Sunday, July 20, 2008

Epilepsy Study Incriminates Aspartame in Medications


The Pacific Epilepsy Society in affiliation with the Epileptic Foundation of Maui has completed a seven year study on Epilepsy and Seizures, finding that epilepsy is at an all time high in Hawaii and the western states and Pacific Ocean Territories. There has been a 100% increase over the two previous years. See EFM Survey, Freedom of Info Act 2000-2008 & EFM Survey 1999-03 The most profound reason for the spectacular increase in seizures is the inclusion of the drug ASPARTAME in with the new larger sized anti-seizure drugs: DILANTIN, DEPACOAT, TEGRATOL and several others produced by major pharmaceutical corporations. In 2007 the manufacture of Dilantin changed the description of the 100 mg. Dilantin changed the 100 mg white capsule with red stripe to a much larger white capsule, orange on one end, which contains 100 mg of the drug, plus aspartame. 150 people who took the new Dilantin capsule found the seizure rate increased in every case. The Chemical Pharmaceutical Engineer employee, in fear of his job would not reveal his name, but said they were adding aspartame. He said the new larger orange & white Dilantin is also labeled 100 mg, Dr. Allen Stein, Neurosurgeon, President of the Epilepsy Foundation of Hawaii (a separate organization from the above) is sympathetic to the makers of ASPARTAME and routinely prescribes these drugs. I believe this contributes to the increase of epilepsy in these areas. Glenn Mabson, PhD., CEO Epileptic Foundation of Maui (dba Pacific Epilepsy Society) 808 879 8999 INTERVIEW WITH DR. MABSON: by Dr. Betty Martini, D.Hum MARTINI: How did you get started in this investigation, and why, Dr. Mabson? MABSON From 1999 to 2007 The Epileptic Foundation of Maui conducted a survey on the number of people in Maui suffering from the three most prevalent types of epileptic seizures:(1) Absence (2) Complex-partial (3) Grand Mal Seizures. 4,975 victims from a Maui Population of 130,000 suffered from one of these types of seizures. Seniors over 65 and children 12 or less had increased epileptic seizures. The count for the entire state of Hawaii is over 28,000 seizure victims. In an effort to determine the most effective medication it was discovered that well over 50% of the victims consumed medications containing aspartame. We inquired as to what anti-seizure medications were mostly prescribed to control their seizures. Dilantin, Tegratol and Depacote contained most aspartame amount among the 22 most utilized anti-seizure medications. In 2007 the Dilantin changed the 100 mg white capsule with red stripe to a much larger white capsule, orange on one end, which contains 100 mg of the drug, plus aspartame. 150 people who took the new Dilantin capsule found the seizure rate increased in every case. Impaired vision and thinking, and it is suspected glaucoma in fifty patients who never had visual problems prior to taking the new Dilantin capsule. We suspected this was an experiment out of control. A manufacturer of Dilantin then confirmed aspartame is in the drug. MARTINI: Were there any deaths having to do with aspartame? MABSON: Dr. Allen Stein, Neurosurgeon, has been prescribing aspartame to patients in large quantities with negative results, in some cases as many as 150 highly suspected deaths. He is president of the Epilepsy Foundation of Hawaii. MARTINI: What is the difference between your organization and Stein's? MABSON: A big and important difference: The Epileptic Foundation of Maui (EFM) provides first aid to epilepsy victims, hands on help, with a 24/7 Help Line 1 888-919-9444 We have trained more than 5000 parents, Maui Police, Department of Public Safety, IRS, Hawaii Business and Public Schools at no cost! We provide immediate, practical lifesaving care to seizure victims. This is very personal to me. I have traumatic epilepsy from torture during 18 months as a civilian prisoner of war in Viet Nam. Over 50 dedicated volunteers carry out this public service. We take no money from aspartame makers. MARTINI: So what does Stein's organization do? MABSON: It sells books and some outdated documents, but provides no personal service. MARTINI: In what journals have you published? MABSON: Among many others, the following: Neurology 48:621. Hamburg University News 2003, Strouseburg on Epilepsy Vol 2 pp 5, 6, 7 & 8 Savic, International. Athurer lnternational Epilepsy Research 26:245 2002: Long Term Follow-up After Temporal Lobe Resection for Lesions Associated With Choric Seizures [Note by Betty Martini, D.Hum: It has been known that aspartame is a seizure triggering drug for three decades. In a 52 week aspartame oral toxicity study