Hadcorp News: Woman gets killer plastic surgery

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Hadcorp News: May 27, 2008

PLASTIC SURGERY NEWS

Woman gets killer plastic surgery

CJAD

Montreal,Quebec,Canada

Tue, 2008-05-27 05:36.

Cohen

A young Montreal woman went in for a nose-job, she ended up dead. 25-year-old Valérie Castonguay died Thursday following complications on the operating table at the René Crépeau plastic surgery clinic on Seaforth, just off Côte-des-Neiges below Doctor Penfield.

The report says there were complications linked to the anesthesia. She was taken by ambulance just up the road to the Montreal-General, where she died.

Delayed immune-mediated adverse effects of polyalkylimide dermal fillers: clinical findings and long-term follow-up.

Arch Dermatol. 2008 May;144(5):637-42.

Alijotas-Reig J, -Gimenez V, Miró-Mur F, Vilardell-Tarrés M.

p M de Segarra, 2-F, 08190-Sant Cugat del Vallés, Barcelona, Spain. 16297jar@...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical complaints, laboratory data, treatment, and follow-up of patients with delayed adverse effects related to polyalkylimide implants (PAIs).

DESIGN: Prospective case series of patients injected with PAIs.

SETTING: A university tertiary teaching hospital.

PATIENTS: A prospectively acquired series of 25 patients with severe and/or persistent delayed adverse effects after PAI injection. The patients underwent clinical follow-up, a battery of blood tests, and when possible, biopsy and chest radiography.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Clinical evaluation of granulomas, skin manifestations, and other local and systemic immune-mediated disorders possibly related to PAIs.

RESULTS: The average latency period for onset of symptoms was 13.4 months. Eight patients were previously injected with another implant. Tender inflammatory nodules were seen in 24 patients. Systemic or distant manifestations appeared in 6 cases. Laboratory abnormalities were found in 20 cases. After an average of 21.3 months of follow-up, 11 patients appeared to be free of adverse effects, and 10 still had recurrent bouts.

CONCLUSION: Although infrequent, delayed and recurrent chronic inflammatory and granulomatous reactions may complicate PAI fillers.

PMID: 18490590 [PubMed - in process]

My new boobs burst

May 14 2008 by Janet Tansley

Liverpool Echo

UK

Janet Tansley speaks to a woman who wishes she’d never had a boob job – and wants to warn others of the potential health risks

SUSAN Craney was desperate to get her old figure back ...

Now she would just like her life back.

For the last few years , 51, has endured a painful battle to finally have breast implants removed after they burst.

While her road to recovery is still long and troubled, is glad they are gone but now prays for her health to return.

“I feel I went in for a boob job and came out with bad health,” says .

“In the end I just wanted them taken out.”

Throughout her ordeal, however, there has been one bright light in the darkness – ’s good friend, April Skinner.

“She phoned me every night, offered to come to all my hospital appointments, and brought me flowers and chocs,” smiles .

“She put everything to one side to support me. She is one-in-a- million.”

Now she has won the chance to repay her after winning Look’s competition to win a pamper break at the luxury Carden Park Hotel near Chester.

Says : “We’ve always said how nice it would be to get away but it was hard to find the time – and the money.

“April has been such a good friend.”

, from Knotty Ash, became depressed after childbirth and weight loss left her unhappy with her body.

“I’m not a young girl with starry eyes,” says , a mother-of- three.

“I didn’t want to be Jordan, I just wanted to get my figure and confidence back.”

But it wasn’t long after the operation five years ago that suspected something was wrong.

“Both breasts looked okay but I always had pain and discomfort with the right one,” she says.

“A year later I started to get lumps under my arms. Then a large one appeared under my right arm.”

During all this time ’s health began to suffer: “I had constant flu-like symptoms. I was achy and tired, and I even started to lose my hair. I was menopausal but I felt it was more than that.

“I was certain that something was wrong, that the silicone implants were leaking.

“I was always into the gym and keeping fit but eventually I had to stop going because I didn’t have the energy.

“I even had to go part-time in my job in a department store because I just couldn’t keep up with it full-time,” she adds.

repeatedly returned to the clinic where the operation had been carried out to be told, she says, that she needn’t worry.

But didn’t believe them.

Even visits to her GP proved fruitless. underwent numerous mammograms and ultrasound examinations, but none showed anything abnormal.

It was only when she saw a new female doctor after she moved to Knotty Ash, that the true horror was revealed.

“It was in November last year,” says . “She sent me for an urgent MRI scan which revealed the implants had burst. I was horrified.”

When went back once more to the clinic they agreed to remove them – for a fee.

They told – who is now taking legal action against the clinic – that she would be left disfigured and her chest would ‘virtually cave in’ unless she had them replaced with alternative implants.

But when, she says, they told her the cost would rise again, says she just wanted them out.

The implants were removed just over a month ago.

“I grabbed my notes, which said both implants had badly ripped, and when I asked to see them, they were both split.”

’s chest was flat – “it had just collapsed” – but after two weeks she started to get some shape and reckons it’s better than before the implants.

But there are still health issues.

’s lymph glands still have silicone in, she says, from the leaking implants. While attempts could be made to remove them, she would be left with swelling and some loss of hand control.

She continues to have ill health which she believes are associated with what’s happened.

Now working as a make-up artist is praying for the best outcome.

“I am angry that no-one listened to me, because this could have all be sorted a long time ago.

“Now I want to get well again and get my life back.”

thanks her children who helped her through and April who, she adds, “was a tower of strength”.

