Tag: dioxin

Side Effects of Calcium Supplements

Are Calcium Supplements Safe?

Today is the 1st of August 2010.  We were warned on our news last night in New Zealand about the possible side effects of calcium supplements.  It is possible that taking calcium supplements can lead to heart disease, we were told. But we need calcium for a healthy heart, for healthy nerves, good sleep and a calm brain, and to prevent colon cancer. So now what?

Calcium build-ups can occur in the veins and arteries in people who have never touched a calcium supplement in their life. This doesn’t mean that they are eating too much calcium, but rather that they are not getting enough Vitamin C and Magnesium in the diet. We need Vitamin C and Magnesium, found in most fruit and vegetables, to assimilate calcium properly.

I hope this rather absurd revelation about calcium  isn’t a lead up to drug companies persuading our governments that vitamin and mineral supplements should be banned because ‘they are dangerous to the health of the public when mis-used’. Dolomite powder is a natural calcium supplement:  do the powers that be intend to remove this, too,  from our list of available supplements?

Perhaps this latest calcium debate is a back-lash from the chemical companies which make things like deodorant, shampoo, toothpaste and cosmetics with petrochemicals, aluminium, dioxin, and other dangerous chemicals in them:   we have had a run  of documentaries recently on these cosmetic products and the dangers their chemicals pose to health.  But they are all still for sale, and probably not much will change about the ingredients which are used in their making in the near future.

It is possible that calcium supplements taken too often, or in too large a dose, and without enough magnesium and vitamin C to accompany it,  do have a depository effect in the arteries and veins.  If you take magnesium and zinc, vitamin C,   and you eat plenty of fruit and vegetables, you should absorb some of the calcium in a tablet.  However, much of the calcium in a tablet will actually go straight through you,  unabsorbed, and should not pose a problem to your arteries at all.  No more than……….

Calcium in Dairy Products:  I wonder whether these research scientist took into account the quantity of  dairy products these people on their trials were consuming? it is  known that the calcium from dairy products can also build up into calcium deposits in the arteries.

Or did these research scientists give only calcium foods, without magnesium and vitamin C,  with no fresh  fruit and vegetables, to their research test-subjects? A little like giving pigs a steady diet of comfrey over a three month long trial, so that you can tell the world that comfrey  causes liver cancer? And then get comfrey banned in all the countries where pharmaceuticals are sold, with a commercially made preparation, which now you have to buy,  to take its place?

How dangerous, really, are calcium supplements to the health?  Not really dangerous, in my opinion.  My guess is that most people who get heart attacks have never touched a calcium supplement in their life.  They are more than likely to be on some other medication from their doctor,  and the side effects of these drugs are generally not divulged to the general public.  The doctor is instructed by the drug companies what drug should be given to people.  These remedies are not tried and tested by the doctor personally.  He accepts what the drug companies tell him about the medications.  He has no idea, really, except by watching his patients, what a drug is going to do. This drug-taking, drug-making culture of ours accepts newly invented drugs without much question as to their side-effects.

This  is just such a different scenario to traditional herbal medicine, or acupuncture, or ayurvedic medicine:  in these modalities, the remedies do not change by the week, and so the outcome of using the well-tried remedies is fairly well established.

The practice of orthodox medicine is such a contrast.  It lacks history.   The giving out of new medications, and sometimes many different  combinatons of medications are taken at a time,  goes on willy-nilly, unsupervised, undocumented and uncontested in the public arena.

So – even the well known Ayurvedic doctor  Vasant Lad mentions in his book’Ayurvedic Home Remedies’  that dairy products can cause a build-up of calcium in the arteries.  But do the research scientists make a comprehensive, intelligent  study of this fact and put it on the national news?

