1997 News Listings

Swissair offers natural and organic foods on flights
Originally found on Natural Healthline Internet Newsletter
Press Release Follows

Zurich, June 3, 1997 - Swissair has become the first airline to introduce organically grown products in all classes of its inflight catering. naturalgourmet™ is the name of the new catering concept being introduced today on Swissair flights departing Switzerland. Within three years, naturalgourmet should be expanded to cover Swissair's entire flight schedule. The variety and quality of the menus will not be diminished. On the contrary, naturalgourmet means healthy and enjoyable fare on all Swissair flights

The trend towards organically grown foods is increasing across the globe. Swissair sees this as a chance to contribute to the health and well-being of its passengers. The Swiss airline is recreating its inflight meal service to incorporate organically grown products. Philippe Bruggisser, SAirGroup CEO, on naturalgourmet: "By the year 2000 we want to ensure that 90 percent of the products we use to prepare our meals are organically grown."

What passengers want
In a recent survey of frequent flyers, passengers voiced their opinion regarding the kind of inflight meals they would like to see. The meals must be fresh, natural, easy to digest and presented in a pleasing fashion. What is more, natural products should be used to as large an extent as possible, but without lessening variety or taste. Gate Gourmet, an SAirGroup company and Swissair's primary caterer, has taken this challenge to heart.

Together with a tandem of well-known chefs, Roland Jöhri of St. Moritz and Wolfgang Kuchler of Wigoltingen, Gate Gourmet has created refined and future-oriented meals to help launch the naturalgourmet concept. Simonetta Sommaruga, head of the Swiss organization for consumers rights says, "We are very happy that Swissair has decided to take this very significant and ambitious step, committing itself to a long-term and consistent implementation of this project."

Better taste and wide variety
In future, Swissair will use organically grown products and ingredients from integrated production to produce inflight meals. Meals made from these products are not only healthier but they taste better. Swissair is also taking seasonal shifts into consideration of its foodstuff purchases, offering vegetarian meals as an alternative in all classes of service. In short, Swissair is emphasizing a balanced composition in the ingredients of its meals. Beverage selection also falls under naturalgourmet. Passengers will be able to order organically grown-and-produced wine, beer and fruit and vegetable juices. Coffee will be purchased in cooperation with the Max Havelaar foundation to ensure that growers receive a fair price. There is also organically grown baby food for our smallest passengers.

Quality guaranteed
Bio Suisse, the association of Swiss farmers who practice organic agricultural methods, and the Swiss consumer protection association have worked together with Swissair on the naturalgourmet project. A pioneering effort such as naturalgourmet will also cause additional costs. These costs, however, will be compensated for in areas that are imperceptible to the customer. Purchasing the required amounts of organically grown food products poses a great challenge for both Gate Gourmet and Swissair. A new and international network of suppliers must be developed and menu planing must be completely redefined and reorganized. It will take a total of three years before the entire naturalgourmet range has been completely introduced. In the initial phase, breakfasts and hot meals will be served according to naturalgourmet criteria. A total of 68 percent of the ingredients used for these meals will stem from organically grown products, a further 23 percent from integrated production operations.

For the environment's sake
Being environmentally conscious in both word and deed is a firm commitment of both the SAirGroup and of Swissair. Technical advancement has made it possible to reduce noise levels and the amount of pollutant emissions coming from aircraft. Swissair's environmental report card is a positive standout among airlines. Swissair is also a prominent practitioner of environmentally-correct garbage and waste disposal. Now the introduction of organically grown food products in preparing inflight meals complements Swissair's environmental care efforts.

Please thank Swissair by:

Send an email to Swissair thanking them for offering natural foods, organic food, and especially foods free from genetic engineering.
Fly Swissair whenever feasible since they may eventually offer these healthy foods on all their flights. You can visit their web page here.

Homeopathy treatment effective for childhood ear infections.

