FDA ignores energy drinks danger; teenage girl among five deaths linked to Monster (Video)

 

Why didn’t the Food and Drug Administration warn the public of the potential danger of energy drinks like Monster? Don’t answer that, it was rhetorical, for the FDA has proven time and time again that keeping harmful food off the market is not their top priority. There are the numerous food recalls, deaths and alarming studies to prove it.

Now a 14-year-old girl and four others are dead, with all deaths linked to the energy drink Monster. According to NBC, Anais Fournier of Hagerstown, Md., went into cardiac arrest and died in December of 2011 after drinking two Monster drinks within a 24-hour period. On Friday, her parents filed a lawsuit in a Riverside, Calif., Superior Court, blaming the company that markets the Monster energy drinks for the death of their daughter. The suit claims the excessive doses of caffeine directly caused their child’s death.

The FDA now reports that the investigations don’t prove Monster caused the heart attack or death, but her parents strongly believe it did. The autopsy has the cause of death as “cardiac arrhythmia due to caffeine toxicity that impeded her heart’s ability to pump blood,” and Monster has excessive amounts of caffeine. Anais was reportedly watching a movie with her boyfriend when he frantically told her parents that “something was wrong with” her. She was rushed to the hospital but it was too late. (Read more here: Md. Girl's Death Among 5 Investigated in Connection With Monster Energy Drink).

During a CNN report on Saturday, Dr. Sanjay Gupta explained the danger lurking in many of these energy drinks peddled to unknowing consumers. He said a 24-ounce can of Monster is equivalent to seven cans of soda, which means a massive amount of caffeine is being consumed when we drink just one can, much less two, in under 24 hours. Having an underlying medical condition exacerbates one’s chances of these drinks being a ticking time bomb.

If caffeine in large quantities is so dangerous, why hasn’t the FDA regulated it? Why isn't it warning consumers of the harmful effects? Dr. Mehmet Oz, host of the “Dr. Oz Show,” has recently warned the public about arsenic in apple juice, rice and rice products and the recall of everything from eggs, milk, meat and even the so-called healthy foods like cantaloupe, lettuce and spinach, just to name a few. This shows just how inadequate this agency has been—which is downright alarming. (Read about arsenic scare here: http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/13026533-first-it-was-apple-juice-now-its-rice-as-dr-oz-sounds-the-alarm-on-arsenic-in-rice).

Monster has since said in a statement to the press that they do not believe their drink is responsible for any of the five deaths. However, according to a CBS report, a 2008 study by Johns Hopkins had called for prominent warning labels on all energy drinks. (Read more here: FDA: Monster Energy Drinks Linked To 5 Deaths, Including Md. Teen).

Anais’s mom, Wendy Crossland, told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that she is now fighting to get Congress to force the FDA to administer tougher regulations on these drinks.

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9 Cancer-Causers That You Must Remove From Your Home

9 Cancer-Causers That You Must Remove From Your Home

Given poor government regulation, many of the cleaning products available on the market contain “everyday” carcinogens such as formaldehyde, nitrobenzene, methylene chloride, and napthelene, as well as reproductive toxins and hormone disruptors. Not to mention other ingredients that cause liver, kidney and brain damage, allergies and asthma.

But there are a host of products, other than those used for basic cleaning, that often contain carcinogenics. This list, from Cancer: 101 Solutions to a Preventable Epidemic (New Society Publishers, 2007) by Liz Armstrong et al, cautions against 9 household products, in addition to cleaners, that you should avoid having in your house.

1. Air fresheners: Often contain napthelene and formaldehyde. Try zeolite or natural fragrances from essential oils.

2. Art supplies: Epoxy and rubber cement glues, acrylic paints and solvents, and permanent markers often contain carcinogens.

3. Automotive supplies: Most are toxic. Keep them safely away from the house and dispose of at a hazardous waste disposal center.

4. Candles: Avoid artificially scented paraffin candles that produce combustion by-products, including soot. Beeswax only, with cotton wicks.

5. Carpet and upholstery shampoos: Use only wet-clean, natural ingredients.

6. Dry-cleaning: Choose clothes that don’t need perchlorethylene to clean them. Ask for the wet-cleaning option at you local cleaners, or seek dry-cleaners that use liquid CO2 or citrus juice cleaners.

7. Flea, tick and lice control: Avoid lindane-based pesticides.

8. Paints and varnishes: Always chose low- or no-VOCs (volatile organic compounds) finishes.

9. Microwaves: Never microwave or heat food in a plastic container.

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GOV SUNTAI WOULD HAVE BEEN DISCHARGED" SAYs POLICE BOSS

Were Gov Suntai an ordinary man, he would have been discharged,” says police boss

Governor Danbaba Suntai of Taraba, who was hospitalised at the Specialist Hospital, Yola, after crash-landing his aircraft along Numan road, near the NNPC depot, is responding to treatment and would have long been discharged if he were “an ordinary man”.

The Commissioner of Police in Adamawa, Godfrey Okeke, made this known to News Agency of Nigeria in Yola, shortly after visiting Gov. Suntai at the hospital early on Friday morning.

Mr. Okeke affirmed that the governor was doing well.

“He is alive and in stable condition. He sustained minor injuries; if he had been were an ordinary man, he would have been discharged but I learnt he would be flown abroad for further medical checkup,’’ he said.

Mr. Okeke also confirmed that the other persons aboard the seven-seater plane, including the governor’s aide-de-camp, were also alive.

He added that they were receiving treatment at the Federal Medical Centre in Yola.