No, they do not, because the milk-producing companies do not want their sales to be affected.  They are powerful, wealthy  companies which can influence topics of research.  They can also influence our media into not publishing negative stuff about the effects of lots of milk drinking.  We had a very good article about two years ago on research into milk which told us quite a bit about the effects of milk-drinking, but nothing has followed it up, and, certainly, the type of milk which was thought to be more harmful was not taken off the market, nor were any warnings put on that milk as to its negative effects on health.

The manufacturers of vitamin and mineral supplements, however, are easier to target, because they are not multi-million dollar enterprises compared to the multi-national drug companies, or even the milk producing companies.  It does not take much to put a small competitor out of business, and announcing on national TV news that a product really is  potentially that harmful is a pretty effective  way to go about it.

Personally, I prefer to take calcium naturally. But I would hate to see herbal, vitamin, or mineral supplements made unavailable to the general public. I do not believe that a  calcium supplement such as dolomite powder could really pose a serious threat to people’s health.

You don’t need to worry at all about over-doing calcium if you take it via your food.  The best calcium and magnesium  supplement is  a home made calcium tonic – one which you make yourself out of egg shells and cider vinegar.  This is entirely safe, though not for people being treated for chronic candida.  See my post for Best Calcium Supplement.

Vegetarians, even those which do not use milk, are not generally deficient in calcium, because they eat a lot of fruit and vegetables which provide calcium. One good handful of sesame seeds provides you with about 1200mg of calcium and magnesium which won’t have a build up effect in the arteries. One handful of sesame seeds with 1200mg of calcium is about almost as  much calcium as you need for a day.   Sunflower seeds,  soy beans, and the brassica family which includes broccoli,  are other good sources  of calcium.


Causes of Breast Cancer

Causes of Breast Cancer

Many articles will tell you that the causes of breast cancer are unknown. Some doctors will tell you that breast cancer is hereditary. However, there are some  chemicals and some factors which are known to contribute towards people succumbing to breast cancer.

Radiation

X Ray radiation of the chest area in childhood, or during youth, can cause breast cancer to develop later in a woman’s life.

The women who were exposed to the Hiroshima bomb succumbed more easily to breast cancer, and other cancers,  than women of the same generation who were not irradiated.

Your health can suffer, and your immune system beomome damaged, because of living, or working, too close to electricity transformers, meter boxes, cell phone towers,  overhead power lines, sleeping next to power sources, and over use of  cell phones.

Toxic Chemicals Contaminate Environment

For most people, the main risk factors in getting breast cancer lie in the fact that so many toxic chemicals are widely used in our environments and our homes.

Petro-chemicals can cause breast cancer, and other cancers, to develop.

Organo-chlorides which are  found in many herbicides, and pesticides, are known to have a carcinogen effect, especially in  the forming of breast, ovarian and uterine cancers.

Herbicides, widely used by councils in spraying whole areas at a time, which they will call a spraying  ‘programme’, are a real threat to adults, and even more  to children who often walk these sprayed areas to get to and from school, or to the school bus. Even if we are not actively walking in these areas, the spray drift is affecting all those who live in the area.

Herbicide use in public areas should definitely be banned, for the sake of all. The risk is just too great. Our children may be in fairly good health now, but these poisons will affect the health of many children in later life, and predispose them to cancer and other disease related to  immune disfunction.

Toxins such as Propylene Glycol, Dioxin, which is found in 245T, or Agent Orange, DDT, 24D, Roundup, and many other herbicides and insecticides are all thought to increase cancer risk. Some of these chemicals are now banned, such as DDT. However, DDT  still remains in the soils where it was used, and these residues still find their way into our food chain.

245T, which is now banned, was known to affect the genetic structure of humans. This has resulted in deformities of children, who may be at risk of having deformed children themselves, since 245T affects the genes.

We who protested against the use of 245T, or ‘agent orange’ in the 1970’s were told by government authorities in New Zealand that it was not proven that this chemical caused cancer, or deformities, or anything else, and so its use would be continued here.

