Fluoride Officially Classified as a Neurotoxin in World’s Most Prestigious Medical Journal

The movement to remove industrial sodium fluoride from the world’s water supply has been growing in recent years, with evidence coming out against the additive from several sources.

Now, a report from the world’s oldest and most prestigious medical journal, The Lancet, has officially classified fluoride as a neurotoxin, in the same category as arsenic, lead and mercury. [1]

The news was broken by author Stefan Smyle and disseminated by the Facebook page Occupy Food, which linked to the report published in The Lancet Neurology, Volume 13, Issue 3, in the March 2014 edition, by authors Dr. Phillippe Grandjean and Philip J. Landrigan, MD. The report can be viewed by clicking here.

Industrial Chemicals Identified

As noted in the summary of the report, a systematic review identified five different similar industrial chemicals as developmental neurotoxicants: lead, methylmercury, polychlorinated biphenyls, arsenic, and toluene.

The summary goes on to state that six additional developmental neurotoxicants have also now been identified: manganese, fluoride, chlorpyrifos, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, tetrachloroethylene, and the polybrominated diphenyl ethers. The authors added that even more of these neurotoxicants remain undiscovered.

ADHD, Dyslexia, and other cognitive impairments

In the Lancet report, the authors propose a global prevention strategy, saying that “untested chemicals should not be presumed to be safe to brain development, and chemicals in existing use and all new chemicals must therefore be tested for developmental neurotoxicity.”Also in the report, they note that neurodevelopmental disabilities, including attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, dyslexia, and other cognitive impairments, are now affecting millions of children worldwide in what they call a “pandemic of developmental neurotoxicity.”

They continue: “To coordinate these efforts and to accelerate translation of science into prevention, we propose the urgent formation of a new international clearinghouse.”

The report coincides with 2013 findings by a Harvard University meta-analysis funded by the National Institutes of Health that concluded that children in areas with highly fluoridated water have “significantly lower” IQ scores that those who live in areas with low amounts of fluoride in their water supplies.[2]

 

Fluoride also linked to Cancers

Sodium fluoride in drinking water has also been linked to various cancers. It is functionally different than the naturally-occurring calcium fluoride, and commonly added to drinking water supplies and used by dentists and in dental products who posit that it is useful for dental health. [3]

Currently, fluoride is added to water supplies across much of North America, however, adding fluoride to drinking water is not always standard practice, being banned entirely throughout most of Continental Europe and in several other developed nations across the world. [4]

 

Sources:
[1] Woffinden, B. (2005, June 11). Fluoride water ’causes cancer’. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/society/2005/jun/12/medicineandhealth.genderissues
[2] Mercola, J., Dr. (2013, January 28). Harvard Study Confirms Fluoride Reduces Children’s IQ. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mercola/fluoride_b_2479833.html
[3] Fluoride Action Network. (n.d.). Cancer. Retrieved from http://fluoridealert.org/issues/health/cancer/
[4] Johnston, P. (2014, March 25). Fluoride: Just when you thought it was safe to drink the water… Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/wellbeing/healthadvice/10722701/Fluoride-Just-when-you-thought-it-was-safe-to-drink-the-water….html

 

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Baby born to mom who refused cancer treatment has died

A relative says the baby born of a Michigan woman who chose to forgo chemotherapy to give birth to the child has died.

Sonya Nelson says her niece, Life Lynn DeKlyen, died Wednesday evening at University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor. Life's mother, Carrie DeKlyen, died Sept. 9, three days after giving birth to her sixth child. the family posted on Facebook:

“It is with great sadness and an absolutely broken heart that I tell you Life Lynn passed away last night. Carrie is now rocking her baby girl. I have no explanation of why this happened, but I do know Jesus loves us and someday we will know why. The grief we feel is almost unbearable, please be praying for our family.”

Relatives say Life had been doing better than expected after being born prematurely at 1 pound 4 ounces (567 grams). Nelson tells The Associated Press the baby had good and bad days at the hospital, but "took a turn for the worse" this week.

