Tucson Green Times – July 2010

Does the phrase “green consumer” sound like an oxymoron?

It is possible to have a sustainable consumer lifestyle by finding a happy middle ground between dumpster-diving and mindless consumption.

Green consumers can learn to resist impulsive shopping and, instead, carefully determine which items they really need – then find the most responsible manufacturer and vendor to purchase from. The goal is to decrease the amount of energy used to create and ship products, eliminate waste from one-use, throwaway products and excess packaging, as well as support local businesses before national chains.

It can sometimes be difficult to evaluate a purchase based on the label and product information alone. Thankfully, there are many online resources including websites, e-newsletters and Twitter feeds, that can keep us up-to-date on which products are safe and sustainable and where to find local Tucson or Arizona vendors.

To get started on your way to making greener purchases, check out this list of resources:

Find Local Businesses

Local First Arizona – www.localfirstaz.com/ Local First Arizona is a non-profit organization dedicated to strengthening local communities and economies by supporting locally-owned businesses. Its website (www.localfirstaz.com) is a great place to educate yourself about the benefits of shopping at local businesses. The site features a directory of statewide and local businesses, and there’s also a separate directory for Tucson. Businesses are divided into helpful categories like Home and Garden, Apparel and Footwear, Food and Dining, and more. Check out the Green and Eco-Friendly category for shops that are both locally owned and offer environmentally-friendly products or services. Some businesses (denoted by a blue check-mark on the site) offer a special deal when customers mention Local First Arizona.

Stay Informed on Product Recalls

Government Recalls – www.recalls.gov To stay informed about product recalls and safety visit www.recalls.gov, where you can sign up for e-mail updates based on specific areas of interest. This umbrella site includes safety and recall information about consumer products, motor vehicles, boats, food, medicine, cosmetics and environmental products. Some of the agencies included are the CPSC (Consumer Products Safety Commission), FDA (Food and Drug Administration), USDA (US Department of Agriculture) and EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). Many of these government organizations also have Twitter feeds you can access using the URLs shown below, or by signing up for Twitter and following the feeds in one place using your Twitter account.

For each of the twitter handles below simply type www.twitter.com/ and add the extension after the backslash:

USDAgov; FDAWomen; FDArecalls; FDA_Drug_Info; USDAFoodSafety, CPSC_Recalls; OnSafety.

Give and Receive Used Items

FreeCycle – www.freecycle.org Freecycle is a volunteer-run global network of websites giving members the ability to offer or request free items within local communities. The Freecycle mission is to grow a gifting movement to reduce waste and encourage a sense of community. The site is similar to Craigslist.org, except all items are free, there is no bartering, and local groups are managed by volunteer moderators. Freecycle.org is a great way to recycle household items which may be discarded prematurely due to a move or spring cleaning. The goal is to prevent perfectly functional goods from winding up in the landfill, and foster a sense of charity among people. To view or add posts, you’ll need to become a member. Posts are searchable and users contact each other through freecycle.org to arrange pick-up of an item. A survey of recent offers in the Tucson group included a coffee maker, 25” TV, clothing and a humidifier.

Eat Local and Healthy Foods

Sustainable Tucson – www.sustainabletucson.org Sustainable Tucson is a non-profit organization promoting a more resilient, sustainable community through research, awareness and engagement. The website is a great resource for Tucsonans who wish to buy more local, sustainable food products. Sustainabletucson.org/affinity/food is a good starting place to find the organizations of your choice, including local farmer’s markets, CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture), and Food Co-ops.

Non-GMO Shopping Guide – www.nongmoshoppingugide.com When you do need to shop in a regular super market you can use two downloadable pocket guides available online to avoid purchasing Genetically Modified (GMO) foods and produce covered with dangerous pesticides.

Food News - www.foodnews.org For the Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides, visit the www.foodnews.org, where you’ll see an option to download the guide.

Play it Safe With Kid’s Toys

Healthy Stuff – www.healthystuff.org Some of the scariest product recalls involve children’s toys. For example, the recent McDonald’s recall of 12 million Shrek-themed collectible glasses due to high levels of cadmium found in the paint. To avoid toxic toys for your young family members and friends, visit healthystuff.org/departments/toys and find a complete database of children’s products with ratings of low, medium, and high toxicity. Product listings also contain detailed information on the amounts of lead, chlorine, cadmium, arsenic, mercury or bromine present.

Moms Rising – www.momsrising.org For parents on the go, momrising.org has an ingenious text-messaging system where you can text the name or manufacturer of a toy and receive an instant text message reply indicating whether the toy has a low, medium or high level of harmful chemicals. Visit www.momsrising.org/NoToxicToys for more instructions and information.

Detox your Home

Good Guide – www.goodguide.com It’s tough to shop for household cleaning products and building supplies that are truly green. Some companies greenwash their packaging with imagery and claims that make the product seem environmentally friendly even when it’s not. For a reality-check on products, visit www.goodguide.com and see a product’s safety rated from 1 (worst) to 10 (best). Search by brand name or product name, or click on a category, like “laundry” to view a list of the safest and most harmful products in that category.

Earth Easy - www.eartheasy.com Another solution is to make your own household cleaners using basic and affordable ingredients. Visit eartheasy.com/ live_nontoxic_solutions.htm for a comprehensive guide to creating homemade substitutions for common cleaning agents.

Eco Haus - www.ecohaus.com If you are making improvements to your home and need to source green building supplies, paints, finishes and other materials look no further than www.ecohaus.com for environmentally-friendly and non-toxic flooring, heating and cooling products, paints, sealants and other supplies.

Become a Wiser Consumer

Greener Choices – www.greenerchoices.org Greenerchoices.org is Consumer Reports’ portal for green consumers. The site contains factual information on products billed as environmentally friendly. For example, find out if your skincare product is actually “all natural,” or see which portable cell phone chargers save the most energy. There is a free e-mail newsletter signup on the site and useful tools like an appliance energy efficiency calculator tool.

The Daily Green – www.thedailygreen.com and Grist -  www.grist.org Two more sources for staying abreast of green consumer trends are www.thedailygreen.com and www.grist.org. These sites deconstruct green product developments and news stories to let you know which products and services are truly green. Both sites feature tips and advice for making greener purchases and lifestyle changes.

Author: Britt Brouse lives in Tucson and writes about sustainability and marketing.

Tucson Green Times – July 2010

Downtown Tucson neighborhoods are united against plans to run a new power line across residential areas.

Tucson Electric Power (TEP) plans to run a new transmission line of a 138 kV between the DeMoss Petrie substation at Grant Ave. and I-10 and the downtown Tucson substation at 11th Ave. and 4th St. TEP spokesman Joe Salkowski says expects the transmission line to be in service by the end of 2012.

According to Salkowski, by the end of this month (July 2010) TEP will apply for the required Certificate of Environmental Compatibility (CEC) from the Arizona Power Plant and Transmission Line Siting Committee.

Three routes are being considered by TEP. The cheapest – $4.2 million – runs straight through the downtown neighborhood Dunbar/Springs along 11th Ave. where TEP has the right-of-way and two 46 kV lines are already up and running. The other two routes that circumvent most residences have more expensive price tags of over $6 million.

Since April 2009, residents of the neighborhoods Barrio Anita, Dunbar/Springs, Blue Moon, Barrio Kroeger Lane, El Presidio and the San Ignacio Yaqui have fought against the 11th Ave. route. They do not want a heavy-duty power line a few feet from their homes. Supported by Vice Mayor Regina Romero, Council Member Karin Uhlich and Pima County Supervisor Richard Elias, residents have publically voiced their concerns about aesthetics, safety, health and property values.

A138 Kv transmission line running next to your home does not look pretty and is a potential danger. The health concerns, on the other hand, are less straightforward. Do power lines directly affect our health?

Power lines emit electric forces (measured in volt per meter) and magnetic waves (measured in units of Gauss). Together, those form an electric magnetic field (EMF). The strength of EMF is different in every location. You are exposed to a much greater amount of EMF when strolling down 42nd Street in New York than when hiking Mount Lemmon.

For more than 25 years, numerous studies have been conducted to understand how EMF exposure impacts health, but researchers show contradicting results. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) existing studies “do not provide sufficient evidence to support an association between extremely-low-frequency magnetic-field exposure and adult cancers, pregnancy outcome, or neurobehavioral disorders.”

But studies conducted by the National Cancer Institute, the Children’s Oncology Group, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and the WHO have all reported an increase in childhood leukemia cases in areas with high EMF exposure.

According to John Peterson of NIEHS, research shows a two- to three-fold increase of childhood leukemia; instead of one in 14,000 children affected in a lifetime, three in 14,000 are affected. “Every investigator has found a weak correlation and therefore this small statistical increase in childhood leukemia cannot be ignored,” says Peterson.

This worries local residents. “I plan to have children, but I am not raising children under a 138 kV power line,” says Dunbar/Springs resident Ian Johnson.

Aesthetic, safety and health concerns also impact property value. A high-voltage power line running overhead may cause a residence to become “stigmatized property.” According to Bruce Greenberg, an appraiser and specialist in stigmatized property, this means that “the property value is psychologically affected in addition to physically affected.”

Susie DeConcini, vice president of Long Realty Company and a realtor for 35 years, is concerned about her son’s property located along the proposed 11th Ave. power line route. She once showed a property at Continental Ranch. “It was the most wonderful house,” she says. “But what do you see when you walk outside? Power lines. That was the end of it. There is always a price for which buyers will take the risk, but that will not be the market value.”

To assess a property’s value, the central question for Greenberg is: “What is in the mind of the typical buyer and seller?” Greenberg sketches the scenario of two identical houses up for sale; house A without an overhead power line and house B with an overhead power line. “House A most probably would sell before house B and most likely house A will sell for more than house B, everything else being equal,” he says.

For more than a year, downtown residents have fought against a 138 kV power line right outside their front door, but TEP is still proposing this route to the Line Siting Committee.

“The 11th Avenue route has the least support from the public and we are going to make sure that the Line Siting Committee is aware of that,” says TEP’s Salkowski. “The bottom line, however, is that the 11th Avenue route remains on the table and Tucson residents will continue their fight.”

Dunbar/Springs resident Ian Johnson says, “A transmission line does not serve the neighborhood directly. There are other options and in this case there are perfectly good options. I think that it makes sense to not increase the burden of this heavy-industrial infrastructure in a neighborhood, when you don’t have to, and in this case they don’t.”

Author: Kirsten Boele is pursuing a master’s degree in journalism at the UofA.

Tucson Green Magazine – July 2010

Q: I am a bartender in Sacramento and I would love to be able to use some sort of locally made or sustainable version of sugar. What’s out there?    -Ryan Seng, via e-mail

A: It sure would be nice if we could obtain all of our food and drink items from local sources, but sugar provides an excellent example of why such a desire may remain a pipe dream in the United States for a long time to come. The sugar we consume that is produced domestically comes from sugar cane grown in Hawaii and the Southeast and sugar beet from the Upper Midwest, Pacific Northwest, California and elsewhere. However, it is likely milled and refined hundreds if not thousands of miles from where it is harvested, and then shipped all over the country – causing untold greenhouse gas emissions – in various sized packages for our consumption in our coffee, on our cereal and, for some of us, in our cocktails.

Massive government subsidies and land giveaways to the sugar industry in the American Southeast beginning in the early 18th century established a market for American-grown sugar despite the fact that the region’s climate was not tropical enough to grow cane efficiently. To add insult to injury, the rerouting of south Florida’s fragile water table to irrigate thirsty sugar plantations contributed to the decimation of the Everglades, one of the nation’s most unique and diverse ecosystems – and now the subject of a multi-billion dollar restoration effort.

