We put a lot of trust in our teachers – as pupils we trust that they know what they are talking about, and as parents we trust that they are educating our children. But unfortunately (and no doubt unintentionally) many of our teachers repeat the same myths that they were taught. Through the Internet we pick up the odd myth here and there and even in books and papers we see the same errors being repeated. This is the third in our “fact” debunking lists – the other two are: Top 10 Fascinating Facts That Are Wrong, and 10 More Fascinating Facts That Are Wrong. As always, be sure to add any of your favorites via the comments below.
Myth: high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is making us fat
Since HFCS entered the American food supply in the 1970s, and the rates of obesity started to rise about then. Consequently, many blame HFCS for the fat plague. It’s true of course that the calories HFCS contributes can be linked to the nation’s obesity problems, but its calories are no different from those in refined white sugar: the makeup of HFCS (55 percent fructose and 45 percent glucose) is close to that of white sugar (50 percent fructose and 50 percent glucose), which means that our bodies digest HFCS and sugar in very similar ways. Nutritionally speaking, the two are virtually identical.
Interesting Fact: Coca Cola produced in Mexico is still made with sugar (as opposed to corn syrup in the US), and many people claim to be able to taste the difference – refusing to buy the “inferior” American coke. Unfortunately a truly scientific blind test has not been done and the various tests online all vary widely in their conclusions.
Myth: Cell phones cause brain cancer
Lawsuits and news headlines have fueled the myth that cell phones cause cancer, particularly brain cancer, and 30 percent of Americans still believe this myth, according to the Discovery Health/Prevention telephone survey. Consumers could easily have missed the reports showing no danger from cell phones because they didn’t receive alarming front-page coverage like the original reports. A few studies suggested a link with certain rare types of brain tumors, but the consensus among well-designed population studies is that there is no consistent association between cell phone use and brain cancer. [Source]
Interesting Fact:The very first patent for a cell phone like device (wireless telephone) was granted in 1908 to Nathan B. Stubblefield who some people claim invented the radio before Tesla and Marconi. Stubblefield died as a self-imposed hermit by starving to death.
Myth: The number of hooves in the air on a statue of a horse tells us how its rider died
In my research for this list I was very surprised to come across this myth – I, like many others, had always believed it to be true! The idea is that when a statue of a horse has one foot in the air, his rider was wounded in battle but survived. If he has two hooves in the air the rider was killed, and if he has none in the air, the rider survived. While this is a myth – interestingly it does seem to apply to the majority of statues relating to Gettysburg equestrians though not James Longstreet who was not wounded but his statue does have one leg raised (pictured above).
Interesting Fact:A statue of a horse with a rider is called an equestrian statue – which is derived from the latin “eques” for Knight and “equus” for horse. A statue of a horse is called an “equine statue”.
Myth: Christopher Columbus discovered that the world was round
This is a very old myth that is surprisingly believed by millions of people. What we are told is that the Genoese Columbus’ peers doomed his trip to failure because they thought he would fall off the edge of the earth. Now – this was in the 1490s but man has known the earth was round since the idea was first put forth by Pythagorus 2,000 years before Spain even existed. Columbus did fail to reach his original destination, but in so doing he discovered the Americas. Not a bad end to a failed journey really. The round earth theory was so well established that the navigational methods at the time were all based on the fact that the earth was round.
Interesting Fact: At the age of 53, Columbus returned to Spain from the Americas and was promptly arrested with his two brothers for the atrocities he had committed. They remained in jail for six weeks before the King finally released them and restored their wealth and property. Columbus believed that his explorations to the New World would result in the beginning of the Last Judgement of man.
Myth: In ten years there will be no bananas left
There is some basis in truth to this myth (as is often the case) – there is a disease (fusarium wilt, or Panama disease) that is threatening bananas in some Asian countries and it is the Banana most Americans are familiar with (the Cavendish banana) but it is not likely to wipe out the entire world’s stock of bananas – or even the Cavendish banana as it has not infected some of the larger exporting farms. Furthermore, the cavendish is only one of roughly 300 types of bananas that are available and good for human consumption.
Interesting Fact: Bananas don’t grow on trees – the plant that produces the banana is actually a herb.