She adds: “Implants are great in the right context – for cancer patients for example – and I know people who have had them for years without any problems.

“But I would urge young girls who look through glossy magazines picking what size chest they want to stop and think.

“I wish to God I had never done it.”

The clinic which carried out ’s breast augmentation declined to comment.

Push for stricter plastic surgery rules swells in wake of death of Kanye West's mother

Lawmakers and physicians' groups want increased oversight of doctors performing cosmetic procedures in outpatient facilities.

By Rong-Gong Lin II, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

May 26, 2008

SACRAMENTO -- -- Six months after the mother of Kanye West died following liposuction and breast implant surgery, the reverberations of the tragedy continue to be felt. Now lawmakers and physicians are urging greater protections for patients undergoing cosmetic surgery.

Across the country, such surgeries are increasingly done outside hospital settings in outpatient clinics, where a doctor can avoid the rigorous review that, say, a heart surgeon would face at a traditional hospital.

Those lobbying for greater surveillance say attempts to regulate the fast-growing industry have faltered.

"These [clinics] are not hospitals. You have to raise the standards," said state Sen. Mark Ridley- (D-Los Angeles), chairman of the senate Committee on Business, Professions and Economic Development.

California is not alone in looking to tighten oversight of doctors performing cosmetic surgery. Two years ago, Florida passed a law designed to educate patients about their doctor's credentials.

And in the Canadian province of Ontario, officials are increasing scrutiny after the death of a Toronto woman who received liposuction from a general practitioner.

More than a decade ago, California pushed to regulate outpatient surgical centers amid high-profile reports that patients were critically injured or dying during procedures.

Legislators passed a law that said such centers must be accredited by an agency recognized by the state, which requires a clinic to have resuscitation equipment and procedures to transfer a patient to a hospital.

But Ridley- says the law has not been effective; he has proposed legislation requiring regular inspections.

In addition, across-the-board budget cuts forced the Medical Board of California about five years ago to disband a five-person investigative team designed to ferret out unlicensed doctors, said board spokeswoman Candis Cohen.

The budget cuts came as cosmetic procedures overall were booming in popularity. In 2007, there were 11.7 million cosmetic procedures performed in the United States, a 59% increase over 2000.

In California, the death of Donda West, 58, in November prompted two lawmakers to push for additional patient safety protections.

A bill, AB 2968, by Assemblywoman Wilmer Amina (D-Rialto) calls for a patient to receive a physical examination before undergoing cosmetic surgery.

Yolanda , West's niece, said her aunt did not receive a physical exam by her surgeon, Dr. Jan , before undergoing surgery.

A spokesman for has previously said it was his understanding that both and the anesthesiologist thoroughly questioned West before her surgery.

"It's not like she was 90 or terminally ill with cancer," said. "It was something that did not have to happen."

Another doctor whom West had previously seen declined to operate on her, saying that she was at risk of having a heart attack if she were to undergo the cosmetic surgery.

A coroner's report cited West's heart disease and clogged coronary arteries as a factor in her death. According to the coroner, there was no evidence that her death was caused by a mistake in surgery.

West, who was 5 feet 2 and weighed 188 pounds, had part of her right breast removed, both breasts enlarged and her abdominal muscles tightened.

She had significant liposuction as well as a "belt lipectomy," which excises fat around the abdominal area and tightens the surrounding skin.

West was sent home after her 5 1/2 -hour surgery.

She was not hooked up to medical equipment to monitor her recovery, something experts now say should have been required, given her extensive surgery and her pre-existing heart disease.

Ridley-' legislation, known as SB 1454, would require that outpatient facilities be inspected at least once every three years.

There now is no state requirement for how often the facilities must be inspected.

New advertising requirements would go into effect, such as banning statements or photos "likely to create false or unjustified expectations."

But some doctors say that some of the additional regulations being proposed won't fix what will affect the patients most.

"There's no way to control surgical judgment," said Dr. F. McGuire, vice president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and an associate clinical professor at UCLA.

A solution, McGuire said, is for patients to know how qualified their surgeons are.

McGuire said he wants all healthcare providers, including cosmetic surgeons, to disclose their educational background and specialty training before treating patients, an idea he has pressed with lawmakers.

The idea would be a more robust version of a "Truth in Medical Education" law passed in Florida in 2006.

In this scenario, a patient would receive a document detailing the practitioner's license, identifying the provider's schooling, residency training program, what boards had certified the physician -- and what boards the doctor failed to complete, McGuire said.

State law permits medical doctors to practice whatever medicine they want, which "goes back to the old general practitioner days where a doctor delivered you, fixed your broken bones and took care of your heart attack," McGuire said.

McGuire said he would favor laws allowing only doctors who are board certified in plastic surgery to perform cosmetic procedures.

West's doctor, , who has promoted himself as an expert on cosmetic surgery in books and on TV shows, is not board certified in plastic surgery or any other specialty overseen by the American Board of Medical Specialties.

But McGuire said "any legislation that tries to limit in any way a doctor's ability to practice" would face tremendous political opposition from other doctors.

One province in Canada, however, does precisely that.

In British Columbia, doctors must be recognized as plastic surgeons or otherwise certified by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada to perform major cosmetic surgical procedures, such as liposuction or anything involving a scalpel.

And in Ontario, officials are considering barring doctors from calling themselves "surgeons" unless they are certified as such by the Royal College.

In September, a 32-year-old real estate agent who lived in Toronto died after receiving liposuction from a general practitioner.

The California Medical Assn. would oppose Canadian-style restrictions, said its president, Dr. enstein.