While you might be hard pressed to find commercially available local sugar anywhere in the U.S., you could make your own. “Years ago, when sugar was an expensive commodity, many people of lesser means made their own sugar from sugar beets,” reports writer Kat Yares on the eHow.com website. “Every farm and every home garden had a spot reserved for beets, and a day was set aside to cook the beets down into sugar.” While very few of us grow our own food these days, growing sugar beets and making sugar from scratch can be a fun, educational and tasty project for parents and kids or for foodies intent on local sourced, preservative-free ingredients. Yares explains the whole process in her “How to Make Sugar from Beets” article on eHow.com.

If that all sounds like too much work, perhaps you can settle for store-bought organic sugar, which may not be local but which is at least produced without chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Florida Crystals, Hain, C&H, Domino and others each offer organic sugar varieties in many traditional grocery stores coast-to-coast. There are even more choices at natural foods specialty stores (like Whole Foods). Believe it or not, there are even vegan sugars out there—that is, sugars not processed with animal-derived bone char in the refinement process.

While sugar itself may be a staple item for many cocktails, some interesting alternative natural sweeteners, some of which may be locally sourced in your region, do exist. Honey, Stevia or even maple syrup are some options that might just give that Tom Collins the extra kick it needs to make it stand out from the other bartender’s drinks down the street – or in your breakfast cereal, for that matter.

SEND YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTIONS TO: EarthTalk®, c/o E – The Environmental Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; earthtalk@emagazine.com. E is a nonprofit publication. Subscribe: www.emagazine.com/subscribe.

Tucson Green Times – July 2010

Q: I heard about a supposed dangerous chemical called “triclosan” that is in many personal care and other consumer products. Can you enlighten?  – Carl Stoneman, Richland, WA

A: Triclosan is a synthetic chemical compound added to many personal and household care products to inhibit illness by preventing bacterial infection. It works by breaking down the biochemical pathways that bacteria use to keep their cell walls intact, and as such kills potentially harmful germs if used in strong enough formulations. First developed as a surgical scrub back in 1972, triclosan is now used in upwards of 700 different consumer-oriented products, many of which people use more than once a day. They include hand soaps, deodorants, toothpastes, kids’ toys, yoga mats and, of course, hand sanitizers.

Whether triclosan is actually as effective as advertised, especially in the small doses found in consumer products, is a topic of much debate. Manufacturers insist that the product helps reduce infections. But researchers from the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health found, after surveying 27 different studies conducted between 1980 and 2006 on the effectiveness of antibacterial soaps, that washing hands with products containing triclosan was no more effective in preventing infectious illness—and did not remove any more bacteria – than plain soaps. The analysis, “Consumer Antibacterial Soaps: Effective or Just Risky?” was published in 2007 in the peer-reviewed journal, Clinical Infectious Diseases. According to lead researcher Allison Aiello, triclosan – because of the way it reacts in living cells – may cause some bacteria exposed to it to become resistant to amoxicillin and other commonly used antibacterial drugs, but she adds that more research is needed to bear out this hypothesis.

Anti-bacterial soaps and other products utilizing triclosan may in fact be doing more harm than good for the people who use it regularly. According to the non-profit Beyond Pesticides, triclosan has been linked to various human health problems. “It is associated with skin irritation, has been shown to interfere with the body’s hormones, and has been linked to an increased risk of developing respiratory illness, or asthma, and cancer, as well as subtle effects on learning ability,” reports the group, adding that 75 percent of Americans are walking around today with trace levels of triclosan in their bloodstreams. Tests using lab animals have verified that exposure to large doses of triclosan can cause irreparable health damage, but industry representatives say that the levels found in consumer products are much too small to do so.

Beyond its potential human health effects, triclosan can also harm the environment. According to Beyond Pesticides, some 96 percent of the triclosan from consumer products is washed down drains where it flows into wastewater treatment plants often ill-equipped to deal with it. Inevitably some of the triclosan escapes treatment and is released into local waterways, where exposure to sunlight can convert it into dioxins, a highly toxic group of chemicals responsible for contaminating waterways and wreaking havoc on wildlife.

While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is finally taking a fresh look at triclosan after years of controversy, consumers can do their part by asking the places they shop to stop selling products containing the controversial chemical additive. The Beyond Pesticides website offers a customizable sample letter designed to help consumers convince local retailers to forego stocking items with triclosan.

SEND YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTIONS TO: EarthTalk®, c/o E – The Environmental Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; earthtalk@emagazine.com.

Tucson Green Times – July 2010

Lipitor is the most profitable drug in history, achieving the highest sales in the world of any drug. Consistently ranking No. 1, Lipitor holds the title by a wide margin. Its annual sales of $16 billion were more than twice that of the next drug on the list in 2005, according to Consumer Reports. Combined statin sales were $25 billion in 2008 according to industry sources. Until last year, when surpassed by the antipsychotics, statins had been the highest selling class of drugs for the previous five years.

The tediously repeated commercial tagline, “When diet and exercise aren’t enough, ask your doctor about (the statin drug),” discourages people from even thinking about the question “Could food changes be as good as statin drugs?”

Yet this question was asked and studied by Canadian researchers several years ago. According to the 2003 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association, adding soy protein, viscous fiber, and nuts can be as effective for lowering cholesterol as adding a statin to a low saturated fat diet.

In this four-week study, 46 relatively healthy adults with elevated cholesterol, including 25 men and 21 postmenopausal women (average age, 59 years; average body mass index, 27.6), were randomized to one of three diets. The control diet was very low in saturated fat, based on milled whole-wheat cereals and low-fat dairy foods, such as skim milk, fat-free cheese, and yogurt. The statin group received the same diet plus lovastatin (Mevacor), and the dietary portfolio group received a diet containing plant sterols (2g or .4 tsp), soy protein (42.8 g or 3 tbsp), viscous fibers (20 g or 4 tsp), and almonds (28 g or 2 tbsp) with 30% calories from fat. All of the groups followed a low-saturated fat vegetarian diet of approximately 2,000 calories with all food provided to the participants except fresh fruit and vegetables.

LDL-Cholesterol decreased by 8 percent in the control group, 30.9 percent in the statin group, and 28.6 percent in the dietary portfolio group. C-reactive protein (an inflammatory blood marker with just as much risk as cholesterol) decreased by 10 percent 33.3 percent, and 28.2 percent, respectively.

Most people lost weight. The significant reductions seen in the statin and dietary portfolio groups were significantly different from changes in the control group, and the efficacy of the dietary portfolio treatment was not significantly different from that of the statin treatment. Of the dietary components, it was the soy protein that had the strongest effect in lowering LDL cholesterol and raising HDL and preventing inflammation.

The authors concluded that the diet could “provide a potentially valuable dietary option for cardiovascular disease risk reduction in primary prevention,”… “For most patients, dietary intervention should be the first line of therapy … before introducing pharmacotherapy for hyperlipidemia.”

Although the research team reported that adherence to the diet exceeded 90 percent, about 40 percent of participants in the dietary portfolio group criticized the poor food variety and 27 percent thought the food volume was too great. This may be because they were not accustomed to eating a diet of high fiber foods and the increased amounts of vegetables and fruits.

Plant sterols had an additive effect with the fiber and soy in improving the cholesterol profile The FDA has approved the following claim for phytosterols (plant sterols): “Foods containing at least 0.4 gram per serving of plant sterols, eaten twice a day with meals for a daily total intake of at least 0.8 gram, as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may reduce the risk of heart disease.”

Whole grains are rich in plant sterols, rice bran, oat bran, wheat germ, whole wheat and brown rice. Legumes are great sources of plant sterols, dried peas, dried beans, garbanzo beans and lentils. Nuts and seeds (unsalted) contain plant sterols such as almonds, walnuts, pecans, peanuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds. Vegetables and fruits also contain plant sterols.

To get the improved cholesterol effects from diet one does not have to follow a vegetarian diet as in the study. The Mediterranean diet – with poultry, fish, lamb and wild game, and all of the foods mentioned above – can also provide the same beneficial effects.

There have been no commercials on TV about this Canadian study saying “Diet and exercise are enough for the vast majority of people.” In a future article I will go into more depth about the limitations of statin drugs.

Author: Hunter Yost M.D. is in private practice in northwest Tucson where he specializes in Functional and Nutritional Medicine.

By Jacqueline Soule, PhD

Tucson Green Times – July 2010

Before you say “Yuck, I hate the smell of geraniums,” let me reassure you that “scented geraniums” are not the same as “geraniums.” Common names are so troublesome that way. Scented geraniums or pelargoniums are in the genus Pelargonium while geraniums are in the Geranium genus. Admittedly, both genera are in the Geranium Family, and both have a number of oil producing glands on their leaves. These oils are repel herbivores. The oils of geranium repel me from even growing them, but the oils of pelargonium are a whole different matter. They smell and taste GREAT!

Originally from southern Africa, there are over 280 species of wild Pelagonium. Southern Africa has many various climates, and pelargonium have taken on many various forms. Pelargoniums range from small herbaceous plants, to leafy woody shrubs, to clambering vines, to some with no leaves at all – just green water storage stems covered with spines.

The most popular pelargoniums are the herbaceous (non-woody) ones, which include around 70 species and over 100 named cultivars. All of these have very distinctively different delicious scents. What kind of fragrances do you enjoy? Spicy, minty, lemony, fruity, sweet, musky, citrusy, or nutty? There’s a pelargonium for that —- and more. A partial list includes: almond, apple, apple cider, apple mint, apple, chocolate mint, cinnamon, coconut, ginger, lemon rose, lemon, lime, nutmeg, orange, peach, peppermint, pineapple, rose, and strawberry.

Brought into cultivation in the Seventeenth Century, pelargoniums have long delighted gardeners. Victorian ladies carefully lined their garden paths with pots of pelargoniums. Then, as they strolled with their beaus, their skirts would brush the plants and release wonderful fragrances, thus enchanting the gent of their dreams.

Leaves were harvested all summer long for potpourri. The plants were brought indoors in winter to protect them from frost and provide living potpourri.

Along with potpourri, pelargonium leaves can be used as flavoring in tea, to make herbal vinegars, bath salts, or tasty herb sugars. Some varieties can be baked in cakes, and are used by five star chefs in creating unique desserts.

You can buy scented geranium at most nurseries or get cuttings from friends. My best success is if I allow the bottom of the cuttings to callus (air dry) for 24 hours. I then dip in rooting hormone and place directly into the pots they will live in. Keep them moist but not dripping wet until they are established.

Growing pelagoniums is easy. Just remember their southern African origins. Protect from frost, provide ample light, and make sure the soil is well drained. Use a cactus mix for best growth. This is one third soil, one third sand, and one third perlite or pumice.

Since you must protect from frost, most folks grow pelagonium in pots that can be moved to a sheltered location or indoors in winter. Or you can try growing them in beds that are well sheltered. Southern African heat is not as hot as ours, so you will want to provide shade for part of the summer day, afternoon if you can.

Go green with scented geraniums for a natural potpourri that is soothing and mellow. The plants act as a natural rabbit repellent for the rest of your garden. The tea is delicious and, since you have grown it locally, much greener to enjoy.

Whether you call them pelargonium or scented geranium, they still smell as sweet, and they make a fantastically fragrant addition to any home or garden.

Jacqueline Soule, PhD has been writing about gardening in the Southwest for close to three decades. She is currently working on a book on growing and using the herbs of Father Kino’s Mission Gardens.den.

By Robert Whitaker

Hardcover: 416 pages

Publisher: Crown

Review by Mary Ackerley, MD, MDH

Tucson Green Times – July 2010

Robert Whitaker’s brilliant book Anatomy of an Epidemic asks a simple question: Why, if psychiatric drug treatments are so efficacious, has the number of people on disability for mental illness more than tripled in the last 25 years?

Most doctors and researchers answered this question by stating that the numbers have increased simply because we are diagnosing more people with mental illness. In response to this stereotyped dismissal of his data, Whitaker began to do more research on the efficacy of known psychiatric treatments. And then, while poring through the psychiatric scientific literature on treatment effectiveness for the last 50 years, he found an even darker question beginning to emerge. “Is it possible that psychiatric drugs are actually making people much worse?”

