Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Radiation scientists agree TSA naked body scanners could cause breast cancer and sperm mutations
The news about the potential health dangers of the TSA's naked body scanners just keeps getting worse. An increasing number of doctors and scientists are going public with their warnings about the health implications of subjecting yourself to naked body scanners. These include Dr Russell Blaylock (see below) as well as several professors from the University of California who are experts in X-ray imaging.
Once again, this letter was written by Drs John Sedat Ph.D., David Agard, Ph.D., Marc Shuman, M.D., Robert Stroud, Ph.D., all from the University of California.
Here are ten additional concerns raised by these scientists in their letter: (the bolded titles are my subheads, the subsequent explanation test is quoted straight out the scientists' letter)
In this letter, these scientists go on to explain why they continue to hold such concerns: (my emphasis added)
The TSA, of course, refuses to hold any serious discussion about the science behind its use of naked body scanners... primarily because there is no legitimate science backing the use of its naked body scanners.
Think about what's happening here for a minute: The FDA is an agency that has gone out and threatened, raided and persecuted manufacturers of walnuts, cherries and green tea products who made scientifically validated health claims about the benefits of those products. And yet, when it comes to rolling out naked body scanners that pose a cancer risk to the population, the FDA requires no legitimate scientific testing whatsoever and simply rubber stamps the whole project, thereby subjecting virtually the entire population to radiation-emitting devices with an unknown level of health risk.
But the really crazy part about this whole story is not that the scientists are concerned about the health risks of these naked body scanners. It's not that the TSA is, itself, a terrorist organization now generating more fear and terror than the international terrorists could ever hope to accomplish. It's not even the fact that the FDA allows these radiation machines to be widely used across the country despite the fact that they've never been honestly and scientifically tested for use on humans.
But getting back to the health issue in particular, it is clear to anyone who understands the laws of physics that the TSA's naked body scanners create an increased risk of cancer to the population.
Another thing that has become abundantly clear in all this is that the real terror threat is the TSA itself. "Terrorism" is defined as using fear to achieve a political purpose. I can't think of a better example of that than the TSA and its fear-mongering campaign engineered to justify its huge power-grabbing expansion of personnel and authority. This is a government agency that had fewer than 200 employees a few years ago but now directs over 60,000 agents (it's like a whole new army of domestic secret police).
4G/LTE Mobile Network Poses Greater Chronic Health Risks than Previous Incarnations
If you're one of the people who has suspected cell phones/cell towers were bad news, get ready for the latest affront to our health: The 4G/LTE network. This is the latest scheme cooked up by the greedy telecommunications industry. It promises much faster bandwidth than the previous 3G incarnation, thereby providing lightning-fast mobile internet on your mobile phone or device (great for watching YouTube/Hulu). Unfortunately, there is a major downside to 4G technology (and all wireless technology that emits radiation for that matter), and it comes as a cost to our health and well-being.
Putting profits over people
The problem with many new, potentially dangerous technologies (such as tech/devices that output radiation of any kind) is that companies can make record profits off of them while the public remains ignorant of long-term chronic health risks. Corporations are obviously reluctant in these situations, as they know that researching side effects and informing the public will hurt their profit margins. That is why we're not told anything negative about new technologies, only how great they are and how much better they are going to make our lives (How did I possibly live without this before?!?!).
The problem with 4G/LTE: The contrived need to have internet access with us at all times
As the internet age has evolved, cellular phones and devices have evolved along with it. Cell phones used to be for making calls on the go. Eventually, text messaging came onto the scene, and that was the new craze. Now, 4G mobile internet and mobile video streaming is the new novelty. Unfortunately, the bandwidth required for mobile internet and video streaming on a cellular device is greater than what can be provided over older, conventional 2G/3G cell phone tower networks. So for 4G, there have been many new high-powered cell towers erected around the world, with little thought about the adverse effects that the addition of more radiation-emitting technology will cause.
4G/LTE handset "smart" antennas
4G designers needed to increase bandwidth receiving capability in 4G handsets/devices, so they developed "smart antennas" - a series of 4 antennas in a single phone handset. This is like the equivalent of having four cell phones in one device rather than one (tumor, anyone?). The mobile telecom industry is fully aware of the potential carcinogenic effect of their products, but instead of searching for ways to reduce the potential threat to public health, they are multiplying it. This is just plain unethical business practice.