Physicians must be vetted by an independent medical staff and malpractice insurers before they can pick up a scalpel in California, enstein said in a prepared statement.

"The Canadian model wouldn't enhance these protections and would risk depriving people who live in underserved areas of access to physicians," he said.

Certification is not a guarantee of competence.

There have been cases where board-certified plastic surgeons are involved in cases of gross negligence, said Janie Cordray, research director for the Medical Board of California.

In Florida, the state increased oversight over non-hospital surgeries after at least 12 people who underwent surgery in office-based settings died in 1998, said Nuland, general counsel to the Florida Society of Plastic Surgeons.

The number of reported deaths has decreased, but a couple of patients still die each year, Nuland said.

He said that a significant problem is doctors who inappropriately clear patients who are too ill to have the surgery.

For example, he said, "a 55-year-old obese person with diabetes, there is no reason that person should have been selected for an office surgery," Nuland said.

"You can't legislate good medical judgment."

Ottawa prepared to slap toxic label on widely used chemicals

Canada.com

Don Mills

Ontario,Canada

Schmidt , Canwest News Service

Published: Saturday, May 17

OTTAWA - The federal government announced Friday it intends to slap a toxic label on a bunch of chemicals used in everyday products from chewing gum to cosmetics as well as in controversial devices like silicone breast implants because they are either harmful to human health or the environment.

The 11 chemicals include Vinyl acetate, a carcinogen used as a base in chewing gum, and Cyclohexasiloxane, used as building blocks of silicone used in breast implants.

If industry fails to offer new information within 60 days to reverse course, Ottawa will classify these chemicals as toxic and kick start a process that could lead to a ban in certain products, as with bisphenol A in baby bottles.

In the case of the synthetic chemicals belonging to the Cyclohexasiloxane family - D4, D5 and D6 - the government is proposing an additional step to ensure their virtual elimination from the environment.

In addition to being found in silicone fluids, these synthetic chemicals are found in cleaning compounds, cosmetics and personal care products, including shampoos, creams, lotions, and antiperspirants. D5, in particular, is a common ingredient to give products a silky texture.

The government concludes these synthetic chemicals do not pose a risk to human health, but rather should be declared toxic to the environment.

"Canadians expect their government to protect the environment from harmful chemicals, and that's why we are taking action," said Environmental Minister Baird.

Six of the 11 chemicals are flagged as toxic to human health; the government said it will work with industry to reduce exposures to two of these substances.

The health toxins are: Vinyl acetate, used in food additives, paints, sealants and plastics; C.I. Pigment Yellow 34 and Red 103, a colourant used in paints, dyes, inks, and plastics; Thiourea, used in electronic products, insecticides and textiles; isoprene, used in rubber and plastic manufacturing; and Oxirane, used in paints, coatings and adhesives.

The announcement comes after a lengthy review of the chemicals under the government's Chemicals Management Plan involving about 200 substances. It is the most comprehensive chemical review currently being undertaken in the world.

Mike Patton, spokesman for the Canadian Cosmetics, Toiletries and Fragrances Association, praised the process and welcomed the conclusions.

``There's nothing in this batch that poses a health concern for us. But our other interest is environmental impact, and we'll work with the government to minimize or eliminate entirely any environmental impact.''

Thiourea, a carcinogen, used to be a common ingredient in personal-care products, but it hasn't been used by the industry for some time, said Patton.

Women health advocates say they'll use this new information to push for a review of the October, 2006, lifting the ban on silicone breast implants.

The government's newly released risk assessment of D4, found in silicone breast implants, states the synthetic chemical impairs fertility. It also flags a finding of the Danish Environmental Protection Agency, identifying the liver as a ``target organ for D4 exposures.''

But the government concludes the substance ``is not entering the environment in a quantity or concentration or under conditions that constitute or may constitute a danger in Canada to human life or health.''

Madeline Bosco, a nurse who is executive director of Canadian Women's Health Network and public appointee to the government's advisory committee on breast implants, says research shows silicone is not well-contained in the implants and diffuses throughout women's bodies.

``This is extremely good news from my perspective. It helps move the toxicology world, which has already been raising questions about silicone, into the health products process.''

Epidemiologist Diane Zuckerman, president of the National Research Center for Women & Families based in Washington, characterized Health Canada's decision ``confusing and illogical. If D4 is dangerous to the environment, on what basis is the government concluding that it is not dangerous when implanted inside the human body or repeatedly used on the human body?

``A more accurate assessment would have been to say that the health hazards are unknown for individual use of products with D4, because they have not been adequately studied. I would think that women of childbearing age would be especially concerned about having breast implants because of possible infertility problems that could result from D4.''

Silicone implants were pulled from the market in Canada in 1992 amid concerns they were unsafe for women. In October, 2006, Health Canada changed course and made them freely available to women with the caveat that ``no medical device is 100 per cent safe.''

Until then, only breast implants filled with saline were licensed for sale in Canada.

The October, 2006 decision came just months after Health Canada's scientific advisory committee said questions ``had not been sufficiently addressed'' about potential health risks should the gels bleed or leak into women's bodies and about whether the implants increase the risk of auto-immune diseases in the long term.

The government is also proposing to list Acid Blue 80, a colourant used in cosmetics and glass cleaner, as toxic to the environment.

Botox Migration a Recipe for Disaster

Lawyers and Settlements

USA

Hollywood, CA: As new research continues to reveal that Botox, and Botox Cosmetic may not necessarily be the risk-free, never-give-it-a-second-thought cosmetic treatment that people eat up like candy, there are those who look beyond the potential dangers and even beyond the need.

