Jellyfish Diapers? Not So Crazy…

An ocean filled with venomous jellyfish is hardly something to celebrate. However, for an innovative Israeli company, it’s a crucial part of their solution to combat the overabundance of diapers winding up in landfills every year.

Why Jellyfish?

Thanks to the triple threat of climate change, increasing ocean acidity, and overfishing, jellyfish are steadily taking over the world’s oceans. The decline of global fisheries means that jellyfish encounter fewer predators and competitors for food in their ocean habitat, and jellyfish populations have grown so quickly in recent years that many researchers believe the ocean will soon be dominated by them.

Not only is the rise of jellyfish a depressing threat to diversity in the ocean, they also pose a real problem in the modern world. Besides giving beachgoers painful stings, jellyfish are also capable of harming underwater infrastructure. In 2013, a cluster of jellyfish caused a Swedish nuclear reactor to shut down when they were sucked into the cooling pipe, and their threat is only growing worse. According to the National Science Foundation, colonies of jellyfish in the Gulf of Mexico already can stretch over 100 miles long,

Equally troubling is the increasing amount of diapers, sanitary pads and tampons winding up in landfills every year. These absorbent products are made from synthetic polymers that take hundreds of years to break down, and over 27 billion diapers are tossed in the trash in the United States every year, resulting in over 3.4 million tons of waste.

The Magic of Jellyfish Diapers

Hard as it may seem to see the connection between diapers and jellyfish, one company thinks that their combination can help solve the problems produced by both.

Cine’al Ltd., an Israeli nanotechnology company, has found a way to make biodegradable diapers from jellyfish. Inspired by research from Tel Aviv University about the potential of jellyfish for use as a durable, biodegradable fabric, these diapers are twice as absorbent as regular ones and decompose in less than a month, meaning that fewer diapers are left to rot in waste centers.

The key to the absorbency of these special diapers comes from a patented material called “hydromash”. By breaking down jellyfish flesh and infusing it with antibiotic nanoparticles that remove the sting, hydromash creates a strong, flexible material that’s completely biodegradable in a matter of weeks.

Now, Cine’al Ltd. is using hydromash to develop infant and adult diapers as well as sanitary pads and tampons. Because the global diaper market was worth an estimated $52 billion in 2015, these jellyfish diapers have tremendous potential to make a positive difference for the planet.

Long-Term Benefits of Jellyfish Diapers

While the degradation hitting the world’s oceans today is devastating to diversity, there might be a small silver lining if the increasing numbers of jellyfish can be converted into sustainable alternatives to synthetic plastics. If Cine’al diapers and sanitary products are a success, they might start a trend for using jellyfish in other ways that limit the impact of plastic pollution on the planet’s surface.

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MMR Vaccine Science – Del Bigtree Vs. Cathy Newman of Channel 4 News

On March 31, 2017, Del Bigtree was briefly interviewed at the Revolution for Truth Rally in Washington D.C by British Channel 4 News correspondent Cathy Newman.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHqt8Cz2nLk

Throughout the course of the short clip, Del is questioned about his stance on the measles vaccine, and he quickly inundates his correspondent with facts from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). According to Bigtree, modern medicine has it completely backward in regards to the measles vaccine. Before the invention of the measles vaccine in 1964, Bigtree states,

According to Bigtree, modern medicine has it completely backward in regards to the measles vaccine. Before the invention of the measles vaccine in 1964, Bigtree states,

…the death rate from measles was .036 per 100,000 people that got measles. No one has died from the measles, and nearly a hundred children have died from the vaccine. The measles vaccine does kill. And measles was not killing anybody based on scientific evidence before the vaccine ever arrived.”

We looked it up, and according to this page on the CDC, it’s even lower, at 0.016% using the highest possible estimate with the numbers given (500 deaths out of three million). She does not understand his data at first, then decides his science is junk, and then as he states again where he’s getting his numbers, she seems to think that he is not understanding his own statistics. He has to state repeatedly that he is quoting the CDC.