Myth: Newton devised his universal law of gravity when an apple fell on his head from the tree under which he was sitting
It is always exciting to think of a great discovery happening in the blink of an eye due to a coincidental event – we consider that if it were not for the right person being in the right place at the right time, man would have lost an incredibly significant piece of knowledge. For this reason people have clung to the idea that Newton devised his universal law of gravity because of an apple hitting him on the head. But in fact the first mention of an apple in relation to Newton came 60 years after his death: “Whilst he was musing in a garden it came into his thought that the power of gravity (which brought an apple from the tree to the ground) was not limited to a certain distance from the earth but that this power must extend much further.” (John Conduitt)
Interesting Fact: Though he is better known for his love of science, the Bible was Sir Isaac Newton’s greatest passion. He devoted more time to the study of Scripture than to science, and he said, “I have a fundamental belief in the Bible as the Word of God, written by those who were inspired. I study the Bible daily.” He spent a great deal of time trying to discover hidden messages within the Bible. [Source]
Myth: Typhoid Mary, the most dangerous woman in America, killed hundreds (if not thousands) by infecting them with typhoid
The story is Typhoid Mary is relatively well known and it certainly is true that she (Mary Mallon) carried Typhoid fever without catching it herself. It is also true that she caused human deaths as a consequence. What is not true is the enormity of the carnage she left behind her. In fact, Mary (who worked as a cook) caused 30 – 53 (different sources cite different numbers) people to catch Typhoid, but only 3 of those people died. When it was first discovered that Mary was the cause of these people becoming ill, she was quarantined. This was for a short time only as it was felt that it was unfair to quarantine her as others in a similar situation were not. Mary was allowed to leave on the condition that she stop working as a cook. She accepted the condition but unable to get a job paying as well as cooking, she took on a false name and began working at a hospital as a cook. She caused 25 people there to become sick and one died. For this reason she was arrested and put in quarantine until she died 18 years later. She is pictured above in a bed during her first quarantine.
Interesting Fact: Typhoid is spread by the salmonella typhi pathogen which would normally be killed by the heat of cooking – but one of Mary’s specialty dishes (that was frequently requested by diners) was her peach icecream. Mary’s lack of hygiene when using the toilet enabled the bacteria to transfer from feces to her hands.
Myth: Einstein failed math at school
This is a surprisingly old error which everyone seems to believe. Its origins seem to be a 1935 article in the Ripley’s Believe it or not magazine in which the myth first appears in print under the heading “Greatest living mathematician failed in mathematics.” Many failing students probably take heart in the myth thinking that there may be hope for them if Einstein could flunk math and still become a genius, but unfortunately for them, Einstein showed genius from a very young age – including in the field of mathematics. When he was shown the article from the magazine, Einstein laughed and said: “I never failed in mathematics. Before I was fifteen I had mastered differential and integral calculus.”
Interesting Fact: In 1905, during his spare time, Einstein produced four papers that upended physics. The first showed that light could be conceived as particles as well as waves. The second proved the existence of atoms and molecules. The third, the special theory of relativity, said that there was no such thing as absolute time or space. And the fourth noted an equivalence between energy and mass described by the most famous equation in all of physics, E=mc^2. [Source]
Myth: The Titanic was the first ship to send out the SOS signal
Initially the Titanic sent out the CQD signal (standing for “All stations: distress”) but Britain had recently signed up to the new standard of SOS so one of the crew suggested that it be used as well: “Send SOS; it’s the new call, and besides, this may be your last chance to send it!” It certainly was new to British ships, but the standard had been in use for some years prior and there is even a newspaper article from 1909 which describes its use by an American ship, the Arapahoe.
Interesting Fact: Contrary to popular belief, SOS does not stand for anything. Some believe it means “save our souls” or “send out ships” but in fact, the signal was chosen because it was so simple to send that a person who was unfamiliar with radio equipment could send it in the case of an emergency (… / – - – / … SOS in Morse Code – is far easier than the previous distress signal of CQD: -.-. / – -.- / -..).
Myth: Margarine is 1 molecule away from plastic
Americans eat four times as much margarine as butter every year which seems surprising considering so many people believe this little myth about the chemical spread. While much of the negative stuff we hear about margarine is true, this particular myth is not. Margarine is made by heating vegetable oil and infusing it with hydrogen – in other words saturating it to a point that it remains hard at room temperature. It is then mixed with other ingredients to give a white lump that resembles fat. Yellow food coloring is added and voila – we have margarine. There is not one molecule of anything that you could add to margarine to turn it into plastic.
Interesting Fact: Margarine was invented because Emperor Louis Napoleon III of France offered a prize in 1869 for anyone that could come up with a cheap butter alternative for the army and the lower classes. Hippolyte Mège-Mouriés (a French chemist) won the prize with his oleomargarine. Governments around the world tried to stop people from using margarine by putting heavy taxes on it and banning its coloring. Believe it or not, it is still illegal to sell butter-colored margarine in Missouri [source] and it was illegal in Quebec until July 2008 [source].
Coke (and other beverages) made with cane sugar does indeed taste different from Coke made with high fructose corn syrup. Personally, I prefer the taste of the cane sugar.
The main reason hfcs is used is because it's cheaper and easier to produce.
120.&121. Corn syrup is an industrial product
that just happens to use corn as it
primary ingredient.
Recently revealed studies which the
FDA apparently has been sitting on
until now reveal that in two different
studies 1/3 of tested foods with corn
syrup found traces of mercury.
Chalk up another one for Corporate
America.
If you have kids and are not paying
attention, they are eating TONS of
this stuff. It did not exist until the
1970s.
Details:
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/546.html
Jamie # 26 – I agree. Personally, I'd blame the chemical additives in the tobacco and the papers, including the pesticides used.
