Home on the FarmOur Farm ProduceWhere to Find UsWhalt Folks are SayinIn The NewsFarm Hand Section

Med-Marijuana
News

-----------------
Some former Komen supporters can't forgive, forget
Some former Komen supporters can't forgive, forget
NEW YORK (AP) When Dorothy Twinney first saw a Race for the Cure walk for breast cancer "a sea of pink" traveling through her hometown of Plymouth, Mich. she was so moved she sat in her car and wept. Many women described feeling caught in the middle when The Associated Press first reported on Tuesday that Komen had adopted criteria excluding Planned Parenthood from future breast screening grants because it was the subject of an investigation launched by a Florida congressman at the urging of anti-abortion groups. When she worked on Wall Street, Lee-Walker once prowled the trading floor soliciting donations "from anyone who loved a sister, mother, wife or who was a fan of breasts," she quips. Gauvin, a supporter in the past of both Planned Parenthood and Komen, said that now, if a friend asked for sponsorship in a Race for the Cure event, she would offer to give money instead to the American Cancer Society. Horrified that a crucial women's health issue had become entwined with the abortion debate, she said that despite the reversal, "I'm still angry." For an entity ... that's trying to prevent breast cancer across the world, it's directly counterproductive that the organization would be giving funds to Planned Parenthood, which is the largest provider of abortions in the country. Scheidler, of the Pro-Life Action League, sent out emails and social media messages Friday aimed at "tens of thousands" of abortion foes, urging them to withhold donations to Komen. The organization said it received $3 million between Tuesday evening and Friday afternoon, funds it said would be used to expand its breast health services, which now provide nearly 750,000 breast exams each year. The controversy was rawest, it seemed, for breast cancer survivors, especially those, like Joyce Miller, who'd donated many hours of time to Komen. After her first breast cancer treatment, Miller spent an hour a day manning Komen's phone lines, for nearly two years.
-----------------
Surprises about Planned Parenthood cancer testing
Surprises about Planned Parenthood cancer testing
To many people, breast cancer screening means a mammogram. Most of Planned Parenthood's clients are too young for breast cancer screening under most guidelines, although they are prime age for cervical cancer screening. Planned Parenthood doesn't follow the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force guidelines, which do not endorse clinical breast exams and recommend mammograms only every other year starting at age 50. [...] Planned Parenthood does a physical breast exam on any woman of any age as part of a regular physical, and refers for mammograms any women 40 and older. Komen paid for just 170,000 of the more than 4 million clinical breast exams Planned Parenthood performed nationwide over the last five years, and just 6,400 of Planned Parenthood's 70,000 mammography referrals in that time. The group gets federal and state money for breast cancer screening service through a program for poor and uninsured women.
-----------------
Komen drops plans to cut Planned Parenthood grants
Komen drops plans to cut Planned Parenthood grants
The dramatic retreat followed a three-day furor that resounded across the Internet, in Congress and perhaps most tellingly among Komen affiliates who openly rebelled, suggesting the leadership had bowed to anti-abortion pressure. An Aspen, Colo., affiliate announced Thursday that it would defy the new rules and continue grants to its local Planned Parenthood partner, while all seven of Komen's California affiliates said they "strongly opposed" the planned cutoff. Many of the messages conveyed a determination to halt gifts to Komen organizer of the popular Race for the Cure events because of the decision. Planned Parenthood said the funds would be used to expand its breast health services, which already provide nearly 750,000 breast exams each year. Planned Parenthood's president, Cecile Richards, said in a telephone news conference that she was astonished by the flow of donations and the often emotional support expressed for her organization on the Internet. Anti-abortion groups had pressed Komen for years to end its partnership with Planned Parenthood, even to the extent of recalling pink Bibles that were benefiting Komen and boycotting its Race for the Cure events. "The Susan G. Komen Foundation has caved in to the demands of radical abortion apologists," said Douglas R. Scott, Jr., of Life Decisions International, which had been mulling whether to remove Komen from a "boycott list" of Planned Parenthood partners. Komen founder and CEO Nancy Brinker, in a news conference Thursday, spoke of shifting more grant money to organizations which provide mammograms themselves in contrast to Planned Parenthood's practice of referring women elsewhere for mammograms. [...] he said, "this is maybe a refresher to all of us" that both groups "do great work."
-----------------
New map pinpoints Lyme disease risk areas
New map pinpoints Lyme disease risk areas
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) Researchers who spent three years dragging sheets of fabric through the woods to snag ticks have created a detailed map they claim could improve prevention, diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease. The map, which pinpoints areas of the eastern United States where people have the highest risk of contracting Lyme disease, is part of a study published in the February issue of the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Though the areas highlighted as high-risk likely won't surprise anyone familiar with the disease, the research also showed where the disease likely is spreading, and it turned up some surprising information about the rate at which ticks are infected with the bacteria that causes it, researchers said. "The key value is identifying areas where the risk for Lyme disease is the highest, so that should alert the public and the clinicians and the public health agencies in terms of taking more precautions and potential interventions," said the study's lead author, Dr. Maria Diuk-Wasser of the Yale School of Public Health.
-----------------
Contraception mandate outrages religious groups
Contraception mandate outrages religious groups

