U.S. Government finally admits that 9/11 toxins caused cancers
The US government has decided to recognize around 50 different types of cancer that victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks have been diagnosed with after more than a decade-long wait that has left hundreds dead without proper care or diagnosis.
Civilians and first responders that survived the September 11, 2001 attacks but developed cases of varying cancers in the aftermath will now be covered by a government-administered health care program that will provide them with complimentary check-ups and screenings. The decision will apply to survivors of both crashes at the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, DC.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety made the announcement Monday, adding dozens of diseases — including cancers of the breast, bladder and lung, colorectal cancer, leukemias, melanoma and childhood cancers — to an already substantial list of diseases that are covered.
"The publication of this final rule marks an important step in the effort to provide needed treatment and care to 9/11 responders and survivors through the WTC Health Program," NIOSH director Dr. John Howard said in a statement this week.
In a separate address, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said, "We have urged from the very beginning that the decision whether or not to include cancer be based on science." For several years, however, many victims and physicians have made countless claims that the effects of the attacks in NYC and DC did in fact contribute to developing debilitating diseases.
Roughly 20,000 gallons of jet fuel, 100,000 tons of organic debris and 100,000 gallons of heating and diesel oil were ignited on 9/11 after two airlines being flown at speeds of hundreds of miles an hour collided into both towers at the World Trade Center, NBC News reports. The crashes there and the related ones that same morning at the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania left an estimated 3,000 people dead and pushed America into battle in Afghanistan and eventually Iraq, the former of which is still operated today at what has become the United States’ longest-lasting war.
Twelve months ago, Dr David Prezant of the New York City Fire Department published findings culminated from his own research that revealed that firefighters that were exposed to the dust and smoke that came from the collapse of the Twin Towers have a 19 percent higher risk of getting various types of cancer than colleagues that were not assigned to Ground Zero.
Cancer-causing toxins — including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls and dioxins — have all been found in tests conducted at Ground Zero. In his findings, Dr. Prezant explicitly writes. “This study clearly shows World Trade Center exposure in these firefighters led to an increase in cancer.”
Retired NYPD Officer Edwin Rivera reflected on his assignment at Ground Zero with the New York Post earlier this year and said, “I have cancer that I should never have gotten” as a result of his work there.
“We sat in the pile and ate, drank water, rested – there was nowhere to go that wasn't contaminated,” Rivera said.
Before this week, respiratory diseases, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder and some musculoskeletal conditions were recognized by NIOS, although a number of cancers that victims have been diagnose with were never recognized until now. Although around 50 new diseases will be added to the list, the government-determined payment cap for health coverage — $1.55 billion for treatment and $2.78 billion for compensation — will not be raised.
The decision will impact around 70,000 civilians and first responders — including fire, police, and EMS personnel — that survived the attacks but developed diseases. NBC News reports that 9/11-related illnesses have killed around 1,000 victims so far. - RT
Operational Risk Management: A Case Study Approach to Effective Planning and Response
9/11 Ordinary People: Extraordinary Heroes: NYC - The First Battle in the War Against Terror!
102 Minutes: The Unforgettable Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers
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Who's the 'Red-Eyed Superhero?'
A second alleged sighting of a red-eyed vigilante has sparked rumours that a ‘superhero’ is fighting crime in Runcorn. The Runcorn and Widnes Weekly News has now received two reports of a masked man dressed all in black with glowing red eyes coming to the rescue of victims of crime. The latest report claims the mystery man stopped a gang of hooded youths from stealing a motorbike on Friday night.
It follows a letter which alleged that a similar looking figure fought off two men who were hassling a woman near the Royal British Legion. The latest anonymous letter said: “I was walking my dogs in Town Park this Friday when I saw a group of about six lads coming out of the trees.
“They were clearly intoxicated and looking for somebody and at least three had weapons – one had a large stick and the other two had golf clubs. It was pitch black and I feared for my safety. Then what happened was the weirdest thing I have seen in 52 years of living in Runcorn. A man with glowing red eyes dressed in all black, with a black SAS-style mask dropped down from a tree about 50ft ahead of me.
