study : most plastics leach hormone - like chemicals most plastic products, from sippy cups to food wraps, can release chemicals that act like the sex hormone estrogen, according to a study in environmental health perspectives. the study found these chemicals even in products that didn ' t contain bpa, a compound in certain plastics that ' s been widely criticized because it mimics estrogen. many plastic products are now marketed as bpa - free, and manufacturers have begun substituting other chemicals whose effects aren ' t as well known. but it ' s still unclear whether people are being harmed by bpa or any other so - called estrogenic chemicals in plastics. most studies of health effects have been done in mice and rats. the new study doesn ' t look at health risks. it simply asks whether common plastic products release estrogen - like chemicals other than bpa. to fear or not to fear plastics? exactly how bpa affects humans, and how serious its effects are, are still very much up for debate. the u. s. government generally advocates caution and more research, but agencies have issued a range of hesitant warnings. the national toxicology program, a division of the national institutes of health, says it has " some concern " about potential bpa exposures to the brains and prostate glands of fetuses, infants and children. other agencies say they have lingering, unresolved " questions " about the chemical. those questions largely circle around how prolonged exposure to the chemical in childhood or adulthood could affect reproduction and growth ; how low - dose exposure at sensitive developmental stages could affect children and babies later in life ; and how parental exposure could affect the next generation. studies have shown links between bpa and cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and a host of other illnesses. one major sticking point for scientists is the challenge of drawing conclusions from hundreds of studies, each using different animals ( mice and rats among them ), doses, and routes of exposure. as the environmental protection agency has noted, " there is controversy about whether effects seen at lower doses in animals are meaningful and relevant to humans. " and scientists have also wondered whether rodents are more sensitive to the chemical than us because they metabolize it differently. last year, the nih launched a new round of studies, all with the same methodology, designed to answer the some of the niggling questions and help the government provide clearer guidance than it ' s been able to so far. - - eliza barclay the researchers bought more than 450 plastic items from stores including walmart and whole


same methodology, designed to answer the some of the niggling questions and help the government provide clearer guidance than it ' s been able to so far. - - eliza barclay the researchers bought more than 450 plastic items from stores including walmart and whole foods. they chose products designed to come in contact with food — things like baby bottles, deli packaging and flexible bags, says george bittner, one of the study ' s authors and a professor of biology at the university of texas, austin. then certichem, a testing company founded by bittner, chopped up pieces of each product and soaked them in either saltwater or alcohol to see what came out. the testing showed that more than 70 percent of the products released chemicals that acted like estrogen. and that was before they exposed the stuff to real - world conditions : simulated sunlight, dishwashing and microwaving, bittner says. " then, you greatly increase the probability that you ' re going to get chemicals having estrogenic activity released, " he says, adding that more than 95 percent of the products tested positive after undergoing this sort of stress. but what about all those products marketed as bpa - free? that ' s a claim being made for everything from dog bowls to bento boxes these days. the team concentrated on bpa - free baby bottles and water bottles, bittner says, " and all of them released chemicals having estrogenic activity. " sometimes the bpa - free products had even more activity than products known to contain bpa. the testing didn ' t show which chemicals are to blame, which is likely to be frustrating to manufacturers. but bittner says consumers should be encouraged that at least some plastic products had no estrogen - like activity. he says that shows it is possible to make these products. early reaction to the study was mixed. some scientists wondered about the test ' s reliability. others noted that wine and many vegetables also can act like estrogen. and a few observed that bittner has a financial interest in the testing lab and in a company involved in making plastic products that don ' t release estrogenic chemicals. on the other hand, groups that have warned about the potential dangers of bpa in the past seemed to welcome the new research. " this is really helpful because they took a look at very common products, " says sonya lunder, a senior analyst at the environmental working group. but the results suggest that concerns about plastics can ' t be solved by worried consumers at the checkout counter, lunder