Nelson says "we don't have any answers," but that "maybe Carrie needed her."

Carrie DeKlyen declined the brain cancer treatment, because it would have meant ending her pregnancy

A GoFundMe page for the family has raised over $150,000..

Analyst: Profitability of southeast Wisconsin hospitals remains strong

The profitability of hospitals in southeast Wisconsin remained strong in 2016, according to a recently released report by Minnesota-based analyst Allan Baumgarten.

Hospitals in the Milwaukee region reported net income of $796.4 million in 2016, or 10.5 percent in net patient revenue, according to the Wisconsin Health Market Review 2017, Baumgarten’s 10th report examining the health care payer and provider markets in the state. Data in the report come from two annual surveys prepared by the Wisconsin Hospital Association.


Aurora Health Care was the most profitable, with net income of $404.4 million, or 16.2 percent of net patient revenue. That’s compared to Ascension Health’s net income of $96.6 million, or 4.6 percent of net patient revenue, and ProHealth Care’s net income of $10.9 million, or 7.5 percent of net patient revenue.

In comparison, hospitals in the Madison area had a net income of $211.9 million, or 7.3 percent of net patient revenues.

“From the data, the profitability of the hospitals in southeast Wisconsin has been very strong,” Baumgarten said. “The margins were the strongest in 2013, when the average margin for this group of hospitals in southeast Wisconsin was 12.3 percent. That’s not as high in 2016, but still the 10.5 percent as an average margin is a very strong result.”

Baumgarten said those margins in part reflect regional hospitals’ relatively high charges compared to other Midwestern metropolitan areas. He said consolidation of hospital systems over the past decade, which has increased their bargaining power with insurance companies, is partly to blame for driving up costs.

“With now two hospital systems having very close to 30 percent or more of the market share — as a general rule of thumb, I would say that once a system gets above 30 percent market share in its local market, that gives it considerable leverage when it comes to negotiating prices with commercial insurance companies,” he said.

Inpatient utilization among area hospitals, meanwhile, continues to decrease, according to the report.

In 2006, the number of inpatient hospital days for southeast Wisconsin hospitals was just under 1.2 million. That’s declined steadily to just over 1 million in 2016. On an average day, 60.2 percent of beds were occupied among southeast Wisconsin hospitals in 2016, compared to 61 percent in 2014.

Aurora is the exception to the trend, as it’s seen growth in inpatient days, thanks to the addition of hospitals in Grafton and Summit, Baumgarten said.

The overall decline in inpatient utilization can be traced back to the Great Recession, when many people either lost their benefits or saw their employers shift to high-deductible health plans, Baumgarten said. It also reflects a larger industry shift to outpatient care.

The percentage of inpatient days in southeast Wisconsin hospitals covered by Medicaid has grown from 19.7 percent in 2014 to 22.7 percent in 2016, according to the report.


sources: biztimes

AARP : Applauds Congress for Bipartisan Hearings on Stabilizing The Health Insurance Market

AARP submitted written testimony today to the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance and the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, urging Congress to focus on commonsense solutions to stabilize the Affordable Care Act (ACA) insurance marketplace, increase enrollment and competition, and lower costs for consumers.

AARP supports improving access to affordable health care for older Americans, strengthening Medicaid and increasing access to benefits that allow older Americans to live independently in their homes and communities, protecting coverage for Americans with preexisting conditions, and keeping Medicare strong.

Congress can help fortify the ACA markets and reduce premiums by making a commitment to pay for cost-sharing reductions (CSRs). CSRs provide critical financial assistance for people with modest incomes to afford insurance coverage. Another way to help stabilize the individual insurance market is through reinsurance programs for states to help cover high-cost patients.