A study in Germany compared the treatment of childhood ear infection using traditional homeopathic treatment to that of drug therapy. 103 children were prescribed single homeopathic remedies while 28 children were treated with decongestants, antibiotics and other drugs. (Note: Five of the 103 children receiving homeopathic remedies also were given antibiotics.) The median durings of pain in the homeopathic-treated children was 2 days while the drug treatment group had a median pain duration of 3 days. Within one year after treatment, 70.7% of the homeopathic-treated children were free of relapses and 29.3% had a maximum of three relapses. 56.5% of the drug-treated children were free of relapses after one year and 43.5% of the drug-treated children had a maximum of six relapses.

Visiting a constitutional homeopath may be the proper course of action for children with ear infections. Other holistic techniques to treat ear infections such as removing dairy, food additives and preservatives and allergens completely from the diet may enhance the homeopathic treatment significantly. In order to locate a constitutional homeopath, please visit the Homeopathy WWW Links Web Page and connect to the Practitioners Directories. Another technique for treating childhood ear infections can be found in the Case Histories of Healing and Transformation web page.

Source: Friese KH, Kruse S, Moeller H. Acute otitis media in children. Comparison between conventional and homeopathic therapy. HNO, 44(8): 462-466

Meditation Helps Anxiety Disorder Patients

A recently-published study conducted at the University of Massachusetts Stress Reduction Clinic showed that an eight week outpatient mindfulness meditation course led to a significant reduction in anxiety, panic attacks and depression in patients diagnosed with anxiety and panic disorders. The techniques taught included "Mindfulness Meditation" and "Awareness of Breathing in Daily Life." At a three-year followup, 10 of the 18 original patients continued formal practice of Mindfulness Meditation, four others had a "high" frequency of practice, and three had "moderate" practice habits. 16 of the 18 subjects continued to practice "Awareness of Breathing in Daily Life" exercises. The gains which occured after the initial eight-week class were also seen after three years. 12 of the 18 patients rated the importance of the Stress Reduction & Relaxation Program at 7 or greater on a scale of 1 to 10.

It is of note that these improvements appear to be permanent and appear to have occured only after regular practice of "Mindfulness Meditation" and "Awareness of Breathing in Daily Life" exercises. Improvements may have been even greater with the eventual addition of other holistic healing techniques such as Food & Nutrition, Yoga, Treatment From a Holistic Healthcare Practitioner, Breathwork, etc. However, taking a meditation class is a good place to start. Please see Inner Peace Information and Meditation Resources for more information.

Source: Miller JJ, Fletcher K, Kabat-Zinn J. Three-Year Follow-up and Clinical Implications of a Mindfulness Meditation-Based Stress Reduction Intervention in the Treatment of Anxiety Disorders. General Hospital Psychiatry, 1995, 17:192-200.

Yogic Breathing Exercises Help Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Patients

Eight patients diagnosed with OCD began a year-long study of the use of yogic techniques. The techniques used were not typical yoga postures, but special yogic breathing and movement exercises originally taught by Yogi Bhajan (contact Khalsa Foundation for Medical Science, P.O. Box 2708, Del Mar, CA 92014-5708) including left unilateral forced nostril breathing (UFNB).

Five patients completed the study. The patients showed significant symptomatic and stress improvement. Three of the patients stopped medication within seven months and the other two significantly reduced the medication use.

Like many other studies, improvements may have been even greater with the eventual addition of other holistic healing techniques such as Food & Nutrition, Treatment From a Holistic Healthcare Practitioner, Breathwork, etc.

Source: Shannahoff-Khalsa DS, Beckett LR. Clinical Case Report: Efficacy of Yogic Techniques in the Treatment of Obsessive Compulsive Disorders. International Journal of Neuroscience, 1996, 85:1-17.

Freedom of Health Choice in Canada -- Update!

Health Canada, the government agency in Canada theoretically responsible for protecting the health interests of Canadian Citizens was busy preparing to implement Codex Alimentarius which would severely restricted Canadians' freedom of choice in health care and the access to herbs and supplements.

