You mention the virtues of the vegan diet. Certainly no argument on this from my end. But what may be found within those vegetables may concern you; especially concerning cancer and its precursors. Scientists have found a possible link between a newly discovered virus and breast cancer. Doctors in Australia discovered the virus in 40% of tissue samples taken from women with the disease. Further tests showed that only 2% of women without the disease carry this virus, which is called HHMMTV. How does this tie into how vegetable crops are raised? The recent spinach issue and other salad and vegetable crop issues coming out of the Salinas Valley should provide an interesting example to illustrate my point, but this has not been a topic for discussion. In addition, there are papers discussing that crops raised on land where sewage sludge (biosolids) is used are also implicated in breast cancer. The standards that control much of this are part of the responsibility delegated to U.S. EPA. But EPA is not a health agency and has little capacity to grasp these issues. My group sent a Freedom of Information Act (FIOA) request to EPA seeking information on antibiotic resistance, virulence and transfer of genetic information within sewage and how EPA was dealing with that. The FOIA sent into the Agency in Feb of 2005 has not been answered. They did, however, suggest a website. Information of that website as searched via key words came up with the following results showing that EPA hasn’t a clue (see below). With respect to the vegetables raised in the Salinas Valley, the elephant in the room here that no one is discussing is that the whole of the area is irrigated with reclaimed sewage water---even the certified organic stuff. I am also told that there may be a slaughterhouse that dumps to the sewer plant. But again who is looking at these connections? The stomach and gut contents of these slaughtered cattle are washed into the sewer. Additionally sewer plants can not, as well documented by the USGS, clear pharmaceuticals. Thus these go directly onto the crops, including those that are certified organic. Further, the sewer plants are unable to clear antibiotic resistant genes (ARGs). These are released as the cells of bacteria break up during sewage treatment. In the past this was termed naked DNA. The ARGs are so resilient that they go from discharged but “treated” sewage into rivers and thence into and through fresh water treatment plants and are thus found in drinking water. Accordingly, as applied along with pharmaceuticals at levels sufficient to either induce of maintain antibiotic resistance in pathogens, this reclaimed sewage water used for crop irrigation may well be an issue, but an issue that politically has been taken off the table, including the discussion of the spinach problem. To add to this, the research arm of EPA, the Water Environment Research Foundation just published a report by Higgins & Murthy showing that the current standards and their lab tests underestimate the pathogen kill within sewer works by several magnitudes. Further, the standard lab tests for assuring safety can not even see many of the newly emerging infectious disease agents. There have been papers for decades that note water while passing standards and thus presumably food safety, has not accurately reflected reality, thus finding people winding up in hospitals. The use of farm chemicals can induce antibiotic resistant genes in soil bacteria. Add to this those bacteria now brought in the field with the reclaimed sewer water, and then on top of that the pharmaceuticals. Viola, you have bacteria and nematodes that can and do track up inside the produce while carrying antibiotic resistance and added virulence. Once inside, all the washing you do at the kitchen sink will never reach these internalized pathogens. Now you eat this certified organic produce and the ARGs are then transmitted to your prolific gut bacteria. Once ingested, the ARGs may be transferred to normal flora, and subsequently to pathogenic bacteria found in humans making later treatment with particular antibiotics ineffective. Also one must consider transfer of genetic information from these organisms to more robust organisms as highlighted by Sjolund et al. (2005) indicating that resistance in the normal flora, which may last up to four-years, might contribute to increased resistance in higher-grade pathogens through interspecies transfer. These authors go on to note that since populations of the normal biota are large, this affords the chance for multiple and different resistant variants to develop. This thus enhances the risk for spread to populations of pathogens. Furthermore, there is crossed resistance. For example, vancomycin resistance may be maintained by using macrolides. Christopher Walsh in his recent medical text on antibiotic resistance notes that resistance to antibiotics is not a matter of IF but one of WHEN. Thus, you are now a walking timebomb. Schentag, et al. (2003), as found in Walsh, followed surgical patients with the subsequent results. Pre-op nasal cultures found Staphylococcus aureus 100% antibiotic susceptible. Pre-op prophylactic antibiotics were administered. Following surgery, cephalosporin was administered. Ninety percent of the patients went home at post-op day 2 without infectious complications. Nasal bacteria counts on these patients had dropped from 10/5th to 10/3rd but were now a mix of sensitive, borderline, and resistant Staphylococcus sp. By comparison, prior to surgery, all of the patients’ Staphylococcus samples had been susceptible to antibiotics. For the patients remaining in the hospital and who were switched on post-op day 5 to a second generation cephalosporin (ceftazidine), showed bacterial counts up 1000-fold when assayed on post-op day 7 and most of these were methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). These patients were switched to a 2-week course of vancomycin. Cultures from those remaining in the hospital on day 21, revealed vancomycin resistant enterococcus (VRE) and candida. Vancomycin resistant enterococci infections can produce mortality rates of between 42 and 81%. Note in the above, that these patients harbored NO resistant bacteria in their nasal cavities upon entry to the hospital. But what would be the result if there had been inadvertent acquisition of resistance from environmental contamination such as through the use of reclaimed sewage water used for irrigation? Dr Edo McGowan +++++++++++++++++++++++ An updated review of environmental estrogen and androgen mimics and antagonists.  