THE SILENT KILLER, HBP

As a medical physician for over 50 years, I strive to give you the best medical information on controversial medical subjects and let you, the reader, come to your own conclusions. I have no ties to any organization, pharmaceutical, or lobby group. As an practicing medical acupuncturist since 1982, I find western medicine and medical acupuncture are very complimentary that results in astounding healing in pain management, addictions to cigarettes and food, and a host of other maladies. Let me know how we are doing. Your constructive comments are always appreciated. Click the RSS post button on the upper right hand corner if you would like to receive by email our future medical blogs.
Visit http;//www.americanacupuncture.com/ for more detailed information on healing.

THE SILENT MEDICAL KILLER,  HBP

Why are 95% of people with high blood pressure  (HBP) treated without ever knowing the cause of their disease?  Why is the success rate in controlling HBP, whose cause is known, only one out of 6 patients?

Some 73 million adults the United States are affected by hypertension (HBP).   One out of six persons is hypertensive. Most persons suffering from hypertension are over the age of 35.  As you age goes up, so does your blood pressure. You may have the silent killer, high blood pressure, for many  years without knowing it.  Hypertension is a very common disease in developed countries.  In Europe, 44 000 per 100 000 persons (that is 44% of the entire population) have HBP.

 When blood exerts too much pressure on the inner walls of the blood vessels, you have hypertension (HPB).  Blood pressure is the force of blood that is pushing up against the walls of the blood vessels. If the pressure is too high, the heart has to work harder to pump.  This could lead to organ damage and several illnesses such as heart attack, stroke, heart failure, aneurysm, or renal failure.

Stress and physical workloads make your blood pressure vary. Your blood pressure measurements are the result of the force of the blood produced by the heart and the size of your arteries.  If your systolic pressure is above 140 mm Hg or your diastolic pressure is above 90 mm Hg on a number of consecutive readings, you have high blood pressure.

PRIMARY HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

In the 95% of cases the cause of hypertension is unknown.  We call this essential hypertension, or primary hypertension. Lifestyle, environment, and family history of the condition all play a role in these cases.

False blood pressure readings can result from the cuff, being too small compared to the circumference of your arm, or you are under stress, or had not rested before the measurement of arterial pressure was taken.

SECONDARY HBP

In only 5% of the cases, can the medical profession link the HBP to a medical condition, habit, or medication: we call this  “secondary hypertension”.

Hypertension can be triggered by: excess alcohol, obesity, stress, air pollution, perfume, tobacco smoke, and food allergens (like coffee, chocolate, milk, sugar, salt, wheat, or nuts), smoking, obesity, diabetes, pregnancy, and hormones taken postmenopausally.

Kidney or thyroid disease can also raise your blood pressure, as can asthma medicines, corticosteroids, and cold relief products.   PPA, a common decongestant found mainly in cold-cough medications, increases the risk of a stroke in hypertensive patients. (Yale University School of Medicine)

SYMPTOMS

Mild hypertension is often without symptoms. But flushing and headache can occur.  Symptoms that may occur include:

Chest pain, Confusion, Excessive tiredness, Nausea and vomiting, severe headache, Shortness of breath, Significant sweating, Vision changes, Confusion, Ear noise or buzzing, Irregular heartbeat, Nosebleed, and Tiredness.

COMPLICATIONS OF HBP

Hypertension does not in itself give dramatic symptoms, but it is dangerous because it causes a highly increased risk for heart infarction, stroke and renal failure.  Hypertension will in the long run hurt the blood vessels, and if severe, can do extensive damage to the blood vessels within a few months.  The damaged blood vessels impair the blood flow, and can rupture or shut out the blood flow, causing severe tissue damage.  This can result in a stroke, heart infarction or renal failure

Other complications can occur as: aortic aneurysm, arteriosclerosis, brain damage, kidney damage and failure, heart attack or congestive heart failure, hypertensive heart disease, stroke, and loss of vision.

NATURAL WAYS TO LOWER HBP

What we eat plays an important role in preventing and treating high blood pressure. Keep your weight down (People who are overweight are two to six times more likely to develop high blood pressure than people who are not).  Exercise regularly. If possible, exercise for 30 minutes on most days, and try to manage your stress.  Cut out salt and limit your alcohol drinking.  Eat more fruits and vegetables to increase your potassium.  Eat more fat fish with omega-three fatty acids  Increase your calcium intake and use extra virgin olive oil.   Eat a low-carbohydrate, low-fat, low-salt, high-fiber diet, quit smoking, and take fresh garlic or garlic tablets.