Could it be that – far from “fixing broken brains” – the drugs being offered actually are worsening, and even causing, the very illnesses they claim to heal?

The year 1987 can be considered ground zero for the new era of psychopharmacology. Prozac had just been introduced and was being widely advertised to the psychiatric profession, as well as to the general public, as a new and safer antidepressant.

As a young psychiatric resident, I was proudly confident that the treatment of psychiatric illness was being revolutionized and that we could all look forward to a world where severe depression, anxiety and mania no longer crippled and ruined human lives. Wrong.

It should be apparent to many that, despite the incredible profiteering of the pharmaceutical industry off of psychiatric illness, that depression and anxiety are still rampant in this country. At the start of the psychopharmacological “revolution” when it became popular to blame all illness on “imbalanced brain chemistry” the percentage of bipolar patients who could return to work was 85 percent. Today it is less than 30 percent.

Certainly the introduction of the SSRI’s (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) revolutionized the profitability of the pharmaceutical industry. In 1987 about half a billion dollars were spent on psychiatric medications. By 2010 the figure is closer to $40 billion!

Actually, in children the disability figures are far more frightening. In 1987 there were less than 20,000 severely mentally disabled children. Today there are almost 600,000. That is a 30-fold increase. Part of that is due to the diagnosis of autism, while more is due to the even newer diagnosis of bipolar disorder in children, which has increased 40-fold in the last 10 years!

Most frightening are the numbers of children under the age of six receiving SSRI, which have tripled over the last 10 years to more than 65,000. Under six? How can this possibly be? Were psychiatrists 20 years ago oblivious to the plight of these severely disabled children? I can assure you, from my experience that is not true.

Rather, it seems that drug companies have discovered another very profitable market in young children and are busy pushing their drugs, in particular the atypical antipsychotics, onto children with the newly diagnosed pediatric bipolar disorder. How can anyone possibly predict the long-term impact of a major tranquilizer, used to subdue agitated and psychotic adults, on a five-year-old brain? Those studies have not been done.

From these sobering statistics, the author then goes on to answer the following questions about long-term results with psychiatric medicines:

• Does antidepressant usage make it more likely that you will become disabled?
• Are bipolar patients better off than they were 40 years ago?
• When the National Institute of Health studied the long-term outcome of children treated for ADHD did they find that stimulants provided any benefit?
• And, most startlingly of all to anyone who has been indoctrinated in the current medical thinking that psychiatric patients are always better off on medications, he asks an unthinkable question – are recovery rates for schizophrenics better with or without medication?

In addition, Whitaker chronicles the stories of many of the people who have been diagnosed for depression and bipolar disorder and treated with many different types of psychiatric medication. In fact, in some parts of the book where he examines scientific evidence it may seem a bit heavy, he more than makes up for it by interweaving the stories of many psychiatric patients whom he has personally interviewed.

In one of the most interesting parts of the book for me, it seems that if you are schizophrenic and living in India or Nigeria, your chances of a good outcome are far higher than if you live in the U.S. where everyone is medicated. The fact seems astonishing, and the World Health Organization repeated the study, but found the same thing: Living in an undeveloped country where meds are scarce, but patients are cared for by the community, assures a much better prognosis for schizophrenia.

However, Whitaker also quotes several studies done in the U.S. from the late 70s that showed similar results: Young adults suffering a first episode of schizophrenia who were not medicated showed significantly better outcomes in terms of subsequent relapse. Later in the book he details the current treatment of schizophrenia in an experimental clinic where drugs are rarely prescribed. Again, the findings are similar – patients there have much better long term outcomes than other schizophrenics who are routinely medicated.

I admit to having been somewhat naïve as a young doctor. I thought the fact that drug companies paid psychiatric professors to do their research was not a big deal. Again, wrong!

The last chapters of Anatomy of an Epidemic tallies up the enormous profits the drug companies and certain psychiatrists have made off the reinvention of psychiatry as biological psychopharmacology. He details how the growth of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual from DSM 2 to DSM 4 has fueled the growth of diagnosing more and more Americans as having a psychiatric illness which requires pharmacological treatment, and suggests this was a necessary preparation for “building the market” for the drug company’s wares.

Now, most scientists would absolutely bristle at the suggestion that their passion to finally make psychiatry a real science was actually a ploy to help the drug companies remarkably expand their profits. Yet there is no doubt the expansion of the definitions of psychiatric illness, which now has one in every eight Americans taking a psychotropic medication, has been exceedingly profitable.

Drug company sales of psychotropic medication went from about half a billion in 1987 to more than $40 billion in 2008. Atypical antipsychotics, once reserved for the most severely ill patients, are now the top revenue producer for drug companies, helped by the psychiatric professions’ willingness to prescribe these meds even to two-year-olds. Dr. Joseph Biederman, the psychiatrist most associated with leading the way to using antipsychotics for children by popularizing pediatric bipolar illness, personally received $1.6 million from 2000 to 2007, as well as procuring another $2 million for a pediatric pathology department at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is a designated KOL by the drug companies, which means a Key Opinion Leader. That means what he writes and says is usually followed by other psychiatrists.

In a recent deposition, he was asked his rank at Harvard Medical School. “Full professor,” he replied. “What’s above that?” asked the attorney. “God,” replied Dr. Biederman. Truly that is a response worthy of a KOL.

This is not the book of a disgruntled patient who is angry at the system. It is the carefully researched and documented expose of a multi-billion dollar industry that affects the lives of at least a quarter of the population. It is also an engrossing read, and an accurate depiction of the lives of people who are afflicted with these illnesses. I would recommend it to anyone who has ever used, or had a family member use, psychiatric services or been given psychiatric medication.

Author: Mary Ackerley MD, MDH, is a classically trained psychiatrist and homeopathic physician in private practice in Tucson.

Tucson Green Times – July 2010

Common household mold causes a variety of health problems, but it is difficult to prove the exact cause of the symptoms.

Mold spores can become airborne and contribute to a variety of respiratory and eye problems.

Because the symptoms of mold allergy resemble those of sinusitis, common cold and asthma, it is often difficult to determine the exact cause of these symptoms.

It’s time to have your home inspected for mold when:

• You can see or smell mold.
• There has been a leak or excessive moisture in your home.
• There is indication of water damage in the past or present.
• Unexplained health problems of anyone living in the home, combined with a previous history of water damage or moisture in the home.
• During the inspection process when purchasing a new home.

Health Conditions Attributed to Mold

• Allergy to mold. Mold allergy has been well documented. Symptoms can include runny nose, itchy eyes, wheezing, and skin rashes. Allergic fungal sinusitis is also a form of mold allergy. Infections. Aspergillus is the most notable fungus to cause infection (aspergillosis), but others have been associated with infections also. Infection from mold usually occurs only in persons on chemotherapy or who have immune diseases which make them more susceptible to infection. Skin, eyes, and lungs are often affected. Mold can irritate mucous membranes of the eyes and respiratory system.
• Trigeminal nerve effects have been associated with mold, and have been reported to cause decreased attention, disorientation, diminished reflex time, and dizziness.
• Volatile compounds (VOCS) produced by mold can cause headache, attention deficit, inability to concentrate, and dizziness.
• Some fungal molds produce toxins or poisons. Toxic molds can suppress the immune system, or damage intestines, skin, or lungs. They can increase susceptibility to cancer, and can cause blood vessels in the skin or lungs to rupture. Toxic molds are reported to cause nausea and diarrhea, depression, headaches, tremors, kidney problems, and infertility.
• Penicillium is a toxic mold which has been linked with kidney damage and has been shown to be carcinogenic (cancer-producing) in laboratory animals.
• Aspergillis is the most toxic mold according to some sources. Some of the toxins produced by aspergillis are reported to cause liver cancer and damage other vital organs.
• Stachybotrys is the mold usually thought of in “sick building syndrome.” It is being investigated as a cause of hemorrhage in the lungs of infants (acute pulmonary hemorrhage and hemosiderosis). It has been associated with runny nose, cough, flu-like symptoms, skin irritation in areas of heavy perspiration such as the armpits, headaches, hair loss, malaise, chronic fatigue, depression, yeast infections, and urinary tract infections. Stachybotrys is particularly difficult to test for, so is not usually available in commercial mold test kits.
• Fuusarium is another mold known to produce toxins.
• Insomnia has been reported as a symptom related to mold.

Tucson Green Times – June 2010

Gallbladder removal is the most common operation in North America. Every year, more than half a million people in the United States have their gallbladder removed. Most are suffering with some sort of abdominal discomfort, bloating and nausea, and are found by ultrasound to have gallstones or by HIDA scan to have a narrowed gallbladder outlet.

Therefore, the deduction is made that the gallbladder is causing the pain, and after being told they really don’t need a gallbladder, the offending organ is removed. Nonetheless, after surgery up to13-40 percent of patients will have persisting abdominal pain after cholecystectomy. This is known as postcholecystectomy syndrome. How can this happen, since the gallbladder was the problem? Clearly something is wrong here with the medical reasoning, since removing the gallbladder has not addressed the problem of nausea, gas and bloating.

The gallbladder has an important function in digestion. It regulates the flow of bile which is then used to digest fats. The liver makes about a quart of bile a day which is then stored in the gallbladder, where it is released in a controlled manner.

After gallbladder removal, the bile is said to be able to pass directly into the small intestine for fat digestion. However, there is no regulation – meaning that eating fats can cause a massive outburst of bile release, leading to an urgent need to evacuate. For many people this is not socially acceptable and therefore most patients learn to avoid fats. This is not a great idea since it means many patients miss out on the all important omega-3 fatty acids which are extremely important for cardiac health, inflammation, depression, mania, ADD and diabetes.

It should be fairly obvious by now that having the gallbladder removed, while making the surgeon richer, gives the patient about a 70 percent chance of solving the pain problem and can present a whole new host of problems. Clearly, having the gallbladder removed should be a carefully considered decision since once it is removed there is no going back. Cutting out a body part to solve a problem is treating the symptom, not the cause.

The presence alone of gallstones is not a problem. Many people live very long lives with large amounts of gallstones. However, it is important to remember that not all gallbladders can be saved. The gallbladder can become infected and, if it bursts like an appendix, can be life threatening. Gallstones also can travel and block the sphincter of Odhi which is the opening of the bile duct into the small intestine. Blocking all out-flow from the liver and pancreas can lead to a life threatening inflammation of the pancreas called pancreatitis. For this reason if inflammation, fever, jaundice or severe pain is present it is imperative to seek medical care.

The holistic approach is to improve bile flow and slowly dissolve the gallbladder “sludge”. Bitter herbs such as gentian, yellow dock or dandelion are the best way to stimulate bile production and improve fat digestion.

Milk thistle, artichoke and turmeric all help thin the bile. Choline is also very useful for thinning the bile and can be taken before each meal. Removing refined and processed food from the diet and adding fiber also can decrease gallstone buildup.

Adding acid such as betaine hydrochloride sugar will also help the body dissolve cholesterol. Without sufficient acid the cholesterol builds up into cholesterol gallstones.. The herb golden coin grass has been used for centuries by Chinese medicine practitioners with success to slowly and safely dissolve gallstones.

It is also important to point out that the extremely popular gallbladder flush consisting of mixing olive oil with epsom salts can be dangerous and can cause vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain. The tiny green balls, often called gallstones, that are passed have been studied and shown to result from the saponification of the olive oil with bile salts.

Taking bile salts after the gallbladder has been removed will help the body continue to process fats. Choline also supports digestion of fats and, in combination with the bile salts, may be helpful with gas and bloating. The hydrochloric acid and digestive enzymes can help stimulate digestion which was most likely part of the root problem in the first place.