“Half of the group started running away but the three with weapons charged towards him and started swinging the golf clubs. Whoever he was, he had obviously had some kind of combat training because he moved so fast and disarmed all three of them in just few seconds. No sooner had it happened, the man just disappeared out of sight. It was exactly how the other woman described it. He was just like a superhero.” - runcornandwidnesweeklynews
The Batman Handbook: The Ultimate Training Manual
The Psychology of Superheroes: An Unauthorized Exploration (Psychology of Popular Culture)
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Woman found alive after 5 days in freezer may have climbed in due to bad weather
An Oklahoma woman who was found alive in a chest-type deep freezer may have climbed in due to bad weather. Theresa Christian, 59, was last seen over the weekend. Her son found her on Wednesday morning in a large freezer at her Tulsa apartment and called police.
"Apparently family members had reported her missing since Saturday and they finally got her son in who recognized immediately that there was no way she could have left the residence willingly without her purse and other belongings and left her TV on."
"So they started searching the house and neighbours said possibly she thought maybe there was tornado coming but their sure why or how she got there but her son heard a moan coming from the area of the freezer and opened up and discovered her sitting inside," said Cpl. Daisy Vallely with the Tulsa Police Department.
Family members say Christian is scared of storms and may have climbed into the freezer for safety. She was taken to the hospital in serious condition with frostbite. Police do not suspect foul play. - ksdk
NOTE: Yeah, you're thinking the same thing I am...where's Biscardi and the 'Freezer Boys' when you need them. Lon
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Buzz Aldrin’s hushed-up communion on the moon
As Neil Armstrong’s memorial takes place, it’s a good moment to look at one eccentric Apollo story: the tale of Aldrin’s hushed-up communion on the moon.
Before Armstrong and Aldrin stepped out of the lunar module on July 20, 1969, Aldrin unstowed a small plastic container of wine and some bread. He had brought them to the moon from Webster Presbyterian church near Houston, where he was an elder. Aldrin had received permission from the Presbyterian church’s general assembly to administer it to himself. In his book Magnificent Desolation he shares the message he then radioed to Nasa: “I would like to request a few moments of silence … and to invite each person listening in, wherever and whomever they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours, and to give thanks in his or her own way.”
He then ate and drank the elements. The surreal ceremony is described in an article by Aldrin in a 1970 copy of Guideposts magazine: “I poured the wine into the chalice our church had given me. In the one-sixth gravity of the moon the wine curled slowly and gracefully up the side of the cup. It was interesting to think that the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the first food eaten there, were communion elements.”
He also read a section of the gospel of John. During it all, Armstrong, reportedly a deist, is said to have watched respectfully but without making any comment.
The story of the secret communion service only emerged after the mission. Aldrin had originally planned to share the event with the world over the radio. However, at the time Nasa was still reeling from a lawsuit filed by the firebrand atheist Madalyn Murray O’Hair, resulting in the ceremony never being broadcast. The founder of American Atheists and self-titled “most hated woman in America” had taken on Nasa, as well as many other public organisation. Most famously, she successfully fought mandatory school prayer and bible recitation in US public schools.
After the Apollo 8 crew had read out the Genesis creation account in orbit, O’Hair wanted a ban on Nasa astronauts practising religion on earth, in space or “around and about the moon” while on duty. She believed it violated the constitutional separation between church and state. In Magnificent Desolation, Aldrin explains how astronaut Deke Slayton, who ran the Apollo 11 flight crew operations, told him to tone down his lunar communiqué. “Go ahead and have communion, but keep your comments more general,” he advised. Looking back Aldrin writes that the communion was his way of thanking God for the success of the mission. Yet, later he hinted that he could have been more inclusive:
“Perhaps, if I had it to do over again, I would not choose to celebrate communion.Although it was a deeply meaningful experience for me, it was a Christian sacrament, and we had come to the moon in the name of all mankind – be they Christians, Jews, Muslims, animists, agnostics, or atheists.”