Take some natural supplements as vitamin B3, inositol, and turmeric extract.  They lower the cholesterol and lipid content in your blood, by preventing oxidation of tissue components by free radicals.

SUCCESS RATE IN HBP TREATMENT

Researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina, found they could control of diabetes, hyperlidipemia (elevated fats in the bloodstream) and hypertension, collectively only 17 percent, or 1 in 6, patients with diabetes, hyperlidipemia and hypertension attained simultaneous control of all three.   These results show that we have a lot of work to do to translate the success we see in clinical trials into real results at the community level.

High blood pressure - as defined by the drug industry and medical doctors - is not an instant death sentence.

Rising blood pressure is a normal process of aging and does not require drug intervention – even when it reaches 140/80.  As you age, blood pressure will rises slightly –to accommodate for an increased need for oxygen and nutrients.   This increase does not put you at any risk of early death.

If high blood pressure were very dangerous, then lowering it with hypertension drugs would increase lifespan. Yet, clinical trials involving hypertension medication show no increased lifespan among users when compared to non-users. 

If your doctor success is only 17% in controlling hypertension, as the South Carolina study showed, the success in clinical drug trials does not translate into real results at the community level.

 A treatment that fails 5 out of six times is not a good batting average with all the high power drugs available.  Why are 95% of people with HBP treated without ever knowing the cause of their disease?

Your comments are always appreciated.

Visit www.drneedles for more information on controversial medical subjects.

Sources; Ann Intern Med. 2007; 147:787-791./American Society of Hypertension (ASH)/ Medical University of South Carolina  /Yale University School of Medicine

Wolff  T, Miller T. Evidence for the reaffirmation of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommendation on MEDICAL FAILURE IN HBP TREATMENT

ARE STATINS IN YOUR FUTURE?

As a medical physician for over 50 years, I strive to give you the best medical information on controversial medical subjects and let you, the reader, come to your own conclusions. I have no ties to any organization, pharmaceutical, or lobby group. As an practicing medical acupuncturist since 1982, I find western medicine and medical acupuncture are very complimentary that results in astounding healing in pain management, addictions to cigarettes and food, and a host of other maladies. Let me know how we are doing. Your constructive comments are always appreciated. Click the RSS post button on the upper right hand corner if you would like to receive by email our future medical blogs.
Visit http;//www.americanacupuncture.com/ for more detailed information on healing.

ARE  STATINS IN YOUR FUTURE?

Claim that high cholesterol causes heart disease are not substantiated.  Statins, a commonly prescribed class of lipid-lowering drugs are overused and misused.  

STATINS  are among the most widely prescribed drugs in the United States,  prescribed to 13 million Americans, and creating a $20 billion market in this country alone. There is an estimated 25 million users worldwide.

This is good for doctors and drug companies, but bad for you, causing a wide range of serious side effects that need more drug treatment. 

Reducing a very high cholesterol level is very important to prevent health risks.   Obesity,, smoking, diabetes,, and stress can all cause high cholesterol.  You are told to focus too heavily on blood cholesterol levels, instead of  looking at the effects these drugs cause to your the whole body.

HOW STATINS WORK

Statins, described as cholesterol-busting wonder drugs, reduce the amount of cholesterol in the body by blocking an enzyme that makes bad cholesterol.  Statins do indeed ,very effectively, block the production of cholesterol.  If you have heart disease, or are  at risk from heart disease, you are usually prescribed statins.   But there is a problem. 

 YOU NEED CHOLESTEROL

Cholesterol is not the cause of your heart disease.   On the contrary, cholesterol is good for you. You need cholesterol for your cell membranes, your sex hormones, and your bile salts and for the production of your Vitamin D.   It is necessary for proper neurological function and protects you against cancer and premature aging.   Feeling good is ironically a symptom of high cholesterol levels.

Cholesterol is actually a healing agent for your body. Where there is an injury to the body, cholesterol will increase in that area to aid in the healing.  It acts both a patchwork and as a precursor for hormones that play a role in the healing.   High blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, and even bypass operations, can cause trauma and inflammation to your arteries that raise your risk of  heart disease.

Damage to your arterial linings leads to inflammation.   In response, cholesterol floods the area and lies down as a “patchwork” over the injured area.  The problem is that if the source of inflammation is not removed, the cholesterol  keeps on  depositing as it tries to heal the injured area.

