MORGELLONS… A Natural Medicine Approach

Posted by C.E. Carnicom on Behalf of the Author:
Gwen Scott, N.D.
Jan 27 2008

Timing is everything, we are told, and now seems to be the time for some revelations.

Those of you who have watched Clifford Carnicom’s documentary on the aerosol operations (Chemtrails) will know me. We have worked together for many years now, trying very hard to unravel the purpose, content, and impact of what is being dumped into our air supply every day. It should be realized that because these are very small particles, they are systemic to your entire body in less than a minute. Think about that, seriously.

My interest is, primarily, finding natural medicines that can help ALL people mitigate the devastating effects of a multi-leveled assault on human health. Mr.Carnicom has provided immeasurable help in identifying contents so that I may design some natural medicine protocols around them. And make no mistake, the contents can be changed at any time without our knowledge or consent. In fact, I believe it has happened and will continue to happen without accountability.

Before I continue a few legal issues need to be addressed. New Mexico and most other states do not license Naturopathic Doctors. The law says I may educate you, but I cannot diagnose illness, or prescribe any medications. With that in mind, I am going to recount my own personal journey with Chemtrail implications as well as “Morgellons.” If any of the information I present has meaning to you, please find an enlightened and competent health care practitioner to work directly with you. Many natural medicines and drugs (prescription and over the counter) do not interact very well, and in some cases, can cause dangerous contraindications. It is imperative that you work closely with a professional you trust and not try to “cowboy” your health circumstances. I give you permission to share any and all information presented here with your health care practitioner so that he/she may evaluate it in light of your own regimen and symptoms.

Also, it is important that you understand one of the founding principles of natural medicine…Herring’s Law of Cure. This law presents that your body will rid itself of anything unwanted (diseases, etc.) from top to bottom, from the inside to the outside, and in the reverse order in which it entered your system. As you will see, much of the work on my own body follows this law exactly.

I am presenting both empirical (personal observation) with scientific information. Many thanks to Clifford Carnicom (hundreds of unpaid hours on his side), a research doctor, a surgeon, a chemist, and many publications for the scientific information. Although I do not have formal scientific training, I have read many books on human anatomy and physiology (structure and function of the systems) as well as herbal remedies, and all other natural modalities. I have also spent lots of hours looking into a microscope. I have a degree as a Naturopathic Doctor from an accredited college. But again, this is a journal of my personal experiences and not in any way to be understood as a “how to” remedy for the Chemtrail maladies, including “Morgellons.”

I spoke of timing at the beginning. It is time to say I am the “Morgellons” person that Mr. Carnicom used for many of his blood, skin, lung, and mouth samples. At the beginning of this work, I was the only provider. Now with so many people willing to give him samples, I know his work will continue. It is time for me to step forward.

I will get to what is being called “Morgellons” disease in just a minute. I must say, in my opinion, it’s not really a disease in the traditional sense. It is not measles or mumps. It doesn’t run a finite course nor is it exclusive to contact with other humans. What we are looking at here is an inorganic fiber and other components delivered through the air supply. In my opinion, what we are really looking at is a progressive “system” or “syndrome” in which “Morgellons” is just the latest and most visible aspect.

My journey into this “syndrome” began over ten years ago. I felt “something” was in me that didn’t belong…a gut feeling. I also noticed that my joints were aching more than they should, I got tired easily, I was getting skins breakouts, and my digestion was “off.” I was eating well (organics, free range meats, etc.) and exercising, yet I felt my vitality slipping. I decided to begin a program of “wellness” without any idea where it would lead me.

I began by introducing herbs and herbal combinations that would address the full range of pathogens that might be causing me problems…bacteria, virus, fungus, and parasite. I was able to eliminate organic parasites at the beginning. That still left me with the other three. So, I searched for and found one herbal combination that addressed all three. It is called Deep Health by Herbs, Etc. I also made some bad or aggressive choices that were really quite dangerous which I will not share. With this herbal extract I began to get sores all over my head, but, mindful of Herring’s Law, I saw this as a good thing (top to bottom, in to out) They were painful, numerous, volcano like, and produced scabs that were very itchy and would not heal for weeks, months, and, in one case, two years. Of course, at the time, it was before Chemtrail awareness, so I assumed something from earlier years was coming out or some new disease I didn’t know was presenting (later I was to look at photos and see the lines in the sky that I was unaware of at the time.)Those sores were exactly like the ones I have today on my back, but I cannot tell you if there were fibers in the scabs. I strongly suspect there were.