UPDATE: For all of you who are in areas where they're test-marketing the Pepsi/Mt. Dew Throwback; they're only doing it through Mid-June. HOWEVER! The customer relations Rep. I spoke with said if they get enough support for it, they will likely bring it back permanently.
The number to call is: 18004332652
Jaimie – I'm not sure if this post is OK with you, though I hope it is. The folks at PepsiCo seemed quite happy to hear from both me and my fiance; so hopefully you don't mind me putting this out there for your readers.
Mercury in corn syrup and in vaccines causing Alzheimers, Autism, high chlorestral etc. Why are we being poisoned? Flouride a waste product of aluminum processing..Neuron degeneration may be a form of mind control or maybe I'm being paranoid??
Most of the "facts" on these lists are science-related… Being a science person, I always know them all already. Someone should make a list with more random facts like the horse statue thing.
125. lostatsea – I hate people like you. The mercury that was once used in vaccines (but HAS NOT been used for 10 years) was NOT toxic to humans. Furthermore, mercury is NOT in corn syrup and has NOTHING to do with cholesterol levels.
I really hate people like you.
Seriously, try doing your own research before making an ass of yourself.
125 – I think you are seriously paranoid lostatsea
Corey – calm down! An ignorant opinion is not meant to personally offend you!
127.Corey: So glad to have your hatred! You must be a Christian!! Mercury Not TOXIC?? You mean science is wrong? Neural networks are not damaged by mercury?? Flouride is not a waste product of aluminum smelting?? 9,110 results on google for mercury poison in high frutose corn syrup. I have done MY research..or perhaps you are a corn producer lobbyist!! Genetic modified of course..with all the future health and biodiversity problems of that profit maker. http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/326.html
Seems a lot of Christians have problems with science, ID and evolution springs to mind.
Why has the dental system been removing old mercury amalgum fillings? Even inhaling mercury vapours are poisonous.
Flouride, in Britain, was and is added to the water supply to strengthen teeth – it is not there as some sort of mind control.
128.cym: You betcha!! I'm paranoid and proud of it!! Too many people asleep at the wheel. Laws passed which favour banks, corporations and military. Watching as freedoms are eroded in a manufactured war on terror. Love me or hate me wont stop me for trying to educate others. The UK has the most cameras spying on its citizens..(George Orwell 1984) seems rather tame now. The more I learn the more ignorant I become. Thank you for the compliment!
Sir, it was not meant as a compliment. It is one thing to be wary of your so called "betters" (and with the current scandals at Whitehall I use that term scathingly) but another to think everyone is conspiring against you.
I do not hate you. That would be foolish. I know little to nothing about you.
I would recommend you read state of fear by Michael Crichton. It is an excellent novel that deals with some interesting issues, without seeming massively paranoid, like you seem to be.
Have you read 1984? I ask as many people say that book seems tame now who have never read it. We do not get together once a day for a ten minute hate of a political leader. We still have democracy, regardless of what you think we can still change our government at the next election – they cannot stay in power indefinitely. Do we have constant video and audio survellence in our homes? No. Are we cut into politcal castes? No. Is our media history changed depending on who we are at war with? A little, but the history is not changed only public opinion. Are we arrested and executed for having extra marital affairs, or for consorting with political groups not of our leaders' ilk? No.
Are our governments extreme facsists? NO.
You have a rather skewed perception of reality if you think our society is worse than the one described by Orwell.
130.cym: Flouride is an industrial waste product and was being dumped in rivers before they were cited for pollution they came up with a study to tout the benefits to teeth. It is still a poison, as in flouride poisoning..check google 266,000 links to harmful effects of flouridated water. http://www.Mercola.com and 265,999 other sites. I do research have you? So many things which were once thought safe are now revealed to be highly dangerous to health, eg. asbestos or doctors touting cigarettes. I don't trust GM foods for this very reason, I care about my health so I try to avoid GM products which is hard to do as no law has been enacted to show the content and allow shoppers to choose.
133.cym: Gays kicked out of the US military after risking life and limb in Iraq. History has been changed or expunged.
Freedoms have been restricted and more surveilance is blatantly obvious. We are on a slippery slope and martial law is not far behind or indefinate detention as Obama has stated.
No charges…no evidence…no crime – and
indefinite detention.
Obama proposes making the ultimate
assault on civil liberties as American
as apple pie.
Details:
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/630.html
"I do research have you?"
Deary me it seems you havent been here as long as me. Most regs here know I am a research scientist. I am insulted that you say I don't do my research.
Google as a research tool? Don't make me laugh. I use proper reseach tools such as Metalib and Pubmed, I trawl through acredited peer review journals – not just sites with hits on google.
