullback Financial Times - London, England, UK Published: January 18 2008 09:06 | Last updated: January 18 2008 09:06 With the US economy sputtering, are would-be plastic surgery patients opting to keep it real? The market for elective surgery and cosmetic procedures – including laser eye correction, breast augmentation, Botox injections, and dermal fillers – has boomed over the past five years thanks to better technology, broader social acceptability, and growth in disposable incomes. But the companies that make and market products for these procedures are seeing signs of drooping demand. Allergan, which makes lucrative wrinkle-remedy Botox, studied the markets – including California, Florida and Michigan –

worst hit by the housing and jobs slowdown late last year, and said that it had detected no impact on Botox sales in those markets. But Mentor Corporation, an implant and liposuction products supplier, said in early November that it had begun noticing a slowdown as consultations at some plastic surgeons dropped off. And tepid results since then from luxury retailers , Coach and Ralph suggest the consumer spending decline has accelerated, seeping into higher income brackets. Wealthier plastic surgery devotees are unlikely to drop out of the market, even in a prolonged downturn. But shares of Mentor and Medicis have slipped 20 and 14 per cent respectively since October, partly on concerns that recruits from the market’s big growth segment – households that earn $75,000 to $125,000 – will delay or forgo procedures. If demand has weakened more since the end of last year, these companies might need to slash projections

when they post results in a few weeks. However, the decision to go under the knife – once taken – tends to involve a heavier commitment than, say, the choice of a handbag. Any slump in elective surgery should be more modest, or at least less prolonged, than declines in less personal areas of consumer spending.

What Are The Risk Factors for Breast Cancer? American Chronicle - Beverly Hills, CA, USA By Dr. Anne January 17, 2008 Breast cancer is a largely unknown disease until today, despite the fact that it affects almost ten percent of the women above the age of forty years all over the world. The causes of this killer cancer are not known even after decades of research into it. Similarly it is unknown why some women have higher chances of getting breast cancers than others. Though the causative factors are not known, some risk factors have been identified. There is no medical proof why these factors make the disease more probable, but this is a study of observation. In a vast cross-section of women with the observed risk factors, it has been found that the chances of getting breast cancers are very high.

The various risk factors for breast cancer are as follows:- (1) Family History of Breast Cancer If a near relative like a mother or a sister has had breast cancer, then there is a very high chance that the cancer will occur sometime in life. This propensity is observed even if far relatives such as cousins and aunts have had breast cancer, though the chances are lesser as the relatives are more removed. Even if a male relative has had breast cancer or prostate cancer, then there is a chance of getting breast cancer. This clearly indicates that breast cancer runs through family lines through inheritance. Certainly the chances are very high if more than one family member has had breast cancer. (2) Personal History of Breast Cancer If a woman has had breast cancer in the past, then there is a great chance that the breast cancer may recur. This is true even if the cancer had been removed in its benign stage itself.

Sometimes the cancer cells spread into the nearby lymph. This makes a possibility that the cancer will occur in the opposite breast. In fact, women who have had cancer in one breast have 50 to 75% more chances of developing the cancer in the other breast. (3) Diseases of the Breast Several breast diseases can increase the chances of having breast cancer. Changes in the cells of the breasts can lead to atypical hyperplasia. This condition can cause a three to fourfold increase in the possibility of getting breast cancer in the later years. This risk also exists if the atypical hyperplasia has occurred in other women of the family. Another such condition is the benign breast tumor condition known as fibro adenoma. However, women with fibrocystic breasts generally do not have any added vulnerability to breast cancer. Yet, such conditions could make the breasts lumpy and hide the real tumors (if any) during mammography. (4) Lifestyle

In today´s world, lifestyle is the single largest contributing factor for the proliferation of breast cancer among women. Several elements of the lifestyle have been found to be directly accordant with the prevalence of breast cancer. Smoking and alcoholism in women are among the chief factors. Even diet has been pointed out as an important risk factor. Women who consume a diet with more high-cholesterol fats in them have higher chances of breast cancer. At the same time leading a sedentary lifestyle without indulging much in physical activity are also potentially dangerous. (5) Radiation It has been found that women who undergo radiation therapies in their chest region at a young age have an increased risk of developing breast cancer in their later lives. Radiation therapy is generally prescribed for women with conditions like Hodgkin´s disease or non-Hodgkin´s lymphoma. So women who have undergone such treatments may get

breast cancer in their later years. (6) Hormonal Imbalances There are several factors that can change the hormone balance of the body. Some of them are:- a) Beginning the menstrual cycle early, i.e. before the age of twelve years, Having the first pregnancy after the age of thirty years, c) Having no pregnancy at all, d) Having a late menopause. All these conditions can increase the level of estrogen in the body. This increases the risk of getting breast cancer to a mild extent. Apart from that women who take regular birth control pills, breast enhancement supplements, antidepressants and antihistamines and hormone modifying supplements stand at a higher risk to get breast cancers. The above are the major risk factors for breast cancers. But since the study on breast cancers is not yet complete, the above is by no means a complete list. There are several other indications of breast

cancers, like breast implant operations; but these have not yet been confirmed. The implants used in the earlier days were made of silicone gels. These were riskier in terms of breast cancer. However, nowadays the silicone gel implants have been replaced by saline implants. This has reduced the risk to a great extent. It must be also noted that women have much higher chances of getting breast cancer than men. In fact, most people think that breast cancer is a disease that affects only women. This is not true. Men also get breast cancers, but to a much lesser degree than women. Also, age is a very important factor. The chances of getting breast cancer are much higher when the woman has crossed the age of 50 years.

