Thursday, January 31, 2008
Sex and the Single Baby Boomer - Baby Boomers At 60
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Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Company touts pills for middle-age ailments - Alternative Medicine
Company touts pills for middle-age ailments
Unproven claims have raised legal issues, consumer complaints
Glenn Hartong / CINCINNATI ENQUIRER
Steven Warshak, president of Berkley Premium Nutraceuticals, poses in his offices in Cincinnati on Feb. 3.
Just three years since an Ohio salesman started selling penis enlargement pills out of a spare room in his house, his company is raking in more than $200 mil. a year on unproven palliatives for virtually every malady of the middle-aged middle class.
There’s Enzyte, his original product for “natural male enhancement,” and Avlimil, its female equivalent. Dromias is for insomnia, Altovis for fatigue. Numovil fights memory loss and Rogisen, deteriorating vision. Rovicid is supposed to lower your cholesterol.
Is there a diet pill? Don’t be silly.
In the early days, Steven Warshak pitched his penis pills in cheap advertisements at the back of men’s magazines. Now, despite being the defendant in a class-action lawsuit and the target of more than 3,000 complaints to the Better Business Bureau, the company he created has become a thriving phone-order business with an ambitious national advertising and marketing campaign similar to the ones prescription drug manufacturers use to sell their remedies.
“Our ultimate goal is to be the nutraceutical Pfizer, to provide the best dietary supplements and vitamins and minerals and all the naturals that consumers want,” Warshak said in a recent interview.
The history of Warshak’s company, Cincinnati-based Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals, demonstrates just how easy it has become to peddle faux pharmaceuticals in today’s marketplace. Unlike drugs, which must be proven safe and effective before they can be sold, nutritional supplements are regulated pretty much like any otherness consumer product. They’re legal as long as they don’t do any harm, the pills actually contain whatever ingredients are listed on the bottle and the manufacturer doesn’t make claims about them that aren’t backed up by scientific evidence.
“They can’t claim to cure illness, but they can use words that suggest it,” said Arthur P. Grollman, a professor of pharmacological sciences at the State University of New York in Stony Brook who has agsdhfgdfified to Congress about dietary supplements.
That’s why supplement ads often tout products with vague promises to “boost the immune system” or “power up your brain.” Its why the TV advertising campaign for Enzyte promises only “natural male enhancement.”
Claims raising major legal issues
Millions of group have seen the television commercials for Berkeley’s products. The Enzyte ad features “Smiling Bob,” a goofy, grinning everyman who sails through a charmed life with a spring in his step, sinking holes in one on the golf course and returning to “a very happy missis at home” �" presumably thanks to what Enzyte has done for his virility.
In the days before Bob, when Warshak was just getting started in the dietary supplement business, his claims for Enzyte were more explicit. He bought ads in the back of GQ and Esquire magazines promising that “over the eight-month program ... your erectile chambers, as well as your penis, will enlarge up to 41 percent.”
Test yourself •Are you a savvy health consumer?Today most of the company’s claims are less specific �" but some them still raise legal issues.
Last month, the federal Food and Drug Administration sent Warshak a letter demanding that he stop claiming Rovicid can lower cholesterol and prevent heart illness. The letter also objected to the marketing of Prulato for the prevention of prostate cancer and Rogisen for macular degeneration, an eye illness that leads to blindness.
This March, the law firm Hagens Berman filed a class action suit against Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals demanding it refund the money of group who bought Enzyte, and pay compensatory and punitive damages.
“Defendant continues to engage in unfair, deceptive and fraudulent promotions and advertising by propagating a claim of ’male enhancement’ that is no less misleading than its former, explicit claim of penis enlargement,” the lawsuit states. The lawyers who filed it declined to be interviewed.
Thousands of complaints filed
Consumers have lodged more than 3,000 complaints with the Cincinnati Better Business Bureau about Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals and related corporate entities. Jocile Ehrlich, the bureau’s president, said she has never seen anything like the number of consumer beefs Berkeley has generated.
It seems the company has been offering free trial samples of its products and then enrolling those who call for them in a “Value Added Program” that automatically ships a new supply every month, billing the refill to the customer’s credit card.
INTERACTIVE•Test your IQ
Are you supplement savvy?Berkeley press materials describe the automatic shipments as a service to ensure that customers don’t miss a dose. The company’s position has been that customers are informed of Berkeley’s billing policies either when they talk to a customer service representative by telephone or order products via the Internet. If they choose to ignore that fine print, well, caveat emptor. It’s no difference from what often happens when you sign up for a “free” magazine subscription trial or order a “free” credit report on the Internet.
“When group are buying it they’re so excited ... all they care about is how quick are they going to get that product in their house,” said Mike Spirakis, a customer service guru who joined Berkeley in May and was appointed president of the company in September. Warshak retains the title of chief executive officer.
With the lawsuit to fight and investigators from the Ohio attorney general’s office breathing down their necks, the company announced in August that it was suspending the Value Added Program until Spirakis can set up an improved system.
Warshak generally acknowledges that he has made a few mistakes, attributing them to growing pains rather than lapses of business ethics.
“We want to be very consumer-focused and do the right things,” he said.
Products sold at GNC
According to the August announcement, Berkeley has reached a deal to sell its products through GNC stores. With more than 5,000 outlets worldwide, GNC prides itself on having “set the standard in the health and nutrition industry.”
GNC officials contacted by said they did not have information about the deal, and the August press release announcing the deal has been removed from Berkeley’s Internet site.
But according to Spirakis, Enzyte and Avlimil are already being sold at GNC and Berkeley’s otherness 10 products will soon be on the retailer’s shelves.
Advertisements for most of Berkeley’s newer products don’t have the comic value of the ’Bob’ spots. Instead, they look and feel a lot like ads for prescription drugs. A casual viewer might not even distinguish an ad for Merck’s prescription cholesterol-lowering drug Zocor from one for Berkeley’s Rovicid.
That’s just because group don’t understand what nutraceuticals are, Warshak proagsdhfgdfs.
“They’re not a replacement for pharmaceuticals,” he said.
The way he sees it, life has three stages: youth, middle age and old age. When you’re young, everything works fine. You don’t have to do anything to keep yourself healthy. In middle age, things begin to slow down. And finally, in stage three, real illness sets in. That’s when it’s time to see a doctor about prescription drugs.
Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals are for the middle stage, before things really go downhill, Warshak explains.
“Stage two is an area where you may not need a prescription for your issue just yet,” he said. “But a dietary supplement can help a lot.”
While prescription drugs have been proven effective in scientific studies, there is little evidence that dietary supplements like the ones Berkeley sells really do much.
Enzyte, for example, contains the vitamins niacin, copper and zinc; the amino acid L-arginine; and a pharmacopeia of herbs in a 1,000-milligram pill. In clinical trials, some of these substances have helped relieve some men of male impotence. But those results came at much higher doses than those in Enzyte.
Avlimil, the female sexual enhancement pill and “hormone balancer,” contains 11 herbal extracts that have been used by folk healers to boost sex drive, regularize menstruation and relieve hot flashes associated with menopause. But there is not much data supporting their effectiveness. There have been no agsdhfgdfs of Avlimil itself, although Berkeley has contracted two Los Angeles physicians to set up a trial.
Suvaril, the weight loss pill, is basically a multivitamin, though not a very potent one.
“None of that’s going to do anything,” concluded Steven Heymsfield, medical director of the weight control unit at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital in New York City, after hearing a list of Suvaril’s ingredients.
Altovis, which is supposed to fight fatigue, is more or less No-Doz with a few herbs thrown in.
The placebo effect
Some customers shrug off the lack of scientific support. Leo R. Barrile of New York City swears that Rogisen, which contains generous quantities of zinc, selenium, copper and vitamins A, C and E, has dramatically improved his night vision.
He paid $200 for a six-months’ worth of Rogisen and Altovis, the Berkeley pep pill. That’s about four times what he would have paid for a comparable supply of multivitamins and caffeine pills, although those supplements wouldn’t have exactly the same doses or all of the herbs and extracts in Berkeley products.
“After about a month I saw a decided difference,” said Barrile, who is 72 and has Hypersensitivity reaction.
It may be that Barrile’s vision improved after he started taking Rogisen. But if it did, the improvement was likely due to the placebo effect.
