Truthosaurus' Response to ABC NIghtline's cigarette science

Am I living in 2008? I simply cannot believe this shoddy piece of work, but as my husband points out, the mainstream media did the same thing when it signed on for Bush's illegal Iraq war. The complaint against Dr. Rea was not filed by his patients but by the insurance companies of several people injured in the 9-11 attacks in order to avoid paying for their treatment. Your shallow article totally missed the point.

Significant evidence exists to link chemical exposures to health symptoms, particularly for people with certain genetically caused enzyme deficiencies. When this travesty is finally exposed, and it will be, perhaps some of you at ABC will feel the shame of your ignorant and unfounded ridicule of an immense population robbed of their productive years. You might want to read Low Levels High Stakes by Nicholas Ashford, Ph.D., J.D. & Claudia Miller, M.D. (she’s in Texas at UTHSCSA, and is board certified in allergy-immunology, and has credentials in health effects of low level chemical exposures--why not interview her?). Read the research published by Martin Pall, Ph.D., Mohamed B. Abou-Donia, Ph.D. and Robert Haley M.D. (he’s at UT Southwestern just like the clueless allergist you allowed to speak on a subject he obviously has no expertise to address). For general background, see Devra Davis, Ph.D., M.P.H., and Mark Shapiro’s books on chemicals and health.

I am a former attorney for federal and state regulatory agencies who worked my way through undergraduate and law school. It took me ten years to pay off my student loans. I didn't give up my profession in 1997 because I am "scared." I gave it up because I was poisoned by Dursban, formaldehyde, fuel oil, carpet emissions, and other toxic exposures.

Finally, Dr. Rea does not inject his patients with jet fuel, but since those of us who think jet fuel makes us sick are all crazy, what would be the problem if he did?

And oh, here's the damn show.

American Academy of Environmental Medicine response to ABC Nightline's cigarette science.

REACTION TO NIGHTLINE PROGRAM OF MARCH 20, 2008.

Although in the past, Nightline has been known for balanced reporting, such was not the case recently when a featured story was done on the Environmental Medicine practice of Dr. Bill Rea in Dallas, Texas. Dr. Rea and one of his patients, Lisa Nagy, were expecting fair treatment as they participated in extensive interviews and filming prior to the broadcast: Unfortunately, biased editing presented the viewer of this nationally broadcast television program with less than a fair understanding of the truth.

As president of the American Academy of Environmental Medicine I would like to respond to some of the expressed or implied allegations made in that program.

1. The implication that Dr. Rea's very existence and his practice of Environmental Medicine is a threat to public health is either a tragic misunderstanding or a malicious misstatement. Very much to the contrary, Dr. Rea and his colleagues are among the courageous few who speak up about the danger to public health coming from exposure to environmental hazards. Environmental Medicine physicians candidly educate patients and their communities about the hazards of acute or chronic exposure to solvents, pesticides, strong electromagnetic fields, dusts, toxic metals and molds while mainstream doctors all too commonly look the other way. Nightline and its "experts" should be extremely grateful for the work of Dr. Bill Rea and, in my opinion, apologize for misrepresenting his valuable contributions.

2. Those interviewing Dr. Rea implied that since his research had not been published by a "mainstream journal" it was either not important or not true. In fact, he has been published in mainstream journals such as the Annals of Allergy and the Archives of Otolaryngology. While we applaud the careful scrutiny of editorial boards that oversee the various journals it should be appreciated that there are numerous quality peer-reviewed journals around the world in addition to those considered mainstream. Dr. Rea's publications have passed the scrutiny of many peers who have taken the time to appreciate the specific and at times unique problems with the patients he treats as well as the special techniques that are required to handle their conditions. It almost goes without saying that editorial boards of those particular journals which are largely financed by drug companies are unlikely to be free of bias.

3. The Nightline interview suggested that only double-blind, randomized, controlled, prospective studies provide sufficiently reliable information upon which to base our practice of medicine. It is well known that over half of what we do in mainstream clinical practice as physicians is not based on such studies. Further, many areas of medicine including the complex problems seen in the practice of environmental medicine are not as easily studied because there are so many variables. Testing a single drug for the treatment of a single problem like high blood pressure is far easier than working with a patient that has 10 or 20 things going on simultaneously. Many conventional physicians forget that coronary bypass surgery has never been tested on humans where the "controls" went through sham surgery to see if the hope inducing placebo of improved heart function was as important as actually doing the bypass grafts. We all need to recognize that the practice of medicine is both a complex art and a complex science and admit that more elementary models of "science" may not be sophisticated enough to evaluate the problems at hand. Environmental Medicine physicians eagerly support solid research in the pursuit of truth.

4. How disappointing it was to see that when ABC television had the opportunity to highlight the positive side of environmental health it let the opportunity slip away. The producers of this program could have explained that Dr. Rea sees patients who have failed to get well in the mainstream medical system. The complex problems he encounters are different from the ordinary and television viewers needed to know that. It would have been helpful for the average American to know that the patients who are treated at the Environmental Health Center in Dallas, Texas have already seen 5, 10, 15 or even more doctors who have failed to find an answer to their physical problems. Dr. Rea typically sees the sickest of the sick and these types of patients require different approaches than traditional surgeries, psychiatry, or more drugs.

5. How thoughtless and cruel it is to tell a physically sick patient that their condition is "all in their head". Sadly, a large number of physicians are of the opinion that "if a person's health problem cannot be fixed with a drug then the problem does not exist". The immunologist quoted in the television presentation stated that psychiatric conditions are more common than we realize, thereby implying that persons who have failed mainstream medical care need something like Prozac rather than the Environmental Medicine interventions as offered by Dr. Rea and other Environmental Medicine physicians. While of course persons with psychological problems need psychological care, treating physical problems as if they were psychiatric is misguided. Important environmental factors need to be addressed.