AARP supports strengthening Medicaid, a vital safety net for more than 17.4 million low-income seniors and children and adults with disabilities. One way to improve Medicaid is to update the law to allow states to more easily use Medicaid dollars for home and community-based services for seniors who wish to avoid nursing home care. This common sense change not only saves states money, it allows people to live in their homes and communities where they want to be.

Any proposed changes to the ACA must include solutions to the growing problem of unsustainable prescription drug prices. AARP supports allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, allowing safe importation of lower-priced drugs, reducing the amount of market exclusivity for biologic drugs, prohibiting pay-for-delay deals between brand and generic drug manufacturers, and demanding greater transparency in prescription drug pricing.

In its testimony, AARP urged Congress to return to the 7.5% of adjusted gross income threshold for the medical expense deduction to help seniors and others with long-term care costs. The current 10% threshold amounts to a significant tax increase that falls disproportionately on the sick, including people with more moderate incomes.

Older Americans care deeply about their health care and need and deserve affordable insurance premiums, lower out-of-pocket costs, and health coverage they can count on as they age. While we support current bipartisan discussions in Congress, AARP will continue to oppose any health care proposal that changes the age-rating limit of 3:1, reduces the tax credits to help people afford coverage, increases costs for older Americans, or that weakens protections for people with pre-existing conditions.



About AARP

AARP is the nation's largest nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to empowering Americans 50 and older to choose how they live as they age. With nearly 38 million members and offices in every state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, AARP works to strengthen communities and advocate for what matters most to families with a focus on health security, financial stability and personal fulfillment. AARP also works for individuals in the marketplace by sparking new solutions and allowing carefully chosen, high-quality products and services to carry the AARP name. As a trusted source for news and information, AARP produces the world's largest circulation publications, AARP The Magazine and AARP Bulletin. To learn more, visit www.aarp.org or follow @AARP and @AARPadvocates on social media.

sources:prnewswire

Dow Member J&J And Bayer Face A Battle In Augmenting Aspirin

Dow component Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Bayer (BAYRY) will have an uphill battle in persuading doctors to add Xarelto to aspirin therapy for heart-disease patients, analysts said Monday after a trial showed some complications.

XAutoplay: On | OffXarelto, a blood thinner, was tested alone and in combination with aspirin to cut down the risk of cardiac events in patients with some heart diseases. The combo reduced the risk of cardiovascular death, stroke or heart attack by 24% vs. aspirin alone.

But it was also tied to more bleeding events. These events occurred in 3.1% of patients treated with the combination vs. 1.9% of patients treated with aspirin alone. Most of the bleeding occurred in the gastrointestinal tract, Johnson said in a news release.

"Encouragingly, the trial found no difference in the rates of fatal bleeds, intracranial bleeding or symptomatic bleeding into a critical organ," RBC analyst Glenn Novarro wrote in a note to clients.

The results appear sufficient for the Food and Drug Administration to approve Xarelto in combination with aspirin in this setting, Novarro said. Doctors commonly use aspirin-only therapy to help cut down on the risk of cardiac events in heart-disease patients.

Novarro notes the benefit/risk profile could have a "potential impact on peak sales for Xarelto." Credit Suisse analyst Vamil Divan, though, is more bullish. He notes the combo cut the risk of stroke and cardiovascular death by 42% and 22%, respectively.

None of the bleeding in the trial proved fatal or occurred in the brain, he wrote in a note to clients. These results could "drive a re-acceleration of growth for Xarelto as it expands the potential treatment population for the product by more than 50%," he said.

IBD'S TAKE: Biotech stocks have seen better days. In July, the sector hit an 18-month high in anticipation of the second-quarter earnings season. Since then, long-term views for some companies have investors shaken. Head to IBD Industry Themes for a closer look at the setup.

Fellow drugmaker Novartis (NVS) will be more challenged with its drug known as Ilaris, Leerink analyst Seamus Fernandez said in a note to clients. In a Phase 3 trial, Ilaris cut down on the risk of major cardiac events in heart-attack survivors by 15% vs. a placebo.