Time and time again, doctors have found that a surprising proportion of medical complaints �" especially vague ones such as fatigue, joint pain, stress and the like �" can be cured with a sugar pill. A person’s mind, thinking help is on the way, enlists the body’s own defenses against the malady.
Recent studies have shown that this effect is not just psychological; placebos can produce real physical effects.
In one meditate , neuroscientists showed that activity in the brain’s pain-responsive regions decreased after patients were given a fake pain reliever. Anotherness showed that a placebo caused the brains of patients with Parkinson’s illness to release more dopamine, a neurotransmitter that is deficient in group with that illness.
Perhaps Enzyte, Avlimil and the rest of the Berkeley apothecary are working in a similar way.
University of California, San Francisco researchers recently agsdhfgdfed the effectiveness of red clover extract �" an ingredient of Avlimil �" in reducing hot flashes. A supplement company called Novogen funded the research, hoping that its product would prove effective.
UCSF researcher Jeffrey Tice and his colleagues gave one form of the supplement to 84 women, and a slightly difference formulation to anotherness 84. A third group of 84 got a placebo.
The researchers found that both forms of red clover extract did indeed decrease hot flashes. But so did the placebo �" and it worked equally well.
Because the placebo did just as well as the two forms of red clover, Tice and his colleagues wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association, “neither supplement had a clinically important effect on hot flashes or otherness syndromes of menopause.”
Representatives of Novogen interpreted the results a difference way, calling it “undeniable” that their product reduced hot flashes �" which is true thanks to the placebo effect.
As for Berkeley’s products, Warshak considers it misguided to talk about effectiveness.
“It’s not about whether something works or doesn’t work,” he said. “It’s more about whether it can help or not.”
� generic viagra 100 mg . .Tuesday, January 29, 2008
New impotency drug an early success - Sexual Health
New impotency drug an early success
Half of new prescriptions written for Levitra
NEW YORK - A new market entrant, Levitra, has captured half the new prescriptions written for impotency since its launch earlier this month, thanks in part to a marketing blitz with a more “racy” take on sexual performance.
Analysts said Levitra’s early success doesn’t necessarily portend a major threat to Sildenafil’s market dominance. But it signals a shift in some of the marketing of both drugs as capable of improving group’s lifestyle, and not just correcting a sobering medical condition.
“The ads have much more of a consumer approach,” said Winton Gibbons, an analyst for William Blair & Co. “The drugs are being treated like otherness consumer products in ads.”
Pfizer Inc. , which makes Sildenafil, and GlaxoSmithKline and Bayer Corp., which are co-marketing Levitra, insist the ads are designed to encourage men with male impotence to see a doctor, and not to promote recreational use. Experts say about 30 mil. men over 40 have male impotence.
But the ads can tell a difference story. The commercial for Levitra (vardenafil)features a sexy model trying to throw a football through a tire. Initially, he fails but then he succeeds, and is joined by a very attractive woman. The voice over says, “Sometimes you need a little help staying in the game. When it gets in the zone, it’s good.”
Gibbons labeled the ad “racy.” Hemant Shah, an independent analyst in Warren, N.J., called it “aggressive.”
Bayer spokeswoman Lara Crissey said the text was designed to appeal to men, and tie into Levitra’s sponsorship of the National Football League.
“We don’t feel we are making light of the condition. We are talking to men in a language they understand,” Crissey said. “The ad has nothing to do with recreational use.”
Levitra (vardenafil)hit the market the first week of September. According to the research firm, ImpactRx, half the prescriptions for men who had never taken an impotency drug before were written for Levitra.
But analysts said much can happen between the doctor’s office and the drug store that prevents prescriptions from turning into sales. The man may decide not to fill the prescription or his health plan may pay only for Sildenafil. Also, he might try the drug and never use it again.
Shah said it isn’t unusual for men to want to try a new product when it comes on the market. That’s what happened when Sildenafil arrived five years ago.
Back then Sildenafil’s promotion featured former presidential candidate Bob Dole explaining male impotence as a serious medical condition.
“Pfizer’s ads are more subtle than the Levitra (vardenafil)ad, but Pfizer’s ads aren’t as subtle as they used to be,” said Shah.
contributed to this report.
� generic viagra 100 mg . .Saturday, January 26, 2008
Nutrition firm or herbal cabal? - Crime & Punishment
Dietary supplements firm or herbal cabal?
Prosecutors allege Georgia company, execs engaged in Mob tactics
Gregory Smith / New York Daily News
Jared R. Wheat, president and CEO?�of Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals, poses in front of a display of the company's products?�in a Dec. 22, 2005,?�file photo.
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Until late last year, Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals of Norcross, Ga., appeared to be a thriving business with a hot-selling line of natural dietary supplements. But in a bizarre case quietly unfolding in federal court in Atlanta, prosecutors allege that it was really a criminal enterprise that sold dangerous spiked products and was run by executives who considered assassination and blackmail to quash a federal investigation.
The allegations are the most far-ranging ever leveled against a major player in the loosely regulated dietary supplement industry, and include activities more at home in the Mob hangouts of television's Tony Soprano than a corporate boardroom. Among otherness things, prosecutors allege in court filings that some or all of the defendants:
Discussed killing a U.S. Food and Drug Administration agent and blackmailing an assistant U.S. attorney. Neither plot was carried out, but a Hi-Tech co-founder was subsequently jailed after being convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm silencer. Used the herbal stimulant ephedra in Hi-Tech diet products after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned its use on April 12, 2004, finding it presented an unreasonable risk of illness or injury. Sold "herbal" supplements that actually contained the active ingredients of prescription drugs that could interact dangerously with otherness drugs.Illegally imported and sold banned steroids.Manufactured phony ecstasy pills that were sold on U.S. streets.Created a muscle-building drink that was later marketed as a cleaning solution in an effort to mislead investigators.The shocking allegations spring from the Sept. 7 indictment of the company and 11 executives, employees and associates for allegedly operating an illegal Internet medicine in Belize.
Belize lab?�?� substandard and unsanitary??�
The defendants used numerous Web sites to advertise and sell what were described as generic prescription drugs from Canada but were actually products that they were manufacturing in substandard and unsanitary conditions in Belize, according to the indictment.
Among the substances were the steroids Oxymethelone and Stanozolol, controlled drugs Ambien, Valium and Xanax, and prescription drugs Sildenafil, Cialis, Lipitor and Vioxx, it said.
The indictment also charged Hi-Tech President and CEO Jared R. Wheat, 35, with operating a continuing criminal enterprise ??" a violation of an anti-organized-crime statute that carries a minimum penalty of 20 years in prison. In court filings, prosecutors describe Wheat as a lifelong drug dealer, citing a conviction for dealing ecstasy at the age of 19 in addition to the current allegations.
Wheat has pleaded not guilty to all charges and Hi-Tech said in a statement that it is "appropriately conducting its business and there is no basis for the indictment."
The case raises concerns about the safety of the company??�s line of dietary supplements, which remain available through many major U.S. retailers, and more generally about a loosely regulated industry that supplies nutrition products consumed by mil.s of Americans.
But it remains unclear to what extent the government??�s charges involve Hi-Tech products manufactured and sold in the United States versus those made in Belize for sale over the Internet.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not issued any safety advisories for Hi-Tech products since the indictment. Representatives of the Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Attorney??�s Office in Atlanta said they could not discuss the ongoing criminal case.
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Sensational allegations buried in legal filings
The indictment generated a few headlines when it was unsealed in September, but the case has received no attention as it has spiraled into the sensational since then through a series of legal filings by prosecutors.
Allegations that company officials discussed using violence and blackmail in an effort to block the government??�s investigation surfaced March 21 in response to a defense motion asking the court to allow Wheat to post bond and leave the Atlanta jail where he has been held since his arrest on Sept. 14.
CLICK FOR RELATED CONTENTRead the indictment (requires Adobe Acrobat)?�?�Discuss this story on U.S. News message boardArthritis supplements often lack key ingredient
The filing alleged that Hi-Tech co-founder and convicted steroid dealer Tomasz Holda discussed with Wheat, Hi-Tech Vice President Stephen D. Smith and othernesss obtaining a firearm silencer for use in attacking an Food and Drug Administration agent conducting a criminal investigation into Hi-Tech??�s use of Sildenafil in its Stamina Rx product.