One thing that is very interesting. After my scalp finally healed my hair got thicker, the few gray hairs I had fell out, replaced by much darker hair. Also, the texture of my hair changed. Instead of straight, fine hair it became more coarse and wavy. I don’t know why to this day, but I took it as a good sign. I have a client in Los Angeles who I began working with about 8-months ago and he reports that his once gray eyebrows are now brown again. He also says his once brown hair is growing in again…that he has brown roots in his white hair. Again, I take this as a sign of renewed health.

I began to look at what was happening very carefully. Surely this was not a “normal” or known situation (ten years ago.) I started to see a “network” under my skin that looked like it might be fungal in nature. I contacted a good friend who is a research doctor to get his opinion. Strangely enough, he and his research partner had been looking at live blood samples under an atomic microscope and observed a fungus in EVERYBODY’S blood sample, including his own (note: Mr. Carnicom is finding fibers and an unknown, perhaps bacterial, form in everyone’s blood as well.) He was very upset because he said it looked “altered” and was using very fine particulate metals as weapons against the immune system. He said the fungus actually collected heavy metals and “stabbed” all immune responders. It sounded so science fiction to me at the time. He told me that he had found a great metal detoxification method using food grade diatomaceous earth that he took everyday in distilled water (perma-guard.com.) He said about one tablespoon would work for most adults. The FDA doesn’t give approval for taking diatomaceous earth internally in humans, but we can give it to our cats, dogs, cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, etc. Most feed stores carry it. The only known contraindication is if it is taken with food. It will not recognize what metals are good for you (iron, trace copper, etc) and what ones are harmful. My research doctor friend says it will bind up metals and carry them out of your body. I do know this therapy is widely used in India (white earth,) especially by pregnant women. I met the head medicine man of the Shoshone Indian People and he told me they have historically used it to detoxify people. I also met an African American healer in Georgia last year and he told me they’d been using it in his community for years, all the way back to the days of slavery.

At this point in my journey I realized that I not only needed to get rid of any metals in my system, but I needed to go on an aggressive anti-fungal diet with supporting herbs. I made sure to eat LOTS of garlic, onions, etc. and I avoided ALL sugars. I drank Pau D’ Arco tea daily and began to see some important results. I also found a wonderful anti-fungal herbal combination that is no longer available, but Herbs, Etc. has a similar one called Yeast ReLeaf. It should be said, I have no financial ties with any of the companies I mention in this journal.

I continued to eat organics, drink distilled water, and eat, moderately, only free range meats. And I began to notice some vitality returning with the anti-fungal focus. But, I also knew that I was far from “clean.”

About eight years ago I became sadly aware of the Chemtrails. I was blessed to be introduced to Clifford Carnicom, who at that time was a voice in the wilderness. He began to share with me all of the data he was gathering and I began to see why it was so important to get those metals out of the system. Recently, the National Institute for Health in Washington, D.C. released a report on barium. The report linked barium “intoxication” to M.S., ALS, and other diseases of “unknown” origins. The report also said that the military sprayed barium in the air! That was certainly interesting to me. A good deal of research is available linking aluminum to Alzheimer’s disease, especially when the aluminum is combined with fluoride.

Also recently, an oncologist in Italy, Dr. Tullio Simoncini, says he believes cancer is really a fungus. Many other doctors came out in support when he was attacked for presenting his work. He is currently treating people with cancer with enormous success (www.cancerfungus.com). I personally think he is on the right track and so does my surgeon friend who tells me they are opening people up and finding them full of fungus.

He told me there are times they can’t even find the organs because they are “covered” with fungus. I personally have not seen this, but this surgeon has years of experience and no reason to mislead me. I think a strong anti-fungal diet is a great idea. There are many books at the health store outlining them. I should say, most of the books are focused on Candida Albicans, a common fungus and we may be looking at a different “breed” here, but it’s a good start.