It's called growing old gracefully.

Botox has been around far longer than most would suspect, as the use of Botox for cosmetic purposes is a fairly recent indication. Botulinum toxin has been used for years to treat muscle spasms, which prove debilitating for some people and has been, according to some, a godsend for helping to control limb spacticity in patients suffering from cerebral palsy. Most, however, have received Botox injections for eye and neck spasms.

The use of Botox for cosmetic purposes was actually pioneered by an ophthalmologist in Vancouver, B.C. twenty years ago. Dr. Carruthers was using botulinum toxin to treat a client with an eye condition, and noticed the positive effect the Botox had on her patient's skin. "My poison will get rid of your patient's wrinkles," she is said to have told her dermatologist husband in comments appearing in Maclean's magazine.

And Botox Cosmetic was born.

Popularly, we know it simply as Botox, and know it as the stuff that removes wrinkles. Which is true. It's HOW the Botox removes wrinkles that is the stuff of science. Botulinum Toxin Type A is a purified form of the nasty stuff more commonly associated with botulism, the horrible thing we can get from canned food that has gone bad. Botulism can kill. However purified, the toxin has found a legitimate use. It works by interrupting the communication between nerve cells, temporarily paralyzing injected muscles.

Given the fact that wrinkles are caused by the contracting of facial muscles, it has been found that relaxing, or temporarily paralyzing those muscles, gets rid of the wrinkles. It's temporary—about three months or so—but it's just a jab, vs. painful, invasive and expensive surgery.

Little wonder Botox exploded in popularity. Last year Botox represented over a billion dollars in worldwide sales for its manufacturer, Allergen. In a few short years it has grown to become the #1 cosmetic treatment in the world. Last year a drop-in storefront Botox clinic opened on Manhattan's exclusive Upper East Side. Dentists in British Columbia in Canada, and in the United Kingdom have been given the nod to offer Botox injections in their practices. Women find it's handy to hide the Botox injection bills from their husbands, as it is classified as a dental service (albeit elective).

And Botox has been pressed into service for temporary earlobe and neck lifts, for mitigation of underarm sweating, and even the so-called 'Botox boob job,' whereby botulinum toxin is injected into the pectoral muscles, which somehow raises the breasts.

However, it should be noted that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) only approved Botox Cosmetic for use in the horizontal lines between the eyebrows. Two months ago, the US drug regulator put Botox under a safety review after dozens of adverse reactions were reported. As well, sixteen deaths have been linked to the use of Botox, according the advocacy group Public Citizen.

Within the same time frame, new and disturbing findings have begun to emerge which cast some doubt as to the ultimate safety of Botox.

The concern, which initially only circulated through medical journals but has since been widely reported in mainstream media, surrounds the potential migration of the neurotoxin from the initial injection site. A study by the Italian National Research Council discovered that Botox injected into the whisker muscles of rats, had migrated in trace amounts to the brain stem in as little as three days.

A Canadian study achieved similar results. Last month the Journal of Biomechanics published the findings of Walter Herzog, a noted kinesiologist from the University of Calgary. While researching osteoarthritis and joint degeneration, he found that botulinum toxin injected into the supporting muscles of cats not only paralyzed the muscles into which the toxin was injected, but had spread into, and weakened all muscles in the area.

Supporters of Botox and botulinum toxin, as does Alleregen, argue that Botox has proven safe and effective. However these latest findings are injecting a newfound caution into the mix. Dr. Misra, from the National Hospital for Neurology and Microsurgery in the UK, writes in the British Medical Journal, "In this atmosphere of 'Botox parties' - where champagne-sipping socialites are injected with botulinum toxin - it is easy to forget that it is a potent neurotoxin and that its very long-term effects are still unknown.

"Robust evidence for the action of botulinum toxin (Botox) on sensory neurons is lacking."

While there has been only one death potentially linked to the cosmetic use of Botox, this newfound concern regarding the ability for the toxin to migrate has some people worried. For example, were Botox injected into the face for cosmetic purposes, or into the eye, or neck muscles for therapeutic purposes, effectively migrate down to the esophagus, there could be dire consequences.

If you have been injured, or negatively impacted from a Botox injection in any way, have a Botox lawyer inject some legal muscle into your case.

MORE PLASTIC SURGERY NEWS

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GULF WAR SYNDROME

Dedman College honors Haley as Distinguished Graduate

North Texas e-News

TX,USA

By Levente , SMU

May 20, 2008

Ware Haley, whose research has helped improve hospital care and define the symptoms of Gulf War Syndrome, was honored recently as the SMU Dedman College 2008 Distinguished Graduate.

Haley is director and founder of the Division of Epidemiology in UT-Southwestern Medical Center’s Department of Internal Medicine, as well as its U.S. Armed Forces Veterans Distinguished Chair for Medical Research Honoring America’s Gulf War Veterans. He graduated from SMU in 1967 with degrees in philosophy and social sciences.

AGENT ORANGE

Veterans returning from overseas for Vietnam apology

TV3 News

Auckland, New Zealand

Tue, 27 May 2008 05:42a.m.

Vietnam veterans, due to receive an apology from the Crown tomorrow, have been waiting more than 30 years.

The apology, to be made by Prime Minister Helen in Parliament, will acknowledge veterans were not treated fairly when they returned to New Zealand from the war.

Veterans have for years fought for recognition of the suffering experienced by soldiers exposed to toxic chemicals used during the war, such as Agent Orange.

