The Unique Nutritional Properties of Mushrooms

"Mushrooms are defined as a fungus that forms a fleshy above-ground reproductive structure called the' mushroom fruit body,'" he explains.

Mushrooms should not be confused with mold and fungi however, which do not form fleshy fruit bodies. To learn more about the details of how mushrooms grow and propagate, please listen to the interview or read through the transcript. The common button mushroom, while not as 'interesting' as its more exotic cousins, is an excellent low-calorie food, especially for diabetics. It contains a number of valuable nutrients, including:

• Protein
• Enzymes
• B vitamins (especially niacin)
• Vitamin D2

However, Farrar's focus has been on growing various gourmet mushroom species, particularly the wood decaying mushroom species, which differ greatly from your average button mushroom in terms of biology, nutrition and medicinal value, as well as in the production and methodology of growing them.

"By virtue of them being primary decomposers, they have some unique nutritional and also health benefits to them," Farrar explains. "I tended to focus on species like Maitake, Shiitake, Enokitake, oyster mushrooms, brown beech mushrooms; mushrooms that people over the last 20 years were not really that familiar with."

The wood decaying mushrooms, which are preferred in Asia and parts of Europe, are quite different in terms of flavors and textures. They also tend to have valuable medicinal properties that differ from the button mushroom. And we've barely scratched the surface when it comes to understanding the value and importance of mushrooms as we've only classified about 10 percent of all available species.

"I'm continually humbled by my ignorance of what's going on in this incredible complex world of fungi," Farrar says. "It's just mind boggling. Even with the well-studied species, nearly every week they're finding a new bioactive component… Maybe it's a polysaccharide, maybe it's an enzyme, a protein, an antioxidant. They are continually finding new things that have profound effects when we consume them as a food or as a dietary supplement."

Mushrooms are "Superfoods"

According to Farrar, the effect mushrooms can have on human health is multifaceted, but they're most well-known for their immune-boosting properties. Long chain polysaccharides, particularly alpha- and beta glucan molecules, are primarily responsible for the mushrooms' beneficial effect on your immune system.

"They're host mediated responses, meaning that they are not going in like a pharmaceutical medicine and [like] a sledgehammer forcing your body in a particular way. They interact through your immune system itself by stimulating it and making it ready and efficient," he explains.

Mushrooms are excellent sources of antioxidants in general as they contain polyphenols and selenium, which are common in the plant world. But they also contain antioxidants that are unique to mushrooms. One such antioxidant is ergothioneine, which scientists are now beginning to recognize as a 'master antioxidant.' Interestingly, it's an amino acid that contains sulfur, and if you listened to my interview with Dr. Seneff on the highly underestimated importance of sulfur, you may recognize why this particular antioxidant may be of particular importance for human health, as many are severely deficient in sulfur.

"[I]t's one of the only antioxidants identified so far that our cells [use as] a transport system to actively take ergothioneine across the cell membrane into the cell, to the points of oxidative stress," Farrar explains. "It's a very significant antioxidant. It's probably eventually going to be called a vitamin… they barely even found ways to quantify it effectively. Mushrooms are an excellent source of this antioxidant. We can only get it from our diet. It's only produced by fungi and certainly soil inhabiting bacteria."

A 2009 study in the journal Nature discusses the importance of ergothioneine, describing it as "an unusual sulfur-containing derivative of the amino acid, histidine," which appears to have a very specific role in protecting your DNA from oxidative damage. So, if Farrar's assertions that your body needs ergothioneine, which is fairly exclusive to mushrooms, to effectively transport ergothioneine into your cells, it's easy to see how mushrooms may be an important part of an optimal diet. If you don't like to eat them whole, you can also find them in supplement form, either as an extract or whole food supplement, which I'll discuss more in a moment.

The Immune Enhancing Effects of Mushrooms

According to Farrar, many of the immune benefits obtained from mushrooms are due to the glyconutrients (complex sugars) contained in the fruit body and the mycelia.

"The vital information that can be contained in these sugars is astounding," he says. "…The way they communicate is… through receptor sites on your cells. It's described as a lock and a key. There are receptor sites depending on the physical structure of the polysaccharides, the side branches, and the substitutions on it, [and] they will lock on to certain components of your immune system and activate it much like they would be activated by coming into contact with the bacteria.
It's very profound effects, and we don't fully understand them… But it's really these long chained polysaccharides (that are immense complex structures), a lot of times bound with proteins or amino acids or different side chains, that have the effect on your immune system."

From a practical standpoint, what this means is that you can effectively elicit a very broad-based immune response by consuming a variety of different mushrooms of different species. Most likely, this is exactly what our ancestors used to do, and by eating a diverse variety of foods within each food group, you're giving your body everything it needs, thereby optimizing your genetic expression.

How Mushrooms Helped Win a Kentucky Derby

Now, some may argue that you typically would not consume the mycelia of the mushroom—which is the thread-like vegetative part of the mushroom that branches through the soil—because if you were to pick it in the wild, you'd typically snap off the top (the fruit body and stem), leaving the rest in the ground. However, Farrar points out that there's compelling evidence indicating that the mycelia have very valuable health properties.
Studies involving thoroughbred race horses, for example, offer a glimpse into what benefits mushroom products that include the mycelia might harbor. Farrar tells the story of how, in 2007, they convinced an East Coast trainer to put all the horses in his stable on a mushroom blend product developed by Farrar and his team.

"It contained a lot of the Cordyceps species, which is widely recognized as a performance mushroom, enhancing energy production. It had a number of other species and it helped with muscle recovery after strenuous exercise.
Basically, the 2007 Kentucky Derby winner 'Street Sense' was a horse that was on our product. The owner and trainer attributed a lot of the success to that. Interestingly enough, part of that was the performance energy component… another part of it was basically a behavioral aspect. It was totally unexpected on our part. The trainer said that [when the horse was] given this blend of mushroom… it was [like] a different horse… racehorses tend to be very fidgety and very high strung and they can be distracted. It's very difficult to focus their attention. They said once they started along this regimen of a daily dose of this mycelial blend of mushrooms, its trainability and focus [improved]; it was a different animal.
So instead of a lethargic sort of calming effect, it was more like an alert focus... That combined with the performance aspects, the muscle recovery, and the energy generation, was enough to make a difference they thought. Since then they have been spokesman for our products."

Others have found the same effects giving Farrar's product to their pets. Owners of elderly dogs in particular have reported that their dogs start acting like puppies again when taking it.

Usage and Dosage Recommendations

When it comes to mushroom supplements, there are two primary types:

• Mushroom concentrates or extracts—Most of these are so-called hot water extracts, where either the mushroom mycelia or fruit body is boiled for extended periods of time to extract the long chain polysaccharides. Farrar explains:
  
  "What you get basically is a concentrated form of these beta glucans. But the enzymes, the proteins, the amino acids, the dietary fiber, mostly the antioxidants, are either denatured, destroyed, or simply discarded.
  