Cosmetic Surgery Among Ethnic Groups and Across Borders Reported January 18, 2008 Ivanhoe - Winter Park, FL, USA By Meghan Yost, Ivanhoe Health Correspondent ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Whether you have had cosmetic surgery, are considering cosmetic surgery, or just enjoy watching one of the many cosmetic surgery television shows, you probably know about the countless types of procedures offered today. However, what many people do not realize is that doctors must make special considerations when working on patients of different ethnicities. In recent years, cosmetic surgery has become overwhelmingly popular across all races and ethnic groups. According to the American Society for Aesthetic and Plastic Surgery, since 1997, the overall number of cosmetic surgical procedures has increased by

544 percent, with Botox leading the way. Twenty percent of cosmetic procedures performed in the United States are on patients from darker racial ethnic groups. Hispanics represent the majority of that group followed by African Americans, Asians, and other minorities. Knowing the unique structural and functional differences in the skin of ethnic patients is crucial for surgeons, says Pearl E. Grimes, M.D., clinical professor at the Geffen School of Medicine in Los Angeles. These differences can impact the outcome of a cosmetic surgery procedure. For example, due to the presence of more melanin, one concern of darker patients is hypo/hyperpigmentation, which results in a lightening or darkening of the skin. When using lasers, unsightly streaks or patterns where the laser penetrated the skin can occur as a result of these pigmentation changes. Other concerns for darker skin types include developing keloids or hypertrophic scars during the

healing process. Some procedures, like fillers for facial lines and deep creases, may work better in darker patients while others, like chemical peels, may not. This is not to say a person with darker skin should not get a chemical peel, Dr. Grimes said. Rather, their doctor should use chemical peeling agents that do not penetrate the skin too deeply, such as glycolic acid and salicylic acid as opposed to retinoids. By the year 2050, half of the nation’s population will be of ethnic decent which is why Dr. Grimes urges more research be done on cosmetic surgery in these types of patients. Until recently, darker facial ethnic groups were excluded from certain cosmetic studies. In some cases, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has intervened and mandated ethnic groups be included in research. One of the prevailing challenges surgeons face when working on ethnic patients is to enhance their appearance while maintaining an

ethnic look. ”Aesthetic ideals can vary depending on a patient’s ethnicity. Cosmetic surgeons must study and be sensitive to ethnic differences. They must listen carefully to patients’ aspirations and concerns,” Steve Hopping, M.D. President of the American Society of Cosmetic Surgery and clinical professor of surgery at Washington University in Washington, D.C., told Ivanhoe. Some doctors also face the challenge of patients wanting to decrease their ethnic look, like with one popular procedure many Asians seek to enhance their eyelid creases. According to Moy, M.D., professor at Geffen School of Medicine in Los Angeles, approximately 50 percent of Asians have the desired crease. To some doctors, this procedure is viewed as mutilation. When looking through history, it is easy to recognize the standards of beauty that have transcended ethnic divides. Across borders, icons like Cleopatra, Nefertiti, Pocahontas,

Helen of Troy, Aphrodite, and even Brad Pitt have been recognized as possessing the beauty others strive to achieve. One common theme among these standards of beauty is symmetric of proportional features. Dr. Hopping points out that as interracial and interethnic families become more commonplace, a more collective aesthetic ideal has developed in American society. Regardless of their race or ethnic background, many Americans today prefer features like full lips, a more refined nose or high cheekbones. A few years ago, Dr. Grimes says virtually no black patients came to see her for lip augmentation. While still a rare occurence, it is not unheard of for a patient to ask for the procedure. SOURCE: Ivanhoe interview with Steve Hopping, M.D. and The Art of Perfection, The 24th Annual Scientific Meeting on Cosmetic Surgery, Orlando, Fl, Jan. 16 - Jan. 20, 2008

Surviving Starts With An Assumption Posted January 18, 2008 | 10:24 AM (EST) USA Natasha Singer's New York Times article on the long-term maintenance issues related to breast implants, Do My Breast Implants Have a Warranty? was a smart and insightful look at the aftermath of breast implant surgery. Singer raised questions about what happens to implants five, ten and fifteen years down the road - not only in terms of the safety issues of silicone, but in terms of how the breasts look, how they feel, how many additional surgeries may be required to keep them up to snuff, and what maintenance procedures healthcare insurance may or may not cover. As a breast cancer survivor who had a mastectomy in 1999, I was absolutely stunned at the notion that there are doctors, patients and entire

segments of the healthcare industry who would proceed with surgeries without considering their long-term impact. Singer's piece quoted Li, the president of a medical device testing company in Sarasota, Florida and a man who has served on three of the F.D.A.'s panels that reviewed implant safety. "The short answer," Li said, "is, we don't know specifically how long implants last." And yet Li voted to approve them. We talk a lot in this country about breast cancer survivors. We produce, market, and sell a lot of pink products and pink events that are designed to celebrate survivors and work toward a cure - and thank goodness that we do. But shouldn't the very first step on the road to being a survivor be an assumption that survival is going to happen? Shouldn't every breast cancer survivor who is considering choosing an implant know, specifically, how long it is going to last so that she can decide how many maintenance issues she wants

to take on over the course of her life? I was 35 years old when I lost my breast, and in every decision I weighed - from whether or not to take Tamoxifen to whether or not to have a mastectomy to whether or not to reconstruct - I had the notion of survival at the forefront of my thoughts. I intended to live a long a time. I was, in fact, banking on living a long time - and I didn't want a solution that would require me to go back to the surgeon four or five times. The fact is, however, that I was able to make that calculation because I was surrounded by doctors and experts who assumed, along with me, that I might live eighty years. People die of cancer, of course -- and I know that one of the most difficult parts of the process is that at some point, you have to stop the struggle to live, cross over a line, and prepare to die. But until someone is actively dying, they are still living. They have that key ingredient: the assumption of

survivorship. Some of my cancer-endangered friends chose implants with their eyes wide open, knowing perfectly well that they will have to perform routine maintenance throughout their lives. That is their right. But in order for women to have their eyes open, surgeons doing breast implants need to trumpet the need for maintenance; medical device companies selling implants need to shout out from the rooftops that breast implants are temporary devices that will require additional surgeries, additional financial input, and possible healthcare complications; and healthcare companies need to make it a priority to educate their patients about the long-term, specific maintenance issues related to implants. Surviving starts with an assumption.