Sonnenschein C,  Soto AM. Tufts University School of Medicine, Department of Anatomy and Cellular Biology, Boston, MA 02111, USA. csonnenschein@infonet.tufts.edu For the last 40 y, substantial evidence has surfaced on the hormone-like effects of environmental chemicals such as pesticides and industrial chemicals in wildlife and humans. The endocrine and reproductive effects of these chemicals are believed to be due to their ability to: (1) mimic the effect of endogenous hormones, (2) antagonize the effect of endogenous hormones, (3) disrupt the synthesis and metabolism of endogenous hormones, and (4) disrupt the synthesis and metabolism of hormone receptors. The discovery of hormone-like activity of these chemicals occurred long after they were released into the environment. Aviation crop dusters handling DDT were found to have reduced sperm counts, and workers at a plant producing the insecticide kepone were reported to have lost their libido, became impotent and had low sperm counts. Subsequently, experiments conducted in lab animals demonstrated unambiguously the estrogenic activity of these pesticides. Man-made compounds used in the manufacture of plastics were accidentally found to be estrogenic because they fouled experiments conducted in laboratories studying natural estrogens. For example, polystyrene tubes released nonylphenol, and polycarbonate flasks released bisphenol-A. Alkylphenols are used in the synthesis of detergents (alkylphenol polyethoxylates) and as antioxidants. These detergents are not estrogenic; however, upon degradation during sewage treatment they may release estrogenic alkylphenols. The surfactant nonoxynol is used as intravaginal spermicide and condom lubricant. When administered to lab animals it is metabolized to free nonylphenol. Bisphenol-A was found to contaminate the contents of canned foods; these tin cans are lined with lacquers such as polycarbonate. Bisphenol-A is also used in dental sealants and composites. We found that this estrogen leaches from the treated teeth into saliva; up to 950 microg of bisphenol-A were retrieved from saliva collected during the first hour after polymerization. Other xenoestrogens recently identified among chemicals used in large volumes are the plastizicers benzylbutylphthalate, dibutylphthalate, the antioxidant butylhydroxyanisole, the rubber additive p-phenylphenol and the disinfectant o-phenylphenol. These compounds act cumulatively. In fact, feminized male fish were found near sewage outlets in several rivers in the U.K.; a mixture of chemicals including alkyl phenols resulting from degradation of detergents during sewage treatment seemed to be the causal agent. Estrogen mimics are just a class of endocrine disruptors. Recent studies identified antiandrogenic activity in environmental chemicals such as vinclozolin, a fungicide, and DDE, and insecticide. Moreover, a single chemical may produce neurotoxic, estrogenic and antiandrogenic effects. It has been hypothesized that endocrine disruptors may play a role in the decrease in the quantity and quality of human semen during the last 50 y, as well as in the increased incidence of testicular cancer and cryptorchidism in males and breast cancer incidence in both females and males in the industrialized word. To explore this hypothesis it is necessary to identify putative causal agents by the systematic screening of environmental chemicals and chemicals present in human foods to assess their ability to disrupt the endocrine system. In addition, it will be necessary to develop methods to measure cumulative exposure to (a) estrogen mimics, (b) antiandrogens, and (c) other disruptors. PMID: 9699867 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] ++++++++++++++++++++++ My group had requested, via Freedom of Information Act, certain data from the U.S. EPA on their progress dealing with biosolids and resistance. In providing us answers to this request, EPA delayed its response for about 6 months and then merely directed us to a section of the NERL’s website, which contained no usable information. This site was (www.epa.gov/nerlesd1/chemistry/pharma/fq.htm#disposal), as evidenced by the following search results. Similar results were found for other EPA web addresses. Results of Searching the "Environmental Sciences" Area of EPA's Web Site No matches found for transposon; 1402 files searched No matches found for antibiotic resistance + biosolids; 1402 files searched. No matches found for antimicrobial resistance + biosolids; 1402 files searched No matches found for virulent pathogens + biosolids; 1402 files searched. No matches found for plasmids + biosolids; 1402 files searched. No matches found for mobile genetic elements; 1402 files searched. No matches found for high level disinfection + biosolids; 1402 files searched. Results of Searching EPA's Entire Web Site We have searched the entire EPA site and found the following results. You may also return to searching for the same terms within Environmental Sciences. No matches found for high level disinfection + biosolids; 494732 files searched. No matches found for plasmids + biosolids; 494732 files searched. No matches found for transposons + biosolids; 494732 files searched. No matches found for mobile genetic elements + biosolids; 494732 files searched. No matches found for virulent pathogens + biosolids; 494732 files searched. No matches found for antibiotic resistance + biosolids; 494732 files searched. No matches found for antimicrobial resistance + biosolids; 494732 files searched. Results of Searching the "Exposure Research" Area of EPA's Web Site We have searched the area of EPA's site related to Exposure Research and found the following results. You may also search for the same terms across EPA's entire site. No matches found for prions + biosolids; 3352 files searched. Results of Searching EPA's Entire Web Site We have searched the entire EPA site and found the following results. You may also return to searching for the same terms within Exposure Research. No matches found for prions + biosolids; 530969 files searched. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++=

by Edo (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 19 comments) on Thursday, Jan 11, 2007 at 11:14:28 AM

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