Category Archives: Opinion

The NFL Draft – My Guesses

Anyone who’s done a mock draft knows that it isn’t a science, it’s a guessing game. No general manager of an NFL team tells the truth and the “so-called experts” honestly are guessing as well. Here is my best guess and this Saturday I’ll see how well (or more likely bad) I did.

 

1 – Jake Long OT – Miami Dolphins – I got this one right since they already signed him.

2 – Chris Long DE – St. Louis Rams – He fits their system best.

3 – Glenn Dorsey DT – Atlanta Falcons – Beast of a man who will improve their defense immediately.

4 – Darren McFadden RB – Oakland Raiders – Raider fans cheer for this explosive running back.

5 – Ryan Clady OT – Kansas City Chiefs – They need line help and he provides it.

6 – Vernon Gholston – DT – New York Jets – Hopefully his career follows his workouts.

7 – Leodis McKelvin – CB – New England Patriots – The lost Asante Samuel and need to replace him.

8 – Matt Ryan – QB – Baltimore Ravens – They can’t believe their luck getting a new QB.

9 – Sedric Ellis – DE – Cincinnati Bengals – More help for their beleaguered defense.

10 – Keith Rivers – LB – New Orleans Saints – This guy can play and they need linebacking help.

11 – Devin Thomas – WR – Buffalo Bills – An instant upgrade to their offense.

12 – Branden Albert – OG – Denver Broncos – This guy can be a great guard or tackle in the NFL.

13 – Chris Williams – OT – Carolina Panthers – Happiness in Pantherland when he falls to them.

14 – Jeff Otah – OT – Chicago Bears – Him or Mendenhall at RB but I think they have bigger needs in the offensive line.

15 – Rashard Mendenhall – RB – Detroit Lions – They have so many needs but this is a solid pick (at least its not a WR).

16 – Derrick Harvey – DE – Arizona Cardinals – Another happy team with their pick.

17 – Phillip Merling – DE – Kansas City Chiefs – Replacing Allen on the D-Line was the purpose of this pick

18 – Mike Jenkins – CB – Houston Texans – Surprise pick but a definite need.

19 – Dominque Rogers-Cromartie – Philadelphia Eagles – No one saw this coming but it makes sense.

20 – Ketwan Balmer – DE – Tampa Bay Bucs – More defense equals more wins.

21 – Limas Sweed – WR – Washington Redskins – Returner and receiver is just what the Skins need.

22 – Felix Jones – RB – Dallas Cowboys – Everyone saw this one coming from miles away.

23 – James Hardy – WR – Pittsburgh Steelers – They need weapons and he is one of them.

24 – Calais Campbell – DE – Tennessee Titans – Boost the defense in this round, offense in the next one.

25 – Dustin Keller – TE – Seattle Seahawks – Matt Hasselback throws a party now that he has a top TE to throw to.

26 – Marcus Harrison – DT – Jacksonville Jaguars – Solid pick.

27 – Ryan Clady – OT – San Diego Chargers – His drop surprises many, Chargers are happy.

28 – Kenny Phillips – S – Dallas Cowboys –  Why not?

29 – Dan Connor – LB – San Francisco 49ers – Now they have a solid LB corps for years with Patrick Willis.

30 – Chad Henne – QB – Green Bay Packers – They either trade him for more picks or get a backup to Aaron Rogers.

31 – Tyrell Johnson – S – New York Giants – Real value pick.

More Deceit From the Pharmaceutical Industry

It just keeps coming it seems, the pharmaceutical industry has stooped to levels even I didn’t think possible. Merck was just found to have paid academic scientists to put their names on papers they didn’t write. Who wrote the papers? Company hired medical writers of course.

According to Dr. Catherine DeAngelis, JAMA’s editor-in-chief, “The manipulation is disgusting. I just didn’t realize the extent.”  I think her use of the word disgusting pretty much sums up my opinion of this revelation. The article about this scandal is in today’s Journal of the American Medical Association. You can read the two articles, one by Ross, Hill, Egilman, and Krumholz and the other by Psaty and Kronmal

One JAMA report says internal company data showed in 2001 that Vioxx patients in two Alzheimer’s studies had a higher death rate than patients on dummy pills. Merck didn’t publicize that “in a timely fashion” and provided information to federal regulators that downplayed the deaths, the report said. It’s time to reign in the industry through Congressional legislation.

Lest you think that only Merck is guilty of this deception, think again. I am sure that you will see more of this cropping up in the coming months. In my opinion, this type of behavior is driven by executives of pharmaceutical companies need to impress Wall Street and fluff up their balance sheets instead of having patient’s health in mind.

