Re: [MGB-PostOp] More Cancer Scares...

[Guest guest]

Dr. R., we have enough to worry about. I think we are all just worried about

the surgery. Can you post some sites relieving our anxiety about the

surgery. Thanks, K

[Guest guest]

Hmmm...

The world is full of cancer scares...

No Cell Phone, No deodorants, No Power Lines, No Aluminum, No Mini-Gastric

Bypass

No Fluoride Toothpaste...

http://www.quackwatch.com/03HealthPromotion/fluoridespock.html

RR

Rutledge, M.D., F.A.C.S.

The Center for Laparoscopic Obesity Surgery

4301 Ben lin Blvd.

Durham, N.C. 27704

Telephone #:

Fax #:

Email: DrR@...

************************************************

Please Visit our Web site: http://clos.net

************************************************

Please join the

Mini-Gastric Bypass Community at

http://www.egroups.com/group/MiniGastricBypass

Get the

Mini-Gastric Bypass

Patient Education Manual

( http://www.clos.net/get_patient_manual.htm )

[MGB-PostOp] More Cancer Scares...

> The world is full of cancer scares...

>

> Another cancer scare is the power lines and cancer question...

>

> And what about Aluminum?

>

> http://www.premier1.net/~raines/aluminum.html

>

> Lots of studies...

>

> What to do...

>

>

> Midwest Today, April/May 1996

>

>

> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

--

> ----

> N E W S F R O N T

>

>

> DO HIGH-VOLTAGE

> POWER LINES

> CAUSE CANCER

> Studies link Electromagnetic Fields (EMFs) To Illness

>

>

> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

--

> ----

> By NEAL LAWRENCE

>

> It was sort of a funny story when we first heard about it a few years ago:

A

> dairy farmer living in Wisconsin near high voltage utility company

> transmission lines couldn't turn out the lights in his barn. Even with the

> switches in the off position, night after night after he had finished his

> chores, he'd go back out to the barn to find the light bulbs still glowing

> from the electrical charge hovering in the air. The cows were none too

happy

> about it either, because the constant light prevented them from sleeping,

> and they gave less milk.

>

> But the story doesn't seem so funny any more -- not after the spate of

> recent reports of children developing deadly illnesses or adults dying

> prematurely of rare diseases -- all apparently because they had the

> misfortune of living near high amounts of electrical current.

>

> A growing body of scientific evidence suggests that invisible

> electromagnetic fields (EMFs) -- created by everything from high-voltage

> utility company lines to personal computers, microwave ovens, TVs and even

> electric blankets -- are linked to a frightening array of cancers and

other

> serious health problems in children and adults.

>

> Though it received scant attention from the mainstream press, a report

> leaked last October from the U.S. National Council on Radiation Protection

> said there is a powerful body of impressive evidence showing that even

very

> low exposure to electromagnetic radiation has long-term effects on health.

>

> The report cited studies that show EMFs can disturb the production of the

> hormone melatonin, which is linked with sleep patterns. It said there was

> strong evidence that children exposed to EMFs had a higher risk of

leukemia.

>

> This follows on the heels of three epidemiological reports released in

1994.

> One indicated a tie between occupational exposure to EMFs and Alzheimer' s

> disease. Another suggested a link with Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

(SIDS).

> The third study indicated a tie with Amyotrophic lateralsclerosis.

>

> Now a surprising new report released in February by physicists at

Britain's

> University of Bristol shows that power lines attract particles of radon --

a

> colorless, odorless gas irrefutably linked with cancer.

>

> What's this all about? And why have the media failed to report with the

> appropriate emphasis the implications of these significant health risks?

>

> Shortly after her son was diagnosed with leukemia, Larm of

> Omaha, NE. began to notice other children at the local pool who had lost

> their hair or had surgical scars. As her suspicion rose, she began talking

> to other parents. One person she contacted was Dee Hendricks, whose son

was

> also undergoing cancer treatment. Together they collected the names of

> eleven children in the area who had cancer.

>

> When they plotted them on a map they were surprised to see that all lived

> within one mile of each other and an electric power substation.

>

> " If there was nothing to worry about, why does our utility have an EMF

> committee...which was in effect long before we came and started making

noise

> ? " asks Larm, a member of the Omaha Parents for the Prevention of Cancer.

> " Why do they need such things if theres nothing to it? "

>

> The group's efforts have been buttressed by Brodeur, a campaigning

> environmental journalist who had in his day taken on asbestos and

> chlorofluorocarbons and is the author of two books on the subject of EMFs.

> Brodeur is convinced that EMFs are one of the greatest environmental

threats

> facing the nation.

>

> " Never before has there been this much epidemiological evidence of the

> carcinogenicity of any agent, " says Brodeur, " and that agent declared to

be

> benign. "

>

> Becker, M.D., author of Cross Currents (Tarcher, 1990), who has

> studied this subject since the 1960s warns, " EMFs could turn out to be a

far

> worse environmental disaster, affecting far more people, than toxic waste,

> radiation or asbestos. "

>

> To some, especially the families of people with unexplained cancers, the

> sheer volume of research that has been carried out on this issue suggests

> there must be a cancer connection and perhaps a cover-up. Their suspicion

is

> heightened by the fact that many of the studies are funded by the utility

> industry, which would be directly affected by the studies' outcomes.

