Complete Anti-Aging Package by Dr. Mercola

Why Do So Many Skin Care Products Use These Potentially Hazardous Ingredients?

Simple answer: because they’re cheap, readily available, and easy to dilute.

Are they in the products you currently use? It’s time to check. Go grab your containers of skin care products and check them against the following …

Ingredient	Use	Dangers
Parabens	Heavily used preservatives in the cosmetic industry; used in an estimated 13,200 cosmetic and skin care products.	Studies implicate their connection with cancer because their hormone-disrupting qualities mimic estrogen and could disrupt your body’s endocrine system.
Mineral Oil, Paraffin, and Petrolatum		These petroleum products coat the skin like plastic – clogging pores and creating a build-up of toxins. They can slow cellular development, creating earlier signs of aging. They’re implicated as a suspected cause of cancer. Plus, they can disrupt hormonal activity. When you think about black oil pumped from deep underground, ask yourself why you’d want to put that kind of stuff on your skin…
Sodium laurel or lauryl sulfate (SLS), also known as sodium laureth sulfate (SLES)	Found in over 90% of personal care products! They break down your skin’s moisture barrier, potentially leading to dry skin with premature aging. And because they easily penetrate your skin, they can allow other chemicals easy access.	SLS combined with other chemicals may become a "nitrosamine" – a potent carcinogen.
Acrylamide	Found in many facial creams.	Linked to mammary tumors.
Propylene glycol	Common cosmetic moisturizer and carrier for fragrance oils.	May cause dermatitis and skin irritation. May inhibit skin cell growth. Linked to kidney and liver problems.
Phenol carbolic acid	Found in many lotions and skin creams.	Can cause circulatory collapse, paralysis, convulsions, coma, and even death from respiratory failure.
Dioxane	Hidden in ingredients such as PEG, polysorbates, laureth, ethoxylated alcohols. Very common in personal care products.	These chemicals are often contaminated with high concentrations of highly volatile 1,4-dioxane that’s easily absorbed through the skin. Its carcinogenicity was first reported in 1965, and later confirmed in studies including one from the National Cancer Institute in 1978. Nasal passages are considered extremely vulnerable, making it, in my opinion, a really bad idea to use these things on your face.
Toluene	May be very poisonous! Made from petroleum and coal tar… found in most synthetic fragrances.	Chronic exposure linked to anemia, lowered blood cell count, liver or kidney damage…May affect a developing fetus.

Disappearing Bees Have Devastated Ribosomes: Scientific American Podcast

Disappearing Bees Have Devastated Ribosomes: Scientific American Podcast: "Disappearing Bees Have Devastated Ribosomes
A study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by May Berenbaum and colleagues finds that bee colony collapse disorder seems to be related to bees' ribosomes breaking down, which keeps them from making the proteins they need to deal with stress and disease. Steve Mirsky reports"

Who’s Really Guarding Your Water Supply?

Who’s Really Guarding Your Water Supply?

If you are enlightened and aware of the dangers and the many reasons to avoid fluoride in all its forms, you probably wonder how on earth fluoride could ever be approved and used for preventive health.

The issue of fluoride for health truly boggles the mind in its absurdity.

The video above contains my full-length interview with Dr. Bill Osmunson, a dentist who has become an expert on, and advocate against, fluoride. If you prefer to read the interview in its entirety, you can download the transcript by clicking the on the source link below.

Normally, these expert interviews are only sent to my Inner Circle members. However, I believe this fluoride issue is so critically important, I’ve decided to share the entire interview with everyone, for free.

Like this vital interview with Dr. Osmunson, each of my interviews with world-renowned health experts is jam-packed with valuable information that you’d have to search for hours to find on your own. Much of this knowledge is simply not that easy to happen upon.

So, if you want special monthly savings, 14 exclusive bonuses, and other great benefits, simply sign up for the Mercola Inner Circle membership now to get my one-on-one interview with a renowned expert sent to you each and every month -- automatically.

Each CD contains priceless information that can help you stay (or get) healthier, skip time-consuming trips to the doctor, and help you avoid pain and suffering that you can’t even begin to put a price tag on.