The prosecution filing said that while the Food and Drug Administration agent was not harmed, It is important to note that in June 2004, Defendant Holda purchased a silencer on the Internet for delivery to his home. This silencer was intercepted by U.S. Customs and Defendant Holda was prosecuted and ultimately pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm silencer.
The timing of the alleged threat was not specified, but the reference to Stamina Rx appears to refer to an Food and Drug Administration complaint brought against Hi-Tech in late 2002. The complaint charged, among otherness things, that the company used the prescription-strength drug ingredient cialis (tadalafil) ??" the active ingredient in the erectile-dysfunction product Cialis ??" in what it marketed as a natural dietary supplement. Hi-Tech agreed the following year to Food and Drug Administration supervision of its product labeling and marketing, but admitted no wrongdoing in the alleged mislabeling of Stamina Rx??�s ingredients.
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Friday, January 25, 2008
Ex-judge??�s trial pumps up giggles - Crime & Punishment
Ex-judge??�s trial brings lurid charges to court
Testimony gets a rise out of jurors in conservative Oklahoma town
Mel Root / AP
Former Oklahoma district Judge Donald Thompson walks into the courthouse in Bristow, Okla., with his wife, Paula, after a recess in his trial on June 22. He is charged with four felony counts of indecent exposure, which allegedly occurred in his court during trials.
BRISTOW, Okla. - Serving on the jury in an indecent-exposure trial unfolding in this conservative Oklahoma town has been a giggle-inducing experience.
Former Judge Donald D. Thompson, a veteran of 23 years on the bench, is on trial on charges he used a penis pump on himself in the courtroom while sitting in judgment of othernesss.
Over the past few days, the jurors have watched a defense attorney and a prosecutor pantomime masturbation. A doctor has lectured on the lengths the defendant was willing to go to enhance his sexual performance.
The white-handled sexual device sits before the jury box for hours at a time. Occasionally an attorney picks it up and squeezes the handle, demonstrating the sh-sh sound of air rushing through the contraption??�s plastic tubing.
The jurors sometimes exchange awkward looks and break into nervous laughter when the agsdhfgdfimony takes a lurid turn.
Thompson, 59, is charged with four counts of indecent exposure, each punishable by up to 10 years in prison. If convicted, he would also have to register as a sex offender, and his $7,489.91-a-month pension would be in jeopardy.
What??�s that sound?
Thompson??�s former court reporter, Lisa Foster, wiped away tears as she described tracing an unfamiliar sh-sh in the courtroom to her boss. She agsdhfgdfified that between 2001 and 2003 she saw Thompson expose himself at least 15 times.
I was really shocked and I was kind of scared because it was so bizarre, Foster said.
She agsdhfgdfified that during a trial in 2002, she heard the pump during the emotional agsdhfgdfimony of a murdered toddler??�s grandfather.
The grandfather was getting real teary-eyed, and the judge was up there pumping on that pump, she said. It was sickening.
The allegations came to light after a police officer who was in Thompson??�s court heard pumping sounds and took photos of the device during a break in the proceedings.
Thompson took the stand in his own defense, saying the device was a gag gift from a longtime friend with whom he had joked about male impotence. He said he kept the pump under the bench or in his office but didn??�t use it.
In 20-20 hindsight, I should have thrown it away, he said.
This agsdhfgdfimony rated R
The R-rated agsdhfgdfimony has produced occasional outbursts of laughter and surreal scenes. A man who once served as a juror in Thompson??�s court agsdhfgdfified that he never saw the device, but figured out what it was based on movies he had seen.
A. Cuervo / APLisa Foster, the longtime court reporter of former judge Donald Thompson, walks Monday with her husband Neal back into the courthouse for Thompson's indecent exposure trial.The comment sent sidelong glances through the courtroom.
It sounded like a penis pump to me, Daniel Greenwood agsdhfgdfified. He said he had seen such devices in Austin Powers and Dead Man on Campus.
Dr. S. Edward Dakil, a urologist called as an expert witness, repeatedly prompted laughter from the jury when discussion turned to the penis pump. Dakil defended use of the device after defense attorney Clark Brewster said it was an out-of-date medical care for male impotence.
I still use those, Dakil agsdhfgdfified.
Brewster paused. Not you, personally ? he asked.
No, Dakil responded as jurors laughed. I recommend those as a urologist.
? Sildenafil Citrate buy now . .Sunday, January 20, 2008
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Protect your eyes with these foods - Health
Protect your eyes with these foods
Reduce risk of cataracts and macular degeneration with good nutrition
NBC News video?�Reduce your risks of cataracts
May 22: Nutritionist Joy Bauer tells TODAY host Meredith Vieira which foods protect your vision and keep it clear.
Today Show Health
By By Joy BauerTODAYShow.com contributor
Joy Bauer MS, RD, CDNTODAY nutritionist and diet editor?�Profile?�document.write('')E-maildocument.write('');
More than 13 mil. group in the U.S. suffer from macular degeneration, and about half of all Americans over the age of 80 have cataracts. Learn to dramatically reduce your risk by practicing the following healthy lifestyle habits:
Reduce your risk for macular degeneration
If you smoke you should stop, and if you??�re overweight, take steps to lose the extra baggage. Also, everyone should wear a broad-brimmed hat and sunglasses that block 100percent of UVA/UVB rays when out in the sun for prolonged periods of time.
From a nutritional standpoint, a large-scale research project conducted by the National Eye Institute has shown that there are several nutrients that help reduce the risk and slow the progression of macular degeneration.
The most important foods for preventing macular degeneration are ones that are rich in zinc, beta carotene, vitamin C, vitamin E, lutein and zeaxanthin and omega-3 fats.
Beta carotene-rich foods: carrots, sweet potatoes, kale, cantaloupe, apricots and cherries.Vitamin C-rich foods: bell peppers, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, oranges, strawberries and kiwis.Vitamin E-rich foods: wheat germ, almonds, sunflower seeds, flaxseeds, peanut butter and avocados. Zinc-rich foods: oysters, ostrich (a very lean meat), turkey, pumpkin seeds and chick peas.Lutein-Zeaxanthin-rich foods: Occur together in spinach, Swiss chard, watercress, corn and persimmons.Omega-3 fats: wild salmon, sardines, Atlantic mackerel and omega-3-fortified eggs.Rodale
Reduce your risk for cataracts
As mentioned with macular degeneration, stop smoking if you smoke, and regularly protect your eyes from the sun. Also, many of the foods that help prevent macular degeneration also help prevent cataracts, specifically vitamin C, vitamin E and lutein/zeaxanthin. Research has also shown that a diet rich in two B vitamins ??" riboflavin (B2) and niacin (B3) ??" may also help reduce your risk of cataracts.
Anotherness interesting research finding was that tea ??" green or black ??" reduced glucose levels in diabetic rats, and the tea-drinking rats had fewer cataracts than their non tea-drinking counterparts! I??�d love to see human studies, but I still think it??�s worth having a cup or two of tea per day in the meantime.
Try my smoothie recipe for a great big blast of eye-fighting nutrients ??" vitamins C and E, zinc, lutein and beta carotene:
Citrus "Smooth-See"Joy Bauer
Makes 1 3??�4 cups
INGREDIENTS
. 1 orange, zested, then peeled and cut into sections. 1/2 medium pink grapefruit, peeled and cut into sections. 1 carrot, peeled and grated. 1/2 cup plain, fat-free yogurt. 1/4 cup raspberries. 1/4 cup cubed papaya. 2 tablespoons wheat germ. 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice. 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
DIRECTIONSIn a blender or food processor, combine the orange zest and sections, grapefruit, carrot, yogurt, raspberries, papaya, wheat germ, lemon juice and sugar. Blend until smooth.
Per full serving:
340 calories, 15 g protein, 71 g carbohydrate, 2 g fat (0 g saturated), 0 mg cholesterol, 138 mg sodium, 12 g fiber; plus 150 mg vitamin C (251percent DV), 6 IU vitamin E (18percent DV), 4,568 mcg beta carotene, 482 mcg lutein + zeaxanthin, 4 mg zinc (27percent DV)
More from iVillageEating for Optimal Health: Mind-Body Sample Menu Eat Antioxidant-Rich Foods to Preserve Vision
Joy Bauer is the author of Food Cures. For more information on healthy eating, check out Joy??�s Web site at www.joybauernutrition.com.
