Melanin and Skin

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-1-Traditional African Clinic – January 2009

African Traditional Herbal Research Clinic

Volume 4, Issue 1 NEWSLETTER January 2009

MELANIN & SKIN

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E

1 Happy New You2 The Mass Poisoning of America 3 Afrikan Spirituality – Ancestor Veneration in Africa 4 Feature- Skin Healing

6 Feature- Got Melanin?8 Feature-The Virtues of Vitamin D11 Dy(e)ing to be Noticed

12 Pregnant Women Warned off Makeup13 Indigo Plant May Treat Chronic Disease14 Beauty Creams with Nanoarticles that Poison the Body15 Feature – Melanin & Bio/Nanotechnology 20 Feature – Skin Bleaching Thrives 22 Skin Bleaching/Lightening and its Dangers27 New Botox Rival May Cost Less, Work Faster28 Nanotechnology Sparks Fears for the Future29 Skin Cancer Breakthrough31 Don’t Pucker Up: Lead in Lipstick 35 What is Vitiligo?/ Why Isn’t My Skin Brown? 38 Herb of the Month – Kigelia Africanus & More

Happy New YouFrom “Maintaining Our Temples”

By Qaraandin

This is the time of year when most of us promise tomake all of the changes we need to make to be "perfect."

We promise to: lose weight, stop smoking, startexercising, spend more time outdoors, eat more freshraw foods, and drink more water. In short, we promise todo all the things we need to do to maintain our temples.

At first, we are proud of ourselves because we are able todo exactly what we said we would do. We take walksevery day during our lunch breaks. We stop snacking onchips and beer while we are watching television.

After a couple of weeks, we begin to feel a little better.We even think we look better! Then, because it takes awhile to completely replace an old habit with a new one,when something comes up we fall back into our old program without thinking.

How do we react to our slip? Most of us give all of ourattention to the single mistake and stop our program then

and there. Because of one small mistake, we think thatwe have "failed."

We completely overlook the month or six weeks that we

What is the African TraditionalHerbal Research Clinic?We can make you healthy and wise

Nakato Lewis

Blackherbals at the Source of the Nile, UG Ltd.

The African Traditional Herbal Research Clinic locatedin Bukoto, Uganda is a modern clinic facility created toestablish a model space whereby indigenous herbal practitioners and healers can upgrade and update theirskills through training and certification and respond to

common diseases using African healing methods andtraditions in a modern clinical environment.

Traditional healers are the major health labor resourcein Africa as a whole. In Uganda, indigenous traditionalhealers are the only source of health services for themajority of the population. An estimated 80% of the population receives its health education and health carefrom practitioners of traditional medicine. They areknowledgeable of the culture, the local languages andlocal traditions. Our purpose is to raise publicawareness and understanding on the value of African

traditional herbal medicine and other healing practicesin today’s world.

The Clinic is open and operational. Some of theservices we offer are African herbal medicine,reflexology, acupressure, hot and cold hydrotherapy, body massage, herbal tonics, patient counseling, blood pressure checks, urine testing (sugar), and nutritional profiles. We believe in spirit, mind, and body. Spiritualcounseling upon request.

Visit us also at www.Blackherbals.com

Hours: 9:00 am to 6:00 pm Monday thru Friday

10 am to 4:00 pm Saturday - Sundays – Closed

Continued on page 2


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faithfully followed our new program. We ignore the ten pounds we have lost, the extra energy we have, howmuch better we feel when we get up each morning.

We focus on that one slice of cake we just ate, the threedays we didn’t take our walk, the one cigarette wesmoked without thinking. And we give up!

If we had stopped trying to walk the first time we felldown as babies, we would all still be crawling around!We have been programmed to behave as if one mistakemakes us a "failure." Yet, not one "successful" personwill say he or she got everything perfect on the first try!When we were babies we didn’t think of ourselves as"failures" because we fell down. We picked ourselves upand tried again. And again. And again. As many times asit took us to learn to walk without falling down.

When we decide to make the changes we need to make tomaintain our temples, we will have days that we don’t do

all of the things we want or need to do. We don’t have to beat ourselves up over what we didn’t do. Instead, let’s be happy about what we did do and plan to do better thenext day.

At least we are trying. How many people do you knowwho know what they need to do but won’t even try? Aslong as we have life, we can make the changes that willlead toward our best health. Making the first step, nomatter how small it may seem, is, in itself, success.

Sistah Qaraandin is the author of "Maintaining OurTemples" and the publisher and editor of

www.whattheproblemis.com and "Sistah Qaraandin’sM.O.T. Healthzine.

“The healing power of a person lies withinthe person, not within the doctor, a pill, or a

knife. The healing power of a community lies

within the community, not within a ballot box,

an executive order, or a referendum.” ☻☻☻☻☻☻

The Mass Poisoning OfHumanity

An Exploration of Human Stupidity

By Mike Adams

NewsTarget.com November 27, 2005

The mass poisoning of humanity: an exploration ofhuman stupidity. As human beings, we're the only speciesstupid enough to actually poison ourselves. As part of

modern living, we create a wide variety of chemical toxinsthat go into the ecosystem through rivers and streams, theair, the soil and so on. Not only that, we actually synthesizetoxic chemicals and then inject them directly into the foodsupply -- knowing full well that they are poisonous and aremajor contributors to the epidemic rates of chronic diseasewe are experiencing today.

What are these chemicals I'm talking about? Well, you'reabout to get a whirlwind tour of humanity's toxicchemicals. And if you look at toxic chemicals, you have tostart in the realm of dentistry, because in no other profession (save medicine) will you find the use of so manytoxic chemicals that are deliberately prescribed to patientsor injected into their bodies. We're talking about, of course,mercury fillings and fluoride dripped into the public watersupplies.

Dr. Poison Mercury, DDS

When we talk about mercury fillings, you have to keep inmind that mercury is simply one of the most toxic

substances you can put into the human body, aside fromradioactive substances. Right now, today, dentists all acrossthe country and around the world are taking this highlytoxic metal and literally putting it into the teeth of human beings. Those teeth are then used to chew food, and as a person chews; they effectively grind away the surfaces ofthese mercury fillings. These fillings release gas mercuryvapor and mercury particles, which people then breathe intotheir lungs, or digest in their stomachs.

Now, I can understand that maybe 50 years ago, the dentalindustry was too ignorant to realize that it was advocating

this toxic metal and putting it into patients' mouths. Theindustrial revolution is full of examples of companies thatused lots of toxic substances and therapies, thinking theywere good for you. Recall the X-rays and radiation of thefirst half of the twentieth century; people thought thatradiation was great for you. Manufacturers were equatingradiation with energy and thinking that if you consumedradiation pills, you would be more energetic. These wereactually sold and sponsored by physicians and doctors; itwas a mainstay of the medical industry in those days.

Later, we had the lead issue with industrial companies likeDuPont, which has an interesting history in the manufacture

and distribution of lead. People were convinced lead wasgreat for everything. They put it into the gasoline, andleaded gasoline was born. We later found out that leadcauses nervous system disorders and that it's very unhealthyto have lead emissions in the air. We ended up getting ridof lead paint, and banning the use of lead in foods andcosmetics.

But for some reason, today dentists still think mercury is perfectly good for you. It's like they're living in the Dark

Continued on page 7

Continued from page 1- Happy New You


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AFRIKAN SPIRITUALITY

ANCESTOR VENERATION

IN AFRICA B Y C H A R L E S N Y A M I T I

1. Introduction

In many African societies ancestral veneration is one of thecentral and basic traditional and even contemporary forms ofcult. As is indicated by the title, this essay intends to expose briefly the main features of that type of veneration in blackAfrica, South of the Sahara.