Yes fluoride is a poison – do you know how it poisons you? It gets into your musculoskeletal system replacing calcium as fluorine (not ride) is the most electronegative element on the periodic table. However in its -ide form it is not as toxic and IS added to British american, australian and a number of other water systems for tooth strengthening, as it is added to almost every commercial toothpaste. US levels of fluroide in the water are at about 0.7 to 1.2 mg/L. Toxicity, or the LD50 (lethal dose for 50% of a tested population) of fluoride poisoning is around 30mg per kilo of body mass. You would drown before ingesting this amount of fluoride through water supply. A recent medical paper entitled "A systematic review of the efficacy and safety of fluoridation." by Dr C A Yeung found no problems with fluoridation
As for Obama. Quite frankly I don't care about american politics. It has been interfering in other cultures and at least I know I live in a land with democracy. Kindly don't tar our democracy as your own. If you don't live here then you cannot comment on our freedoms. I do not feel any of our freedoms have been curtailed, and a number of controversial government proposals that would do that have been defeated in both the commons and the lords.
Britain has banned GM foods. Wrongly. But it has nonetheless under public pressure. Most people, and I am grouping you here sir, do not understand GM and are therefore scared of it.
Fluoride(all of the commonly used forms) are indeed toxic.
In fact, It's even used to kill rodents.
Of course, Warfarin is used for this, and it's used as a medicine, so the above fact is not as significant as it seems to be.
BUT……
1.Fluoride is not as effective against tooth decay as most people believe it to be.
2.most of the benefits are to young children, and mostly when applied topically(toothpaste/mouthrinse/direct application to teeth).
Putting it into water results in systemic(whole body) exposure.
This has no added benefit beyond topical use(and may be even LESS effective).
3.Systemic exposure to Fluoride is harmful to bones(and ironically, to teeth as well).
This is because, the bones and teeth incorporate it into their structure, instead of the Calcium that belongs there.
So you end up with bones/teeth with less Calcium in them than should be there.
This results in bones/teeth that are harder, but more BRITTLE.
So teeth crack easier, and bones break easier.
So while a person may not get poisoned by Fluoride in water, it has long-term negative effects.
133.cym: Bush family nazi(fascist) history..570,000 links..American banks and corporations bankrolled Hitler to profit from WAR! WWII created for profit, who profited from WWII? 118,000 links.. I guess all these are lies?
(but obviously that Doctor is part of a global industrial military conspiracy to brainwash us through fluoride by giving us all alzheimers when we are 65 correct?)
The date of publication was 2008 btw
Again, you are taking american politics and thinking that is the same for the entire western world. It isnt.
And as to links? The British Royal Family is German! That made WWI and II rather difficult for them!
And just because you get a large number of links doesnt mean the information is valid. You do not know what context your search criteria come up under. Until you use a respectable search method, dont think numbers of hits on google is going to impress me. My professors would laugh you out of a room if you handed in work with a bibliography with "it got 250000 hits on google"
Who profited from WWII? America did. The rest of Europe have known that for decades. Don't spout this thinking it is news to me. America only gets involved in military activity if it has something to gain.
136.cym: Yes I agree with the LETHAL dose but as we do not have the results from long term exposure how can one state with certainty that there is no detrimental health effects?
GM seeds and roundup are creating resistance and mutations in nature. Thousands of Indian farmers comitting suicide after GM crops failed and the money they borrowed to buy these wonder seeds was lost. Suicide genes spliced into seeds so corporate profits remain high at peoples expense, ruining thousands of years of agriculture where seed was kept for the next years crop. Monsanto holding patents on seeds? I have been warned by dentists about flouride so who is right?
You did state in its -ide form it is not AS toxic so you agree it has toxicity. Britain did enter Iraq on specious grounds..real democratic.. Canada decided there was no good reason to invade a sovereign state..rightly so as it turned out.
….what do you mean we do not have data for long term exposure? Municipal water supplies in america in the 1940s. That is nearly 70 years for long term detrimental effects to come to light. The review I read from Pubmed found no detrimental effects.
Kindly do not put all this at britain and americas door. Over 30 countries were involved in the invasion and/or occupation of Iraq.
Suicide genes? Please show me peer reviewed data backing this statement up.
"GM seeds and roundup are creating resistance and mutations in nature."
Evidence please. Peer reviewed if possible.
"You did state in its -ide form it is not AS toxic so you agree it has toxicity"
Yes. Chocolate is poisonous in high enough quantities. Water can kill you in large quantities. The LD50 is the measure of how worried we should be about small amounts of a substance. If you had any biochemistry training we could communicate, but you are too far behind the academic curve for you to debate this effectively with me. Your instant thought to mistrust any government approved data is also hindering you in this argument. Being paranoid is not a good quality for reasonable debate, as everything I say you will merely say is part of the conspiracy.
I apologise if that sounds elitist, but it is true.
139.cym: House of Hanover..it was why they changed to Windsor. Not trying to educate you.. this list is read by many Americans and when America sneezes we in Canada catch a cold! Although this Wall street mess has given the world the flue! Two British comedians in 2007 sum it up nicely. http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/187.html
Humour can help explain so much. enjoy
That should read "Municipal water supplies in america in the 1940s were fluoridated"
Hanover? What? The Windsors are a part of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. That in itself is a minor branch of Wettin. King George V renounced all claims to the German Throne by royal proclamation in 1917.