Datin critical after cosmetic surgery By : Annie Freeda Cruez New Straits Times - Persekutuan, Malaysia 2008/01/19 Director-General of Health Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican says the case is being investigated KUALA LUMPUR: The wife of a member of parliament is fighting for her life following a botched cosmetic surgery. The Health Ministry has picked up a doctor, in his 30s, for questioning. The 44-year-old woman, a Datin, is now on a life-support machine at a private hospital and her condition is classified as very critical. All she wanted was to look good. She had an eye bag surgery, a tummy tuck and liposuction. Now, she is unconscious and has been hooked to the life-support machine since last Friday. "We are investigating the case and action will be taken

against the doctor if he is found not qualified to do the surgery or had performed shoddy work," Director-General of Health Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican said yesterday. "If we have strong evidence against him, then he will have to face the consequences. We will not compromise where patient safety is concerned," he told the New Straits Times. Ministry officials are also checking the status of the clinic and its operating licence to ascertain if it had flouted the Private Healthcare Facilities and Service Act and other regulations. It is learnt that the Datin had gone to the clinic in Klang on Jan 9 to do an eye-bag surgery and subsequently decided to also get a tummy tuck and liposuction. It is believed that an orthopaedic surgeon who did a three-week correspondence course in aesthetic medicine performed the almost eight-hour surgery. The Datin, who encountered complications on the night of the surgery, was

rushed to the National Heart Institute (IJN) the following day and later transferred to a private hospital upon request from her family. A plastic surgeon, who declined to be named, said the woman could have suffered brain damage. Dr Ismail said the ministry was coming out with guidelines on aesthetic medical practices. Those who want to go into such practice must have evidence-based training and procedure. "We do not allow doctors who have completed a three-week correspondence programme to do aesthetic medicine and surgery," he said. Asked if the surgeon involved in the Datin's case would face the Malaysian Medical Council disciplinary board, Dr Ismail said this would depend on the outcome of the investigation and also if an official complaint was lodged against him.

Related Story: Surgeon who operated on MP's wife under probe New Straits Times - Persekutuan, Malaysia By : Annie Freeda Cruez 2008/01/22 KUALA LUMPUR: The orthopaedic surgeon who performed aesthetic surgery on Datuk Suhaili Abdul Rahman's wife, which resulted in her going into coma, is being investigated as to whether he has the certification and accreditation to perform such operations. Deputy Health Minister Datuk Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad said the investigation was initiated under the Medical Act 1971. The director-general of health, who is also the Malaysian Medical Council president, has directed an investigation following a complaint filed on an alleged botched cosmetic surgery performed on Datin Fatimah Wan Chik, 44, on Jan 9 at a private

clinic in Klang. The surgery resulted in her going into a in coma and on life-support equipment at a private hospital here. Dr Abdul Latiff, who visited Fatimah at the hospital's Intensive Care Unit yesterday, said that she was still in a coma although doctors confirmed she was responding to treatment. "The doctors are doing their best to revive her. The family has been on vigil at the hospital ever since she was admitted into the ICU and placed on the life-support machine," he said. On Saturday, Suhaili, who is the Member of Parliament for Labuan, said his wife opened her eyes. Several health experts said most patients in coma respond to reflex, where the pupils react to light and the limbs move in response to painful stimulus such as pinching the skin. A person in coma may move restlessly and make sounds, but utters no words. Dr Abdul Latiff said the ministry took the issue seriously, not because she was

a politician's wife, but because it had created a public interest. Many other women had suffered due to botched cosmetic surgery. He added the ministry was aware that there were many women suffering in silence due to botched cosmetic surgery. Dr Abdul Latiff said the clinic concerned was also being investigated under the Private Healthcare Facilities and Services Act 1998 and Regulations 2006 to ascertain whether it was licenced and doctors performing such surgery were certified to do so. "The family can also sue the doctor and the clinic if there is medical negligence," he said, adding that the ministry hoped to get a report soon. He advised those wanting to go for aesthetic surgery to seek the help of qualified and well-trained people such as plastic surgeons. "They must also check if the premises has been licenced to perform such surgery and they have the facilities to do cosmetic surgery," he added.

He said it was about time Malaysians adhered to the advice of the ministry and relevant stakeholders on where and how to go about seeking the help of experts in aesthetic medicine instead of listening to friends. Fatimah has been hooked to a life-support machine since Jan 11 when she encountered complications on Jan 9 following an eye-bag surgery, a tummy tuck and liposuction. She encountered complications on the night of the surgery and was rushed to the National Heart Institute the following day. She was transferred to the private hospital upon request from her family.

More men turning to implants for chests of gold Guthmann, Chronicle Staff Writer San Francisco Chronicle - CA, USA Friday, January 18, 2008 The poster boy in the Abercrombie & Fitch window looks like Huck Finn, if Huck were genetically engineered with "Say howdy!" nipples and perfectly symmetrical, squared-off pecs. In "300," last year's cartoonish gladiator epic, the actors looked so exaggerated, so cyborg-like in their soccer-star thighs, ripped abs and shield-like chests, that they all seemed airbrushed. The list goes on: the ultra-reconditioned Brad Pitt in "Troy," Craig in tight trunks in "Casino Royale," that buck-naked beauty in the steamy Dolce & Gabbana magazine ad. Is anybody just average-looking anymore? In a culture that enshrines physical

perfection and makes the Philip Seymour Hoffmans among us feel homely and inadequate, more men are attempting impossible goals. Most do it through weightlifting and dieting. Some men are driven to steroids, human growth hormone and plastic surgery if those other methods fail. "Location is everything," says Bill , a lifelong bodybuilder and writer on health and medical issues ("The Anatomist"). "And in the landscape of the body, the chest is prime territory. Think about it: It's at the top of the trunk; it protects and covers the heart and lungs. It's a great spot for a head to rest on." More and more often, when men don't achieve results through weightlifting and exercise, they compensate with cosmetic surgery. Pectoral implants, although still a niche product, are growing in popularity: 409 procedures were performed in 2006, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, a 99 percent increase over the year before.

