Endocrine Disruptor : Bisphenol A

Bisphenol A

Source : Polycarbonate plastics have many applications including use in some food and drink packaging. Mainly in water and infant bottles, compact discs, impact-resistant safety equipment, and medical devices. Epoxy resins are used as lacquers to coat metal products such as food cans, bottle tops, and water supply pipes. Some dental sealants and composites may also contribute to BPA exposure.

What it affects : The National Toxicity Program has declared that consumers should have reason to be concerned about BPA because it can cause neural problems or behavioral problems in a pregnant woman's fetus as well as problems in infants and older children. It has also been declared that BPA can cause prostate problems in men, problems with mammary glands, and even promote early puberty in young girls. In addition, there is concern that when a pregnant woman is exposed to BPA, the health of her unborn baby may be negatively affected, resulting in birth defects or reduced birth weight. Exposure to BPA may also cause the pregnant mother to miscarry. BPA in consumer products has also been linked to a several health problems such as cancer, infertility and breast cancer.

What we can do : Although we may not be able to completely rid consumer products of BPA, there are some things that we can do to limit intake of this unsafe constituent.
Limit canned foods and beverages, purchase foods and beverages in glass containers, or buy frozen vegetables. Instead of plastic containers, store your food in glass containers such as Pyrex containers, but remember to wash the lid by hand if it is plastic. Filter your drinking and cooking water. Do not transport your beverages in plastic mugs.Following these tips should help you to greatly lower BPA ingestion, as well as remain safe from the its negative effects.

Lit Circle Work Week 5, "Dead Men Do Tell Tales"

Maples does not know where evil comes from but he has encountered it both in victims and in executed evildoers. He has seen the bodies of the wicked on full display; their brains fascinate him. The instruments of murder are vast; Maples has seen hammers, wrenches, tree limbs,building blocks and artificial legs used to kill. Murderers rarely use heavy objects. To see the depths of human depravity, one need only look to the Medico-legal Investigation of Death, a 623-page tome that sears the eyes of the unfamiliar. The worst is Chapter Eighteen which deals with wrongful childhood deaths.The cases of young children that Maples faces remain the most vivid in his memory, such as the remains of a five-year-old girl found in a cloth bag thrown into a pond. She is murdered, very likely by her mother and her mother's boyfriend.

Lit Circle Work Week 4, "Dead Men Do Tell Tales"

Lit Circle Work Week 3, "Dead Men Do Tell Tales"

Lit Circle Work Week 2, "Dead Men Do Tell Tales"

Maples's laboratory is full of dry bones but the bones can still tell stories to him and his students. Bones are often burned, boiled, desiccated, are bones of martyrs, murderers, and so on. Skeletons of all kinds are housed there. The lab is built according to Maples' design in 1991. The securityis as tight as it can be, given the legal importance of the skeletons. It has a safety shower, three "odor hoods" and many ventilated enclosures. Sometimes the odors are terrible.

Full skeletonization can be very rapid, as quickly as nine days depending on the environment. Maples's friend, Bill Bass, helps uncover a decay rate facility to study just this problem. In Maples's morgue, they process thirty to forty bodies a year, all of which are documented in detail. You must get used to the smell of reeking corpses but Maples has seen many policemen, lawyers and others.

Skeletal Disease Blog

Dear Mom,

I've been wanting to tell you this some quite some time now but I didn't want you to worry. So I thought I'd write you a letter instead. This is what happened, I went to my Doctor last week to because i was having very uncomfortable pains in my bones. So he ran some tests, and one of them showed a high calcium count. Most people would think this is good, but the calcium, was in my blood, not my bones. I was then sent for a Bone Density, which showed I had Severe Osteoporosis. My doctor insisted I let you and the family know to see if I have a family history of it, but i didn't think it would've made a difference anyways.That one diagnosis has changed my life, as it is a disease that takes over your Endocrine System.

Osteosarcoma Brochure (Cancer Blog)

So after reading Vanessa's brochure on Osteosarcoma, I found out it is a cancerous or malignant bone tumor that usually develops during the period of rapid growth in adolescence. What shocked me was that it is more commonly found in males than in females, and approximately 300 people die each year. There are many forms of this cancer as well. The causes of this cancer arise from unpredictable errors in the DNA of growing bone cells during the time of intense bone growth. The equipment used to diagnose this cancer is biopsies, x-rays, blood tests, bone scans, CT scans, MRI's, and PET scans. The treatments used to handle and remove it are Radiation Therapy and Chemotherapy. Although at this time, there are no known preventions for osteosarcoma but it is always suggested to live a healthy lifestyle.