helpful because they took a look at very common products, " says sonya lunder, a senior analyst at the environmental working group. but the results suggest that concerns about plastics can ' t be solved by worried consumers at the checkout counter, lunder says. it ' s a problem for government, she says. " regulatory agencies need to study the effect of chemicals leaching out of plastic, " lunder says, adding that an epa program formed more than a decade ago to do this sort of research still hasn ' t produced many results. until scientists come up with more definitive answers, lunder says, worried consumers can follow the old advice to avoid putting those baby bottles and other plastic products in dishwashers or microwaves. " we ' ve long cautioned consumers to avoid extreme heat and cooling for plastics, to discard scratched and worn plastics and we feel like this [ study ] validates one of our many concerns, " she says. michele norris, host : many of you have been clearing your house of baby bottles and other plastic products because they ' re made with the chemical bpa. research has shown that bpa can act like the hormone estrogen, at least in mice and in rats. now, as npr ' s jon hamilton reports, a new study finds that even plastics without bpa can release estrogen - like chemicals. jon hamilton : before you toss out your tupperware, it ' s worth noting that scientists still don ' t know whether people are harmed by any of the chemicals coming from plastics. it ' s just not clear. and the new study doesn ' t look at health risks. it simply asks whether common plastic products release estrogen - like chemicals other than bpa. that ' s something george bittner, a biologist at the university of texas in austin, had been wondering for a long time. so he sent a research team to stores, including wal - mart and whole foods. their mission : buy a whole bunch of stuff made of plastic, the kind of stuff that might come in contact with food. mr. george bittner ( biologist, university of texas at austin ) : baby bottles, deli packaging, flexible bags. hamilton : the team came back with more than 450 products. then certichem, a testing company that bittner founded, chopped up pieces of each product and soaked them in either salt water or alcohol to see what leeched out. bittner says the tests made one thing clear. mr. bittner : most plastic products on the market today release chemicals having


fr. ayodele ayeni cssp april 2, 2012 at the dawn of creation, " the spirit of god was moving over the surface of the waters ( genesis 1. 2 ). " the waters at creation not only manifest the symbolism of water in christian theology, but also its creational importance. water sustains life and its absence spells doom or death. the story of noah and the ark gives a christian account of the havoc excessive water may cause, even if there will be a rebuilding or newness that follows. however, wherever water cohabits with the spirit of god, as we see in genesis 1. 2, creational order unfolds from chaos. the spirit of god hovering over water gives life and saving effects to water - " wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live " ( ezekiel 47. 9 ). water and spirit have come a long way. in recognition of the association of water with the spirit, we now say, in the second eucharistic prayer : " make holy, therefore, these gifts, we pray, by sending down your spirit upon them like the dewfall. " here again, the spirit is associated with water, in the form of a dewfall, with the mission of creating something new - the transubstantiation ( changing ) of bread and wine into the body and blood of christ. st. paul already anticipated this link between water and spirit when he said : " for in the one spirit we were all baptized into one body - jews or greeks, slaves or free - and we were all made to drink of one spirit ( 1 corinthians 12. 13 ). " what a theological evolution! st. paul anticipated the theological link between water and spirit. the instructions of god at creation ( genesis 1. 1 - 2. 4 ) brought creation into being, and every creature was given its limits, including water : " i ( god ) placed the sand as a boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass ; though the waves toss, they cannot prevail, though they roar, they cannot pass over it " ( jeremiah 5. 22 ). the human person pushed his boundary by " sin of origin, " only to discover his frailty. when humans needed regeneration or salvation from their sins, water was readily available : " you ( god ) set the beams of your chambers on the waters, you make the clouds your chariot, you ride on the wings of the wind.... when you send forth


regeneration or salvation from their sins, water was readily available : " you ( god ) set the beams of your chambers on the waters, you make the clouds your chariot, you ride on the wings of the wind.... when you send forth your spirit, they are created ; and you renew the face of the earth " ( psalm 104. 3, 30 ). humans can either lose their identity through sin, or have their identity denied them by servitude, like the enslavement of the israelites in egypt. the restoration of a lost identity comes via redemption. god redeems by re - creating the primeva l state of creation, not necessarily through destruction, but by manifesting his power as creator. with the israelites, he chose water as the medium of his re - creation. the waters of re - creation originated with the redemption of the israelites from egypt, a fact which coincided with their new identity as a people. st. paul theologized on the crossing of the sea in these words : " i do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into moses in the cloud and in the sea " ( 1 corinthians 101 - 3 ). the birth of a new people, israel, by the passing through the sea, keeps giving new birth and identity to all who approach the baptismal font, especially on easter night. the column of light which announces god ' s presence among the israelites, symbolized by the paschal candle, and the waters of the sea, represented by the water of baptism, offer christians the eternal memorial of god ' s acts of creation and re - creation. throughout human history, god never ceases to act. every easter season actualizes god ' s presence and intervention on behalf of his people, in all circumstances of their lives. the baptismal font symbolizes those waters of re - creation. baptism confers christian identity to all who receive it, just as the israelites received their identity before god. also, since the israelites received a collective identity as a nation of people, at baptism, every christian is incorporated, as an adopted child of god, into the body of christ, as a member of the church. at easter, we celebrate our individual and collective christian birthday, our identity and our re - creation or redemption in christ : " as many of you as were baptized into christ have clothed yourselves with christ. there is