Remember that avoiding the essential oils like omegas 3’s can have serious health consequences for your heart and your brain. I recently saw a patient who had his gallbladder removed 10 years ago. Because of the “post dump” syndrome he avoided fish oil. His C Reactive protein, which is one of the most powerful markers of inflammation and cardiovascular risk, was extremely elevated. Three months of fish oil along with other supplements have brought it down to a more acceptable range. (As an aside when people have trouble with fish oil it often is from a dysfunction of the gallbladder; following some of the above suggestions can be helpful in aiding digestion)

Although in this article we have only talked about the gallbladder, it may serve as an example as to why, in general, removing a body part is not a great idea. In Chinese medicine all body organs have an energetic as well as a physiologic importance. For instance, according to traditional Chinese Medicine removing the gallbladder weakens the liver which can then lead to depression. This is not something that most Western surgeons understand. When someone who is about to profit economically from your surgery suggests removal of an organ, such as the uterus or ovaries, because “you don’t really need it” it’s wise to consult a more functionally literate practitioner who understands the long term physiology of the body as a whole.

Author: Mary Ackerley, MD, MD(H), is a classically trained psychiatrist and homeopathic physician in private practice in Tucson.

Tucson Green Times – June 2010

The facts are alarming: bottled water drinkers are now in the majority in the U.S. and, according to a National Resources Defense Council study, bottled is not necessarily healthier than tap. Actually, nearly 40 percent of bottled waters are just tap water sporting a pretty label.

Americans consumed 31.2 billion liters of the stuff in 2006. (One liter equals about 33 fluid ounces.) The International Bottled Water Association says each of us drinks about 29 gallons annually.

The environmental impacts are staggering. Scientists estimate that three tons of carbon dioxide are produced by each ton of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) since it is produced from fossil fuels, meaning water bottles add 2.5 million tons of CO2 emissions to the atmosphere each year, while just making (not transporting) those bottles uses roughly 17 million barrels of oil annually.

Home treatment is a better way to go.

What’s in your water? Whether you’re part of a municipal water system or have a private well, the quality of the incoming water will determine the options for home treatment.

For a complete water analysis, have tests run by an independent laboratory. Find a certified lab by contacting the Pima County Health Department (520) 243-7770 or via the agency’s website, www.pimahealth.org. There also are on-line testing services. These send containers and you take samples, then ship them off for analysis. The largest Internet testing service is www.uldrinkwell.com, an offshoot of Underwriters Laboratories. There are many others. Use one certified either by the Environmental Protection Agency (www.epa.gov/safewater/labs) or by Arizona’s Department of Health Services (www.azdhs.gov/lab/license/env.htm).

The Options

Test results in hand, you’ll know precisely what’s in your water. If it’s municipal water, likely all is well in terms of contaminants, yet the taste or odor may be unpleasant. Well water users often find high levels of naturally occurring contaminants (notably arsenic) or dangerous organics (e.coli and/or oocytes) that need prompt remediation. Whatever the diagnosis, remember, no water problem is incurable.

Charcoal Filters. Available as easy-to-install faucet filters and in pitcher form, carbon effectively removes odor and some common contaminants. These are very popular alternatives for removal of the chlorine/chloramines taste common to municipal waters. Charcoal filters are inexpensive and easy to install. Follow the manufacturers’ guidelines for filter replacement as contaminants gather steadily in the unit over time. Some devices have color-changing filter lifespan indicators.

Distillation. These units boil water so contaminants drop out as steam rises. The steam condenses upon cooling and becomes particulate-free drinking water. Although some prefer its mineral-free taste, most bottled water buyers choose a level of minerals between 30-100 parts per million (ppm); distilled water usually has between 0-10 ppm. Residential countertop distillers can be either freestanding or plumbed directly into the home’s water supply.

UltraViolet Disinfection. Well water may contain dangerous mold or fungi spores, viruses or bacteria. Ultra violet light destroys these organisms by penetrating the cell wall and deactivating the DNA. The UV bulb, which sits in a quartz sleeve, will need annual replacement. Home units are available as either whole-house decontaminators or point-of-use devices (placed only at the drinking and cooking faucets). The contaminants in the water and the home’s maximum flow rate will determine if a UV product is right for your house. Seek the advice of a water treatment professional.

Softening. Besides the high calcium/magnesium salts in our water, there also are iron and copper particles contributing to its taste. These minerals are all insoluble, so they build up in pipes and appliances and around the top of your swimming pool as a hard white scale. They also prevent soaps from lathering.

If your tap water is hard but of good quality, a standard home water softener will create drinking water with a lower mineral content. In fact, if you let the water treatment technician know which brand of bottled water you prefer, they can calibrate your softener to produce the same ppm to give you the same taste.

Softeners consist of a timer or use gauge and tanks filled with zeolite minerals or ion exchange resins. Calcium and magnesium adhere to those substances, leaving the water. To clean the resin so it can do that again, salt is introduced. The sodium ions swap places with the minerals on the resin; the minerals go down the drain. Besides soft water’s taste and having real lather when you shampoo, your home’s plumbing system and appliances will enjoy a longer lifespan.

Reverse Osmosis. Residential reverse osmosis (RO) units use a series of cartridges to purify incoming tap water via nano or ultra filtration. Typically, the RO unit is under the sink and plumbed to a separate faucet, or to the refrigerator’s ice maker and water dispenser. They diffuse water through a semi-permeable membrane with microscopic pores; the vast majority of contaminants cannot pass through and are thereby separated from the water. Three-, four- and five- stage units are available; some also contain a UV sterilizer. Consult a water treatment professional for advice.

Bulk water. If bottled water use is one end of the spectrum and home water treatment is the other, water stores are a sustainable middle ground between the two. Most, but not all, use a multi-stage treatment process combining ion exchange, granulated activated carbon, reverse osmosis, secondary carbon filtration, ultra-filtration and ozonation.

Mark Hansen, owner of Water Street Station in Tucson, Ariz. explains the idea of his “drive thru” water business. “The individual liter bottles are obviously not an economical way to buy water or use resources, perhaps more so when people began buying them in quantity,” he says. His customers can pull right up and get purified water-to-go in large economical 100 percent re-useable five-gallon polycarbonate (not PET) bottles. Once home, they can decant into re-useable portable bottles, pitchers and the like, or use a cooler base or spigot directly from the bottles. Hanson uses a multi-stage treatment process in his water combining ion exchange, granulated activated carbon, reverse osmosis, secondary carbon filtration, ultra-filtration and ozonation.

Freestanding Water Dispensers. There are residential versions of the water machines commonly found outside of supermarkets. They utilize a variety of technologies to provide contaminant-free, good tasting water. Softening, RO, carbon, UV and ozonation may all be within an attractive freestanding unit that can be directly plumbed. Research production capabilities (gallons per hour or per day) and other features such as ice dispensers, ice water or boiling water for beverages. In fact, there are even water machines that create water out of thin air – air with sufficient humidity, that is. Sophisticated condensers pull water out of the air, purify it and dispense it.

A water treatment professional can offer specific advice. Be sure they are a member of the Water Quality Association (WQA), a national trade organization committed to providing the best quality water through expanding technology and continuing education; member dealers will use only certified equipment.

Whichever option you select, you’ll be joining a growing number of people opting for sustainable water treatment. Reduced landfill use, less reliance on oil by-products and a smaller carbon footprint are some of the larger benefits. As a rule of thumb, the larger the system and the more steps it has, the more expensive it will be, but the return-on-investment is rapid in light of the true cost of bottled water, both personally and planet-wide.

Author: Karen R. Smith is a local freelance writer.

Ten Tiny Piggies LLC

Sustainable Diapering: modern alternatives to pins and vinyl covers

By Rebeccah (Becky) Ostroski

Tucson Green Times – June 2010

Every new parent knows one thing: they will change a lot of diapers over the course of each child’s early years. For today’s parents, the option to use cloth diapers is usually dismissed: “It’s too much work.” “Who wants to do all that laundry?” “It’s not really any better for the environment.” But with a decade or two of advances in the style and manufacturing, cloth diapers are making a comeback in a big way. Today’s parents are looking for an inexpensive, healthy and eco-friendly way to raise their children. Cloth diapers are a great way to start and can make a huge impact.

We can start by examining the cost benefits. Regarding disposable (paper) diapers, a newborn will use more; the average older baby goes through roughly 60 diapers per week, at around .23 cents per diaper (RealDiaperAssociation.org). That works out to total about $1,600 for two years (or $2,400 if potty learning waits until age three) or $66 per month.

In contrast, reusable cloth diapers are much less expensive. Prices vary depending on the style mom and dad select – whether it be pre-folds and covers or the more modern all-in-one or pocket styles diapers – but a good average is about $300-$700 upfront for all necessary diapers and accessories. This also means washing them at home or using a diaper service to do the dirty work for you. Right away cloth brings a cost savings of $1,300 to $2,100 over the diapering life of each child. Hidden savings bonus: this initial supply of cloth diapers can likely be used for future children, depending on the manufacturing quality of the specific diapers.

Next we consider the environmental impact. The Real Diaper Association estimates that parents in the U.S. consume (since they are thrown away, disposables are considered a consumable) 27.4 billion disposable diapers per year. It has been estimated that each diaper may take up to 250-500 years to decompose in our landfills. In a household with a child in disposable diapers, 50 percent of the waste they produce is, you guessed it, diapers. Fifty percent! What’s more, disposables generate 60 times more solid waste and use 20 times more raw materials to produce than cloth, which are generally made of cotton, bamboo or hemp fibers.

One common argument is that washing the cloth diapers consumes more water than the manufacturing of disposables. In 1993 Liz Armstrong and Adrienne Scott determined that is not the case, and estimated that, in fact, the manufacture of disposable diapers uses 2.3 times more water than the washing of cloth. And with today’s high efficiency washers and dryers, it’s likely to be even a higher percentage.

In addition to cost savings and being a sustainable alternative, cloth diapers provide several health benefits for baby. It is well known that most disposable diapers contain harmful chemicals, dyes and absorbent gels to lock in the moisture. One of those chemicals, dioxin, has been listed by the EPA as “the most toxic of all cancer-linked chemicals” (Real Diaper Association). Although banned in most countries, the U.S. still allows it to be used. Disposable diapers have also been linked to hormonal problems later in life due to the use of Tributyl-tin (TBT). For baby boys, it has been shown that increased scrotal temperature due to prolonged use of disposable diapers can retard the body’s natural cooling mechanism.

Finally, while there is no specific data to support this claim, those who use cloth diapers notice significantly fewer occurrences of diaper rash than when using disposables. Happy, irritant-free baby equals happy parents.

So what are the new modern advances that make it easy to switch to cloth? You’re probably thinking of the old foldable cloth blanket-looking diapers with pins and noisy vinyl cover. Thankfully, those no longer exist. Well, not exactly anyway. The pre-fold diaper itself is still widely used and is a very economical choice. But with fabric and style advances, as well as the integration of velcro closures (no need for scary pins!), cloth diapers have come a long way.

In addition to pre-folds and modern covers the most popular option is a pocket diaper. This is a two piece system which includes a waterproof outer cover, typically in a fun bright color, which has a micro-fleece lining inside with a pocket where mom or dad can place an absorbent layer. The absorbent layers come in different styles, levels of absorbency and material makeup and range in price, but are typically only a few dollars per piece. Many of the pocket diapers come with one or two inserts each.

As an extra cost savings, cloth diapering parents also may choose to use cloth wipes. It makes sense – when you use a disposable diaper you simply ball up the diaper and the wipes used and toss it all in the trash. With cloth diapers, it’s convenient to do the same thing: use a cloth wipe, toss the whole thing in a diaper pail and wash it all together.

A few accessories will be necessary to get started. In addition to the diapers, a “wetbag” is good when away from home, and just slips right into the diaper bag. A pail liner (also washable) will be needed to use as a waterproof laundry bag until wash day. Some parents (myself included) also employ a diaper sprayer for those particularly messy jobs. This simply hooks up to the toilet and acts like a kitchen sink sprayer.