Where are you getting Hanover?
As wittly said when the name changed to Windsor, German Emperor Wilhelm II remarked jokingly that he planned to see Shakespeare's play The Merry Wives of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
141.cym:http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&ai...
Terminator seeds. The FDA are influenced by the corporate lobby. Afghanistan a result of British Imperialism as is the current crisis in Pakistan a result of drawing lines on maps after the British left India. 9/11 America's war on terror and the blatant lies from the NIST and FEMA on how the buildings collapsed..http://www.AE911Truth.com
144.cym: British royal house of German origin, descended from George Louis, elector of Hanover, who succeeded to the British crown, as George I, in 1714. The dynasty provided six monarchs: George I (reigned 1714–27), George II (reigned 1727–60), George III (reigned 1760–1820), George IV (reigned 1820–30), William IV (reigned 1830–37), and Victoria (reigned 1837–1901). It was succeeded by the house of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, which was renamed in 1917 the house of Windsor. That is how! You stand corrected sir!
No I do not. You contradicted yourself and proved my point. Namely: "It was succeeded by the house of Saxe-Coburg-Goth"
Therefore, at the time of the change to the name of Windsor, the house of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was on the throne, NOT the house of Hanover.
Nice enthusiasm, but you have just made yourself look daft.
141.cym: ´Back at the Mellon Institute, ALCOA's Pittsburgh industrial research lab, this news was galvanic. There, biochemist Gerald J. Cox immediately fluoridated some lab rats in a study and concluded that fluoride reduced cavities and that: "The case should be regarded as proved." In a historic moment in 1939, the first public proposal that the U.S. should fluoridate its water supplies was made not by a doctor, or dentist, but by Cox, an industry scientist working for a company threatened by fluoride damage claims and burdened by the odious expense of disposing of tons of toxic industrial waste. Cox began touring the country, stumping for fluoridation.(10) Dean would go on to carve out a nice career for himself as the "father" of public water fluoridation. He became the first dental scientist at the National Institute of Health, advancing to director of the dental research section in 1945. After World War II, he directed epidemiological studies for the Army in Germany. When Congress established the National Institute of Dental Research (NIDR) in 1948, Dean was appointed its director, a position he held until retiring in 1953.(11) In his post at the NIDR, he was to oversee the first clinical trial of fluoridation in an American city, Grand Rapids Michigan.(12).´" My point being that it was the aluminum company that sold this to the nation with the advantage of taking a waste product and making money from its disposal. Peer review..Doctors pushing pills for kickbacks from big pharma, etc. Greed knows no bounds it seems!
147.cym: daft! Originally Hanover as in the lineage of. Ergo Hanovarian as in geneology. Doesn't matter when they changed the name.
If you worked in a scientific industry you would know that peer review is not "Doctors pushing pills for kickbacks from big pharm" Peer review can make or break a scientists career.
Does it matter where the discoveries come from? The discovery of X-rays was accidental and yet they are of great medical importance. Dozens of scientific discoveries are made by people not in the field concerned.
Another academic point. There is no point using quotation marks, denoting a quotation, if you are not going to state where the quotation is from. From the numbers in brackets I am guessing Wiki? Although I could be wrong.
If you are using Wiki as a research tool then more fool you.
"Greed knows no bounds it seems!" Another statement from a paranoid individual. Much of academic science (which drives industrial science) is driven by a desire to change things as the monetary rewards are awful. It is clear that you do not have a balanced view of this profession. I do not as I work in it, but at least I can SEE both the good and bad sides of it, whereas you can only seem to see the bad side as portrayed by the media.
149…sigh.
In that case we are all africans and names don't matter.
Might as well keep the name Tudor seeing as it doesnt matter when they change the name. It is NOT a mere name change. It is a lineage change from a different HOUSE. Or should it still be Stuart? The house of hanover took over from the stuarts with the act of settlement in 1701. The house of saxe coburg-gotha is a NEW house as although he was the son and heir of Victoria, Edward VII inherited his father's names. This is a new Royal House. Not merely changing names.
It is a difficult and subtle concept that those living in the colonies struggle with, but europeans know the distinction.
You are obviously trying to stay informed, but you are not up on european History as much as someone EDUCATED in europe. I applaud you for your tenacity, but in this case, sir, you are still incorrect.
151.cym: I was replying to your query of where I got Hanover. Of course I could have cited the Stuarts, The war of the roses, Oldenburg, Palatine-Wittellsbach, Bruce or the Plantagenets, for that matter the Saxon and Norman lines. Seems a lot of Scots and Germans with a smattering of French,Danish,Hungarian,Austrian,Italian,Spanish and Portugal. Quite a mixture.
oh lostatsea,
it saddens me to learn you are such a subscriber to conspiracy theory and alt-medical woo. i will cry a little bit for you now.
may i suggest you enter any of the woo that is scaring you into the search engine here and then read the real research that comes up?
http://scienceblogs.com/
you can also try google scholar and regular google, but many of the actual studies and papers in the journals require a paid subscription to read. and that is not a conspiracy, merely a way for these journals to remain in existence, as people don't just buy them for a fun, light beach read. but if it's real, real scientists are talking and blogging about it.
also, always remember: the plural of anecdote is not data!