search : nuclear chemistry, darmstadtium, germany in honour of scientist and astronomer nicolaus copernicus ( 1473 - 1543 ), the discovering team around professor sigurd hofmann suggested the name copernicium with the element symbol cp for the new element 112, discovered at the gsi helmholtzzentrum fur schwerionenforschung ( center for heavy ion research ) in darmstadt. it was copernicus who discovered that the earth orbits the sun, thus paving the way for our modern view of the world. thirteen years ago, element 112 was discovered by an international team of scientists at the gsi accelerator facility. a few weeks ago, the international union of pure and applied chemistry, iupac, officially confirmed their discovery. in around six months, iupac will officially endorse the new element ' s name. this period is set to allow the scientific community to discuss the suggested name copernicium before the iupac naming. " after iupac officially recognized our discovery, we – that is all scientists involved in the discovery – agreed on proposing the name copernicium for the new element 112. we would like to honor an outstanding scientist, who changed our view of the world ", says sigurd hofmann, head of the discovering team. copernicus was born 1473 in torun ; he died 1543 in frombork, poland. working in the field of astronomy, he realized that the planets circle the sun. his discovery refuted the then accepted belief that the earth was the center of the universe. his finding was pivotal for the discovery of the gravitational force, which is responsible for the motion of the planets. it also led to the conclusion that the stars are incredibly far away and the universe inconceivably large, as the size and position of the stars does not change even though the earth is moving. furthermore, the new world view inspired by copernicus had an impact on the human self - concept in theology and philosophy : humankind could no longer be seen as the center of the world. with its planets revolving around the sun on different orbits, the solar system is also a model for other physical systems. the structure of an atom is like a microcosm : its electrons orbit the atomic nucleus like the planets orbit the sun. exactly 112 electrons circle the atomic nucleus in an atom of the new element " copernicium ". element 112 is the heaviest element in the periodic table, 277 times heavier than hydrogen


its electrons orbit the atomic nucleus like the planets orbit the sun. exactly 112 electrons circle the atomic nucleus in an atom of the new element " copernicium ". element 112 is the heaviest element in the periodic table, 277 times heavier than hydrogen. it is produced by a nuclear fusion, when bombarding zinc ions onto a lead target. as the element already decays after a split second, its existence can only be proved with the help of extremely fast and sensitive analysis methods. twenty - one scientists from germany, finland, russia and slovakia have been involved in the experiments that led to the discovery of element 112. since 1981, gsi accelerator experiments have yielded the discovery of six chemical elements, which carry the atomic numbers 107 to 112. the discovering teams at gsi already named five of them : element 107 is called bohrium, element 108 hassium, element 109 meitnerium, element 110 darmstadtium, and element 111 is named roentgenium. the new element 112 discovered by gsi has been officially recognized and will be named by the darmstadt group in due course. their suggestion should be made public over this summer. the element 112, discovered at the gsi helmholtzzentrum fur schwerionenforschung ( centre for heavy ion research ) in darmstadt, has been officially recognized as a new element by the international union of pure and applied chemistry ( iupac ). iupac confirmed the recognition of element 112 in an official letter to the head of the discovering team, professor sigurd hofmann. the letter furthermore asks the discoverers to propose a name for the new element. their suggestion will be submitted within the next weeks. in about 6 months, after the proposed name has been thoroughly assessed by iupac, the element will receive its official name. the new element is approximately 277 times heavier than hydrogen, making it the heaviest element in the periodic table. “ we are delighted that now the sixth element – and thus all of the elements discovered at gsi during the past 30 years – has been officially recognized. during the next few weeks, the scientists of the discovering team will deliberate on a name for the new element ”, says sigurd hofmann. 21 scientists from germany, finland, russia and slovakia were involved in the experiments around the discovery of the new element 112. since 1981, gsi accelerator experiments have yielded the discovery of six chemical elements, which carry the atomic numbers 107 to 112. gsi has already named their officially recognized elements 107 to 111 :


