Newsletter - October 25th, 2005

EPA unions call for moratorium on fluoride in drinking water

By MATTHEW DALY
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Eleven unions representing more than 7,000 workers at the Environmental Protection Agency are calling for a national moratorium on programs to add fluoride to drinking water, citing what they call a possible cancer risk.

In a letter to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson, the unions say the agency should act even before a committee of the National Academy of Sciences completes a report on the issue early next year.

Plastics are widely used to store and package foods and beverages. Uses include disposable and reusable containers, plastic wraps, cut- cutlery, water bottles and baby bottles. Plastic is convenient, lightweight, unbreakable and relatively inexpensive. However, there are both environmental and health risks from the widespread use of plastics.

Environmental problems: Most plastics are made from petroleum, a non-renewable and mostly imported resource. Plastic packaging also creates unnecessary waste. Although plastic is lightweight, it is bulky, so it takes up a large volume of landfill space.

The casting director for this show called us here at the office to let us know that they are looking for at least one mother with an interest in organic food, whether that be on the consumer or producer end.  So take a look, and if you think you fit the bill, don't hesitate to apply!  Your next vacation could be an all-expenses paid tour of Africa.  --Patrick McGrath, Associate Director, Citizens for Health

TV Series Seeking Moms for an African Adventure

BBC Television and the Travel Channel are working on an exciting new series that will take 8 mothers from across the United States on a 7 week journey of discovery to Africa.

What is Homeopathy?
by Dr. André Saine
D.C., N.D., F.C.A.H.

Homeopathy is the essence of the art of healing. When homeopathy is well practiced, it is the medicine of choice to recover one's health from the great majority of acute and chronic problems.

Homeopathy is a scientific method of treatment that is based on the application of the law of similars. For thousands of years, man searched for a method to promote healing which is efficient, gentle and permanent. Samuel Hahnemann, a German physician who lived between 1755-1843, pursued this philosophical and scientific quest by developing an ideal system of therapeutics which brought together a number of discoveries and reflections found throughout the history of medicine. After years of perfecting this therapeutic method, he called it homeopathy, by uniting two Greek roots, homoios meaning "similar," and pathos meaning, "what one feels." Homeopathy consists of treating sick people with remedies that, in crude doses, would produce in healthy people symptoms similar (homoios) to those of the disease needing to be overcome.

Shortly after the extent of the Hurricane Katrina disaster became evident, Citizens for Health began accepting donations to help fund an integrative medicine hurricane relief effort.  Here is an update from Rachel Toomin, AP on the results of your generous contributions.

Dear Citizens for Health members,

The first team from the Integrative Medicine Hurricane Relief Effort has returned from Louisiana.  Deborah Williams AP and Rachel Toomim AP spent a week at the Integrated Support Command center in Alexandria, LA. What follows is their reporting of events.