  While you do get a very concentrated amount of these – generally, they also try to purify it to get them down to a minimum of variation [so] they can standardize it… Not to say that those aren't valuable products. In extreme cases of advanced cancer, tumors, all sorts of things, that is a very appropriate thing… Particularly as a complimentary therapy."
• Whole food/Raw mushrooms—Consuming the mushrooms raw or using a whole food mushroom (powdered pill) product is generally a better alternative if you're reasonably healthy and looking to maintain optimal health, as they help maintain ideal function of your various systems as opposed to imparting a direct effect. Most of the knowledge about mushrooms come from ancient Chinese medicine where mushrooms are regarded as tonics. Tonics are considered to have non-specific beneficial effects across several systems of your body that do not decline over time.
  
  If you choose to eat your mushrooms raw, make sure they are organically grown, as their flesh easily absorb air and soil contaminants. Likewise, you'll want to make sure any product you buy is certified organic for the same reason.
  
  Furthermore, Farrar points out that whole mushrooms also provide healthful dietary fiber that act as "prebiotic platforms for the growth of probiotic organisms in your gut," which is very important for digestive health. This is yet another reason to opt for a whole food mushroom product.

There are no toxicities or resistance build-up associated with mushrooms, Farrar says. Your body will simply use what it needs and expel the rest. One of the most famous medicinal mushrooms is Reishi, revered as "the mushroom of immortality" by the Chinese, who typically take it every day.

"If you take a massive dose of these mycelial products, you're not going to overdose on them… You can't overdose," he says. "Typically when people start on these products, for the first seven to 10 days we recommend a double dose of it to load your system, and thereafter a moderate dose of one to a couple of grams a day. It's all that's needed.
When you're talking about the isolates of mushrooms, the active ingredients, you're talking about milligram dosages. If you're talking about the raw whole food, anywhere from one gram up to 30 grams for very severe cases of cancer cases. People are taking relatively massive doses of it and have had phenomenal effects."  

Typically, one to two grams is enough for a tonic effect, taken on a daily basis. Farrar recommends taking the product on an empty (or nearly empty) stomach, but it can be taken with moderate amounts of food or liquids.

How to Identify a High Quality Product

In the interview, Farrar describes the techniques used within his industry to produce different kinds of mushroom products, so for more information, please listen to the interview in its entirety or read through the transcript.
One way involves a fermentation process, which can be used for both the fruit body and the mycelia. The cells walls are different in the mycelia compared to the fruit body; they're more easily digested, making it easier to reap the benefits from the bioactive compounds therein. The technique involves the use of oats, which may raise concerns about gluten content. However, Farrar allays such fears stating that gliadin cannot be detected in the final fermented product. So in its finished form, it's a gluten-free product.
In a nutshell, when evaluating mushroom supplements, the points of differentiation between products can be broken down to:

• Isolates versus whole foods
• Solid state fermentation versus submerged technology
• The type of substrate (grain) used for the fermentation
• Percentage of fruit body to mycelium
• Conventionally grown versus organic

Solid state fermentation is superior to submerged technology when growing the mycelia. Particularly if you're looking for a complex matrix of nutrition and bioactive compounds.
So-called 'submerged fermentation' is typically used by companies focused on extracting particular isolates, and this accounts for up to 70 percent of the products on the market. It's a more 'drug-based' approach that can be beneficial for certain health ailments. However, for a more comprehensively beneficial effect, you'll want to look for a product using 'solid state fermentation,' which is based on the whole food approach where the final product contains more or most of the original compounds and co-factors.
Within the whole food approach, manufacturers may use a variety of different substrate grains for the fermentation process, such as oats, rye, rice, millet, or milo. Farrar tends to favor those using oats, as they tend to have better nutrition than those using rice.
As for the ratio of fruit body to mycelium, Farrar recommends opting for products that contain more of the mycelium. "There is more research directly with the mycelial stage of the mushroom, by far, than the fruit body stage," he explains. He also discusses several other reasons for opting for mycelium, such as:

• The mycelia stage of the mushroom is easier to standardize and keep contained
• Mushrooms grown to the fruit body stage for harvesting opens it up to environmental factors that can be more difficult to control, so there's more variation in the quality
• Mushroom fruit bodies attract airborne contaminants, both biological and industrial, so there's greater risk for contamination

Last but certainly not least, you have the option of simply eating the mushrooms raw, or very lightly cooked. Excellent choices include maitake, shiitake, and king trumpet.

"They are so versatile. You can eat them in anything," Farrar says. "In the United States, our annual per capita consumption of mushrooms is about four pounds a year. In parts of China and Japan, it's 20, 25, 30 pounds! Even Canada has twice the consumption of mushrooms that we have. Mushrooms should be a bigger part of our diet."

Source:  Video Transcript

Related Links:

  Mushrooms: Your Newest Vitamin D Source

  6 Ways Mushrooms Can Save the World

  Top 12 Foods for Healthy Immune Response

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was a very remarkable man who started learning very early in life and never stopped.

At 5, began studying under his cousin's tutor.

At 9, studied Latin, Greek and French.

At 14, studied classical literature and additional languages.

At 16, entered the College of William and Mary.

At 19, studied Law for 5 years starting under George Wythe.

At 23, started his own law practice.

At 25, was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses.

At 31, wrote the widely circulated "Summary View of the Rights of British America ” and retired from his law practice.

At 32, was a Delegate to the Second Continental Congress.

At 33, wrote the Declaration of Independence ..

At 33, took three years to revise Virginia 's legal code and wrote a Public Education bill and a statute for Religious Freedom.

At 36, was elected the second Governor of Virginia , succeeding Patrick Henry.

At 40, served in Congress for two years.

At 41, was the American minister to France , and negotiated commercial treaties with European nations along with Ben Franklin and John Adams.

At 46, served as the first Secretary of State under George Washington.

At 53, served as Vice President and was elected president of the American Philosophical Society.

At 55, drafted the Kentucky Resolutions, and became the active head of Republican Party.

At 57, was elected the third president of the United States ...

At 60, obtained the Louisiana Purchase , doubling the nation's size.

At 61, was elected to a second term as President.

At 65, retired to Monticello ..

At 80, helped President Monroe shape the Monroe Doctrine.

At 81, almost single-handedly created the University of Virginia , and served as its first president.

At 83, died on the 50th anniversary of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence, along with John Adams

Thomas Jefferson knew because he himself studied the previous failed attempts at government. He understood actual history, the nature of God, his laws and the nature of man. That happens to be way more than what most understand today.. Jefferson really knew his stuff. A voice from the past to lead us in the future:

John F. Kennedy held a dinner in the white House for a group of the brightest minds in the nation at that time. He made this statement: "This is perhaps the assembly of the most intelligence ever to gather at one time in the White House with the exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone."