Author: Rebeccah (Becky) Ostroski holds an MBA and worked for 13 years in the financial services industry before moving to Tucson and purchasing Ten Tiny Piggies LLC in May 2010., After she became a mom and decided she wanted to do something to make more of an impact and chose to cloth-diaper her daughter. She now advocates the benefits of using cloth diapers.

For more information about Ten Tiny Piggies, contact Becky at (520) 908-7343 or visit online: www.tentinypiggies.com

See Ten Tiny Piggies ad, page 1, June 2010.

Tucson Green Times – May 2010

We all grow up with unique teeth-related adventures and apprehensions. Once I heard a mother of preschoolers warn them bugs would get caught in their teeth if they ate candy.

When I was little, my dad would act stricken after I brushed my teeth. “Radiant, dear. Radiant!” he’d cry as if staring into a solar eclipse. “You’re blinding me.”

Oh really? I thought one morning and flashed my teeth after deliberately not brushing them. Dad acted as dazzled as always and I stopped brushing my teeth altogether. Soon after, I got my first cavity and bit my first dentist’s finger.

Regardless of any quirky family folklore, most of our dental lives revolve around a variety of crooked teeth, missing teeth, braces, the tooth fairy, gum disease, root canals, crowns, whiter smiles with that cartoon ping!

But what if we experienced dentistry as a portal to high-level wellness for the whole body? Mind? Spirit? What if we said, “My knee is killing me and I’m exhausted all the time. I wonder if my body and jaw are misaligned?” Or we left a dental office feeling refreshed, on the path to reinvigorated head to toe health?

“What would [health] look like at its best?” is a personal challenge that has guided Dr. Steven Swidler, D.D.S. from traditional premed studies to holistic dentistry.

Holistic dentistry provides support for the whole human being, honoring the vital connection between the spiritual, physical, and emotional. In its most primitive form, it “recognizes there’s a person attached to the tooth. We’re not here to fix the tooth and traumatize the person,” says Swidler, founder of Medicine Wheel Dental, an integrative dental practice.

The need to honor his own spirit, mind, and body is what led Swidler into dentistry in the first place. “You know how you start on a path in life and you feel like it’s taking you, instead of you choosing it?” he asks. He experienced that when he was a premed student at the University of Illinois, so he stepped back and envisioned all the things he truly loved. “Biology, helping people, arts and crafts. I wanted to be my own boss.” What could possibly meet all those requirements? Dentistry. Of course.

For two years he worked in Chicago with his uncle, a traditional dentist, who had lived with him in his childhood home. “The scope of dentistry had always been, ‘These are my teeth. I want healthy gums. I don’t want decay. And I want a nice smile,’” says Swidler.

Then, when he moved to Tucson in the mid-70s, he was introduced to such modalities as applied and dental kinesiology. “I was skeptical back then,” he says. “I thought I knew a lot. I thought, ‘That’s crazy. It can’t be science.’ I was going to knock the legs out from underneath this.”

Instead he began to expand his concept of what’s possible – explore the difference between what is and what can be.

“What’s possible” has grown into the Medicine Wheel Dental Center in the foothills of the Tucson Mountains, where Swidler and his team, including son Ari, and associate Dr. Ken Glass, D.D.S., focus on creating an environment that is safe, relaxing, educational, even inspiring.

For starters, they air out the entire building every night. “It’s imperative because so many dental materials can be really toxic. People can be very sensitive to those,” says Ari, whose interest in dentistry was not piqued while growing up. It wasn’t until 10 years ago, fed up with corporate life, that he said yes to the opportunity to help out at Medicine Wheel Dental.

In addition to using x-rays with the lowest emissions, Ari explains that Swidler works with naturopaths to generate biocompatibility reports of 1,400 dental materials. Blood tests can identify which dental materials are suitable for a particular patient and which aren’t.

“Mercury is the biggest neurotoxin ever known to man,” adds his father, who says mercury-amalgam fillings have been linked to everything from arrhythmia to Alzheimer’s Disease to kidney dysfunction.

“Supposedly, when mixed with a few other metals, mercury would bind and bond onto the tooth. We could fix cavities,” says Swidler. “But once we learned that mercury is not bound, we could measure the mercury vapor coming off (the tooth). Then we said, ‘Wow, we’re constantly being exposed to the greatest neurotoxin known.’”

During the removal process of mercury-amalgam fillings, patients breathe oxygen through their noses to prevent mercury vapors from re-circulating. No one is forced to remove the fillings, of course – people always have the choice.

“If you had mercury in a thermometer at a kid’s school and it broke, they’d have a HAZMAT team descend to keep everything safe,” says Swidler. “Yet in dentistry they’re just drilling it right out. It causes a huge exposure. There’s debris in their mouths. They’re breathing mercury vapors. These dentists who are doing that are doing themselves and their patients a disservice. ”

According to Ari, one of the biggest ways mercury gets into groundwater is from dental offices not disposing of it correctly.

“With awareness, we can make a choice,” says Swidler, who bubbles with curiosity and freely shares his discoveries. One of which is a natural alternative to root canals. As many of us know all too well, decay close to the nerve can cause excruciating pain. What we may not realize is that teeth are incredibly porous.

“Bacteria from an initial infection may continue to live on the outside of the tooth,” Swidler explains. “Dentists who perform root canals say, ‘No, no, I’ve got a great seal on the inside of the tooth.’ But that’s not where the problem is; it’s on the outside. When bacteria gets near a root canal, a dead tooth, it will live there, where there’s no circulation. You may be treating yourself for a bacterial problem that is actually living and eking out of a root canal tooth.”

For 12 years he’s been tracking the effectiveness of a material he bought in Japan, which calms down nerve tissue. A derivative of a rice bran, it’s safe to drink or put in your eye and has 70 natural antioxidants. Treating exposed nerves with this substance offers his patients the opportunity to save teeth traditionally slated for root canal or extraction. It keeps them “alive as a living system instead of mummifying them. Where else in medicine do you leave a dead part in the body? Only in dentistry,” he says.

Again, this goes back to the essence of holistic dentistry – honoring the whole living system. It’s what attracted Dr. Glass to Medicine Wheel three years ago. Burnt out by 20 years of practice as a traditional dentist, he was searching online when he found “a leftover (Medicine Wheel) ad from years earlier. We met and now we’re like brothers. I loved everyone and loved this place and what they’re doing,” says Glass.

At that time, Glass also had been experiencing some structural problems with his bite that were diminishing his health. “When I met Steve, it was like, ‘this is the missing piece.’”

Turns out facilitating high level wellness through jaw and bite alignment was one of Swidler’s passions. He discovered this during his explorations in the 70s. He’d been taught that the head is a solid mass; the jaw is the only bone that moves in the skull. When he became aware of the research done in the early 1900’s by osteopathic physician William Sutherland, showing there are 29 bones in the skull connected by layers of connective tissue, and that they all move – three to four times per minute – Swidler thought, “I work with the jaw and if this isn’t the only bone that moves, I need to know about it.”

Determined to learn more, he convinced Dr. Viola Fryman, the teacher of a cranial osteopathy course to save space for him despite its two-year waiting list. “I know I’m supposed to be here,” he told her.

“Thank you Spirit for leading me here,” he recalls thinking about the course that launched him into 31 years of clinical research and evolving treatments for TMJ and body misalignments.

So what’s the big deal about cranial work and what does it have to do with your teeth?

Cranial osteopathy is based on the knowledge that high level wellness comes from balanced body alignment and equal and opposing motion of the cranial bones and tissues of the body. The physical, mental, and emotional traumas of our lives create restrictions or distortions in the body’s connective tissue system, which may result in a host of health challenges: nerve signal impairment, poor blood flow, limited range of motion, pain in the legs, neck, back, arms, head.

Cranio Sacral Treatment (CST) is a gentle bodywork that facilitates the release of body stresses and strain patterns through realignment and restoration to wellness. The therapy was pioneered and developed by osteopathic physician John E. Upledger following extensive scientific studies from 1975 to 1983 at Michigan State University, where he served as a clinical researcher and Professor of Biomechanics.

To answer his core question, “What would health look like at its best?” Swidler developed and patented the Percussion Table, which “looks like a massage table, but feels like you’re laying on a sleeper car on an old time train.”

Because a pulse is delivered to the whole body at once, the Percussion Table creates “global unwinding.” Unwinding is the loosening or releasing of tight areas and injury patterns in the connective tissue of the body. He compares it to allowing a telephone cord to untangle. After getting off the table, it is not uncommon for people who entered his center with crouched postures to exit “standing straight for the first time in 15 years.”

According to Swidler, the jaw is actually like the tuner on the radio. “If the jaw is on a more forward and balanced position, the signals to all the rest of the body are good, clear signals. You can hear the radio perfectly,” he says. “When you bite down in a wrong position, it’s like you’re halfway in between stations. So this is affecting signals to skeletal muscles, smooth muscles, endocrine glands, the whole way the body works.”

Swidler’s process of creating a more ideal position for the jaw joint (temporal mandibular joint or TMJ,) sounds like a dance.

A cranial osteopath works on the patient’s body, helping them release strain patterns. Swidler’s team stabilizes the jaw in the right position by creating a durable, removable appliance. The body responds to the jaw’s new position by relaxing and releasing even more injury and strain patterns “like layers of an onion.”

In the meantime, Swidler is eager to keep his own body/mind/spirit aligned and aware of new possibilities. Which is why he wakes up every morning and meditates. His philosophy? “Don’t do anything unless it brings you great joy to do it.”

Now that’s radiant … ping!

Author: Jan Henrikson is a local freelance writer.

WHO TO CONTACT

Dr. Steven Swidler, DDS

Medicine Wheel Dental

4650 W. Jojoba Dr., Tucson Ariz.

520-743-7101

www.medicinewheeldental.com

Tucson Green Times – May 2010

Weight loss is one thing, but what did you really lose? Recent estimates from the Center for Disease Control say almost two-thirds of the U.S. population are either overweight or obese.

Multiple chronic health issues related to being overweight include diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, degenerative changes in back and knees, and cancer. People with weight issues often want quick solutions. Rapid weight loss claims, like losing 40 pounds in four weeks, ignore established medical research recommending a one-pound weight loss per week for women, and one to two-pounds per week for men.

With rapid weight loss, muscle mass (one of the most important biomarkers of aging) is also lost. Many highly advertised weight loss programs fail to offer a specific plan to maintain muscle mass while losing fat – in other words, how to maintain a healthy body composition. In studies, there is increasing focus on healthy body composition instead of just weight loss since it is well known that aging, sedentary lifestyle, weight gain, chronic disease, and poor nutrition can lead to unhealthy changes in body composition.

Body composition can be measured through a simple, non-invasive device called a bioimpedance analyzer. A mild current, which cannot be felt, is passed through electrodes attached to the foot and hand. The current passes through the different body compartments: intracellular water, extracellular water, fat mass, and free fat mass (everything other than fat). If the current passes slowly, there is more fat mass and extracellular water. If it passes through more quickly, there is more intracellular water and muscle tissue. The analyzer is also programmed to calculate the amount of stored energy in the cells and cell membranes, called phase angle and body capacitance. Not surprisingly, healthy people have more stored energy than unhealthy people. Bioimpedance correlates quite well with the DEXA scan, which is considered the gold standard for measuring fat, muscle, and bone mass, but uses radiation so it cannot be used for regular assessment of body composition.

Traditional markers of total body weight, body mass index (BMI), and waist circumference are helpful for baseline information but cannot tell whether a person is gaining or losing muscle mass, or shifting from unhealthy extracellular water to healthier intracellular water – everything your bathroom scale cannot tell you. By measuring these latter biomarkers, we can track nutritional and lifestyle changes, and minimize the otherwise inevitable consequences of aging and disease.

A new term called “sarcopenic obesity” is appearing in the medical literature. Simply put, it means loss of muscle mass while fat mass increases. Reduction in muscle mass can be caused by previous bouts of crash dieting, inadequate protein intake and inactivity. Sarcopenic obese people may even have a normal or low BMI measurement and look thin, but have a relatively high fat ratio – lending the term “skinny fat people.”