2. Ancestral cult in Black AfricaAfrican ancestral cult is deeply rooted in the Africantraditional worldview so much so that a proper and adequateunderstanding of that cult cannot be achieved withoutexamining it in its intimate link with such worldview. Hence, before exposing the main features of ancestral veneration, it

is useful to give first a brief survey of the African traditionalworldview, in the light of which the former will and should be envisaged.

2.1 Brief Survey of African Traditional Worldview As can be gathered from anthropological and ethnologicaldata most of the elements found in the African worldview can be reduced to four main headings:

2.1.1 Dynamism and vitalism, comprising an existential,concrete and affective way of approach. Reality is seen and judged especially from its dynamic aspects closely related tolife. The farther a being is from these elements, the moreunreal and valueless it is conceived to be, hence the emphasison fecundity and life, and the identification between beingand power or vital force. Indeed, the ideal of the Africanculture is coexistence with and the strengthening of vitalforce or vital relationship in the world and universe. Aboveall forces is God, who gives existence and increase of powerto all others. Next comes the dead of the tribe who, thanks totheir transition into the other world, are endowed with special powers. The living forms a hierarchy according to their power. The different manners of being are distinguished bytheir mode and degree of participation in the Supreme Force(God) and in superior forces of other "spiritual" beings.

The craving for power, safety, protection and life is thedriving force in the African religion. This craving originatesnot so much from logical reflection, but from a feeling ofincapacity and an obstinate desire to overcome it. Manyindividual needs are believed to be satisfied by dynamism andspiritism. Amulets and talisman are vehicles of vital energy. _____________________

Managing Editor: Nakato LewisPUBLISHER: KIWANUKA LEWIS Published monthly and freely by BHSN for the African TraditionalHerbal Research Clinic

The traditional shrine as a symbol of our cultural history

This ethic is based on the belief that every act and customwhich strikes at the vital force or at the growth anhierarchy of man is bad. What is ontologically anmorally and juridically just is that which maintains anincreases the vital energy received from the life-Giver, thCreator of force and the Force from which all forces floand are under His control.

Force, soul, life and word are closely connected with onanother. The word is the principle of life, vital force paexcellence (hence the force of the name, ritual, word anmyth). In a certain sense all is participation, because it the same force which animates the whole universe; and is normal that everything acts upon everything. Henc pan-vitalism or cosmo-biology characterises the Africatraditional worldview.

The classification of being is based on forces according (a) the principle of proximity of origin (the begetter always "stronger" than the begotten), or of existentiaffinity (correspondence between the visible and thinvisible, the profane and the sacred, the jungle and thvillage); (b) distinction of sexes.

2.1.2 Solidarity (relationally), totality anparticipation. The universe is conceived as a sort oorganic whole composed of suprasensible or mysticcorrelations or participations. The African does not onrepresent in his mind the object of his knowledge, but h participates in it only in a representative fashion, bsimultaneously in the physical and mystical sense of thworld, as can be observed especially in rituals. Thconnection between cause (supernatural) and effect

immediate; secondary causes are either not admitted oconsidered negligible. God is, in the final analysis, behinall the vents in the world. He is the Fountain of life an power in which all participate and, as such, He is thFoundation of human and cosmic solidarity, totality, an participation. This totalising vision manifests itself by thassimilation of the individual in the group, and by thabsence of clear-cut differentiation between the variousocial functions (economic, juridical, political, religiousThe social order is conceived as a replica of the order of

Continued on page 3


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FEATURED ARTICLES

Skin HealingBy Tariq Sawardi

"What you put on your skin is just as important as what you put in your body"

cheeks and forehead.

There are basically two general types of skin diseasesaccording to Yorubic medicine: Oshun imbalance andOgun imbalance. Oshun imbalance is the result of aoverload of the eliminative systems especially thoseaffecting the kidneys, colon, and liver networks

throughout the Orisha modes. This theory is also inagreement with the principles of Traditional ChineseMedicine utilizing Yin and Yang polarities in the body. If we consume too much animal protein, therewill be a buildup of urea and other toxic wastes, whichdoes not allow the kidneys to satisfactorily dischargethe toxins. If white sugar is added to the diet, it will precipitate a too active discharge resulting in skineruptions.

Melanin and Skin Health Without a doubt, melanin, the substance responsiblefor producing dark skin pigment in people of color isone of the important aspects when considering skincare. Melanin is a gift from the Creator which servesto protect the body and makes communication with theenvironment possible. Melanin is responsible formanufacturing and sustaining life and it keeps the black human in constant contact with the naturalenergies of the universe. (Refer to Diagram 1.)

Dr Carol Barnes in his book, Melanin: The ChemicalKey to Black Greatness indicates that melanin is a biopolymer of undetermined size. A polymer is alinkage of small units which forms a chemical chain or

a large, complex molecule.Therefore, melanin is a very large, complicated and

complex living molecule. It has a very high molecularweight, meaning that one molecule of melanin iscomposed of a three-dimensional configuration of over200 individual atoms. It is a living molecule, a lifechemical, and it is charged like a battery. In fact, itoperates like a battery or super-conductor, yet it is heatresistant and is characterized by a nice, sweetfragrance. Continued on page 5

Over the last ten years, I have frequently consultedAfrican Americans on a number of skin related problems such as sensitive skin, excessive oiliness,acne, spotting and tonal unevenness, ashiness, eczema, psoriasis, dermatitis, boils and athlete's foot. Some people just wanted a "quick fix". Others, still having to

see themselves in the mirror each morning, were nothappy about what they saw.

Skin eruptions of any kind are nature's way of gettingour attention when we're off wandering in thewilderness. According to African holistic principles,most skin eruptions are caused by eating poor foodcombinations, animal meat, denatured foods, bleachedflours, dairy, white sugar and from chemicalscontained in commercial cosmetics, to name a few. Allof these things create congestion and toxins in the body.

The skin is not just a covering to hold bones andmuscles together. The skin is actually the largestelimination system that the body has and itcommunicates to us. Almost everything that we seehappening to us, on the surface level, is reflective of acondition going on inside.

Through holistic health science, we know that each cellin the body has intelligence and memory. If we stop putting the poisons in the body that are causing the problems and nutritionally-support the weakenedsystem while it repairs itself, then most of the time wecan reverse the damage that we've done. The same

principle must be applied to the skin.You have probably heard the age-old saying, "you arewhat you eat." But we are also what we wear, what we breathe, and what we think. The thoughts we think,etch themselves on our face because they affectour water soluble vitamins and many of our mineralsvery quickly. It's hard to think or feel negativeemotions without affecting your B vitamins and your potassium levels. When potassium and sodium levelsare out of balance, deep lines start to appear on the ears,


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Continued from page 4 –Skin Healing

Diagram 1. Biochemistry of Black Skin

Melanin is found not only in the skin, hair and eyes, but it is also contained in many other vital parts of the

body as well. It is in the nervous system, the glands,the brain, the genes, the muscles, intestines, heart andliver. It is through these melanized organs, or networksthat the skin receives its healthy vibrations. So, it isimportant that we understand the significance ofmelanin in our efforts to maintain and enhance ourskin complexion.