on 7 infant monkeys, 5 had grand mal seizures and 1 died. http://www.aspartaam.nl/artikelen_eng/raorapport.txt The FDAs 1995 list of 92 documented symptoms from 10,000 citizen complaints named 4 types of seizures, death, blindness, sexual disfunction and a long list of neurological injuries. www.mpwhi.com/92_aspartame_symptoms.pdf Dr. Richard Wurtman testified against aspartame to Congress. He told UPI investigator Gregory Gordon that he was threatened by the VP of G D Searle Co, aspartame producer , that his funding would be killed if he studied aspartame seizures. So Wurtman speaks no more against aspartame but he left quite a paper trail. http://www.wnho.net/upi_1987_aspartame1.htm Mrs. Barbara Metzler, Mission Possible New Jersey, tells about her daughter Julia:In April 1986 Julia was completing her graduate studies, was diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy. A neurologist in Pennsylvania was treating her with medication he deemed appropriate, but without success. I learned Dr. Richard Wurtman of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was doing research into a possible link between epileptic seizures and aspartame. (NutraSweet). It occurred to me that aspartame may have triggered her problems, since I experienced that beverages sweetened with aspartame gave me classic migraines. I spoke to my daughters many friends, and they watched her carefully and reported individually that she had peculiar episodes shortly after they saw her drink diet soda. So I wrote to Dr. Wurtman and he replied: Thank you for writing to us about your daughters condition that may very well be associated with NutraSweet. He requested that I send him specific information about Julie's neurological problems, then arranged for her to be evaluated at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston. Her evaluation included 3 days of monitoring with EEG telemetry as well as neuropsychological testing. When the testing was completed, my daughter was told that she had been misdiagnosed by her Pennsylvania neurologist and that she did not have temporal lobe epilepsy at all. She was advised to stop her medication and to stop drinking diet soda. She listened, and little by little, her bizarre problem disappeared. To watch her recover was an incredible experience! Twelve years later, she tried diet soda again and she had the same severe reaction. She quit the diet soda sweetened with aspartame and never had a problem again. I also contacted Dr. H.J. Roberts in Florida and he immediately suggested that my daughter was suffering from a reaction to the artificial sweetener aspartame in her diet soda. And, he realized that the aspartame also had a definite effect on her cognitive functioning and her vision. This case is presented in two of Dr. Roberts books exposing aspartame. How do aspartame makers get research to show their poison is harmless? The golden rule applies: He who supplies the Gold makes the Rules. Researchers-for-hire are vassals of the corporations paying them. If they come back with the honest analysis: Your junk is a killer! they get blacklisted, so naturally their report reads: Your glorious scientific breakthrough is marvelous, safe, effective and wonderful and everybody in the World should take it twice a day! [If we don't lie about it somebody else will!] And should you publish a medical magazine, all it takes to get ridiculous fake research published is a fat advertising contract. Dr. Ralph Walton correlated scientific studies with their funding and determined that 92% of independent studies unfunded by corporations, show aspartame problems, but 100% of corporate controlled research declare it safe. http://www.dorway.com/peerrev.html G. D. Searle Cos reports to the FDA were so bad that the Justice Department initiated prosecution for fraud. The easy to fix for Searle: was to hire the prosecutors, who stalled until the statute of limitations was about to run out, then left the Government. You just cant make a poison safe. Here is the famous FDA audit, the Bressler Report: http://www.dorway.com/bressler.txt Dr. Ralph Walton did his own study on aspartame which was then owned by Monsanto who refused to sell him the aspartame because they couldnt control his research. But the study was shut down after one man had a retinal detachment and never regained the sight in one eye. Another volunteer had conjunctival bleeding and others complained of being poisoned. In speaking to Dr.Walton about this study, he replied: We have known for many years that aspartame lowers the seizure threshold. To combine an anticonvulsive with aspartame to make seizures more likely is outrageous. Read his report on aspartame seizures and psychiatric disorders. http://www.mpwhi.com/aspartame_and_psychiatric_disorders.htm Here is research by Mark Gold of the Aspartame Toxicity Center, showing scientific abuse in seizure research and aspartame by industry. http://www.dorway.com/wurtman2.html Washington Consumer Attorney James Turner, who fought with Dr. Olney to prevent aspartame approval commented on the Epileptic Foundation of Mauis study: This study has confirmed that aspartame triggers both seizures and epilepsy, but this isnt news to me. In 1986 I was the attorney for the Community Nutrition Institute who petitioned FDA to ban aspartame for that exact reason. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology surveyed 80 people who experienced seizures after consuming aspartame. The petition of Community Nutrition Institutes petition said: These 80 cases meet the FDA's definition of an imminent hazard to the public health, which requires FDA to expeditiously remove a product from the market." His case went all the way to the Supreme Court and was turned down, which shows the power of the manufacturers, because how could any Supreme Court Justice who examined proof that aspartame triggers seizures let it stay on the market. Our Supreme Court is overwhelmed by Big Pharma's influence as shown by the Court's February decision, Riegel v. Medtronic Inc., barring lawsuits in state courts that challenge and contest the safety/effectiveness of medical devices that are FDA approved. Recently lawmakers have unveiled plans to introduce legislation in the House and Senate to overturn that decision which restricts states authority and deprives afflicted patients of any recourse for damages. Next Big Pharma will attempt to become free of any liability from dangerous drugs that inflict disability and death on consumers. Of course this is unconstitutional. Had the FDA banned aspartame in l986 thousands of aspartame victims would still be alive. Subsequently FDA listed 92 aspartame symptoms including four types of seizures, and death, which were tabulated from over 10,000 volunteered consumer complaints. On Maui, a Pacific paradise, over 100 aspartame seizures victims have died. Multiply that in over 100 countries where aspartame is consumed in thousands of foods and soft drinks. It should be banned by Codex to prevent a rampaging scourge as it would multiply in even more countries. FDA list of reactions to aspartame named grand mal seizures, seizures and convulsions, petit mal seizures, now called absence seizures, simple partial seizures & complex partial seizures. An imminent health hazard amendment in October to a 6 year old Citizens Petition to ban aspartame by Dr. Betty Martini, Founder of Mission Possible International, has been ignored by the FDA. The FDA is corrupted by the avalanche of cash paid by the companies it regulates, over half of FDA funding. Face it, FDA works for Big Pharma, not citizens. It should immediately ban aspartame, as it should have done 22 years ago instead of continuing in the hire of aspartame producers. The Epileptic Foundation of Mauis research shows anti-seizure drugs contain seizure triggering aspartame which they give to epileptics to stop seizures. When will this obscene insanity cease. H. J. Roberts, M.D., FACP, FCCP authored the encyclopedic1,000 page text, Aspartame Disease: An Ignored Epidemic , and has reported on aspartame seizures for years, as well as drug interaction with anti-seizure medication. He said: Considering the large body of data pointing to aspartame-induced or aggravated epilepsy, I regard the virtual total lack of interest therein as disgraceful. For any who doubt the reality of this association, I have detailed the clinical and experimental information in many articles and four texts over the past quarter century. This issue has been compounded by the addition of aspartame to a number of drugs used to treat seizures. (www.sunsentpress.com) Dr. Kenneth P. Stoller explains: When large amounts of unopposed phenylalanine (1/3rd of the aspartame molecule) hits the brain it causes serotonin levels to crash which lowers seizure threshold, and in many cases causes frank seizures. This information has been known since the 1970s when the original research was done on monkeys but kept from the FDA by the then owner of the patent G. D. Searle. This is why the FDA called the US attorney to convene a grand jury against Searle. The lawyers representing Searle then bought the US Attorney who left the case to his assistant. The Grand Jury was allowed to expire and the assistant was then hired by the same law firm as his reward for killing the Grand Jury. President, International Hyperbaric Medical Assoc