San Francisco-area chemist says autistic daughter cured by MSG-free diet

By Deborah Hastings

(NY Daily News) San Francisco Bay-area chemist Katherine Reid says cutting out monosodium glutamate, or MSG, cured her daughter of autism.

She tried a gluten-free diet. She tried supplements including fish oil and B complex vitamins.

But it was only when Katherine Reid cut monosodium glutamate, commonly called MSG, from her autistic daughter’s meals that she saw a staggering difference in the girl's behavior.

Seven-year-old Brooke seemed to be completely free of autistic symptoms such as temper tantrums, hypersensitivity to light and seizures.

Groundbreaking research exposes the serious health consequences of thirdhand smoke

Researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California have proven for the first time that thirdhand smoke produces significant damage to human DNA. A toxic residue from cigarette smoke that adheres to practically every surface - including hair, skin, clothing, carpeting, furniture and paint, this problematic remnant may become increasingly dangerous over time. Even more alarming, cleaning the noxious substance from physical environments is virtually impossible.

Thirdhand smoke: New hazards uncovered

"This is the very first study to find that thirdhand smoke is mutagenic," said researcher and study co-author Lara Gundel. "Tobacco-specific nitrosamines, some of the chemical compounds in thirdhand smoke, are among the most potent carcinogens there are. They stay on surfaces, and when those surfaces are clothing or carpets, the danger to children is especially serious."

Medical radiation treatments fraught with technician error and fatal mishap, oversight questionable radiation treatment, medical negligence, cancer

Medical radiation accidents are more common than you may think. Whether it's a software glitch or technician error, there are plenty of opportunities for a scan or treatment to go horribly wrong. And technologists are poorly regulated in a number of states, increasing the chances of a serious and potentially life-threatening mistake. As reported in the New York Times, radiation medical technology is far from foolproof.

Do no harm

Scott Jerome-Parks entered St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan to be treated for tongue cancer. Little did he know at the time, he was about to be exposed to several lethal doses of radiation which would leave him "deaf, struggling to see, unable to swallow, burned, with his teeth falling out, with ulcers in his mouth and throat, nauseated, in severe pain and finally unable to breathe," according to Walt Bogdanich's New York Times article, "Radiation Offers New Cures, and Ways to Do Harm." After receiving errant beams of radiation from a linear accelerator on three consecutive days, Mr. Jerome-Parks died several weeks later. He was 43.