The body uses cholesterol to repair all damaged tissue.   Scar tissue contains high levels of cholesterol, including scar tissue in your arteries.  Cholesterol is a precursor to vitamin D, needed for many biochemical processes including mineral absorption

Cholesterol is also a powerful antioxidant, which protects you against cancer, aging, and disease.  It is vital for proper brain function,  playing an important role in the formation of memory and the uptake of hormones in the brain, including serotonins (the body’s feel-good chemical).  The  serotonin receptors do not work properly, when cholesterol levels drop too low

Low cholesterol disrupts the production of adrenal hormones, leading to blood sugar problems, edema, mineral deficiencies, chronic inflammation, difficulty in healing, allergies, asthma, reduced sex drive, infertility and other reproductive processes.

Visit my recent blog of May 23: Cholesterol:  How low is too low?  www.drneedles.com

LIFE EXPENCTANCY

There is no proof that your taking statin drugs will help you live longer.  Statin drugs do not prevent cancer,  Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, nor colorectal and breast cancers.  

While they do lower the risk of heart attacks and strokes, in people already at risk because of heart disease or high cholesterol,  the routine use of such drugs by otherwise healthy adults as you,  produces no real benefits.

NATURAL WAYS TO LOWER CHOLESTEROL

There are  many natural ways to reduce cholesterol, heart disease and inflammation: fish oils, psyllium and other natural fibers, and potentially the addition of spices such as curcumin, ginger, Coenzyme Q10, and Vitamin C.

HEART THERAPY (THE PAULING VIT C  THEORY)

Every  part of your body is constantly undergoing decay, repair, and replacement.  To repair and replace your tissues properly, your body must make a binding protein called “collagen”.  To form collagen and keep your artery walls healthy,  you need large amounts of vitamin C.

With insufficient vitamin C,  lipoprotein is attracted to the lesions, forming sticky clots (arterial plaques).  These plaques grow in size, eventually blocking smaller heart  and brain arteries, resulting in a heart attack or a stroke.

Cholesterol, a basic building block in the bloodstream, is regulated by being constantly recycled/converted to bile and excreted through the bowels. You need a lot of  vitamin  C  for this conversion to take place.    Without enough vitamin C, excess cholesterol and lipoprotein(a) will build up in your bloodstream.

Cardiovascular disease is a symptom of long-term low-level vitamin C deficiency.   Not enough Vitamin C is present to form collagen to repair your arterial walls.   Plaques of lipoproteins then form  in the walls of your coronary arteries.  These plaques grow in size until the blood flow is cut off  an artery, causing angina, arrhythmia, a heart attack or a stroke).

NUTRITIONAL DEFICIENCY

The idea, according to Linus Pauling,  is that heart disease is due to a simple nutritional deficiency and that a simple regimen of inexpensive nutrients and very low-level exercise can get to these nutrients.   This theory was and still is very threatening to a medical system geared to—and even economically dependent on—invasive medical procedures and expensive prescription drugs.

The answer to prevent heart disease  is clear.    Have enough vitamin  C in your bloodstream. This  means consuming between 2 and 20 grams of vitamin C per day—30-300 times the adult RDA—depending on general health, level of stress. 

GRAPEFRUIT  decreases cholesterol blood levels and increases the body's absorption of statins.   Because grapefruit contains a chemical that inactivates a liver enzyme involved in drug metabolism., too high a level of statins in the blood can lead to serious muscle damage.  So don’t eat grapefruit if you are taking statins.

HOW STATINS WORK

Statins are referred to as HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors and are designed to slow down your body’s production of cholesterol.

NO INCREASE IN SURVIVAL WITH STATINS

Statins have been shown to reduce death from heart and cerebrovascular disease if  who already have these conditions,   But statins do not benefit you if you don’t have cardiovascular disease.

NEEDED SUPPLEMENTS WHEN ON STATINS

If you are taking  statins,  may need to take a CoQ10 supplement to counteract the myopathy that occurs from statin drug use.   (30 or 50 mg of CoQ10 two or three days a week).

BRAIN SIDE EFFECT

Statin users often have memory loss, as inability to recall common words , forgetting names of close friends and phone numbers, loosing a train of thought during mid sentence, walking into a room and forgetting why you are there, losing car key, sunglasses, wallet, or purse.   Since cholesterol is used by the body to make the sex steroids, men who take statins have lower testosterone and may look for Viagra aid.

