The Alternative Health Guides
Healthy Resources for Body, Mind & Spirit ~ Serving Vermont and New Hampshire
Healthy Energy
The nuclear industry, gleeful over the discontent with coal and other
technologies contributing to global warming, and the issues of foreign oil
dependency, is trying to resurrect nuclear power as a popular and viable energy
source. Letters to newspapers and aggressive ad campaign are prevalent now. But
the reality is that nuclear energy, once marketed as “too cheap to meter,” as well as a safe and limitless energy for the future, has not lived up to its
claims. The issues that have plagued nuclear power plants have never been
solved and still exist today: lack of safe radioactive waste disposal systems,
enormous costs, plants used as possible terrorist targets, accidents and health
consequences, and lack of sustainability.
Nuclear Power has proven to be neither safe, affordable, sustainable or even
attractive. It is a has-been, been-there-done-that, option that needs to once
and for all be crossed off the list so that healthy and sustainable
possibilities can be fully explored. Attention and resources should be focused
on truly renewable energy technologies including wind, sun, geothermal, energy
conservation and others, which are not science fiction distant possibilities
but real, growing industries in the world today.
According to the Worldwatch Institute and their new report, American Energy: the
Renewable Path to Energy Security, global wind turbine installations increased
more than 900% in ten years. In the five years between 2000 and 2005, solar
electricity grew 29.2 % and bio-fuels grew 17.1 %, with oil and coal only
growing between 1.6% and 4.4% respectively during the same time period. The
costs of manufacturing wind and solar technologies are decreasing while demand
for them is increasing – a perfect combination for emerging technologies.
Wind power is being increasingly used around the globe, growing by 30% a year,
making it one of the fastest growing industries and energy sources. Denmark,
Germany, Spain, and the United States are leaders in the field with India and
China rapidly expanding into the market.
Denmark has been a leader in the global wind power industry, currently
generating over 20% of Denmark’s electrical needs and rivaling their natural gas and fishing industries for
gross annual sales. Germany's wind industry now provides 6 % of its
electricity, and that is increasing every year. It has superseded the German
coal industry as a major employer in the country. In some parts of Spain,
upwards of 23% of the electricity is derived from wind energy. Additional
benefits include expanded job markets as local and regional manufacturing
facilities continue to grow to meet demand. Wind power installations are also
growing rapidly in the United States. Currently 36 states have wind energy
installations.
Solar systems for heating and electricity are also increasing worldwide.
Innovative initiatives like the 100,000 roof program in Germany, and the one
million roof program in California are providing incentives for growth in this
field. In the United States, the largest solar “farm” in the world is being built in the southwestern desert. It will be about the
size of a conventional coal burning plant, with zero emissions. The Southern
California Edison utility has signed a contract to buy all the power the plant
can generate for the next 20 years. The technology is based on an engine
designed by a Scottish minister, Robert Stirling in 1816. The engine needs heat
to run which will be generated by solar collecting dishes, so no external fuel
will be necessary.
Conservation, while not a glamorous component, is critical in overall global
energy strategy. Japan, highly developed and technological, is recognized as
the most energy efficient developed country in the world, using less than half
the energy in an average Japanese home than an American home. The Japanese
manufacture and use highly efficient appliances, cars and heating systems, as
well as employing wide ranging recycling and re-use strategies. Energy
conservation is a cultural ambition - using less and being efficient is admired
and respected.
The United States could learn a lot from Japan. In the United States, we waste
so much energy because we “have” it to waste. The simple act of unplugging your television and other remote
control appliances when they are not in use, if done throughout the United
States, would save the energy of about five nuclear reactors. That is hardly
insignificant.
Human beings are brilliant. We can probably do or create anything we set our
minds to do. Shifting our collective ambitions towards energy efficiency and
conservation is imperative. And clean, sustainable, renewable energy sources – and yes affordable –are within our reach. That is where the future lies –with technologies that harness the bounty of the natural world, not destroy it.