"When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe .." -- Thomas Jefferson

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."

-- Thomas Jefferson

"It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world."

-- Thomas Jefferson

"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them." -- Thomas Jefferson

"My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government." -- Thomas Jefferson

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson

"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government."

-- Thomas Jefferson

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." -- Thomas Jefferson

"To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical."

-- Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson said in 1802:

"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.

If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property - until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."

I wish we could get this out to everyone!!!

"A MUST READ" one of the best inspirational stories I have heard

A TRUE STORY OF A SUCESSFUL MAN THAT WAS RACIALLY DISCRIMATED IN A JOB, AND NOW OWNS A BIG FACTORY IN PENANG……..READ ON ,IT IS A SHORT STORY.

This is good, fantastic... a story that needs to be told down the generations of Malaysian Chinese.

This is a very good and inspirational story of a motivated Chinese man in Malaysia.....

I was 18 in 1997, I came home  half completed my high school in England because my father was bankrupted. He was a contractor, bankrupted because the licensee, Taib's uncle defaulted on paying royalty to the Government.  Pocketed all the money my father gave.

Together with 6 of my friends we went to Komat in Sama Jaya to look for jobs as they only required MCE. To help out the family.

The HR lady was an Iban, on our turn she refused to give us application forms and demanded our qualifications. Without even understanding us, we were turned away. On further enquiry from us, she said, the 250 posts were all filled. It was 10.25am and the application counter just opened at 9.30am. Asked the guard to show us out.

Komat repeated publication for the posts for another week. We went back again and again were rejected. This time she asked us to look for jobs in China.My uncle promptly help the six of us to look for jobs from his contacts. Ironically, we all ended up in Shenzhen China, working in a micro circuitboard plant.

We were trained by some American to be testers as we know English. We did well, so well that within 4 years, we developed a special test using Argon emission from induced current. Testing the board even more thoroughly and 40+ times the efficiency we were doing
After a few months of trial, the company decided to subcontract all their circuitboard testing to us using the new testing system and they got the test done at a fraction of the cost doing it manually.

Within 3 years, we are testing all the circuit board of all the companies in Shenzhen then.

BELIEVE ME, WE ARE EACH NETTING 2 TO 3 MILLIONS US A YEAR.

We spread to include contracts in a lot of companies of China, US, Germany and Finland. We now employ 7600 people and 1600 from Sarawak. Bumiputra or non-bumiputra who made the grade we are after.
Why I am writing this? 

Today my company has been operating in Penang for 6 months. We are employing 200 people.I was conducting interviews for senior staff for the jobs.

One of the people that came in for the interview was the same Iban lady from Komat 10+ years ago. The lady who turned me away. The lady who told me I was not eligible for the job. The lady who told me the posts were filled when yet to select the first applicant of 250 and the lady who asked me to go to China to look for a job.

I had the satisfaction to tell her all these if I wanted to. Instead  I listened to all her talk about how great she had done in her former employment and now she was out on a huge VSS. How well she will do for me with her experience and how much she would like to work for a Chinese boss.

She said she is the daugther of an influential bumiputra man and her husband is doing well in business. I let her rave on with her diatribe.

Finally, when she realised she the one doing all the talking and I was not even asking questions, she stopped.

Finally I said, I know her. She was shocked, for now I was properly suited up and not in T-shirt and jeans like the first time we met.

I simply said I like to thank her for asking me to go back to China to look for work. I did, I made it and what she is seeing today and the brochure I placed in front of her is in fact the SUCCESS from disgust and disappointment of being a Malaysian Chinese!!

She was murmuring to herself. I told her, she will get a job from me but not as the senior HR, not as the assistant HR but as an assistant to the assistant HR. She was shocked, happy and almost cried. Then she confessed that her husband was a bankrupt and her 3 children had to be in the care of her sister.

I told her, she meant nothing to me, her race meant nothing to me and what she had done also meant nothing to me. The insults, the frustrations and the anguish of a young man trying to help his father. I told her she would be  treated like everyone. She must get her job done or she'd be out like anybody. I told her, I do not care for YBs, bumi policies or business opportunities in Malaysia. I do not need Malaysia.

I CAME BECAUSE I AM BEGGED TO COME, BY THE GOVERNMENT OF MALAYSIA.
 

Justin Hong

How the Telecom Industry Seeks to Confuse About the Dangers of Cell Phones

By Dr. Mercola

A new report published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) claims to have found no association between long-term use of cell phones and brain or central nervous system tumors.
But like the Interphone study, which also initially reported no link between cell phones and brain cancer, this finding is seriously flawed and only adding to the false shroud of safety that the telecom industry is seeking to create.
As Devra Davis, PhD, cancer epidemiologist and president of the Environmental Health Trust, stated, the BMJ study results are "unsurprising, biased and misleading," and:

"From the way it was set up originally, this deeply flawed study was designed to fail to find an increased risk of brain tumors tied with cellphone use."

BMJ Study Excluded Heaviest Cell Phone Users from the Analysis

The BMJ study, "Use of mobile phones and risk of brain tumours: update of Danish cohort study," is a follow-up to an earlier Danish analysis of 358,403 mostly male cell phone subscribers over the age of 30 during the period 1990-2007. 
Unfortunately, the study simply extends the flaws found in the original study (which incidentally also found no cancer risk) by not only taking into account the fact that cell phone use and wireless exposure has changed dramatically even in the last few years, but also not including those most at risk of cell phone damage in the report: heavy business users.
Davis explains:

"In order for any study of a relatively rare disease like brain tumors to find a change in risk, millions must be followed for decades. By extending an earlier analysis on the same group of cellphone users this new report provides unsurprising, biased and misleading conclusions.
It uses no direct information on cell phone use, fails to consider recent and rapidly changing nature of and exposure to microwave radiation from cellphones, cordless phones and other growing sources, and excludes those who would have been the heaviest users—namely more than 300,000 business people in the 1990s who are known to have used phones four times as much as those in this study."

Conveniently, more than 300,000 business users were removed from the study, which represented nearly 30 percent of the original group. By excluding those who would have been the heaviest users, it is impossible to take the study results at face value, especially considering that a cell phone "user," as defined by the study, was anyone who made one call a week for 6 months.
Adding to this the fact that cell phone calls were more expensive to make several years ago, which means many likely kept their calls shorter than nowadays, when unlimited minutes are the norm, means that the group's average exposure was far less than what we're seeing today, and unlikely to provoke a noticeably increased risk during the study period.
There were other problems uncovered as well …

Seriously Understated Cell Phone Risks Skewed Study Findings

In order for a study to hold any scientific weight, it must compare its test group against a group of controls. In this case, the study compared cell phone subscribers to "non-subscribers," who therefore should have been unaffected by cell phone radiation in order to provide an accurate base-line against which the risks of cell phone use could be measured.
However, as a critique of the study released by ElectromagneticHealth.org reported, the non-subscribers became cell phone users later on -- a change that was not accounted for in the study.