In other words, the death rate from measles was less than one person in 300,000 infected, which is a number so small that it’s statistically insignificant. On the other hand, in the past ten years, close to one hundred children have died from complications from the measles vaccine. Del is stating that  this proves the measles vaccine is more deadly than measles ever was.

Related: The MMR Vaccine: A Comprehensive Overview of the Potential Dangers and Effectiveness

About Del Bigtree

For those that know Del’s previous work, this stance is hardly surprising. As an Emmy award-winning medical journalist, Del has years of experience in producing medical TV shows, often around controversial issues. After numerous viewers contacted him to request he cover the potential dangers of vaccines and their connection to autism, Bigtree decided to dive into the topic and he hasn’t stopped since.

In 2014, the release of audio recordings of conversations between vaccine researchers Dr. Brian Hooker and Dr. William Thompson revealed potential fraud in the CDC’s research about the correlation between vaccines and autism in children. While the revelations from these audio clips were largely ignored by mainstream media, Del used them as the backbone of his recently released documentary on the risks of vaccines, titled Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe.

About Vaxxed

Working with Dr. Andrew Wakefield, Del was haunted by the evidence he found connecting autistic children and vaccinations. Rather than making a stand against vaccines in general, Vaxxed explores the problems with the MMR vaccine that is formulated to vaccinate children against measles, mumps and rubella all in one. By vaccinating children with the MMR vaccine instead of three individual vaccines, the documentary claims, parents inadvertently increase their children’s risk of developing autism.

Related: Vaccines, Retroviruses, DNA, and the Discovery That Destroyed Judy Mikovits’ Career

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KrpK0rbl9w

History has long prosecuted the people who first make controversial discoveries, and in Bigtree’s view, the widespread disregard for anyone who challenges the safety of vaccines is a modern example. Looking at the epidemic of autism that is sweeping through the country and affecting 1 in 45 children, Bigtree believes that the diagnostic rate will only increase unless something is done to reduce children’s exposure to unsafe vaccinations.

By continuing to question widely-accepted evidence about vaccine safety and dig deeply into the troubling medical questions about vaccines today, there’s little doubt that Del Bigtree will continue to make a stand against the MMR vaccine and seek out ways to educate people about its dangers, no matter what mainstream media chooses to report.

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Vaccine Schedule – Why the FDA Ignored Mercury Issues For So Long

Regulatory agencies like the FDA and CDC agree with the classification on mercury as a neurotoxin. But it took until 1997 for the Food and Drug Administration, at the prompting of Congress, to finally tally up the total amount of mercury a six-month-old would be exposed to if the 1997 vaccine schedule was followed. The results of that calculation found that the average six-month-old had the potential to be injected with a total of 187.5 micrograms of mercury. In contrast, the FDA’s daily acceptable intake of mercury for an adult is 0.4 micrograms per kilogram of bodyweight. The FDA has known about the cumulative levels of mercury in childhood vaccines for over 20 years, and yet they still acknowledge that many childhood vaccines contain trace amounts (less than 1 microgram) of thimerosal, and certain inactivated influenza vaccines can contain up to 50 micrograms of thimerosal.

What You Do When You Realize Something Wrong

By any calculation, the level of mercury in childhood vaccines is too high. So why hasn’t it been removed from vaccines? New documents from FDA officials have discovered that the justification for the continued presence of thimerosal has less to do with safety and more to do with image. In an email from Dr. Peter Patriarca, Director, Division of Viral Products, Food and Drug to an official at the CDC, he discussed the impact of removing thimerosal from vaccines in a timely fashion, saying it would:

…raise questions about FDA being ‘asleep at the switch’ for decades by allowing a potentially hazardous compound to remain in many childhood vaccines, and not forcing manufacturers to exclude it from new products.

It will also raise questions about various advisory bodies regarding aggressive recommendations for use. We must keep in mind that the dose of ethylmercury was not generated by “rocket science.” Conversion of the percentage of thimerosal to actual micrograms of mercury involves ninth grade algebra. What took the FDA so long to do the calculations? Why didn’t the CDC and the advisory bodies do these calculations when they rapidly expanded the childhood immunization schedule?”