>

> At the heart of the matter is a relatively simple and well-understood

> physical phenomenon: When an electric current passes through a wire, it

> generates an electromagnetic field that exerts forces on surrounding

> objects. Electric fields arise from the strength of an electric charge;

> magnetic fields, from the charge's motion.

>

> Unlike ionizing radiations such as x-rays -- which pack sufficient wallop

to

> knock electrons out of the molecules that make up the human body -- EMFs

do

> not produce charged particles, so experts always believed they posed no

> danger. Therefore, the Federal government has never regulated EMFs, and

the

> electric industry was allowed to set its own standards.

>

> But other recent experimental studies have shown that even weak magnetic

> fields can change the chemistry of the brain, impair the immune system,

and

> inhibit the synthesis of melatonin, a hormone known to suppress several

> types of tumors and to be present in reduced amounts in men as well as

women

> who develop breast cancer.

>

> Some lab tests have confirmed that EMFs affect living cells in a variety

of

> ways, most of them harmful. (Scientists are intrigued, however, by their

> ability to speed slow-healing fractures, enhancing bone formation).

>

> What's confusing is that the studies have produced widely divergent and

> often contradictory results. On the one hand, many scientists are

convinced

> the study of electromagnetic fields is a massive waste of time and

money --

> costing an estimated one billion dollars a year. After years of extensive

> study, Dr. Garry Boorman says, " We're not sure what part of the field, if

> any, is toxic or important, or could be hazardous to your health. "

>

> As a PBS " Frontline " documentary reported, scientists have been unable to

> locate a mechanism by which electromagnetic fields would trigger a

> biological reaction. The energy in the fields to which most of us are

> exposed is tiny tens of millions of times too small to break the molecules

> in cells. All living organisms evolved in the presence of the earths

> magnetic field, which is two hundred times larger.

>

> Dozens of animal experiments have been carried out in which rats and mice

> are exposed to very large magnetic fields for long periods -- some for

their

> entire lives -- but no animal has ever been proven to contract cancer due

to

> this exposure. Generations of rodents raised in the presence of high

> magnetic fields do not show any increased evidence of birth defects or

> depressed immune systems.

>

> With no animal data to support the claim and no physical mechanism to

> explain how it might affect the body, the main support for a connection

has

> come from epidemiology.

>

> As for clusters like the ones which motivated Larm and her group in

> Omaha, many scientists are skeptical about their significance, if any, to

> the debate about EMFs. Because conditions like cancer are surprisingly

> common about one-third of the population gets cancer in their lifetimes

> random clusters of the disease are not unusual and are found close to and

> far from power lines.

>

> Still, because of our reliance on electricity and the potential financial

> consequences for utilities and other companies, the regulation of EMFs is

a

> politically sensitive issue. There is evidence to establish that the Bush

> administration tried to suppress findings of a study by the Environmental

> Protection Agency linking electromagnetic fields to certain health

problems.

> The Clinton White House, meanwhile, has been largely silent on the issue.

>

> Cover-Up?

>

> Lending credence to claims that there is, indeed, a public health risk

from

> EMFs and that the government knows about it is that an EPA report a few

> years ago raised suspicions of a causal link between electromagnetic

fields

> and leukemia, brain tumors, breast and prostrate cancer, even birth

defects.

>

> Less-publicized but still significant are some of the foreign studies.

Last

> July, Canadian researchers told the Lancet medical journal they had found

a

> high rate of leukemia among children whose mothers had worked at sewing

> machines while pregnant.

>

> Checks showed the operators were exposed to more electromagnetic radiation

> than people who work on power lines or in power stations.

> In another study, Swedish researchers assessed the long-term exposure of

> people living near high-voltage transmission lines by taking spot

> measurements of the field strength in each home, and using them to confirm

> the accuracy of a computer model that calculated the strength of the

fields

> emitted by each of the lines, according to distance from the lines, the

> wiring configurations, and the current level the lines were known to be

> carrying.

>

> Then they programmed a computer with records of past current loads that

had

> been maintained over the previous 20 years for each of the transmission

> lines. They were thus able to pinpoint with great accuracy EMF exposure

for

> each cancer victim. What they found was a clear dose-response relationship

> between exposure to even weak power-frequency electromagnetic fields and

the

> development of cancer, especially acute and chronic myeloid leukemia.

>

> A second Swedish study, which also employed cases and controls, was

> conducted by epidemiologists. It confirmed that average magnetic field

> exposure over time was the critical factor in the development of disease.

> Interestingly, these studies were funded in part by the Swedish utility

> industry.

>

> Feychting of Swedens Karolinska Institute looked at 127,000 children

> who lived near big power lines for over 25 years and found twice the risk

of

> leukemia.

>

> " In our study we found about a two-fold increase in the risk if the

children

> were living close, within 50 meters (yards) of a big power line, " she told

> Britain's Channel Four television.

>

> The new study by the University of Bristol showing that power lines can

> attract cancer-causing gases like radon has heightened concerns.

>

> Even scientists who have failed to find a reason for the apparent link

> refuse to say it is safe to live near a high-voltage power line.

>

> Warning to Parents

>

> Of critical importance to all parents is that some studies have suggested

> that children exposed to magnetic fields of between two and three

milligauss

> or above experienced a significantly increased risk of developing cancer.

> Since ambient levels of two to three milligauss can routinely be measured

in

> buildings within 50 to 150 feet of wires carrying strong electric current,

> these findings are especially troublesome.