Radiation overload and wireless plankton
Over the last 10 years, physicians have noticed a continuous increase in the number of people with chronic complaints. Doctors have taken blood draws or saliva from patients, and determined in 2012 that one in three patients has radiation overload. In 2002, only one patient in 30 were radiation stressed. In 300 patients with chronic health complaints, 138 of them were caused by radiation (from wireless internet or cell phone tech). These numbers have gotten worse with 3G and ubiquitous Wi-Fi hot spots around the world. How bad are these numbers going to get with the 4G/LTE network?
Plankton were used in experiments to test the adverse properties of wireless signals in lab tests. In these experiments, the wireless-exposed plankton died or were deformed within several days of chronic exposure. With Wi-Fi it took 96 hours, 3G took 72 hours, and with 4G the plankton died within 48 hours. Since all living organisms ultimately escape the effects that unnatural radiation has on them, we must ask ourselves this: If wireless radiation is killing or deforming plankton, what is it doing to us?
Friday, August 9, 2013
Exposing Yourself to Light at Night Shuts Down Your Melatonin and Raises Your Cancer Risk
The Dark Side of Night
In humans as with all mammals, your biological clock resides in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of your brain (SCN), which is part of your hypothalamus. Based on signals of light and darkness, your SCN tells your pineal gland when it’s time to secrete melatonin.Light comes in through your eyes and travels up your optic nerves to the SCN, which is exquisitely sensitive to cycles of light and darkness.When you turn on a light at night, you immediately send your brain misinformation about the light-dark cycle. The only thing your brain interprets light to be is day. Believing daytime has arrived, your biological clock instructs your pineal gland to immediately cease its production of melatonin.Whether you have the light on for an hour or for just a second, the effect is the same — and your melatonin pump doesn’t turn back on when you flip the light back off.Since humans evolved in the glow of firelight, the yellow, orange and red wavelengths don’t suppress melatonin production the way white and blue wavelengths do. In fact, the range of light that inhibits melatonin is fairly narrow — 460 to 480 nm. If you want to protect your melatonin, when the sun goes down you would shift to a low wattage bulb with yellow, orange, or red light. Dr. Reiter suggests using a salt lamp illuminated by a 5-watt bulb in this color range.
The Massive Health Benefits of Melatonin
The hormone melatonin produces a number of health benefits in terms of your immune system. It’s a powerful antioxidant and free radical scavenger that helps combat inflammation. In fact, melatonin is so integral to your immune system that a lack of it causes your thymus gland, a key component of your immune system, to atrophy. Melatonin may even have a role in slowing the aging of your brain.In addition to helping you fall asleep and bestowing a feeling of overall comfort and well being, melatonin has proven to have an impressive array of anti-cancer benefits. Melatonin inhibits the proliferation of a wide range of cancer cell types, as well as triggering cancer cell apoptosis (self destruction). The hormone also interferes with the new blood supply tumors require for their rapid growth (angiogenesis). Melatonin can boost efficacy and decrease the toxicity of cancer chemotherapy.