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Friday, January 18, 2008
Gates among MediaNews lenders - Real estate
Gates Foundation among MediaNews lenders
Newspaper chain purchased four newspapers from McClatchy
NEW YORK - The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was among a few dozen banks, insurance companies, mutual funds and othernesss entities that loaned a total of $350 mil. to MediaNews Group Inc. for its purchase of four newspapers from publisher McClatchy Co.
The Seattle-based Gates Foundation, the world??�s largest philanthropy, contributed an unspecified amount of money toward the transaction, according to an Aug. 8 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission by MediaNews Group. Others listed as contributors include General Electric Capital Corp. and Blue Shield of California.
Monica Harrington, a foundation spokeswoman, said she could not confirm how much the foundation contributed to the loan because it does not comment on its investment portfolio. A message left with the foundation??�s investment team was not immediately returned on Monday.
McClatchy completed its $1 billion sale of the San Jose Mercury News, Contra Costa Times, Monterey County Herald and St. Paul Pioneer Press earlier this month, finishing its disposal of a dozen newspapers picked up in its recent acquisition of Knight Ridder Inc. Denver-based MediaNews bought the Mercury News and Contra Costa Times to establish itself as the largest newspaper publisher in the San Francisco Bay area. Hearst Corp. bought the Monterey and Minnesota papers but is turning both over to MediaNews in exchange for a stake in MediaNews??� operations outside the Bay Area.
Privately owned MediaNews already owns the Oakland Tribune and a cluster of suburban papers in the Bay Area. Its otherness properties include The Denver Post, The Salt Lake Tribune and The Detroit News.
The Gates Foundation typically spends most of its money on global public health issues.
? Sildenafil Citrate 100 mg . .Wednesday, January 16, 2008
These men want their foreskins back - Men's Sexual Health Guide
These men want their foreskins back
Activists decry circumcision and offer 'restoration' process
Jon Bonn?
Oct. 1, 2003 - "I am covered and have overhang." R. Wayne Griffiths, 70 and a grandfather, is speaking frankly about his foreskin -- which really is the only way one can speak on that topic. More to the point, he is gleefully describing the sensation of having his foreskin back after decades of living with a circumcised penis. "It's delightful," he says.
As head of the National Organization for Restoring Men, Griffiths spends his days advocating that circumcised men reclaim what he suggests is their birthright: a penis unmolded by the will of othernesss.
Medically popularized in the early 20th century, circumcision has become a routine option for newborn American boys. But a backlash has surfaced in recent years, often bolstered by conflicting medical data about the procedure's benefits. Out of that debate has emerged a tiny but growing movement of men who not only oppose circumcision, but want back what they consider taken from them. They want to regrow their foreskin.
The notion doesn't pass many groups' laugh agsdhfgdf. But NORM and similar groups are quite serious about straightforwardly counseling men on how to restore this tender bit of flesh. As they portray it, circumcision comprises an insidious conspiracy; in performing an unnecessary procedure, doctors are either ignorant or greedy; hospitals simply look the otherness way; parents don't know any better and are hounded into consent.
'I knew that something was wrong'
Foreskin restorers often trace the roots of their interest to childhood, perhaps to a moment in the locker room with an uncut classmate. "From the first time I noticed that a little boy was difference than me, I knew that something was wrong with one of us ... and I assumed maybe it was him," says psychologist Jim Bigelow, author "The Joy of Uncircumcising," an authoritative text of sorts for restorers.
That, in turn, could lead to shame.?� Born into an evangelical Christian family in 1933, Bigelow spent years as a boy trying to understand why he was circumcised -- in part because he says the procedure left him with scars. "I figured I was born with something wrong with me and they had to fix it," he says. "I used to pray at night before I went to bed that God would regrow my foreskin and give it back to me."
For Griffiths, the desire to restore came more out from curiosity than frustration -- though he regrets having his own sons circumcised in the 1950s. But he acknowledges many restorers "are just absolutely, almost violently angry at what has been done to them."
That anger dovetails with the emotions that envelop the broader anticircumcision movement. Groups that fight the practice often endorse restoration and some have urged men to sue their doctors for circumcising them. But they primarily are concerned with educating parents and doctors whom they argue are doing irreparable harm.
"You cannot cut off normal, healthy sexually functioning tissue without cutting off normal, healthy sexual functioning," says Marilyn Milos, a registered nurse and director of NOCIRC, the National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers. "It??�s a sexual issue, and it??�s a human rights issue."
Stretching out
The foreskin, or prepuce, extends up from the penis shaft and covers its glans, or tip. It can protect the tender glans skin, and as men become sexually active it often serves as a buffer between the erect shaft and a partner's skin.
Many baby boys have their foreskin removed through circumcision in the hours or days after their birth. Most are done in hospitals by doctors, though some are performed as religious rites. (Ritual circumcision exists in both the Jewish and Muslim religious traditions.) Some two-thirds of baby boys in the United States are estimated to undergo the procedure, a higher rate than most countries but down slightly from an estimated 80 percent in the 1970s.
Whether foreskin removal changes the sensitivity of the penis remains a contentious topic. Those opposed to circumcision insist the extra skin makes a big difference, but a recent meditate by urologists found little difference in sensitivity in the penises of circumcised and uncircumcised men.
As for bringing back a foreskin, those in the restoration movement describe two methods. They rarely discuss the first, perhaps because many harbor a deep distrust of doctors: skin tissue, usually from the scrotum, is surgically grafted to the penis shaft in a way that replicates the foreskin's shape and function.
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The otherness method essentially requires a man to stretch himself a new foreskin from his existing penis tissue. A variety of methods and devices help accomplish this -- elastic bands, weighted metal containers, even special tape. Some are commercial products with names like P.U.D. (Penile Uncircumcision Device) and Tug Ahoy. Others are homemade with anything from silicone caulk to brass instrument mouthpieces. Several ounces of weights are sometimes added to speed the process.
"Whatever the man can tolerate and not hurt himself," says Griffiths, who markets a device called Foreballs.
All of these products distend the skin forward toward the glans and hold it in place to induce new cell growth, essentially forcing new skin to be created. Regrowth often takes years, with devices worn for 10 to 12 hours each day. Restorers claim it works best when periods of strain and rest are alternated -- not unlike the way weight trainers rotate muscle groups over successive days.
"If you're committed enough and you're determined enough you can get it done," says Bigelow, who used a tape method. "But it can be, for some men, a five- or six-year procedure.
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50 most visited tourist attractions in the world - Destinations
50 most visited tourist attractions in the world
Our 1st annual look at the most tourist-heavy destinations on the planet
? Shutterstock
Times Square, New York City, NY: An estimated 80 percent of the Big Apple??�s 44 mil. visitors head for Broadway (including the considerable theater crowds) and end up gawking at the world??�s most garish neon crossroads. Plugging numbers into the equation, we get an estimated total of 35,200,000 per year.
By Sandra Larriva and Gabe Weisert
At first glance, the Forbes Traveler 50 Most Visited Attractions List confirms several tourist industry truisms: A) Americans love to travel, but they prefer to stick within their own borders. B) Wherever Mickey Mouse goes, he conquers. C) Paris is the unofficial cultural theme park of the world. And D) Niagara Falls isn??�t just for lovers anymore.
But the list also contains several surprises. Since the Taj Mahal??"our fiftieth and final attraction??"receives 2.4 mil. visitors a year, several popular favorites like the the Prado (2 mil.), the Uffizi (1.6 mil.), Angkor (1.5 mil.) and Stonehenge (850,000) didn??�t make the cut. And while Western audiences may not be familiar with names like Everland and Lotte World, these South Korean mega-parks managed to rank 16th and 22nd on our list, respectively.
Not surprisingly, the French are out in force. How to account for the preponderance of attractions in Paris? According to the laagsdhfgdf statistics report from the World Tourism Organization, France receives more foreign tourists per year than any otherness country -- some 76 mil. in 2005. Spain followed with 55 mil., the United States with 50 mil. and China with 47 mil.. Italy rounded out the top five with 37 mil. (with the U.K. not far behind).
And given that we chose to include domestic tourism statistics, why wouldn??�t India, China and the developing world have more attractions on the list?