>

> The report leaked last October by the mellitus National Council on

Radiation

> Protection recommended a safety limit of 0.2 microteslas, a very weak

field

> compared to those generated by household appliances. A person standing one

> foot away from a vacuum cleaner or electric drill can be exposed to

anywhere

> between two and 20 microteslas.

>

> There is no way to block EMFs (they even penetrate lead shielding), and

the

> only protection is distance from the source.

>

> In our electronic age, its almost impossible to eliminate exposure to the

> myriad of electrical sources with which we come in contact on a daily

basis.

>

> Thousands of electric company substations are scattered throughout our

> cities large and small and they abut homes, apartments and office

> buildings -- even schools. Since few of the high-voltage lines that lead

> into and out of these substations have been buried to prevent harmful

> emissions, magnetic fields of potent strength can be found virtually

> everywhere.

>

> Concerns have also been raised about magnetic fields given off by faulty

> household wiring, by high-current conductors concealed in the walls,

> ceilings and floors of commercial office buildings and other large

> structures; and by high-voltage transformers that can be found in almost

any

> large building.

>

> The EPA Raises Questions

>

> Concerns about so-called non-ionizing radiation began to mount in 1979,

when

> a study of cancer rates among Colorado school children determined that

those

> who lived near power lines had two or three times as much chance to

develop

> cancer. The link seemed so improbable that power companies eagerly paid to

> have the study replicated. To their surprise, the subsequent scientific

> inquiry supported the original findings, which have since been buttressed

by

> a variety of additional studies and reports of increased cancer rates

among

> workers employed in the electric industry.

>

> One such study, conducted by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in

> Seattle, WA. confirmed that telephone linemen, electricians and

> electric-power workmen are developing breast cancer at six times the

> expected rate.

>

> But it was the Environmental Protection Agency's scientific review that

has

> had an explosive impact, lending the most credence to those who have been

> warning of EMF health hazards.

>

> The report -- a 367-page document entitled " Evaluation of the Potential

> Carcinogenicity of Electromagnetic Fields " -- came to light in 1990, when

> someone in the agency leaked a draft version of it to Louis Slesin, editor

> of an influential newsletter called Microwave News.

>

> Chief among the conclusions was one specifying that power line

> electromagnetic fields should be classified as a " probable human

> carcinogen. " Farland, then-director of the EPA's Office of Health

> and Environmental Assessment ordered this conclusion deleted from the

> report.

>

> Then the Associated Press reported that the Bush administration tried to

> delay release of the EPA's findings. E. McGaughy, the project

manager

> and chief author of the report, was quoted as saying that the White House

> " was concerned not about the accuracy of the report...[but] about how

people

> would react to the news and how it would affect the electric power

> industry. "

>

> Ultimately, after two major TV networks and newspapers throughout the

> country exposed the Bush administration's efforts at censorship, the

report

> was released. It contained a disclaimer that asserted " the controversial

and

> uncertain nature of the scientific findings of this report " and declared

> that it should not be construed as " representing Agency policy or

position. "

>

> The Medical Connection

>

> Just how EMFs affect humans is still not entirely known.

>

> In the case of cancer, most specialists theorize that a malignant tumor

> forms in at least two stages. In the first, referred to as " initiation, "

an

> outside agent damages the cell's genetic material. Because EMFs are not

> strong enough to break molecular and chemical bonds, scientists are

> concentrating on the second stage of cancer, a series of steps called

> " promotion. " Researchers are tying to pinpoint ways in which EMFs might

> cause cells to grow and multiply abnormally.

>

> Some studies suggest that EMFs may promote cancer by interfering with the

> transmission of calcium across the cell membrane, a flow that governs such

> processes as muscle contraction, egg fertilization, cell division, and

> growth. EMFs may also disturb a cell's ability to process hormone, enzyme,

> and other biological signals that regulate normal growth.

>

> EMFs are known to affect nerve impulses. Melatonin, a regulatory hormone

> secreted by the pineal gland near the brain, ordinarily stimulates immune

> responses and may suppress tumor growth. Reduced melatonin production has

> been linked to breast and prostate cancer. Melatonin secretion in turn is

> controlled by norepinephrine, a neurotransmitter in the brain. Receptors

for

> its relative, the hormone epinephrine, are disturbed by EMFs.

>

> Some doctors stated that their observations led them to believe that it

was

> possible that magnetic fields stimulate the rate of cancer cell growth, or

> act as a cancer promoter.

>

> A San researcher discovered human cancer cells exposed to 60 Hz

> fields (the frequency of a high-voltage line) grew as much as 24 times as

> fast as unexposed cells and showed greatly increased resistance to

> destruction by the cells of the body's defense system.

>

> Female breast cancer has reached epidemic proportions, with one in ten

> American women developing it and one in four dying. Alarmingly, of women

who

> develop the disease, 55% have no known risk factors. Breast cancer

mortality

> rates are five times lower in Asia and Africa than in industrialized North

> America and northern Europe regions where EMFs are omnipresent.

>

> Electric Companies On the Spot

>

> A contention of the electric utility industry in the United States had

been

> that the pathologies referred to in most of the studies might actually

have

> been induced by exposure to pesticides, chemicals or other toxic agents in

> the environment.