I have also found anti-fungal soaps of great help. The brand called Miracle II and its companion Neutralizer have been invaluable in my healing process (www.miracle2.net). Most health stores carry anti-fungal soaps, usually with Tea Tree Oil.

About three years ago, I began to get open, painful sores on my back…they remain to this day. Old ones, in time, will close up and I will think I am finished, but new ones will appear, sometimes overnight. This is the “Morgellons” aspect of my journey. It wasn’t until Mr. Carnicom put the scar tissue under high magnification that the true nature of these sores came to light. In every scar tissue they was at least one and sometimes many fibers. Now I began to understand why the process was ongoing. I breathe…fibers are in the air supply…body wants them out. So, I stand alone, at this time, with the following theory…Morgellons is NOT a disease in the conventional sense. It is the body’s HEALTHY response to an invader, or foreign matter, that does not belong. It seeks to push it out.

About one month ago my teeth started aching. It was slight at first and I really didn’t pay attention. About 4am one morning I awoke with the most painful “tooth ache” I could imagine. I tried every remedy I knew to no avail. I “talked to the kingdom” and got the answer to rinse the tooth vigorously with red wine. I certainly wouldn’t have thought of that. The results are on Mr. Carnicom’s web site. I continue to “pull” them out everyday with the red wine therapy and, although not as many are coming out, I am still producing. It would be an interesting test to run for yourself to see if you have fibers in your gums. Many of my friends who do not have a single “Morgellons” symptom have done it and in all cases fibers can be seen in the sink. Another interesting test is to take your temperature (digital is the fastest) everyday. Everyone seems to be running lower than the 98.6 average. Some of my clients are down in the 94-95 range.

We now know that combined with these fibers are a pathogen that has yet to be identified. It appears to cause damage to the blood, consequently all body systems. I keep hoping that someone with some expertise in this field will step up to the plate and help Mr. Carnicom with his efforts. You know, if you breathe…or your children breathe…or your mother breathes…time to understand that ALL humans are involved.

Another component that is also part of the “Morgellons syndrome” is a luminescent material that some call plastic, others silicone. It comes out of the lungs, eyes, skin, and mouth. My tears are very sticky, a recent development. The material “glows” under a black light and is unknown in its properties. Also, its purpose is unknown as well. I do know that it has somehow incorporated into what is leaving my body. It also contains the unknown pathogen seen in the fibers.

I was interested to note that as I drove across the country recently, in three different states a large “glob” of perfectly clear material hit my windshield (not a gift from the birds.) When I tried to clean it off with my wipers it smeared and took many passes to finally clear. I didn’t collect any samples, but it wouldn’t be surprising if this material coming out of my body is one and the same.

Also of interest to me, on CNN Anderson Cooper presented a series called Planet In Peril and one of the segments contained the results of a blood test he had taken. It was reported that he had an unusually high amount of “plastic” in his blood…wonder if we all do.

I do know that a scientist named Marcel Vogel was experimenting with luminescent materials and their uses in the 70’s (Secret Life of Plants.) He later went to work for IBM and there are many patents with his name involving luminescent material. I was particularly interested in the one involving Electro-luminescent materials, but couldn’t get into the data.

Another curious phenomenon…EVERYBODY’S eyes I have examined under a black light reveal that their pupils “glow” or are luminescent. Is this normal? Perhaps an expert can tell me, as I remember black light parties in the 60’s and I personally don’t remember pupils glowing.

Another interesting observation…after the sores finishing expelling blood with fibers, the scar tissue becomes “plastic” which also contains the fibers.

One final note. There is a huge assault on all life forms taking place electro-magnetically. The planet and all life on it evolved, together, with a common electro-magnetic field. We know from Mr. Carnicom’s work that new frequencies of many levels are being introduced into the atmosphere. How can this not affect us? We are electro-magnetic beings. Could these new “waves” be causing the epidemics I see in depression (NBC reported that nearly ONE-HALF of all Americans are taking anti-depressants,) sleep depravation, tinnitis (ear ringing,) and memory loss? A physicist told me that some of these new frequencies correspond to the same frequencies in the brain that control sleep, mood, and memory. What “materials” are in our body that might respond to these frequencies as well? I certainly don’t know, but it is worth considering when taking a holistic approach to wellness.