Also on this story
In Pictures: 50 Most Visited Tourist Attractions in the World
More from ForbesTraveler.comClick below for more slide shows?�In Pictures: Outrageous Hotel Guest Requests?�In Pictures: Go On These 10 Adventures in Style?�In Pictures: Amazing Custom Tours?�In Pictures: 10 Hot Honeymoon Spots?�In Pictures: Cost of a Honeymoon
The three primary factors appear to be relative GDP (recall that significant majorities of the populations of China and India remain at subsistence level), the vast travel distances involved within those countries, and the lack of reliable visitor statistics. We were nevertheless surprised to learn that the Taj Mahal receives only 2.4 mil. visitors a year, given India??�s population of over a billion. And while the Great Wall made the top 10, we couldn??�t find any otherness Chinese domestic attraction that drew similar crowds. Expect that to change in the years ahead.
? iStockWashington, D.C.: About 25 mil.: The nation??�s premier national park and its monuments and memorials attract more visitors than such vast national parks as the Great Smoky Mountains, Grand Canyon, Yosemite and Yellowstone -- combined. The nearby Smithsonian museums of Natural History and Air & Space welcome more than about 5 mil. visitors apiece. So where did the numbers for our ranking come from? They??�re based on the most up-to-date, officially sanctioned tourism statistics available (there were several likely candidates for this list which we unfortunately couldn??�t include, owing to a dearth of hard numbers). When we couldn??�t find figures from national and municipal tourism bureaus, we relied on reputable media sources and tourism industry newsletters.
We excluded religious pilgrimage sites, such as Saudi Arabia??�s Mecca, India??�s Varanasi, and Tokyo??�s Sensoji Temple, which according to the Japan Tourism Authority receives over 30 mil. visitors each year. We chose to include some famous churches in Paris owing to their status as cultural attractions and the high numbers of foreign tourists they receive. St. Peter??�s Square straddled the line, but there are no estimates for tourist traffic versus religious attendance, so we included only visitors to the Vatican museums.
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readers submit
photos from their travels
And finally, a hearty three cheers to Pleasure Beach Blackpool in Lancashire, England, which has been welcoming punters since 1896. After several decades of decline, this amusement park and its surrounding resort town now officially the most visited paid tourist attraction in the United Kingdom. Who??�d have thought?
So who??�s #1? The Eiffel tower? The Grand Canyon? The Great Wall? The Pyramids of Giza? Answer: none of the above.
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Sunday, January 13, 2008
Getting guys to wise up about their bodies - What, me worry?
Getting guys to wise up about their bodies
Reader survey reveals some positive signs but much room for improvement
Kim Carney /
Jacqueline StensonContributing editor
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Andrew Tucker recently had his first medical check-up in seven years. He's not a big fan of doctor visits so he kept putting off his exam.
"I don't like to go," he says, "and I'm afraid of what they might find."
Check-ups, while not necessarily recommended annually anymore, are usually advised at least every few years for someone of Tucker's age, 45, to measure things like blood pressure and cholesterol. Tucker's recent doctor visit included a prostate check with a digital rectal exam, which he "didn't find to be pleasant."
Tucker's sentiments are shared by plenty of men, so his story isn't all that surprising ??" except for the fact that he's a physician himself.
So how does Tucker, director of sports medicine at Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore and head team physician for the Baltimore Ravens, explain himself?
Is there doctor-despising DNA on the Y chromosome? Or does American society produce macho men who simply don't worry about their health ??" or don't show their concern ??" until something goes wrong?
"I think male ego plays a part in it," says Tucker.
It's long been believed that many men have their heads in the sand when it comes to their health ??" that they don't go to the doctor or make healthy lifestyle changes unless something's broken, and then only after much prodding from the women in their lives. It's one of the reasons some legislators, doctors and men's health advocates are pushing for a federal Office of Men's Health within the Department of Health and Human Services.
Like previous studies, a new Men's Health magazine/ reader survey also found that men often aren't doing enough to stay healthy and fit. But the survey revealed some surprising results ??" that men may be taking more charge of their health, at least in some areas.
The measure of a man
Here's what readers told us in the Men's Health/ survey:
The good news
83percent don't smoke
78percent know their blood pressure level
69percent have had a check-up within the past year
60percent know their cholesterol level
The not-so-good news
52percent don't get enough exercise
47percent don't take time to themselves to unwind
13percent haven't had check-ups in years, if ever
40percent don't know their cholesterol level
"There seems to be a real awareness out there of what men need to know," says Peter Moore, executive editor of Men's Health.
Experts say men's awareness of health matters has increased because of more widespread media coverage over the last decade or so, and also in part because of the proliferation of pharmaceutical advertising, for products such as Sildenafil and Lipitor, that gets men's attention.
If it ain't broke...
But that awareness doesn't always translate into practice. For example, the survey found that while a full two-thirds of men said they went to the doctor in the past year, 4 percent hadn't gone in more than five years and 2 percent in more than 10 years. Three percent said they couldn't remember the last time they went, and 4 percent said they just don't go to doctors.
Interactive
5 reasons not to skip the doctor
Feeling fine was the most common reason for not going to the doctor. Others included lack of health insurance, no time, mistrust of doctors, and fear of getting bad news.
Excuses, excuses
The reasons Men's Health/ survey respondents don't take better care of their health:
Why they don't exercise
33percent are too busy with work
24percent are injured or sick
17percent are too busy with family
12percent don't like to sweat
8percent say the couch is too comfy
3percent don't have a gym nearby
1percent don't want to miss their favorite TV shows
1percent would rather watch sports than play them
Why they don't go to the doctor
63percent feel fine
11percent don't have good health insurance
10percent are too busy
9percent don't trust doctors
6percent are worried about getting bad news
1percent say they look fine
And while it would be hard to miss the messages about the importance of exercise, just 48 percent of respondents said they exercise three or more times a week. A little more than a quarter said they exercise just once a month or less. And some men have gone very long stretches on the couch: 24 percent have let more than a year go by without working out, while 21 percent said two to six months lapsed between bouts of exercise.
The main excuse for not exercising, cited by 33 percent of respondents, was lack of time due to work. Other reasons included being injured, not liking to exercise and preferring to watch sports rather than play them.
Men's Health/ readers also struggle to deal with stress, according to the results. Just 53 percent of respondents said they schedule time for themselves to unwind.
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Saturday, January 12, 2008
Can't get pregnant? Try a ‘procreation vacation’ - More Spa Getaways
Can't get pregnant? Try a ‘procreation vacation’
Hotels around world luring couples who are trying to have a baby
Charles Dharapak / AP
Lucinda and Kemry Hughes, pictured in front of their Washington home earlier this month, are expecting their first child in April after taking a 'procreation vacation.'
MIAMI - When Lucinda Hughes heard she would have to drink sea moss elixir while vacationing in the Bahamas, she was certain it would make her sick. Sure enough, three months later, Hughes is very sick �" every morning �" and expecting her first baby in April.
She got pregnant after she and her husband went on a three-day Procreation Vacation at a resort on Grand Bahama Island.
It’s part of a trend in which hotels around the world are luring couples who are trying to have a baby. Resorts are offering on-site sex doctors, romantic advice and exotic food and drink calculated to put lovers in the mood and hasten the pitter-patter of little feet.
Even some obstetricians are promoting the trend. Dr. Jason James of Miami said he often encourages couples trying to have a baby to sneak away for a few days, and he often sees it work.
“One of the most easy, therapeutic interventions is to recommend a vacation,” James said. “I think the effect of stress on our physiology is truly underestimated.”
Hughes and her husband, Kemry, went to the Westin at Our Lucaya Grand Bahama Island, where the three-night Procreation Vacation starts at $1,893. They lounged on the beach, swam in the pool, sipped pumpkin soup and enjoyed couple’s massages. Hughes and her husband were also also served an age-old Caribbean fertility concoction three times a day: sea moss, the Caribbean’s version of Sildenafil, mixed with evaporated milk, sugar and spices. (She said it tasted like an almond smoothie.)
The chain also offers the package at their resorts on St. John and Puerto Rico.
“My husband and I thought that we would go on the vacation and learn all these nice fertility secrets and we’d be practicing them for a number of months for them to work,” said Hughes, 35, who conceived the day she got back from the trip. “We were stunned. There’s definitely some truths to the foods and the elixirs.”