O’Hair’s case against Nasa eventually fizzled out, but it dramatically changed the tone of the Apollo 11 landing. Aldrin had originally intended a much more pioneering Christopher Columbus-style ceremony on the moon. That was never to be.
But at Webster Presbyterian church – the spiritual home of many astronauts – Aldrin’s communion service is still celebrated every July, known as Lunar Communion Sunday. Pastor Helen DeLeon told me how they replay the tape of Aldrin on the moon and recite Psalm eight, which he had quoted on his return trip to Earth (“… what is man that thou art mindful of him”). The church still holds the chalice that Aldrin brought back with him. Judy Allton, a geologist and historian of Webster Presbyterian church, produced a paper, presented at a Nasa conference, arguing that communion could be an essential part of future manned space travel. She claims that rituals such as Aldrin’s communion “reinforce the homelink”.
And as for O’Hair? History was unkind. She disappeared in 1995 along with her son Jon and granddaughter Robin Murray. After a long hunt, their dismembered and charred bodies were found in a field. Authorities believe that David Waters, a former employee of O’Hair, masterminded a plot to rob and murder O’Hair. Her born-again son, William Murray, who lost not only his mother but also his brother and daughter to Waters and his associates, has spoken very strongly about his upbringing under O’Hair. He mourns his family but believes his mother was pumped up by her own hype and was even evil. In a statement given in 1999 he said, “she honestly believed she had singlehandedly removed prayer from school. She honestly believed she had ‘liberated’ America sexually”. Whatever we make of Murray’s criticisms, it appears O’Hair was a woman on a mission in the 60s and 70s. Having taken on the world, O’Hair believed it was perfectly plausible to take on space.
But in a sense, she need not have worried. No human has visited the moon since 1972, let alone preached from it. Meanwhile, the last message broadcast from another planet was a song by American singer and rapper Will.i.am. It was relayed by Nasa’s Curiosity rover currently exploring Mars. Hardly a violation of the first amendment. - rawstory
Magnificent Desolation: The Long Journey Home from the Moon
Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration
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Stem Cell gel regenerates spinal cord nerves
A stem cell gel developed by scientists can regenerate broken spinal cord nerves, research has shown.
The gel is applied to the site of an injury. In rats with completely severed spinal cords, it produced an 'astonishing degree' of nerve growth, U.S. scientists said.
Treated animals which were previously paralysed experienced 'significant' functional improvement and were able to move all the joints of their affected legs.
The gel was made by embedding neural stem cells in a mixture of blood clotting protein and growth chemicals.
Lead researcher Professor Mark Tuszynski, from the University of California at San Diego, said: 'Using this method, after six weeks the number of axons (nerve fibres) emerging from the injury site exceeded by 200-fold what had ever been seen before.
'The axons also grew ten times the length of axons in any previous study, and, importantly, the regeneration of these axons resulted in significant functional improvement.'
Cells were tagged with a fluorescent protein so that their progress could be monitored.
Scientists watched them grow, become neurons, and sprout axons.
In June, it was announced that researchers had successfully grown living bones in a laboratory using stem cells.
That technique could in future be used to replace shattered limbs, treat osteoporosis and arthritis and fix defects such as cleft palate, it was claimed.
The researchers took around a month to transform stem cells originally taken from fat tissue into sections of fully-formed bone up to several centimetres long.
Standard bone grafts involve two procedures, to cut bone from elsewhere in the patient's body before transplanting it into the damaged area, which carry the risk of infection and complications.
Bone can also be obtained from donations, but this brings the chance of rejection.
The new method would allow bones to be custom made to shape outside the body, using the patients own stem cells, removing the need for a potentially traumatic operation and reducing the likelihood of rejection.
So far the research has been carried out only on animals but a patient trial is planned for later this year.
That Israeli technology, developed by biotech company Bonus BioGroup and researchers at the Technion Institute of Research, involves growing the bone to fit the exact shape and size of the damaged area. - dailymail
The Stem Cell Hope: How Stem Cell Medicine Can Change Our Lives
Cells That Heal Us From Cradle To Grave: A Quantum Leap in Medical Science
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