You and your skin is a product of what you eat, thinkand drink, and your body responds to all three. Dr.Jewel Pookrum states in her book, Melanin - TheBasics, that there is also a relationship between theimmune system and melanin, especially in black

people. Dr. Pookrum describes in detail the chemistry behind melanin and how it becomes toxic when the body is exposed to various substances, such aschemicals, cosmetics, drugs food. When some of thesesubstances enter the body, they bind with melanin andconfuses the body and its skin, so it cannot maintainthe life functions the way pure melanin is suppose to.Melanin when toxic loses its ability to function properly and this results in physical and spiritualdiseases, and "skin disorientations".

Quite often I have treated black women who had skin problems around the mouth, or eye areas. Those are theweakest areas on the face, so toxins will erupt in thoseareas first. In most cases, these women were using make-up which contained artificial colors. Most womenexperience rashes, marks, and pimples. This is the body'sway of communicating that it is under toxic load. Theartificial colors in the eye make-up are basically the last

straw. In most of the cases I have diagnosed, I found thatthose same ladies also consumed quite a bit of sugar.Because sugar is assimilated in the mouth, it willimmediately weaken the immune system so there isnothing left to fight against the attack of artificial colors.The invading chemicals alter the chemical structure ofmelanin, alter its electrical charge and damage itselectronic configuration. All commercially madecosmetics have a toxic effect on melanin.

The use of colors to make-up the face and body wasderived from the ancient Egyptians. Europeans, however,

misinterpreted this ancient African science, and distortedthe original purpose of color science and called it make-upwhich is primarily used to cover and decorate the skin. Inancient Africa, colors were rubbed on the face to excitehealing of disease. Colors were extracted from medicinal plants and metals. The ancient Egyptians discovered thatcolors derived from plants have a wholistic healing effecton the body and its organs.

When some of these substances enter the body, they bindwith melanin and confuses the body and its skin, so itcannot maintain the life functions the way pure melanin issuppose to. Melanin when toxic loses its ability to function

properly and this result in physical and spiritual diseases,and "skin disorientations". Refer to Color Chart

As a result of their beneficial effects on organs in the practice of medicine, the colors in flowers, shrubs andeven in minerals were believed to possess therapeuticvirtues according to their colors and these were dulyclassified by Egyptian priests. Colors have their ownvibratory radiations which may affect the skin, causinghealth or allergic reactions. Pimples, bruises, rashes, blackheads and acne indicate a disease state of a particularorgan related to a specific area on the face. Furthermore,discoloration, or vitiligo (small patches of white skinsurrounded by normal pigmented skin) indicates adysfunction of the organ related to that facial area. (Facechart 2.)

Egyptian physicians depended heavily upon plants,minerals and metals in the compounding of remedies fordifferent skin diseases. In each case, the color factor wascarefully noted and influenced the selection of medicinalmaterials. Continued on page 10


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FEATURED ARTICLES

Melanin Anyone? Unblind Africanus

It is a sad and unfortunate fact that many people ofAfrikan descent need to be reminded of black historymonth, once a year, in order for them to grasp at a fewstraws of self-awareness. The minds of these victimsare too busy trying to emulate European behavior and“civilization” to initiate a serious exploration and“inploration” into their true essence. This goes to manyextremes and is something that affects our situation

negatively as well as “niggatively". I am oftendismayed but no longer surprised at the amount of my brothers and sisters who lack knowledge of self to theextent that, they are not aware of what melanin is. Thisfundamental determinant which makes us who we areas a people has not been taught to them and they havenot taken the initiative to find out about it.

To start at the beginning: Melanin is a Greek name(from melanos) which denotes the color black. It is truehowever that before the Greeks appropriated Afrikancivilization and science, in KMT or Egypt (which is a

Greek misguided name) the ancient black Egyptian(Metu Nefer) word that had the blackest connotationwas KMT and they named themselves by it (kamau).On a psychological level, the study of melanin is a keyto unlock mental slavery of black people. Melanin isthe fundamental unit of the universe and can exist infour forms including Cosmic Melanin, PlanetaryMelanin, Plant Kingdom Melanin (chlorophyll) andAnimal Kingdom melanin (black pigmentation). Thelatter is the appropriate field of study for Afrikans.

In humans, tyrosine, an amino acid, is the mainnutrient. Tyrosine is a precursor of melanin and lays the

foundation for melanin to be produced. The body mustcontain an enzyme known as tyrosinase and copper to be able to use tyrosine to create melanin. In humansthere are three types of melanin. The first beingEumelanin which has a high electric charge, highmolecular weight and density and gives rise to colorsfrom dark brown to blue black. A less dense form ofmelanin with lower molecular weight is known as pheo-melanin or pseudo-melanin. It has beenestablished that those with no melanin have quite a few

more cancers and genetic disorders than those with pheo-melanin. It is also true that people with pheo-melanin have also quite a few more cancerousdevelopments than those with Eumelanin.

The organ of the human body with the largest surfacearea is, of course, the skin. Many people are aware thatthe deep concentration of melanin in African peoples

skin makes them black and enables them to use the raysof the sun more effectively than our less “melanated”counterparts, but what few know is that melanin is notonly present in our skin but it permeates our whole physical being. It is contained in a small battery cellcalled a Melanosome. The degree of blackness invarious organs in Afrikan people depends on the type ofmelanin contained and its weight.

Melanin is present in each organ and regulates theworkings of our brain. Within the human brain stem are12 centers of black melanin. On the earth, only humanshave deep pigmentation of all twelve-brain centers. The

brain center with the deepest pigmentation is the LocusCoeruleus or Black Dot. The Locus Coeruleus suppliesthe pineal gland with norepinephrine. The pineal glandcontrols the flow of melatonin during the night hours toactivate R.E.M sleep which allows us to communicatewith internal memory pools or other dimensions of lifein nature. Melanin also causes seratonin to flow moreeffectively in the waking state so to “inspirience” morespirituality. This also helps to keep spiritual intunementat an apex. The less melanin in an individual, the morecalcified the pineal gland and less access the individualhas to the spiritual world.

Melanin exists also as biopigment for vision in the eyesof humans and all vertebrates. Color vision is producedin the retina by melanin through photopigments. Theseallow deeper melanin concentrations, offer protectionfrom the sun as well as a fuller vision of the colorspectrum. The melanin content in the inner ear also is ofgreat importance. Through this ear pigmentation, it wasfound that increased melanin increases hearingfrequencies.

Continued on page 7


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-7- Traditional African Clinic January 2009

Continued from page 6 – Melanin Anyone?

Melanin is also used to make the Black Dot more intouch with the universe. This Black Dot (Third Eye) wasseen by our Kemetic ancestors as the access point to innerwisdom and divinity. This was the invisible door to the pyramid which when activated would decipher themysteries.

Melanin in its most concentrated form is black. It is black because its chemical structure will not allow any energyto escape once that energy has come in contact with it.This gives us an insight and shows that melanin dominant people do not require the same amount of minerals andnutrients in their diet as people with less melanin.

Melanin absorbs light rays and stores them so that theycan be used as energy later on. This is why Melanindominant people are able to use sunlight moreeffectively. A perfect example of melanin’s use is relatedto Vitamin D. Vitamin D can be found in the skin of

melanin dominant individuals after sun exposure,whereas less “melanated” people require the intake ofdairy products to secrete vitamin D. It is important for people with high melanin content not to indulge in dairy products because after the age of 5, 80% of highlymelanated people are lactose intolerant. For our people,eating diary leads to blockage diseases in the body. Soinstead of asking your brothers and sisters if they “Gotmilk?” you need to ask them the question, “GotMelanin?” This is just one example and also a brief lookat the pervasive manifestations of melanin and its uses. Itis a fact that we have ceased to know about our melaninand ceased to use it accordingly. The key to our liberationis the reactivation of our melanin faculties.