Ahhh right I understand – I apologise for my abruptness in that case!
Yes it is quite a mixture, just like the British as a country. And that is what makes it Great
p.s.
i -as a student of botany- think monsanto does some horrid things too, but the whole world is not yet a real corporate conspiracy. don't let fear make you ignore/invent evidence….
155.lo: Thimerosal, (ethylmercury) has now been eliminated from vaccines proving my point that we dont always know the dangers of what once was thought safe.
True. But with regards to fluoride, we have had 70years for major health problems to surface, and they havent.
As with GM – you have been misinformed by a sensationalist media. Where data is published, there is little to no danger of cross contamination with Wild species or conferring resistances to weeds creating "superweeds"
Suicide genes are many and difficult to engineer into plants, and need other cofactors and conditions before they are activated anyway. It is not financially viable to make seeds that self terminate in any case. I'm sorry but the link you provided is heavily biased and is not a peer reviewed journal…which is what I asked for. Journal articles, preferably double blind studies, with meaningful sample sizes are what you need to provide to prove this conspiracy.
You could site Thalidomide as something we though was safe and turned out not to be. Science is constantly evolving and using new evidence to update theories. Throwing up cases of substances we used to use but now don't is a poor argument for not using a chemical. Its called progress. Salicylic acid was derived from the willow tree giving us Aspirin; result – we dont chew on willow bark when we have toothache.
Medical literature is littered with compounds we thought would do one thing and turn out to do something else (Heroin for example). Using your logic on Fluoride, however, suggests we should stop using ALL chemicals. (Yes I realise this requires reduction ad absurdum, but it is a logical extension)
Provide us with DATA, not anecdotes and opinions of journalists.
In any case, the thimerosal controversy was caused by a few idiot doctors scare mongering. They said that this preservative in vacinations was linked to autism. Rigorous scientific testing has proved this is simply not the case. Mercury poisoning has completely different symptoms from Autism.
The IoM and WHO both say that thimerosal is perfectly safe. It has been removed from vaccines because scared parents, who listened to the media and not the scientists, stopped getting their children vaccinated.
To this end, it is only affluent countries that are phasing out its use. In Africa and the Far east, sodium ethylmercurithiosalicylate (which is what Thimerosal is, NOT ETHYLMERCURY) is still used as an anti fungal and bacterial agent in vaccines.
Just to clear it up, ethyl mercury is C2H5Hg+. Thimerosal is C9H9HgNaO2S.
Now, ethyl mercury is a METABOLITE of Thimerosal, but that is not relevent here.
If you are saying ethylmercury is toxic, then it should bioaccumulate, and scientific studies have shown that, unlike methylmercury, ethylmercury does not bioaccumulate, and LD50tables based on methylmercury are not equivalent for ethylmercury. Indeed, no measure of toxicity for methylHg is equivalent for ethylHg
157.cym: Thanks for your input, but its late and will have to dig deeper into flourosis, actually sometimes the herbal remedy is better than the pharmaceutical. hope you watched the link.. the two comedians..worth the visit. night all
Well I would like to see clinical figures to back that ascertation up…
Once upon a time all medicine was herbal. We then tested it. What worked became MEDICINE.
Its been good debating you, Nos Da
158.cym: Agree..no link to Autism, seems to be a result of excess testosterone as mostly males are affected.
Yeah I saw the vid when it first came out actually. Its from a satirical stand up show called Bremner, Bird and Fortune.
It isnt linked to testosterone (remember girls have testosterone too). It is thought a genetic basis might be the cause. It is being suggested that the genes that cause autism are actually on the X chromosome. It is therefore more prevalent in males as they only have one copy of the X chromosome, whereas girls have two copies – one of which may have the functioning gene thus masking the autistic traits. There are also theories of autosomal transmission and organic causes. All of this is on the National Autistic Society website.
I can see why you jumped to testosterone, but that one hormone is not the only difference between the *****es, and ***** linked diseases tend to be down to the X chromosome not being cancelled out by a 'healthy' allele, or the gene for disease is carried on the Y chromosome, and thus there is no corresponding allele to mask it (dominance and recessivity of genes) as seen in some forms of colour blindness.