Here is the result of a paper done by Choudry, et al published in JAMA about how pervasive the industry’s hooks into medicine is:

“Eighty-seven percent of authors had some form of interaction with the pharmaceutical industry. Fifty-eight percent had received financial support to perform research and 38% had served as employees or consultants for a pharmaceutical company. On average, CPG authors interacted with 10.5 different companies. Overall, an average of 81% (95% confidence interval, 70%-92%) of authors per CPG had interactions. Similarly, all of the CPGs for 7 of the 10 diseases included in our study had at least 1 author who had some interaction. Fifty-nine percent had relationships with companies whose drugs were considered in the guideline they authored, and of these authors, 96% had relationships that predated the guideline creation process. Fifty-five percent of respondents indicated that the guideline process with which they were involved had no formal process for declaring these relationships. In published versions of the CPGs, specific declarations regarding the personal financial interactions of individual authors with the pharmaceutical industry were made in only 2 cases. Seven percent thought that their own relationships with the pharmaceutical industry influenced the recommendations and 19% thought that their coauthors’ recommendations were influenced by their relationships.

What is truly sad is how many people have suffered health and financial wise due to the greed and immoral behavior by the pharmaceutical industry.

Toxins and Diseases – The Research

There is a lot of data out there on the links between disease and environmental toxins. Problem is, there is a LOT of data on the links. Where to go if you need to see how strong the data is? Well look no further than The Collaborative on Health and the Environment’sCHE Toxicant and Disease Database.

From Abnormal sperm (morphology, motility, and sperm count) to Wilm’s Tumor, this database is chock full of information on the links between the poison’s we are exposed to and the health concerns many of us face.  A definite favorite link to keep if you’re a health care practitioner.

An important thought as well is to make sure you test for the toxins instead of just going out and looking at a disorder and immediately thinking that the toxins listed are the cause of the disease. You can’t treat strictly based on what you think is there. Both the US Biotek test for Environmental Pollutants and the Whole Blood Elements Test from Doctor’s Data is the way to go.

My Latest Presentation on Lab Testing and Environmental Health

San Francisco and Los Angeles April 2008 Presentation by Dr. Mark Schauss

I’d like to thank the people who came to my presentation I did with Robert Crayhon this past weekend in San Francisco and Los Angeles. It was fun to see old friends and make new ones. The enthusiasm to help people that everyone had was invigorating and inspiring. Also, please stop by my other blog ToxicWorldBook.

As promised, here is the PowerPoint presentation for you to read and use (just tell everyone where you got it from). Just click on the link above. Tomorrow, I’ll add the PDF file of the presentation as well.

A Greener World for All of Us

In today’s world every time you think green you can make small changes that add up to a big improvement in your life and the life of our planet. Here are a few tips that may save you money as well as being better for the environment.

  • Don’t use plastic or waxed paper bags. They aren’t good for you or the environment. They both use petrochemicals, they aren’t easily recyclable, and they aren’t economical. Use reusable containers and stop filling our waste dumps unnecessarily.
  • Stop using chlorine bleach. This stuff is nasty and releases carcinogenic dioxins into the atmosphere eventually getting into our food and water then into us. Use chlorine free products like Bi-O-Kleen Oxygen Bleach Plus, Ecover Non-Chlorine Laundry Bleach, OxiClean, Oxy-Boost, or Seventh Generation Chlorine Free Bleach.
  • Don’t use air fresheners. They contain harmful phthalates and they do nothing more than cover up bad smells.
  • Drop fabric softeners and dryer sheets. Use baking soda in the rinse cycle instead and it soften fabrics and eliminate static cling.
  • Don’t use paper napkins, switch to cloth only.
  • Lower your thermostat in cold weather to 62 degrees when you aren’t at home and/or at night (at least to 65 at night).
  • Stop wasting food. The average family throws away 14% of their food. Yikes.
  • Think about what you can do driving wise to save 1 gallon of gas a week. At $3.25 per gallon that adds up to $169 a year. Not bad when you think about it.
    • Accelerate slower
    • Drive at 65 mph max. Some say 55 other 60, but the speed limit set at 65 is smart. For every 5 mph over 60, you lose 5-10% gas efficiency.
    • Plan your trips so you travel shorter distances and don’t track back and forth.
    • Make sure you aren’t carrying extra unnecessary weight in your vehicle. Every 100 pounds of unneeded weight cuts you fuel efficiency by 1-2%.
  • Go one day a week minimum without eating meat. It takes a lot of energy to produce meat. Also, you’ll save money in the mean time.