A coaltition was formed in order to stop Health Canada from making these restrictions on health freedom and to address other important health issues of concern to Canadians. The Coalition of Canadians For Accountable Government, a coalition of organizations consiting of he Alliance For Public Accountability, My Health My Rights, Environmental Health Group, Freedom For Choice in Health Care, Pollution Probe, Dams, Quebec Holistic Dental Association, Consumer Health Organization of Canada, Health Action Network Society, Canadians For Mercury Relief, International Academy of Oral Medicine & Toxicology, Canadians For Mercury Relief, Canadian Haemophilia Society and the Canadian Health Coaltion. Together this group represents hundreds of thousands of Canadians.

On July 2, 1997, Health Canada and Freedom of Choice in Health Care reached an agreement which stops further implementation for half a year of Codex restrictions. For more information and to join the effort to protect health freedom and safety in Canada please contact Wayne Obie (416-410-6314) and/or see the press release and related web pages here.

EPA Scientists Take Stand Against Fluoridation

NEWS RELEASE

Contact: Jeff Green, Citizens For Safe Drinking Water
3243 Madrid Street San Diego, CA 92110
Email: jgreen@abac.com dkennedy@ucsd.edu
800) 728-3833 (v) (619) 222-6981 (f)

J. William Hirzy, Ph.D., Senior V.P. NFFE, Local 2050
P.O. Box 76082, Washington, D.C. 20013
(202) 260-2383 (v) (202) 401-3139 (f)

EPA Scientists Take Stand Against Fluoridation

The EPA scientists, engineers and attorneys who assess the scientific data for Safe Drinking Water Act standards and other EPA regulations have gone on record against the practice of adding fluoride to public drinking water. [See EPA union's scientific statement regarding recent research showing fluoride hazards.]

On Wednesday, July 2, 1997, National Federation of Federal Employees, Local 2050, which consists of professionals at EPA headquarters in Washington, D.C., voted unanimously to co-sponsor the California Safe Drinking Water Initiative that would reverse the State Legislature's 1995 law mandating fluoridation.

Both proponents of fluoridation and the sponsors of this initiative consider the result of the fluoridation battle in California to be crucial to the federal government's plan to fluoridate the entire United States by the year 2000.

Citizens for Safe Drinking Water and their sponsors are circulating petitions to gather 500,000 signatures by October to place the initiative prohibiting fluoridation in California on the June 1998 statewide ballot.

In its endorsement of the initiative, the EPA professional's union states, "It is our hope that our co-sponsorship of the Safe Drinking Water Initiative to prohibit fluoridation will have a beneficial effect on the health and welfare of all Californians by helping to keep their water free of a chemical substance for which there is substantial evidence of adverse health effects and, contrary to public perception, virtually no evidence of significant benefits."

The statement from NFFE Local 2050 continues, "Our members' review of the body of evidence over the last eleven years, including animal and human epidemiology studies, indicate a causal link between fluoride/fluoridation and cancer, genetic damage, neurological impairment, and bone pathology. Of particular concern are recent epidemiology studies linking fluoride exposure to lowered IQ in children.

"As the professionals who are charged with assessing the safety of drinking water, we conclude that the health and welfare of the public is not served by the addition of this substance to the public water supply."

After numerous attempts to correct EPA management conclusions that were not supported by the available facts, the union attempted to join a lawsuit against their own employer in 1986, citing "fraudulent alterations of data and negligent omission of fact to arrive at predetermined Agency political positions regarding fluoride."

Dr. Wm. L. Marcus, Senior Science Advisor in EPA=92s Office of Drinking Water, was fired for a 1990 whistle-blowing memo calling for a review of the cover-up of the National Toxicology Program study that shows fluoride is a "probable human carcinogen [cancer causing agent]".

Under the Safe Drinking Water Act, that finding alone prohibits the addition of fluoride to the public water supply. Although Dr. Marcus won his whistle-blower lawsuit, with punitive damages, and returned to work at the EPA, the classifications were never reviewed.

Historically, fluoridation is mandated by government and rejected by citizens. Communities all over the U.S. are currently fighting for their right to choose. Japan and nearly all of Europe have rejected fluoridation.

The California Safe Drinking Water Initiative reads:

The public water supply should be safe for all to drink.