Research from UCLA Center for Human Nutrition showing bioelectrical impedance measurements taken of young women at increased risk of breast cancer demonstrated sarcopenic obesity in 38 out of 40 women. In these women, body fat is best reduced by encouraging heavy resistance exercise rather than simply restricting calories. Increasing their muscle mass will help increase their basal metabolic rates and burn more fat. Recent research also shows that simply reducing sitting time during the day can significantly help lower inflammatory markers, blood sugar and burn calories.

Incorporated into a comprehensive therapeutic lifestyle management program, bioimpedance analysis performed every few weeks can be a powerful tool to monitor body composition changes. It is also a great motivator, as people see the results of the lifestyle and dietary changes they have made. With weight loss, slower is healthier, and energy usually improves quickly. Rapid weight loss really means rapid loss of muscle and not just fat. Medical studies agree that maintaining muscle mass and minimizing fat mass is one of the best indicators of healthy aging.

Author: Hunter Yost M.D. specializes in Functional and Nutritional Medicine and is in private practice in northwest Tucson.

Tucson Green Times – May 2010

Imagine up-chucking, feeling weak and bloating like a whale every time you eat a cracker, cookie, pizza, or piece of yummy pie with a flaky crust. That’s not a happy way to go through life, yet about one in every 133 people in the United States have a disease that causes miserable symptoms when they eat certain foods.

Celiac disease is a life-long chronic condition that damages the small intestines – an autoimmune disorder characterized by a toxic reaction to gluten. In people with celiac disease, gluten interferes with their absorption of iron, folate, calcium and fat-soluble vitamins and causes gastrointestinal symptoms. Gluten is a special type of protein commonly found in rye, wheat, barley and kamut.

About 70 percent of people with celiac disease find their symptoms improve within two weeks of beginning a gluten-free diet, according to a 2002 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

A gluten-free diet means avoiding all foods that contain wheat, rye, barley, and possibly oats – in other words, most grains, pasta, cereal, and many processed foods.

Besides those diagnosed with celiac disease, others who embrace gluten-free eating are people with autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and the gluten-sensitive who may not have celiac disease, but who do experience digestive problems that improve when they go on a gluten-free diet.

A gluten-free diet eliminates many foods, but does offer well-balanced options. For example, instead of wheat flour, gluten-free cooks can use potato, rice, soy, buckwheat, millet, amaranth, quinoa, or bean flour. Health food stores – and some local supermarkets – offer a plethora of gluten-free products including pastas, cake mixes, waffles, bagels, pizzas, cookies, baby food, and even beer and cosmetics.

Increase in gluten-free products

May is National Celiac Awareness Month, when organizations like the Celiac Disease Foundation (celiac.org) promote advocacy, awareness and education to benefit the more than 1.5 million folks in the U.S. who currently have celiac disease.

With a growing awareness and the benefits of gluten-free diets there is an increasing demand for gluten-free products in the U.S.

According to a March 2007 survey by Mintel, a market research company, eight percent of the U.S. population currently shops for gluten-free products and 700 new gluten-free products were introduced in the U.S. in 2007, up from 214 products in 2004. Mintel also projects a 15-25 percent annual growth in gluten-free foods over the next few years.

Gluten-free shopping tips

When shopping for gluten-free products, remember that gluten sometimes shows up where you least expect it – chocolate or sweetened milk may contain malt or wheat starch, and processed meats like bologna, lunch meats, and frozen meat patties may contain fillers made from wheat.

Gluten can be removed from wheat flour, producing wheat starch, but all of the gluten cannot be removed. Yet, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), if a certain amount of gluten is removed the food product still can be labeled “gluten-free.” Always check labels and look for a certified GF logo from the Gluten-Free Certification Organization.

The book Gluten-Free Diet: A Comprehensive Resource Guide by celiac researcher and registered dietitian Shelly Case is an invaluable resource, and has a complete list of gluten-free food products and foods to avoid.

The websites celiac.com, easytobeglutenfree.com and glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com are all excellent resources for celiac sufferers.

During the month of May, Sunflower Farmers Markets is offering a range of in-store programs and events for customers with gluten intolerance. The grocer also has launched a microsite (sfmarkets.com/may) with advice on how to eat well on a gluten-free diet.

Gluten-free cake recipes

The best way to ensure a gluten-free diet is to prepare the food yourself. Enjoy these gluten-free dessert recipes submitted by Ellen Donovan-Dahle Wright, a Tucson Green Times reader in California.

Ellen’s Gluten-Free, Egg-Free, & Dairy-Free Chocolate Crazy Cake

This cake is made in one bowl, baked in an 8 x 8” pan, and comes out moist and yummy.

Pre-heat oven to 350 and grease (I use Pam) an 8” x 8” pan.  You can double the recipe for a 9 x 12 sheet cake pan.

1-1/4 cup plain rice flour (I get this at Asian markets; the Korean rice flours seem to be the best)

1/4 cup sweet rice flour (Moche flour)

1/2 to 1 cup sugar (1 cup is very sweet)

1/3 regular unsweetened cocoa powder like Hersheys (not Dutch process)

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Whisk or sift the dry ingredients together then make a well in the middle.  Into the well add:

1 tsp cider vinegar

2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup oil (corn, peanut, olive, canola, coconut, etc.)

1 cup weak coffee or water or rice or almond milk or plain water

Stir until blended then scrape into pan and bake for about 30 to 35 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Ellen’s Gluten-Free, Egg-Free

& Dairy-Free Chocolate

Crazy Brownies

Follow the above recipe but change it to:

1 cup regular rice flour

1/2 cup sweet rice flour

and stir in 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans and 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips.

Ellen’s Gluten-Free, Egg-Free,

& Dairy-Free Almond-rich

Crazy Fudge-Cake

This cake is made in one bowl, baked in an 8 x 8” pan, and comes out moist and yummy.

Pre-heat oven to 350 and grease (I use Pam) an 8” x 8” pan.  You can double the recipe for a 9 x 12 sheet cake pan.

1 cup almond flour (grind your own or get it from Trader Joe’s)

3/4 cup sweet rice flour (Moche flour)

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Whisk or sift the dry ingredients together then make a well in the middle.  Into the well add:

1 tsp. vinegar

2 tsp. almond extract

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 cup oil (corn, peanut, olive, canola, coconut, etc.)

1 cup rice or almond milk or plain water

Stir until blended then scrape into pan and bake for about 30 to 35 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Almond “Brownies”: stir 1 cup chopped roasted almonds or toasted slivered almonds into the batter.

Ellen’s Gluten-Free, Egg-Free,

& Dairy-Free Lemon-Almond Cake

This cake is made in one bowl, baked in an 8 x 8” pan, and comes out chewy, moist, and yummy.

Pre-heat oven to 350 and grease (I use Pam) an 8” x 8” pan.  You can double the recipe for a 9 x 12 sheet cake pan.

1 cup almond flour

3/4 cup sweet rice flour (Moche flour)

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

Whisk or sift the dry ingredients together then make a well in the middle.  Into the well add:

1 TBSP lemon juice

the zest of 1/2 lemon

1 tsp. lemon extract

1 tsp. almond extract

1/2 cup olive oil (or any vegetable oil)

1 cup minus 2 tsp. water

Stir until blended then scrape into pan and bake for about 30 to 35 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Author: Erin Michaels is a local freelance writer.

The FDA recently sent a letter to Diamond Foods, Inc., a processor and distributor of packaged nuts, threatening this respected firm with legal action and possible seizure or injunction of their walnuts.

Why? As Bill Faloon, Life Extension Foundation co-founder, explains in a recent investigative article for Life Extension Magazine, Diamond Foods stated on its website that walnuts promote and maintain a healthy heart among other health benefits.

The FDA wrote that the walnuts sold by Diamond Foods cannot be legally marketed because walnuts “are not generally recognized as safe and effective” for the medical conditions referenced on Diamond Foods’ website.

According to the FDA, these walnuts are now classified as “drugs” and the “unauthorized health claims” cause them to become subject to government “seizure or injunction.”

Last time we checked, the FDA’s mission was to educate the public and protect the public health – not to harass and censor American companies that provide high quality, nutritious, and healthful natural products.

As a matter of fact, there are dozens of studies that show sharply reduced incidences of heart disease for those who consume walnuts. The National Library of Medicine database contains no fewer than 35 peer-reviewed published papers supporting a claim that ingesting walnuts improves vascular health and may reduce heart attack risk, among other health benefits.

Nor is this the first time the FDA has attacked the marketers of healthy foods just because they dared to cite peer-reviewed scientific research. The Agency previously enjoined the cherry growers, and also has attacked green tea producers and other health food producers for the very same reason: “unauthorized health claims,” even though they had hard science behind their statements.

Selective Enforcement

Why does the FDA target cherry growers, walnut distributors, and green tea producers with threatening letters, when they allow Frito-Lay, a subsidiary of the Pepsi-Cola company, to advertise their potato chips as “heart healthy”? Do you see their chips being called “illegal drugs”? Does the FDA actually think that deep fried potatoes laden with salt are healthier than cherries and walnuts?

What is really going on here? Could it have something to do with the fact that these calorie-laden snacks are sold by a giant food and soft drink company with $43 billion per year in sales – and lots of clout on Capitol Hill – while producers of natural healthy products are often small and relatively defenseless firms?

Please do not let the FDA silence good science and common sense. Contact the FDA today and tell them to stop censoring science and harassing producers of natural food products.

-Source: Alliance for Natural Health, www.anh-usa.org

WHO TO CONTACT:

Food and Drug Administration
10903 New Hampshire Ave., Silver Spring, MD 20993-0002

By telephone: 1-888-463-6332

By email: webmail@oc.fda.gov

Sign the action letter to the FDA on Alliance for Natural Health’s website:

www.secure3.convio.net/aahf/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=535

By Gretel Hakanson

Tucson Green Times – March 2010

Many of us spend a lot of time, effort, and money making our homes places of respite and relaxation as well as healthy places to dwell. But your home could be host to a hidden health hazard. Often unseen by the homeowner, dangerous mold infestations are surprisingly common in Tucson homes, considering our dry climate.

John Setford is a certified mold inspector and owner of Arizona Mold Dog Services. It’s his business to know about mold. “Whether you are in Tucson, Chicago, Florida, Europe, England, or Russia, mold is in the air,” he says. “There are hundreds of molds in the air all the time. Nature did this to us. They’re out there floating around and they’re looking for a place to land so they can start growing and eating something.”

John Setford, a certified mold inspector in Tucson, has a private conversation with his canine partner, Rocky - a six-year-old beagle (and a rescue dog) who spent a year in training learning the science of mold detection. PHOTO: James Patrick.

The recipe for a mold problem in the home is water combined with a 40 percent or greater humidity level. Mold exists in two “states” – viable and nonviable. Viable mold is living, growing mold. If not completely removed, viable mold can eventually become dormant, or nonviable, if and when humidity levels decrease. Setford says that nonviable mold can continue to produce spores for up to eight years and it only takes a water leak or high humidity levels to convert it back into viable mold.

“Mold needs 40 percent humidity to grow, something wet like a pipe leak, the filter under your kitchen sink, the drain – mold is going to find it within 24 hours. Within 48 hours you’re going to see mold. Every day that goes by and the water remains, it will get worse and worse until you have a monster in your house,” says Setford.

Health Hazards of Mold

Of the 25 or so common varieties of mold found in Southern Arizona, only about five of them are toxic, according to Setford. However, nontoxic mold is a food source for the toxic mold varieties so it’s rare for one to exist without the other. Furthermore, mold affects different people differently, even people living in the same house.

