Lawyers want cash in digital lawsuit

Lawyers want cash in digital lawsuit

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local%20News/102512firstenberg#.UJQmQmePzCY

 

"Lawyers who defended clients sued by wireless foe Arthur Firstenberg want him to pay their legal fees and other costs totaling nearly $170,000.

Firstenberg, who says he is extraordinarily sensitive to the electromagnetic signals, sued Raphaela Monribot in early 2010, claiming she was damaging his health by using an iPhone, a Wi-Fi system, dimmer switches, compact fluorescent lights and other electronics in her house that backed up to his in a west-side neighborhood."

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'I had turned into this old, frail man overnight'

'I had turned into this old, frail man overnight'
http://www.therecord.com/news/local/article/826236---i-had-turned-into-this-frail-old-man-overnight

"Waterloo man blames sickness on wireless technology, but health officials say there's no link."

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Improved chronic fatigue symptoms after removal of mercury in patient with increased mercury concentration in hair toxic mineral assay: a case.

Improved chronic fatigue symptoms after removal of mercury in patient with increased mercury concentration in hair toxic mineral assay: a case.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23115707

Shin SR, Han AL.  Korean J Fam Med. 2012 Sep;33(5):320-5. doi: 10.4082/kjfm.2012.33.5.320. Epub 2012 Sep 27.

Source
Department of Family Medicine, Wonkwang University College of Medicine, Iksan, Korea.

Abstract
Clinical manifestations of chronic exposure to organic mercury usually have a gradual onset. As the primary target is the nervous system, chronic mercury exposure can cause symptoms such as fatigue, weakness, headache, and poor recall and concentration. In severe cases chronic exposure leads to intellectual deterioration and neurologic abnormality. Recent outbreaks of bovine spongiform encephalopathy and pathogenic avian influenza have increased fish consumption in Korea. Methyl-mercury, a type of organic mercury, is present in higher than normal ranges in the general Korean population. When we examine a patient with chronic fatigue, we assess his/her methyl-mercury concentrations in the body if environmental exposure such as excessive fish consumption is suspected. In the current case, we learned the patient had consumed many slices of raw tuna and was initially diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome. Therefore, we suspected that he was exposured to methyl-mercury and that the mercury concentration in his hair would be below the poisoning level identified by World Health Organization but above the normal range according to hair toxic mineral assay. Our patient's toxic chronic fatigue symptoms improved after he was given mercury removal therapy, indicating that he was correctly diagnosed with chronic exposure to organic mercury.

PMID: 23115707 [PubMed - in process]

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Yes: Food labels would let consumers make informed choices

Yes: Food labels would let consumers make informed choices
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2012/yes-labels-on-gm-foods

"The paternalistic assertion that labeling of genetically modified foods "can only serve to mislead and falsely alarm consumers" is an Orwellian argument that violates the right of consumers to make informed decisions. Civilization rests on the confidence that an individual's basic human rights will be respected by the government, including the 'right to know.' The AAAS board failed to note that the FDA's testing program for GM foods is voluntary."

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Unequal exposures: People in poor, non-white neighborhoods breathe more hazardous particles

Unequal exposures: People in poor, non-white neighborhoods breathe more hazardous particles
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2012/unequal-exposures

"Tiny particles of air pollution contain more hazardous ingredients in non-white and low-income communities than in affluent white ones, new research shows. The greater the concentration of Hispanics, Asians, African Americans or poor residents in an area, the more likely that potentially dangerous compounds such as vanadium, nitrates and zinc are in the mix of fine particles they breathe. Hispanics had the highest exposures to the largest number of these ingredients, while whites generally had the lowest. The findings of the Yale University study add to evidence of a widening racial and economic gap when it comes to air pollution. Communities of color and those with low education and high poverty and unemployment face potentially greater health risks even if their air quality meets federal health standards. Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, St. Louis and Fresno are among the metropolitan areas with unhealthful levels of fine particles and large concentrations of poor minorities."

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The link between lead poisoning and underperforming students

The link between lead poisoning and underperforming students
http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/high-lead-toxicity-in-chicago-public-schools/Content?oid=7819530

"With mounting evidence that lead poisoning results in lower test scores, more children repeating grades, and worse, why has so little been done in Chicago to reverse the damage?

Patricia Robinson recalls a time when she fondly watched her son, Michael, then a toddler, sit in the windowsill of her Englewood home, completely engrossed. Matchbox car in hand, he would run the toy back and forth over the brown painted surface, making little vrooms and beep-beeps as he played. Ten years later, Robinson's warmth for that moment has long faded. That was where it started—where she believes Michael ingested the lead-filled dust that poisoned him, leaving him with lifelong learning disabilities. "There isn't a day I don't think about it," Robinson says. "It's taken over my life.""

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Elemental concentrations of ambient particles and cause specific mortality in Santiago, Chile: a time series study

Elemental concentrations of ambient particles and cause specific mortality in Santiago, Chile: a time series study

http://www.ehjournal.net/content/11/1/82/abstract

Ana Valdés, Antonella Zanobetti, Jaana I Halonen, Luis Cifuentes, Diego Morata and Joel Schwartz

Environmental Health 2012, 11:82 doi:10.1186/1476-069X-11-82
Published: 1 November 2012

Abstract (provisional)

Background
The health effects of particulate air pollution are widely recognized and there is some evidence that the magnitude of these effects vary by particle component. We studied the effects of ambient fine particles (aerodynamic diameter < 2.5mum, PM2.5) and their components on cause-specific mortality in Santiago, Chile, where particulate pollution is a major public health concern.

Methods
Air pollution was collected in a residential area in the center of Santiago. Daily mortality counts were obtained from the National Institute of Statistic. The associations between PM2.5 and cause-specific mortality were studied by time series analysis controlling for time trends, day of the week, temperature and relative humidity. We then included an interaction term between PM2.5 and the monthly averages of the mean ratios of individual elements to PM2.5 mass.

Results
We found significant effects of PM2.5 on all the causes analyzed, with a 1.33% increase (95% CI: 0.87-1.78) in cardiovascular mortality per 10mug/m3 increase in the two days average of PM2.5. We found that zinc was associated with higher cardiovascular mortality. Particles with high content of chromium, copper and sulfur showed stronger associations with respiratory and COPD mortality, while high zinc and sodium content of PM2.5 amplified the association with cerebrovascular disease.

Conclusions
Our findings suggest that PM2.5 with high zinc, chromium, copper, sodium, and sulfur content have stronger associations with mortality than PM2.5 mass alone in Santiago, Chile. The sources of particles containing these elements need to be determined to better control their emissions.

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