There's a stigma attached to them - the feeling that men who go that route are lazy or excessively vain - but those who buy the implants contend that the psychological benefits are substantial. "It's such a confidence booster," says one San Francisco massage therapist who got the implants two years ago as a 40th birthday gift to himself. "I walk a little taller now. And of course you want to buy every tight white T-shirt. It's crazy!" Durante, a San Francisco personal trainer for 25 years, says well-defined pecs project "power, strength, health, virility. "A guy with a great chest looks like a warrior, wearing armor for battle. Nothing can penetrate that hull." Among his clients, Durante says, "the chest is usually their first concern." "Every time a man looks in a mirror," adds , "whether shaving or at the gym, he sees his chest. So naturally it becomes a focus of his attention or even

obsession - as opposed to back muscles, which generally go unseen and are often ignored entirely." For most of the 20th century, weightlifting and the "300" body ideal were marginalized, regarded as fetishy by mainstream standards. Consider 1940s movie stars like Humphrey Bogart or Cary Grant, or '60s icons Steve McQueen and Newman: They had looks and charisma; they were trim. But none had the Vin Diesel superhero physique or overdeveloped chest of today's cultural ideal. "It was sometime in the '80s when it sort of all began for men," says Edisol W. Dotson, author "Behold the Man: The Hype and Selling of Male Beauty in Media and Culture" (Haworth Press, 1999). "You saw it in the 'Terminator' films and big action adventures. The early Batman films." Pec implant surgery starts at about $7,000. Beverly Hills surgeon Adrien Aiache, who performs about three dozen procedures per year, says he charges $9,000. The

massage therapist, who asked not to be identified because he is sensitive about appearing overly vain, says he paid $12,000 and has no regrets. "No one's ever said, not once, 'Are those implants?' " he claims - including the men with whom he's been intimate. He'd thought about getting new pecs for years, but balked because of bad implants he'd seen. "There was this one guy at a bar in the Castro, years and years ago," he said. "Oh my God, it was so obnoxiously fake. Like a Pamela kind of thing. I would never want to be that obvious." Randall shopped around, researched the pros and cons, and chose Dr. J. Romano, a San Francisco plastic surgeon who performs 35 to 40 pec implant surgeries per year. The procedure is expensive, in part, Romano says, because the implants, manufactured by Allied Biomedicals in Ventura, cost $1,600 for a pair. "People buy cars, right?" said the massage therapist.

"People buy property. I thought, 'I'll buy a set of pecs!' Like shopping at Crate & Barrel. 'I'll take that one.' " The implants come in two shapes and five sizes, and are made from silicone - not the soft liquid gel in breast implants, but a semi-solid substance. They're slightly more firm than the consistency of a Gummy Bear. "My close friends asked me, 'Weren't you frightened going in for that kind of surgery?' I said, 'Oh, my God, I could walk out on and get hit by one of those crazy cabs.' Never postpone joy is, like, my big mantra." Pec implants were introduced 20 years ago, Romano says, although as recently as 2000, the statistics weren't recorded by the surgeons' group. "It's a cult following, almost, although it's growing because of the media and the Internet." For the most part it's cosmetic, but in some cases men seek implants because of congenital deformities: They're missing ribs or a pectoral

muscle on one said, or there's a natural concavity they want to correct. During the operation, Romano says, "I make an incision high up in the armpit in the hair-bearing region. It's about three fingers wide. Then the space is made under the muscle in what we call a 'free area' in surgery: free of nerves, free of blood vessels." Romano folds the implant in half and positions in between the pectoral muscles, sews up the incision and then repeats the process on the other side of the chest. Recovery is "mostly quite comfortable," Romano says, "and is mostly complete within two weeks." When the massage therapist awoke in the recovery room, he remembers, "I felt like someone had beat the crap out of me. Thank God there's Demerol. It was hard for me to even get up. I was so heavy and taking all these pain pills to dull the throbbing. ... I was kind of scared. And being a massage therapist I thought, 'Oh, my God, what if I

can't use my arms?' (But) I have full range of motion and I'm strong. You would just never know!" Romano says he screens patients carefully to make sure their expectations are realistic. "Some men come in and ask for it, and either don't have the anatomy that will allow me to do it and look good, or they want something that is too big or out of proportion. I don't take all comers." The risks of the procedure include a possible migration. "(The implant) can move a little bit. I tell the patients, 'You're going to feel the edges sometimes when you're lifting or involved in the extreme ranges of motion or other activities. It's never going to be like your God-given chest.' But that's the art and science of putting in pectoral implants. You've got to match them to the body." Even today, men form a tiny minority of plastic surgery patients. In 2006, there were 11.5 million cosmetic procedures performed in the

United States, 1 million of which were on men. Nose reshaping was the most popular procedure for men in 2006, followed by eyelid surgery, liposuction, hair transplant and gynecoplastia - the removal of breast tissue caused by an estrogen imbalance. So why, given the obsession for the perfect chest, haven't pec implants been more popular? One reason is that pectoral muscles are large, and with diligent workouts they can usually be developed. Women, by contrast, don't have that option when larger breasts are the goal. Aiache of Beverly Hills thinks homophobia is also a factor. "A lot of people with pectoral implants are gay, and many physicians don't want to take care of the gay population in general," he says. In his own practice, Aiache says, 80 percent of pectoral implant recipients are gay. "Pec implants have much more shame attached to them than, say, breast implants," says Durante. "Breast implants are

so widely known that even though they are 'spotted' or 'suspected,' they are part of the cultural landscape. There is also a vanity attached to pec implants: They may be considered a character flaw (in the man). He's seen as weak." San Francisco plastic surgeon doesn't perform pec implants surgery, in part because of the risks. "It's possible to have malpositioning of the implant, where it's in the wrong spot and one's a little higher than the other. It also has a chance of infection, but any foreign body has a chance of infection. And then the other thing you have to be careful of is not to damage the nerve that goes to the nipple. Because otherwise you get numbness, which is a consideration for some men." Opinions differ on the attractiveness of pec implants. Durante says the majority look obvious "because they don't match their shoulder and arm development - not unlike a woman whose breast implants are too big."

said he finds implants "rigid and plasticky." Maura Armstrong , an echocardiographer with Golden Gate Radiology in San Francisco, has her own problem with implants, pectoral or breast alike. "You can't see through them with sonar. They block the sound waves, so you're unable to obtain useable images," she said. "Normally, you shoot between the ribs and get this wonderful image of a beating heart." With implants, "you get this big, egg-shaped void. ... So I have to shoot obliquely. I had one patient doing everything but standing on their head to get a picture of their heart." Before he had the pectoral implants, the massage therapist said his chest was "OK." "But I just wanted it to be more. The whole peacock image, if you like. You want a bigger spread of feathers. ... It's a bit of a magnet." Some people understand his decision to get the implants, and some people don't. "There's a community out

there that says, 'Oh, God, why would you do plastic surgery?' And I'm like, whatever. 'Why do people eat at Mc's every day?' You could go on and on forever, right?"