" … the report analyzed the rates of brain tumors that occurred between 1990-2007 in those who began using cellphones after 1987, compared to those who were non-subscribers when the study started. This … understates risk, because most of those who began as 'non-subscribers' to cell phone service (i.e. the 'controls' at the time the cohort was collected) became cell phone users later on, and accumulated almost as many years (on average per person) as the 'exposed' subscribers.
Hence, the comparison to the population not contained in the subscriber sample is a comparison between two exposed groups.
Cell phone users who began using cell phones after 1995 and those under the age of 30 were not considered 'subscribers' in the study (as with the business users and pay-as-you go users), thus significantly diluting the results and underestimating the risk."

When this flaw was mathematically corrected by Michael Kundi and colleagues from the Medical University of Vienna in the earlier Danish study, they actually found a significantly increased risk for brain tumors! Davis also points out that the current study also found increased risks that are not being recognized by the researchers or reported by the media as such.
Davis states:

"Statistical significance tests are tools used in science to help understand the chance that a finding is real. In fact, the article reports a significant increased risk of a very rare form of glioma of the cerebral ventricle based on eight cases but the authors chose to make no mention of this significant finding. In this instance despite the small number the finding is significant.
Statistical analyses provide tools, but do not provide rules, for interpreting evidence. This means that findings can be important even when they do not reach significance statistically.  
In this report, the authors reject all other findings of borderline significance completely.  In a study of relatively rare diseases such as brain tumor, the failure to obtain statistical significance should not be confused with a lack of public health importance. In fact, most of the reported numbers of brain tumors in this article give estimated risks where the result goes from below 1 (a negative result meaning no increased risk), to above 1 (a positive result indicating in some instances a doubled or greater risk).
All of the few well-designed case-control studies of this issue have found significantly increased risk. Thus, these borderline findings of increased risk may well signal an important association."

Cell Phone Safety Spin is Ongoing

You simply cannot take the word of the CTIA (the wireless industry trade group) for granted when it states that "no research has found cell phones to be a danger to health." They misinterpret and misrepresent certain studies while ignoring a large portion of the published research showing harm!
Stating that cell phones "are not a danger to health" is an utter farce—which some would call a fraud—being perpetrated on the American people, and all other citizens of the world.
According to Camilla Rees of ElectromagneticHealth.org,

"It highlights the lack of integrity in governments, which more and more are turning a blind eye to public health while supporting commercial interests."

I wrote about the serious flaws of the Interphone study when it was first released. The massive Interphone study, which was meant to finally provide definitive evidence on the safety, or lack thereof, of cell phones cost more than $30 million (funded in part by the mobile phone industry) to carry out, and involved at least 50 scientists from 13 countries. But the International EMF Collaborative found that the study seriously underestimates the brain cancer risk from cell phone use.
Some of the key design flaws of the Interphone study mirror those in the current BMJ study, such as leaving out key groups of study participants and using exposed subjects as a "control" group. For example, flaws of the Interphone study include:

• Results were only provided for brain cancers (gliomas) and meningiomas, but not tumors within the 20 percent of the brain's volume irradiated by cell phones
• The 5-year-old results are woefully inadequate as a gauge of risk today, as adults and children now speak on cell phones many hours a day compared to only 2 to 2.5 hours a month at the time the study was conducted
• Categorizing subjects who used portable phones (which emit the same microwave radiation as cell phones) as 'unexposed', thus comparing subjects who were actually 'exposed' with others who were 'exposed' as a means to gauge risk
• Excluding people who had died, or were too ill to be interviewed, as a consequence of their brain tumor
• Excluding children and young adults, who are more vulnerable to the effects of radiation and who now use cell phones heavily

The Cell Phone Cancer Risk is Real

The Interphone Study Group did eventually acknowledge that "heavy users" of cell phones—which is MOST people today, including children and teens—had an approximately doubled risk of glioma, a life threatening and often-fatal brain tumor, after 10 years of cell phone use. This should be a wake-up call for all except those in deepest denial.
And here's the most shocking piece of evidence of this risk: their definition of a "heavy user" was someone using a cell phone for about two hours per month! So how could any rational objective scientist claim that this study proved cell phones safe, when you double your risk of a fatal brain tumor after using your cell phone for just two hours a month for 10 years?
For more information about the Interphone study, I recommend reading the report, "Cellphones and Brain Tumors: 15 Reasons for Concern, Science, Spin and the Truth Behind Interphone." After closely reviewing the facts and the flaws of the Interphone study, the report concluded:

• There is a risk of brain tumors from cell phone use
• Telecom-funded studies underestimate the risk of brain tumors
• Children have larger risks than adults for brain tumors

On May 21, 2011, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a committee of 27 scientists from 14 different countries working on behalf of the World Health Organization (WHO), also concluded that exposure to cell phone radiation is a "possible carcinogen" and classified it into the 2B category. This is the same category as the pesticide DDT, lead, gasoline engine exhaust, burning coal and dry cleaning chemicals, just to name a few.
The group did not perform any new research; rather the decision is based on a review of the previously published evidence, including the Interphone study results published so far (about 50% have still not been released). This is the same evidence that the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the American Cancer Society (ACS), among others, have previously waved aside, calling it "reassuring," and claiming it showed "no evidence" of harm.
Camilla Rees, MBA, founder of ElectromagneticHealth.org, actually believes that the new BMJ study was released specifically to counter the IARC cancer classification, and also points out similarities between the BMJ study spin and a previously released, and also heavily misleading, study that claimed children have no brain tumor risk from cell phones – which incidentally was conducted by some of the same researchers as the BMJ study.
Rees notes:

"This churning of the handicapped Danish cohort study is likely intended to counter the recent WHO IARC classification of cell phone radiation as a Class 2B 'Possible Carcinogen.' The misrepresentation to the media evidenced here parallels the recent misleading CEFALO brain tumor study that purported to show that there is no higher risk of brain cancer in children. 
In fact, that study did find increased risk of brain tumors in children that the authors dismissed. But, experts in pediatric oncology understand that brain tumors in children could well occur in shorter time periods than in adults. The overlap in investigators in these two studies should also be noted."