Equally as distressing as the FDA’s decision to hide culpability is what they’re sacrificing in pursuit of that decision. A press release in 1999 maintained that there wasn’t evidence that vaccines containing thimerosal caused any harm. It also maintained there was no reason to measure mercury exposure in children who received those vaccines, effectively ensuring that that evidence would not materialize anytime soon. In additional justification, public documents released by the FDA measured mercury exposure as if children were only exposed to a small amount of mercury each day through vaccines.

This is in stark contrast to the reality of the situation, where mercury exposure spikes at four specific times: at birth and at well baby (oh the irony!) check-ups at 2, 4, and 6 months. Since that release in 1999, the FDA has made an effort to lower the levels of thimerosal in childhood vaccines. Many still contain trace amounts, though, and the flu vaccine, recommended annually starting at 6 months, seems to be exempt from these reduction efforts thus far.

When Safeguards Are Not Safe

Vaccines are often sold as the best thing you can do for your baby. Yet the people who regulate these vaccines are not inclined to look at them critically. It took Congress requiring a list of intentionally introduced mercury compounds before the organization that regulates them took stock of exactly how much mercury children receive through childhood vaccines. The FDA then presented the data on a six-month average, instead of the four one-time spikes that actually occur and specifically said that testing mercury exposure is not necessary. Why are the vaccines considered necessary when safety checks and studies are not?

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New Study Suggests Women Could, and Maybe Should, Eat While In Labor

Hospitals typically restrict women from eating and drinking during labor. Women are given ice chips and intravenous fluids to prevent dehydration. A review of previous studies looks at women who were allowed to eat before delivery and found that they had a slightly shorter labor than those who were restricted to ice chips and water.

Concerns go back to a 1940s study that showed women who delivered under general anesthesia were at risk of regurgitating and aspirating food that was inside their stomachs while they were under sedation. Fortunately, the use of general anesthesia during delivery is far less common today.

The information does not prove that eating caused deliveries to happen sooner, but we suspect there is at least a cause and effect happening like the way that eating can lead us to defecate sooner than if we had not eaten. There’s only so much room in there. Regardless of whether or not our theory is true, the woman’s uterus is mostly muscle. Our muscles need fuel. As anyone who has ever tried to run a marathon, ride a century (a 100-mile bike ride) or otherwise push their body to the physical limit knows, you will bonk, or hit the wall, if you run out of sugar. A long and intense labor is like completing an ironman triathlon and then going back for more. Even at its best, labor uses a massive amount of energy.

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More Vaccines Coming Down the Fast Track

In a way, vaccines are preventative medicine. Get the shot; develop immunity for a potentially deadly disease. Vaccine research development now wants to take the preventative mindset to a new level. Inspired by the Ebola outbreak that killed more than 11,000 people in Africa and the more recent Zika virus scare, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) has committed 460 million dollars to drive forward the development of three vaccines for Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), Lassa fever, and Nipah virus. The coalition is also asking the World Economic Forum for a 500 million dollar donation to enable their goal of developing two different experimental vaccines for each disease within five years.

What’s the Big Deal?

There are many serious diseases with no known curative treatment beyond fluids and rest.  So what is it about these three diseases that make them special? And what’s the hurry? According to Dr. Jeremy Farrar of the Wellcome Trust (one of the Investors in CEPI), “We know from Ebola, Zika and SARS that epidemics are among the significant threats we face to life, health and prosperity. Vaccines can protect us, but we’ve done too little to develop them as an insurance policy.” The three diseases highlighted by CEPI currently have no vaccines and no clear treatment plans. They’re also on the World Health Organization’s (WHO) list of diseases that urgently need to be addressed with research and development.