Agent Orange & Birth Defects The Legacy Continues By Betty Mekdeci Publisher: VVA Veteran The soldiers are dying. But, even more tragically, the children they have left behind are suffering. Sometimes at Birth Defect Research for Children we hear from veterans, but usually it is wives and children who send us poignant messages: “I lost my husband from a cancerous brain tumor 13 months ago. My son has many disabilities, including Tourette’s syndrome, mental retardation, mild cerebral palsy, hydrocephalus, and he is profoundly deaf. He will never be able to live on his own.” “My father passed away in 1998. He had many health problems, including type II diabetes. He was only 50 years old. Agent Orange has been a part of my life from the moment I was born. I was born without

my right leg, several of my fingers, and my big toe on my left foot. My mother had three miscarriages. My younger brother (age 29) has to wear bifocals and suffers from chronic joint pain.” “I served four tours in Vietnam. We have three children: one daughter with a heart defect, another with scoliosis and digestive problems, and a son born with a defective optic nerve that has left him blind in the right eye. There is no history of birth defects on either side of our family.” Since 1991, we have recorded thousands of such cases in our National Birth Defect Registry. Some 2.8 million Americans served in the Vietnam theater of operations. Three-to-six percent of Vietnam veterans’ children are born with some kind of birth defect (Emory University School of Medicine reports a 3-4 percent birth-defect rate among the general population). An impressive body of scientific evidence points to increases in birth defects

and developmental problems in the children of Vietnam veterans and others exposed to dioxin-like chemicals. Agent Orange was a combination of two defoliants, 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D contaminated by dioxin (TCDD), a toxic byproduct of the chemical production process. More than 19 million gallons of herbicides were sprayed in Vietnam between 1962-71. More than 11.2 million gallons sprayed after 1965 were dioxin-contaminated Agent Orange. Agents Purple, Pink, and Green used before 1965 were even more highly contaminated with dioxin. According to Barry Commoner and Webster in their 2003 book Dioxins and Health, “the current scientific evidence argues not only that dioxin is a potent carcinogen, but that the non-cancer health and environmental hazards of dioxin may be more serious than believed previously.” They report that dioxin appears to act like a persistent synthetic hormone that interferes with important physiological

signaling systems that can lead to altered cell development, differentiation, and regulation. The most troubling consequence is the possibility of reproductive, developmental, and immunological effects at the levels of dioxin-like compounds present in the bodies of the average person. Since studies of Vietnam veterans exposed to herbicides in Vietnam have found much higher levels of dioxin in their bodies than the average person, these effects also should be detectable in their children. In 1996, the National Academy of Sciences found “limited/suggestive” evidence of an association between Agent Orange exposure and spina bifida, a neural tube defect, in the children of Vietnam veterans. In 2000, Dr. H.K. Kang of the Environmental Epidemiology Service of the Veterans Health Administration published a study that found that the risk of moderate-to-severe birth defects was significantly associated with the mother’s military service

in Vietnam. As a result of these findings, the VA now funds assistance programs for spina bifida in the children of male or female Vietnam veterans and for all birth defects without other known causes in the children of female veterans. The Australian Department of Veterans Affairs (without acknowledging a link to Agent Orange exposure) provides treatment to the children of Vietnam veterans with spina bifida, cleft lip or palate, acute myeloid leukemia, and adrenal gland cancer. Other studies offer evidence that many more birth defects may be associated with dioxin-contaminated herbicide exposure in Vietnam. In 1990, an independent scientific review of the literature was sponsored by Vietnam Veterans of America, the American Legion, and the National Veterans Legal Services Project. Seven prominent, independent scientists and physicians on this Agent Orange Scientific Task Force concluded that elevated incidences of birth defects in

the children of Vietnam veterans were found in several studies. These included spina bifida, oral clefts, cardiovascular defects, hip dislocations, and malformations of the urinary tract. In addition, defects of the digestive tract and other neoplasms such as neuroblastoma also were higher in Vietnam veterans’ children. Aschengrau and Monson of the Harvard School of Public Health conducted a study published in 1990 in the American Journal of Public Health on paternal military service and the risk of late pregnancy outcomes. The scientists reported that Vietnam veterans’ risk of fathering an infant with one or more major malformations was increased at a statistically significant level. The Air Force Ranch Hand study of Vietnam veterans involved in herbicide spraying has been analyzed several times for adverse reproductive outcomes. A 1995 analysis found modest, but significant, increases in spontaneous abortion, defects of the

circulatory system and heart, all anomalies, major birth defects, and some developmental delays in the Ranch Hand veterans’ children. There also was an increase in spina bifida in the children of Ranch Hand veterans with high dioxin levels. More recent studies have found additional evidence of increases in birth defects in the children of both male and female veterans. Researchers at the University of Texas, the University of Queensland, and the University of Sydney collaborated on a meta-analysis (a review of the combined data from many studies) of Agent Orange and birth defects in the International Journal of Epidemiology. They identified all studies from 1966-2002 that had examined an association between Agent Orange or dioxin and birth defects. The study authors identified 22 studies, including thirteen Vietnamese and nine non-Vietnamese studies. Their review indicated that parental exposure to Agent Orange was associated