>

> For a time they contended that if power-line magnetic fields really did

> cause cancer, the fivefold increase in electrical usage during the past 30

> years would have been expected to have produced an epidemic of childhood

> leukemia. The utility industry stopped making this statement in June of

> 1991, after the National Cancer Institute disclosed that a study it had

made

> showed that in recent years there had been unexplained increases of nearly

> 11% in childhood leukemia, and of more than 30% in childhood brain cancer.

>

> A study in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine reported a steep

> increase in brain-cancer rates over the past dozen years among the general

> population.

>

> People working with computer monitors are developing primary brain tumors

at

> nearly five times the expected rate.

>

> Still, as Dr. Becker observes, " Companies wont admit that EMFs are risky,

> because they will become liable. And the government wont, because it is

the

> largest user of the electromagnetic spectrum, especially for military

> communications. Our whole economy depends on them now. "

>

> Not surprisingly, as people begin to focus on the problem of EMFs,

property

> values near power lines and electric substations have been plummeting, and

> numerous lawsuits have been filed.

>

>

>

> RR

>

> Rutledge, M.D., F.A.C.S.

> The Center for Laparoscopic Obesity Surgery

> 4301 Ben lin Blvd.

> Durham, N.C. 27704

> Telephone #:

> Fax #:

> Email: DrR@...

>

> ************************************************

> Please Visit our Web site: http://clos.net

> ************************************************

> Please join the

> Mini-Gastric Bypass Community at

> http://www.egroups.com/group/MiniGastricBypass

>

> Get the

> Mini-Gastric Bypass

> Patient Education Manual

> ( http://www.clos.net/get_patient_manual.htm )

>

>

>

>

> For more information please vist the Mini-Gastric Bypass Web site

http://clos.net or email Dr Rutledge at Dr_Rutledge@...

>

>

[Guest guest]

Medical Internet legends are enough to scare the antibodies right out

of you

Thursday, February 10, 2000

BY VINCE HORIUCHI

THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE

Warning! Antiperspirant can cause breast cancer!

Caution! Mountain Dew can shrink your testicles, and yawning can

lead to an orgasm!

Beware! These and other medical scares found on the Internet are

bunk.

One of the most popular ways of spreading urban legends is through

cyberspace.

Folklore about unpublicized medical crises or " toxins-of-the-day "

are making the rounds and scaring the willies out of anyone with half a

thought and an e-mail account. Call them modern-day versions of hitchhiker

stories.

Did you hear the one about aspartame? It says that the key

ingredient in artificial sweeteners can cause multiple sclerosis or systemic

lupus. How about the one that says tampon manufacturers use asbestos in

their products to promote bleeding?

Some of these stories are written with enough finesse to read as

if they came from doctors. But all are untrue, and these and many like them

are keeping the Internet abuzz with plenty of worry.

" It seems each year has its own type of legends -- like a couple

of years ago we had the gang-related stories. This last year seemed to be

big for medically related legends or misinformation, " said Mikkelson,

co-creator of the San Valley Folklore Society Web page

(www.snopes.com). " We pretty much get new ones every day. "

What once was the fodder for fax machines in the early 1990s

(remember the one about the gang members who shot at drivers who flashed

their headlights?) is now plaguing the Web and millions of e-mail boxes

worldwide. There are dozens of popular medical scares that crop up every few

months.

No, rat urine has never been reported in soda cans.

No, bananas from Costa Rica are not infected with a flesh-eating

bacteria.

And no, antiperspirant and shampoos containing sodium laureth

sulfate do not cause cancer.

" We hear this sort of thing. I throw it into the Old Wives'

Tales -- stuff that doesn't make sense but people develop these fears about

them, " said Ross , medical oncologist at LDS Hospital in Salt Lake

City. " It's not because of toxin accumulation from plugged pores in the

armpits. That's one of those farfetched ideas that people come up with that

have no merit. "

Places like the Utah Poison Control Center in Salt Lake City

sometimes field calls from people wondering about popular urban legends --

like if children can really die from eating poinsettias (no, they cannot),

or if sunscreen in the eyes can cause blindness (absolutely not).

" The calls are fairly cyclical, " said Barbara Insley Crouch,

director of the Utah Poison Control Center at the University of Utah's

Research Park. " You get one coming out and you hear about it from all sides,

from callers, friends and colleagues. "

There even has been one homegrown legend in Utah, about the Brown

Recluse Spider with a vicious bite.

" The spider does exist, but we don't have them in Utah, " said

Grover, a certified specialist at the poison-control center.

" People see it on the Internet, and they are concerned about it. "

At least it is not as deadly as the South American Blush Spider,

which, according to one widely circulated warning, crawls out of the toilet

to bite the victim on the buttocks.

" So please, before you use a public toilet, lift the seat to check

for spiders. It can save your life! " the dire message warns us. " And please

pass this on to everyone you care about. "

If staffers at the poison-control center have not heard of a

story, they will research it, which takes time and effort to pin down,

Crouch said.

" My concern with them is they come out and you don't know where

they came from and you don't know if they are based in fact, " she said.

" Then you go to the trouble to find out if there is truth to it, and also

try and convince people that it really isn't an issue. "

Sometimes, it is hard to shake people into believing the stories

are not real.

" Many people will believe the e-mail rumor rather than look it up

and verify it themselves, and they will pass it on, " said Emery, who

runs the urban legends and folklore section for About.com

(urbanlegends.about.- com).