Another National Shame – Politics Over Science

In yet another sad loss to science, the Bush Administration has superceeded science in the name of politics. Since 2001 this politically motivated administration have made it almost impossible to denote an animal species as being endangered which has already led to the extinction of a number of creatures that are part of our world. This despite the protestations of numerous scientists within the Department of the Interior.

Furthermore, the present “Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne has not declared a single native species as threatened or endangered since he was appointed nearly two years ago.” George Bush Sr. and Bill Clinton averaged adding around 60 species per year but these people see fit to blame everyone else but not themselves for this global shame.

We have the moral obligation to preserve life but I guess when you have such a low respect for science which this administration has, nothing is off limits and their is no shame. This is not a Republican or Democratic issue. This is not conservatism versus liberalism. This is about the total lack of respect for our people, our land, and the creatures who inhabit our country. It is a true national tragedy. You can read the full story here at MSNBC.com

The U.S. is Not the Leader in the Fight Against Toxicity

In a remarkable book written by Mark Schapiro Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What’s at Stake for American Power, he details how the European Union (EU) has supplanted the United States as the leader in the fight against environmental toxicity. On June 1, 2007, the parliament of the EU voted for a new law called REACH Registration, Evaluation, and Authorization of Chemicals.

One part of this law forces companies to prove the safety of chemicals before they come to market. More importantly, it forces previously grandfathered chemicals to be tested for safety which was vehemently opposed by not just the American Chemical Society but by our own government. It scared them so much that they sent in C. Boyden Gray, the heir to the RJ Reynolds tobacco fortune to lobby against it. This is the same Republican operative who worked to eviscerate the EPA under Reagan by applying cost-benefit analysis over risk-based decision making. In other words, make money first, care about peoples health second. According to the magazine the New Republic, “So many different money trails lead to, by and through Gray it is bewildering.”

In retrospect, I’m glad my government in their ultimate arrogance decided to lobby as hard as they did because in the end, this we’re better than you attitude is what pushed the EU parliament to pass the bill. According to one European diplomat quoted in Mr. Schapiro’s book “If their only message is why we should not do anything more than they’re doing in the United States, then why should we listen? The more the United States give the impression of mounting an attack against REACH, the less we listen….. We are not going to ask the United States for permission. If we were to listen to the United States, how would we explain to European citizens where the two hundred chemicals in their bodies came from? What are we doing to them? This is the same not just for Europeans, but for Americans and every country in the world.”

The Bush Administrations steadfast belief that it is more important to make a dollar today for their big buddies than protecting the citizens of the United States is causing us to lose the leadership role we had for decades. He has lost us the respect from the world, not just because of the ill-conceived war, but because the world sees us as only caring for profits, not for people under the guise of jobs. How many jobs could we create by leading the world in the research of safer products? Millions of them. Sad to say, we won’t see a change soon unless there is a change in the White House come this November. We need it to save our children and the billions of children unborn coming to this world in the next hundred years.

Truth about the Tax “Rebates”

Before you become jubilant because you are about to get what the President and Congress claim is a rebate understand that it is nothing of the sort. What the money is really is an advance from the 2008 tax year (the return you file in 2009). Bottom line is that they are giving you your own money back! What a sham.

It is a smoke screen, a scam, a big fat lie. Give us $600 now and take it back next year. Imagine all the hardships that will occur next year when people who are expecting a refund on their taxes won’t get it. It is a shell game economically that will not help our country but hurt it in the long run. But then again, politicians don’t care about our future, they care about the election this year. Shame on Washington D.C. for scamming the American public yet again and shame on the media for not making this issue clearer.

Buying Bottled Water in a Restaurant – Snobbery or Just Bad Idea?

The United Kingdom’s Consumer Council for Water, launched a campaign to try to get restaurants to stop pushing bottled water to customers. The main reason is the transport of said water accounts for 32 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year in the UK alone (probably ten times that amount in the United States). Yve Buckland, the council’s chair was quoted as saying “It’s not good enough for diners to be treated as cheapskates just because they asked for tap water.”

For some diners, it’s snobbery that makes people buy bottled water at their local eatery, for others, it is a straight forward lack of knowledge that makes them think that bottled water is somehow superior. Additionally, in my many lectures, people don’t really think about all that goes into getting that bottle of water to the store and your hands. Go to this post of mine to see how utterly ridiculous Fiji Water is when it comes to its carbon wasting footprint.

The next time you go out to eat, make the conscious chioce to not buy bottled water. If your friends ask why, tell them it’s because you care about your world.