with an increased risk in birth defects. The association increased with greater degrees of exposure rated on intensity and duration of exposure. Although other researchers have pointed out weaknesses in the studies of birth defects from Vietnam, the birth defect association with Agent Orange exposure was statistically significant even when the Vietnamese studies were excluded. Genetic damage in New Zealand Vietnam War veterans was investigated in a study published this year in Cytogenetic & Genome Research by researchers from the Institute of Molecular Biosciences at Massey University in New Zealand. A significantly higher frequency of genetic damage was found among New Zealand Vietnam War veterans compared to a control group. The authors suggested that New Zealand Vietnam veterans had been exposed to a harmful substance that could cause genetic damage. Although the authors recommended caution in interpreting specific health outcomes,

they concluded that genetic damage to any degree has the potential to result in adverse health effects. The greatest concern about genetic damage is that it can be passed on to future generations. Important new research on birth defects in the children of Vietnam veterans was presented at the 2006 meeting of the Society for Epidemiological Research in Boston. Three researchers conducted a study of neural tube defects (anencephaly, encephalocele, spina bifida) in the offspring of Vietnam veterans. They found that paternal blood levels of TCDD were significantly associated with neural tube defects in their children and that a particular paternal genotype (genetic predisposition) could enhance this association. LITANY OF BIRTH DEFECTS Since 1990, Birth Defect Research for Children has collected data on birth defects and developmental disabilities in the children of Vietnam veterans. The National Birth Defect Registry is a

collaboration among seven prominent scientists to identify patterns of birth defects and disabilities in children with similar prenatal exposures. When compared to non-veterans’ children in the registry, the children of Vietnam veterans have shown consistent increases in learning, attention, and behavioral disorders; all types of skin disorders; problems with tooth development; allergic conditions and asthma; immune system disorders including chronic infections; some childhood cancers; and endocrine problems including thyroid disorders and childhood diabetes. More and more studies of prenatal exposures to dioxins and similar chemicals are adding support for these associations. According to Birnbaum of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, dioxin can modulate growth and development. In the embryo and fetus, dioxin-altered programming can result in malformations, anomalies, fetal toxicity, and functional and structural

deficits that often are not detectable until later in life. In a paper published in Environmental Health Perspectives, Birnbaum discusses research that demonstrates that prenatal exposures to endocrine disruptors (chemicals that can disrupt hormone activity) such as TCDD can alter hormones, reproductive tissue development, and increase susceptibility to potential carcinogen exposure in the adult. Increased susceptibility to chronic childhood infections and cancers later in life may be a result of dioxin’s effects on the developing immune system. Researchers in 2000 investigated the immunological effects of everyday exposures to PCBs and dioxins in preschool-age Dutch children. The researchers found that prenatal exposure to these chemicals was associated with changes in the T-cell population. They concluded that the effects of prenatal background exposure to PCBs and dioxins persist into childhood and could be associated with a

greater susceptibility to infectious disease. Another 2003 study by a team of researchers from Quebec reported their finding of a chemical imbalance that could be a marker for prenatal immune damage caused by organochlorines (which include dioxin-like compounds). The researchers found that the lymphocyte cells of newborns exposed to higher concentrations of these chemicals during prenatal development secreted fewer cytokines than those of a control group of newborns. These alterations of the immune system could lead to increased susceptibility to infection. A growing body of evidence is linking prenatal exposures to dioxin-like chemicals to learning and behavioral deficits. At a Children’s Health Meeting in 2000 sponsored by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Jerry Heindel reported on several studies of pregnant women who had consumed several meals of PCB-contaminated fish per month during pregnancy and

who gave birth to infants with small but detectable learning and behavioral deficits. The children with the highest exposure averaged six points lower in IQ compared to children with lower levels of exposure. A 2007 study from the Department of Preventive Medicine at Kyungpook University in South Korea reported associations between blood concentration of persistent organic pollutants (including dioxins) and increases in learning and attention disorders in children in the general population. Zoeller, an endocrinologist at the University of Massachusetts, has found that dioxin-like PCBs activate cellular machinery that can alter the structure of other, non-dioxin-like PCBs. Some of these dioxin-induced metabolites can act directly on the thyroid hormone receptor. In the fetal brain, this could alter the course of development leading to learning and developmental disabilities. The new research on dioxin and

dioxin-like chemicals holds the promise of unraveling the intricate ways in which these chemicals can alter embryonic development. The research should continue, but it is now 35 years since Agent Orange was first sprayed in Vietnam. And the calls keep coming. In Dioxins and Health, Webster and Barry Commoner comment: “Much of the media coverage of the dioxin debate has consisted of trying to convince the public that their common sense is wrong and that experts know best. In this case, the public’s view has been largely correct. Dioxin is a dangerous and unwanted chemical pollutant.” Vietnam veterans who would like to add information about their children’s birth defects or disabilities to the National Birth Defect Registry sponsored by Birth Defect Research for Children can register online at www.birthdefects.org Betty Mekdeci is the executive director of Birth Defect Research for Children.

Veteran backs PM’s call for all to be on UK donor list Woking News and Mail - Woking,England,UK Transplant patient Connolly is pleased the Prime Minister is supporting plans to place everybody on the donor register unless they opt out. A GULF War veteran who has had two kidney transplants is calling for a change in organ donor laws. Connolly, who received the Gulf War Campaign Medal, has had two failed transplants, the first in 2000 and another in 2004. He is worried that treatment delays caused by a lack of organs could be disastrous. The 45-year-old from Raglan Road, St ’s, receives regular dialysis treatment after his transplants proved unsuccessful and says others could avoid going through a similar situation if there is a change

in the law. Prime Minister Gordon Brown this week backed recommendations for everyone to be considered a potential donor on their death unless they opt out of the system. This could double the number of organs available for transplant and cut the list of people who rely on dialysis or die waiting for donors to come forward. Mr Connolly said: “Last year I suffered two heart attacks and a mild stroke. This wouldn’t have happened if I was living with a successful transplant. “For us kidney patients, Gordon Brown’s proposals are good news.I think the government is finally looking at the money saving aspect. To keep somebody on dialysis for years on end costs money and giving patients transplants would save that money. “I have had two transplants and they haven’t worked because I have an immune system that harms the new kidney. But I see so many young and old people needing treatment and

