Founder: Myrl Jeffcoat
Website for Women's Implant Support: http://www.homestead.com/siliconecity
E-Mail:   myrl_jeffcoat@yahoo.com

March 3, 2000  

UP TO THE MINUTE STOCK QUOTES FOR ALL OF "OUR" MANUFACTURERS

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

MESSAGES FROM THE DOW INVESTOR BOARD

 

Film Seeks to Help Victims of Bhopal Gas Tragedy

Reuters Feb 11 2000 12:38PM ET

 

BERLIN (Reuters) - A man burying his baby

son killed by a sudden gas leak scrapes away the sand covering the tiny face

for a final look. Upon seeing the vacant eyes and pale face, he breaks down

in uncontrollable sobbing.

 

The scene is from the powerful new movie ``Bhopal Express'' which portrays 
the world's worst industrial accident in Bhopal which killed more than 3,000 
people in 1984 when poisonous gas leaked from a Union Carbide pesticide 
plant in India.

 

``To most of the world and to a lot of Indians this is something that happened 
in 1984 and it happened and it's over,'' director Mahesh Mathai said in an 
interview on Friday. ``But having been to Bhopal during the course of my 
research and stuff I have found that it is not a problem that's

over,'' he said.

``There's between 10 and 15 people dying every month in Bhopal of gas-
related reasons....It is shocking that it has just been forgotten.''

 

The film had its premiere outside India at the Berlin Film Festival on 
Thursday night, and Mathai is hoping the graphic depiction of the tragedy 
will increase pressure on Union Carbide to help the victims more. ``The 
world must know about it,'' he said.

 

The Indian government's civil case against Union Carbide was settled in 
1989 for $470 million. A criminal case against the company and 11 other 
defendants is still pending in a court in Bhopal.

``Compensation was given. Most of it still hasn't reached the people,'' 
he told Reuters. ``Again it's a corrupt bureaucracy, you know, a ridiculous 
distribution system -- it's still being distributed.''

Mathai said he is hoping the screening of the Hindi-language film in the 
West will prompt ``the primary criminal, Union Carbide, to own up to its 
responsibility and actually go back there and deal with the problems they 
have left there.''

 

NEWLYWEDS IN HELL

The film portrays fictional newlyweds, with husband Verma serving as a 
low-level supervisor and loyal company man at Union Carbide despite his 
best friend's derisive remarks. Mathai said the character Verma was 
inspired by what Union Carbide described as a lone employee who 
triggered the accident in a act of disgruntlement -- a possibility he

calls absurd.

In the film, the duty supervisor attempts to use Verma as a scapegoat 
after it is clear he wants to help victims. A long-time director of advertising 
spots, Mathai, 40, said he only recently realized that Ever-Ready batteries

promoted with a well-known commercial he made in the 1980s were made 
by Union Carbide. The company has since sold its battery division.

Asked about the film, a Union Carbide spokesman in Danbury, Connecticut, 
said the company had not seen the movie but added they had done a lot to 
help victims.

``Union Carbide had and continues to have compassion for the victims,'' said 
Tomm Sprick. ``Reports suggesting that Union Carbide is indifferent to the
plight of victims are untrue.'' He also said years of investigations found that 
a disgruntled employee deliberately added water to a tank, setting off the accident.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The moral responsibility of ownership.

by: myid12345_2000 2/24/00 5:28 am

Msg: 1631 of 1638

Almost all organization's act on behalf of and in the interest of those who

own them. Governments act on behalf of citizens, for example, while

corporations act on behalf of their shareholders.

 

Actions are often justified as being 'in the shareholder's best interest',

i.e. they are done on the shareholder's behalf.

 

However, as any adult is aware, power, reward and rights come with moral

responsibility. If something was done for you, in your name, then you have a

substantial moral responsibility for that action.

 

Shareholders in Union Carbide have a moral responsibility for the actions

and lack of action that the company does on their behalf. Ultimately, the

buck stops with them.

 

If YOU own shares in UK, you own a right to some of the profits but you also

own a responsibility for the moral implications of UKs activities.

 

Please live up to your responsibility to end the suffering of the innocent

people horrifically affected by the disaster in Bhopal.

 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Noises No One Else Can Hear

Tinnitus: Sufferers are plagued by ringing, rustles and rattles that can

drive them to distraction.

 

By ROSIE MESTEL, Times Health Writer

If hearing loss can have a huge effect on people's lives, so, too, can

a strange, unpleasant hearing "gain." Imagine constantly living with buzzes

and hums that sound perfectly real and yet only you can hear. Imagine never

being able to escape those sounds, no matter how far you travel into the

wilderness or however silent the outside world.