"We see these results, together with a lack of a significant benefit in cardiovascular mortality, as underwhelming and unlikely to result in a reasonable commercial opportunity for the drug in this overall population," he wrote.

Overall, Ilaris showed a 24% relative reduction in the risk of heart attack and a 10% cut in the risk of cardiovascular death. In a subgroup of patients who hit a specific level of inflammation after the first dose, Ilaris resulted in a 27% cut in the risk of major cardiovascular events.

Ilaris could have some legs in this group if Novartis can define the subgroup with regulators and negotiate with health insurers, Fernandez said.

"Despite this, we believe the drug could still struggle to gain meaningful uptake based on the recent experience with anti-PCSK9 antibodies, and note that the current patent life of the drug extends to only 2024," he wrote.

PCSK9 inhibitors are cholesterol-reducing drugs from the likes of Amgen (AMGN) and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN)/Sanofi (SNY). Cutting "bad" LDL cholesterol has been shown to have a benefit on the cardiovascular side as well, but PCSK9 inhibitors have struggled to gain uptake.

In Pakistan, huge swathes of the country sits on arsenic-contaminated groundwate

I recently came across an alarming news story about high levels of arsenic in our groundwater supply. Unfortunately, this is turning into a serious issue in developing countries such as Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and other parts of the subcontinent.


Recently, a nationwide study based on sampling approximately 1,200 groundwater pumps was carried out. The study was led by Dr Joel Podgorski, a Swiss geologist and computer scientist. The study illustrated that the amount of arsenic in the groundwater of various Pakistani areas dotted along the Indus River and its tributaries, including Multan, Lahore, Kasur, Sheikhupura, Gujranwala and around Hyderabad, have reached alarming levels.

This shocking news has not triggered any environmental emergency in the country as yet, despite the fact that 50 to 60 million people reside in the identified hotspots and could be at a high risk. The earth is deteriorating in front our very eyes and yet no one is willing to step outside their everyday lives and bubbles to give it enough importance. The death of the environment is a phenomenon that will not go away by simply avoiding it, so the question that arises is what can the average person do to improve these conditions?

But before we address that, let’s first try to understand what we’re dealing with.

What is arsenic?

Arsenic is a major heavy metal contaminant which divides into two types – grey and white. While the former is non-poisonous, the latter is extremely poisonous.

According to the guidelines put forth by World Health Organisation (WHO), 10 micrograms of arsenic per litre of water is safe for usage and consumption. But the findings submitted by the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) have declared 50 micrograms per litre, thus one can gauge the level of harm this can cause.

In his final report, Dr Podgorski said,


“Very high concentrations, above 200 micrograms per litre, are found mainly in the south. This is an alarmingly high number which demonstrates the urgent need to test all drinking water wells in the Indus Plain.”

Does arsenic in groundwater directly affect the consumer?

The potential sources of arsenic consumption are through drinking, cooking and irrigation purposes. Even when a cigarette is lit, the smoker is enveloped in an arsenic cloud because the tobacco plants used in the manufacturing of cigarettes also absorb arsenic present in the soil.



What are the effects of arsenic?

Immediate adverse health effects of arsenic poisoning include gastrointestinal symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhoea, intense thirst, continual inclination to empty the bowels and burning pain in upper abdomen. These may be followed by sensory symptoms such as numbness and tingling of the extremities and death in extreme cases.

Prolonged exposure to arsenic results in the appearance of transverse white lines on nails called ‘Aldrich-Mees’ lines’, thickening of palms and soles, rain drop skin pigmentation, diabetes, neurotoxicity and cardiovascular diseases.



How can the consumer detect arsenic in the water?

That’s the tricky part, because arsenic is colourless, tasteless and odourless, making it virtually impossible to detect it without laboratory testing. This may explain the reason for its unchecked spiralling over the recent years. Additionally, the indifferent attitude of concerned departments has allowed this problem to further aggravate.


How can we avoid consuming arsenic water?