In order to protect the public health from increased risk of hip fracture, cancer, dental fluorosis and other harmful effects which have been linked to fluoride in the scientific literature, and whereas data from the U.S. Public Health Service and the State of California show no significant difference in decay rates of permanent teeth and dental costs in fluoridated and non fluoridated areas in California;

Section 116410 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read: No fluoride or fluorine-containing substance may be added to public water systems. All laws to the contrary are hereby repealed.

For more information on the petition drive, contact Citizens for Safe Drinking Water at 1 (888) 704-3833. Or visit: http://www.sonic.net/~monty/fluoride.htm

Reference June 19, 1997 News Release: FDA Requires New Poison Label for Fluoride Toothpaste and Other Fluoride Products.

Children's Migraines & Tension Headaches Cured With Nutrition

A recent study in Germany tested 42 children who suffered from migraine or tension headaches. They eliminated all preservatives, food-processing chemicals, cow's milk, sweets, chocolates and soft drinks from a child's diet for 12 weeks. At the end of the test period 18 of the children were cured, 20 children had 50% of greater improvements. Only 4 children showed no improvement.

Since modern chemical preservatives and food-processing chemicals have no history of safe use and little or no short-term, medium-term or long-term safety testing in humans, it is not surprising that many children would suffer health problems by ingesting the combination of all of these unnatural and untested chemicals plus other unhealthy foods in significant amounts.

Fluoride Neurotoxicity Confirmed With Recent Research and Declassified Government Documents. The U.S. Government Knew All Along.

Recently released government documents show that since the 1950s, the U.S. Government has been aware that fluoride exposure in humans causes neurotoxicity. These documents were kept from the public and scientific community, purportedly for national security reasons.

Recently animal studies have shown that fluoride is a powerful central nervous system toxin. In addition, recent epidemiological studies have shown that low-level exposure to fluoride is linked to lower I.Q. test scores in children.

This research along with the classified documents that were hidden from the general public tends to confirm the fact that fluoride is neurotoxic.

For the full article relating to fluoride neurotoxicity which discusses the new findings (a must-read!), please see the following web page:

http://www.holisticmed.com/fluoride/

EPA ACTION THREATENS FUTURE OF SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

Formal legal petition charges EPA with illegal and gross negligence in failure to adequately regulate genetically engineered plants

Washington D.C., September 16, 1997 - The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was charged with gross negligence over its approval of genetically engineered plants in a petition filed today by a coalition of environmental, farming and scientific organisations.

Greenpeace International, the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), the Sierra Club, the Centre for International Technology Assessment in Washington, DC, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy in Minneapolis, the National Coalition for Mis-use of Pesticide were among the 31 groups which filed a formal legal petition to the EPA.

This is the first step according to US law in filing litigation against a US government agency in the Federal Court. Petitioners demand that the EPA withdraw the approval of transgenic plants carrying the genetic code from a soil bacterium called Bacillus Thuringiensis and abstain from any new registration of such plants.

The petitioners will take the EPA to the US Federal District Court if the agency does not react to their legal petition within 90 days. "EPA's approvals are in clear violation of Federal environmental and agricultural and procedural laws," said International Center of Technology Assessment attorney Andrew Kimbrell, "and no court in this country will let them get away with that".

Petitioners allege that, in approving transgenic plants carrying the Bacillus Thuringiensis (B.t.) toxin, the EPA is seriously threatening the future of organic agriculture and jeopardizing the genetic variety of major food crops, such as corn, potatoes and tomatoes. Petitioners also charge that EPA's actions violate numerous federal laws and regulations and will cause significant human health and environmental problems (1).

Natural strains of B.t. have been used as a biological pesticide for nearly forty years to protect crops, vegetables and forests without any known detrimental effects on the environment or human health. B.t. sprays today are the single most important bio-pesticide on the market with an annual overturn of over 60 million dollars in the US alone. They are esspecially important to organic farmers and integrated pest management programs (IPM).

Genetic engineers have transferred parts of the B.t. gene into a variety of plants such as corn, potato, rice, rapeseed, eggplant, grape, tomato, cranberry, cotton, apple, poplar, walnut and tobacco. As these plants permanently produce high doses of the B.t. toxin in all their cells, the manipulation makes them highly pest-resistant.