Resources:
Rocky Mountain Institute and Amory Lovins
www.rmi.org/HomeEnergy
Home Energy Briefs #7 Electronics
https://www.rmi.org/images/other/HEBs/E04-17_HEB7_Electronics.pdf
Worldwatch Institute - www.worldwatch.org
Danish Wind Industry http://www.windpower.org/composite-224.htm
Earth Policy Institute www.earth-policy.org/Indicators/Wind/2006.htm
Business Week Magazine on line -
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_37/b3950067_mz018.htm - article
about the Stirling Solar project
www.renewableenergyaccess.com
World Health organization (WHO)Fact sheet N° 303April 2006
Health effects of the Chernobyl accident: an overview -
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs303/en/index.html
www.chernobyl.info
Recent articles:
The Land of Rising Conservation: Japan Offers a Lesson in Using Technology to
Reduce Energy Consumption; New York Times, 1/6/07
Mr. Green: Environmentalist’s Most Optimistic Guru; The New Yorker Magazine, 1/22/07
LOCAL Solar Business: Gro Solar, White River Jct, VT – solar electricity, hot water, hot air, pool heating – www.grosolar.com
Dorian Yates, The Guide editor, is a licensed health care practitioner in the
Upper Valley and writes on environmental and health issues
A Balanced Nervous System is Essential for Good Health and Well Being!
Neurotransmitter Balance
©2006 Jim Whedon, DC and Nancy Rugo, NP
Your nervous system is the central control system of your body. If the nervous system is out of balance, then imbalance in the rest of the body
is sure to follow.
Many wonderful approaches to balancing the nervous system are available to us
now. Chiropractic, massage, various kinds of body and energy work, and homeopathy
are a few examples of complementary therapies that are intended to balance the
nervous system.
But what is nervous system balance, and how do you know when you have it? Certainly, feeling good and whole and happy and having plenty of energy is a
good indicator of balance – maybe the best one! But it can also be really helpful to have some objective way of measuring and
adjusting nervous system balance. A way is now available to us in the form of neurotransmitter testing and
targeted amino acid therapy.
What are Neurotransmitters?
Neurotransmitters are chemicals that make the brain work. Neurotransmitters relay signals between nerve cells (neurons). With the help of neurotransmitters, brain cells communicate with one another as
well as with organs throughout your body.
Neurotransmitters are made in your body from amino acids. Without a sufficient supply of the right amino acids, certain neurotransmitter
levels can become depleted, and others can become excessive.
Neurotransmitter imbalances are common. They appear to be caused by stress, aging and sub-optimal diet.
Neurotransmitter Imbalance - Some of the more important neurotransmitters are:
• Epinephrine • Norepinephrine • Dopamine • Serotonin • PEA (phenylethylamine) • Histamine • GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) • Glutamate
Symptoms of neurotransmitter include:
• Anxiety • Depession • ADD/ADH • Mood Disorder • Chronic Fatigue • Fibromyalgi • Insomnia • Chronic Pain • Memory Problems
• Trouble Concentrating • Compulsive Behavior
If you have one or more of these problems, and especially if other approaches to
correcting them have not worked, you may have a neurotransmitter imbalance.
The way to find out is to get tested! Home test kits are available that allow
for measuring urinary and salivary levels of 13 different neurotransmitters and 11 different hormones. The samples are analyzed by an independent laboratory in order to help determine whether or not your condition is neurotransmitter-related. The testing is covered under most health insurance plans.
Treatment Options - Neurotransmitter imbalance cannot be corrected through
dietary modification alone. Correcting an imbalance requires very specific supplementation that takes into
account how nutrients are absorbed by the brain.
If you have a neurotransmitter imbalance, the conventional medical approach to
treatment is to prescribe one or more medications such as Prozac or Wellbutrin. Normally these medications are prescribed on a trial basis, without doing any
laboratory testing. Conventional medications are actually incapable of correcting neurotransmitter
imbalances – they only change the way in which the nervous system makes use of the
neurotransmitters that are already available. Antidepressant medications can be effective, but undesirable side effects are
quite common.
We recommend the use of natural non-prescription nutritional agents for
correcting neurotransmitter imbalance. Targeted Amino Acid Therapy (TAAT) is proving to be an effective means of
normalizing the brain's chemistry. Amino acids are the building blocks of
neurotransmitters. For example, 5-HTP (a form of the amino acid tryptophan) is needed by the brain
to make serotonin, and tyrosine is required to make norepinephrine. Taken in
the right amounts and proportions, we have found that TAAT is both safe and effective for treatment of neurotransmitter balance and restoring
quality of life.