Many veterans found the people of New Zealand had little time for them after they returned from serving in the largely unpopular and controversial war.

Tomorrow's apology will precede three days of commemorations for the Vietnam veterans, beginning with a civic welcome in Wellington's Civic Square at 4pm on Friday.

Long in the planning, the commemorative weekend "Tribute08" is the public face of a memorandum of understanding signed in December 2006 by the Government, the Ex-Vietnam Services Association and the Royal New Zealand Returned and Services Association.

In the memorandum, the Government acknowledged Vietnam veterans and their families had legitimate concerns about their treatment over the past 30 years.

A $30 million package aimed at compensating veterans and their families affected by chemical warfare used during the Vietnam War, including the use of Agent Orange, was announced last year.

Official events over Queen's Birthday weekend include an honour march to Parliament on Saturday morning; a whakanoa, or tapu-lifting, ceremony to acknowledge the 37 New Zealanders who died in Vietnam; a memorial service at the National War Memorial on Sunday and a commemoration event at the Basin Reserve.

A concert will be held on Saturday night, and public exhibitions and displays will be held at various venues throughout Wellington.

Hundreds of veterans are already registered, and thousands of supporters are also expected to take part over the weekend.

One veteran will be in attendance with 12 family members, arriving from as far away as Sweden.

Pete Ramsay was with Victor 4 Company in Vietnam. Six of the company's men were killed in action and 14 were wounded.

Mr Ramsay is now based in Western Australia, but is the New Zealand Ex-Vietnam Services Association representative for the Australian state.

He said it was "critical" veterans attended the commemorations, and bring their families along.

"I know it can be a job to organise it but it's well worth it. Families talk to other families, wives talk to wives. If doing that helps one family out in some way, to understand Dad, then that's great."

Mr Ramsay said he was looking forward to catching up with old friends at designated sub-unit watering holes around Wellington.

He said the discussions were unlikely to be about what happened in Vietnam.

"We all know what we went through over there, and we don't need to talk about it to each other. We're over that. We talk about the silly and humorous things that happened, and there were plenty of those."

Mr Ramsay said the memorandum would have a lasting impact on veterans, and not just those from Vietnam.

"...it's also for other veterans, especially the younger ones so they've got some sort of support mechanism to fall back on if they need it.

"We don't want younger veterans to be treated the way we were treated by veterans of previous wars, or forgotten like the Korean veterans."

Ex-Vietnam Services Association spokesman Mullane said veterans and their supporters needed to attend Tribute08 to ensure their concerns continued to be addressed.

"The Government and the public of New Zealand need to see our participation as a tangible demonstration of the determination and credibility of the Vietnam veteran community," he said.

A total of 3890 New Zealand soldiers served in South Vietnam. Thirty-seven were killed in action and 187 were wounded.

New Zealand's longest-serving combat unit in the war was 161 Battery, Royal NZ Artillery, which served from June 1965 to May 1971.

From 1961 to 1971, US and South Vietnamese armies sprayed millions of litres of toxic herbicides to destroy forest cover and food for communist forces.

Herbicides used in the Operation Ranch Hand defoliation were identified by coloured stripes on containers: Agent Orange was the most widely used.

Veterans overseas have since blamed the spray for health problems such as diabetes and prostate cancer in former soldiers, and birth defects in their children.

After years of successive governments denying New Zealand soldiers were affected by Agent Orange, a parliamentary health select committee inquiry concluded in October 2004 that it was "beyond doubt" that New Zealand defence personnel were exposed to Agent Orange and other herbicides.

The inquiry followed the publication of the Masters map which revealed heavy American spraying of Agent Orange and other defoliants in Phuoc Tuy province, where most New Zealand soldiers spent much of their time in Vietnam.

Australia cancer deaths linked to Agent Orange

• Town's rate 10 times state average, says researcher • Call for inquiry into claims of secret testing in 1960s

Barbara McMahon in Sydney

The Guardian

UK

Monday May 19 2008

Claims by a leading researcher that cancer deaths in a small town in Queensland, Australia, are 10 times higher than the state average owing to the secret testing of Agent Orange there more than 40 years ago are to be investigated by the authorities.

Australian military scientists sprayed the toxic herbicide on rainforest near Innisfail during defoliant testing in the early years of the Vietnam war, it is alleged. The jungle began dying and has never recovered, according to local people.

The site is near a river which supplies water for the town in the far north of the country and researchers believe the spraying may be responsible for cancer rates in the area being 10 times the state average and four times the national average.

The Innisfail claims were made by the researcher , who has been awarded the Order of Australia medal for her work on the effects of chemicals on Vietnam war veterans. She said she found reports of the secret tests in Australian War Memorial museum archives.

"These tests carried out between 1964 and 1966 were the first tests of Agent Orange," she told Fairfax Media.

said one of the files on the testing was marked "considered sensitive" and showed that the chemicals 2,4-D, Diquat, Tordon and dimethylsulphoxide had been sprayed on the rainforest.

"It was considered sensitive because they were mixing together all the bad chemicals, which just made them worse," she said. "Those chemicals stay in the soil for years and every time there is a storm they are stirred up and go into the water supply."

also claimed that a file which could prove that wider testing took place had gone missing from the archives.

A former soldier, Ted Bosworth, has backed up the claims, saying two scientists he drove to the site in the 1960s were interested in the effect the chemical cocktail had on rubber vine, which is also found in Vietnam.