 

This odd condition, in medical lingo, is known as tinnitus. Beethoven

(though he's better known for going deaf) was afflicted by it. So was the

composer Smetana, who incorporated the note he heard into one of his string

quartets. Michelangelo had it too: "A spider's web is hidden in one ear, and

in the other, a cricket sings throughout the night," he wrote of his

affliction--and no wonder he resorted to metaphors. Tinnitus can be hard to

explain to people.

 

"Often they've never heard of it," says 42-year-old Denise Williams.

"So I tell them, 'It's this noise I hear in my head,' and right away,

they're thinking: 'Psycho!' "

 

Alternatively, she says, they may be wondering what the big deal is.

After all, many people know what it's like to briefly hear a high-pitched

tone they know isn't coming from anywhere. But there's a big difference

between a soft sensation of sound that visits for a moment, and a loud,

intrusive one that stays for months or years. Never mind that the sound

isn't "real"; it doesn't sound any more pleasant for that. And it can drive

people to despair.

 

"There have been times, particularly at night, when the ringing was so

loud that I felt like I was going to lose my mind," says Cyril O'Reilly, 42,

who's had tinnitus since 1998. "You can't get away from it. Plugging up your

ears doesn't help. I've yelled into my pillow. I've turned the music up so

loud it hurts the ears."

 

* * *

 

An estimated 40 million to 50 million Americans have some degree of

tinnitus, often accompanied by some hearing loss. The condition is commonly

brought on by damage to the ears through exposure to loud noise.

O'Reilly, for instance, was acting in a shoot-'em-up movie when his

tinnitus first started: Explosives strapped onto his body (to simulate a

gunshot) blew up with such force they made his ears ring. No one had given

him earplugs. His ears have been ringing ever since.

 

And 44-year-old Susanne Osborne got her tinnitus during a super-loud

Black Sabbath reunion concert at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood. Ever

since that day in January 1999, she hears a high-pitched "eeeeee" in her

right ear and a lower tone plus a rattle in her left.

 

Condition Remains Somewhat a Mystery

 

But noise, while a common cause, is by no means the only cause.

Tinnitus can also result from ear or sinus infections, an inner ear disorder

called Meniere's disease, certain medications, head and neck trauma,

circulatory problems or misalignment of the jaw. In rare instances, a

serious condition such as a tumor can cause these phantom sounds, so anyone

experiencing tinnitus should see a doctor.

 

Scientists don't really understand what creates the false sensation of

sound. The condition is similar, they suppose, to sensations from a phantom

limb (feelings of pain, or an itch, from a leg or an arm that's been

amputated). The illusion lies not in the ear, but in the parts of the brain

that interpret sounds. In some strange way, in response to some kind of

damage, the brains of tinnitus sufferers have rewired, telling them they

hear noise when no noise is there.

 

Fortunately, say medical specialists, roughly 75% of tinnitus sufferers

aren't seriously bothered by their sounds (which are variously described as

high-pitched hums, hisses, chirps, whistles, roars or ringing of bells). The

other 25% are bothered enough to seek medical treatment--and of those, about

1 million say that their condition seriously disrupts their normal lives.

 

Sometimes, it's unclear why tinnitus is so awful to one person but

tolerable to another, says Billy Martin, director of the tinnitus clinic at

the Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland, Ore. He contrasts two men

at the clinic: same age, same degree of hearing loss, similar tinnitus. Yet

one of the men is extremely stressed by his condition, while the other is

not very stressed at all.

 

What can people do if the noises are making their lives miserable?

Sometimes, tinnitus goes away on its own. For some causes, there are

remedies. But if it looks like it's here to stay, there are ways to get

relief.

 

Barry Kurtz and Larry Schreier knew little about how to cope with the

noises in their ears until they discovered the Los Angeles Tinnitus Group, a

support group run by Nelly Nigro, a retired pharmacist who has suffered from

the condition since 1982. Just knowing that someone can live with it that

long can encourage people who are new to the problem, says Nigro. And

talking with fellow sufferers and sharing strategies and feelings help as

well.

 

"Tinnitus can be very isolating," she says. "And when you isolate

yourself from the world, you tend to focus on the problem. That makes it

huge."

 

Thus, a crucial part of tinnitus treatment is to help the sufferer put

his complaint in perspective, to realize that while the noise is

aggravating, it is not life-threatening, says Robert Folmer, a

neurophysiologist and tinnitus expert at the Portland clinic.