The author of this article intends for everyone who readsit to research melanin and hence research their true self. Itis important for us to know some basic fundamentals onthe energy governing our life. For further research, twohighly recommended books upon which this article wasfed are: Melanin: A Key to Freedom by Richard KingM.D and Vitamins and Minerals: from A to Z by JewelPookrum. The author is a poet of the spoken word inToronto, Canada.

☻☻☻☻☻☻

Continued from page 2 – The Mass Poisoning of

Humanity

Ages. Gee, why don't they have you swallow radiation pills at the same time they're putting mercury fillings inyour mouth? That way you can be energized and havefillings, too!

Some of the greatest quackery in the world right now the problems associated with mercury toxicity and mercuryfillings. Of course, I don't mean all dentists; some dentistsare slowly coming around to this issue. In fact, theseselected dentists are leading the change; they are pioneering dentists, just as those in the world of medicinethat are trying to change conventional medicine.

These few dentists that are trying to make changes andget mercury fillings banned deserve tremendous credit fortaking the lead and standing up and fighting against thedogma of their own industry to protect their patients.There's no doubt in my mind that within a few years,mercury fillings will be banned and they will join theranks of lead paint, asbestos insulation, leaded gasolineand radiation pills. They will go into the historical annalsof bad medicine, and some day future generations willthink we were absolutely crazy to be putting mercury in people's mouths.

More Poison From Dentists - Fluoride

That's not the end of the toxicity in the world of dentistry,we also have dentists pushing for, get this, the dripping ofa highly toxic chemical waste product into the watersupply... a substance that's scraped off the smokestacks ofindustrial polluters. They want every person in thecommunity to actually drink this substance.

This material is a toxic waste that's regulated by the EPA.It would be illegal to drip it into a river or a stream, butfor some reason, it is perfectly legal to drip it into the public water supply and let people drink it. It's a bizarrecycle of rationalization that can only be called medical

lunacy. They no longer consider this toxic substancetoxic if it passes through the bodies of human beings first.What substance am I talking about? Fluorosilicic acid,otherwise known by its short name, fluoride.

Across the country and around the world, dentists areinsisting that we drip fluoride into the public watersupply. For what purpose? To protect the teeth? Can you be serious? People are swallowing this liquid. They're notrinsing it in their mouth and spitting it out, they'reingesting it. Now as a result we have fluorosis, and bonedisorders that are related to the over-consumption offluoride.

For some reason, dentists have decided that they nowhave medical degrees, and that they want to medicate theentire population with a drug, a biologically active drug,without first diagnosing any individual in thatcommunity. In other words, they want to medicateeveryone across the board with the exact same dosage,regardless of that person's individual health needs, andregardless of how much other fluoride they may beexposed to on a regular basis. This is the insanity of the

Continued on page 18


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FEATURED ARTICLES

The Virtues of Vitamin D: It’s Time We Saw the LightThere's no such thing as a cure-all, but Vitamin D comes pretty close. Jeremy Laurance

explains how a little sunshine could help you live a lot longer

18 September 2007

It may not be the first supplement to be called a"wonder vitamin", but it is one of the few to havelived up to the name. Last week, the biggest reviewof the role of vitamin D in health found that peoplewho took supplements of the vitamin for six years

Overall mortality

It was the proof that researchers had been waiting for.Earlier studies had suggested that vitamin D played akey role in protecting against cancer, heart diseaseand diabetes – conditions that account for 60 to 70 per cent of all deaths in the West. The new study, byscientists from the International Agency for Researchon Cancer in Lyon and the European Institute ofOncology in Milan and published in Archives ofInternal Medicine, shows that it does. The review of18 trials involving 57,000 people found that thosewho took the supplements had an 7 per cent lowerrisk of death overall during the six-year period of the

study.

Edward Giovannucci, a professor of nutrition at theHarvard School of Public Health, said that theresearch added "a new chapter in the accumulatingevidence for the beneficial role of vitamin D onhealth". He called for a debate on the merits of"moderate sun exposure, food fortification withvitamin D and higher dose supplements for adults".

Vitamin D is important because we are often short ofit. Most healthy individuals get all the vitamins andminerals they need from eating a balanced diet, but

vitamin D is the exception. It is made by the action ofsunlight on the skin, which accounts for 90 per centof the body's supply. Very little comes from food.

But the increasing use of sunscreens and thedecreasing amount of time spent outdoors, especially by children, has contributed to what many scientists believe is an increasing problem of vitamin Ddeficiency. In the winter, the sun in Britain is barelystrong enough to make the vitamin, and by spring,say scientists, 60 per cent of the population is

deficient (defined as a blood level below 30ng permillilitre).

Colds and flu The traditional advice for avoiding these winter ailmentshas been to swallow large quantities of vitamin C. But wemay have been turning to the wrong vitamin. Researchers

from Winthrop University Hospital in Mineola, NewYork, found that giving supplements of vitamin D to agroup of volunteers reduced episodes of infection withcolds and flu by 70 per cent over three years. All the participants were Afro-Caribbean women whose darkskin means that they make less vitamin D. Theresearchers said that the vitamin stimulated "innateimmunity" to viruses and bacteria. The decline in vitaminD levels between November and March could be the"seasonal stimulus" that accounts for the peak in coldsand flu in the winter. "Since there is an epidemic ofvitamin D insufficiency in the US, the public health

implications of this observation could be great," theresearchers wrote.

Heart disease

High rates of heart disease in Scotland have been blamedon the north's weak sunlight and short summers.Differences in sunlight may also explain the higher ratesof heart disease in England compared with southernEurope. Some experts believe that the health benefits oflife in the Mediterranean may have as much to do withthe sun there as with the regional food.

A study of almost 10,000 women over 65 by the

University of California found that those who tookvitamin D supplements had a 31 per cent lower risk ofdying of heart disease; researchers at the University ofBonn found lower levels of vitamin D in patients withchronic heart failure.

Vitamin D works by lowering insulin resistance, which isone of the major factors in heart disease. It is also used bythe thyroid gland, which secretes a hormone thatregulates the body's levels of calcium, which in turnshel s re ulate blood ressure. Continued on a e 9


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Continued from page 9 – The Virtues of Vitamin D

Cancer

A 40-year review of research found that a daily dose ofvitamin D could halve the risk of breast and bowelcancer, two of the biggest cancer killers. Scientistsfrom the University of San Diego reviewed 63scientific papers published since the 1960s and

concluded that there was a need for "public healthaction" to boost vitamin D levels. They said that adaily dose of 1,000 international units (25 micrograms)was needed; the recommended level in the US iscurrently only 400 units. Vitamin D deficiency "mayaccount for several thousand premature deaths fromcolon, breast, ovarian and other cancers annually,"they wrote in the American Journal of Public Health.

The research showed that African Americans withdarker skins and people living in the north-eastern US,where it is less sunny, were more likely to be deficientin vitamin D, and had higher cancer rates. This could

explain why black Americans die sooner that whitesfrom cancer, even after allowing for differences inincome and access to health care.

In June, the Canadian Cancer Society recommendedthat adults start taking vitamin D supplements toreduce their risk of cancer.