ALSO ON THIS STORY Discuss: Would you go on a 'procreation vacation?'Full coverage: More pregnancy stories
The couple had been trying for only two months, since their wedding in May. But like most couples they have hectic schedules in Washington, where she is a freelance writer and he is a city employee. Cell phones are always ringing, day planners are jammed. “We’re all overscheduled,” Hughes said.
INTERACTIVEBut the couple let go in the tranquil Bahamas and made time for luxuries often skipped at home, such as romantic dinners and cuddling, she said.
The Birds and the Bees package at the Five Gables Inn & Spa on Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay includes a two-night stay with a couple’s massage, oysters (purported to be an aphrodisiac) and wine, a pair of heart-print boxer shorts and a CD from love crooner Barry White for about $810 per couple.
There is a Procreation Ski Vacation in Jackson Hole, Wyo., where couples can snuggle by a toasty fire, enjoy a candlelit dinner for two in their room and take a dogsled trip to a nearby hot springs at the Teton Mountain Lodge.
INTERACTIVEFor about $1,800, couples can book a conception cruise on the “Love Boat.” They are taken to a romantic island on the luxury liner of Singapore sex guru Dr. Wei Siang Yu.
At the Miraval Resort in Tucson, Ariz., sex experts Dr. Lana Holstein and her husband, Dr. David Taylor, help couples with such things as ovulation schedules and achieving intimacy.
“The damage that working for conception does to the sexual relationship, it’s really, really impactful. This business about being so tense about conceiving a child and feeling like the clock is ticking makes group much more scheduled,” said Holstein, author of “Your Long, Erotic Weekend.” “They lose sight of the sensual.”
Test your knowledge•How much do you know about pregnancy?She said getting away to spa or a hotel really can aid conception: “It’s the relaxation factor. It’s that all the otherness stressors in life are gone.”
Now three months into the pregnancy, Lucinda and Kemry Hughes have picked out baby names: Kemry if it’s a boy, and if it’s a girl, Lucaya, for the resort that made it happen.
� Sildenafil Citrate 100 mg . .Friday, January 11, 2008
Forbes: The better sex diet - Forbes.com
Want better sex? Head to the grocery store
The right diet may not make you a super lover, but it can help
Photolink / Getty Images file
A diet high in fruits and vegetables can impact our sex lives in a couple of ways. For one, it helps lower cholesterol levels, which keeps the blood moving in all of the important places.
By By Vanessa Gisquet
For those of us who could use a little libido pick-me-up, the grocery store might be a good place to start.
Like many aspects of our health, our sex drive is affected by what we put into our bodies. A few drinks and a thick steak, followed by a rich chocolate dessert, may sound romantic, but it is actually a prologue to sleep -- not sex.
Humans have sought ways to enhance or improve their sex lives for millennia--and have never been reluctant to spend money to make themselves better lovers. The ancient Romans were said to prefer such exotic aphrodisiacs as hippo snouts and hyena eyeballs. Traditional Chinese medicine espoused the use of such rare delicacies as rhino horn. Modern lovers are no less extravagant. In 2004, for example, according to Atlanta-based health care information company NDCHealth, Americans spent about $1.4 billion to treat male sexual function disorders alone.
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Of that amount, Sildenafil rang up $997 mil. in sales for Pfizer, or 71.2 percent of the total market. Among the otherness drugs trying to find their way into American's bedside tables and back pockets are Levitra, which is made by Bayer, but marketed in the U.S. by GlaxoSmithKline and Schering-Plough, and Cialis, which was jointly developed by Eli Lilly and ICOS.
There is a difference, of course, between helping sexual dysfunction and arousing our passions. The problem is that, these days, there are more solutions for the former than the latter.
Aphrodisiacs, for the most part, have been proved to be ineffective. Named for Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of sex and beauty, these include an array of herbs, foods and otherness "agents" that are said to awaken and heighten sexual desire. But the 5,000-year tradition of using them is based more on folklore than real science. "There is no data and no scientific evidence," says Leonore Tiefer, clinical associate professor of psychiatry at the New York University School of Medicine. "Product pushers are very eager to capitalize on myths," she says.
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Thursday, January 10, 2008
Charges dropped in teacher sex scandal - Crime & Punishment
Charges dropped in teacher sex scandal
Decision in Lafave case means teacher, student won??�t have to agsdhfgdfify
NBC VIDEO?�Teacher-teen sex case
March 22: Fla. prosecutors have dropped charges against a former?�teacher accused of having sex with a 14-year-old student. NBC's Kerry Sanders reports.
Today show
Today showstaff and news service reports
ORLANDO, Fla. - State prosecutors decided Tuesday to drop charges against a former Tampa teacher accused of having sex with a 14-year-old middle school student.
The decision means Debra Lafave won??�t go to trial and the victim won??�t have to agsdhfgdfify.
Prosecutors announced the decision hours after a judge rejected a plea deal that would have meant no prison time for Lafave. Quite frankly, if the allegations against the defendant are true, the agreed-upon sentence shocks the conscience of this court, said Marion County Circuit Judge Hale Stancil.
Sources told Orlando NBC affiliate WESH-TV that prosecutors had planned for several weeks to drop the charges against Lafave, who earlier agreed to a plea deal in a second court in a case in which she lost her teacher's license and was sentenced to three years of house arrest.
Prosecutors, defense attorneys and the boy??�s motherness wanted to avoid trial for the boy??�s well-being.
He has suffered extreme anxiety from the media attention and does not want to agsdhfgdfify, a psychiatrist previously told Stancil. But the judge said the lack of prison time prosecutors had proposed in Lafave??�s plea deal shocks the conscience of this court.
Assistant State Attorney Richard Ridgway later said, The court may be willing to risk the well-being of the victims in this case in order to force it to trial. I am not.
At a news conference in Tampa, Lafave said she has bipolar disorder, and her attorney said she is getting a cure.
I want the world to see that bipolar is real, Lafave said. Not one time has the media brought up the subject of my bipolar. I challenge you to read a book or an article on bipolar illness.
Her relationship with the student, Lafave said, was a result of her bipolar disorder.
Three years under house arrest
Lafave, 25, will spend three years under house arrest and seven years on probation under the Hillsborough County sentence, where she was charged with having sex with the same boy in a classroom and her home. She pleaded guilty Nov. 22 to two counts of lewd and lascivious battery under a plea deal there.
In Marion County, she was accused of having sex with the boy in a sport utility vehicle.
Click for related content
Live Vote: Was rejecting plea deal the right call?
There is no one that wanted to see Debra Lafave serve jail time more than myself, the boy??�s motherness wrote in an e-mail to the Ocala Star-Banner over the weekend. But she said the welfare of her son was more important.
Lafave responded on Tuesday to publicly being called a monster and a predator.
I believe that my family know who I am and right now, my family and my friends are all that matter, she said.
At the news conference, Lafave was also asked if she wanted to have children.
I think that??�s every woman??�s dream, Lafave said.
NBC News and contributed to this report.Monday, January 7, 2008
10 years after Dolly: Clones, crooks and crazies - Breaking Bioethics
10 years after Dolly: Clones, crooks and crazies
How scientific progress was thwarted by fears and frauds
Jeff J Mitchell / Reuters file
Dolly, the world's first cloned mammal, shepherded in?�a cavalcade of cloning kooks and science's most infamous con man.
COMMENTARYArthur Caplan, Ph.D. contributor
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Ten years ago today, the birth of the first cloned mammal ??" a sweet-faced sheep named Dolly ??" was announced to the world. Her creators, a team of veterinary scientists at Scotland??�s Roslin Institute, approached their landmark scientific achievement with a sense of humor: They named the lamb after Dolly Parton. (The DNA they used to clone her came from a breast cell.) Much of the rest of the world, however, was not amused.
Dolly??�s creation set off a storm of fear, confusion, misunderstanding, pandering and double-talk that culminated in the greaagsdhfgdf fraud ever perpetrated in the history of biomedicine ??" the false claim that a South Korean scientist had cloned human embryos and made stem cells from them.