Major multinational chemical and genetic engineering companies including Monsanto, Novartis, AgrEvo and Pioneer have now started to commercialize such transgenic B.t.-plants. Transgenic B.t.-cotton, -corn and -potatoes have been planted in the range of 3 million acres (1,2 million hectares) in the US this year.

Large scale use of these transgenic B.t. plants is likely to create resistance within the populations of the targetted insects and thus create the need for new chemical or biotechnological pesticides - a well known effect with many chemical insecticides. This short term strategy of the agrochemical industry will also render the biological B.t. sprays useless within a short time and leave organic farmers with no biological alternative.

"Chemical companies commercializing transgenic B.t. plants are waging an undeclared war against sustainable farming practices," stated Benedikt Haerlin, Greenpeace International's Coordinator on Genetic Engineering. "Regulators around the world are well aware of this problem, but have not dared to draw the necessary conclusions. Instead they have agreed to the thoroughly inadequate voluntary "resistance management" presented by the chemical industry."

In addition, scientific research on the environmental effects of transgenic B.t. plants indicate that it may also make the plants toxic to non-target organisms and to predators of the target-insects. This results from the fact that the genetically engineered, truncated version of the B.t. toxins will be less specific and the toxins will persist in the soil for longer and in higher doses.

Finally the transfer of the engineered B.t. genes to wild relatives of the transgenic plants through cross pollination can have unpredictable and potentially environmentally-disastrous consequences, especially in the countries where these species originate. It could result in the irreversible reduction and genetic pollution of the environment.and of someof the world's most important food crops.

Notes
1. The petition alleges breaches of the National Environmental Policy Act where the EPA failed to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement which it is required to do so ; the Administrative Proceedure Act where other federal agencies and scientists should have been consulted but the EPA failed to do so; and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) where it must be proved that plant pesticides will only be approved if it can be determined they will not cause harm. The EPA's and Novartis's own data admits to herbicide resistance becoming an issue.

Problems with Herbicide Tolerant Cotton in U.S.

October 7, 1997

According to a report by the Center for Ethics and Toxics, farmers throughout the mid-south region of the U.S. began experiencing problems with Roundup Ready cotton in August 1997 as cotton bolls began falling off the genetically engineered plants. The failing cotton plants contained an inserted gene that should make the plants able to withstand two seasonal applications of Roundup herbicide (Monsanto's brand name for the herbicide glyphosate). The Center for Ethics and Toxics is a California-based, non-profit organization.

Roundup Ready cotton was grown commercially in the U.S for the first time this year. In early spring, approximately 600,000 acres of the bioengineered crop, created by Monsanto, were sown across the cotton belt. This equals about 2.3% of the 14 million acres of cotton planted nationwide.

Approximately three quarters of the way through the growing season, some cotton bolls became misshapen after the second Roundup application and began to fall off the plants. These failings reportedly occurred in the states of Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee and Louisiana. In August, Robert McCarty of the Bureau of Plant Industry in Mississippi stated, "We are receiving complaints from farmers everyday." According to McCarty, the complaints were all identical: the bolls become deformed and subsequently fall off the plant. Bill Robertson, a cotton specialist in Arkansas claims that farmers in his state had similar problems. "We call the malformation 'parrot beaked,' because the bolls look like the beaks of parrots, then they fall off of the plant before they are mature," Robertson said. The first reports of the crop failure estimated that between 4,000 - 5,000 acres were affected, although according to McCarty, there were at least 20,000 affected acres in Mississippi alone. "Now that is a lot of acreage, economically speaking. Some farmers are losing $1 million due to this problem," he said.

According to Karen Marshall of Monsanto, "There are a number of environmental factors that can put stress on cotton plants." But the failures do not appear to be occurring in all cotton varieties, just those that are genetically engineered to withstand Roundup. Sunny Jeter, a marketing representative for Monsanto, insisted that the failure was only occurring in a very small portion of the Roundup Ready cotton crops. She emphasized that Monsanto is being very proactive in getting information to farmers about the problem. However, Tommy McDaniel, a State of Mississippi agricultural specialist stated that "Monsanto is not talking to anyone and they are not saying what is causing the problem."