162. lostatsea –
158.cym: Agree..no link to Autism, seems to be a result of excess testosterone as mostly males are affected.
no, no! this weird "early puberty" testosterone woo has led to many kids being chemically castrated. based on no real science!
read more here: http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2009/05/dan_olm…
and please follow the links back through the original posts (and chicago tribune posts) about how this woo-misinformation has lead to many little autistic boys being chemically castrated by "the lupron protocol." it is scary stuff. and i assume it may be even scarier to our male LV denizens….
the truth is science doesn't really know the medical cause of autism right now. more and more things are pointing to genetic susceptibility, but research is ongoing,
Well said lo, but you can see why laymen jump on testosterone when people say more boys than girls have a certain condition. It is a wide belief that testosterone is the only difference between the *****es (causing all of the secondary *****ual characteristics)
166. cymraegbachgen87 –
sigh, i know…
i think the current US case of the developmentally delayed 13-year-old kid daniel hauser refusing chemo (with his parents full support) for his treatable hodgkin's lymphoma because he (and his family) had been led to believe that "alternative native american herbs" provided a "100%" cure rate with "zero side-effects" just pushed me over the edge about tolerating woo-medicine.
if you want to try unproven "traditional herbal" cures, and are truly informed about potential risks/benefits do it! as a botanist who spent some time watching what "herbs" people were taking in the amazon, (and took some myself) combined with the vast array of modern, scientific medicines derived from plant compounds, i'm not going to say plant medicines are powerless, but don't totally ignore and demonize modern, tested medicine while you do so! and know that your use of "unproven herbs" could provoke anything from healing to poisoning to personal allergic response….
but i am not going to say that an unproven plant medicine is a substitute for a proven medicine of any kind. especially when it comes to keeping kids alive.
right now in western society "alternative" medicine should supplement "conventional" medicine. and only sometimes. the "lupron protocol" is an example of unfounded and profoundly affecting drugs being giving to children, with zero studies to back it up.
how can that be good?
cym: I truly love reading your posts. It's always a bit like reading a new science text, and makes me go out and buy a new stack of books.
A dew weeks ago you had a long conversation with someone and I ended up with 4 new science books! If nothing, you are good for my mind. Thanks for that!
I live to serve, segue
I have just read a few of lostatseas' earlier posts, all riddled with scientific errors about fructose and diabetes, but I have not the energy to tackle them just yet – I have been up for nearly 30 hours! Insomnia is a btich
169.cym: 167.lo: Plainly I'm lost at sea! I do thank you for the links. I can argue mechanics,hydraulics etc. The human body is a wonderful machine,one which science is still learning about. As a layman I rely on articles to enrich my mind and it is difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff. Having seen the havoc a close friend went through with drug cocktails and inumerable surgeries that left her at deaths door, her return to health due to Ayurvedic healing and herbal preparations was truly remarkable. She was diagnosed with cancer and went through all the standard chemo, radiation and surgery which left her unable to walk or work, is now able to even run and resume a grueling work schedule. It took over three years to wean her body off of the drugs her body had relied on and to flush these toxins from her system. From a wan blue tinged skeleton to a robust healthy woman due to a 5,000 yr old medical regime shows western medicine shouldn't be smug.
I find myself almost agreeing with you here…I feel dirty
Western medicine certainly doesnt have all the answers. What I dispair at, however, is when people forsake any western treatment in favour of alternative medicine. I agree with lo that it could be, should be and is an excellent supplement to traditional medicines, but IMHO I believe that traditional medicine should always be the first port of call. It is scientifically tested, double blind tested, subject to change and review and free in the UK
(Yes I know its paid through taxes and NI, but I dont have to pay thousands of pounds for one of my regular trips to A&E or Outpatients)
I also have to take issue with people saying herbal remedies are better for you because they are 'natural' and this makes them somehow better, or immune from the side-effects that plague modern drugs (see what I did there
). If something you ingest helps with a particular ailment, it has an active ingredient. If it has an active ingredient, you can have side-effects or allergic reactions the same as with ANY MODERN DRUG.
Again I do apologise if I have been a bit snappy – I have now been up for nearly 36hrs!
171.cym: I can only offer the results I witnessed,and had seen first hand the ruination of over 30 years of relying on western medicine on her body. Three and a half years on the Ayurvedic diet and herbal tonics by the oldest herbalist in Toronto has undone the damage the drugs had wrought. I have also suffered through radiation and have first hand knowledge of the ravages of that hell. I also rely on herbal tonics and have now regained weight and strength after suffering many nasty side effects from the drugs. Perhaps you might understand my skepticism of western medicine! Lack of sleep does not a happy cym make!
No need to appologize I was pretty tired too. 
"Lack of sleep does not a happy cym make!" Indeed it does not.
I am currently on a myriad of different drugs but would not give them up for the world. The side effects are mild (save the sporadic insomnia) and the increased quality of life I have is, quite frankly, worth the trade off.
If you have had good experiences with herbal remedies, by all means continue with them. I just implore you not to switch off modern medicine completely. Yes it makes mistakes (my brother went into an operating theatre having broken his left leg and ankle in multiple places to the point where the leg wasnt straight. In pre-op they wrote "operate on this leg" on the WRONG LEG!) but it can occassionally work as intended
6. astraya: probably the native americans
#130. cymraegbachgen87 – May 26th, 2009 at 6:42 pm [Report Abuse]
Flouride, in Britain, was and is added to the water supply to strengthen teeth – it is not there as some sort of mind control.