 

Anti-anxiety drugs can also help, as can antidepressants in combination

with counseling, since tinnitus appears to be more severe in people who are

depressed. Many of these drugs also induce sleepiness--and this is helpful.

Night is often the hardest time for tinnitus sufferers, and lack of sleep

just adds to the stress. (Sleep medications, either prescribed or

over-the-counter, can be useful for the same reason.)

 

Changing one's lifestyle to help lower stress can also make a

difference, though the nature of that change will be highly individual.

Tinnitus sufferer Laverne Sims, 71, finds that attending Bible study at

church helps, as does call-blocking on her phone so she's not bugged by

telemarketers. Kurtz, a civil engineer, goes mountain biking for

relaxation--and for distraction, which is also key to coping. Others try

biofeedback, meditation, yoga or other forms of exercise.

 

Learning to Block Out the Noises

 

Silence, ironically, can be an enemy: It brings the tinnitus into

sharper focus. Music, tapes of environmental sounds such as waterfalls and

even special devices that fit onto one's ears like hearing aids can generate

soothing, distracting sounds that bring relief. So can hearing aids, if the

person with tinnitus has some hearing loss.

 

Schreier was recently fitted for hearing aids and finds that regular

sounds--things like creaking doors, which he hadn't heard for years--make

the tinnitus easier to ignore.

 

Some doctors, meanwhile, recommend a special program known as tinnitus

retraining therapy, in which a patient listens to white noise for hours a

day over many months. The idea is that the noise blocks out much of the

tinnitus, training the brain to eventually ignore those sounds.

 

While some tinnitus sufferers have turned to herbal remedies for

relief, studies suggest that herbs such as ginkgo biloba don't help banish

the noise. Nor does cutting the nerve that runs between the ear and the

brain--an extreme course of action that some desperate sufferers have opted

for in the past. The strategy doesn't work because the brain, not the ear,

is concocting the sounds. Such patients lost their hearing. They didn't lose

their tinnitus.

 

As time passes, specialists and sufferers both agree that the noises

get easier to tolerate.

 

Osborne says she was so angry when her tinnitus started after the

ear-splitting Black Sabbath concert that she considered filing a lawsuit.

Instead, she says, she's trying to live her life the way she always did. And

make some kind of peace with the phantom noises.

 

"For me, learning to cope with tinnitus was not running away but

looking it straight in the face," she says. "I lie there and listen to it

and try not to react. It's tough. But psychologically that's how I get

through it."

 

* * *

 

The Los Angeles Tinnitus Group meets every third Saturday of the month

(except July, August and December), from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at the UCLA

Rehabilitation Center, Room A6-60, 1000 Veteran Ave., Westwood, CA 90024.

For more information about tinnitus, contact the societies and clinics

listed in this special section

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Researchers Find CNS Basis For Fibromyalgia

 

The millions of Americans who suffer from fibromyalgia live with a two-edged

sword: excruciating pain, accompanied by the doubts of many who dismiss it

as a made-up illness invented by a troubled mind.

 

But researchers at the University of Florida and elsewhere are beginning to

piece together clues that reveal the physical basis of the puzzling syndrome

that causes severe fatigue and aches, and has defied easy diagnosis.

UF scientists have found an abnormal central nervous system reaction in

those with fibromyalgia -- the body magnifies ordinary repetitive

stimulation into an experience of crippling pain.

 

"This is particularly important because it has been unclear if fibromyalgia

was just an imagined illness or a real syndrome," said Dr. Roland Staud, an

associate professor of medicine at UF's College of Medicine who also is

affiliated with the UF Brain Institute. "We now have good evidence that

shows that it's not a psychological abnormality, but that there is a

neurological abnormality present."

 

Staud, who presented his research findings at the annual meeting of the

American College of Rheumatology last November, recently was awarded a

National Institutes of Health grant worth nearly $800,000 to continue his

studies for the next four years. Donald Price, a UF professor of oral and

maxillofacial surgery, and Charles Vierck, a UF professor of neuroscience,

are collaborating on the research. Their goal is to develop a better

understanding of the condition, with an eye toward improving diagnostic

tests and treatments.

 

An estimated 3.7 million people in the United States -- primarily women who

are diagnosed during their 30s and 40s -- have fibromyalgia, according to

the NIH. A chronic illness with no known cure, its cause also is not known.

Researchers have theorized that an injury to the central nervous system or

an infectious agent might be responsible for triggering it in people who

have inherited susceptibility. Symptoms include persistent and widespread

musculoskeletal pain, fatigue and tenderness in the neck, spine, shoulders

and hips.