FINAL OBSERVATIONS

So, as far as I can observe, we are dealing with a highly integrated “system,” not one disease called “Morgellons.”

And, as I have indicated, it needs to be addressed on a number of levels…heavy metals, fungus, diet, etc. I know you cannot hope to heal eating processed, denatured, chemically rich foods. It has been suggested that perhaps some of what we are looking at here actually comes into us through our food supply. I don’t know. Consider what you put in your mouth very carefully…does it heal or harm? If you are serious about being well during these times, you really have to look at your diet. “Food is your remedy, your remedy is food” Hippocrates.

Fungus is a major player…so are fibers, a bacterial form (mycoplasma, etc) and luminescent materials. There might be others as yet unseen. A research doctor is sure we also have nano-technology in there as well. Although I haven’t observed any in the blood samples, I wouldn’t be surprised. Many of the national labs are spending a lot of money and research on nano-tecnology. Some of the titles of the studies are very unnerving.

I have another observation based purely on my own physical experience. The more I rid my body of these unwanted materials, the more people tell me that I am looking younger. My hair is thick…I have lost about 10-pounds that I simply couldn’t get rid of…they just feel off and I am returned to my “normal” weight. My eyesight has improved dramatically…20-250 to 20-150 in a year and the process continues. Many of the “age” lines on my face have disappeared and my previously achy joints don’t bother me at all. Could it be that these materials are designed to age us rapidly? I have heard lots of people talking lately about how their friends and family members are getting old quickly. I have noticed it myself. Could the agenda presented years ago to thin the population be in full swing (read “….and the truth shall set you free by David Icke.) It seems like it to me.

A final word to anyone involved in spraying our skies…even if you think you are doing something good for the citizens of the world…you are not. And if you and those you love breathe…well then, someone has mislead you. I believe in time we will find that EVERYONE has “Morgellons” syndrome. That EVERYONE, whether they are presenting sores or not, is carrying fibers, fungus, luminescent material, etc. Mr. Carnicom’s most recent work would certainly lead us in that direction.

Again, work with a professional who understands and has the expertise to help you towards wellness.

I will update this journal with new information as it appears.

Stand in The Light

Blessings and Good Health

Gwen Scott, N.D.”

19 MILLION TONS OF DRUGS DUMPED INTO NATION’S WASTE STREAM EACH YEAR

Washington Post – The average American takes more than 12 prescription drug annusally, with more than 3.8 billion prescriptions purchased each year, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. The most commonly cited estimates from Environmental Protection Agency researchers say that about 19 million tons of active pharmaceutical ingredients are dumped into the nation’s waste stream every year.

The EPA has identified small quantities of more than 100 pharmaceuticals and personal-care products in samples of the nation’s drinking water. Among the drugs detected are antibiotics, steroids, hormones and antidepressants. Last year, [it was] reported that trace amounts of drugs had been found in the water supplies of 24 major metropolitan areas; water piped to more than a milllion people in the Washington area had tested positive for six pharmaceuticals.

The EPA does not require testing for drugs in drinking water and has not set safety limits on allowable levels. While the minute quantities now being detected appear not to pose an immediate health risk, according to federal authorities, “there is still uncertainty about their potential effects on public health and aquatic life” over the long term, the EPA’s water chief, Benjamin Grumbles, told a Senate committee last year. But the impact of long-term exposure of drugs on humans as well as on other species is less clear. Hormone-disrupting pharmaceuticals, for example, are one possible cause of a high incidence of “intersex” fish in the Potomac River basin: male smallmouth bass producing eggs, females exhibiting male characteristics.

Until recently, federal guidelines recommended that surpluses of highly toxic medications be flushed down the toilet; the same advice applied to drugs with a high potential for abuse or “diversion” — the industry’s word for what happens, for example, when kids help themselves to the OxyContin or Percocet in their parents’ medicine cabinet. For other drugs, consumers have been directed to adulterate the medication by mixing it with an unpalatable substance — such as cat litter or coffee grounds — and put it out with the household trash.