atommate is a chemistry card game that consists of a deck of 49 playing cards with the names, symbols and facts about the elements of the periodic table. it is used to play games that involve making chemical compounds. designed for students aged 10 and up, it is a grow - with - me game. beginning students learn the names and symbols of the elements. intermediate students learn to combine the elements to form molecules and compounds. more advanced students can use the cards to enhance their understanding of simple reactions. instructions for eight easy games, which range in difficulty from easy to complex, are included. there are several games that may be played with these cards. all games are designed for 2 to 4 players. the deck contains a sub - set of the elements in the periodic table, with repetitions of some elements. some of the elements have the word toxic on them - this gives the card special powers in some of the games. there are 8 non - element cards : 4 reduce and 4 oxidize. these allow the player to make additional moves in some of the games. the following information on the cards may be used to play the games : atommate is a game developed by dr. carol brevett who has taught chemistry at iowa state university and has been working in industry, including at the dupont company of delaware, as a research scientist for over 13 years. she has developed and tested the atommate games over many years. a must for the chemistry enthusiast, the science scholar, the science - oriented pupil or anyone who wants to play an unusual and novel card game. with each order we ' ll send you a free silky periodic table bookmark and a free glossy laminated postcard sized periodic table for your noticeboard! delivery and shipping | terms and conditions | about us |


you might recognize prominent primatologist frans de waal from lectures he has given about his research on primate behavior, which have been popularized on youtube. his face is familiar to chimpanzees, too ; some chimps that he knew as babies still recognize him even after decades apart, he said. " chimpanzees have the advantage that you cannot ask them questions, so you have to watch ( their ) behavior to see what they do, " says de waal, director of emory university ' s living links center, in his dutch - accented voice that is both gentle and authoritative. he adds, with dry humor : " with humans, you can ask questions and you get all sorts of answers i don ' t trust, so i prefer to work with chimpanzees for that reason. " living links is part of the oldest and largest primate center in the united states : the yerkes national primate research center, a secluded grassy area in suburban atlanta where humans work in office trailers and other animals play in open - air compounds. de waal, who has been at the center for more than 20 years, has made a career out of finding links between primate and human behavior, particularly in the areas of morality and empathy. you might think of " morality " as special for humans, but there are elements of it that are found in the animal kingdom, says de waal - - namely, fairness and reciprocity. his latest study, published this week in the journal proceedings of the national academy of sciences, suggests that chimpanzees may show some of the same sensibility about fairness that humans do. the popular belief that the natural world is based on competition is a simplification, de waal says. the strength of one ' s immune system, and the ability to find food, are also crucial. and many animals survive by cooperating. " the struggle for life is not necessarily literally a struggle, " he said. " humans are a highly cooperative species, and we can see in our close relatives where that comes from. " mammals such as wolves, orcas and elephants need their groups to survive, and empathy and cooperation are survival mechanisms. de waal discusses these mechanisms in his 2009 book " the age of empathy : nature ' s lessons for a kinder society. "


has smallpox really disappeared from the international vaccination newsletter, dec 1997 in 1982, the who advised a global vaccination moratorium against the smallpox vaccination because, they said, the disease appeared to have vanished from the earth. for another thing, the side - effects had become too obvious to maintain the traditional guidelines in favour of mass vaccination. there are many questions about the role of the vaccine in the decline of the disease, a point which may be clarified in a later issue of ivn. however, it is questionable whether smallpox really was eradicated as we have been told. some publications stated that the last smallpox virus had disappeared from this globe. but had it really? certainly not, since viruses were stored and even used in later experiments as carrier molecules for an experimental aids vaccine. some of the volunteers engaged by the pasteur institute died during the experiment from a smallpox - like illness ( 1 ). the institute managed to keep the information out of the front pages. a new and embarrassing development was the resurgence of pox - family viruses in africa, known as the monkeypox. this fact has been known for many years but the public was reassured that this had nothing to do with smallpox and that the human species was safe. not as safe as we were told, though, since in the congo in 1970, pox viruses were isolated from humans2 corresponding to the pox viruses found in captive monkeys in 1958 and identified the next year ( 3 ). it was baptised monkeypox ~. the same virus was isolated from 6 humans in 1959 by foster. in 1976, gipsen reported on more cases in nigeria ( 4 ). the terminology of the disease became ever more confusing, since what were at first simply monkeypox are now introduced into literature ashuman monkeypox. what, now, is the difference between smallpox and human monkeypox? it is interesting to read in a recent article in the lancet that " human monkeypox is a systemic exanthem, resembling smallpox, that occurs as a sporadic zoonosis in rural rainforest villages of western and central africa. the disease is caused by an orthopoxvirus, which is transmitted to human beings by handling infected animals ; serosurveys have implicated squirrels... as the probable reservoir. secondary human - to - human spread by aerosol or direct contact accounts for about 28 % of cases... " ( my emphasis ) so, let us make a simple addition. this virus is an orthopox virus,