 

Staud and colleagues found the central nervous system abnormality by

conducting a series of repetitive stimulation tests on people with the

syndrome and on healthy research participants. The tests involved repeatedly

placing warm plates on their hands and arms. The healthy participants felt

the sensation but did not report it as pain.

 

For those with fibromyalgia, however, the sensation would magnify with each

repetition into an experience of crippling and unbearable pain.

"When a sensation signal reaches the spinal cord, the signal can be omitted,

changed or augmented," Staud said. "If it is augmented, then something that

is innocuous, such as pressure on the skin, can then be perceived as a

painful stimulus."

 

Jessica LeMay, one of Staud's patients, has been battling fibromyalgia since

1993. The 30-year-old Lake City resident said the pain starts in one area

and usually spreads, sometimes becoming overwhelming.

 

"I imagine if someone had taken a baseball bat and beaten me with it, that's

got to be what it feels like," she said. "Depending on the day, I'll just

move out of the way if someone tries to touch me."

 

The pain of fibromyalgia often interferes with a person's working life.

"These are people who are diagnosed in their productive years. Many have

personal or professional problems adjusting to the pain experience," Staud

said. "The illness makes some people feel dysfunctional because they can't

do the activities they once did."

 

The condition can worsen from stress and inadequate sleep, Staud said.

Because living with fibromyalgia often causes stress, and pain makes

sleeping difficult, a vicious cycle develops.

 

LeMay said many people dismiss her condition, not understanding the "huge

difference" between her severe fatigue and the healthy person's occasional

tiredness.

 

"When this fatigue would come about, it's almost like a weight being dropped

on you, and you can't function anymore," she said.

 

LeMay said she is hopeful that Staud's research will lead to more effective

treatment for fibromyalgia patients and better understanding by the general

public.

 

"In our society, you either get better or you die, and fibromyalgia patients

don't do that," she said. "We don't fit in the mold, so people don't know

what to do with us." - By Eric Benjamin Lowe

24-May-1999

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Magnet mania: Unusual therapy attracting serious research

http://www.cnn.com/2000/HEALTH/alternative/02/25/magnets.therapy.wmd/index.html

 

February 25, 2000

Web posted at: 12:52 PM EST (1752 GMT)

 

By Charles Downey

(WebMD) -- There's nothing like a celebrity endorsement to jump-start a

health fad. In 1997, when professional golfer Chi Chi Rodriguez said he'd

banished his foot pains by slipping magnets into his insoles, fans were

quick on his heels.

 

Soon many golfers sported magnets in their shoes, on their forearms, in

their gloves and belts, even in their collars and hats. The golfing trend

rekindled a fascination with magnets that dates back thousands of years to

the lodestones used by ancient healers.

 

Magnet purveyors haven't waited for proof before cashing in on the trend.

Slick catalogs flood the mail and dozens of web sites have sprung up hawking

magnetic belts, mattresses and shoe inserts said to relieve just about every

ailment imaginable.

 

In September 1999, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission took action against two

magnet vendors, Magnetic Therapeutic Technologies in Irving, Texas, and Pain

Stops Here! in Baiting Hollow, New York. The companies were ordered to cease

claiming that their magnets could treat a multitude of life-threatening

illnesses, including cancer and AIDS.

 

Despite the hype and the government's action, a few studies raise

intriguing, albeit inconclusive, questions about magnets. Take, for example,

a study published in the November 1997 issue of Archives of Physical

Medicine and Rehabilitation. Investigators at the University of Houston

taped half-inch magnets to the sore spots of 29 people with post-polio pain

and attached identical but fake magnets to a comparison group of 21

patients. Neither set of patients knew who was getting the real magnets.

All the patients were asked to rate their pain on a scale of one to 10, with

10 being the most severe. Those wearing the real magnets reported a

reduction in pain from a level of 9.6 to 4.4. But the 21 people treated with

sham magnets said their pain dropped only from 9.9 to 8.4.

 

How might magnets produce such an effect? Some proponents suggest that

magnets boost circulation, bringing more blood and nutrients to the targeted

area. That's the theory advanced by Dr. Ted Zablotsky, president of BioFlex

Medical Magnetics, a firm that sells magnets for medical uses.

 

The lead researcher from the University of Houston study, family physician

Dr. Carlos Vallbona, raised a different possibility. "It's possible the

magnetic energy affects the pain receptors in the joints or muscles or

lowers the sensation of pain in the brain," he said. But the bottom line is

that no one understands how magnets could act as medicine. "We do not have a

clear explanation for the significant and quick pain relief observed by the

patients in our study," Vallbona said.