The failure is occurring in Roundup Ready Paymaster varieties #1244, #1215, #1330, and #1220. These same varieties without the Roundup Ready gene were used in the two previous years without any apparent problems.

Researchers at the Center for Ethics and Toxics stated, "We tried to speak to a Monsanto scientist to ask why crop failures are occurring and were told that the information is not available. The U.S. government does not require this type of reporting, leaving the public and the farming community alike in the dark about the true cause of the problem." According to the Center, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Director of Biotechnology and Scientific Services admitted he was "totally unaware of the problem."

"We think this result underscores our concern that mass planting of transgenic crops are at the least premature," said Britt Bailey from the Center for Ethics and Toxics. "We are left with disturbing questions as transgenic crops go into mass production. How much are we willing to jeopardize the evolutionary future of food crops? How much uncertainty is generated by transgenic creation of new plants?"

Source: "Genetically Engineered Cotton in Jeopardy," by Marc Lappe and Britt Bailey, Center for Ethics and Toxics, September 10, 1997.

Contact: Center for Ethics and Toxics, Box 673, 39175 S. Highway 1, Gualala, CA 95445; phone (707) 884-1700; fax (707) 884-1846; email cetos@cetos.org; http://www.cetos.org

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Pesticide Action Network
North America
Updates Service
http://www.panna.org/panna/
EMAIL: panna@panna.org
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Genetically Engineered Soya has Elevated Hormone Levels:
Public Health Threat
International Scientists Appeal To Governments World-Wide

Today, an urgent appeal has been made by scientists from around the world attending the Third Meeting of the Open-ended Working Group on Biosafety of The UN-Convention on Biological Diversity (13-17 October) in Canada. The scientists implored "all governments to use whatever methods available to them to bar from their markets, on grounds of injury to public health, Monsanto's genetically manipulated (GM) [herbicide-resistant] Roundup-Ready (RR) soybean." New findings indicate that EU member nations should immediately invoke Article 16, the safeguard clause of Directive 90/220, banning the soya on the grounds of specific health risks.

Dramatic scientific evidence has revealed that the application of glyphosate (such as the herbicide Roundup) increased the level of plant estrogens of bean crops. Plant estrogens are known to affect mammals including humans. The signatories to the appeal, including Dr Ricarda Steinbrecher, UK Geneticist, stated: "Young children are especially susceptible to elevated levels of estrogen. Thus there is a clear and serious health issue at hand."

Further alarming evidence has now been released concerning the GM soybeans, hitherto ruled as been substantially equivalent to ordinary soybeans and safe for introduction into our food supply: Cows fed with the RR-soybeans were found to produce milk with significantly higher fat content than those fed with ordinary soybeans. The scientists concluded this to be direct proof of a substantial difference between the GM- and ordinary soybeans.

Monsanto's application for market approval of the RR-soybean provided no data on estrogen levels of RR-soybeans sprayed with glyphosate. Indeed, all data provided on the concentration levels of different compound was derived from unsprayed beans!

Scientific advisor to the UK Genetic Engineering Network commented on the findings: "It is horrifying that Roundup-Ready soya was released into our food chain with such insufficient data, especially as such as large proportion [60%] of supermarket products contain soya derivatives.... The lack of independent, full investigations prior to the approval of these genetically manipulated soybeans is illustrative of the US biotechnology industry's strangle-hold on the regulatory bodies entrusted with our food safety."

Further reports also presented at the Meeting, include the latest evidence of the detrimental environmental and agricultural impact of Novartis (formerly Ciba) insect resistant maize prematurely approved by the European Commission for marketing and cultivation (23 January 1997). The report calls for an urgent "moratorium for transgenic insect resistant plants" and details the evidence supporting legal action, which has been filed against the USA Environmental Protection Agency over its approvals by over 30 scientific, environmental and agricultural groups. The Meeting coincides with the Global Days of Action Against Genetic Engineering (2-16 October).