Rickets

This is the disease traditionally linked with vitamin Ddeficiency. A century ago, the typical bow-legged gaitof children whose bones had softened and deformed inthe absence of the vitamin was a common sight. Cod

liver oil, which contains vitamin D, was introduced asa welfare food in 1942 and virtually eliminated thecondition. Now, rickets is reappearing. Last June,doctors in Dundee reported five cases in ethnicallyAsian children; dark skin produces vitamin D moreslowly than lighter skin.

Vitamin D is crucial for the absorption of calcium,which is the building material for new bones. As wellas leading to rickets, deficiencies can contribute to poor tooth formation, stunted growth and general illhealth.

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence isconsulting on a proposal to recommend supplementsfor certain pregnant women at risk: vegans and womenwho cover their skin for religious reasons.Supplements are already recommended for infants atrisk, and are available free to families on incomesupport and jobseeker's allowance.

Diabetes

Vitamin D supplements given to babies born inFinland reduced their risk of Type 1 diabetes by 80 per

cent. Researchers followed 12,000 children born in 1966until 1997 and found that those who developed rickets,indicating vitamin D deficiency, were three times morelikely to become diabetic. Vitamin D is believed to act asan immunosuppressive agent, which may prevent anoverly aggressive response from the immune system fromdestroying insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.

In Oxford, the number of five-year-olds with diabetes hasincreased fivefold, and the number of 15-year-olds with ithas doubled. Doctors say that this increase is too steep to be caused by genetic factors, and must be due to changesin the environment. "Our research shows that analarmingly high number of people in the UK do not getenough vitamin D," said Elina Hypoponen, from theInstitute of Child Health in London, who led the Finlandstudy. "In winter, nine out of 10 adults have sub-optimallevels."

Multiple sclerosis

The idea that sunlight might protect against MS arose

because the condition is more common in countriesfurther from the equator: gloomy Chicago has a higherrate than sunny Florida, for example. Cloudy Scotlandhas the highest rate of MS in the world. Scots born inMay, after the long, dark winter, have an above-averagerisk, while those born in November, after the summerholidays, have the lowest risk.

Sir Donald Acheson, former UK Chief Medical Officer, published a study in 2004 suggesting that people whospent more time in the sun had a lower risk than thosewho stayed out of it. Published in the Journal of

Epidemiology and Community Health, it concluded that acertain level of exposure to the sun might be necessarythroughout the year.

Autism

Could vitamin D deficiency be behind the explosion inautism? John Cannell, a psychiatrist and vitamin Dadvocate, thinks so. The evidence is circumstantial, butCannell says that medical advice to avoid the sun andcover up since the 1980s has paralleled the rise in autism.Flagging levels of vitamin D could be the decisive factor.Dr Richard Mills, research director at the NationalAutistic Society, said: "There has been speculation about

autism being more common in high-latitude countriesthat get less sunlight, and a tie-up with rickets has beensuggested – observations which support the theory."

How to get it – and how much you should take

* 90 per cent of the body's supply of vitamin D isgenerated by the action of sunlight on the skin.

* Vitamin D lasts for around 60 days in the body, so itneeds regular topping up.



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Continued from page 5 –Skin Healing

COLOR CHART

ORANGE: lungs,

pancreas PURPLE: nerves,

circulation

BLUE: glands,

kidneys GREEN: liver,

heart

RED: blood

cleansers INDIGO: bones,

skin

YELLOW:digestion,

purification

BLACK: melanin

The use of color in healing is unique in that the pureenergies of light are applied therapeutically in a variety offorms. The essence prepared from the color treatment can be given orally or externally to treat a variety of skindisorders. This unique art was applied in ancient Egypt

in the healing temples.

Face Chart 2. Reflexology Face Chart

In African medicine, rashes, acne, bruises, and marks thatoccur on the face are caused b the imbalances of various

organs in the human associated with them. To hedischarge waste from the kidneys, colon, liver, it recommended that one apply color treatments over refle points on the face.

Remedies and Healing Your Skin I know it may seem strange that the things we put on ouskin can cause our bodies distress, but ask people who ar

allergic to poison ivy, wool or strawberries. What we put oour skin is just as important as what we put into our bodiesWhen our bodies are healthy and our immune system strong, we show a healthy luster on our faces.

However, if we abuse our bodies by eating un-natural food(especially animal products), foods we overcook, frozen processed foods, synthetics or from taking certamedically prescribed drugs, our bodies will accumulatoxins. As we start to build up toxins in our bodies and thsystem gets weaker, the effects will start to manifethemselves on our skin to warn us.

The following is some helpful advice for clearing the skand treating skin troubles:

Drink Plenty of Water. Water truly is the 'Fountain Youth" and it makes sense that if our body is made up o98 percent liquid, water should be an importanconsideration. PURE water. Not sodas, teas or juicesWater keeps things moving and helps flush out the organso that there is less chance of toxins building up. Water an important aid to all elimination.

Wash the skin with natural soap such as BLACK SOA(herbal/mineral) and CLAY SOAP. These are natural f

melanated skin. Avoid using commercial cosmeticlotions, shampoos or creams. Also supplement the bodwith vitamins A, C and B complexes.

Herbs that are helpful in clearing the skin are: chickweedandelion, ginger, red clover, yellow dock roosarsaparilla, burdock and sassafras.

Recommended Reading

African Holistic Health, Lliaila O. AfrikaAfrican Medicine, Tariq M. SawandiHerbs for Clearing the Skin, S. BeckettSelf Treatment for Skin Troubles, H. Clements

Melanin: The Chemical Key to Black Greatness, DCarol BarnesMelanin: The Basics, Dr. Jewel PookrumHow to Select and Combine Fruits, Vegetables an

Tubers through their Color-Powers, Dr. Ignatius

Tariq Sawandi is a Master herbalist, nutritionist, and

consultant on holistic and consultant on holistic health.

www.blackherbals.com/skin_healing.htm ☻☻☻☻☻☻


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Continued from page 9 – The Virtues of Vitamin D

* Twenty minutes twice a week in the sun with exposedhands, arms and face is adequate to maintain reserves.

* There is no recommended supplementary dose in theUK.

* In the US, the recommended supplementary dose is 400

international units a day.

* Some scientists say that 1,000 international units ofvitamin D a day may be necessary to prevent disease.

* Vitamin D supplements cost around 5p a day.

http://news.independent.co.uk/health/article2974479.ece ☻☻☻☻☻☻

Dy(e)ing To Be NoticedBy Qaraandin

Shaquille O’Neill wore them because his mother said its

okay, as long as they don’t show when he’s wearing business attire. Allen Iverson wears them for inspiration.Whatever the reasons are that folk are wearing them,tattoos are helping to destroy the health of manymembers of our community.

There are four eliminating organs in the body: the colon,the kidneys, the lungs, and the skin. The skin is the body’s largest eliminating organ. The four eliminatingorgans work together to keep the body clean and healthy.When any one of the four is not able to do its job, theother three must work harder.

As an eliminating organ, the skin excretes about a pint of poisons through the pores every 24 hours. The skin also:

• Breathes and absorbs air, light, and water

• Reacts to external stimuli and against pain

• Evaporates heat for the body as the body maintains aconstant temperature

• Acts as a storehouse for fats and water

• Secretes oil, called sebum, which keeps the skinflexible

Tattoos kill the skin. The skin cells, that are under thetattoos no longer function. The more tattoos covering the body, the fewer skin cells left alive to work as the body’seliminators. The colon, kidneys, and lungs must workharder to remove the waste that would ordinarily have been removed through that part of the skin.