www.hbotnm.com Medical Director, Hyperbaric Medical Center of New Mexico++++ By law a food additive must be inert, non-reactive. Aspartame is a chemical poison, an excitoneurotoxic drug that interacts with virtually all drugs and vaccines. Because it rapidly degrades it quickly becomes adulterated. Its illegal to ship adulterated products according to interstate commerce laws. Only by the political clout of Don Rumsfeld, who was hired as CEO of the Searle Co to get it on the market, is it now poisoning the world. http://www.soundandfury.tv/pages/rumsfeld2.html Neurosurgeon Russell Blaylock, M.D., www.russellblaylockmd.com wrote in Health & Nutrition to save Your Life: "So in the case of diet drinks in aluminum cans, the very toxic brain aluminum fluoride compound co-exists with multiple toxins found in aspartame, thus creating the most powerful government-approved toxic soup imaginable." ....He says that drinking even one diet cola a day can cause formaldehyde buildup in cells, so that the amount of the toxin increases daily. " He also wrote that "phenylalanine is a precursor of the catecholamine neurotransmitters in the brain and elevated levels in the brain have been associated with seizures. These catecholamines are metabolized to form other excitotoxins and peroxide products that can lead to elevated free radical formation and lipid peroxidation within neurons. "Likewise aspartic acid, an excitotoxin, acts as an excitatory neurotransmitter and can lower the seizure threshold making a seizure more likely. The additive effect of aspartic acid and phenylalanine would significantly increase the likelihood of a seizure, especially under hypoglycemic conditions. This would occur if a diet drink is substituted for a meal, or if one is on a stringent diet. It is well known that hypoglycemia greatly magnifies the excitotoxic effects of these ingredients," Now aspartame even in drugs, the very drugs that are used to treat the problems aspartame triggers in the first place, like seizures. Dr. Betty Martini, D.Hum, Founder Mission Possible International 9270 River Club Parkway Duluth, Georgia 30097 770 242-2599 www.mpwhi.com, www.dorway.com, www.wnho.net Aspartame Toxicity Center, www.holisticmed.com/aspartame Aspartame Information List, www.mpwhi.com scroll down to banners (PS) Now in the news: FDA Told to Skip Black Box on Epilepsy Drugs and Suicide: Wall Street Journal Posted by Jacob Goldstein Until yesterday, the FDA had been rolling steadily toward slapping a black-box warning on epilepsy drugs because they may increase the risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors. But a committee of outside experts convened by the FDA thinks thats a bad idea. The panel voted 14-4 against the black-box warning yesterday, with three abstentions, the WSJ reports. The committee members did agree that some risk may be associated with the drugs. But the panel didn't seem to think that the risk, which the FDA found by pooling data from many studies, is high enough to merit a black-box - the most serious warning commonly used for prescription drugs. Among the medicines reviewed were Pfizers Lyrica, Abbott Laboratories Depakote and Johnson & Johnsons Topamax. One panel member said the risk appears to be modest. And some worried that the black-box warning might prevent some patients from taking the drugs in cases where the benefits of reducing seizures would outweigh the risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors. The panel did support a more moderate step: Sending a medication guide to doctors detailing the risks. Suicide risk has been a big issue for the agency with other drugs, so yesterdays vote puts the agency in a bit of an awkward spot on a very sensitive subject. The FDA isn't required to follow the advisory committees suggestions, but it usually does so. __________________________________________________________ Note the FDA wanted to add a warning label on epileptic drugs because of suicidal thoughts and behavior.A panel of experts were convened and told the FDA to skip the black box warning. Who were the experts, Big Pharma? Is there any question regarding who is running the FDA? Recently the drug Singulair was in question because of suicidal tendencies. Even a 7 year old was suicidal. http://www.mpwhi.com/fda_probes_suicide_in_singulair.htm
Singulair has aspartame in it. The phenylalanine in aspartame lowers the seizure threshold and depletes serotonin. Lowered serotonin triggers bipolar, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES, anxiety, mood swings, etc. The FDA is probably still in the "probing" stage, and never gets any further because they are Big Pharma's Washington Branch Office.