Actually, the effects of 2,4,5,T and 2,4,D, WERE known – the effects of using ‘Agent Orange’ , a combination of the two chemicals, in Viet Nam proved how harmful it was. It was banned in all other western countries long before New Zealand banned it, because Dow chemicals  (Ivan Watkins Dow) were making the stuff here, at New Plymouth, New Zealand.

After aerial spraying over our house and stream which was our water source, I became very ill.  I was around six months pregnant at the time.  Friends advised to go and see the local doctor in the Hokianga, so that my case should be recorded as being caused by 2,4,5,T.  Hopefully, we thought, a register of all ill-health related to 2,4,5,T was being kept.

But, instead of recording my ill-health as the after-math of aerial 2,4,5,T spraying, the doctor told me I was imagining I was ill.  I was a hypochondriac, he said, because there was no proof that 2,4,5,T caused any harm to human beings.  He failed to record my case of 2,4,5,T related symptoms – breathing difficulties, asthma-like symptoms, feeling nauseous all the time, bone pains, and having literally no energy to do the simplest task.

Six months later, my baby had died.  And around four or five years later, I had a breast lump which my doctor advised to have biopsied.

Instead of trusting any more medical people, or scientists, I decided to cure the thing myself.  This was when I discovered, first, Walter Last, the Whangarei healer, and then the Dr Gerson therapy for cancer.  Both these healers, in their own way, helped me recover.

Common sense must prevail. Don’t wait for chemicals to be banned after they have wreaked havoc in the environment, and killed people.  Avoid them NOW, and protect your children’s health, as well as your own.

Harmful Chemicals in Personal Care Products

Many harmful chemicals are used in cosmetics and personal care products, and even baby products. Dioxin is one chemical which is still to be found in some under-arm deodorants, among other cosmetic products.

The chemical list of carcenogens is extensive and lengthy. The simple  message is that you should avoid ALL the chemicals that you can. Learn how to live without them. Learn how to manage weeds and insects by natural means. If you can’t, then learn how to live with the weeds instead, as they will most likely benefit your health, whereas  toxic herbicides won’t.

Toxic Chemicals are in Our Clothing Fabrics

These days, much of our clothing, including our underwear,  is made cheaply in China, and this means that very often, the fabrics are synthetic, petroleum-based products. These synthetic fabrics contain many chemicals which adversely affect the health.  Often, cheap dyes are used in clothing made in China: Many of the dyes used to dye fabric and leather contain excessive amounts of formaldehyde, which is a carcenogen. These chemicals are readily absorbed through the pores of your skin, and into your body, where they can be stored. These stored chemicals are a potential risk in getting cancer.

The Bra Restricts Blood and Lymph

The Wearing of the bra in order to keep a perfect shape might contribute towards some women developing breast cancer. It is thought that the wearing of a tight bra around the whole of the chest and breast area could contribute to cancerous conditions setting in, because the bra restricts the blood and energy flow. The bra stops the lymph from travelling freely about the body, locking it in around the breast area. This means that drainage of waste products from the chest area will be blocked, because the lymph cannot carry them away efficiently.

The Contraceptive Pill or Injection

Contraceptives interfere with your body’s hormone production and regulation, which is why the contraceptive is a risk factor in getting cancer. It also robs the body of certain nutrients, which is another negative factor. There are many  other medications which  can contribute towards cancer and other degenerative disease, but the contraceptive  pill or injection probably poses the biggest threat, as it is taken long term, and this  means that your hormonal system is continually being interfered with, long term.

Innoculations Lower Your Immunity:

Innoculations for diseases like  influenza, whooping cough, tetanus, diphtheria and the like,  actually reduce your immunity. They might protect you against one outbreak of flu, or some other disease, but at the risk of getting more severe diseases in later life. Children who have had the range of injections for various diseases in childhood will have an immune system which is severly weakened, which will predispose them to immune function diseases like cancer, including  breast cancer, arthritis, and  multiple sclerosis, in later years.