"They sprayed the trees by hand and then in the next couple of weeks I took them back up and they put ladders up against the trees and took photos of them as the foliage was dying," he said. "They called it some other funny name - I hadn't heard of Agent Orange then."

Agent Orange was sprayed by the Australian and the US military during the Vietnam war to defoliate jungle where North Vietnamese troops were positioned. The cocktail of toxic chemicals in Agent Orange has been linked to cancer, birth defects and other health problems.

Yesterday the local mayor, Bill , called on the Australian Defence Force to investigate 's claims. He said the half-acre site remains deforested, and though the town's water supply showed no evidence of the chemicals, local people had long been concerned about cancer rates in the area. "I'd like to know exactly what did happen and the extent of it. We don't want a cover-up," he said.

Queensland's premier, Bligh, said she was disturbed by the claims. "Any concerns these residents have can and will be investigated thoroughly," she said in Brisbane yesterday.

However, the Queensland health department said that the incidence of cancer in Innisfail is no higher than in other parts of the state.

• This article was amended on Tuesday May 20 2008. Queensland's premier is Bligh, not Blyth. This has been corrected.

DENTAL AMALGAM

Inside Today's Bulletin

Philly First In The Nation To Require Mercury Disclosures

By: JENNY DeHUFF

Evening Bulletin

Philadelphia,PA,USA

05/14/2008

Philadelphia - Freya Koss said she developed multiple sclerosis, lupus and other health problems from a silver dental filling containing mercury. She and several other consumer advocates and health professionals were at City Hall yesterday to tell their stories of cavity fillings gone wrong.

The Pennsylvania Coalition for Mercury-Free Dentistry and Consumers for Dental Choice (CDC) stood in front of large signs warning of the dangers of silver amalgam fillings - most notable for their high levels of the neurotoxin mercury.

In December, Philadelphia City Council unanimously passed legislation backed by Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown that requires dentists to distribute patient brochures disclosing the dangers of silver amalgam fillings.

"The textbooks don't tell us this," said Charlie Brown, spokesman for the CDC. "It is absurd to think nothing is damaged when a neurotoxin is placed an inch from someone's brain."

"I quickly learned of the harrowing effects of mercury when an old filling was removed and a silver filling replaced it," said Ms. Koss, director of the Pennsylvania Coalition for Mercury-Free Dentistry. "Seven days later, I got sick."

Don Robbins operates a mercury-free dentist practice out of Exton. He called himself one of the few dentists committed to informing patients of the risk of silver amalgam fillings. Holding a jar of dental mercury filling, Mr. Robbins pointed out the skull and crossbones icon on the label, warning that the substance is hazardous to children and to handle the container with gloves and protective gear.

"It's deeply disturbing what's going on in our profession," Mr. Robbins said. "Less than 60 percent of dentists in the U.S. belong to the American Dental Association (ADA). Silver fillings are 50 percent mercury. If you have two, three or more silver fillings, you are above the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) limit for mercury intake."

Earlier in the day, consumers protested statements made by the president of the Pennsylvania Dental Association. "No dentist places mercury in a patient's mouth," he was reported to have said.

The alternatives to these types of fillings are typically white composite resin fillings, which are more commonly used today but don't last as long as silver fillings.

DeHuff can be reached at jdehuff@....

MORE DENTAL AMALGAM NEWS

FDA Opens Public Comment for Safety of Mercury in Dentistry (Action Alert)

GM FOODS

Bad seed

Meg Hewings New doc exposes disturbing facts about Monsanto's impact on the world's fragile food supply

To big multinationals like Monsanto, we humans are mere guinea pigs. Don't believe me? Go see The World According to Monsanto. When the doc, by renowned investigative journalist Marie- Robin, streamed on the ARTE.tv website in France, the traffic and conversation it generated busted their server. That's because the film, like the book version (which sold over 40,000 copies to date in France), finally presents a cogent and horrifying enough picture of the world's leading seed manufacturer to warrant concern and fury (and I'll go out on a limb here and predict this film won't just enrage the protest-happy French).

The book, like the film of the same title, provides unpublished documents and first-hand accounts by victims, scientists and politicians, and clearly lays out how the industrial giant has lied, colluded with the American government and used extreme pressure tactics on scientists in order to gain market supremacy. (Today, the US company's genetically modified organisms (GMOs) represent 90 per cent world GMO crops, have been planted in over 46 countries and threaten to destroy the agricultural biodiversity that has served mankind for thousands of years.)

It's not that worrying trends like global climate change and the current global food crisis can be blamed entirely on Monsanto. It's just that anyone still naive enough to think that multinationals have our back, or care one fig about the environment, has his head in the sand.

Monsanto has long argued that biotechnology is the solution to hunger and environmental contamination, and for many in the scientific community and in politics during Bush senior's tenure, that may have been the hope. Yet the Monsanto company profile has never been trustworthy. They've manufactured some of the most toxic products ever marketed, including PCB and Agent Orange. They've also managed to bury all the evidence that proves the toxicity of their products, some of which are unauthorized in Canada and Europe. To make matters worse, the company has become the leading manufacturer of GMO seeds and aims to take possession of (and patent!) the world's crop seeds (yes, all those fundamental to the world's food supply). They've also managed to bypass (or buy out) all their friends in government (or hire them!) as well as at the FDA (Food and Drug Administration in the U.S.), who've yet to subject these supposed miracle crops to rigorous independent

testing or safeguards. Surely, this doesn't bode well for us, or our planet, when a company's greatest crimes can somehow turn into their best-kept secrets for pulling off world domination (a.k.a. market supremacy). Be damned the notions of food safety and the ecological balance of our planet!