Cym – Just a heads up for you, but on this note look up "Fluoridosis"(sp?). It is somewhat rare, but it does lead one to wonder if milder cases can go unnoticed by peer reviewed studies, or are misdiagnosed by them.
As for the rest of what lastatsea said, please do not generalize because of him. Some of us do read up and do proper research, even though we're not trained scientists and sometimes have a hard time understanding what we're presented with.
As for Thimerosol, he's right, it was deemed dangerous at nearly any amount, and was removed from vaccines, and, if memory serves, you are correct in that was about ten years ago. However, it is still being sold and used in Africa to vaccinate their kids instead. If you'd like, I can try and find the old article about it, though that was nearly two years ago that I read it, so it will be difficult.
Lostatsea – Please, sir, for the sake of the rest of us, just stop. Wait until a list of conspiracy theories or something similar comes up again to post your ideas and opinions on.
cym, can we get back to fluoride for a minute?
I've always held it in high regard. Good teeth were not exactly a family tradition, nor was good oral hygiene something my parents even attempted to teach us as kids. Naturally, caries were rife, though dental visits were rare.
When I finally grew up and had my own say in things, my teeth were one of the first things I had to contend with. The idea that the didn't have to hurt all the time was a revelation in itself!
When I had my own children, I might have gone overboard, but I did make sure that even their first baby tooth was brushed with a fluoridated toothpaste after every meal. I had their molars sealed when they were old enough, and was thrilled that our water was fluoridated.
All 3 kids grew to adulthood bright white, shiny teeth, and without having a single carie.
Now I know thats all anecdotal, but it seems to me that the fluoride had to play at least a small part in that success.
If I am wrong, please tell me. I would never unleash the wrath of segue on you, my friend.
Jeez, I didn't come back right away and realize that I had gotten the response of an idiot so quickly.
127.Corey: So glad to have your hatred! You must be a Christian!! Mercury Not TOXIC?? You mean science is wrong? Neural networks are not damaged by mercury?? Flouride is not a waste product of aluminum smelting??
That comment is endlessly amusing to me.
I'm actually an extreme atheist. It's funny that you are so ignorant, you think my knowledge of science makes me Christian… a bit contradictory, eh? I'm also currently in my second year of medical school, so let's just say I'm a bit more qualified than someone who proves their points by the number of Google results they hit…
Alright, this time I won't just call you stupid. I'll try to educate you. They didn't add pure mercury to vaccines. They added a mercury-containing compound called thimerosal, which IS NOT TOXIC. Mercury itself can be toxic in very large amounts, but it is compounds like methylmercury which we are familiar with as toxic (this is what you may consume from fish). People just say "mercury" for short, and unfortunately, idiots like you think it's all the same.
As for your hilariously misguided comment about fluoride… Maybe it is a byproduct of aluminum smelting. I'm not a smelting expert. But that's sort of like saying water is a byproduct of explosions (which it is, since I'm guessing you never took chemistry..). Fluoride is an element. Just because it's around during a reaction doesn't make it bad. Also, remember that we are probably not talking about the same fluoride-containing compound in these instances…
Ah, now that I look over the comments I see cym has already tried to educate you. He/she has a lot more patience than I do.
But I think we're fighting a losing battle here. It's pointless to argue with someone who uses google to do their research. (I'm also a big fan of PubMed, cym.
)
Someone as paranoid as lostassea will never listen to facts.
I'll go you one better; since I could not find the original article, which cited several sources, I did a search on a natural health and medicine site, run by a [i]board certified[/i] physician here in the State, who has access to all of these peer reviewed journals and researches all of his articles before posting them.
Feel free to read through all of these articles, I did notice that at least one of the institutions you mentioned is cited in the top three.
Corey, you can probably go to this site and do a little digging on Fluoride yourself. Also, about Mercury, Aluminum, etc. being in everyday products…
Link:http://search.mercola.com/Results.aspx?q=Thimeros…
180. Moloch-
joseph mercola is indeed a "doctor," an osteopath to be precise.
that means he holds a professional doctorate, a DO. he is NOT an MD, did NOT graduate from a conventional medical school, and is NOT Board Accredited/Certified in any medical speciality.
but that doesn't stop him from washing himself with the waters of alt-medicine woo and quackery as he presents himself to the web and world as a regular medical doctor….
or from using his website (which you just linked to) to promote sales of some "alternative supplements" that he has a financial stake in -in a manner that's led to the FDA giving him formal warnings at least twice
http://www.quackwatch.com/11Ind/mercola.html (yes i'm aware quackwatch founder stephen barrett has fought many legal battles about libel, fraud and or defamation with many woosters. they've gone both ways. you can google results for them yourself.)
and he's an anti-vaccination nutjob, supporting his anti-vax crazy talk with bad/fake science.
so he's not really the best source.