Melatonin May Be Breast Cancer’s Worst Nightmare
Peer-reviewed and published research has shown melatonin offers particularly strong protection against reproductive cancers. Cells throughout your body — even cancer cells — have melatonin receptors. So when melatonin makes its nightly rounds, cell division slows. When this hormone latches onto a breast cancer cell, it has been found to counteract estrogen’s tendency to stimulate cell growth.In fact, melatonin has a calming effect on several reproductive hormones, which may explain why it seems to protect against sex hormone-driven cancers, including ovarian, endometrial, breast, prostate and testicular cancers.GreenMedInfo lists twenty studies demonstrating exactly how melatonin exerts its protective effects against breast cancer.But melatonin’s anti-cancer effects don’t stop there. While causing cancer cells to self-destruct, melatonin also boosts your production of immune stimulating substances such as interleukin-2, which helps identify and attack the mutated cells that lead to cancer. Through these dual actions, melatonin delivers a one-two punch! The greatest area of melatonin research to date has to do with breast cancer. Some of the more impressive studies include the following:
- The journal Epidemiology reported increased breast cancer risk among women who work predominantly night shifts
- Women who live in neighborhoods with large amounts of nighttime illumination are more likely to get breast cancer than those who live in areas where nocturnal darkness prevails, according to an Israeli study
- From participants in the Nurses’ Health Study, it was found that nurses who work nights had 36 percent higher rates of breast cancer
- Blind women, whose eyes cannot detect light and so have robust production of melatonin, have lower-than-average breast cancer rates
- When the body of epidemiological studies are considered in their totality, women who work night shift are found to have breast cancer rates 60 percent above normal, even when other factors such as differences in diet are accounted for
Melatonin Improves Cancer Patients’ Longevity
Glioblastoma is a nasty, aggressive form of brain cancer with a poor prognosis and not much in the way of effective treatments. However, melatonin may offer some hope. In one clinical trial, patients with a glioblastoma were given either radiation and melatonin, or radiation alone. Twenty-three percent of the patients receiving the melatonin were alive one year later, while none who received radiation alone were still alive.Another study found that melatonin reduced the growth of prostate cancer. Studies show similarly encouraging results for lung, pancreatic, colorectal and other types of cancer. An article in Life Extension Magazine contains a table summarizing studies with one-year cancer survival rates that are vastly improved when melatonin is a treatment modality. Authors of a systematic review of melatonin for the treatment of all types of cancer concluded:“Effects were consistent across melatonin dose, and type of cancer. No severe adverse events were reported. The substantial reduction in risk of death, low adverse events reported and low costs related to this intervention suggest great potential for melatonin in treating cancer.”Due to the strength of the scientific research, in 2007, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced a decision to classify shift work as a "probable carcinogen". That puts the night shift in the same health-risk category as exposure to such toxic chemicals as trichloroethylene, vinyl chloride and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). If this isn’t a testament to the importance of melatonin for human health, I don’t know what is!
How to Optimize Your Melatonin Levels
Two common environmental "noise" factors that can make sleep elusive are light pollution and temperature. The following suggestions can improve your sleep hygiene and help you optimize your melatonin production.
- Avoid watching TV or using your computer in the evening, at least an hour or so before going to bed.These devices emit blue light, which tricks your brain into thinking it’s still daytime. Normally your brain starts secreting melatonin between 9 and 10 pm, and these devices emit light that may stifle that process.
- Make sure you get BRIGHT sun exposure regularly. Your pineal gland produces melatonin roughly in approximation to the contrast of bright sun exposure in the day and complete darkness at night. If you are in darkness all day long, it can’t appreciate he difference and will not optimize your melatonin production.
- Sleep in complete darkness, or as close to it as possible. Even the slightest bit of light in your bedroom can disrupt your biological clock and your pineal gland's melatonin production. Even the tiniest glow from your clock radio could be interfering with your sleep, so cover your radio up at night or get rid of it altogether. Move all electrical devices at least three feet away from your bed. You may want to cover your windows with drapes or blackout shades.
- Install a low-wattage yellow, orange or red light bulb if you need a source of light for navigation at night.Light in these bandwidths does not shut down melatonin production in the way that white and blue bandwidth light does. Salt lamps are handy for this purpose.
- Keep the temperature in your bedroom no higher than 70 degrees F. Many people keep their homes too warm (particularly their upstairs bedrooms). Studies show that the optimal room temperature for sleep is between 60 to 68 degrees.
- Take a hot bath 90 to 120 minutes before bedtime. This increases your core body temperature, and when you get out of the bath it abruptly drops, signaling your body that you are ready to sleep.
- Avoid using loud alarm clocks. Being jolted awake each morning can be very stressful. If you are regularly getting enough sleep, you might not even need an alarm.
- Get some sun in the morning, if possible. Your circadian system needs bright light to reset itself. Ten to 15 minutes of morning sunlight will send a strong message to your internal clock that day has arrived, making it less likely to be confused by weaker light signals during the night. More sunlight exposure is required as you age.
- Be mindful of electromagnetic fields in your bedroom. EMFs can disrupt your pineal gland and its melatonin production, and may have other negative biological effects as well. A gauss meter is required if you want to measureEMF levels in various areas of your home.
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