Personally, after my eldest child was affected adversely by a series of injections in childhood, I refused to take part in this innoculation charade. There are other options, like homeopathy, vitamin therapy, acupuncture, and herbal medecine which prevent diseases and work cures. However, there is a place for everything: get advice from your doctor or homeopath  before you decide NOT to go for that innoculation which everybody is racing to get.

Alcohol, Marijuana, and Cigarettes

Women who drink more than two glasses of alcohol per day are twice as likely to get breast cancer, or some other form of cancer, than women who rarely drink. Marijuana smokers, and cigarette smokers, also double their chances of getting breast cancer, and other cancers, including lung cancer.

Nutritional Deficiencies Can Cause Cancer

Give yourself and your family a diet which is high in all the necessary nutrients. Ensure that you eat plenty of foods which are rich in  Iodine and Calcium. These are both essential to good health and to preventing cancer. Make sure that every meal contains plenty of Roughage . Roughage is the other essential factor in preventing cancer.

Remember the three  cancer preventers – Roughage – Iodine – Calcium.

Avoid Processed Foods which have Chemical Additives

Processed foods contain many chemicals which are hazardous to the health, especially if you eat a lot of this food. These chemicals build up in the body, until one day – boomph – some disease ‘hits’ you, like breast cancer. Detoxifying diets, or the castor oil treatment taken once a week, are ways in which you can reduce the toxins in your body, to help prevent cancer.

Other Things to Do to Prevent Breast Cancer

Give up smoking. Limit, or give up alcohol. Give up all drugs unless it is a medication which your life depends on.

You can remove your bra when you get home from work. You can make sure that it is made of cotton, rather than a synthetic material, and that it is not too tight.

Well wash that new bra before beginning to wear it.

Try to wear cotton fabrics rather than anything synthetic. This is especially  important for fabrics which touch the skin. Again, well wash any new item of clothing before you begin to wear it.

You can take measures to detoxify the body, so that any toxic residues which have built up in your body get eliminated over time. Days on the apple diet, or the castor oil cleanse used once a week, will help your body to detoxify. You can help your children’s health by giving them mainly apples to eat on certain days of the week, as this will help them to detoxify as well.

You can throw out all the chemicals – all the herbicides and insecticides which you have about your house. You can check your make-up. Throw out all dubious products. Give up hair dye and nail polish – these contribute to cancer.

Read merrilyn’s article on ‘household chemical reactions’ for more information on chemicals which cause cancer and other disease.

Household Chemical Reactions

Toxic Chemicals in the Home:

There are many household chemicals which are very poisonous.  Household chemical reactions are not uncommon, as there are  not only many invisible toxic chemicals in the environment, but those  to be found  in many products you have around the house, from cleaning products to that face cream you smear on your face daily.

There are many household chemicals which could cause reactions: 884 different toxic chemicals have been found in personal care products alone.

Here are some of the most common household chemicals which you would be best to avoid using, whether they be found in cleaners or make-up, or products designed for your baby:

PROPYLENE GLYCOL:

Even if you avoid using products which contain harmful chemicals, it is difficult to avoid contaminating your environment with this chemical, as we shall see. This insidious chemical is found in many products which we use every day in the bathroom or the kitchen. Propylene glycol is used in many toothpastes, face creams, shampoos, conditioners, ice cream, and BABY PRODUCTS.

Propylene glycol  is commonly known as industrial anti-freeze. It is one of the most corrosive chemicals known. It is to be found in the mechanic’s workshop, and sometimes in the garages of the home handy-man, as it is used in brake fluid, degreasers and anti-freeze products .

Petrol stations are the worst place for picking this chemical up, as it gets spilt about when people top up their brake fluid, or use anti-freeze.  Propylene glycol is carried about from place to place very easily, as the greasy quality of anti-freeze and brake fluid makes it easily transferrable. You get a coating of it on the soles of your shoes as you fill up your car with petrol, and walk over to the check-out to pay your bill. The coating on your shoes then  gets transferred to your car floor, and then to  floor of the house when you return home.