OTHER  STATIN SIDE EFFECTS

Dizziness Cognitive decline, depression. irritability,  muscle pain and wasting/weakness, extreme fatigue, coordination problems,  liver damage, peripheral  nerve damage, emotional flat lining with a loss of zest for life!

Coenzyme Q10 is depleted, weakening the  heart, cataracts develop, immune system is weakened, reduces left ventricular function, include damage to muscle tissue, harm to kidneys, elevated liver function tests, constipation,

It is quite possible that a statin drug can reduce cholesterol levels, reduce CRP levels, reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke, yet lead to a shorter lifespan.    How could this happen, you ask?  This could be due to muscle damage resulting in less exercise, higher rate of dementia, suicides due to depression, prostate cancer, and liver and kidney damage.

SHOULD YOU TAKE STATINS?

If your   HDL is below 40 mg/dL or if the ratio between "bad" (LDL) cholesterol and HDL is greater than 3.3, statins might be indicated.   With higher HDL levels, there is no advantage in taking statins. therapy.   If the diet and natural supplements mentioned have not been successful in lowering very high cholesterol levels, statins are for you

INFLAMMATION AND  NSAIDS

Why have studies consistently shown increased mortality with decreased cholesterol levels?   Inflammatory prostaglandins dilate blood vessels and increase oxygen and nutrients to promote healing. Prostaglandins are formed from cholesterol.  With lack of cholesterol, less  prostaglandin is formed, and there is less blood flow to the organs.   If the blood supply is already compromised to the heart and brain, a heart attack or stroke can occur.   Since NSAIDs  block prostaglandins, there is less blood flow to a compromised  heart, brain, or other organ.

COMMENTARY

Drug companies, doctors,  and for-profit hospitals have hundreds of billions of dollars at stake in investment and future revenues in conventional heart and vascular therapy.

Claim that high cholesterol causes heart disease are not substantiated.   Several studies have confirmed that as cholesterol levels go down that the mortality rate goes up, primarily from increased heart attacks and strokes.   There certainly now is no proof that a 1000 or 2000 dollar a year statin drug will help you nor improve your lifespan and quality of life.  Taking statins often leaves the impression that you don’t need to do anything else to lower your cholesterol.

As the recent TV ads say:  ‘ I leave my heart now to Lipitor’ and I might add:  "my libido to Viagra". 

Visit www.drneedles.com for more commentary blogs on medical controversial subjects.  Your comments are always appreciated.

SOURCES:  Diabetes Care. 2009;32:541–546 www.ashnow.com/vaclib  or call The Idaho Observer at 208-255-2307./  November 27, 2008 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, /dr needles medical blog, May 23, 2009 www.drneedles.com

1991, Pauling and Matthias Rath published their groundbreaking paper - "Solution to the Puzzle of Human Cardiovascular Disease: Its Primary Cause is Ascorbate Deficiency Leading to the Deposition of Lipoprotein(a) and Fibrinogen/Fibrin in the Vascular Wall."

 

 

CHOLESTEROL; HOW LOW IS TOO LOW?

As a medical physician for over 50 years, I strive to give you the best medical information on controversial medical subjects and let you, the reader, come to your own conclusions. I have no ties to any organization, pharmaceutical, or lobby group. As an practicing medical acupuncturist since 1982, I find western medicine and medical acupuncture are very complimentary that results in astounding healing in pain management, addictions to cigarettes and food, and a host of other maladies. Let me know how we are doing. Your constructive comments are always appreciated. Click the RSS post button on the upper right hand corner if you would like to receive by email our future medical blogs.
Visit http;//www.americanacupuncture.com/ for more detailed information on healing.

CHOLESTEROL:  HOW LOW IS TOO LOW?

Recent research shows that very low cholesterol levels may be just as unhealthy as very high the cholesterol levels.  In today’s society, cholesterol is considered a villain. Everyone knows that high cholesterol causes heart disease. TV ads warn us that diet and exercise may not be enough, and drugs are increasingly prescribed to reduce cholesterol levels.

Controlling cholesterol is gospel in heart medicine. It does not logically follow then that all cholesterol is bad and you should try to wipe out any cholesterol in your body.  Cholesterol control guides treatment, and sell billions of dollars in drugs.