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HEALTH:KIDNEY TRANSPLANTS HAVE BEEN SUCCESSFUL IN NIGERIA

160 Kidney Transplants Have Been Performed Successfully In Nigeria –Transplant Association Of Nigeria



The President, Transplant Association of Nigeria, Dr. Ayo Shonibare, has said about 160 kidney transplantation have been successfully performed in Nigeria.

He said this in a communiqué issued at the end of the first Scientific and Biennial General meeting of the organisation in Lagos.

Shonibare noted that though it was a positive development, majority of the transplantation were done in private hospitals in the country.

He, therefore, called on the Federal Government to provide transplant facilities in its health institutions.

He said organ transplantation was fast becoming a medical intervention that was only available for the rich, as most patients who needed it did not have the financial means to pay for it.

“The major challenge facing organ transplantation in Nigeria is huge cost of treatment, poor infrastructural and medical facilities, inadequate manpower and poverty which restricts affordability only to the rich who can afford the treatment,” he said.

According to him, there are increasing cases of patients with chronic organ damage, hence the need for government to not only equip its hospitals with facilities but also subsidise cost of treatment and drugs.

“A number of patients have lost their grafts due to the inability to maintain the costly immunosuppressive drugs. One of the measures to contain cost includes government subsidy and access to generic drugs,” he noted.

Shonibare identified shortage of organ donors due to cultural and religious beliefs as another factor that has frustrated transplantation in the country.

He called on government to enact health policies that would encourage people to direct their relations to donate their organs after their demise as being done in some advanced countries.

Shonibare said, “Living donors are the only ways for patients to get organs for transplantation and this is a major constraint to the surgery in Nigeria. Enacting enabling organ and tissue transplant law particularly for deceased organ donation would improve organ availability for the benefit of needy patients.”

He also canvassed for the speedy passage of the National Health Bill which advocates the inclusion of organ transplants treatment in the National Health Insurance Scheme and sanctions for persons involved in organ trafficking.

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IUDs EFFECTIVE IN TREATING EARLY STAGE UTERINE CANCER

 IUDs EFFECTIVE IN TREATING EARLY STAGE UTERINE CANCER

IUDs effective in treating early stage uterine cancer

Georgia Health Sciences University Cancer Center researchers find common birth control device is effective for treating endometrial (uterine) cancer and could result in a cost effective treatment for all women with this type of cancer.

View slideshow: Reducing endometrail cancer

Endometrial cancer forms in the tissue lining the uterus and is the third most common gynecologic cancer and will affect 47,130 women this year, particularly the obese.

Dr. Sharad Ghamande, MBBS, MD, a gynecologic surgeon and oncologist,Director; Developmental Therapeutics; Gynecologic Oncologist at GHSU Cancer Center and principal investigator of study stated "Total hysterectomy, sometimes with removal of lymph nodes, is the most common treatment for this type of cancer. But women who are morbidly obese or who have cardiac risk factors are not good candidates for surgery.”

For this study Dr. Ghamande and research team followed a small group of high-risk patients with early-stage endometrioid adenocarcinoma, the most common type of endometrial cancer and those with atypical endometrial hyperplasia, or thickening of the uterine lining, which can lead to cancer,. The patients were followed for two years.

Patients were treated with an intrauterine device that releases the progestin levonorgestrel, successfully used for the past decade as a contraceptive.

The endometrial stripe, or thickness of the endometrium, was measured with transvaginal ultrasound (a safe and painless procedure that uses sound waves to "see" inside your body and create detailed images which the physician can study) before the study and at three and six month intervals. The stripe's progressive thinning at each stage demonstrated the effectiveness of the treatment. Afterward a endometrial biopsy found reversal of abnormal cell growth, known as neoplastic changes, in all patients.

The research team also examined 13 published studies and found a complete pathological response in 91.3 percent of cases, with no progression of disease, in which confirmed their findings. The study also provided validation for transvaginal ultrasound, generally used in the diagnosis of endometrial cancer and as a follow-up tool in determining treatment.

"Thirty to 35 percent of women with hyperplasia will go on to develop endometrial cancer, and in 30 percent of these cases, women will present with a co-existing cancer," stated Dr. Ghamande in a public release. He adds "Traditional treatments can result in postoperative complications and morbidity, not only in patients at high risk. But we may succeed in establishing a lower-risk and more cost-effective way of managing this cancer in all women."

Dr. Samir N. Khleif, Director of the GHSU Cancer Center, commented "Identifying better treatments for cancer is the most important goal of our cancer research center.” "Studies such as Dr. Ghamande's are changing the landscape of cancer care today, both here in Georgia and around the world."

This study was presented Tuesday during the International Gynecological Cancer Society's 14th biennial meeting.

Researchers from Hospital Universitario Madrid Sanchinarro in Spainconducted the first prospective clinical trial to see whether an intrauterine device (IUD) releasing the progestin hormone levonorgestrel.

Dr. Lucas Minig and associates found may successfully treat a precancerous condition known as endometrial hyperplasia, as well as early stage endometrial cancer, in young women while preserving their fertility.

This small study included 34 women with almost all with atypical endometrial hyperplasia (AEH). All of the women had the IUD device planted in the womb which released a steady stream of levonorgestrel to the affected area. In addition the women also received month injections f gonadotropin-releasing hormone for a period of six months to bring an end to production of oestrogen in their body. The women had the IUD for a period of one year.

After the year the women were cured and 57.1 percent of women with well-differentiated endometrial cancer limited to the endometrium had a complete response the therapy, 27 women who had a complete response to the treatment, nine went on to have a total of 11 spontaneous pregnancies.

Researchers reported 95 % had a complete response to the treatment at the end of the year, although four had later relapses and required further therapy. Nine participants succeeded in having a baby. All the participants are alive at date of the report.

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