This is one very good reason for removing your shoes at the door, before you enter your house, or that of anyone elses.

In a chemical analysis which I read about, it was found that propylene glycol was the most common chemical to be found on the floor of well-trodden public places, such as pubs, or railway stations. It was commonly found in the carpets of most households. You can see how easily propylene glycol can get onto your skin, or onto your food, simply because there is a film of it on the floor of your house which has been  tramped in from the street.

Propyelene glycol, or ‘anti-freeze’ is  known as a humectant, which means that it is capable of attracting water. This is the reason it is used in cosmetics, because it keeps your skin moisturized. This is why it is used in baby products, as it works to ‘protect’ your baby’s skin from nappy rash.

So- there is a danger to health if you regularly  apply  face creams to your skin, or use nappy-rash creams or moisturisers on your baby: you will absorb small amounts of propylene glycol through the pores of the  skin. The stuff then finds places to store itself in the body, most commonly in the liver.

Propylene glycol, or anti-freeze has very bad  side effects.  In my view, this chemical is possibly more to blame  than plastics are, for the many conditions of ill health which afflict so many people today.

Propylene glycol is an  extremely corrosive substance, it eats away at your nervous system, and weakens the walls of the veins, capilliaries and arteries. Breathing the fumes from brake fluid is just about as damaging to your throat and lungs as is smoking. It is extremely irritating to the eyes. It will increase blood pressure and cause heart palpitations. This is because the body sets off alarm bells in order to try and shunt the blood around more quickly in order to rid it of the toxins eroding its pathways. This increases the liklihood of stroke and heart disease.

It has an immediate effect on the pituitary gland, which controls the hormonal production of the various centers in the body’s glandular system. The  result of exposure to propylene glycol – a disfunction of the pituitary gland,  could be the reason so many people have a problem with obesity and depression today.

Remember that whilst  the application of a nappy-rash cream will protect against nappyrash, your baby will be absorbing propylene glycol directly into its body through the pores of the skin. This could cause problems such as anxiety, or excessive crying.  Propylene glycol upsets the digestion and ruins the beneficial bacteria in the bowel. This, alone, can cause a crying baby. This toxin also  causes, from my own experience, breathing problems, asthma-like symptoms,  sinus trouble, ear ache and poor memory.  If you are not the sensitive type which suffers these reactions,  toxic chemicals  in your body are still a potential hazard to your health, as they will lie dormant, building up over time only to take the body by storm later in life:  serious immune deficiency diseases  such as arthritis, osteoporosis,  multiple sclerosis, parkinson’s disease, or cancer could be the outcome.

Some warnings on the use of Propylene glycol state that ‘prolonged and repeated contact with the skin may cause irritation, skin rash, and dermatitis’, however, these are the least of the health concerns regarding propylene glycol, or brake fluid. It is extremely damaging to the immune system and to the nervous system.

A relative of mine who worked as a mechanic for years, changing brake fluid for people as part of his job, became very ill with ‘M.E.’  and acute depression. His immune system shut down completely, and it took several years before he was well enough to work again. His health practitioner blamed it on the brake fluid, the propylene glycol.

Of course, the amounts he was getting splashed onto his skin and onto his clothes was far more than what your baby will absorb through use of a nappy-rash cream. However, this chemical IS absorbed through the skin, and if you use the cream on a daily basis, then your baby’s health will be affected, in the long run. You just cannot tell what a ‘safe’ dose will be. It could cause early cancer in the child’s life, or the child may be prone to arthritis, or multiple sclerosis later in life, if he/she is continually exposed to this, and other, chemicals during its childhood.

It is important to avoid this chemical: avoid those commercial products which contain it, and take measures to avoid  the contamination of your home and environment by removing shoes at the door. Be careful to wash the hands  well after going downtown for petrol, or even shopping.