The Chosen Three

MERS

MERS is a viral respiratory infection caused by the MERS-coronavirus. Since its discovery in 2012, the WHO has confirmed nearly 1,900 cases of MERS with 666 deaths, resulting in a 35% death rate. People with the infection report varying levels of fever, cough, diarrhea, and shortness of breath. Symptoms are more severe in people with pre-existing health conditions.

While the virus itself is believed to have originated from bats, camels appear to be the current viral host. The spread of the infection is believed to be through coughing or contact with respiratory secretions. Most people contract the virus in healthcare settings. While the majority of cases of MERS have been reported in the Arabian Peninsula, South Korea experienced an outbreak that infected 82 people in three days. In 2014,  2 cases were confirmed in the U.S.

Lassa Fever

Of the three diseases fast-tracked for research and development, Lassa fever has been around the longest. It was discovered in 1969 in Nigeria. It predominantly occurs in West Africa and is transmitted to humans from the African rat, the most common rat in West Africa. Eighty percent of the people who contract Lassa fever have no symptoms other than a mild fever, but around 5,000 of the cases reported every year result in death. The cases that are fatal include symptoms of vomiting, fever, bleeding from body parts, and pain in the back, chest, and abdomen. A quarter of the survivors experience hearing loss. Lassa fever is difficult to distinguish from other hemorrhagic fevers like Ebola, yellow fever, and malaria.

Nipah Virus

Fruit bats are the natural hosts of the Nipah virus. Outbreaks of the virus occur almost every year in Bangladesh, and the virus occurs in India and surrounding countries as well. While the Nipah virus has not caused as many fatalities as the other two diseases targeted by CEPI, the death rate is more severe with nearly three-quarters of those infected dying. Symptoms of the virus include acute respiratory syndrome and acute fatal encephalitis. Nipah virus is transmitted to people through contact with pigs (a likely food source for bats), fruit bats, and raw date palm sap that has been contaminated by them.

Is This the Only Way to Accomplish This?

This is a very aggressive research and development campaign. Developing a single vaccine is a long process that takes from 10-15 years. CEPI’s goal is an ambitious one, but then that makes sense. CEPI is founded by some familiar entities, including the government of Norway, the government of India, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In the midst of the flurry of announcements and ambition, it’s easy to ignore potential issues.

As long as camels, pigs, mice, and bats are around, these diseases will always be present. In the case of Nipah virus, vaccines won’t necessarily stop the spread of it as there has never been a case of it being transmitted from person to person. Sanitation and ensuring that people have the knowledge and option to avoid using contaminated date palm sap. It would be interesting to see how education and strategies on how to avoid African rats in Western Africa would impact the number of people who contract Lassa fever.

As we’ve seen over and over, sanitation and education make a huge difference in preventing the spread of disease. Dispersing sanitation and disease prevention information and improving living conditions has helped to stop the spread of polio, measles, and mumps. Why not utilize sanitation and education to eradicate these diseases as well? The answer is obvious. It may cost less than the development of a vaccine, but it won’t result in a product pharmaceutical companies can sell.

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Pentavalent Vaccines – When Did Vaccines Adopt the Bulk Model?

Vaccines designed to provide immunity to three diseases in one shot, like the MMR and DTP, have become the industry standard. It’s incredibly difficult to find single doses of these vaccines. The development and availability of five-in-one vaccines are more likely to make single dose vaccines even more of a rarity. Welcome to the age of pentavalent vaccines.

What’s the Skinny?

The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisations (GAVI) introduced pentavalent vaccines in 2001 (although pharmaceutical giant Sanofi Pasteur first licensed a pentavalent vaccine in 1993). The most commonly used pentavalent vaccines combine the DTP (diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis) with vaccines designed to provide immunity for Hepatitis B and Haemophilus Influenza type-B (Hib), the bacteria that causes meningitis, pneumonia, and otitis. A typical vaccine schedule for pentavalent vaccines calls for the child to receive shots at 6, 10, and 14 weeks.