We all are told bad cholesterol, LDL causes heart attacks and good cholesterol, HDL, is protective.  But why do people with great cholesterol levels still suffer heart attacks?   Half of all heart attacks and stokes occur in apparently healthy men and women with normal LDL cholesterol levels,

WE ALL NEED CHOLESTEROL

We need cholesterol to build and maintain cell membranes, for production of sex hormones, to aid in the manufacture of bile (which helps digest fats), and to convert sunshine to vitamin D.   Cholesterol is also important for the metabolism of fat soluble vitamins, including vitamins A, D, E, and K. 

Cholesterol builds cell membranes, forms hormones.  It is a part of all your brain bio-chemicals, lines your nervous system for electrical flow, heals damaged tissues, and feeds the lens of the eye- which has no blood supply.  Cataracts are promoted by anything that inhibits the rich cholesterol supply of the lens. 

LDL/HDL

Cholesterol stays solvent in the blood and is carried by lipoproteins, as LDL, from the liver to other tissues and then backs to the liver by HDL to the liver.

Since lowering the bad LDL cholesterol reduces deaths from heart disease, how far can we safely lower LDL?   Less than 130 is a good LDL level, but is that good enough?

We know a lot less about HDL, but we know:  raising it reduces heart attacks, prevents arterial disease and its consequences: impotence, wrinkles and short-term memory loss.  Your HDL should be about 60.   But no one has proved that HDL takes cholesterol out of arteries.

The FDA approves any drug that lowers cholesterol.  They have not required proof that these drugs actually reduce heart attacks.  Knowing what drugs do to LDL and HDL doesn’t tell us what these drugs do to people.  Its amazing that so many of us have bought the idea that stains are magic.  It is doubtful that statins have anti-inflammatory effects preventing heart disease. 

HOW LOW IS TOO LOW?

All the drug companies are on the march with new drugs to lower your cholesterol, telling you: “You can’t have too low a cholesterol”.    You will be prescribed many more drugs to lower your LDL and empty your pocket book.  Studies now show that adding other cholesterol lowering drugs that lower LDL below 120 did not lead to healthier arteries, but raised the risk of cancer.

The Journal of Cardiac Failure (on an analysis of 1,134 patients with heart disease) showed that low cholesterol was associated with worse outcomes in heart failure patients and impaired survival rates.  It also showed that elevated cholesterol was not associated with hypertension, diabetes or coronary heart disease.

Back in 1994, the American Heart Association Task Force on Cholesterol Issues put out a statement entitled "Very Low Cholesterol and Cholesterol Lowering", which noted: There is an increase in deaths from trauma, cancer, hemorrhagic stroke and respiratory and infectious diseases among those with total cholesterol levels less than 160 mg/dl.

Very low cholesterol is associated with: dementia, depression, moodiness, aggressive behavior, violence, and decreased learning ability and intelligence.  It is also a risk factor for cancer and increased mortality from cancer, infections and suicide.

ALTERNATIVES

Psyllium, a soluble fiber from flax seeds found in Metamucil, reduces total cholesterol 15%.   Fish oil stabilizes the electrical activity of the heart and also lowers cholesterol.  Niacin lowers blood fats, reduces LDL, and total cholesterol by up to 20%.

Stop eating red meat, with its high fat and cholesterol content, certainly helps.   Meat protein is broken down into an amino acid, homocysteine that is linked to heart attacks and strokes.

Vitamins B6 and folic acid, found in vegetables, also lowers will lower your homocysteine levels.

Spend some time boosting your HDL. Walk or do any physical activity for 30 minutes a day, and consume healthy fats such as those in olive oil, fish, walnuts,  or DHA omega-3 supplements.

SAFETY OF STATINS

Statins work by reducing the amount of cholesterol in the body by blocking an enzyme in the body that is involved in the production of bad cholesterol.

Twenty-one years ago, the FDA approved the first statin drugs to lower LDL.   18-year-old kids killed in the Korean War already had plaque build up that really started when they were children.  But is there a missing link, called inflammation that may be the high risk factor?

Statin side effects include: increases in colon and breast cancers, gallstones, gastritis, heart attacks, constipation, liver disease, stomach ulcers, anemia, kills taste and smell, visual troubles, dizziness, angina, heart rhythm problems, phlebitis, suicides and homicides.

Statins deplete CoQ10, an important co enzyme for cardiac health. Since the real cause of heart disease is oxidative damage and inflammation, lowering CoQ10 can actually increase your risk of dying of heart disease.  A very serious side effect of statins is their tendency to cause inflammation of the muscles and create muscle damage. The inflammation makes the muscles painful.