Grover said some people insist the story that children can die

from eating poinsettias is true.

" They say, 'Uncle Bob wouldn't lie to me,' and I'm just a stranger

on the other end of the phone, " she said. " They have a hard time letting go

of something from what they perceive as a credible source. "

Some of these hoaxes started out as jokes, and some were meant to

damage corporations by making up bogus product problems.

Mikkelson believes it was vegetarian groups who started the rumor

that Wayne's autopsy (sometimes it's Elvis Presley's) revealed 40

pounds of impacted fecal matter lodged in his colon. (Besides the near

impossibility of such an amount, no autopsy was done on Wayne.)

Kentucky Fried Chicken got cooked by an Internet scare shortly

after it changed its name to KFC. A rumor erupted on the Web earlier this

year saying the name was changed because the chain no longer uses real

chicken. KFC had to post a notice on its Web site in an effort to derail the

story.

" As ludicrous as the rumor was, there are still people out there

that think it's true, " said KFC spokeswoman Beth Redford. " People don't

realize the power of the Internet. "

It may have been disgruntled consumers who started the vicious

scuttlebutt that Procter & Gamble's Febreze fabric freshener kills pets, or

that the company's pot-scrubber sponges contain a dangerous derivative of

Agent Orange.

" My wife would always say, look at whose ox is being gored, " said

Mikkelson, who runs the San Valley Folklore Sociey Web site with

his wife, Barbara. " Is it something serious, or something intended to get

you to buy an alternative product? Is it just a piece of scare lore? "

Before the computer age, gossip like this may have flourished by

word-of-mouth. But in today's high-tech world and the global Internet, the

lies can become legends in just a day.

" The Internet has certainly accelerated the rate rumors are

spread, " said About.com's Emery. " It's so easy. All you have to do is click

your 'Forward' button on your e-mail program. " %%

RR

Rutledge, M.D., F.A.C.S.

The Center for Laparoscopic Obesity Surgery

4301 Ben lin Blvd.

Durham, N.C. 27704

Telephone #:

Fax #:

Email: DrR@...

************************************************

Please Visit our Web site: http://clos.net

************************************************

Please join the

Mini-Gastric Bypass Community at

http://www.egroups.com/group/MiniGastricBypass

Get the

Mini-Gastric Bypass

Patient Education Manual

( http://www.clos.net/get_patient_manual.htm )

[MGB-PostOp] More Cancer Scares...

> The world is full of cancer scares...

>

> Another cancer scare is the power lines and cancer question...

>

> And what about Aluminum?

>

> http://www.premier1.net/~raines/aluminum.html

>

> Lots of studies...

>

> What to do...

>

>

> Midwest Today, April/May 1996

>

>

> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

--

> ----

> N E W S F R O N T

>

>

> DO HIGH-VOLTAGE

> POWER LINES

> CAUSE CANCER

> Studies link Electromagnetic Fields (EMFs) To Illness

>

>

> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

--

> ----

> By NEAL LAWRENCE

>

> It was sort of a funny story when we first heard about it a few years ago:

A

> dairy farmer living in Wisconsin near high voltage utility company

> transmission lines couldn't turn out the lights in his barn. Even with the

> switches in the off position, night after night after he had finished his

> chores, he'd go back out to the barn to find the light bulbs still glowing

> from the electrical charge hovering in the air. The cows were none too

happy

> about it either, because the constant light prevented them from sleeping,

> and they gave less milk.

>

> But the story doesn't seem so funny any more -- not after the spate of

> recent reports of children developing deadly illnesses or adults dying

> prematurely of rare diseases -- all apparently because they had the

> misfortune of living near high amounts of electrical current.

>

> A growing body of scientific evidence suggests that invisible

> electromagnetic fields (EMFs) -- created by everything from high-voltage

> utility company lines to personal computers, microwave ovens, TVs and even

> electric blankets -- are linked to a frightening array of cancers and

other

> serious health problems in children and adults.

>

> Though it received scant attention from the mainstream press, a report

> leaked last October from the U.S. National Council on Radiation Protection

> said there is a powerful body of impressive evidence showing that even

very

> low exposure to electromagnetic radiation has long-term effects on health.

>

> The report cited studies that show EMFs can disturb the production of the

> hormone melatonin, which is linked with sleep patterns. It said there was

> strong evidence that children exposed to EMFs had a higher risk of

leukemia.

>

> This follows on the heels of three epidemiological reports released in

1994.

> One indicated a tie between occupational exposure to EMFs and Alzheimer' s

> disease. Another suggested a link with Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

(SIDS).

> The third study indicated a tie with Amyotrophic lateralsclerosis.

>

> Now a surprising new report released in February by physicists at

Britain's

> University of Bristol shows that power lines attract particles of radon --

a

> colorless, odorless gas irrefutably linked with cancer.

>

> What's this all about? And why have the media failed to report with the

> appropriate emphasis the implications of these significant health risks?

>

> Shortly after her son was diagnosed with leukemia, Larm of

> Omaha, NE. began to notice other children at the local pool who had lost

> their hair or had surgical scars. As her suspicion rose, she began talking

> to other parents. One person she contacted was Dee Hendricks, whose son

was

> also undergoing cancer treatment. Together they collected the names of

> eleven children in the area who had cancer.

>

> When they plotted them on a map they were surprised to see that all lived

> within one mile of each other and an electric power substation.