Your membership offers the risk-free convenience of routinely receiving your CD for better healthy via a special interview, plus a bonus DVD containing carefully selected segments of our talk along with a special edition newsletter, each and every month – all without you lifting a finger. What could be easier? It's risk-free, so what's to lose?

To maximize your time, and your health, hop right over to the Mercola Inner Circle signup page for your very own Inner Circle membership.

And now, for the first time ever, I'm making standalone copies of every expert interview I've ever done available to non-Inner Circle members. That’s right… you no longer need to be an Inner Circle member to get access to these exclusive interviews.

Just pick and choose your own most relevant topics from the wide variety of interview subjects. We'll deliver high-quality CDs of just the interviews you choose -- without any commitment whatsoever -- right to your doorstep!

You’ll also get the additional materials that were part of that month's volume of Inner Circle membership: a limited edition print newsletter of the top articles for the month and a DVD containing the month's top health videos. Choose your expert interviews now and Take Control of Your Health!

But hurry and get your interviews while they’re still available. Each month's volume had a limited run. So once we run out of them, they're gone forever!

Sources:

A Special Interview With Dr. Bill Osmunson (Transcript)

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

So, with all the evidence against fluoride, how did water fluoridation come about?

The key to understanding how fluoride was introduced into the public health system is to understand how most commercial fluoride is created.

So sit back into your most comfortable chair and let me enlighten you on the fraud, corruption and misrepresentation that has allowed fluoride to become common in most municipal water supplies, and how nearly every health care professional is convinced that it is a major public health benefit.

This is a classic example of how lies and deceptions are fostered on you and your family, at your health expense, so some large corporation can ultimately benefit.

How Commercial Greed Spawned a Hidden Health Disaster

It is first important to understand that most all fluoride is actually a toxic waste product of aluminum- and steel manufacturing. It is a HIGHLY toxic waste product.

When fluoride is produced it is so reactive it can eat through steel, glass, iron, aluminum, and most other substances. It rivals mercury for being one of the most poisonous substances on the planet.

The sordid beginning of poisoning the public water supply with fluoride began with Dr. Gerald Cox nearly 80 years ago.

Around 1930 Dr. Cox proposed that fluoride in small amounts of 1 part per million (ppm) could prevent dental cavities. He made his recommendations without any studies, human or otherwise, to suggest it would be safe or effective.

Interestingly, Dr. Cox was on the staff of the Mellon Institute, and the Mellon family owned the Alcoa aluminum company.

But that’s not all.

Andrew Mellon, the founder of Alcoa, was also the Treasury Secretary, and in 1930 the US Department of Public Health was under the direct control of the Treasury Secretary.

Did these ties between the aluminum industry and the Department of Public Health influence the chain of events that led to water fluoridation?

Absolutely!

Remember, the most dangerous and expensive waste product in the production of aluminum is fluoride. Because it is corrosive and toxic, it was extremely expensive to dispose of safely and was costing Alcoa millions of dollars in lost profits every year. By finding a “benefit” in this toxic byproduct, the industry was able to not only save money, but actually make money from their toxic waste!

AMA is on the Record Stating Fluoride is a Poison

Amazingly, more than 13 years later, in 1943, the American Medical Association stated that fluoride was a powerful protoplasmic poison, and because of its widespread occurrence in nature, toxic accumulation could be a major problem if the water supplies were fluoridated.

The following year the American Dental Association stated the potential for harm from fluoridation far outweighed any public good, and they also noted that fluoride in concentrations as low as 1 PPM could cause osteosclerois, spondylysis, osteoporosis, and goiter.

Despite these warnings, Dr. Cox convinced Dr. Frisch, a Wisconsin dentist, to actively promote fluoridation of the water supply. According to historians, Frisch led the charge with the frenzy of a religious zealot and turned it into a political crusade.

Water Fluoridation -- One of the Most Successful PR Campaigns in U.S. History

In 1944 Alcoa hired a prominent attorney, Oscar Ewing, at an annual salary of $750,000 even though they were not facing any major litigation. A few months after being hired he left the company to accept a job as Federal Security Administrator that put him in charge of the US Public Health Service. Not surprisingly, very shortly after that Ewing launched a major national campaign to fluoridate the water supplies.