But this spring, concerns about pharmaceuticals in the water supply led the Office of National Drug Control Policy to amend its advisory, telling consumers to avoid flushing unless the label or patient information specifies that method of disposal. The new guidelines still describe the cat-litter method of putting drugs in the trash, but they also encourage consumers to make use of community drug take-back programs.

COULD IT BE FACTORY FARM FLU?

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F. William Engdahl, Global Research – What are the symptoms of this purported Swine Flu? That’s not at all clear according to virologists and public health experts. They say Swine Flu symptoms are relatively general and nonspecific. ‘So many different things can cause these symptoms. it is a dilemma,’ says one doctor interviewed by CNN. ‘There is not a perfect test right now to let a doctor know that a person has the Swine Flu.’ It has been noted that most individuals with Swine Flu had an early on set of fever. Also it was common to see dizziness, body aches and vomiting in addition to the common sneezing, headache and other cold symptoms. These are symptoms so general as to say nothing.

The US Government’s Center for Disease Control in Atlanta states on its official website, ‘Swine Influenza (swine flu) is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza viruses that causes regular outbreaks in pigs. People do not normally get swine flu, but human infections can and do happen. Swine flu viruses have been reported to spread from person-to-person, but in the past, this transmission was limited and not sustained beyond three people.’ Nonetheless they add, ‘CDC has determined that this swine influenza A (H1N1) virus is contagious and is spreading from human to human. However, at this time, it is not known how easily the virus spreads between people.

How many media that have grabbed on the headline ‘suspected case of Swine Flu’ in recent days bother to double check with the local health authorities to ask some basic questions? For example, the number of confirmed cases of H1N1 and their location? The number of deaths confirmed to have resulted from H1N1? Dates of both? Number of suspected cases and of suspected deaths related to the Swine Flu disease?

According to Biosurveillance, itself part of Veratect, a US Pentagon and Government-linked epidemic reporting center, on April 6, 2009 local health officials declared a health alert due to a respiratory disease outbreak in La Gloria, Perote Municipality, Veracruz State, Mexico.

They reported, ‘Sources characterized the event as a ‘strange’ outbreak of acute respiratory infection, which led to bronchial pneumonia in some pediatric cases. According to a local resident, symptoms included fever, severe cough, and large amounts of phlegm. Health officials recorded 400 cases that sought medical treatment in the last week in La Gloria, which has a population of 3,000; officials indicated that 60% of the town’s population (approximately 1,800 cases) has been affected. No precise timeframe was provided, but sources reported that a local official had been seeking health assistance for the town since February.’ What they later say is ‘strange’ is not the form of the illness but the time of year as most flu cases occur in Mexico in the period October to February. . .

Then, most revealingly, the aspect of the story which has been largely ignored by major media, they reported, ‘Residents believed the outbreak had been caused by contamination from pig breeding farms located in the area. They believed that the farms, operated by Granjas Carroll, polluted the atmosphere and local water bodies, which in turn led to the disease outbreak. According to residents, the company denied responsibility for the outbreak and attributed the cases to “flu.” However, a municipal health official stated that preliminary investigations indicated that the disease vector was a type of fly that reproduces in pig waste and that the outbreak was linked to the pig farms.’

Since the dawn of American ‘agribusiness,’ a project initiated with funding by the Rockefeller Foundation in the 1950’s to turn farming into a pure profit maximization business, US pig or hog production has been transformed into a highly efficient, mass production industrialized enterprise from birth to slaughter. Pigs are caged in what are called factory farms, industrial concentrations which are run with the efficiency of a Dachau or Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. They are all conceived by artificial insemination and once born, are regularly injected with antibiotics, not because of illnesses which abound in the hyper-crowded growing pens, but in order to make them grow and add weight faster. Turn around time to slaughter is a profit factor of highest priority. The entire operation is vertically integrated from conception to slaughter to transport distribution to supermarket.