>

> " If there was nothing to worry about, why does our utility have an EMF

> committee...which was in effect long before we came and started making

noise

> ? " asks Larm, a member of the Omaha Parents for the Prevention of Cancer.

> " Why do they need such things if theres nothing to it? "

>

> The group's efforts have been buttressed by Brodeur, a campaigning

> environmental journalist who had in his day taken on asbestos and

> chlorofluorocarbons and is the author of two books on the subject of EMFs.

> Brodeur is convinced that EMFs are one of the greatest environmental

threats

> facing the nation.

>

> " Never before has there been this much epidemiological evidence of the

> carcinogenicity of any agent, " says Brodeur, " and that agent declared to

be

> benign. "

>

> Becker, M.D., author of Cross Currents (Tarcher, 1990), who has

> studied this subject since the 1960s warns, " EMFs could turn out to be a

far

> worse environmental disaster, affecting far more people, than toxic waste,

> radiation or asbestos. "

>

> To some, especially the families of people with unexplained cancers, the

> sheer volume of research that has been carried out on this issue suggests

> there must be a cancer connection and perhaps a cover-up. Their suspicion

is

> heightened by the fact that many of the studies are funded by the utility

> industry, which would be directly affected by the studies' outcomes.

>

> At the heart of the matter is a relatively simple and well-understood

> physical phenomenon: When an electric current passes through a wire, it

> generates an electromagnetic field that exerts forces on surrounding

> objects. Electric fields arise from the strength of an electric charge;

> magnetic fields, from the charge's motion.

>

> Unlike ionizing radiations such as x-rays -- which pack sufficient wallop

to

> knock electrons out of the molecules that make up the human body -- EMFs

do

> not produce charged particles, so experts always believed they posed no

> danger. Therefore, the Federal government has never regulated EMFs, and

the

> electric industry was allowed to set its own standards.

>

> But other recent experimental studies have shown that even weak magnetic

> fields can change the chemistry of the brain, impair the immune system,

and

> inhibit the synthesis of melatonin, a hormone known to suppress several

> types of tumors and to be present in reduced amounts in men as well as

women

> who develop breast cancer.

>

> Some lab tests have confirmed that EMFs affect living cells in a variety

of

> ways, most of them harmful. (Scientists are intrigued, however, by their

> ability to speed slow-healing fractures, enhancing bone formation).

>

> What's confusing is that the studies have produced widely divergent and

> often contradictory results. On the one hand, many scientists are

convinced

> the study of electromagnetic fields is a massive waste of time and

money --

> costing an estimated one billion dollars a year. After years of extensive

> study, Dr. Garry Boorman says, " We're not sure what part of the field, if

> any, is toxic or important, or could be hazardous to your health. "

>

> As a PBS " Frontline " documentary reported, scientists have been unable to

> locate a mechanism by which electromagnetic fields would trigger a

> biological reaction. The energy in the fields to which most of us are

> exposed is tiny tens of millions of times too small to break the molecules

> in cells. All living organisms evolved in the presence of the earths

> magnetic field, which is two hundred times larger.

>

> Dozens of animal experiments have been carried out in which rats and mice

> are exposed to very large magnetic fields for long periods -- some for

their

> entire lives -- but no animal has ever been proven to contract cancer due

to

> this exposure. Generations of rodents raised in the presence of high

> magnetic fields do not show any increased evidence of birth defects or

> depressed immune systems.

>

> With no animal data to support the claim and no physical mechanism to

> explain how it might affect the body, the main support for a connection

has

> come from epidemiology.

>

> As for clusters like the ones which motivated Larm and her group in

> Omaha, many scientists are skeptical about their significance, if any, to

> the debate about EMFs. Because conditions like cancer are surprisingly

> common about one-third of the population gets cancer in their lifetimes

> random clusters of the disease are not unusual and are found close to and

> far from power lines.

>

> Still, because of our reliance on electricity and the potential financial

> consequences for utilities and other companies, the regulation of EMFs is

a

> politically sensitive issue. There is evidence to establish that the Bush

> administration tried to suppress findings of a study by the Environmental

> Protection Agency linking electromagnetic fields to certain health

problems.

> The Clinton White House, meanwhile, has been largely silent on the issue.

>

> Cover-Up?

>

> Lending credence to claims that there is, indeed, a public health risk

from

> EMFs and that the government knows about it is that an EPA report a few

> years ago raised suspicions of a causal link between electromagnetic

fields

> and leukemia, brain tumors, breast and prostrate cancer, even birth

defects.

>

> Less-publicized but still significant are some of the foreign studies.

Last

> July, Canadian researchers told the Lancet medical journal they had found

a

> high rate of leukemia among children whose mothers had worked at sewing

> machines while pregnant.

>

> Checks showed the operators were exposed to more electromagnetic radiation

> than people who work on power lines or in power stations.

> In another study, Swedish researchers assessed the long-term exposure of

> people living near high-voltage transmission lines by taking spot

> measurements of the field strength in each home, and using them to confirm

> the accuracy of a computer model that calculated the strength of the

fields

> emitted by each of the lines, according to distance from the lines, the

> wiring configurations, and the current level the lines were known to be

> carrying.