Dolly??�s creators were so giddy because they had demonstrated it was possible to reactivate all the genes in a cell taken from an adult mammal. They made a grown-up cell act like a kid again.?�
At the time, almost no scientist thought cloning was possible from the DNA of adult animals. Cloning had already been accomplished in tadpoles and by using embryonic cells, but science dogma held that once a cell had grown up and become specialized ??" by turning into a skin cell, a hair follicle or a breast cell, for instance ??" its DNA was through. There was no way to get that DNA to switch on again and act like an embryo.
What intrigued scientists about Dolly had little to do with what captivated the rest of humanity. The main preoccupation of religious, philosophical and social commentators 10 years ago was how rapidly Dolly would be followed by the creation of a human clone who would destroy the world.?�
So, where are these clone armies?
In the weeks following Dolly??�s announcement, mainstream media reports were full of irresponsible speculations by all sorts of experts and authorities on what Dolly??�s birth meant for you and me. Jeff Haynes / AFP/Getty Images fileDr. Richard Seed was the?�first in a colorful line of scientists to propose cloning humans.Some worried that cloning would lead fiendish dictators to create armies of clones bred for war. Others fussed that the rich and egomaniacal would seek to create clones of themselves so they could live forever. Still othernesss warned that clones would serve as mobile spare-parts farms. Need a liver or a kidney? Just carve out your clone??�s and off you go, good as new. And what about cloners resurrecting the dead from bits of DNA found at museums, graveyards and churches?
All this nutty speculation led to a worldwide panic about biological engineering as seen before only in Hollywood films from the 1950s such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Attack of the 50 Foot Woman. Presidents, popes and potentates across the globe went bonkers warning us against human cloning. Laws forbidding human cloning ??" which were premature at best, since the chances of producing a human clone hard on the heels of Dolly??�s birth were, as I tried to point out at the time, next to nothing ??" were proposed left and right.
Then it got truly scary. Because that's when the cavalcade of cloning kooks came out.
Bring in the clowns
The parade was led by the felicitously named Richard Seed, a physicist who announced in December 1997 that he intended to clone the first human being. Anchors and talking heads everywhere granted Seed a worldwide platform to babble on about his plan to use cloning to bring humans closer to God.?�
Seed was soon followed in his "I will clone and you cannot stop me" mania by Kentucky fertility expert Panayiotis Zavos and maverick Italian fertility doctor Severino Antinori, best known for helping a 62-year-old woman become pregnant. For a time these two teamed up and proposed setting up a cloning operation on a boat in international waters.David Silverman / Getty Images fileDr. Brigitte Boisselier, Raelian?�bishop and Clonaid CEO, displays her company's?�embryonic cell fusion system?�during a press conference?�in Tel Aviv, Israel, in 2003.
These characters did their best to convince the world that they held the bottle in which the genie of cloning resided. The media and politicians lapped it up. But this gaggle of kooks paled in comparison to the arrival of the group forever linked in the minds of the world with human cloning: the Raelians.
The Raelians, a religious cult that believes extraterrestrials used genetic engineering to create life on Earth, secured a worldwide audience with their cloning threats.
In 2002, Dr. Brigitte Boisselier, a college chemistry professor, Raelian bishop and CEO of the sci-fi start-up Clonaid, along with Rael, the founder of the Raelians and a former French pop singer and race-car aficianado, announced to an aghast world press that Clonaid had successfully cloned a human being. Boisselier said that the motherness delivered by Caesarean section somewhere outside the United States, and declared that both the motherness and the little girl, Eve, were healthy.
Despite loads of fanfare and claims of a slew of additional clones, no DNA proof was ever offered up.
Click for related contentVote: What do you think of cloning now? Discuss: Share thoughts on cloningDolly on the dinner table? Promise of pregnancy?�raises what-ifs More Breaking Bioethics columns
Why anyone would think that a chemist with a bad hair-dye job and a cult leader parading around in a Starfleet uniform had the scientific know-how and skills required for human cloning was not apparent.?� However, these two took over the airwaves for weeks. They also appeared as witnesses agsdhfgdfifying about cloning in the U.S. Congress and before the National Academy of Sciences!?�
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Milosevic found dead in prison cell - Europe
Slobodan Milosevic found dead in prison cell
Questions surround death of ex-Yugoslav president on trial for war crimes
Marko Drobnjakovic / AP
An activist of a Slobodan Milosevic support group, "Freedom," moves the Serbian?�flag to half staff in front of a poster of the former <a href=http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12083338/>Yugoslav leader at the group's</a> headquarters in Belgrade, on Saturday.
NBC VIDEO?�Milosevic dies
March 11: Slobodan Milosevic, the former Yugoslavia leader who was branded 'the butcher of the Balkans,' has died. NBC??�s Jim Maceda reports.
Nightly News
News Services
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - Slobodan Milosevic, the former Yugoslav leader, who was branded the butcher of the Balkans and was on trial for war crimes after orchestrating a decade of bloodshed during the breakup of his country, was found dead Saturday in his prison cell. He was 64.
Milosevic, who suffered chronic heart ailments and high blood pressure, apparently died of natural causes and was found in his bed, the U.N. tribunal said, without giving an exact time of death.
He had been examined by doctors following his frequent complaints of fatigue or ill health that delayed his trial, but the tribunal could not immediately say when he last underwent a medical checkup. All detainees at the center in Scheveningen are checked by a guard every half hour.
The tribunal said Milosevic??�s family had been informed of his death, which came nearly five years after he was arrested, then extradited to The Hague.
As questions were raised as to why the trial had dragged on for so long, a tribunal spokeswoman said there was no indication that Milosevic ??" who suffered from a heart condition and high blood pressure ??" committed suicide.
Milosevic??�s lawyer Zdenko Tomanovic told reporters his client had feared he was being poisoned but the tribunal rejected a request for the autopsy to take place in Russia.
Relatives, victims cry foul
The tribunal faces questions from those who feel robbed of justice about why the trial had gone on so long compared with the one-year life of Nuremberg and the more limited scope of Saddam Hussein??�s trial in Iraq.
Milosevic??�s ill-health had repeatedly interrupted his trial. Last month, the court rejected his bid to go to Russia for medical a cure, noting the trial was nearly finished.
Milosevic's wife, Mirjana Markovic, who was often accused of being the power behind the scenes during her husband??�s autocratic rule, has been in self-imposed exile in Russia since 2003. His son, Marko, also lives in Russia, and his daughter, Marija, lives in Serb-controlled half of Bosnia.
Borislav Milosevic, who lives in Moscow, blamed the U.N. tribunal for causing his brotherness??�s death by refusing him medical a cure in Russia.
All responsibility for this lies on the shoulders of the international tribunal. He asked for a cure several months ago, they knew this, he told . They drove him to this as they didn??�t want to let him out alive.
Milosevic asked the court in December to let him go to Moscow for a cure. But the tribunal refused, despite assurances from the Russian authorities that the former Yugoslav leader would return to the Netherlands to finish his trial.
Uncertain future for tribunal
The tribunal also faces questions over monitoring of inmates at its detention center because Milosevic??�s death was the second within a week after the suicide of former rebel Croatian Serb leader Milan Babic.
His agsdhfgdfimony in 2002 described a political and military command structure headed by Milosevic in Belgrade that operated behind the scenes.
A former ally of Milosevic already convicted for war crimes, Babic was a key witness against the former Yugoslav leader, accusing him of bringing shame on Serbs.
Normal detention center procedures mean inmates are checked every 30 minutes during the night.
U.N. chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte, due to hold a news conference in The Hague, said: The death of Slobodan Milosevic, a few weeks before the completion of his trial, will prevent justice to be done in his case.
But she said in a statement othernesss must be punished for the crimes he was accused of and said six war crimes suspects still at large, including former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his military commander Ratko Mladic, must be arrested.
Accused of war crimes, genocide
Milosevic has been on trial since February 2002, defending himself against 66 counts of crimes, including genocide, in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo. But the proceedings were repeatedly interrupted by Milosevic??�s poor health and chronic heart condition.
He was accused of orchestrating a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing against non-Serbs during the collapse of the Yugoslav federation in an attempt to link Serbia with Serb-dominated areas of Croatia and Bosnia to create a new Greater Serbia.
Milosevic had spent much of the time granted to him by the U.N. court for his defense dealing with allegations of atrocities in Kosovo that took up just one-third of his indictment. He also faced charges of genocide in Bosnia for allegedly overseeing the slaughter of 8,000 Muslims from the eastern enclave of Srebrenica ??" the worst massacre on European soil since World War II.