The film's simple investigative style and its rich array of expert talking heads lend it, and its findings, gravitas. The film is far from fancy, but the basic question is simple: Can we really afford to trust a company like Monsanto to safeguard our world food supply? There can be few surprises left in the answer.

If you're feeling the weight of the world on your shoulders and want to do something about it, make sure to check out Green Screens, a weeklong environmental event organized by the NFB featuring screenings, discussions and workshops. From May 26 to 31. For more information and to screen other NFB films about the environment online, go to www.nfb.ca/footprints.

Montoliu: Exploring the complex GMO issue

Lake County News

Lakeport,CA,USA

Written by Raphael Montoliu

Friday, 23 May 2008

"I have not yet seen anyone glow green from eating GM tomatoes from the local supermarket," Supervisor Rob Brown said, responding to a caller on the GMO issue while being interviewed on KPFZ's Future Knowledge Tuesday evening.

This offhand response toward the end of the interview seems an appropriate representation of the extent of research some politicians, local or otherwise, undertake to make important, public policy decisions ... in the context of a strong antagonism towards anything that does not seem to fit their narrow ideology or interests rather than through actual analysis.

Since we now know that objectivity regarding this topic is lost in at least one corner of the Board of Supervisors chamber, let's restore it here and look at the biotech industry objectively, particularly at some very critical, crucial, undisputable facts.

Simply put, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) wasn't allowed to do its job. Documents made public from a lawsuit (has anyone noticed how the public has to sue the government to get any answers to any relevant questions?) show that the overwhelming majority of FDA scientists felt that biotech foods were inherently dangerous and could create poisons or allergens, new diseases, or nutritional problems, particularly in infants and children.

These FDA scientists urged their superiors to require a long-term study. However, the FDA was under orders from the White House to promote the biotechnology industry. They consequently created a new position to bypass the science and the regular FDA channels of research and approval, called the "Deputy Commissioner of Policy," and hired Monsanto's former attorney to this position, . Yes, you read correctly, an industry insider lawyer made, alone, a "scientific" decision that will affect the American population for the coming centuries.

So became the lone "decider" at the FDA, under Bush and in the interests of the biotech industry. I wish I was making this up, but it is a sad reality of today's government, that has totally escaped public control and escaped its own morality, if it even had any.

was in charge of policy when the GMO policy was created. That policy stated that the agency was not aware of any information showing that the foods created from these new experimental methods differed in any meaningful or uniform way from any other. On the basis of that one sentence, the FDA declared, "We require no safety studies whatsoever" ... this regarding a technology that is one of the biggest scientific breakthrough in decades, and radically alters the DNA of our food.

Consequently when Monsanto and others claimed that their foods were safe, the FDA had no further questions, having being reduced to nothing more than an impotent rubber stamp bureaucracy at the service of dominant corporate interests by the Bush administration.

Of course the FDA decision was an outright lie from the top. Not only was the agency aware of the important differences of GM foods, but the overwhelming consensus among its scientists-whose objections were suppressed-was that further studies were necessary before releasing these products to farmers and consumers.

The consistent denials and coverups about the health risks of GM foods are very similar to what went on with the tobacco and particularly the cigarette industry, as researches by the industry are rigged to guarantee conclusions of safety, the GM industry meticulously designing their so called studies to avoid finding problems.

The biotech industry has a genetically engineered counterpart to virtually every fruit, vegetable, grain and bean that is being sold in the United States. More than 172 different species have been field-trialed, with more than 50 000 field trials in the US alone.

Soy, corn, cottonseeds, canola, potatoes, cocoa, Hawaiian papaya, zucchini and yellow squash are currently the major GMO crops. There are many dairy products made from cows injected with rBGH (synthetic growth hormone), and there are genetically modified enzymes and food additives that are usually not listed on the label of processed foods. Many supplements are created from genetically engineered bacteria or microorganisms. The wine industry is looking at GMO grapes.

As GM crops are predictably and unavoidably beginning to contaminate all other forms of agriculture, European standards for organically grown food are being lowered to include trace amounts of GMOs, these amounts expected to rise significantly in the coming years, which is why a biotech industry representative stated cynically that “the cat is already out of the bag,” meaning that they had already altered the global food supply and that resistance was futile precisely because of contamination, while stating at the same time that contamination would not be a problem, yet suing farmers whose fields are contaminated ...

The transfer of genes is a very serious issue, ignored by the FDA and the industry. The only human feeding study ever conducted on GM foods demonstrated that the genes inserted into soybeans transfer into human intestinal bacteria DNA and remain there, integrated on a stable basis, never eliminated. The implications regarding the genes that produce GM pesticides, that could remain in the intestinal flora, or transfer into our own cellular DNA, causing it to produce foreign proteins, could be devastating.

Back in the 1980s, 100 people died and anywhere between 5,000 to 10,000 fell sick or were permanently disabled after ingesting a brand of L-tryptophan supplement that was manufactured through a genetically modified bacteria. The FDA however, after pulling all such supplements off the market, withheld information from the public and from Congress about the genetic engineering aspect of the problem.

In Europe, a GM food researcher named Arpad Pusztai discovered that supposedly harmless GM potatoes caused massive damages to rats. He was fired from his job after 35 years and silenced with threats of a lawsuit. In Russia, a leading researcher in the Russian Academy of Sciences discovered that female rats that were fed GM soy had an infant mortality rate that was over 50 percent within the first three weeks, compared to only 10 percent of the offspring with mothers who were fed non-GM soy. This scientist has since been told she could not do any more GM food research.