I feel sorry for them. Dialysis isn’t pleasant.” Mr Connolly suffers from nephrotic syndrome, possibly linked to exposure to depleted uranium while he was a civil engineer in the Gulf War. The disorder causes damaged kidneys to leak protein from the blood into the urine and he is now reliant on life-saving dialysis three times a week. But after years of treatment he is keen to make sure that other sufferers have a brighter future. By recruiting more transplant co-ordinators to work in hospitals and increasing the number of organs available, Britain could follow in Spain’s footsteps where an opt-out system is in operation. The proposals have attracted scepticism from patient groups anxious to ensure the choice is the patient’s rather than being presumed. But Mr Connolly, who has experienced the Spanish system first-hand, said any moves to increase donations and ease the

pressure on dialysis centres should be welcomed. He said: “Our local dialysis unit has just moved from the Woking Community Hospital to West Byfleet, off Camphill Road, and it’s packed. “The staff are doing three dialysis shifts a day and the only day they don’t work is Sunday. The place is overflowing with people. “I was dialysed in Spain two years ago, in Tenerife, and the service I got there was very quick. When somebody passes away they need to opt out of becoming a donor rather than opting in.” A government taskforce looking at suggested law changes will give a report in the summer. First printed in: Woking News and Mail

H-bomb test veterans fight for compensation United Kingdom Jan 20 2008 by McCarthy, Wales On Sunday IT WAS the morning of June 19, 1956. Fresh-faced 19-year-old sailor Stan on had breakfast, washed and shaved before changing into blue shorts, flip-flops and sunglasses. He then stepped on deck into a beautifully sunny day in the Pacific. Standing around expectantly, Stan and his shipmates on the destroyer HMS had simply been told to turn their backs, count to 20 then turn back. What happened that morning was to change the lives of the men aboard forever. For Stan and the 307 other crew aboard HMS had witnessed the test of an H-bomb. Worse still, they were then ordered to sail through a radioactive

cloud at the Monte Bello islands, off the West coast of Australia. That year he saw detonations on May 16 and on June 19 as part of a secret mission, codenamed Operation Mosaic. Two-thirds of those on board have since died, more than 100 of cancer. Survivors have suffered cancers, cataracts and lung disorders which could have been caused by radiation. Before Christmas, Stan had his stomach removed after he too contracted cancer. Now aged 70, the dad of six from Llanfairfechan, Conwy, is one of hundreds who have given statements to London-based Rosenblatt solicitors. The firm is looking after 750 claims from veterans from the UK, Fiji and New Zealand. In his testimony he lifts the lid on the risks faced by those on board , revealing his belief they were deliberately contaminated on the voyage. He said: “Men were standing or sitting for 12 hours a day on metal plates that had been

deliberately left open to see what contamination could be picked up. “Three hours after the second bomb went off, the ship was ordered to sail through the fallout to pick up as much rubbish – contamination – as the ship and crew could take.” Speaking to Wales on Sunday about the June 19 explosion he added: “I was 19. The bomb went off at around 11am. I was stoker and I’d come off at 8am, had breakfast, a wash and shave, and changed into blue shorts, flip-flops and sunglasses and was told that the bomb would go off. “We were on the upper deck standing around and having a look. They said to turn your back on where the bomb was going off, then count to 20 and turn around. “And there it was. It was about 15 miles away but the cloud looked like a lamp-post on the other side of the road. “It took about a minute for the shockwave to hit the ship. As a 19-year-old I thought ‘well, that’s it’. You

don’t think about things like radioactivity. “And the bomb that was exploded was about six or seven times bigger than the one dropped on Hiroshima. The one that we saw was 98 kilotons and the one in Hiroshima was about 15 kilotons.” In fact, the H-bomb that Stan witnessed was the highest yield test ever conducted in Australia. Since the test yield broke an assurance made personally by Britain’s then PM Eden to PM Menzies of Australia that the yield would not exceed 62 kilotons, the true yield was concealed until 1984. For 13 hours after the explosion the crew stayed below deck while the ship steered through the radioactive cloud. Geiger counters roared into life as they were enveloped in poison. Within weeks men fell ill. Some lost teeth, others hair – tell-tale signs of radioactive contamination. The sailors had known nothing of their mission when they set sail from Plymouth. Now

the veterans are bracing themselves to find out whether they are entitled to compensation. The MoD is hoping the courts will throw out the case at a hearing next January because the claims were not made within three years, as English and Welsh law normally demands. He said: “They’ll never want to pay out. They’re talking about this three-year limit, but they reckon that the radiation sickness doesn’t appear for 30 or 40 years. So how can you claim within three years? “I think the MoD has a moral obligation. There are only about 600 or 700 of us blokes left from these tests out of 20,000 or 30,000 who witnessed them. They were going on from 1954 to 1959.” Some crew members were left infertile or with radiation levels 36 times higher than natural background levels. Some became suddenly frail and died. Wives gave birth to dead or deformed babies. Mervyn Fudge, a consultant

acting for Rosenblatt’s explained the MoD have to submit an outline of their defence by January 21. “They are saying that these vets have known for more than three years that they have suffered injury by being exposed,” said Mr Fudge. “That is morally bankrupt because the government have been saying since the mid ’80s, when these people started to think they may have been ill, that they were not exposed. “They are now saying you should have brought the claim earlier, which is absolutely hypocritical. They want to have their cake and eat it.” Mr Fudge is convinced they will win the limitation hearing but is concerned more vets will die in the meantime. He said: “ was a ship specially fitted out with sprinklers that the MoD believed would be able to wash atomic dust from fallout off the ship to make it safe. They deliberately sailed the ship through the fallout. “The