Jim Whedon, Doctor of Chiropractic
Nancy Rugo, Independent Nurse Practitioner, Board Certified in Women’s Health, Grantham, NH - nancyandjim@clearandcalm.com
CODEX
Europe and Beyond
Switzerland, like much of Europe and Asia, has a long history of using natural
remedies for health care. This is evident when traveling through Switzerland
where drugstores and pharmacies throughout the country sell both natural and
pharmaceutical products, often side by side. Switzerland is a highly developed,
wealthy country complete with its own pharmaceutical giants, who would like
consumers to buy their pharmaceutical products over long-standing, successful,
natural remedies. But cultural heritage and attitudes run deep. In Switzerland,
druggists and pharmacy owners must go through years of education and
apprenticeship, including not only the study of pharmaceutical products but
also of herbal and homeopathic remedies.
Natural remedies of the highest quality are made in Switzerland, Germany, France
and other European countries. These natural products and medicines are
displayed in pharmacy windows often with equal or greater representation than
conventional products.
There is a threat to this balanced presentation of health options and to
consumer choice in Europe – and soon the world. The European Union and parts of Switzerland, not withstanding their long
tradition of natural remedies and health care, are implementing laws concerning
supplements and herbs that are extremely restrictive in terms of availability,
and allowable vitamin, mineral and herbal potencies.
CODEX – Neither a Camera, Nor from The Da Vinci Code
The European Union has accepted a devastating set of guidelines known as the
Codex Alimentarius: Guidelines on Vitamin and Mineral Food Supplements. The
controversial Codex guidelines are connected to the World Trade Organization
(WTO), in itself a controversial conglomerate of multinational interests. Under
the guise of consumer best interest and free trade, the WTO is aggressively
pursuing global standards of commerce favorable to large industries such as
pharmaceuticals, agriculture and other products. Free trade does not equal Fair
trade, nor does it guarantee the best interests of people around the world
involved with small-scale, sustainable, local and Fair-trade enterprises. In
the Codex, the focus is on global standards for nutritional supplements and herbal remedies.
The official line is that of public safety - a thinly veiled cover-up for market
control. In countries where the Codex is being enacted or will be enacted,
there are restrictions to consumer choice and availability. In brief, the Codex
is limiting the allowable maximum potencies to minimum levels. Pharmaceutical
companies will be allowed to sell certain high potency vitamins and minerals,
requiring prescriptions. Some currently permissible vitamins and minerals will
be eliminated all together. Some herbs will be restricted or no longer available. Product information,
crucial to consumer empowerment and choice will be limited. Synthetic instead
of natural sources for supplements will be utilized. With the broad control of
supplements and herbs comes more possibilities for patented products, further
limiting access and driving up costs.
Norway and Germany have already adopted these standards so Vitamin C potency is
limited to 200 mg and Vitamin E at 45 IU – over these is considered illegal. As a reference point, in the United States
the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine has set upper
tolerable dosage limits for Vitamin C at 2,000 mg for adults and the upper
tolerable dosage limit for Vitamin E at 1500 IU.
The South African Minister of Health, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, opposed the
Codex guidelines two years ago noting that African traditional medicines,
homeopathic remedies and other alternative medicines should continue to be
available to people and should not be analyzed the same way as pharmaceutical
drugs. Tshabalala-Msimang advocates the further study and utilization of
traditional African healing methods, allowing for more economical, locally
controlled health care, building on rich cultural and historical knowledge.
The rest of the world should take note of Minister Tshabalala-Msimang efforts. A
sustainable future includes true accessibility of nutrients and botanicals, and
building on a millennia old knowledge base of traditional healing, not on the
ultimate control of natural healing substances by pharmaceutical multinational
corporations whose real goals have to do with profits not individual or
planetary health.
For more information about Codex:
Natural Solutions Foundation – www.healthfreedomusa.org
American Holistic Health Association – www.ahha.org
Official Codex site - www.codexalimentarius.net
Food Supplements: The EU Threat -
www.sovereignty.org.uk/features/articles/foodsup.html
For more Information about the World Trade Organization (WTO):
Public Citizen Global Trade Watch at: http://www.citizen.org/trade/