So please understand that cell phone radiation has the potential to harm your health, just like DDT or lead, which is what experts in the field have been saying for years. That doesn't mean that every person exposed to those substances will get cancer.
But it raises your overall risk, depending on a number of other factors, such as your general state of health, which in part is dependent on exposure to other toxins through food, air, and water, just to name a few. 
And I believe it's important to remember that when we're talking about toxins in general, it's your accumulated toxic load that matters most. So in that sense, heavy users of cell phones and other wireless gadgets, as well as children, are at exponentially increased risk, and should at the very least be warned so that they can make educated decisions about their self-imposed level of exposure.

Reducing Your Risk of Health Damage from Cell Phone Use

While the IARC panel, being a science not policy organization, did not make many specific recommendations to consumers, IARC Director Christopher Wild did take it upon himself to publicly state:

"Given the potential consequences for public health of this classification and findings it is important that additional research be conducted into the long-term, heavy use of mobile phones. Pending the availability of such information, it is important to take pragmatic measures to reduce exposure such as hands-free devices or texting."

These are sensible solutions, but keep in mind that completely eliminating exposure is close to impossible. Even if you don't use a cell phone and your home is wireless-free, you can be exposed to microwave radiation from your neighbor's wireless devices or while visiting "hot spots" or traveling near cell phone towers. That said, there's still plenty you can do to minimize your exposure and help safeguard your children's health:

• Children Should Never Use Cell Phones: Barring a life-threatening emergency, children should not use a cell phone, or a wireless device of any type. Children are far more vulnerable to cell phone radiation than adults, because of their thinner skull bones, and still developing immune and neurological systems.
• Reduce Your Cell Phone Use: Turn your cell phone off more often. Reserve it for emergencies or important matters. As long as your cell phone is on, it emits radiation intermittently, even when you are not actually making a call.
  
  Leave an outgoing message on your phone stating your cell phone policy so others know not to call you on it except in emergencies.
• Use a Land Line at Home and at Work: Although more and more people are switching to using cell phones as their exclusive phone contact, it is a dangerous trend and you can choose to opt out of the madness.
• Reduce or Eliminate Your Use of Other Wireless Devices: You would be wise to cut down your use of these devices. Just as with cell phones, it is important to ask yourself whether or not you really need to use them every single time.
  
  If you must use a portable home phone, use the older kind that operates at 900 MHz. They are no safer during calls, but at least some of them do not broadcast constantly even when no call is being made. Note the only way to truly be sure if there is an exposure from your cordless phone is to measure with an electrosmog meter, and it must be one that goes up to the frequency of your portable phone (so old meters won't help much). As many portable phones are 5.8 Gigahertz, we recommend you look for RF meters that go up to 8 Gigahertz, the highest range now available in a meter suitable for consumers.
  
  Alternatively you can be very careful with the base station placement as that causes the bulk of the problem since it transmits signals 24/7, even when you aren't talking. So if you can keep the base station at least three rooms away from where you spend most of your time, and especially your bedroom, it may not be as damaging to your health.
  
  Ideally it would be helpful to turn off or disconnect your base station every night before you go to bed. Levels of microwave radiation from portable phones can be extraordinarily high, according to Camilla Rees.
  

  "Portable phone radiation can be as high or higher than a wireless router, though most people would have no idea that this common device at their bedside could be harmful."

  You can find RF meters at www.emfsafetystore.com. But you can pretty much be sure your portable phone is a problem if the technology is labeled DECT, or digitally enhanced cordless technology.
• Limit Your Cell Phone Use to Where Reception is Good: The weaker the reception, the more power your phone must use to transmit, and the more power it uses, the more radiation it emits, and the deeper the dangerous radio waves penetrate into your body. Ideally, you should only use your phone with full bars and good reception.
  
  Also seek to avoid carrying your phone on your body as that merely maximizes any potential exposure. Ideally put it in your purse or carrying bag. Placing a cell phone in a shirt pocket over the heart is asking for trouble, as is placing it in a man's pocket if he seeks to preserve his fertility.
• Don't Assume One Cell Phone is Safer than Another. There's no such thing as a "safe" cell phone, and do not rely on the SAR value to evaluate the safety of your phone. Always seek CDMA carriers over GSM as they have far lower radiation in their signaling technology. And remember, eliminating cell phone use, or greatly lowering cell phone use from phones of all kinds, is where true prevention begins.
• Keep Your Cell Phone Away From Your Body When it is On: The most dangerous place to be, in terms of radiation exposure, is within about six inches of the emitting antenna. You do not want any part of your body within that area.
• Respect Others Who are More Sensitive: Some people who have become sensitive can feel the effects of others' cell phones in the same room, even when it is on but not being used. If you are in a meeting, on public transportation, in a courtroom or other public places, such as a doctor's office, keep your cell phone turned off out of consideration for the 'second hand radiation' effects. Children are also more vulnerable, so please avoid using your cell phone near children.
• Use Safer Headset Technology: Wired headsets will certainly allow you to keep the cell phone farther away from your body. However, if a wired headset is not well-shielded the wire itself acts as an antenna attracting ambient information carrying radio waves and transmitting radiation directly to your brain. Make sure that the wire used to transmit the signal to your ear is shielded.
  
  The best kind of headset to use is a combination shielded wire and air-tube headset. These operate like a stethoscope, transmitting the information to your head as an actual sound wave; although there are wires that still must be shielded, there is no wire that goes all the way up to your head.

To learn more about this extremely important issue, please see my dedicated EMF site. I also highly recommend setting aside an hour to listen to ElectromagneticHealth.org founder Camilla Rees' interview with Karl Maret, MD. With an extensive background in medicine, electrical engineering, and biomedical engineering, Dr. Maret is uniquely qualified to speak on the topic of electromagnetic fields, and he shares some of the most compelling arguments to date on why you must use extreme caution when it comes to not only cell phones but also cordless phones, smart meters and other forms of electromagnetic fields (EMFs).
You can also listen to an important 20-minute speech by Martin Blank, PhD, who spoke at the November 18, 2010 Commonwealth Club of California program, "The Health Effects of Electromagnetic Fields," co-sponsored by ElectromagneticHealth.org. Dr. Blank speaks with deep experience and commanding authority on the impact on cells and DNA from electromagnetic fields, and explains why your DNA is especially vulnerable to electromagnetic fields of all kinds.

Source:  Electromagnetic Health October 20, 2011

Source:  BMJ 2011; 343: d6605

Source:  BMJ 2011; 343: d6387

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Lead Poisoning Alert: This Widely Used Drink is Dangerous

By Dr. Mercola

Jeff Green has been an activist in the movement to eliminate a toxic fluoride from your water supply for the past 15 years.
The practice of adding fluoride to municipal tap water across the U.S. began in 1945.
With more than 60 percent of U.S. water supplies currently fluoridated, chances are you're one of the 170 million Americans who drink fluoride on a daily basis.
Chances are also high that you're unaware of the sordid history that made water fluoridation a reality in the first place, because contrary to popular belief, its origins actually had nothing to do with protecting your dental health.
Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, you might be unaware that the fluoride added to your water is far from pharmaceutical grade…

The Manhattan Project Gave Birth to More than the Atomic Bomb…

"If you go back, especially if you read some of the books and the information that came from the declassified documents from the Manhattan Project, you see that the primary motivation from the very beginning was liability protection," Green says, referring to the fact that massive amounts of fluoride was manufactured and used for the bomb-making process, which created huge liability once they realized just how toxic it was.
"… [M]ost people don't realize that the magical element [used] to make the bomb was uranium hexafluoride.  It was actually this special aspect that allowed them to separate the uranium isotopes to make the bomb."