GAVI has been a big supporter of pentavalent vaccines and currently supplies 73 of the world’s poorest countries with these vaccines. These countries are primarily in Africa and across Asia, with Albania, Moldova, and Guyana also included in the list. In the 15 years since the introduction of pentavalent vaccines, their coverage has grown from 1% to 68% of people vaccinated in supported countries.

The Belle of the Ball

Why wouldn’t these vaccines be a priority? From the medical and pharmaceutical community’s viewpoint, a 5 in 1 vaccine provides many benefits. It’s easier to administer, creates less syringe waste, can be produced more quickly, and is cheaper to ship.

Pentavalent vaccines also increase coverage. Prior to the GAVI in 2000, fewer than 10% of low-income countries were giving the hepatitis B vaccine and even fewer were immunizing for Haemophilus Influenza type-B. The numbers vaccinated were minuscule in comparison to the 68% of people covered in these countries 15 years after the introduction of the pentavalent program.

Not Without Issues

The GAVI pentavalent vaccine program has been a success, although there have been bumps along the road. Quinvaxem, the most commonly used pentavalent vaccine, was suspended in Vietnam after nine children died post-vaccination in 2013. While Quinvaxem was reinstated within the same year in Vietnam, other countries in the region like Sri Lanka, India, and Bhutan also expressed safety concerns.

Breaking Out of the Bubble

Will pentavalent vaccines become the standard in all vaccine schedules the way the MMR and DTP replaced single vaccines? If you don’t think so, consider how difficult it is to find a mumps, measles, or rubella vaccine in any developed nation except Japan. Outside of Japan, they are no longer offered as separate vaccines. Since 2012, GAVI only supports Hep B and HiB as part of the pentavalent vaccine, making a similar restrictive availability more likely to become the standard for the rest of the world.

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Blood Lead Levels – Standards Up For Review

Every four years, the Center for Disease Control analyzes blood lead levels of children. Children under six whose blood levels test above 5 milligrams of lead per deciliter have enough lead in their body for the CDC to recommend a public health response.  Before 2012, the level causing concern was twice as high as today’s. The level change expanded the potential number of children needing treatment from 150,000 to 535,000. With a new National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey from 2016, there are rumors that the CDC will again lower the reference blood lead levels from 5 mg of lead per deciliter to 3.5 mg.

How Does the Lead Get There?

Lead exposure is declining in the U.S. Levels of lead in children’s bloodstream have fallen over 90% since the use of lead in paint and gasoline was banned almost forty years ago. So where is the lead coming from? The majority of the children above the reference levels of lead are primarily exposed to lead in their homes. In addition to older homes with lead-based paints and toxic soil, contaminated water is becoming common (Flint, MI is only the most publicized case).

Lead does not belong in the body. The fact that the reference level for lead in children’s blood may be lowered again is a good thing, as raising awareness and preventing lead exposure whenever possible is incredibly important. Awareness is good, but for this potential level change, local government follow-through will be likely be limited. The CDC doesn’t actually have any regulatory power with this issue, and local labs and lead testing devices are rarely accurate around the new proposed levels, 3.5 mg.

There is also the issue of cost. Lead safety programs around the country last year were allocated a 17 million dollar budget, which resulted in understaffing and an inability to handle the cases already present. The last time the lead references levels were lowered, the number of children affected by that change almost tripled. If another shift like that occurs without a corresponding budget change, it’s likely communities will be unable to rise to the challenge set by the CDC.

What Can You Do at Home?

The average blood lead level in children 1-5 years old is from 1 to 1.3 mg. Even if you or your children aren’t exposed to lead-based paint on a regular basis, the likelihood of lead being in the body is very high (if only at low levels). While the CDC is raising awareness among medical health and government officials, they are less clear on how you can help yourself.

There are ways to remove lead and other heavy metals from the body (called chelation) by adding common, healthy foods like garlic and cilantro to the diet. The higher the blood lead levels, the more likely a medical professional needs to intervene. You can address your lead level every day before it becomes a toxic overload by doing something as simple as sprinkling raw garlic on your salad or dinner.

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