6. Patients whose disease is primarily related to exposure to allergic, sensitizing or toxic substances need to avoid such exposures. Their first step in Environmental Medicine treatment is not a drug, not a surgery, and not a psychiatrist, but rather avoiding exposure. When doctors ignore the importance of providing nontoxic, non-allergenic environments and return an injured worker to a chemically or mold contaminated workplace while covering up their symptoms with medications they are doing no one a favor: They have simply failed to address the source of the problem.

7. The interviewer put great emphasis on the fact that Dr. Rea was doing skin testing with chemical extracts. The implication that toxic amounts of chemicals were being administered to patients is simply not true. Allergists administer potentially harmful extracts to a person through skin testing all the time without triggering asthma or anaphylaxis because the dose is carefully monitored. If we need to test sensitivity to chemicals or metals, diluted extracts can be administered in a safe fashion. Those physicians who fail to test for chemicals may never become aware of the fact that a person can get sick from exposure to chemicals just as with pollens, dust mites or foods.

8. By the end of the Nightline presentation one had the impression that Environmental Medicine was being presented as an interesting health care effort lacking substance which perhaps led to health to improvements at times but only because the patient "believes they are doing better". That perspective is simply not true. The specialty of Environmental Medicine is based on a combination of solid science and years of clinical experience. Most patients who work with an environmental physician find concrete help for their problems and are grateful that there are doctors willing and able to provide this type of care. Serious research has demonstrated that most patients complaining of environmentally triggered illness are in fact physically sick and not making excuses for underlying psychological problems.

The one-sided presentation last week left me with the question: Wasn't ABC at all interested in learning about techniques for diagnosing environmentally triggered health problems in addition to the therapeutic usefulness of provocation neutralization, documented toxin removal through sauna therapies, the benefit of resolving serious nutritional deficiencies with healthy food and intravenous nutrients, oxygen therapies, and the importance of eliminating dangerous chemicals, electromagnetic fields, molds and mold toxins from the workplace and home?

If you are interested in learning more about Environmental Medicine, study our website at www.AAEMonline.org and consider attending our teaching sessions, doing further reading or coming to one of our annual conferences.

Philip Ranheim M.D.

Médecins Sans Compassion

This is for doctors who are blessed with a god complex simply because they have memorized which drugs go with which diseases (in between their rote studies of anatomy), especially those who diagnose psychogenic causes simply because no drug fits the case, and most especially for those whose minds are so limited that emerging illnesses are discounted simply because they do not fit the currently understood mechanisms for disease.

Bubba Hearts Beets

No animals were harmed in making this photo--some beets were seriously harmed.

Ralph Nader/Patti Smith Valentine: Awake from Your Slumber

"Words mean nothing unless they promote action." - Patti Smith.

Thank You

for not capping the toothpaste--

Anchorage Daily News reports on the false statements preceding the Iraq war

Study: False statements preceded war

By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL

(Excerpted below, read the rest at the link above.)

A study by two nonprofit journalism organizations found that President Bush and top administration officials issued hundreds of false statements about the national security threat from Iraq in the two years following the 2001 terrorist attacks.

The study concluded that the statements "were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses."

The study was posted Tuesday on the Web site of the Center for Public Integrity, which worked with the Fund for Independence in Journalism.

____________

Glad this is coming out, late though it is and unsurprising as it is. Anyone who read the game book of the Project for a New American Century would have known what was happening and what the next play was going to be if Bush/ Cheney/ Rumsfeld/ Wolfowitz/ Bolton gained the means to do so. They were talking about attacking Iraq as far back as 1997-98, before they ever made it to the White House. The Center for Public Integrity's interactive website has a searchable database of 380,000 words of Iraq-related statements by Bush administration officials.

Corporations Reaping Millions as Congo Suffers Deadliest Conflict Since World War II

From Democracy Now: "A new mortality report from the International Rescue Committee says that as many as 5.4 million people have died from war-related causes in the Congo since 1998. A staggering 45,000 people continue to die each month, both from the conflict and the related humanitarian crisis. Amidst the deadliest conflict since World War II, hundreds of international corporations have reaped enormous profits from extracting and processing Congolese minerals."

Maurice Carney states: "The reports from the Congolese government state that eighty percent of the population live on thirty cents or less a day, while you have billions of dollars going out the back door and into the pockets of mining companies."

Its hard to go about my daily life with lots of food, heat, a comfortable bed, not to mention the ability to sleep quietly, without pondering this. The report shows scenes of people fleeing with everything they can carry. The essentials: baby, bedroll, water container, a few goats (for some). We write it off as being too far away geographically and philosophically for us to do anything. And yet, it is very much about us.

Skiing and other disappearances

Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King, Jr.

Today I put on my skis and made a heroic effort to ski without breaking anything. It was very icy. I was skiing with a friend, and we struggled our way through a stretch of rolling terrain over to a flat field where there was less likelihood of injury. We skied a couple of laps and then carefully went back to the car. It was raining and humid. Unless a miracle happens, we won’t be skiing tomorrow. I dug out my hockey skates, and we might try skating at the outdoor hockey rink.

I’ve heard nothing from the Jumping Crane nor AK Traveler correspondents since early Saturday. The last word was that they were looking for ferry connections to Tunis from Sicily. Tunis is a big city of a couple million people, and I'm pretty sure it has Internet cafes and telephones, although the instructions may be in Arabic or French, which neither of them speak. I researched Tunis news in Google. No ferry crashes. That’s the best I can do. If they were kidnapped or fell overboard, no one would know for a while.

Apple Blossom Time