>

> Then they programmed a computer with records of past current loads that

had

> been maintained over the previous 20 years for each of the transmission

> lines. They were thus able to pinpoint with great accuracy EMF exposure

for

> each cancer victim. What they found was a clear dose-response relationship

> between exposure to even weak power-frequency electromagnetic fields and

the

> development of cancer, especially acute and chronic myeloid leukemia.

>

> A second Swedish study, which also employed cases and controls, was

> conducted by epidemiologists. It confirmed that average magnetic field

> exposure over time was the critical factor in the development of disease.

> Interestingly, these studies were funded in part by the Swedish utility

> industry.

>

> Feychting of Swedens Karolinska Institute looked at 127,000 children

> who lived near big power lines for over 25 years and found twice the risk

of

> leukemia.

>

> " In our study we found about a two-fold increase in the risk if the

children

> were living close, within 50 meters (yards) of a big power line, " she told

> Britain's Channel Four television.

>

> The new study by the University of Bristol showing that power lines can

> attract cancer-causing gases like radon has heightened concerns.

>

> Even scientists who have failed to find a reason for the apparent link

> refuse to say it is safe to live near a high-voltage power line.

>

> Warning to Parents

>

> Of critical importance to all parents is that some studies have suggested

> that children exposed to magnetic fields of between two and three

milligauss

> or above experienced a significantly increased risk of developing cancer.

> Since ambient levels of two to three milligauss can routinely be measured

in

> buildings within 50 to 150 feet of wires carrying strong electric current,

> these findings are especially troublesome.

>

> The report leaked last October by the mellitus National Council on

Radiation

> Protection recommended a safety limit of 0.2 microteslas, a very weak

field

> compared to those generated by household appliances. A person standing one

> foot away from a vacuum cleaner or electric drill can be exposed to

anywhere

> between two and 20 microteslas.

>

> There is no way to block EMFs (they even penetrate lead shielding), and

the

> only protection is distance from the source.

>

> In our electronic age, its almost impossible to eliminate exposure to the

> myriad of electrical sources with which we come in contact on a daily

basis.

>

> Thousands of electric company substations are scattered throughout our

> cities large and small and they abut homes, apartments and office

> buildings -- even schools. Since few of the high-voltage lines that lead

> into and out of these substations have been buried to prevent harmful

> emissions, magnetic fields of potent strength can be found virtually

> everywhere.

>

> Concerns have also been raised about magnetic fields given off by faulty

> household wiring, by high-current conductors concealed in the walls,

> ceilings and floors of commercial office buildings and other large

> structures; and by high-voltage transformers that can be found in almost

any

> large building.

>

> The EPA Raises Questions

>

> Concerns about so-called non-ionizing radiation began to mount in 1979,

when

> a study of cancer rates among Colorado school children determined that

those

> who lived near power lines had two or three times as much chance to

develop

> cancer. The link seemed so improbable that power companies eagerly paid to

> have the study replicated. To their surprise, the subsequent scientific

> inquiry supported the original findings, which have since been buttressed

by

> a variety of additional studies and reports of increased cancer rates

among

> workers employed in the electric industry.

>

> One such study, conducted by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in

> Seattle, WA. confirmed that telephone linemen, electricians and

> electric-power workmen are developing breast cancer at six times the

> expected rate.

>

> But it was the Environmental Protection Agency's scientific review that

has

> had an explosive impact, lending the most credence to those who have been

> warning of EMF health hazards.

>

> The report -- a 367-page document entitled " Evaluation of the Potential

> Carcinogenicity of Electromagnetic Fields " -- came to light in 1990, when

> someone in the agency leaked a draft version of it to Louis Slesin, editor

> of an influential newsletter called Microwave News.

>

> Chief among the conclusions was one specifying that power line

> electromagnetic fields should be classified as a " probable human

> carcinogen. " Farland, then-director of the EPA's Office of Health

> and Environmental Assessment ordered this conclusion deleted from the

> report.

>

> Then the Associated Press reported that the Bush administration tried to

> delay release of the EPA's findings. E. McGaughy, the project

manager

> and chief author of the report, was quoted as saying that the White House

> " was concerned not about the accuracy of the report...[but] about how

people

> would react to the news and how it would affect the electric power

> industry. "

>

> Ultimately, after two major TV networks and newspapers throughout the

> country exposed the Bush administration's efforts at censorship, the

report

> was released. It contained a disclaimer that asserted " the controversial

and

> uncertain nature of the scientific findings of this report " and declared

> that it should not be construed as " representing Agency policy or

position. "

>

> The Medical Connection

>

> Just how EMFs affect humans is still not entirely known.

>

> In the case of cancer, most specialists theorize that a malignant tumor

> forms in at least two stages. In the first, referred to as " initiation, "

an

> outside agent damages the cell's genetic material. Because EMFs are not

> strong enough to break molecular and chemical bonds, scientists are

> concentrating on the second stage of cancer, a series of steps called

> " promotion. " Researchers are tying to pinpoint ways in which EMFs might

> cause cells to grow and multiply abnormally.

>

> Some studies suggest that EMFs may promote cancer by interfering with the

> transmission of calcium across the cell membrane, a flow that governs such

> processes as muscle contraction, egg fertilization, cell division, and

> growth. EMFs may also disturb a cell's ability to process hormone, enzyme,

> and other biological signals that regulate normal growth.