Most people do not realize that there have not been extensive and independent tests on GM foods. Most people do not even know what GMO means, yet they ingest an unproven, experimental, highly controversial, untested, revolutionary "enstein" food that could have devastating consequences for their health and particularly that of their children ...

The points made by Rob Brown on the GMO issue during his interview are all invalid.

It is easy to demonstrate that those who have an "agenda" are not the people who seek to get a moratorium on all GMOs until further studies are completed by independent scientists, a process which any reasonable person would demand and support, the heavy-handed agenda comes from those who have stealthily forced this technology on the American consumer without such proper and prudent studies, without the labeling of GM products as is required in Europe, and with the help of a corrupted bureaucracy; the only existing agenda here comes from the industry itself and those who support it and its distortion and strangulation of science in the name of immediate profits.

Objective scientific research is not an agenda, it is not political ... to ask that FDA scientists be allowed to do their jobs is not an agenda ... to request that a new product be held until considered safe by the FDA after such required studies is not an agenda.

And no, the power to decide whether to have GMOs in Lake County cannot be given exclusively to farmers or the farm bureau, who are not scientists and have no appropriate science upon which to base their decisions, it must be given to the greater public through he restoration of an honest and independent FDA process of scientific research and approval or rejection of GM products. Short of this and under current corrupt conditions, the American public must educate itself and demand to be heard, and to be respected. Alfalfa is not the only issue in Lake County, other GM crops will eventually be available to replace traditional crops, as in the case of winegrapes, and GE pears will certainly be available at some point.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the Bush administration is attempting to force famine stricken third world countries, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, to plant genetically engineered crops, as part of a $770 million aid package, just as it has bullied Iraq to also plant GE crops.

These untested and mostly unregulated GE crops are considered controversial all over the world; at least 40 nations have restricted GE farming and GE ingredients in foods by requiring, because of public demand, mandatory labeling. (A majority of the American public has also demanded labeling of GMO products, but in America, giant corporations have more rights and apparently more powerful votes than ordinary citizens, particularly under Republican regime). A number of nations and regions have banned GMOs in agriculture altogether, until further research proves it is safe.

Beyond health and environmental concerns, and contrary to industry propaganda, GE crops do not significantly increase yields, but rather force farmers to stop saving their seeds and instead buy toxic chemicals and highly priced patented seeds from biotech companies such as Monsanto, Syngenta, Bayer, Dupont, Dow's and BASF. Once they do, they no longer have a choice, as their fields are contaminated at the DNA level and will remain so forever.

Is forever a good choice concerning an untested and potentially dangerous technology that could affect our own human DNA in unpredictable ways?

Sources of information:

Books: “Seeds of Deception” and “Genetic Roulette,” both by ; “Genetically Engineered Foods,” by Teitel and Kimberley A. ; “Codex Alimentarius: Global Food Imperialism,” by Tips.

The Non-GMO Project, a nonprofit organization created by leaders representing all sectors of the organic and natural products industry in the US and Canada.

Few checks to prevent entry of GM food

Hindu

Chennai,India

Hiddleston

CHENNAI: Ports in India face an enormous burden in scientifically analysing products from countries growing genetically modified crops. No GM organisms can be imported unless sanctioned by the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee, the nodal agency that functions under the Ministry of Environments and Forests.

Only two food imports have been approved, according to an MoEF response to an RTI submission: refined vegetable soybean oil and crude degummed soybean oil by Catholic Relief Services and Care India as food aid in 2002. But a couple of weeks ago, packets of Doritos potato chips available in select supermarkets, including in Chennai, were revealed to contain two strains of GM corn.

An independent German laboratory found Mon 863 (for pest tolerance) and NK603 (for herbicide tolerance) in a sample picked up by Greenpeace from Delhi. The U.S.-based manufacturer Pepsico says that it does not market the product in India and has not exported it directly.

The supermarket is believed to have acquired it through an independent importer via Mumbai.

Mandatory certificates attesting the GM status of imports checked at customs and the judgment of Port Health Officers at the 16 points of entry into India are the only checks in the system to prevent raw or processed food items that have unlawful GM strains from turning up in products in the market.

Sources in the Health Ministry said that samples of all food imports are tested for safety.

But tests for GM strains are not performed on a regular basis. Not all ports have facilities to detect genetic engineering, and though samples of consignments can be sent for testing elsewhere, these laboratories are overburdened, senior officials from customs and the Port Trust point out.

The scale of the task involved in checking suspicious consignments is large; food items from countries that grow certain GM crops, including Argentina, Brazil and the U.S., might not be GM-free because those governments do not require crop segregation or food labelling, Dr. Ajay Parida, MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, told The Hindu. Manufacturers in these countries, he said, do not test for GM strains because they say it would increase the price of the food items and pass the burden to the consumer.

The Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, entrusted a regulatory body under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare with the responsibility for GM foods.

The body, known as the Food Safety Standard Authority, together with the scientific panel for genetically modified organisms the Act recommended, has not yet become functional.

Prevention of Food Adulteration Rules 2006 places the responsibility for authorising GM foods back with the GEAC. In August last year, the GEAC exempted GM processed food where the end product was not living, such as oils from GM seeds, from the 1989 rules for import/manufacture of GM organisms.

However, the exemption was on February 25, 2008 held in abeyance until September 30, 2008 or until further notification by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare regarding regulation of GM processed foods. The Food Safety Standards Authority, headed by Mr G. Balachandran, is expected to begin working next month.

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