The Obama administration's decision requiring church-affiliated employers to cover birth control was bound to cause an uproar among Roman Catholics and members of other faiths, no matter their beliefs on contraception. Last year, an advisory panel from the Institute of Medicine, which advises the federal government, recommended including birth control on the list of covered services, partly because it promotes maternal and child health by allowing women to space their pregnancies. Employers that fail to provide health insurance coverage under the federal law could be fined $2,000 per employee per year. [...] leaders knew a national health care overhaul was in development and hoped the federal law would be an improvement, said John Huebscher, executive director of the Wisconsin Catholic Conference, the public policy arm of the state's bishops. In California, whose religious exemption served as the model for the Obama administration, dioceses and some church-run agencies were able to self-insure, said Carol Hogan of the California Catholic Conference, but that option is for the most part unavailable under the federal health care law. Bishop David Zubik of Pittsburgh wrote that "the Obama administration was essentially saying 'to hell with you,' particularly to the Catholic community by dismissing our beliefs, our religious freedom and our freedom of conscience." The Becket Fund had previously filed two federal lawsuits over the regulations on behalf of Belmont Abbey College, a Catholic liberal arts school near Charlotte, N.C., and Colorado Christian University, an evangelical school near Denver. Workplace health plans will have to cover all forms of contraception approved by the Food and Drug Administration, ranging from the pill to implantable devices to sterilization.
-----------------
Maine girl bouncing back after 6-organ transplant
Maine girl bouncing back after 6-organ transplant
HOLLIS, Maine (AP) A 9-year-old Maine girl is home from a Boston hospital healthy, active and with high hopes and a new stomach, liver, spleen, small intestine, pancreas, and part of an esophagus to replace the ones that were being choked by a huge tumor. Spunky and bright-eyed as she scampered around her family's farmhouse outside Portland, Alannah Shevenell said Thursday that she's glad to be feeling well again and able to go sledding, make a snowman, work on her scrapbooks and give her grandmother a little good-humored sass. All the time, the growth known as an inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor continued to grow in her abdomen, causing pain, making it hard to eat and swelling her up with fluid. Surgery was the last resort to save her life, and Alannah spent more than a year on a waiting list for the organs, said Dr. Heung Bae Kim, the lead surgeon on the procedure at Children's Hospital Boston. Things were more tense than celebratory in October when doctors prepared to remove the growth and the organs in one fell swoop and replace them with organs transplanted in one tangled piece from another child of similar size. Dr. Allan Kirk, professor of surgery at Emory University in Atlanta and the editor-in-chief of The American Journal of Transplantation, said no other esophageal transplant has been reported in medical literature. The Skolases installed ultraviolet lights in their heating ducts to kill mold, mildew and bacteria that might sicken Alannah.
-----------------
Supporters rally around Planned Parenthood
Supporters rally around Planned Parenthood
NEW YORK (AP) Supporters are rallying around Planned Parenthood after renowned breast cancer charity Susan G. Komen for the Cure decided to cut breast screening grants to the reproductive health organization. Besides $400,000 in smaller donations from 6,000 people, Planned Parenthood is receiving $250,000 from a family foundation in Dallas and a $250,000 pledge announced Thursday by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to match future donations. According to Planned Parenthood, its health centers performed more than 4 million breast exams over the past five years, including nearly 170,000 as a result of Komen grants. Komen, meanwhile, has been deluged with negative emails and Facebook postings, accusing it of knuckling under to pressure from anti-abortion groups, since The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that the charity was halting grants that Planned Parenthood affiliates used for breast exams and related services. Komen has said the decision stemmed from newly adopted criteria barring grants to organizations under investigation affecting Planned Parenthood because of an inquiry by a Republican congressman acting with encouragement from anti-abortion activists. A source with direct knowledge of decision-making at Komen's headquarters in Dallas gave a different account, saying the grant-making criteria were adopted with the deliberate intention of targeting Planned Parenthood. According to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions, a driving force behind the move was Karen Handel, who was hired by Komen last year as vice president for public policy after losing a campaign for governor in Georgia in which she stressed her anti-abortion views and frequently denounced Planned Parenthood.
-----------------
Latest illnesses point to raw milk's popularity
Latest illnesses point to raw milk's popularity