For further information or interviews, contact the Genetic Engineering Network in London at: 0181 374 9516
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Global Days of Action Against Genetic Engineering
Press Release 13/10/97 For immediate use

Fluoride Ingestion Linked to Uterine Cancer

Researchers reported in the Journal of Epidemiology a link between drinking fluoridation water and dying of uterine cancer. What follows is a short summary of this research:

Recent findings from all of the large-scale studies showing that fluoride ingestion does not prevent tooth decay combined with recent research showing fluoride ingestion damaging bones, teeth, causing lowered IQs, and a number of other serious health problems has caused a large number of scientists from the U.S. Environmental Protection Association and other independent organizations to push for the ban on forced fluoridation. For more information please visit the following web pages:

Meditation Found to be Helpful in the Inner City

A community health center in Meriden, Connecticut offered an 8-week Stress Reduction and and Relaxation Program which included mindfulness meditation and mindful yoga practice for inner-city residents. An article published in Nurse Pract. (1997 Mar; 22 (3): 150-2, 154, 157 passim) details the effects of this program. The authors state:

The article discusses a number of considerations for setting up a meditation-based stress reduction program.

Meditation Found to Reduce Ambulatory Blood Pressure

In a study published in the International Journal of Neuroscience (1997 Jan; 89 (1-2): 15-28) Trancendental Meditation (TM) was shown to be effective in reducing a key risk factor in cardiovascular complications of hypertension: ambulatory blood pressure. Thirty-nine (39) males volunteers were tested in a controlled study using either TM or a cognitive-based stress reduction technique. There was no difference in cardiovascular response to stressors between the groups, but there was a significant reduction in the ambulatory blood pressure (9 mm Hg) between the TM group and the controls.

Yogic Meditation Found to Significantly Reduce Seizures In Patients With Idiopathic Epilepsy

A study published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research found that a particular type of yogic meditation, Sahaja yoga meditation, was able to reduce seizure frequency. The following is a summary of the study:

It should be noted that patients in India likely have a diet which is made up of much less artificial and unhealthy foods and therefore would be more likely to improve with the addition of other powerful holistic healing techniques. The use of Sahaja yoga meditation combined with other holistic techniques such as a natural foods diet, classical homeopathy, etc. may reduce seizures even more than seen in the above-summarized study (or eliminate them altogether in some cases).

For more information on Sahaja yoga and links to yoga centers, please visit the Sahaja Yoga Web Page.

To be balanced, I should state that some people have express some concern about the Sahaja yoga organization. Please see Is Sahaja Yoga Good or Bad? Also, please bear in mind that other forms of yoga and meditation may help as much as Sahaja yoga.

Yoga Training Proves Helpful to Patients with Brochial Asthma

Nine diagnosed bronchial asthma patients were given yoga training for seven (7) days in New Dehli, India. The follows is a summary of that study which demonstrated positive effects for the patients:

It is important to note three things about this study, 1) Yoga training in India, even for just seven days, is likely to be excellent so that results may take longer in other locations; 2) The seven days of yoga training most likely included the patients removing themselves from day-to-day stressors; 3) Notice how the authors mention the "comprehensive yogic life style change." Yoga is much more than just stressing exercises and includes movement towards a holistic lifestyle as described on the Holistic Healing Web Pages.

For more information about yoga, please see the yoga article at http://www.HolisticMed.com/yoga.html and the yoga resources web page at http://www.HolisticMed.com/www/yoga.html.

Holistic Medicine Popular Amongst General Practitioners (Physicians) in Southwest England

A survey conducted by researchers at the University of Exeter, UK showed that the "complementary medicine" is popular amongst general practitioners in the Southwestern part of England. Of the 461 general practitioners who responded to the survey (47% response rate), 16% (74) practiticed one or more forms of complementary medicine, 25% (115) had referred at least one patient to a practitioner of complementary medicine in the last week and 55% (253) had endorsed or recommended treatment with complementary medicine. Popularily of complementary medicine in other parts of England is not quite as high according to the authors.