 

Many experts remain unconvinced by the research done to date. "Studies done

on magnets so far are small and not duplicated," says Dr. John Renner,

president of the National Council for Reliable Health Information in

Independence, Missouri. "So they don't yet add up to scientific evidence.

Plus, some studies on magnets have been negative, but nobody ever seems to

hear about those."

 

One such study -- which you're unlikely to find on any magnet maker's web

site -- was published in the January 1997 issue of the Journal of the

American Podiatric Medical Association. Nineteen patients with heel pain

wore insoles containing magnetic inserts. Fifteen others wore identical

insoles without the magnets. After four weeks, the two groups reported the

same amount of relief.

 

"I tested magnets on carpal tunnel syndrome but did not get good results,"

says Dr. Michael Weintraub, a New York Medical College neurologist. "But I

did get good results using magnets to help diabetic foot pain." That study,

printed in the January 1999 issue of the American Journal of Pain

Management, found that diabetics suffered less foot pain while wearing

low-intensity magnets in their shoes.

 

With such conflicting results, it may be a long time before scientists can

pry the truth about magnets away from the hype.

 

Luckily for those attracted to using magnets, studies so far haven't turned

up any side effects. Magnet makers do advise that pregnant women not use

magnets, as no one knows how the devices might affect a fetus. They also say

that magnets should not be placed over areas of the body that contain

electrical devices like pacemakers or internal insulin pumps.

But until researchers decide what, if anything, they're really good for,

medical magnets may pose their greatest risk to the user's wallet.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

OTHER SILICONE RELATED RESOURCES ARE AVAILABLE THROUGH
THE SILICONE WEBRING

http://www.homestead.com/siliconecity /webring

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

WHERE THERE’S SMOKE THERE’S FIRE ~ On The Net
The following websites have the “Where There’s Smoke There’s Fire” documents:

http://implants.clic.net/tony/Smoke/index.html

http://www.homestead.com/siliconecity/index.html

http://implants.clic.net/tony/Smoke/index.html

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Dow Docs - Online

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

LOOKING FOR BACK ISSUES OF THE WOMEN’S IMPLANT SUPPORT NEWSLETTER?
Back issues of our Newsletters are archived and available on the Tony and Micheline Lambert’s website, “Canadian Connection.”

http://implants.clic.net/tony/Myrl/index.html

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

HUMOR
This stranger than fiction article has been sent to us by Chris. . . Thank you Chris.  
I laughed so hard, I fell off my chair!

The following is taken from a Florida newspaper:

 

A man was working on his motorcycle on his patio and his wife was in

the kitchen of the house. The man was racing the engine on the

motorcycle and somehow, the motorcycle slipped into gear. The man,

still holding the handlebars, was dragged through a glass patio door

and along with the motorcycle dumped onto the floor inside the house.

The wife, hearing the crash, ran into the dining room, and found her

husband laying on the floor, cut and bleeding, the motorcycle laying

next to him and the patio door shattered. The wife ran to the phone

and summoned an ambulance. Because they lived on a fairly large hill,

the wife went down the several flights of long steps to the street to

direct the paramedics to her husband.

 

After the ambulance arrived and transported the husband to the

hospital, the wife up-righted the motorcycle and pushed it outside.

Seeing that gas had spilled on the floor, the wife obtained some paper

towels, blotted up the gasoline, and threw the towels in the toilet.

The husband was treated at the hospital and was released to come

home.

 

After arriving home, he looked at the shattered patio door and the

damage done to his motorcycle. He became despondent, went into the

bathroom, sat on the toilet and smoked a cigarette. After finishing the

cigarette, he flipped it between his legs into the toilet bowl while

still seated.

 

The wife, who was in the kitchen, heard a loud explosion and her

husband screaming. She ran into the bathroom and found her

husband lying on the floor. His trousers had been blown away and he

was suffering burns on the buttocks, the back of his legs and his groin.

The wife again ran to the phone and called for an ambulance. The

same ambulance crew was dispatched and the wife met them at the

street. The paramedics loaded the husband on the stretcher and

began carrying him to the street. While they were going down the

stairs to the street, accompanied by the wife, one of the paramedics

asked the wife how the husband had burned himself. She told them

and the paramedics started laughing so hard, one of them tipped the

stretcher and dumped the husband out. He fell down the remaining

steps and broke his arm.

 

Now THAT, dear friends, is a truly bad day

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~