FORMALDEHYDE

This is another chemical to watch out for. It is probable that you will have reactions to this household chemical, not realizing where the root of the problem may lie: It is found in many products commonly used about the house. Many cosmetic products: nail varnish, lipsticks, face creams and conditioners, have formaldehyde added, because it is a very convenient and cheap preservative.  It is found in many house paints and varnishes. It is found in many cleaning products, including some soap powders. It is found in some commercial dyes, such as leather-tanning dye, and clothing dyes.

Formaldehyde, like the propylene glycol in brake fluid and other products, is easily absorbed through the pores of the skin.

Formaldehyde is a carcenogen. However, the immediate effect one notices after exposure to this chemical is loss of memory, disorientation and confusion.

I have personal experience with the effects of formaldehyde poiisoning: This chemical was fairly new to the medical profession when I was a girl. It was regarded as the latest wonderful invention, as it  immediately sterilized medical equipment upon contact.  In the 1950’s, when I had my appendix removed after peritonitis, a jar of formaldehyde was kept beside the bed to sterilize the thermometer. The thermometer sat in this fluid day by day, until the nurse came around to take temperatures, at which point the thermometer was simply flicked a few times, then put straight into your mouth. I noticed some alarming and frightening reactions after each thermometer reading: it was obvious the stuff in the jar, which had the most distinctive and sickening smell, was causing a general blanking out of the brain, then  memory loss , disorientation and confusion once my brain ‘came to’ again.

I consider myself lucky: many nurses who used formaldehyde regularly in the 1950’s suffered such  extreme memory loss that they had to give up nursing.

If you use products which contain formaldehyde on a daily basis, you might not  associate your poor memory, or lack of motivation, with the source, because the poisoning will occur gradually, over a period of time.  But there is no doubt about it – formaldehyde directly affects the brain and its memory function. It also causes cancer.

Being a painter of buildings, or boats, is probably the most hazardous of occupations where formldehyde is concerned. But glamorous women who use nail polish all the time are also at great risk of getting cancer, or suffering memory loss in the interim. Formaldehyde is absorbed through the nail tissue on your fingers and toes. This has been proven by doctors who analysed Jacqui Davison’s cancer in the 1980’s:  the source of the cancer had come from the big toe, and the big toes were the only toes which she kept continually painted with nail varnish.

PROTECT  THE  HEALTH OF YOUR CHILDREN:

The  American Red Cross did a study in 2008, at the request of the Environmental Working Group.  The blood from the umbilical cord of newborn babies was analysed. These are the facts from a leaflet entitled ‘The Scandal of this Generation’ which was recently  given to me by a promoter of  ‘New-ways’ products:

287 compounds were found which had MILTIPLE toxic effects:

134 were found to cause cancer

151 were found which are known to cause birth defects

154  were found to disrupt hormone production

186 caused infertility

130 were known to affect the immune system

158 were known to be neurotoxins

Even if you do not perceive an immediate reaction from using products with these harmful chemicals in them, it is advisable to avoid them if you want to protect your health and the health of your children in the long term. Below is a list of some of the most common  toxic ingredients  used in household products and cosmetics:

Di-ethanol-amine, used as a foaming agent, reacts with nitrates in babies’ drinking bottles. The chemical forms the compound  NDEA – nitrosodiethanolamine, which has long been recognized as a cancer causing agent. Apparently, in 1980 the FDA announced that about 42% of all cosmetic products were contaminated with this compound.  Germany banned the use  Di-ethanol-amine, which forms DEA/NDEA. Dr Samuel S. Epstein M.D. who wrote the books  ‘The Politics of Cancer’ and ‘Unreasonable Risk’ discusses this ingredient.

Dioxin, Sodium Laureth Sulphate, Sodium Lauryl Sulphate, PEG-12 (polyethylene glycol-12), Sodium Monofluorophosphate, Tetrasodium Pyrophosphate, and Sodium Saccharin are other very dangerous chemicals widely used in personal care products, and other household products.