CONCLUSIONS

Before you take statin drugs to reduce your cholesterol, do a little research on the dangers of low cholesterol. There are other ways of protecting yourself from heart disease that are much more effective.

If you are taking statins, you need to also take other measures to lower your cholesterol.  Statin drugs limit the production of cholesterol but it does not limit the intake of cholesterol.  Visit drneedles medical blog May 26: ARE STATINS IN YOUR FUTURE?

Statins can often give you the impression that you do not need to take any other measures to lower cholesterol.  NOT SO!.  Continuing to eat high cholesterol foods defeats the purpose of taking the statin drugs.

When getting cholesterol blood tests, ask also for homocysteine and CRP levels: they may tell you more about your heart risk than the LDL.  Ask your doctor or pharmacist what cholesterol lowering drugs they take.  The answer will probably be: “None.  I only sell or prescribe them to you!” 

What do you think?  Your comments are always appreciated.

Visit www.drneedles.com for more information on medical controversial subjects.

Sources: Science Oct 10, 2008 The Journal of Cardiac Failure 1994, the American Heart Association Task Force,  (Horwich TB. Et.al. Low Serum Total Cholesterol is Associated with Marked Increase in Mortality in Advanced Heart Failure. J Card. Fail. 2002 Aug;8(4):216 214)

 

 

GENETIC MODIFIED FOODS NOW FILL YOUR GROCERY CARTS

As a medical physician for over 50 years, I strive to give you the best medical information on controversial medical subjects and let you, the reader, come to your own conclusions. I have no ties to any organization, pharmaceutical, or lobby group. As an practicing medical acupuncturist since 1982, I find western medicine and medical acupuncture are very complimentary that results in astounding healing in pain management, addictions to cigarettes and food, and a host of other maladies. Let me know how we are doing. Your constructive comments are always appreciated. Click the RSS post button on the upper right hand corner if you would like to receive by email our future medical blogs.
Visit http;//www.americanacupuncture.com/ for more detailed information on healing and see why we are in the top 50 in medical blog searches and acupuncture searches. 

DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE EATING?

You are what you eat.  But, do you really know what you are eating?  As you eat cooked tomatoes, you assume the tomato was a natural normal tomato. Every day, you are filling your grocery cart with potatoes, corn, soy, squash, canola, cottonseed oil, milk, and many other foods that have been genetically modified without your knowledge or consent.  After current  field-testing, expect to find soon genetic modified melons, peanuts, rice, soybean, sugar cane, sweet potato, wheat, and even tobacco.

You have no idea that the chemical and genetic engineering industries had used a radical new technology to artificially mutate the DNA in your tomatoes and many other foods.   You simply assume it is safe.

GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS (GMA)

With an ever-growing population and the problems of world hunger, there has been a high demand for an increased food supply and a better food supply. 

Genetic engineering is a lab test used to change the DNA of living organism in a way nature could not.  This manipulation creates organisms genetically modified, or GMAs.  The emphasis is on plants that can stand a lot of herbicides so larger crops can be obtained.  Essential nutrients may be inactivated intentionally to remove undesirable substances.

Millions of acres are planted with genetically engineered soybean, corn, potatoes, canola, and tomatoes.  Cows are given bovine growth hormone to make them produce more milk.  Even the animal feed now has genetically engineered animal products.

Scientists have altered foods by inserting into them genes from bacteria and viruses. Many more such products containing foreign DNA from insects and fish.

POTENTIAL BENEFITS

Genetic engineering can be done with plants, animals, or microorganisms. Historically, farmers bred plants and animals for desired traits for thousands of years.

Selective breeding over time created these wide variations. To make the related characteristics more common or more pronounced, nature produced the desired gene by mating animals or plants with that gene.

The chemical industry claims that these practices come as a normal, natural extension of time-tested reproductive crossbreeding and hybridization techniques.   Genetic engineering allows scientists to speed this process up by moving desired genes from one plant into another -- or even from an animal to a plant.   GE foods can be tastier, more nutritious, and last longer on the shelves.  They can grow faster, with less fertilizers, and less pesticides.

The source of the DNA may come from other plant and animal species, and  is not limited to related wild plants, microorganisms, or even lab synthesized genes. Transfer of new genes is more direct and does not require many generations of breeding.  While traditional methods of gene transfer may result in the transfer of closely linked or unwanted genes, genetic methods allow for a more discrete transfer of a single valuable gene.  New genes  can be made, using molecular biology techniques, which can not be found in wild plants used for traditional breeding.