We can reduce human exposure to arsenic by raising general public awareness, filtering and screening drinking water supplies. Those supplies where arsenic content is found to be above the WHO or national levels should be labelled unsafe till treated.

Other methods include use of microbiology to save surface water (rainwater), arsenic removing technologies (adsorption, ion exchange, oxidation) and the dilution of high content arsenic source water by mixing lower arsenic content source water.

Small under-the-sink units can also be used to lower arsenic concentration of drinking water such as the ones they have in the US.

The fact that something so dangerous has been detected in our water supplies and nothing substantial is being done to fix it, speaks volumes about how careless our government is. Even a basic commodity such as water is not pure. It is high time the concerned authorities recognised the magnitude of this national threat so that the millions of lives at stake can take a sigh of relief.

Chemicals in yoga mats may cause infertility, study says

A Harvard University study suggests a link between infertility in women and yoga mats.

Researchers evaluated women for exposure to a flame retardant found in products that use polyurethane foam. The chemicals can move from the foam through bodily contact or in the air people breathe.

Couples trying to get pregnant via in vitro fertilization should also minimize contact with car seats, sofas, computer chairs and other materials similarly treated with those chemicals.

According to Forbes, the study’s sample was from a very specific location and population: women going to a particular fertility clinic in Boston. Forbes said the study didn’t look at all factors that may have affected their fertility.

Education and training standards need to keep pace with the use of robotics in health care

Robots are no longer a figurative idea of the future. Much like computers, robotic assist surgery – or "computer-assisted surgery" – is here to stay.

Over just the past decade, we have seen the use of robotics in the medical and surgical community skyrocket – but the development of education and training standards has not kept pace. For many, it is still an abstract concept to imagine how a robot (computer) can be used in surgery – and the benefits it can bring. Yet we see these benefits every day in operating rooms throughout our country.

This past fall, more than 40 robotic registry experts from across the country joined the Food and Drug Administration at a conference in Orlando, Florida, with the goal to develop the first national robotic outcomes registry. What we found from both the technology and health industries is the need to develop a system that will encourage our surgeons to continuously improve and learn different surgical skills. We found that we have to educate our communities about the benefits of minimally invasive surgery. We learned that our industry partners must develop smart tools to improve outcomes.

These are tenets of a Japanese philosophy called kaizen, known in the automotive industry, and it suggests that we must continuously improve or working practices and efficiency. We cannot allow the opportunity for greater improvement slip away from us due to lack of knowledge. The registry is current in development through the help of these industry leaders, the Institute for Surgical Excellence and the FDA.

Major corporations such as Google and Johnson & Johnson are among the many stakeholders who have recognized the need to develop the technology of robotic surgery and the great potential it can bring to patients worldwide. It is our responsibility as physicians and surgeons to deliver the highest quality of surgical care and outcomes for our patients and to utilize the most appropriate tools to help our patients achieve an improved outcome.

When medical professionals choose their careers, we learn that professional education never ceases – this is also known as lifelong learning. Regardless if you are a seasoned veteran or a new doctor just out of medical school, it is a physician's responsibility to know and understand all treatment and surgical options for our patients. Rapidly changing technology, tests and discoveries are the backbone to the medical profession, and will continue to advance us forward.

How we approach these new technologies will determine our effectiveness as healers, which is why the Institute for Surgical Excellence, a public organization focused on creating solutions for health care problems relating to emerging technologies and improving patient care, is working with the FDA to bring experts together in developing a robotic registry. This registry will allow us to determine the impact of robotic surgery on patient outcomes, and where improvements are needed.

After nearly 12 years as a cancer surgeon, and the majority of that time teaching robotics, I have seen the remarkable patient outcomes and great potential through implementing standardized training and education programs in new surgical innovations.

If we want to continue to move innovations in surgery forward, we must recognize the need to come together with health care systems, insurers, payers and technology partners working together with one common goal: to improve the health of our patients.

It's not just a convenience; it is a matter of life and death.