sprinklers then did not work so the men had to scrub the decks wearing shorts and there still remained severe hot spots on the ship.” He continued: “They wanted to find out how men, material and equipment fared. Don’t forget we had the Cold War and were expecting to have to fight the Russians in Europe.” Former England cricket captain Gower is the nephew of HMS ’s captain, Gower. The decorated Normandy landings veteran died of cancer last September. The 50-year-old panel show guest regularly backs the vets and offered his ‘immense sympathy,’ saying: “Everyone who served under my uncle had immense respect for him, so if he believed there was a case to answer he would have fought for it. “The whole point of this experiment was to find out what effect radioactivity would have on people and now that we know so much more about its effects – surely the MoD must acknowledge there is a

problem. “But we have seen this before with Gulf War Syndrome in more modern times when they (the MoD) have closed their eyes and looked away from the problem. It strikes me as being very unjust.” An MoD document stamped ‘TOP SECRET’ released under the 50-year-rule by the Public Records Office reveals the government’s position at the time. Produced for a chiefs-of-staff committee meeting in 1953 it states: “These tests are of the highest importance to departments, since on their results depend the design of equipment, changes in organisation and administration, and offensive and defensive tactics. The Navy requires information on effects of various types of atomic explosions on ships and their contents and equipment, stores and men, with and without various types of protection.” Two years later in 1955 Eden’s Tory government announced Britain would be making nuclear weapons.

An MoD spokesman said: “The UK government recognises its obligations to veterans of the UK nuclear tests. Since 1983 the government has commissioned three reports from the independent National Radiological Protection Board on possible adverse health effects of participation in these tests. The outcome of these studies is reflected in the MoD’s handling of claims under the war pension, which is available to all former members of HM Forces suffering from illness or injury that can be attributed to their service, as well as the Armed Forces Compensation Schemes. “When compensation claims are received they are considered on the basis of whether or not the Ministry of Defence has a legal liability to pay compensation. Where there is a proven legal liability compensation is paid. “The MoD recognises that these claimants are an aging group. However, this group action refers to events which took place more than 50

years ago and in these circumstances it is appropriate for the MoD to rely on a statutory defence based on the Limitation Act 1980. “It will ultimately be the courts – not the MoD – who decide whether this group action can proceed.”

MPs call for moratorium on biofuel targets Aldred Guardian Unlimited - UK Monday January 21 2008 This article was first published on guardian.co.uk on Monday January 21 2008. It was last updated at 09:56 on January 21 2008. UK and European governments should not have pursued targets to increase the use of biofuels without putting in place "robust" measures to prevent environmental damage, MPs said today. The Commons environmental audit committee said that, while it recognised that some biofuels are sustainable and could be used to reduce emissions from transport, the absence of robust sustainability standards and mechanisms to prevent damaging land use could lead to environmental damage in the UK and the loss of crucial rainforests around the world.

Biofuels - liquid fuels produced from organic matter rather than from fossil fuels - are a finite and non-renewable resource, currently produced from conventional food and fodder crops. Supporters argue that biofuels can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, because the plants they are made from absorb carbon dioxide from the air. But a number of studies have raised doubts about the green credentials of many of the leading candidates, such as palm oil and ethanol made from corn. Critics say biofuels compete for land with staple food crops and vast areas of rainforest are cleared to grow them. In its report, Are biofuels sustainable?, the committee urged the government to ensure that its biofuels policy balanced greenhouse gas emission cuts with wider environmental impacts, "so that biofuels are only used where they contribute to sustainable emissions reductions". "Without this reassessment, biofuels could lead

to a range of environmental impacts including water pollution and biodiversity loss. In addition, the absence of international mechanisms to protect rainforests means that biofuels will add further to the already significant pressures to cut them down to make way for palm oil plantations," the report reads. "On the basis of current biofuel technology, more greenhouse gas cuts could be achieved at lower cost and risk by implementing a range of other policies." It said there could be significant opportunities for cost-effectively cutting greenhouse gas emissions by planting forests and restoring habitats instead. The report found that biofuels are generally an expensive and ineffective way to cut greenhouse gas emissions when compared to other policies. Emissions from road transport can be cut cost-effectively, and with lower environmental risk, by implementing a range of other policies, the MPs said. Europe

has pledged that biofuels, such as bioethanol and biodiesel, will make up 10% of transport fuel by 2020. Britain has a separate target of 5% biofuels in petrol and diesel by 2010 through its Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO), which is due to come into force in April. The committee called for a moratorium on biofuel targets. It said the government should concentrate on the use of sustainable biofuels such as waste vegetable oil and the development of more efficient biofuel technologies that "could have a role to play in the future once they have been shown to be more sustainable". The committee's chairman, Tim Yeo, said: "Biofuels can reduce greenhouse gas emissions from road transport – but at present most biofuels have a detrimental impact on the environment overall. "Advanced second generation biofuels may have an important role in the future, but these technologies are some years away. The government

should support their development by creating a stable investment climate out to 2020." The committee also concluded that biofuels are unlikely to improve fuel security as they largely rely on fossil fuels for their production. It said that current agricultural support for biofuels is largely unsustainable, and that a large biofuel industry based on current technology was likely to increase food prices and could damage food security in developing countries. The committee's report was welcomed by green campaigners. Friends of the Earth's biofuels campaigner, Hannah Griffiths, said: "Today's report is the latest warning about the damage that a rapid growth in biofuels could have on people and the environment. The Government and EU should abandon their plans for increasing the use of this damaging fuel, and concentrate instead on measures that will cut energy use and lead to the speedy development of safe, clean and

sustainable renewables." Last week, the EU announced that its drive to run vehicles on biofuels instead of petrol and diesel to reduce greenhouse gas emissions was to be reviewed after concerns about its environmental impact. On the same day, the Royal Society warned that biofuels have a limited ability to replace fossil fuels and should not be regarded as a 'silver bullet' solution to reducing transport emissions. This followed a scientific report in early January which warned that using biofuels made from corn, sugar cane and soy could have a greater environmental impact than burning fossil fuels. Although the fuels themselves emitted fewer greenhouse gases, they had higher costs in terms of biodiversity loss and destruction of farmland, according to a report published in the journal Science.

Thank you for supporting Hadcorp. http://www.freewebs.com/implants/ To unsubscribe from these mailings, click here: please unsubscribe me