The fluoride from this bomb-making process was initially released into the environment—as was fluoride waste products from the aluminum industry—where it ended up killing herds of cattle and wiping out entire orchards. Both the aluminum industry and the Manhattan Project realized they had a major toxic waste problem on their hands that would cost a lot of money to dispose of properly.

"Part of the protection for the liability was to basically put it everywhere and tell everybody it was great," Green says. 

But just how do you do that?
Very shrewdly… Water fluoridation could easily qualify as one of the grandest public health frauds and toxic cover-ups in U.S. history. The deceit has been so effective, you're hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn't automatically say, "But everyone knows fluoride is good for you!"

Why Fluoride HAD to be Declared Safe

Now declassified files of the Manhattan Project and the Atomic Energy Commission shows that the toxicology department at the University of Rochester -- which was under the direction of Harold Hodge -- was asked to produce medical information about fluoride that could help defend the government against lawsuits where they were charged with fluoride pollution.
It is now clear that if water fluoridation were declared harmful to human health, the U.S. nuclear bomb program, as well as many other fluoride-polluting industries such as aluminum plants and fertilizer manufacturers, would have been left open to massive litigation.
The plan?
Declare fluoride not only safe, but beneficial, and sell the troublesome waste to municipalities across the US… 

How the Idea for Water Fluoridation Came about

The brainchild of water fluoridation was Gerald Cox, a researcher with the Mellon Institute in Pittsburg. He received the suggestion to look at fluoride's dental effects from Francis C. Frary, then director of the aluminum laboratory for the Aluminum Company of America. Frary had reasons for the suggestion other than the possibility of protecting tooth enamel, however. He was very concerned about the fluoride pollution being generated by the aluminum plant, as lawsuits from surrounding farmers increased.
Another major player in the creation of this scheme was Harold Hodge, the chief toxicologist of the Manhattan Project. As part of a group of scientists and engineers who helped develop the atomic bomb in World War II, Hodge was responsible for evaluating the toxicity of the chemicals used in the production of the bomb. One of the chemicals, as mentioned, was fluoride. Due to the massive amounts of fluoride required to produce bomb-grade uranium and plutonium for these nuclear weapons, the Manhattan Project also needed some way to avoid potentially crippling lawsuits.
Last but not least, there was Robert Kehoe with the Kettering Laboratory, a private toxicology lab that ended up producing a massive bibliography of abstracts on the soundness of communal water fluoridation, and fluoride's (beneficial) role in public health.
However, this research was not particularly independent or unbiased. Not only was Robert Kehoe working for the Fluorine Lawyers Committee, preparing defenses in fluoride litigation cases, the Kettering report on the health benefits of fluoride was also funded by the National Institute of Dental Research and fluoride-polluting industry-heavyweights like:

The Aluminum company of America (ALCOA)	DuPont	Reynolds Metals
The Aluminum company of Canada	Kaiser Aluminum	U.S. Steel

What's Really Being Added to Your Water Supply?

Originally, the fluoride used to fluoridate water supplies came from the aluminum and atomic bomb industries. A couple of years later, however, they realized there was another fluoride product that was much more readily available.  The reason it was so readily accessible was because it was a truly hazardous waste that was very hard to get rid of, namely hydrogen fluoride from the phosphate fertilizer industry.
This fluoride gas is captured in the scrubber system and turned into hydrofluorosilicic acid—which is the primary source of fluoride used for water fluoridation. This phosphate fertilizer byproduct also typically contains arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury, plus a variety of other contaminants that are part of the phosphate ore.

"And so now you have a product, or a hazardous material, that you can't put in an ocean, you can't put in a river or lake or stream, you can't bury it, and you can't even give it away," says Green. But you can sell it and put it in the commercial water supplies!
"… [T]his is why we hear all of these constant claims of how great it is without any treatment," Green says. "Meaning, it doesn't have to be filtered. It doesn't have to be refined or anything. It can be taken directly all across the United States and dumped in the water—the very place they couldn't put it directly [if it was still considered hazardous waste]."

Fluoride Proponents Never Actually Tested "the Real Thing"

Part of the difficulty when discussing water fluoridation is that many do not realize that the fluoride you find in drugs, for example, while harmful, is not quite as bad as what's being used for water fluoridation.  The fluoride added to your drinking water is not pharmaceutical grade.
It's a toxic industrial waste product.
Deepening the deception is the fact that none of the studies on fluoride actually used the far more toxic hydrofluorosilicic acid that is added to the water supply. Rather they use pharmaceutical grade fluoride, so the health hazards are likely FAR worse than any study has so far discerned.

"So when someone uses the word fluoride, I believe we start with a deception from the very beginning," Green says. "… [T]here is almost a bragging by the promoters of fluoridation that you don't have to study it because they have studied fluoride over and over again, yet they have never looked at the actual product itself until just recently!
In 1998 to 2000, I was able to get a congressional investigation on fluoride.  At that particular time, the House Committee on Science allowed us to write some questions that would be sent out to various entities.  Originally it was to the EPA…  We asked them to send the scientific data they had on the silicofluorides.  They wrote back [saying they] couldn't find any [data] for chronic effects of the use of hydrofluorosilicic acid or the silicofluorides. 
They didn't have any at all.
Up until 2010, and now 2011, there have only been two studies that have dealt with the continued use of hydrofluorosilicic acid. 
… [T]hey were able to finally confirm, through these toxicological studies, the very thing they had found through large epidemiological study—that there is a higher amount of lead that shows up in blood.  In the epidemiological study it was 400,000 children.  It showed that there was a tremendous increase... four times as much for Latinos, seven times as much for blacks, and a[n on average] doubling of the danger level of lead in children's blood, when hydrofluorosilicic acid was present in the water."
The importance of that was that it was also compared to having no fluoride added into the water and [pharmaceutical grade] sodium fluoride added into the water.  So there was really a difference between the specific products being placed in there." 

Fluoride Increases Heavy Metal Accumulation in Your Body

These studies also showed that hydrofluorosilicic acid increases lead accumulation in bone, teeth, and other calcium-rich tissues. According to Green, the free fluoride ion actually acts as a transport of heavy metals, allowing them to enter into areas of your body they normally would not be able to go, such as into your brain.