WASHINGTON (AP) An outbreak of bacterial infections on the East Coast illustrates the popularity of raw, unpasteurized milk despite strong warnings from public health officials about the potential danger. Campylobacter can cause diarrhea, cramping, abdominal pain, and fever and can be life-threatening if it spreads to the bloodstream. A wide variety of pathogens besides campylobacter, can be found in raw milk including salmonella, listeria, E. coli and others and those sickened could suffer from stroke, kidney failure, paralysis or death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency points out that raw milk killed many people especially young children before the onset of pasteurization, which kills disease-causing germs by heating milk to high temperatures for a specific period of time. While the government contends that milk is a minor source of those nutrients, raw milk advocates say that's proof that pasteurization makes milk less wholesome and pure. Advocates say far more illnesses are caused each year by leafy greens, deli meats and other products produced in much larger quantities than raw milk. The owner of the Pennsylvania dairy, Your Family Cow farm in Chambersburg, posted a message on the farm's website last week saying that several customers had called them to say they had been experiencing "acute diarrhea, fever and stomach cramps." [...] the Pennsylvania health department has linked the outbreak to the farm, and a spokeswoman for the Maryland's health department says an unopened bottle from the farm tested positive for campylobacter.
-----------------
Malaria death toll possibly twice as high
Malaria death toll possibly twice as high
LONDON (AP) Malaria may be killing around twice as many people as experts previously thought, and it could also be hitting older children and adults long considered the least susceptible a new study suggests. Malaria cases and deaths have been dropping since 2004, due largely to big campaigns to distribute bednets, spray homes with insecticide and make better drugs available. Doctors have long thought children under 5 years old and pregnant women were the most susceptible to the mosquito-borne disease. Cibulskis said he was worried the current financial crisis could jeopardize successes in the battle against Malaria. Last year, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria which pays for about two-thirds of the world's malaria programs announced it had run out of money for future grants.
-----------------
Cancer charity confronts backlash over grant cuts
Cancer charity confronts backlash over grant cuts
NEW YORK (AP) The renowned breast cancer charity Susan G. Komen for the Cure faced an escalating backlash Thursday over its decision to cut breast screening grants to Planned Parenthood. [...] Komen has been deluged with negative emails and Facebook postings, accusing it of knuckling under to pressure from anti-abortion groups, since The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that it was halting grants that Planned Parenthood affiliates used for breast exams and related services. Planned Parenthood has been heartened by an outpouring of support in response to the cutoff. Besides $400,000 in smaller donations from 6,000 people, it is receiving $250,000 from a family foundation in Dallas and a $250,000 pledge announced Thursday by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to match future donations. Komen has said the decision stemmed from newly adopted criteria barring grants to organizations under investigation affecting Planned Parenthood because of an inquiry by a Republican congressman acting with encouragement from anti-abortion activists. A source with direct knowledge of decision-making at Komen's headquarters in Dallas gave a different account, saying the grant-making criteria were adopted with the deliberate intention of targeting Planned Parenthood. According to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions, a driving force behind the move was Karen Handel, who was hired by Komen last year as vice president for public policy after losing a campaign for governor in Georgia in which she stressed her anti-abortion views and frequently denounced Planned Parenthood. According to Planned Parenthood, its health centers performed more than 4 million breast exams over the past five years, including nearly 170,000 as a result of Komen grants.

Med-Marijuana
Links

Info Source for Full-THC Cannabis
www.medicalmarihuana.ca/

Institute of Medicine Report- Marijuana
http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/marimed/

Health Canada Medical Marijuana Program
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/dhp-mps/marihuana/index_e.html

Pitt U. Alternative Medicine
http://www.pitt.edu/~cbw/syst.html

Cannabis Facts
http://www.druglibrary.org/

GLA Info
http://www.healthandage.com/html/res/com/ConsSupplements/GammaLinolenicAcidGLAcs.html

Yale U. Health Info
http://yalenewhavenhealth.org/s_frontpage/index.html

FDA recommends Omega's for Heart Health
http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/news/2004/NEW01115.html

Omega Health
http://www.wholehealthmd.com/refshelf/substances_view/0,1525,992,00.html

Mayo Clinic Health Info
http://www.mayoclinic.com/

Omega's for Health
http://www.health-heart.org/

Med Marijuana Dealers and distributors may now be found in almost all areas of Canada and we are searching right now for the right people to close all of the gaps.

If a dealer contact is not available for your province, please use the information provided to contact us here at the farm- we'll help you out!
Copyright 2006 Michael Patriquen