The fluoridation project was a massive undertaking and Ewing spared no expense to hire the absolute best marketing minds on the planet. He hired the best PR firm money could buy at the time, Edward, L. Benays, who was Freud’s cousin and had a notorious reputation as the original spin doctor.

Opponents to fluoridation were carefully labeled by the masterminds of Alcoa’s PR group as loonies and right wing extremists who saw fluoridation as a communist plot.

Despite the dire warnings by the AMA and ADA, and not a single shred of evidence that fluoride was safe or effective, fluoride was initiated into the water supply in an experiment in Michigan in 1945. But even before the Michigan study was complete there was a complete reversal in the ADA and AMA who both suddenly decided to endorse widespread fluoridation.

At that time any dentists that dissented from the new views of the ADA were either censored or lost their ADA membership as the dental societies were also controlled by grants from the US Department of Public Health.

Eventually the Michigan study was completed and used to prove that fluoridation helped prevent cavities, but the study had terrible controls, and never took into account that cavities were being reduced all across the country because of better hygiene and nutrition.

Learn More About the Dangers of Fluoride

I urge you to listen to my interview with Dr. Osmunson, where he discusses what he’s learned about the many toxic dangers of fluoride.

Related Links:

Fluroide Index Page

The Fluoride Controversy

Scientific American Has Second Thoughts About Fluoride

How Whole-Health Care Can Help You Feel Great... Live Longer

Henri Roca, MD

Greenwich Hospital Center for Integrative Medicine

hink of your health as a pot on the stove that’s about to come to a boil. Conventional medicine would try to slam a lid on the pot and hold it down tight. That may work at first, but unless the heat is also turned down, the pressure under the lid will build up and the pot will boil over anyway. What alternative therapies try to do is reduce the intensity of the flame under the pot. In both cases, we’re trying to keep the pot from boiling over.

The difference is that with integrative medicine, we’re trying to keep that flame turned way down and keep it from bringing the pot to a boil at all.

This combination of conventional medicine and alternative treatments works so well that today many hospitals (including the one where I work) offer integrative medicine centers. When we incorporate alternative treatments, we’re looking at ways to help people with certain lifestyle issues that are out of balance and will eventually cause illness. We’re looking at the whole person -- mind, body and spirit.

CREATING BALANCE

Our goal is to bring balance back -- instead of allowing an imbalance to continue until it develops into serious symptoms. Through poor eating habits, lack of exercise and exposure to toxins (pesticides and added hormones) in the air we breathe, water we drink and food we eat, we put a huge burden on the body. By using integrative medicine, we can reduce that burden and help the body detoxify.

How it works: By supporting the liver, the kidneys and the intestines. If any of these organs don’t function correctly, we will develop serious disease sooner or later.

Do you suffer from such common disorders as acid reflux, stomach ulcers, obesity, diabetes, menstrual irregularities, skin rashes, allergies, asthma or digestive problems? Many of my patients do. All those diagnoses are related, because the human system is a web of interactions and no single diagnosis can stand alone. Instead of giving someone three or four or 10 diagnoses with three or four or 10 pills to treat them, we work to bring that entire system back into balance. Treatments I use include...

Herbal products.

Biofeedback or other types of mind-body techniques, such as visualization.

Meditation or deep breathing techniques.

Traditional Chinese medicine, such as acupuncture.

Homeopathy.

There’s no single best treatment that works for everyone. We look closely at the patient as an individual and choose treatments based on what is most likely to be effective for him/her. But there are some important general guidelines that may apply to you...

CHRONIC DISEASES

When we have situations in life that impact our bodies significantly, such as chronic disease or stress, our nutrients are used up very quickly. We need to replenish them -- if we don’t, then chronic diseases worsen or we develop new disease. Examples...

Depression often occurs after a person has been under significant stress that continues over a long period. Under these circumstances, by replenishing basic nutrients necessary to create natural mood-regulating chemicals in the brain, we can potentially diminish depression symptoms. We don’t automatically put any depressed person on an antidepressant medication. Sometimes we do so in conjunction with vitamin therapy, but the goal is to eventually lower the medication dosage or stop it altogether.