"Industry prizes what we call fluoride compounds," Green says. "What's amazing is there is so much [information] out there that's never explained to the general public.  But [fluoride] is… the most aggressive seeker of another electron.  It's the most electromagnetically negatively charged element in the entire world.  It basically is the most interactive of all the elements… It will give up whatever it's with to be with something else…
So it's prized by industry because it actually disrupts molecular bonds… Industry also wants it because it creates tighter molecular bonds.  So Scotchgard, Stain Master, Gore-Tex, ski gear… These are all fluoride-type compounds as well because they actually make it a tighter molecular bond that is more impervious to penetration. 
… By the time you get to the enzyme activity, and knowing what it can do to disrupt enzyme activity, the effects are so widespread, it's just amazing... Once [people] learn the nature of fluoride, they would never want to put it in their water."

How to Eliminate Water Fluoridation—An Alternative Strategy

Green suggests an alternative strategy for ending water fluoridation. Rather than being "anti" fluoridation, he prefers reframing the issue from a more positive perspective.

"First of all, we always have to determine what our audience is," Green says. "There are certain audiences that you could talk about science to because they are scientists… but for the general public, [you need to] start talking about the nature of fluoride, and broaden the base of their understanding so it isn't just a single-purpose agent that is being placed in the water…
So as an example, fluoride is used in the ceramics business to make ceramics more porous.  Well, it does exactly the same thing to your bones.  Once they have learned all the other uses for fluoride, it becomes very easy to see how it does the same thing to your own calcium-rich tissues."

Join the Fight to Get Fluoride Out of Drinking Water

Earlier this year I joined forces with Dr. Paul Connett to help put an END to water fluoridation in the U.S and Canada. The Fluoride Action Network has a game plan to do just that.  Our fluoride initiative will primarily focus on Canada since 60 percent of Canada is already non-fluoridated. If we can get Calgary and the rest of Canada to stop fluoridating their water, we believe the U.S. will be forced to follow.
I urge you to join the anti-fluoride movement in Canada and United States by contacting the representative for your area below.
Contact Information for Canadian Communities:

1. If you live in Ontario, Canada, please join the ongoing effort by contacting Diane Sprules at diane.sprules@cogeco.ca.
2. The point-of-contact for Toronto, Canada is Aliss Terpstra. You may email her at aliss@nutrimom.ca.

Contact Information for American Communities:
We're also going to address three US communities: New York City, Austin, and San Diego:

1. New York City, NY: The anti-fluoridation movement has a great champion in New York City councilor Peter Vallone, Jr. who introduced legislation on January 18 "prohibiting the addition of fluoride to the water supply."
   
   A victory there could signal the beginning of the end of fluoridation in the U.S. If you live in the New York area I beg you to participate in this effort as your contribution could have a MAJOR difference. Remember that one person can make a difference.
   
   The point person for this area is Carol Kopf, at the New York Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation (NYSCOF). Email her at NYSCOF@aol.com . Please contact her if you're interested in helping with this effort.
2. Austin, Texas: Join the effort by contacting Rae Nadler-Olenick at either: info@fluoridefreeaustin.com or fluoride.info@yahoo.com, or by regular mail or telephone:
   
   

   POB 7486
   Austin, Texas 78713
   Phone: (512) 371-3786

   
   San Diego, California: Contact Patty Ducey-Brooks, publisher of the Presidio Sentinel at pbrooks936@aol.com.

Source:  Video Transcript

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On ministerial responsibility

Posted on 20 June 2011 - 12:55am

R. Nadeswaran

DEPENDING on which newspaper you read, Chris Huhne is the best secretary of state for environment and climate change the UK ever has had. But when he left his wife Vicky Pryce of 27 years for his aide Carina Trimingham, things seem to have gone awry. Hell, they say, has no fury like a woman scorned. Huhne, his estranged wife claimed, asked her to accept the penalty for a speeding ticket he collected in 2003. There has been no prosecution yet but the police have passed on their investigations to the director of public prosecutions.
In the past, ministers by convention have submitted their resignations if they had broken the law or had put the government in an embarrassing situation for failings within departments under their portfolios. Under the Westminster system, this is seen to guarantee that an elected official is answerable for every single government decision. It is also important to motivate ministers to scrutinise the activities within their departments. One rule coming from this principle is that each cabinet member answers for his or her own ministry in parliament.
The reverse of ministerial responsibility is that civil servants are not supposed to take credit for the successes of their department, allowing the government to claim them.
Although it may sound unfair, this doctrine demands that if waste, corruption, or any other misbehaviour is found to have occurred within a ministry, the minister is responsible even if the minister had no knowledge of the actions.
A research paper from the House of Commons states: “A minister is ultimately responsible for all actions by a ministry. Even without knowledge of an infraction by subordinates the minister approved the hiring and continued employment of those civil servants. If misdeeds are found to have occurred in a ministry the minister is expected to resign. It is also possible for a minister to face criminal charges for malfeasance under their watch.”
The archives in parliament are full of episodes, articles, stories and accounts of a string of ministers who had to send their resignation letters to the prime minister for failing to account for their conduct or that of a subordinate.
One of the most talked about case is that of junior education minister, Estelle Morris in 2002. She quit not because of personal scandal or personal agreement but she pledged to do so if the government failed to meet its targets for literacy and numeracy.
From the Hansard, this is the exchange that took place in the house:
Conservative shadow education secretary, (David) Willetts: Will the minister commit herself to the secretary of state’s pledge to resign if the government do not reach their literacy and numeracy targets by 2002?
Morris: Of course I will; I have already done so. Indeed, I generously commit the under-secretary, my hon. Friend the Member for Norwich, South (Mr Clarke) too. We speak with one voice. The Hon. Gentleman’s question is a reflection of what life was like under teams of Conservative ministers, when a secretary of state would promise to resign but the rest of the team would not go.
The material on Reginald Maudling who resigned in 1972 makes interesting reading. Not in the cabinet (yet) six years earlier, he was made director in a company owned by architect John Poulson. Maudling helped obtain lucrative contracts. When Poulson was subject to a bankruptcy hearing, bribe payments and his connections to Maudling became public knowledge.
He quit and said: “As home secretary I was officially police authority for the metropolis, and was responsible for the Metropolitan Police. It seemed to me quite clear that I could not continue to hold that responsibility while the Met were investigating, with a view to possible prosecution, the activities of a man with whom I had had a business association. I had no option but to resign, which I did.”
In later years, Tony Blair’s one-time spin doctor Peter Mandelson resigned on two occasions. In late 1998, he resigned after it emerged that he got a loan from the paymaster general, Geoffrey Robinson, to buy a house. The media dug up several stories concerning the financial conduct of Robinson and oversight of these by Mandelson.
In his letter of resignation, Mandelson accepted that “it was necessary for ministers not only to uphold high standards in public life but also to be ‘seen to do so’.”
He returned to the cabinet a year later but had to resign again two years later for alleged improprieties. The Observer charged that he had called the immigration minister to assist an Indian businessman, Srichand Hinduja to obtain British citizenship. Srichand and his brother had donated £1 million to sponsor part of the Millennium Dome when Mandelson was in charge of the project in 1998. In 2001, an official inquiry exonerated Mandelson by which time he declared he would not want to be in the cabinet again.
In Malaysia, one of the earliest cases of a minister having to resign in unusual circumstances was in the sixties when the then Education Minister Abdul Rahman Talib submitted his resignation letter after he was unsuccessful in a defamation suit. PPP leader D. R. Seenivasagam had brought up in Parliament, where he enjoyed privilege, improprieties committed by the minister. Seenivasagam accepted the challenge to repeat the remarks outside and was unsuccessfully sued by Abdul Rahman.
The other minister who resigned was Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek who quit as health minister in 2008 over a sex video featuring him.
While we embrace the Westminster system, history may have forgotten some doctrines and the saga of Abdul Rahman Talib v D. R. Seenivasagam and Chua.
R. Nadeswaran concedes that since it is a doctrine and not a law, it would be difficult to compel individuals to do the honourable thing. He is theSun’s UK correspondent based in London and can be reached at:citizen-nades@thesundaily.com