>

> EMFs are known to affect nerve impulses. Melatonin, a regulatory hormone

> secreted by the pineal gland near the brain, ordinarily stimulates immune

> responses and may suppress tumor growth. Reduced melatonin production has

> been linked to breast and prostate cancer. Melatonin secretion in turn is

> controlled by norepinephrine, a neurotransmitter in the brain. Receptors

for

> its relative, the hormone epinephrine, are disturbed by EMFs.

>

> Some doctors stated that their observations led them to believe that it

was

> possible that magnetic fields stimulate the rate of cancer cell growth, or

> act as a cancer promoter.

>

> A San researcher discovered human cancer cells exposed to 60 Hz

> fields (the frequency of a high-voltage line) grew as much as 24 times as

> fast as unexposed cells and showed greatly increased resistance to

> destruction by the cells of the body's defense system.

>

> Female breast cancer has reached epidemic proportions, with one in ten

> American women developing it and one in four dying. Alarmingly, of women

who

> develop the disease, 55% have no known risk factors. Breast cancer

mortality

> rates are five times lower in Asia and Africa than in industrialized North

> America and northern Europe regions where EMFs are omnipresent.

>

> Electric Companies On the Spot

>

> A contention of the electric utility industry in the United States had

been

> that the pathologies referred to in most of the studies might actually

have

> been induced by exposure to pesticides, chemicals or other toxic agents in

> the environment.

>

> For a time they contended that if power-line magnetic fields really did

> cause cancer, the fivefold increase in electrical usage during the past 30

> years would have been expected to have produced an epidemic of childhood

> leukemia. The utility industry stopped making this statement in June of

> 1991, after the National Cancer Institute disclosed that a study it had

made

> showed that in recent years there had been unexplained increases of nearly

> 11% in childhood leukemia, and of more than 30% in childhood brain cancer.

>

> A study in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine reported a steep

> increase in brain-cancer rates over the past dozen years among the general

> population.

>

> People working with computer monitors are developing primary brain tumors

at

> nearly five times the expected rate.

>

> Still, as Dr. Becker observes, " Companies wont admit that EMFs are risky,

> because they will become liable. And the government wont, because it is

the

> largest user of the electromagnetic spectrum, especially for military

> communications. Our whole economy depends on them now. "

>

> Not surprisingly, as people begin to focus on the problem of EMFs,

property

> values near power lines and electric substations have been plummeting, and

> numerous lawsuits have been filed.

>

>

>

> RR

>

> Rutledge, M.D., F.A.C.S.

> The Center for Laparoscopic Obesity Surgery

> 4301 Ben lin Blvd.

> Durham, N.C. 27704

> Telephone #:

> Fax #:

> Email: DrR@...

>

> ************************************************

> Please Visit our Web site: http://clos.net

> ************************************************

> Please join the

> Mini-Gastric Bypass Community at

> http://www.egroups.com/group/MiniGastricBypass

>

> Get the

> Mini-Gastric Bypass

> Patient Education Manual

> ( http://www.clos.net/get_patient_manual.htm )

>

>

>

>

> For more information please vist the Mini-Gastric Bypass Web site

http://clos.net or email Dr Rutledge at Dr_Rutledge@...

>

>

[Guest guest]

:

Dr. R has posted many, many, many links that should relieve your mind..if you

feel that you need relief at this point. They are on his site at clos.net. He

posted a long list of links just three days ago which address all of the

concerns that have cropped up. He posts these other things as a point of

information, but also as a point of humor. He has a wonderful sense of humor and

regards us as not just his patients but as his friends. Thus, he feels free to

post interesting things he comes across. This is a Dr. trying to send a message

that the cancer scare tactics in this country as a whole have gone too far.

That's all.

Not everyone is a candidate for the surgery. You will need to go to the

clos.net site, review the studies and information that is available, that all of

us have access to and that Dr. R has put up. The point is , that the two or

so people who are posting these scare tactics don't believe what Dr. R is saying

anyway and they don't believe the information on the links he is providing. What

more can he do...he gives us the information...it's up to us to click on the

link, do a search, or whatever else we need to do to feel comfortable within

ourselves that this is right. Not everyone can get there..not everyone will feel

comfortable. And those people will opt not to have this surgery.

If you have difficulty finding the links to reassure you, let me know and I'll

be glad to go to the clos.net site and email them to you. This surgery is not

something that you will get spoon fed..it is there for the taking, but no one is

going to work on convincing you that this is the way to go. There's already a

long waiting list of folks who want the surgery. Dr. R is not trying to drum up

business (he's got more than he wants now) and we're not trying to drum it up

for him.

Sorry to sound so harsh but the information is here, has been here, has been

repeated here and you'll need to exercise some initiative and go to it and read

it. You have an appointment with a Dr. you said, and some of your concerns can

be addressed with him/her also. I also provided you with the names of two

doctors who are not far from you who are familiar with this surgery and would

address any concerns you might have.

Best wishes to you as you make this very serious decision. We are here for you

and can relate our experience to you. The medical information is available to

you with just the click of a mouse.

Flo in land (Hollywood)

> ** Original Subject: RE: Re: [MGB-PostOp] More Cancer

Scares...

> **

> ** Original Date: Fri, 06 Oct 2000 07:26:50 -0600

> ** Original Message follows...

>

> Dr. R., we have enough to worry about. I think we are all just worried about

> the surgery. Can you post some sites relieving our anxiety about the

> surgery. Thanks, K

>

>