Top 25 Things Vanishing From America

25. Pit Toilets
By the 2000 Census, the number of Americans who lacked indoor plumbing was down to 0.6%. Even though that's still an awful lot of Americans using an outhouse or pit toilet -- 670,000 households or 1.3 million people -- it's a huge improvement from 1950 when 27% of households (and over half of rural households) didn't have complete indoor plumbing.



24. Yellow Pages
This year will be pivotal for the global Yellow Pages industry. Much like newspapers, print Yellow Pages will continue to bleed dollars to their various digital counterparts, from Internet Yellow Pages (IYPs), to local search engines and combination search/listing services like ReachLocal and Yodle. Factors like an acceleration of the print "fade rate" and the looming recession will contribute to the onslaught. One research firm predicts the falloff in usage of newspapers and print Yellow Pages could even reach 10% this year -- much higher than the 2%-3% fade rate seen in past years.


23. Classified Ads
The Internet has made so many things obsolete that newspaper classified ads might sound like just another trivial item on a long list. But this is one of those harbingers of the future that could signal the end of civilization as we know it. The argument is that if newspaper classifieds are replaced by free online listings at sites like Craigslist.org and Google Base, then newspapers are not far behind them.


22. Movie Rental Stores
While Netflix is looking up at the moment, Blockbuster keeps closing store locations by the hundreds. It still has about 6,000 left across the world, but those keep dwindling and the stock is down considerably in 2008, especially since the company gave up a quest of Circuit City. Movie Gallery, which owned the Hollywood Video brand, closed up shop earlier this year. Countless small video chains and mom-and-pop stores have given up the ghost already.


21. Dial-up Internet Access
Dial-up connections have fallen from 40% in 2001 to 10% in 2008. The combination of an infrastructure to accommodate affordable high speed Internet connections and the disappearing home phone have all but pounded the final nail in the coffin of dial-up Internet access.


20. Phone Landlines
According to a survey from the National Center for Health Statistics, at the end of 2007, nearly one in six homes was cell-only and, of those homes that had landlines, one in eight only received calls on their cells.


19. Chesapeake Bay Blue Crabs
Maryland's icon, the blue crab, has been fading away in Chesapeake Bay. Last year Maryland saw the lowest harvest (22 million pounds) since 1945. Just four decades ago the bay produced 96 million pounds.The population is down 70% since 1990, when they first did a formal count. There are only about 120 million crabs in the bay and they think they need 200 million for a sustainable population. Overfishing, pollution, invasive species and global warming get the blame

18. VCRs
For the better part of three decades, the VCR was a best-seller and staple in every American household until being completely decimated by the DVD, and now the Digital Video Recorder (DVR). In fact, the only remnants of the VHS age at your local Wal-Mart or Radio Shack are blank VHS tapes these days. Pre-recorded VHS tapes are largely gone and VHS decks are practically nowhere to be found.


17. Ash Trees
In the late 1990s, a pretty, irridescent green species of beetle, now known as the emerald ash borer, hitched a ride to North America with ash wood products imported from eastern Asia. In less than a decade, its larvae have killed millions of trees in the midwest, and continue to spread. They've killed more than 30 million ash trees in southeastern Michigan alone, with tens of millions more lost in Ohio and Indiana. More than 7.5 billion ash trees are currently at risk.

16. Ham Radio
Amateur radio operators enjoy personal (and often worldwide) wireless communications with each other and are able to support their communities with emergency and disaster communications if necessary, while increasing their personal knowledge of electronics and radio theory. However, proliferation of the Internet and its popularity among youth has caused the decline of amateur radio. In the past five years alone, the number of people holding active ham radio licenses has dropped by 50,000, even though Morse Code is no longer a requirement.

15. The Swimming Hole
Thanks to our litigious society, swimming holes are becoming a thing of the past. '20/20' reports that swimming hole owners, like Robert Every in High Falls, N.Y., are shutting them down out of worry that if someone gets hurt they'll sue. And that's exactly what happened in Seattle. The city of Bellingham was sued by Katie Hofstetter who was paralyzed in a fall at a popular swimming hole in Whatcom Falls Park. As injuries occur and lawsuits follow, expect more swimming holes to post "Keep out!" signs.

14. Answering Machines
The increasing disappearance of answering machines is directly tied to No. 20 our list -- the decline of landlines. According to USA Today, the number of homes that only use cell phones jumped 159% between 2004 and 2007. It has been particularly bad in New York; since 2000, landline usage has dropped 55%. It's logical that as cell phones rise, many of them replacing traditional landlines, that there will be fewer answering machines.


13. Cameras That Use Film
It doesn't require a statistician to prove the rapid disappearance of the film camera in America. Just look to companies like Nikon, the professional's choice for quality camera equipment. In 2006, it announced that it would stop making film cameras, pointing to the shrinking market -- only 3% of its sales in 2005, compared to 75% of sales from digital cameras and equipment.