Young children, pregnant women, the elderly, and people with compromised immune systems are the most adversely affected by mold. Symptoms are typically associated with the respiratory system: allergies, asthma, coughing, sinusitis, shortness of breath, burning in the lungs, and sore throat. Headaches, nausea, memory loss, and chronic fatigue symptoms could also be present. Most of time, people with a mold allergy or mold poisoning don’t realize that mold is the cause of their illness until after they have unsuccessfully tried other treatments.

Causes of Mold in the Home

J.P. Huestis president of Global Prevention Services specializes in mold remediation. He says, “Water is the key ingredient. How the water comes in the house happens in a bunch of different ways: You can have roof issues, plumbing issues, drain issues, windows that are faultily installed, or even grading issues.”

With the onset of warmer weather, many of us will be switching on our evaporative coolers, but be aware that they are a common culprit in mold problems. “We see some of the most horrendous mold damage with the improper use of swamp coolers,” says Huestis.

Proper use of a swamp cooler involves venting the house. To avoid excessive humidity, the house must be vented to allow dry air to enter and moist air to be expelled. Simply opening a window an inch or two will create a vent. Otherwise, the walls, furniture and other belongings can accumulate too much moisture, leading to mold-friendly humidity levels.

“We have seen entire homes blossom in mold – cabinetry, guitar cases, picture frames, couches, all sorts of clothing, shoes, speaker covers, just about everything,” Huestis says.

Many people have run their swamp coolers for years without a problem, however, Huestis cautions, “Even the smallest interior leak, such a tub or toilet overflow, if not dried up immediately, is enough to boost the humidity and moisture content of the house to the tipping point.”

Huestis recommends checking with your insurance company – especially tenants with renter’s insurance – to confirm that it covers damage and content loss due to water and mold.

In home inspections, Setford almost always finds mold in the bathroom. He calls this “maintenance mold” because it can typically be removed through proper cleaning. It can be found in the shower, tub, caulking, grout, ceiling, inside the toilet tank, and windows. It may be black, green, yellow, brown or light pink and it can grow on just about any material – wood, plastic, glass, metal, concrete. Cleaning the affected area with hydrogen peroxide will usually eliminate maintenance mold. But, Setford says, if the mold continues to reappear after using hydrogen peroxide, that means there’s mold somewhere else in the house. A plumbing leak, roof leak, or grading problem may have caused mold growth inside the walls, ceiling, floor, underneath baseboards or behind wallpaper.

It’s even possible to have mold in a brand new home. Setford cites an example where mold might be present in the building materials. “The wood used to build the home may have been contaminated with nonviable mold before the house was even built. If for some reason that wood gets wet – maybe there is a roof leak or a leak caused during the stucco installation – water will slowly saturate the wood. All of a sudden, the mold starts to grow again.” The homeowner may be completely unaware of the leak.

Detecting Mold in the Home

Sometimes mold is visible, but if it happens to be odorless and invisible, how do we detect it? We can turn to the other half of the Arizona Mold Dog Detection Services team – Setford’s canine partner, Rocky. Rocky is a six-year-old beagle (and a rescue dog) who spent a year in training learning the science of mold detection.

Rocky detects mold by scent. “If he detects mold, he sits, he stops and spends a second trying to figure out where it is,” Setford says. “Then he points to it with his paw. He will show me if it is at a baseboard, a windowsill, or even up high. If it’s up high, he gets up on his hind legs and points up with his paw.”

Huestis is familiar with Rocky’s work. “Rocky is actually very sensitive to mold. It is a good combination to have Rocky [in the detection process] because there may be areas you are completely unaware of that water may have affected in the past.”

In each area where Rocky shows his paw “alerts,” Setford takes an air sample. He sends the air samples to a lab to determine the type of molds and amount of spores in the air. The results are sent to the homeowner and it’s up to homeowner to remove the mold. Setford recommends having a professional remediation company remove the mold to ensure the mold has been properly removed from the house. After remediation, Rocky and Setford will do a final analysis to confirm that the mold has indeed been removed.

Preventing Mold

The first and most obvious aspect to prevention is good housekeeping.

“Normally with a dry house and regular cleaning habits – vacuuming and dusting – the bulk of any dry spores that have moved around and settled on surfaces will be removed,” Huestis says.

Fixing and drying water leaks as quickly as possible is crucial to preventing a mold outbreak. “After about two or three days you can see visible signs of mold colonization so you’ve got a very short window and that’s why insurance companies will pay to dry out your house,” says Huestis.  “If you have an emergency water leak, call your insurance company. They’ll put you in touch with a company like ours and we will dry out your structure, hopefully before it becomes a mold issue. Mold prevention starts with keeping a dry house.”

Most of us desert-dwellers have a special appreciation for water. Hungarian biochemist Albert Szent-Gyorgyi summed it up well when he said: “Water is life’s mater and matrix, mother and medium. There is no life without water.”

There’s no mold without water either. Keeping your home dry is essential for a healthy, mold-free home.

Author: Gretel Hakanson is a local freelance writer.

It’s time to  have your home inspected for mold when:

• You can see or smell mold.
• There has been a leak or excessive moisture in your home.
• There is indication of water damage in the past or present.
• Unexplained health problems of anyone living in the home, combined with a previous history of water damage or moisture in the home.
• During the inspection process when purchasing a new home.

Health Conditions Attributed to Mold

• Allergy to mold.  Mold allergy has been well documented. Symptoms can include runny nose, itchy eyes, wheezing, and skin rashes. Allergic fungal sinusitis is also a form of mold allergy.
• Infections. Aspergillus is the most notable fungus to cause infection (aspergillosis), but others have been associated with infections also. Infection from mold usually occurs only in persons on chemotherapy or who have immune diseases which make them more susceptible to infection.  Skin, eyes, and lungs are often affected. Mold can irritate mucous membranes of the eyes and respiratory system.
• Trigeminal nerve effects have been associated with mold, and have been reported to cause decreased attention, disorientation, diminished reflex time, and dizziness.
• Volatile compounds (VOCS) produced by mold can cause headache, attention deficit, inability to concentrate, and dizziness.
• Some fungal molds produce toxins or poisons. Toxic molds can suppress the immune system, or damage intestines, skin, or lungs. They can increase susceptibility to cancer, and can cause blood vessels in the skin or lungs to rupture. Toxic molds are reported to cause nausea and diarrhea, depression, headaches, tremors, kidney problems, and infertility.
• Penicillium is a toxic mold which has been linked with kidney damage and has been shown to be carcinogenic (cancer-producing) in laboratory animals.
• Aspergillis is the most toxic mold according to some sources. Some of the toxins produced by aspergillis are reported to cause liver cancer and damage other vital organs.
• Stachybotrys is the mold usually thought of in “sick building syndrome.” It is being investigated as a cause of hemorrhage in the lungs of infants (acute pulmonary hemorrhage and hemosiderosis). It has been associated with runny nose, cough, flu-like symptoms, skin irritation in areas of heavy perspiration such as the armpits, headaches, hair loss, malaise, chronic fatigue, depression, yeast infections, and urinary tract infections. Stachybotrys is particularly difficult to test for, so is not usually available in commercial mold test kits.
• Fusarium is another mold known to produce toxins.
• Insomnia has been reported as a symptom related to mold.

Tucson Green Times – March 2010

Tucson has earned a reputation for offering its residents the cutting edge in holistic health, with alternative practitioners and health gurus of all varieties, as well as being home to top research institutions for progressive Western medicine such as the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, founded by Andrew Weil, MD.

Although Tucson’s health and wellness options are vast, a group of local wellness practitioners wanted to celebrate this, build community around it, and expand the benefits further.

A few members of the newly formed Arizona Integrative Wellness Coalition in Tucson are (left to right): Laura Key (president), Tamra RowlandZaher (board member), Karen Olson (board member), Karen Clayton (volunteer), Pam Neil (board member), Kelly Collins (volunteer), Alex Holland (board member), Linda Joy Stone (board member), and Mike Forrest (volunteer). PHOTO: James Patrick.

Then in late 2009, a small group of integrative healthcare professionals met to form the Arizona Integrative Wellness Coalition (AIWC). The group’s primary objective was to establish cooperative dialogue among practitioners of integrative medicine and alternative health practices.

The founders shared a unique aspiration. They didn’t want to simply build community within their own genre of healthcare. They wanted to build bridges among Western medical doctors and alternative wellness professionals. To promote integrative practices and help advance the health and wellbeing of people through education and advocacy.

“By networking together, wellness practitioners can organize in a way that helps us reach out to more conventional medical practitioners,” says Laura Key, president of the Arizona Integrative Wellness Coalition.

From their first meeting, AIWC has promised success. Ninety-two people attended the first event in January 2010.  “I think that says a lot, that the people of Tucson are ready for this kind of organization,” says Key.

A Tucson resident since 1980, Key is founder and owner of the Lotus Massage and Wellness Center. She says that, although her group title is president, she prefers to think of herself as a “facilitator.”

“I am not the source of what happens,” says Key, explaining that her role as president deals primarily with scheduling and coordinating volunteers, as well as lending oversight and direction to new initiatives. She works with an active board of nine members who make decisions for the group. The board relies heavily on member input to choose their next course of action.

“It’s a collaborative effort,” says Key.

Board member Tamra RowlandZaher has been working as a Certified Shamanic Practitioner for over a decade. Her involvement with the vision of AIWC began before the group was even conceived.

“I had been following the ups and downs of the Holistic Chamber of Commerce,” says RowlandZaher.

The Southern Arizona Holistic Chamber of Commerce was a previous Tucson group that was floundering for lack of volunteer involvement.  The remaining resources and membership of that organization came together with a group of energetic volunteers who had met through another defunct networking group, the Tucson Integrative Health Professionals.

Together they created this new organization, the Arizona Integrative Wellness Coalition.

“I liked what they were doing and wanted to see it go further. When I first met with the new Arizona Integrative Wellness Coalition, I just knew it was a great match.”

Yet, even with such an encouraging beginning, the organizers recognize that the group has much work ahead to become firmly established in the Tucson wellness community. New organizations take time to get established, according to RowlandZaher. “I would like to see most of those details defined so that come fall 2010 we can hit the ground running.”

Tucson citizens are encouraged to attend the popular breakfast meetings and meet various healthcare practitioners face to face.  “To provide a series of meetings where people are doing everything from hypnotherapy to acupuncture to energy modalities to massage, and so on, can all come together and connect is a really important service in itself,” says Key.

The group’s most recent meeting in February 2010 held a panel discussion on the changing face of medicine.  Four professionals discussed the multi-faceted mind, body, and spirit approach to wellness and its role in progressive healthcare in Tucson.

Currently, AIWC boasts an easy access website, an online directory that can be used by both members and curious browsers for finding an ever-blossoming list of local health practitioners, and regular monthly events with guests speakers on topics ranging across the spectrum of holistic and Western approaches to health.

Although everyone is encouraged to attend the monthly meetings, AIWC encourages professionals and community residents alike to consider becoming members of the organization.

Members may use meetings for networking and attracting clientele, with freedom to distribute brochures and business cards as desired. They may also list their practice in the online directory. Discounts and free access to some events are other perks for members.

The group’s next breakfast meeting will be held on March 23 at the Arizona Inn. Introduction and coffee starts at 7:45 a.m. with the meeting opening at 8 a.m. People interested in attending can view the AIWC website (www.AZIntegrative.org) for more details on membership, cost of attendance, registration and an overview of topics to be presented.

Author: Martine Mathewson is a local freelance writer.

Tucson Green Times – March 2010

If you’ve ever wondered how homeopathy actually works, the simple answer is: “like cures like,” according to Dr. Nancy Gahles, President of the National Center for Homeopathy.
“Instead of giving a substance that suppresses a symptom, we treat using the same thing that would cause the symptom in the first place. The body recognizes the substance as similar, raises its defenses to overcome it – and that’s how it works.”

Homeopathic consultant and co-owner of Desert Rose Homeopathics and Herbals Shop in Tucson, Mary Heissinger, says finding the correct combination of remedies depends on a person’s system and vital force. PHOTO: Lisa Walsh.