Granjas Carroll de Mexico (happens to be such a factory farm concentration facility for hogs. In 2008 they produced almost one million factory hogs, 950,000 according to their own statistics. GCM is a joint venture operation owned 50% by the world’s largest pig producing industrial company, Smithfield Foods of Virginia. The pigs are grown in a tiny rural area of Mexico, a member of the North American Free Trade Agreement, and primarily trucked across the border to supermarkets in the USA, under the Smithfields’ family of labels. Most American consumers have no idea where the meat was raised.

Now the story becomes interesting.

The Times of London interviewed the mother of 4-year-old Edgar Hernandez of La Gloria in Veracruz, the location of the giant Smithfield Foods hog production facility. Their local reporter notes, ‘Edgar Hernández plays among the dogs and goats that roam through the streets, seemingly unaware that the swine flu he contracted a few weeks ago – the first known case – has almost brought his country to a standstill and put the rest of the world on alert. ‘I feel great,’ the five-year-old boy said. ‘But I had a headache and a sore throat and a fever for a while. I had to lay down in bed.”

The reporters add, ‘It was confirmed on Monday (April 27 2009-w.e.) that Edgar was the first known sufferer of swine flu, a revelation that has put La Gloria and its surrounding factory pig farms and ‘manure lagoons’ at the centre of a global race to find how this new and deadly strain of swine flu emerged.’

That’s quite interesting. They speak of ‘La Gloria and its surrounding factory pig farms and ‘manure lagoons.” Presumably the manure lagoons around the LaGloria factory pig farm of Smithfield Foods are the waste dumping place for the feces and urine waste from at least 950,000 pigs a year that pass through the facility. The Smithfield’s Mexico joint venture, Norson, states that alone they slaughter 2,300 pigs daily. That’s a lot. It gives an idea of the volumes of pig waste involved in the concentration facility at La Gloria.

Significantly, according to the Times reporters, ‘residents of La Gloria have been complaining since March that the odor from Granjas Carroll’s pig waste was causing severe respiratory infections. They held a demonstration this month at which they carried signs of pigs crossed with an X and marked with the word peligro (danger).’ There have been calls to exhume the bodies of the children who died of pneumonia so that they could be tested. The state legislature of Veracruz has demanded that Smithfield’s Granjas Carroll release documents about its waste-handling practices. Smithfield Foods reportedly declined to comment on the request, saying that it would ‘not respond to rumours.’

SYNTHETIC CHEMICALS TIED TO INFERTILITY

Clive Cookson, Financial Times – A study of Danish women has found the first evidence that synthetic chemicals widely used in consumer products cause infertility. In a study to be published in the medical journal Human Reproduction, US scientists say they found that women with higher levels of perfluorinated chemicals in their blood took longer to become pregnant. Since the 1950s PFCs have been incorporated in many everyday items, including food packaging, textiles, upholstery, carpets and personal products. They are coming under increasing suspicion for having damaged human health – and particularly for causing infertility – by disrupting hormones. Scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles, who carried out the study, claim they are the first to provide statistical evidence that PFCs have an effect on people. Chunyuan Fei of UCLA said: “Animal studies have shown that these chemicals may have a variety of toxic effects on the liver, immune system and developmental and reproductive organs. Very few human studies have been done.”

Endocannabinoid System Regulates Emotional Homeostasis, Study Says

Endocannabinoid System Regulates Emotional Homeostasis, Study Says
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Madrid, Spain: Naturally occurring chemicals in the human body that mimic the effects of plant cannabinoids moderate human emotions and control anxiety, according to findings published in the Spanish scientific journal Revista de Neurologica.

Investigators at Complutense University in Madrid report that manipulating of the endocannabinoid system may one day be a course of treatment in the management of certain emotional disorders.

“[P]resent data reinforce the involvement of the endocannabinoid system in the control of emotional homeostasis and further suggest the pharmacological manipulation of the endocannabinoid system [is] a potential therapeutic tool in the management of anxiety-related disorders,” authors concluded.

Previous research on the endocannabinoid system indicates that endogenous cannabionoids moderate numerous biological functions, including appetite, blood pressure, reproduction, motor coordination, and bone mass.