High blood pressure (hypertension) can be caused by a magnesium deficiency. In that case, we might prescribe medication to lower blood pressure but also recommend a diet with more magnesium (or use magnesium supplements).

WHEN TO CHOOSE ALTERNATIVE THERAPIES

Conventional practitioners worry that by using alternative methods, some patients will end up delaying treatment until the condition has worsened... or even until it’s “too late” in the case of life-threatening conditions. That’s a valid concern, but rarely do I ever tell anyone that it’s appropriate to use only conventional medicine or only an alternative approach.

Emergencies: When there’s a truly dangerous medical condition -- for example, blood pressure that’s so high that the patient is in serious danger of having a heart attack or stroke... or a serious bacterial infection needing antibiotics... or cancer that might respond to chemotherapy, radiation and/or surgery -- then conventional medicine, through the emergency room if necessary, is definitely the way to go.

But what if your blood pressure has just begun to increase? Then you could choose standard blood pressure medication to protect yourself from complications and worsening disease... and use an integrative approach to rebalance the system and turn off the fire. The ultimate goal is to reduce the medication dose or to stop the drugs completely.

In the case of a life-threatening illness, such as cancer, alternative therapies are not cures. Instead, integrative medicine focuses on supporting the person through the conventional treatment process and can be very effective in helping with the pain, fatigue and nausea associated with chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Similarly, integrative medicine can be very helpful for treating chronic diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, where fatigue is a big problem. Integrative medical doctors are board-certified by the American Board of Integrative Holistic Medicine. You can find a doctor near you by checking its Web site, www.holisticboard.org.

Study Says Organic No Better | Jon Barron's Natural Health Blog

Study Says Organic No Better | Jon Barron's Natural Health Blog: "studies have found that conventionally grown foods contain 300 percent higher concentrations of pesticide residues than organic foods. According to the website, What’s on My Food, the average child gets over five servings of pesticides with meals a day. The website also notes that traces of eight types of pesticides were found on a single strawberry, and almost all conventionally grown strawberries in over 700 samples contained these residues. Studies have found that farm workers, who have increased exposure to pesticides, have far higher rates of cancer. According to the USDA’s own website, pesticides can cause “birth defects, nerve damage, cancer, and other effects that might occur over a long period of time.” Those other effects create a very long list containing virtually every imaginable health issue, from skin and eye irritation to endocrine disruption, autism, and death. All in all, it provides another good reason for regular detoxing. The website also notes that the food we eat typically may contain:

* insecticides to control insects
* rodenticides to control rodents
* herbicides to control weeds
* fungicides to control mold and fungus
* antimicrobials to control bacteria"

Healthy Home Tips 02: Go organic and eat fresh foods | Environmental Working Group

How to avoid pesticides on your food

• Buy organic when you can. Organic produce is grown without pesticides, so when you eat it you’re not also eating toxic chemicals. As it should be.
• Don’t use pesticides to grow your own food. More and more Americans have backyard and community gardens. Use natural techniques – not pesticides - to manage pests.
• When you can’t buy organic, buy less-contaminated conventional produce. Every year EWG ranks popular fruits and vegetables based on the amount of pesticide residues found on them. For example, apples and peaches top our “Dirty Dozen” list, so buy those organic, but sweet corn, peas and watermelon are all in the “Clean 15,” so you can feel better about buying those raised conventionally.
• Download the guide and the handy iPhone app at FoodNews.org. Donate and we'll send you a fridge magnet, too.

WHO | Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization

Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization

The Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization was established by the Director-General of the World Health Organization in 1999 to provide guidance on the work of the WHO Immunization Department. The Terms of referenceof the Group were revised during 2007 in view of the development of the Global Immunization Vision and Strategy (GIVS). SAGE is the principal advisory group to WHO for vaccines and immunization. It is charged with advising WHO on overall global policies and strategies, ranging from vaccine and technology, research and development, to delivery of immunization and its linkages with other health interventions. SAGE is concerned not just with childhood vaccines and immunization, but all vaccine-preventable diseases.

SAGE Members