A NEW INDUSTRY IS BORN

Beginning back in 1994, the chemical/genetic engineering industry began to sell genetically engineered tomatoes and milk laced with genetically engineered bovine growth hormone (rBGH).  The multi-national chemical companies, the USDA and the FDA, now by chemical/genetic engineering are recombining the DNA of vastly different species to create new organisms that have never before existed on earth.

THE PURPOSE OF GE FOODS

The chemical industries have genetically altered foods for the following specific traits: to increase profits by artificially increasing product shelf life; to increase profits by increasing the compatibility of plants with the chemical industry's own pesticides and herbicides; and to increase profits by creating seeds that cost more but save producers money because the vegetables or plants create their own pesticide internally.

LONG TERM EFFECTS

 Genetic structure of animals and plants that have nourished us for centuries may be changed permanently.  We may create new viruses, bacteria, and insects that we have never been exposed to.  These foreign genes can be carried by insects and pollen to make unknown species and change our ecology.  New living bacteria and viruses will mutate and reproduce, transferring their genetic mistakes irreversibly.

DANGERS

Plants make a lot of compounds that are toxic to us and alter the quality of our foods.  Genetic engineering can raise the levels of these toxins.  These plants or animals may have harmful genetic changes, become less resistant to some pests, and the original plant may become extinct.

Genetically altered supplements and foods now cause allergies, crippling diseases, and deaths.  A gene from one food that is inserted into another food may cause an allergic reaction.  For instance, if peanut genes were inserted into tomatoes, would you react to the tomatoes if you had a peanut allergy?

Foods altered through genetic engineering often contain proteins and other components that have never before been part of your human diet. These proteins now come from bacteria and viruses and, in the future, proteins may come from insects, scorpions and even people. There is no way to predict whether those foods are safe to eat. The only way to tell is to test them rigorously. Yet our government does not require such testing.

The small risk that any one given product will produce unanticipated effects translates into virtual certainty of harm when many new genetically engineered foods have become part of the diet of large populations over extended periods of time.

NEED FOR MANDATORY LABELING

The genetic engineering industry sells these products untested and unlabeled.   Everything now is discovered by trial and error.  If the products were labeled, health officials could also better trace the source of problems that could develop, and you would have the choice to accept the risk of GE foods.

The U.S. and many other governments have approved these synthetic foods.  The chemical industry wants to quickly recoup their billions of dollars in accumulated genetic research and investment costs.

The bio-tech industry and the USDA now are attempting to lower U.S. organic standards relative to the rest of the world, and to allow genetically altered foods into the organic market as a new category known as "synthetic organic."  Currently, organic foods often have a non-Gmo seal ensuring that the food does not contain any GE ingredients

CAN YOU TRUST THESE COMPANIES?

Monsanto made Agent Orange in Vietnam that was tainted with dioxin.  It made PCB latter banned in 1976, because of cancer risk and children development.  It makes Aspartame (Nutra-Sweet) and pushed it as a food additive, despite its known cancer risk.  It added rBGH-bovine growth hormone,-- widely implicated in making cows sick and increasing cancer risk, to consumer's milk. .

Now Monsanto and other chemical companies want to genetically engineer the entire global food supply.  Can we trust these companies, without regulation, with our food supply?

CONCLUSION

Monsanto, Dupont, Calgene, and Novartis have become major players in the new global genetically engineered food business.  Their genetic engineering industry are now releasing untested genetically engineered foods on the world population, claiming they intend to solve problems of world hunger.  They have lobbied for regulatory loopholes that allow them to rush their experimental foods to market.  You can  protect yourself and your family by shopping to avoid these foods, but how we can stop the proliferation of these experimental foods?

The genetic engineering industry in the future, might want to make strange, bizarre food products combining vastly different species.  They might create radical new species in the laboratory that could never exist in nature.  They appear to have minimal ability to see long-range consequences.

New technology should not be applied directly to human life until it has proven itself beyond doubt through the test of time to be safe, useful, and beneficial.  True science does not make the human race into experimental animals, into guinea pigs

In reality, we as global consumers have the right to know what we are eating. We have the right to decide whether we want to eat these foods. You have the right to decide whether your children should eat these foods.

What do you think? Let us know how we are doing.  Visit www.drneedles.com for more commentaries on controversial medical subjects.  Your comments are always appreciated.