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JUNE
2001
Dr.
Edward Group’s quote of the month:
“ All
true healing takes place from within. Know
your body, Listen to your body, Love your body,
Nourish your body and your body will heal itself.”
CELLS
Dr.
Alex Carrel won the Nobel Prize in medicine for
demonstrating that living cells can be kept alive
indefinitely. Dr. Carrel said, “ The cell is immortal.
It is merely the fluid in which it floats
that degenerate.
Renew this fluid at intervals, give the
cells what they require for nutrition, and as
far as we know, the pulsation of life may go
on
forever.”
PLEASE
HELP !!!
We
have been asked to forward this email.
The
US Military is probably the biggest polluter
in
the history of the Earth. Now the "navy" wants
to create massive sound pollution in our oceans.
Navy Sonar System Threatens Marine Mammals.
The U.S. government may allow use of a powerful
new system despite evidence that military sonar
kills marine animals.
Please
take the 2 minutes required to send the message
to the "government" that this is unacceptable.
You can do that by going to www.nrdc.org/wildlife/marine/nlfa.html. On this page you can click on "Act Now" on
the right and it will take you to form letter,
you only have to enter you address
and email. Or you can compose your own letter.
SMOG REPORT
In addition to Bellingham and Spokane, the areas
with the cleanest air,
in alphabetical order, were Colorado Springs,
Colo.; Des Moines, Iowa;
Duluth, Minn.; Fargo, N.D.; Flagstaff, Ariz.;
Honolulu; Laredo, Texas;
Lincoln, Neb.; McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas;
and Salinas, Calif.
Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County, Calif., remained
the nation's
smoggiest area, and Atlanta jumped to sixth-smoggiest
area from ninth.
Joining them in the association's 10 smoggiest
metropolitan areas were:
Bakersfield-Fresno, Calif.; Visalia-Tulare-Porterville,
Calif.;
Houston-Galveston-Brazoria, Texas; Washington-Baltimore;
Charlotte-Gastonia, N.C.,-Rock Hill, S.C.; Knoxville,
Tenn.; and
Philadelphia-Wilmington, Del., plus Atlantic City,
N.J.
Wednesday,
May 16, 2001
Toxic Contaminants Found in Herbal Supplements
Ross McLaughlin
KIRO 7 EYEWITNESS NEWS CONSUMER INVESTIGATOR
Herbs. Many people take them to stay healthy.
But a KIRO 7 Eyewitness News Consumer Investigation
exposes dangerous contaminants in some natural
products.
You won't see what we discovered listed on the
label: Toxic substances
that in large enough doses could cause death.
There's something inside this herb.
"It's a bacteria, it's a poison," says Seattle
Naturopath Dr. Dan Labrioloa. It's fecal matter.
And it's in this Astragalus root. "Everyone is
at risk depending on the dosage," Labriola says.
Dr. Labriola prescribes herbs. "This is something
that should not be in the product period," he
says.
He fears contaminants could make his patients
sick. So he took us shopping to prove the point.
We purchased 10 herbal supplements at random.
Some were produced in the United States, others
imported from China. We got a state-certified
lab to do the testing.
Not only did we find fecal matter, we found heavy
metals, too. Six of the samples tested positive
for heavy metals. Like arsenic, a poison, cadmium,
a carcinogen and lead, which can cause neurological
disorders. "Some of them [had levels] 10 to 20
times higher than what the federal government
says is safe for drinking water," says Kathy
Fugiel of AM
TEST.
That's not all. All of the imported Chinese herbs
we tested contained mercury.
The highest amount was in a product called "zi
sheng wan." "I say 'wow, mercury.' I see that
level in sewage sludge. DOE would not even like
this in soil outside your door. What's it doing
in the tablet?" Fugiel says.
"Heavy metal poisoning, even at low levels --
that's chronic [and] can create severe health
problems, even death," she says. So what are the
companies saying? "Every contaminant in a raw
material is a concern," says Joanne Roberts of
Oregon's Wild Harvest.
We traveled to Sandy, Oregon to visit Oregon's
Wild Harvest. It grows most of its own herbs,
but the astragalus root that contained fecal matter
and heavy metals was imported from China. As a
result of what we found the company is going to
do more testing.
"I have concerns of pesticides, heavy metals and
I encourage all supplemental
companies to screen for all these things," Roberst
says. Two other companies whose products we tested
didn't see a problem. Planetary Formulas sent
KIRO 7 Eyewitness News a statement disputing
our
testing.The company says heavy metals occur in
all natural and synthetic compounds and that
the
levels we found were not significantly high enough
to be a concern.
Frontier, which makes dong qai root, says their
heavy metal levels were far below safety levels
established by the FDA and EPA. But the Food and
Drug Administration told us it has no established
standards for herbs.
"Right now, no one's looking at this that's why
this has come up as a big issue," Dr. Labriola
says. "These kinds of substances do not belong
in products that people are ingesting orally," he
says. The Food and Drug Administration is in
the process of developing new regulations for
herbs.
In the meantime, those who are most susceptible
to contaminants are children, the elderly and
patients with compromised immune systems. Dr.
Labriola says if they are taking several herbs,
the cumulative effects of contaminants could make
them sick.
And he strongly recommends you consult with your
doctor before taking
herbal remedies.
SILYMARIN
One
of the best known natural therapies for liver
disease may hold the key to fighting today's most
common and dreaded cancers. Silymarin, a constituent
of milk thistle (and artichokes), has been used
for 2,000 years to treat liver disorders - and
that's still what it's most commonly known for.
But in 1994, researchers discovered that it was
also a powerful killer of colon and skin cancer.
Since then, laboratory
tests and animal studies have shown silymarin's
anticarcinogenic effect against breast and prostate
cancers, as well. |