For more information, please contact Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director, at: paul@norml.org. Full text of the study, “Functional role of the endocannabinoid system in emotional homeostasis,” appears in the January issue of Revista de Neurologica.

51 PHARMACEUTICALS & OTHER COMPOUNDS FOUND IN DRINKING WATER

Rowan Harper, New Scientist – A comprehensive survey of the drinking water for more than 28 million Americans has detected the widespread but low-level presence of pharmaceuticals and hormonally active chemicals.

Little was known about people’s exposure to such compounds from drinking water, so Shane Snyder and colleagues at the Southern Nevada Water Authority in Las Vegas screened tap water from 19 US water utilities for 51 different compounds. . . The 11 most frequently detected compounds – all found at extremely low concentrations – were:

– Atenolol, a beta-blocker used to treat cardiovascular disease

– Atrazine, an organic herbicide banned in the European Union, but still used in the US, which has been implicated in the decline of fish stocks and in changes in animal behavior

– Carbamazepine, a mood-stabilizing drug used to treat bipolar disorder, amongst other things

– Estrone, an estrogen hormone secreted by the ovaries and blamed for causing gender-bending changes in fish

– Gemfibrozil, an anti-cholesterol drug

– Meprobamate, a tranquilizer widely used in psychiatric treatment

– Naproxen, a painkiller and anti-inflammatory linked to increases in asthma incidence

– Phenytoin, an anticonvulsant that has been used to treat epilepsy

– Sulfamethoxazole, an antibiotic used against the Streptococcus bacteria, which is responsible for tonsillitis and other diseases

– TCEP, a reducing agent used in molecular biology

– Trimethoprim, another antibiotic

The concentrations of pharmaceuticals in drinking water were millions of times lower than in a medical dose, and Snyder emphasizes that they pose no public health threat. He cautions, though, that “if a person has a unique health condition, or is concerned about particular contaminants in public water systems, I strongly recommend they consult their physician.”. . .

TOP RESEARCH CENTER CALLS FOR REVIEW OF PHTHALATES

Daily Green – Phthalates, a class of hormone-mimicking chemicals found in toys, cosmetics, air fresheners, plastics and other common household products, need urgent study, according to the National Research Council. Americans are exposed to phthalates and other potential endocrine disrupting chemicals, and the Environmental Protection Agency needs to study the cumulative effect of this exposure in determining the health risk, according to a report by the National Research Council, the premier U.S. scientific organization.

Because many chemicals share the ability to mimic hormones at low levels, the EPA needs to consider how various chemicals interact and affect the body. Now, the EPA typically reviews the health risk of chemicals based on the chemical structure of each compound, rather than common health impacts of multiple chemicals.

Several phthalates are to be banned in U.S. children’s products in 2009 (though products for sale this Christmas are not subject to the ban), and Europe has gone farther by banning several phthalates used in cosmetics. For the first time, cosmetics makers will report their use of phthalates to the EPA, but it’s still virtually impossible for consumers to determine which products contain phthalates from reading ingredient labels.

Here’s how the NRC framed the need for a cumulative health assessment:

“The committee reviewed animal research and found that exposure to various phthalates in lab animals produced health outcomes, including a range of effects on the development of the male reproductive system. The most notable effects in male rats are infertility, undescended testes, malformation of the penis, and other reproductive tract malformations. However, the severity of effects differs among phthalates; some exhibit less severe or no effects. Furthermore, the age of the animals at the time of exposure is critical to the severity of the effects. For example, the fetus is most sensitive. Given that multiple human exposures to phthalates occur and that research shows exposure to different phthalates leads to similar outcomes in lab animals, a cumulative risk assessment is called for, the committee said.

“The animal studies reviewed by the committee also indicated that some phthalates reduce testosterone concentrations. Depending on when this drop occurs, it can cause a variety of effects in animals that are critical for male reproductive development. Other chemicals known as antiandrogens, which prevent or inhibit male hormones from working, can produce similar effects in lab animals. The committee recommended that phthalates and other chemicals that affect male reproductive development in animals, including antiandrogens, be considered in the cumulative risk assessment. A focus solely on phthalates to the exclusion of other chemicals would be artificial and could seriously underestimate risk, the committee emphasized.”