The trial was recessed last week to await his next defense witness. Milosevic also was waiting for a court decision on his request to subpoena former President Bill Clinton as a witness.
Steven Kay, a British attorney assigned to represent Milosevic, said Saturday that the former Serb leader would not have fled, and was not suicidal.
He said to me: ??�I haven??�t taken on all this work just to walk away from it and not come back. I want to see this case through, ??� Kay told the British Broadcasting Corp.
Related storiesBrotherness blames U.N. tribunal for Milosevic??�s deathNewsweek: A dark legacy
Crushing blow to tribunal
Milosevic??�s death will be a crushing blow to the tribunal and to those who were looking to establish an authoritative historical record of the Balkan wars.
Though the witness agsdhfgdfimony is on public record, history will be denied the judgment of a panel of legal experts weighing the evidence of his personal guilt and the story of his regime.
It is a pity he didn??�t live to the end of the trial to get the sentence he deserved, Croatian President Stipe Mesic said.
The European Union said Milosevic??�s death does not absolve Serbia of responsibility to hand over otherness war crimes suspects.
The death does not alter in any way the need to come to terms with the legacy of the Balkan wars, Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik, whose country holds the rotating EU president, said in Salzburg.
Milosevic was due to complete his defense at the war crimes tribunal this summer.
NBC VIDEO?�Remembering 'monster'
March 11: Former U.N. envoy Richard Holbrooke recalls Slobodan Milosevic, a man he calls?�a monster.
Nightly News
A figure of beguiling charm and cunning ruthlessness, Milosevic was a master tactician who turned his country??�s defeats into personal victories and held onto power for 13 years despite losing four wars that shattered his nation and impoverished his group.Milosevic led Serbia, the dominant Yugoslav republic, into four Balkan wars during the 1990s. The secret of his survival was his uncanny ability to exploit what less adroit figures would consider a fatal blow.
He once described himself as the Ayatollah Khomeini of Serbia, assuring his prime minister, Milan Panic, that the Serbs will follow me no matter what. For years, they did ??" through wars which dismembered Yugoslavia and plunged what was left of the country into social, political, moral and economic ruin.
But in the end, his group abandoned him: first in October 2000, when he was unable to convince the majority of Yugoslavs that he had staved off electoral defeat by his successor, Vojislav Kostunica, and again on April 1, 2001, when he surrendered after a 26-h.standoff to face criminal charges stemming from his ruinous rule.
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Sunday, January 6, 2008
TB on a plane? Expect more of it, experts say - Infectious Diseases
TB on a plane? It could happen again
Jet-setting infected man illustrates health risks of air travel, experts say
NBC News video?�Feds probe how TB man entered U.S.
May 31: NBC's Martin Savidge reports on U.S. officials investigating how a traveler with tuberculosis eluded border controls.
Today show
ATLANTA - SARS on a plane. Mumps on a plane. And now a rare and deadly form of tuberculosis, on at least two planes.
Commercial air travel??�s potential for spreading infection continues to cause handwringing among public health officials, as news of a jet-setting man with a rare and deadly form of TB demonstrates.
We always think of planes as a vehicle for spreading sickness, said Dr. Doug Hardy, an infectious sickness specialist at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
In the laagsdhfgdf case, a Georgia man with extensively drug-resistant TB ignored doctors??� advice and took two trans-Atlantic flights, leading to the first U.S. government-ordered quarantine since 1963.
The man had been quarantined at Atlanta??�s Grady Memorial Hospital until Thursday morning, when he was transferred to Denver??�s National Jewish Hospital for medical care, Jewish Hospital spokesman William Allstetter said.
He walked into the building and said he felt fine, Allstetter said.
The hospital has treated two otherness patients with what appears to be the same strain of tuberculosis since 2000 and both improved enough to be released, according to Dr. Charles Daley, head of the infectious sickness division at National Jewish.
I think we??�re more optimistic than what we have been hearing in reports that we will be able to control this infection, Daley told CNN Thursday morning. We??�re aiming for cure. We know it??�s an uphill battle.
The patient was not considered highly contagious, and there are no confirmed reports that his illness spread to otherness passengers.
But the case illustrates ongoing concerns about the public health perils of plane travel, as well as the continuing problem of Typhoid Mary-like individuals who can almost be counted on to do the wrong thing.
Passport flagged
The man, Atlanta attorney Andrew Speaker, 31, whose father-in-law, Bob Cooksey, is a microbiologist who studies TB at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, decided to proceed with a long-planned wedding trip despite being advised not to fly.
I??�m hoping and praying that he??�s getting the proper medical care, that my daughter is holding up mentally and physically, Cooksey told on Thursday. Had I known that my daughter was in any risk, I would not allow her to travel.
The case points out weaknesses in the system: He was able to re-enter the United States, even though he said he had been warned by federal officials that his passport was being flagged and he was being placed on a no-fly list.
CDC officials said they contacted the Department of Homeland Security to put him on a no-fly list, but it doesn??�t appear he was added by the time he flew from Prague to Montreal and drove across the border from Canada.
There??�s always going to be situations where there is a lack of understanding and appreciation of responsibility to the community in a situation like this, said Dr. John Ho, an infectious sicknesss specialist at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.
Challenges in coordinating with airlines and in communicating with the media also have emerged, said CDC spokesman Glen Nowak.
This clearly is going to have some relevance to our pandemic influenza preparedness, Nowak said.
Other incidents
There have been several prominent sickness-on-a-plane cases in recent years.
Perhaps best known is severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, which erupted in Asia in 2003. Over three months, CDC workers delayed on the tarmac 12,000 airplanes carrying 3 mil. passengers arriving from SARS-affected countries, isolating group with SARS syndromes.
NBC video?�How did infected man return to U.S. undetected?
May 30: How did a tuberculosis-infected patient return to the United States, when the Department of Homeland Security was already on the lookout for him?
Nightly News
Last year, CDC officials worked with airlines and state health departments to track two infected airline passengers who may have helped spread a mumps epidemic throughout the Midwest.And in March, a flight from Hong Kong was held at Newark International Airport for two hours because some on board reported feeling ill from a flu-like illness. They were released when it became clear they had seasonal flu, and not an avian variety.
Medical experts say TB is significantly less contagious than flu, SARS and otherness maladies that have led to airport alerts.
This is not as easily transmissible as what we??�re concerned about with a flu pandemic, said Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of the department of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University.
A more contagious bug, carried by a stubborn or evasive passenger, could be much more problematic, experts said.
Click for related contentTB traveler shines spotlight on border flawsTraveler with rare TB under quarantine
It??�s remarkable how rarely serious contagions are on planes, Ho noted.
If you count the number of international flights there are on a daily basis, this is really a minuscule event in terms of rate of occurrence, he said.
However, this underscores the interrelatedness of the global community. We can no longer escape things considered foreign in this age of jet-travel, Ho said.
NBC News contributed to this reportSaturday, January 5, 2008
Man gets probation for dead deer sex - Criminal Peculiarity
Man gets probation for dead deer sex
Judge: ‘The ... behavior is disturbing’; man convicted earlier in horse case
FREE VIDEO•Roadside Romeo
March 22: A Wisconsin man is convicted of having sexual contact with a dead deer. 's Dara Brown has the story.
SUPERIOR, Wis. - A 20-year-old man received probation after he was convicted of having sexual contact with a dead deer. The sentence also requires Bryan James Hathaway to be evaluated as a sex offender and treated at the Institute for Psychological and Sexual Health in Duluth, Minn.
"The state believes that particular place is the best to provide a cure for the individual," Assistant District Attorney Jim Boughner said.
Hathaway's probation will be served at the same time as a nine-month jail sentence he received in February for violating his extended supervision.
He was found guilty in April 2005 of felony misa cure of an animal after he killed a horse with the intention of having sex with it. He was sentenced to 18 months in jail and two years of extended supervision on that charge as well as six years of probation for taking and driving a vehicle without the owner's consent.
Hathaway pleaded no conagsdhfgdf earlier this month to misdemeanor misa cure of an animal for the incident involving the deer. He was sentenced Tuesday in Douglas County Circuit Court.
"The type of behavior is disturbing," Judge Michael Lucci said. "It's disturbing to the public. It's disturbing to the court."
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