Of course, the deeper explanation requires more in-depth study, and that’s the part of the puzzle that Iris Bell, PhD, Professor of Family and Community Research at the University of Arizona, is dedicated to solving. “I’ve been involved in the last several years in improving the research methodology for studying homeopathy. At one level, it’s a vibrational medicine, but it starts in the physical plane. It works much differently than a physical ‘drug,’ so it’s much more difficult to scientifically measure how it works.”
Nevertheless, the fact that millions of people worldwide use homeopathy, and use it with great success, stands as testament that homeopathy does work – particularly in cases where Western medicine has traditionally failed.
“Homeopathy is much less widely understood in this country than it is in others, such as India,” says Bell. “It was cut off prematurely in the U.S. by the American Medical Association who made it dangerous professionally for any member of their organization to consult with a homeopath in the early 1900s. Yet the death rates of major epidemics of earlier times were much lower in homeopathic hospitals than in conventional ones. That raises an interesting issue.”
But perhaps the most encouraging aspect of embarking on the homeopathic route is the safety record. “You’re much less likely to get yourself into trouble experimenting with homeopathy than you would experimenting with drugs,” says Bell.
So feel free to dabble, but a word to the wise: If you’re planning to delve into the world of homeopathic medicine in search of a cure for what ails you, your best bet is to consult an expert for specific guidance on the correct remedy at the correct potency.
“I don’t prescribe, I advise,” says Mary Heissinger, homeopathic consultant and co-owner of Desert Rose Homeopathics and Herbal pharmacy in Tucson. Heissinger, who’s happy to offer suggestions for simple health inquiries, does offer more in-depth consultations at an hourly fee.
Like all holistic systems rendered from Mother Nature’s bounty, homeopathic medicine remains a bit on the mysterious side, and it requires study to master. If you’re looking to leverage the best that homeopathy has to offer in treating a chronic illness, says Heissinger, “Finding the correct combination of remedies depends on a person’s system and vital force.”
Heissinger studied under former Tucson resident Fay McCoy’s tutelage for several years, and eventually bought the natural pharmacy from McCoy. Today, Heissinger’s shop has the widest homeopathic selection in Tucson – plus Heissinger’s expertise and knowledge of homeopathics will not be found in the aisles of natural markets that carry a limited shelf of homeopathic remedies.
“People are very complex, and there are many layers to be worked through that really need to be taken into account to best assist an individual in his or her healing,” Heissinger says. “That’s why it’s best to consult with someone who’s knowledgeable on the subject.”
Author: Lynne Marie Zerance is a local freelance writer.
This article originally appeared in Tucson Green Times, November 2007.

RESOURCES

Desert Rose Homeopathics and Herbals. The Center for the Healing Arts, 2550 E. Fort Lowell. (520) 918-0100.
ONLINE

• National Center for Homeopathy:  www.nationalcenterforhomeopathy.org
• ABC Homeopathy: www.abchomeopathy.com

BOOKS

• Easy Homeopathy by Edward Shalts, MD, D.H.T.
• Everybody’s Guide to Homeopathic Medicines by Dana Ullman, MPH & Stephen Cummings, MD
• The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Homeopathy by David W. Sollars

La Jolla, Calif. - LifeWave7 Corporation of La Jolla, Calif. recently published the results of a 2009 study regarding their anti-aging product, Glutathione Enhancer.

The 30-person double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial studied the function of eight major organs of the body. Results showed improved function of those organs from 70 percent to 90 percent in 30 days with all subjects who were given the Glutathione Enhancer as opposed to the control group, which showed no significant improvement in any of the organs. The organs monitored were pancreas, liver, gall bladder, intestines, left and right adrenals, hypothalamus and pituitary gland. Glutathione is considered the body’s Master Antioxidant.

There are more than 80,000 medical reports and studies available dedicated to the importance of Glutathione in human health and physiology.

The LifeWave7 trail is highly significant because no single product or chemical has ever returned results of this level in any scientific study. In addition, this trial showed no side-effects and did not introduce any drugs or substance into the body.

The LifeWave7 Glutathione Enhancer is a product utilizing a new light-based technology developed by LifeWave7 and originally invented in a U.S. Navy research project seven years ago.

The device is like a bandaid and can be worn on the skin or even on top of clothing with the same results. Nothing enters the body other than a light signal. It is considered safe and is FDA registered as a Class I Medical Device. It is convenient for anyone and requires no medical knowledge to use.

This double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial has caused many health professionals to consider this device to be one of the most important “breakthrough” medical products developed in decades.

LifeWave7 also has developed equally effective products for pain relief, energy enhancement, sleep and weight control. All are drug free.

For more information on the report or to order Glutathione Enhancers, contact Great Seasons Health Technologies at 520-954-2290.

Tucson Green Times – March 2010

Introduced by a yogic sage in the 15th Century in India, Hatha Yoga uses postures (asanas), breathing techniques (Pranayama), and meditation to develop balance between body and mind. Stretching, strength building, and weight loss are some of the physical benefits of Hatha yoga, but many people are turning to yoga to improve their mood. Yoga can be helpful for managing stress, anxiety, and depression.

Researchers are interested in the anecdotal evidence and have recently started to study yoga’s influence on mood. For example, a recent study at McGill University in Canada found that a brief yoga practice improved the overall health, reduced perceived stress and depression symptoms among medical students.

In another study, women who described themselves as “emotionally distressed” took two 90-minute yoga classes a week for three months. At the end of three months, their depression scores improved 50 percent, anxiety scores improved 30 percent, and overall well-being scores increased 65 percent, compared to the control group that did not do yoga.

Bridget Lawler started yoga on the recommendation of a friend. As an athletic person by nature, she needed a physical outlet after she got laid off last May and couldn’t continue her daily hikes due to an injury. “Yoga has prevented me from spiraling into depression,” she says. “I do yoga for my spirit, mind, and body.

Lawler practices Bikram Yoga, a style that consists of a series of 26 poses and is done in a heated room. “What I like about yoga is that you walk in the room and they tell you every breath to take and every step to take. I don’t have to think at all for myself, so I get to give up being in control and having to do. I just get to be in life.”

How Yoga Works: The Physiological Response

Amy Weintraub, Tucsonan and author of Yoga for Depression, teaches LifeForce Yoga, a practice she developed and designed to work with and manage the mood. “Yoga works to improve mood in many different ways,” she says. “When someone is depressed, for example, there’s not enough oxygenated blood going to the brain. What yoga does is begin to reverse that.”

Postures that open the chest – such as backbends – encourage deep, diaphragmatic breathing and that provides more oxygen to the cells and more glucose to the brain. The increased oxygen in turn increases the building blocks of the neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin, which are needed to sustain a balanced mood, Weintraub explains.

People who experience high levels of stress or past trauma typically have increased levels of cortisol, the fight-or-flight stress hormone. According to Weintraub, there’s scientific evidence that practicing yoga reduces cortisol levels. “Biochemically we are also raising prolactin and oxycosin levels. Those are the feel-good hormones released when mothers cuddle their babies,” she says.

Additionally, the emphasis on deep breathing and relaxation helps activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which lowers heart rate and blood pressure. Typically, the parasympathetic nervous system is activated when the threat or stress has passed, but it can also be consciously switched on by deep breathing and by relaxing the muscles.

Weintraub says there’s also evidence that yoga creates a higher heart rate variability (HRV), which allows the body to move more easily between the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems. With a higher HRV, the heart rate can increase in a natural way and it can decrease in a natural way, appropriate to the situation. Additionally, Weintraub says yogic breathing techniques can stimulate the vagus nerve, which is a known treatment for depression.

Peace of Mind Through Breathing & Body Awareness

“The postures themselves are not magic positions; it is your breathing that gives them the power to heal,” Weintraub writes in Yoga for Depression. When entering, holding, and releasing poses, the author recommends breathing deeply and slowly through the nose.

Along with increased oxygen to the blood and brain, correct breathing helps cultivate awareness, which can positively effect mood and create peace of mind.

“The body is always present. The mind is a time traveler. So when we’re practicing in a way that pays attention to sensations and breath, we’re cultivating that present moment awareness,” says Weintraub. “In the present awareness, there is no sadness, grief, or trauma in that moment. In that moment, we are whole and yoga gives us a cumulative experience of moments of wholeness, moments of contentment, and moments of peace.”

Sometimes defined as “breath control,” Pranayama is an important component of Hatha yoga. The ancient sages taught that prana, the vital energy force circulating through us, can be cultivated and channeled through breathing exercises. Through the practice of Pranayama or breathing exercises, the mind is calmed, rejuvenated, and uplifted. Many yoga practitioners believe that Pranayama is an important bridge between the physical practices of yoga and the internal, surrendering practices that lead us into deeper states of awareness.

Lily Cann has experienced the mood-improving benefits of yoga first-hand. “Yoga makes you aware of your body, the sensations in your body, your emotions, and your thoughts,” she says.

After experiencing a series of stressful life events, Cann read Weintraub’s book and has since become a certified LifeForce teacher. Through yoga, she says, “You become the observer where you no longer identify with emotion, you just observe it. It’s funny, when you observe it, it has it’s own way of dissolving because it doesn’t belong to you. Yoga is the tool for how to get to that place.”

Yoga & the Mind/Body Connection

Bruce Bowditch teaches at Yoga Oasis in Tucson, is author of two books about yoga, and works as a yoga therapist. He says, “Your mind and your body are really inseparable. One affects the other profoundly and there really isn’t any separation.”

Have you ever wondered why your back aches when you’re stressed? Or maybe why you get a headache when you’re feeling overwhelmed? “Think of it this way,” Bowditch says, “every experience you’ve ever had is stored in your mental memory and you can feel the emotions you felt around a particular experience that happened years ago. When you think about it again, you can evoke a similar emotional experience. Inevitability, if you pay attention, any emotional experience you have also has a sensation in the body.”

The limitations we experience in our body – such as chronic holding, chronic pain, chronic tightness – often have to do with how we chronically or habitually feel emotionally, explains Bowditch. The yoga asanas are designed to move prana in a certain way and each has a different energetic feel to it. For example, forward bends are calming and handstands are energizing. By moving the body into the different forms, you are essentially creating different patterns of movement and energy. During the course of a yoga class, a well-combined series of poses can actually take your mental state into a different place and start to change the patterns in the body that create an imbalanced mood.

“Your state of mind effects how your body responds. Yoga works the other way, as well, where by working through the body, you can start to unwind the mind,” Bowditch says. “That’s the cool thing about yoga – it goes back and forth between unwinding your mind and unwinding your body, and back and forth.”

Starting A Yoga Practice

Living in Tucson, we are incredibly fortunate when it comes to yoga; there are so many talented and experienced yoga teachers who offer regular classes – along with teachers who travel to Tucson for workshops, a variety of styles to choose from, and an array of surprisingly affordable sessions.

To find a class that’s right for you, Bowditch advises: “Know the level of class that you’re getting into and know your teacher.” Most teachers would welcome a phone call in advance to discuss the class and explain their teaching style. Bowditch suggests auditing a class first. “I would be more than happy to have anyone observe one of my classes and I would encourage someone new to yoga to do that. There are different approaches and styles to teaching and one is going to suit your personality better than another. You’re going to resonate with one teacher better than another, even within the same style of yoga.”

If mood management is your goal, Weintraub recommends finding a teacher who is comfortable working with the breath and encourages various breathing methods throughout the class.

“Yoga will show you that you are so much more than the challenges life brings you,” Weintraub says. “You are so much more than the negative beliefs you may have about yourself or the world. You are so much more than your mood. Yes, a negative mood or stress may visit but what yoga teaches is we’re so much more than that.”

For a list of local yoga studios and teachers, the Arizona Yoga Association has a directory posted online at: www.azyoga.com.

Author: Gretel Hakanson is a local freelance writer.