Tattoos are made by injecting colored pigment into smalldeep holes made in the skin. As with most trauma, painand bleeding are part of the process. Immediately afterthe tattooing process and during the healing process there

is an acute inflammatory response which usually includeslocal swelling, redness, scab formation, and bleeding. Sincea tattoo is an open wound until it heals, infection of thewound is always a potential problem.

Problems can appear after the tattoo has healed. Theseinclude: lichenoids (small bumps of reactive tissue);granulomas (firm balls of reactive tissue that form around

the material that the body perceives as foreign, in this casethe tattoo ink); lymphocytoma cutis (a skin reaction thatmimics lymphoma of the skin and has been associated withinsect bites, some drugs, and allergy shots, as well astattoos); scaling, itching, swelling, sores, and keloids.

Some people find that they have problems resulting from areaction between the sun and the tattoo dye. These reactionsinclude swelling, itching, scaling, redness, and sunburn.

There can be a reaction to the tattoo dye long time, evenyears, after receiving the tattoo. The reaction may involveitching, swelling, redness, and/or scaling.

Tattooing may result in the accidental inoculation ofinfectious matter into the skin. Some dis-eases that areknown to have been spread through tattooing include:hepatitis B & C; tuberculosis and other mycobacteria,syphilis, malaria, and leprosy. There have been no reportedcases of HIV being spread through tattooing.

Most tattoo dyes contain metal although non-metallic pigment options are available. The metals used in the dyesare:

Red: mercury, cadmium sulfide

Violet: manganese

Black: carbon

Yellow: cadmium sulfide

Blue: cobalt salt (cobaltous aluminate)

Green: chromium

Purple: manganese

Brown: lead (ferric oxide), cadmium salts

White: titanium, zinc oxide, lead carbonate

The inks also contain resin, acrylic, glycol, or all three.

Some of the colors used are industrial grade which aresuitable for printer’s ink or automobile paint.

Autopsies reveal that ink from tattoos wind up in the lymphnode closest to the tattoo. This weakens the immunesystem.

We spend all day, everyday trying to avoid chemicals,hormones, preservatives, drugs, and other substances thatwe know harm the body. We read labels on the foods we



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Continued from page 11 – Dye(ing) to be Noticed

eat and the beverages we drink. We are careful of the products we use to clean our bodies, our clothes, andour homes. We exercise, get plenty of rest, bathe in thesun’s healing rays, and drink plenty of water. Whyundo all of that by weakening our immune systemswith tattoo dyes? In his book, "The ReBirth of Gods,"

Dr. Paul Goss reminds us:

"You have to go to the store and buy beauty only

when you do not understand yourself. True beauty is

a healthy colon, healthy kidneys, a healthy liver, a

healthy heart, a healthy appendix, healthy tonsils, a

healthy spleen, a healthy gallbladder, etc. Beauty

comes from perfect health.

"When you allow others to be your understanding

they can control how you perceive yourself. They will

then use your insecurity against you and encourage

you to destroy yourself. What you have been

programmed to accept as beauty aids destroy your genes and organs."

Yes, our ancestors were the first to do tattooing. Theoldest tattoo found was on a man named Otzi who livedin about 5,000 BC. However, it is time for us to admitthat not everything our ancestors did was good forthem. It certainly is not in our best interest toreintroduce habits that we clearly understand are notgood for us.

Our goal is to maintain our temples. We cannot do that by blindly following trends and fashions. No matter

who starts them.

“The healing power of a person lies withinthe person, not within the doctor, a pill, or a

knife. The healing power of a community lies

within the community, not within a ballot box,

an executive order, or a referendum.” from: Maintaining Our Temples

By Qaraandin

www.blackherbals.com/dy(e)ing_to_be_noticed.htm ☻☻☻☻☻☻

Pregnant Women Warned offMake-upStudy links birth defects to mothers' use of cosmetics

By Rachel Shields

30 November 2008

Spare a thought for the mum-to-be: no booze; no fags;no pâté; no fancy cheese; no eggs; and, probably, a

wild craving for coal. Now pregnant woman have been toldthey have to make do without beauty products.

Growing concerns over the exposure of pregnant women tochemicals that may lead to birth defects have promptedcalls for a new EU-wide cosmetics labelling system whichwould mark out some products as off-limits to mothers-to- be.

The move follows the publication of a study which foundthat women exposed to high levels of hairspray during pregnancy were twice as likely to have babies born withhypospadias, a condition in which the urinary tract growson the underside of the penis. The Imperial College Londonstudy suggested that the birth defects were linked tochemicals in hairspray shown to disrupt the hormonalsystems in the body and affect reproductive development.

Fears over the effects of chemicals such as parabens,commonly used in cosmetics as a preservative, and phthalates, used in hairspray, have led to calls for closer

monitoring of cosmetics. High levels of phthalates, alsoused to soften plastics such as PVC, have been found toaffect hormone levels, while parabens have been the subjectof concern since 2004, when a study claimed to havedetected parabens from deodorants in cancerous breasttissue.

The French health minister Roselyne Bachelot sparkeddebate last week by announcing that the French healthauthorities were considering a labeling system forcosmetics that would indicate whether or not products weresafe for pregnant women. But the UK government said thatthe EU should address the issue as a whole, adding it to a

range of changes currently being made to the EuropeanCosmetics Directive.

A spokesperson for the Department for Business, Enterprise& Regulatory Reform (BERR) said: "BERR does not thinkthis is something which is suitable for individual countriesto take forward unilaterally and hope that the French raisethis during the current negotiations on the revision of thecosmetics directive, where a discussion can take placeamong experts on cosmetic products".

A 2007 study claimed British women absorb an average of5lb of cosmetics a year through their skin and mouths.

Scientists last night backed a labelling scheme. "Labelsenable people to make informed choices. In the vulnerable period of pregnancy, it makes sense for people to reducetheir exposure to harmful chemicals," said Professor PaulElliott, who led the Imperial College study. "It is part of a broader discussion about minimising chemical exposure inearly pregnancy."

The Royal College of General Practitioners is advisingwomen to consider which products they use. "Women


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FEATURED ARTICLES

“Melanin and Bio/NanotechnologyNakato Lewis

Blackherbals at the Source of the Nile, UG Ltd.

Mumia, a powder derived from dried Egyptian

mummies, was one of the most valued commodities on

the apothecaries' shelves. Believed to contain powerful,

mystical cures for many diseases, the demand for

mumia in 17th-century Europe was so great that it was

impossible to supply it. As a result, medical charlatans

grew wealthy selling fake mumia, made from the

remains of recently executed prisoners. In addition, the

oils and resins used in embalming the body were so

potent, that the mummies sold to doctors in Europe

distilled the dressings for use in their medicines.

Embalming was one of the principal uses of

aromatherapy, preserving the tissue of the bodies for

thousands of years - Empirics, Quacks, and

Alternative Medical Practices

Nanotechnology is the science of manipulating matter,such as black materials, sometimes smaller than 100nanometers and taking advantages of the properties,such as electrical conductivity, that is present only atthat level. A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter, orabout one-millionth the size of a pin head. The prefixcomes from "nanos," the Greek word for dwarf. Nanotechnology has been around for several decades, but only now is its potential starting to be realized.Medicine is expected to be only one of the fields to benefit most from the technology.

One of the first things we learn in science class is that

there are three states of matter, gas, liquid and solid. All

black materials belong to the solid state and follow its

laws. Black materials are present in the entire universeand are of great interest for the evolution of our planet

and living systems. They are present in the lithosphere

as minerals, graphite, black shale, fullerenes; in the

hydrosphere as black particles in seas, lakes and rivers;

in the atmosphere as soot and smoke; in cosmos as

fullerenes and cosmids; and in the universe as black

holes. In the biosphere, black matter is better known as

the melanin (black pigment) molecule, in all its forms.