Pride in seeing one’s charges make it

Posted on 31 July 2011 - 08:51pm

R. Nadeswaran

IN JUNE 2000, two teenagers walked into the office wanting “work experience”. Erina Ramli and Alexander Paul had just finished their “A” Levels and wanted to do something useful before their academic term started in September. I was then tasked with setting up the SunValley Desk – the Metro Section of this newspaper.
Reporters Terence Fernandez, Arion Yeow, Ng Kar Yen, Anne Francis and Noreen Samad made up the team but filling up 12 pages of news reports was a challenge.
That’s when then boss, Ho Kay Tat gave the nod for the use of interns and part-timers. Lim Ee Lenn, who was then in college (and whom I knew as a prolific writer) joined the team.
Word got around about the opportunities for “work experience” and soon G. Mahendran, Lau Ai Leen, Elaine Kwong and Vanissa Daniel came on board in the weeks that followed. A month later, Zabrina Fernandez who had done work for TV stations joined us and we had a full-fledged team.
With the closure of the section a year later, the team was disbanded with each going his or her way. By then, Erina, Alex, Ee Lenn and Ai Leen had come to England to read law. Mahendran had completed his Certificate in Legal Practice while Vanissa chose to do her LLB programme locally.
We hold regular re-unions – usually on each other’s birthdays – to share the good old times. We missed Alex and Erina who were still in the UK. All have grown from teenagers into young adults. I missed Zabrina’s wedding but before that, she had already won the inaugural “Amazing Race Asia” which was organised by the AXN Channel.
Last year, we attended Ee Lenn’s wedding in Kuala Lumpur and reminisced about the good old days at the Valley. Last month, I was at Alex’s wedding at a picturesque setting in Cotswold near Oxford. There, I met his father, Jacob Paul, who was the boss in my days on the NST subs-desk. And of course the conversation veered to journalism and we concluded that “they don’t make ‘em like they used to”.
Fast forward to the present – Ee Lenn is legal counsel for a Japanese motor company in Shah Alam, Elaine is an editor of a women’s magazine, Vanissa looks after legal affairs of an international insurance company. Arion is a sub-editor at theSun and Kar Yean is a markets and financial consultant. Ai Leen did some corporate work in Shanghai before going into the pub business in Petaling Jaya, following which she has packed her bags for Australia. Mahendran has a successful law practice in the city, and picks us up for lunch in his BMW once in a while. Zabrina shuttles between Kuala Lumpur and Sydney doing work for TV stations in both countries while Alex has now become a high-flyer in the international Mergers and Acquisitions market. Last week, he was named one of UK’s “Young Dealmakers of the Year” and has been appointed a director of an international banking group.
In between, we had two interns at the Special Reports and Investigations Desk – Amanda Toh and Geraldine Chong. Both had great potential and were told that could join us after thery graduated. Sadly for us, they have chosen different career paths. We even had overseas interns – Daniel Appadurai from Frankfurt and James Hyams from Brisbane. Both enjoyed their month-long stints with this newspaper.
Four weeks ago, Terence called to break this news to me: “I don’t want you to hear from a third party. I am putting in my resignation letter today and other than my wife, you are the first to know. I will discuss my future when I see you in London.”
In June 1999, Terence joined me on an adventure of sorts to start Brunei’s second newspaper. We lasted less only four months due to various problems (our
salaries were delayed etc). The paper shut down a year later. I joined theSun on Nov 15 and Terence followed a month later. We had been close colleagues and friends ever since.
“I have several offers,” Terence told me over a beer in London two weeks ago as he spelt out his plans, which included returning to his studies.
We talked in-depth about career prospects and he made an important point – age. He is turning 40 and felt it was time for a new chapter in his life. He not only has the knowledge, experience, skills and temperament but also the knack of being able to handle old and young people, some of whom have blinkered views and prejudiced opinions. I must confess, I have little patience or time for them.
(This is one of the reasons why I am known as the bad cop, and Terence, the good cop)
Terence’s departure leaves me as the sole survivor of the original team whose female members were often referred to as “Nades’ Babes” by an envious sports desk next door!
Looking back, I can only feel proud that those whose formative years were moulded in the true spirit of old school journalism have made their mark in their respective chosen careers. I had many mentors when starting out – notably Philip Mathews and the late Ratan Singh. I was fortunate to be able to pass on most of my knowledge and skills to the young people who came to work at theSun.
We adopted the “Work Hard, Play Hard” view of the bosses at The Malay Mail in the Seventies and Eighties.
We had our share of ups – Terence and I shared five SOPA awards between us and several moments of fame and glory. We also had our downs – five legal suits and several mouthfuls from officialdom. We call them occupational hazards and continue nevertheless. Wherever we go, we will continue to give our best in our chosen vocations, which has been our trait and trademark.
Eleven years have passed. Time may not be healer but a great leveller. It is only human to take immense pride and pleasure in seeing that your charges have made a mark wherever they have gone. And to Terence, pass on whatever you have learnt. You’ll derive colossal satisfaction and when you call it a day in 20 years’ time, you’ll be able to scribble a nostalgic piece like this.
R. Nadeswaran enjoys mentoring young people who view journalism as a profession – not a source of income. He is theSun’s UK correspondent and can be reached at: citizen-nades@thesundaily.com