12. Incandescent Bulbs
Before a few years ago, the standard 60-watt (or, yikes, 100-watt) bulb was the mainstay of every U.S. home. With the green movement and all-things-sustainable-energy crowd, the Compact Fluorescent Lightbulb (CFL) is largely replacing the older, Edison-era incandescent bulb. The EPA reports that 2007 sales for Energy Star CFLs nearly doubled from 2006, and these sales accounted for approximately 20 percent of the U.S. light bulb market. And according to USA Today, a new energy bill plans to phase out incandescent bulbs in the next four to 12 years.


11. Stand-Alone Bowling Alleys
BowlingBalls.US claims there are still 60 million Americans who bowl at least once a year, but many are not bowling in stand-alone bowling alleys. Today most new bowling alleys are part of facilities for all types or recreation including laser tag, go-karts, bumper cars, video game arcades, climbing walls and glow miniature golf. Bowling lanes also have been added to many non-traditional venues such as adult communities, hotels and resorts, and gambling casinos.

10. The Milkman
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in 1950, over half of the milk delivered was to the home in quart bottles, by 1963, it was about a third and by 2001, it represented only 0.4% percent. Nowadays most milk is sold through supermarkets in gallon jugs. The steady decline in home-delivered milk is blamed, of course, on the rise of the supermarket, better home refrigeration and longer-lasting milk. Although some milkmen still make the rounds in pockets of the U.S., they are certainly a dying breed.


9. Hand-Written Letters
In 2006, the Radicati Group estimated that, worldwide, 183 billion e-mails were sent each day. Two million each second. By November of 2007, an estimated 3.3 billion Earthlings owned cell phones, and 80% of the world's population had access to cell phone coverage. In 2004, half-a-trillion text messages were sent, and the number has no doubt increased exponentially since then. So where amongst this gorge of gabble is there room for the elegant, polite hand-written letter?

8. Wild Horses
It is estimated that 100 years ago, as many as two million horses were roaming free within the United States. In 2001, National Geographic News estimated that the wild horse population had decreased to about 50,000 head. Currently, the National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory board states that there are 32,000 free roaming horses in ten Western states, with half of them residing in Nevada. The Bureau of Land Management is seeking to reduce the total number of free range horses to 27,000, possibly by selective euthanasia.

7. Personal Checks
According to an American Bankers Assoc. report, a net 23% of consumers plan to decrease their use of checks over the next two years, while a net 14% plan to increase their use of PIN debit. Bill payment remains the last stronghold of paper-based payments -- for the time being. Checks continue to be the most commonly used bill payment method, with 71% of consumers paying at least one recurring bill per month by writing a check. However, on a bill-by-bill basis, checks account for only 49% of consumers' recurring bill payments (down from 72% in 2001 and 60% in 2003).

6. Drive-in Theaters
During the peak in 1958, there were more than 4,000 drive-in theaters in this country, but in 2007 only 405 drive-ins were still operating. Exactly zero new drive-ins have been built since 2005. Only one reopened in 2005 and five reopened in 2006, so there isn't much of a movement toward reviving the closed ones.

5. Mumps & Measles
Despite what's been in the news lately, the measles and mumps actually, truly are disappearing from the United States. In 1964, 212,000 cases of mumps were reported in the U.S. By 1983, this figure had dropped to 3,000, thanks to a vigorous vaccination program. Prior to the introduction of the measles vaccine, approximately half a million cases of measles were reported in the U.S. annually, resulting in 450 deaths. In 2005, only 66 cases were recorded.

4. Honey Bees
Perhaps nothing on our list of disappearing America is so dire; plummeting so enormously; and so necessary to the survival of our food supply as the honey bee. 'Colony Collapse Disorder,' or CCD, has spread throughout the U.S. and Europe over the past few years, wiping out 50% to 90% of the colonies of many beekeepers -- and along with it, their livelihood.

3. News Magazines and TV News
While the TV evening newscasts haven't gone anywhere over the last several decades, their audiences have. In 1984, in a story about the diminishing returns of the evening news, the New York Times reported that all three network evening-news programs combined had only 40.9 million viewers. Fast forward to 2008, and what they have today is half that.