The chemical element carbon is the basis of most lifeon this planet and is also black in colour. Melaninconstitutes a class of pigments, which are widespread inhumans, animals and vegetables. While the namemelanin in Greek means black, not all melanin as pigments are black but may vary from brown to yellow.It belongs to a family of unique and very stable black

substances that is present throughout nature and theuniverse.

Physical Characteristics of Black Materials and

Melanin

But even before we learn about the different states ofmatter, we learn that matter cannot be created ordestroyed, only rearranged. One of the physicalcharacteristics of black materials is the ability torearrange its chemical structure to absorb all energyacross the radiant energy spectrum. Reflected energy iswhite light, i.e. from the sun, in the visible range

whereas absorbed energy is black in colour. Melaninabsorbs light energy, sound energy and electromagneticenergy. Melanin has many other interesting propertiestoo, such as ultraviolet absorption, where it is currently being utilized in the preparation of UV-absorbingoptical lenses and in cosmetic creams.

The colours of melanin are those of a puresemiconductor. As with other black materials, such asgraphite and fullerenes, this state is subject to changes by doping with other materials. All black materials,including melanin, show a remarkable affinity formetals and exhibit the ability to form charge-transfercomplexes, which can carry either a positive or anegative charge. Melanin can conduct electricitywithout offering resistance to the flow of electricity.This means that melanin has super-conductingcapabilities. It also behaves like an insulator in that itwill not allow electrical current to pass through itsstructure, similar to rubber and plastic insulators. Theadded ability of melanin to undergo polymerization isof great interest in Industry for its nano-technologicaluse in bio-plastics and biopolymers. Continued on page 17


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Continued from page 16 – Melanin & Bio/Nanotechnology

Melanin also displays what is called threshold switching(an on/off switch), which means it can function as a bio-mechanical regulator of biological functions. Of evengreater interest to the scientific community is its use inthe genetic engineering of pharmaceutical drugs forspecific diseases and other microbial applications using

nanotechnology. For example, two research laboratoriesat the Savannah River Site in the US are undertaking astudy to better understand how scientists can encouragecertain bacteria to produce more of a type of melanin, a pigment similar to the one that makes humans’ skindarker, which could be use to clean up metals andradionuclides (radiation particles) in the environment.

This is called bioremediation, the use of living things,such as microbes or plants to clean up environmentalcontamination. Melanin has been shown to accelerate therate at which microbes transform metals andradionuclides in the soil. Researchers hope to stimulate

the bacteria to produce more melanin by providing themcertain nutrients, which in turn, could speed up the rate atwhich metals and radionuclides currently in theenvironment are detoxified or immobilized.

In another example, experiments on mice have shown promise for the future of nanotechnology in treatingcancer. The technology being tested involves a nano- particle of a hydrogen and carbon polymer with bits ofdrug bound up in its fabric and attached to a substancethat hones in on cancer cells. By successfully treating prostate cancer tumour in mice, this research bringsdoctors one step closer to being able to inject patientswith nanoparticles that bore inside tumours and release powerful doses of cancer-killing drugs while leaving therest of the body untouched. However, one major problemscientists were having in perfecting the blood injection isthat the nanoparticles are ending up in the liver andspleen - an unwanted side effect because once theydissolve in those organs, they release toxic levels ofchemotherapy to healthy tissue.

Melanin in Human Physiology

African physiology is based on the melanin biochemicalmolecule. Melanin is a unique life chemical found in highconcentration in people African descent. In addition to providing pigmentation to hair, skin and eyes, melanin isincorporated into all major systems and vital organs inthe body, bringing control of all bodily systems under thecentral nervous of system, the body’s informationnetwork. It is in the nervous system, the spinal cord, theglands, the brain, the DNA, the muscles, intestines, theheart, blood and the liver. Its presence can be foundthroughout nature and is also found in many of ourfoods.

As a free radical scavenger or oxygen scavenger, melaninhas additional anti-toxin characteristics and as such, canserve as a terminator of free radical chain reactions. As afree radical scavenger, melanin plays an important role in preserving cells from the toxic effects of oxygen(antioxidant effect) and is generally present at the site oftissue repair, regeneration of cuts and wounds, andinfectious diseases. Melanin also increases the speed of

nerve and brain messages which are transmitted betweenthe left and right hemispheres of the brainand all signalstransmitted throughout the bodily nerve network.Melanin can bind and release many of the knownelements that are essential for proper body metabolism. Itreadily crosses the blood-brain barrier, and is thereforeuseful as a carrier for other therapeutic agents that mustreach brain tissue to produce their therapeutic responses.A variety of drugs, such as chloroquine, cocaine, heroin,amphetamines, etc., were designed to have a high affinityfor melanin.

In the past, western medicine considered melanin a waste product of human metabolism, serving no useful functionin the body. Modern science has since discovered that themelanin molecule, like other black materials to which it isrelated, is very old, very refined, complex,multifunctional, biochemical polymer having a widevariety of important functions within the human body andthroughout nature. Earlier scientific studies elucidatinghuman biochemical structures never took into account theimportance of melanin in the human body. Therefore,early medical and pharmaceutical determinations basedthe physical, neurological and metabolic responses of

animals, in the treatment of disease, only on white oralbino animals as a means of extrapolating the meanresponse of humans to laboratory-produced drugs,chemicals and pesticides. Consequently, the physiological, metabolic and neurological differences inthe biological makeup of black people were not includedin those studies. This is one of the reasons why westernmedicine does not work adequately in melanated peopleand the reason why we suffer so many side-effects fromthese substances. Race-based medicine, now beingdeveloped by the pharmaceutical industry, is based onsynthetic and genetically-engineered drugs, chemicals,food and now, melanin.

Naturally-occurring melanins include eumelanins, phaeomelanins, neuromelanins and allomelanins (plant- based). Colours in humans are determined chiefly by twotypes of melanin, eumelanins and phaeomelanin.Eumelanins are derived from the precursor, tyrosine,generally insoluble and black or brown in colour.Phaeomelanins have tyrosine and cysteine as their precursors, are generally alkali-soluble and much lighter



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Continued from page 17– Melanin & Bio/Nanotechnology

in colour. Under the microscope melanin is brown, non-refractile and finely granular with individual granules,having a diameter of less than 800 nanometers.

Melanins are polymers produced by polymerization ofreactive intermediates. The reactive intermediates are produced chemically or enzymatically from precursors

consisting of smaller chemical species in varyingamounts, such as tyrosine, tryptophan, glutamate, phenylalanine, serotonin, melantonin, dopamine,norepinephrine (noradrenaline), and epinephrine(adrenaline). The term melanin includes naturally-occurring melanins, which are usually high molecularweight polymers (generally, molecular weights in themillions).

Naturally-occurring melanin is formed through natural biochemical pathways. One is diet, involving the aminoacids phenylalanine and tyrosine. Phenylalanine is a

dietary chemical that comes from red meat and soya. It isa melanin precursor, which can raise blood pressure.Another pathway for natural melanin production involvesthe use of the neurotransmitters, epinephrine andnorepinephrine. Melanin production is intimatelyinvolved with the neural system (neuromelanin) becausetyrosine and phenylalanine are also precursors for theneurotransmitters epinephrine, norepinphrine anddopamine.