probable reservoir. secondary human - to - human spread by aerosol or direct contact accounts for about 28 % of cases... " ( my emphasis ) so, let us make a simple addition. this virus is an orthopox virus, which means, literally translated, a real pox virus. this virus spreads among humans causing an exanthem resembling smallpox, and causing disease and death among the infected ( between february and august 1996, 71 cases were notified in the katako - kombe area in zaire, 6 of which 4 died from the disease ( 5 ). so what is the difference between smallpox and human monkeypox? the difference is a difference in protein structure. nucleotide sequence analysis revealed different structures. but what does this really matter it both viruses affect us in the same way, spread in the same way, and cause the same eruptions and the same clinical disease? scientists do, the victims dont! it is quite odd that the authors do not mention the smallpox vaccination status of the infected. all they mention is that in a preliminary study none of the examined had a scar of smallpox vaccination. which does not mean that they had not been vaccinated as the vaccine may not have taken. no figures are available about antibodies against smallpox, so that we have no real clue whether, in this study, the vaccine showed any protection against monkeypox or not. many of the patients described elsewhere were vaccinated. arita and henderson ( 6 ) found 94 children with facial scarring caused by monkeypox ; all except two who also showed scars typical for smallpox vaccination. so the least one can do is to question the protection offered by smallpox vaccination against the new monkey - pox virus. apparently the new virus is quite infectious, since 42 cases, including 3 deaths, were reported in a small village with only 346 inhabitants. the article further states that " present cluster of cases constitutes a reemergence of human monkeypox on a scale greater in magnitude than the approximate 65 annual cases previously indicated for kasai oriental, bandundu, and equateur regions from 1981 to 1986 " and also that " it contains a more extensive occurrence of person - to - person transmission than previously recognised. " the conclusion of the authors is that " because sequence analyses have indicated that zairian monkeypox strains have not diverged greatly from the first isolate from the area in 1970 and monkeypox and smallpox variola viruses are independently evolved species (


the conclusion of the authors is that " because sequence analyses have indicated that zairian monkeypox strains have not diverged greatly from the first isolate from the area in 1970 and monkeypox and smallpox variola viruses are independently evolved species ( 7 ), notions of monkeypox virus mutating into variola virus are unfounded. " this does not sound very reassuring. former suggestions that " prolonged episodes or sustained cascades of transmission of human monkeypox would be unlikely " ( 8 ) do not hold up. although the smallpox virus appears to have died down a few decades ago, obviously the disease is still present on this earth and able to make a come - back. whether this is due to the mutation of the original virus or to a new virus that generates the same disease is a question that remains unanswered. another pillar of the vaccine dogma, its victory over smallpox, has fallen into pieces. 1. personal communication with a staff member. 2. mukinda, v. b. k. ; et al reemergence of human monkeypox in zaire in 1996. lancet, 1997 ; 349 : 1449 - 50 3. von magnus, p. ; et al a pox - like disease in cynomolgus monkeys. acta pathologica et microbiologica scandinavica, 1959 ; 46 / 2 : 156 - 76 4. gipsen, r. ; et al monkeypoxspecific antibodies in human and simian sera from the ivory coast and nigeria. bull, who, 1976 ; 53 ; 355 - 60 5. who. monkeypox, zaire. widy epidemiol aec, 1996 ; 71 : 326 6. arita, i. ; henderson, d. a. ; monkey - pox and whitepox viruses in west and central africa. bull who, 1976 ; 53 : 347 - 53 7. douglass, n. ; dumbell, k. r. ; independent evolution of monkeypox and variola viruses. j virol, 1992 ; 66 : 7565 - 7 8. jezek, z. ; fenner, f. ; human monkeypox. monographs in virology vol 17, j. l. melnick, ed. basel, switzerland : karger, 1988 [ vaccination ] [ gaublomme ] [ smallpox ]