2. Analog TV
According to the Consumer Electronics Association, 85% of homes in the U.S. get their television programming through cable or satellite providers. For the remaining 15% -- or 13 million individuals -- who are using rabbit ears or a large outdoor antenna to get their local stations, change is in the air. If you are one of these people you'll need to get a new TV or a converter box in order to get the new stations which will only be broadcast in digital.

1. The Family Farm
Since the 1930s, the number of family farms has been declining rapidly. According to the USDA, 5.3 million farms dotted the nation in 1950, but this number had declined to 2.1 million by the 2003 farm census (data from the 2007 census hasn't yet been published). Ninety-one percent of the U.S. farms are small family farms.


Very interesting article. I think since the internet and modern technology a lot of things has become extinct. Folks depend to much on modern tech also.

http://www.walletpop.com/specials/top-25-things-vanishing-from-america

Not a good look of the week!


WTF was he thinking?

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Scientists make gene link to African HIV epidemic


A genetic variant peculiar to Africans substantially raises their risk of infection with HIV, according to research that suggests evolved susceptibility may be helping to drive the continent’s Aids epidemic.
The 90 per cent of Africans who carry the DNA variation are 40 per cent more likely to contract HIV than those without it, after similar exposure to the virus, scientists from Britain and America have found.
As the genetic change is common among people of African ancestry but virtually unknown among other ethnic groups, it could explain in part why HIV-Aids is more prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa. The United Nations estimates that 22.5 million people there are HIV-positive, more than two thirds of the global total of approximately 33.2 million.
The variant, known as “Duffy-negative”, is so common in Africa that it could be responsible for about 11 per cent of the continent’s HIV burden, or 2.5 million cases, scientists said.


“It is an Africa-specific variant, which is why it’s so interesting in the context of Aids research,” said Robin Weiss, Professor of Infection and Immunity at University College London, a member of the study team.
“It could certainly be a contributing factor to the scale of the epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa. It’s the first time, so far as we understand, that a genetic factor that increases susceptibility to infection has come into play.”
Sexual behaviour is also involved in the epidemic in Africa, the only part of the world in which it predominantly affects heterosexuals.
The Duffy-negative gene has probably spread so widely through the African population because it provides resistance to a form of malaria called Plasmodium vivax. Professor Weiss believes it may also once have increased resistance against a precursor of the most deadly malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum.
These traits would have been highly advantageous in evolutionary Africa. As HIV is a new human pathogen, thought to have jumped from chimpanzees to people between 1910 and 1950, the gene’s effect on the virus would have had no negative consequences until recently. “Something that protected against malaria in the past is now leaving the host more susceptible to HIV,” Professor Weiss said.
Matthew Dolan, of the San Antonio Military Medical Centre in Texas, said: “After thousands of years of adaptation, this Duffy variant rose to high frequency because it helped protect against malaria. Now, with another global pandemic on the scene, this same variant renders people more susceptible to HIV. It shows the complex interplay between historically important diseases and susceptibility in contemporary times.”
For the study, published in the journal Cell Host & Microbe, scientists examined a group of US Air Force personnel, of whom more than 1,200 are HIV-positive, and who have been followed for nearly 22 years. The Duffy-negative genotype was seen almost exclusively in African-Americans.
A continent cursed
— Sub-Saharan Africa is the globe’s most Aids-affected region. In 2005, 24.5 million of its people were living with HIV and of all Aids sufferers, 64 per cent live there
— In 2005, about 2.7 million people became infected with HIV and more than two million died
— More than two million children under 15 are HIV-positive and more than 90 per cent live in Africa
— About 12 million African children under 17 have lost one or both parents to Aids
— About 72 per cent of all people needing anti-retroviral treatment live in Africa, and only one in six receives the necessary medicine
— Swaziland has the highest HIV rate, at 33.4 per cent of population. Botswana has 24.1 per cent and Zimbabwe 20.1 per cent
Source: UNAids


We Already know the AIDS hoax was to target us.



Friday, July 18, 2008

Eye Candy Elert!


Rapper Foxy Brown on the cover of this month hip hop XXL cover.

Funny picture of the day!


The biggest drug bust ever the police finds over 6000 lbs of Crack!

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Don't try this at home


What kind of bike is that?