The metabolic pathway, for the production of melaninfrom amino acid building blocks, finds maximal presencein those cells that have a high demand for those products,

the brain. Brain cells have high levels of tyrosinase because there is a high demand for dopamine. Theenzyme, tyrosinase plays a key role in the syntheses ofmelanins and its derivatives. The substantia nigra, theregion of the brain where the concentration of melanin isvery high, is noted for cells with high levels of tyrosinase.Insufficient amounts of this enzyme causes melanindeficiencies in some humans. The gene for humantyrosinase has been isolated, genetically sequenced andcloned.

Currently, melanin is being produced synthetically orisolated from natural sources. Natural sources include beef eyes, squid, hair, bacteria such as Streptococcusantibioticus and E. coli, and the human brain, amongothers.

Benefits and Risks

With the use of genetic engineering and nano-technology,melanins, its precursors and its derivatives are beingsynthetically produced and patented with predictablemolecular weights, particle sizes, and compositions.Consequently, melanins can now be attached to anti-

bodies and thus targeted for specific cells (e.g. livercells).

Melanin has a number of properties, which can beexploited to alter both cellular metabolisms and/orremove or introduce intra- and intercellular toxins. Such properties include oxygen and free radical scavenging,metal binding, binding of organic cationic species,

catalysis of coupled reduction-oxidation reactions. These properties are not interdependent, and melanin can beselectively altered and optimized. Drugs can becovalently bound to melanin or just adsorbed on itssurface. They can be attached in such a manner thatinduces cellular metabolism at the target cell and causerelease of the therapeutic agent.

Other therapeutic uses of bio-synthetic melanin are: 1) totreat melanin deficiencies; 2) to preventneurodegenerative diseases of the nervous system caused by exposure to toxic agents; and 3) to assist in therecovery of neurons, injured as a result of direct injury or

disease. In fact, the therapeutics uses of melanin and itsderivatives stated above have already been patented in theU.S. In fact, there are a number of patents on the processof genetically-engineered melanin production usinggenetically-engineered microorganisms. In addition,nanoparticles of melanin can enter human cells as well asthe soil, can trigger chemical reactions and can interferewith normal biological and ecological processes.Synthetic nanoparticles can readily cross the skin-blood- brain barrier, which should be of major concern to peopleof colour. This technology is suitable for bioterrorism andthis is just the tip of the iceberg. A recent analysis of

human genome data in public databases reveals thathundreds, possibly thousands of markers for ethnic-specific weapons do exist. In Black people there are some15,000 possible biochemical markers that exist as future bioweapons.

The world is truly becoming a very dangerous place. Thegenetic modification of the common foods we eat in the production of vaccines, herbicides and pesticides and therearrangement of plant and animal cells in bio/nanotechnology to produce so-called desired physicaland biochemical characteristics across species is arrogantand foolish. The melanated God that created the universeand us along with it, cannot be outdone. Is westernscience trying to demonstrate that God is not perfect because some of his creations require fixing? Theillnesses and diseases with which we are confronted arenot from God. Although we have no control over the typeof genes we receive at birth, the majority of the diseasesthat we acquire in our lifetime are from our own doing. Itis humans that are polluting the earth and in polluting theearth, we pollute ourselves and our environment.

Continued on a e 19


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Continued from page 19 – The Mass Poisoning of Humanity

Our population is being poisoned with artificial chemicalsweeteners. Let's take a look at these. Aspartame is asweetener that was never proven safe; in fact, the originalsafety recommendation panel at the FDA recommendedthat aspartame be denied approval as a safe foodingredient. It was none other than Donald Rumsfeld at the

time who helped push aspartame through the FDA to getit legalized as a food additive.

Today, we now see the vast majority of complaints offood side effects sent to the FDA being caused byaspartame. Aspartame is an excitotoxin, that is, aneurotoxic chemical, and it breaks down in your bodyinto both formic acid and formaldehyde. Now, would youlike to go out and drink some formaldehyde? Well, youmight do that if you were a biological specimen thatneeded to be preserved for dissection, but if you're anormal, healthy, sane human being, you'd never drinkformaldehyde. Unless, of course, they put it in an

artificial sweetener compound and added it to cans ofyour favorite carbonated soft drink, in which caseAmericans will gladly drink formaldehyde in can aftercan, poisoning their nervous systems, going half blind,experiencing epilepsy and increasing the onset ofneurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease.

Again, we're the only species stupid enough to actually poison ourselves with these chemicals. And yet we haveentire groups, food lobbies and public apologizers whorun around saying that these ingredients are perfectlygood for you. There's nothing wrong with drinkingformaldehyde and formic acid. You'll be fine! Drinkmore! Here, in fact here's a 50 percent more coupon, soyou can buy even more!

Want Some Chlorine In Your Food Today?

Some say, "Well, aspartame is on the way out -- the bigsweetener now is Sucralose or Splenda." This is theartificial sweetener that claims to be made from sugar.Well, I suppose you can claim that it starts out as sugar, but it's made by removing some of the atoms from sugarand replacing them with atoms of chlorine, which is ofcourse one of the chemical elements used during theatrocities of World War II to create poison gas, the same

element used in chlorine to disinfect pools and publicwater supplies.

When it's put that way, you might start thinking, "Well,gee, maybe there's something wrong with this sugar,maybe I shouldn't be putting chlorine atoms into my body." Would you go out and drink chlorine? If youknow anybody who works on pools, or who has a poolmaintenance business, they will tell you that chlorine gaswill kill you. In fact, just to handle chlorine, they have towear protective rubber gloves and protective respiration

devices, because if they get chlorine powder wet andtouch it or inhale it, they are in for a world of hurt.Chlorine gas can cause serious injury or even death. Infact, if you just take household ingredients like chlorine bleach and mix it with ammonia, you will create a highlytoxic gas that will literally kill you, which is why these products often contain warnings that they should not bemixed.

And yet, in our food supply, we take chlorine atoms andwe attach them to molecules that used to be sugar, and wecall that a safe sweetener. And now we're putting it intoall kinds of foods, whether it's soft drinks, muffins, pancake mixes and pretty much everything in the low-carb arena. I'm not sure people realize that they areactually ingesting chlorine atoms. Maybe they're toodazed from the fluoride.

Okay, so far we have dentists putting mercury fillings inyour mouth that give off mercury vapor and causeneurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease.

We have the same insane dentists mandating the drippingof EPA-regulated environmental pollutants into the public water supply, making sure that human beings inthe United States have to drink toxic waste product...after which it enters into the rivers and streams as part ofhuman waste, even though if such chemicals weredripped directly into the rivers and streams in this countryit would be a violation of federal law. We have food and beverage companies using artificial chemical sweetenersto replace sugar and claiming that their products arehealthier than sugar products. And yet, these artificialchemical sweeteners break down into dangerous chemical

components such as formaldehyde and formic acid, orthey are made with chlorine atoms that simply do not belong in the human body. These chemicals do notappear anywhere in nature attached to a sugar molecule.

Yummy Poison: Hydrogenated Oils

So, what else can the money-hungry corporations think ofto put into the food or the water to poison America? Theyare quite creative and they have a lot of poisons at theirdisposal. The next terrible poison on the list ishydrogenated oils. They're called brain poisons, andthey're present in perhaps half of all the foods found atevery grocery store. It's listed right on the label -- you cansee it as hydrogenated oil" or "partially-hydrogenatedvegetable oil".

This artificial fat directly causes cardiovascular heartdisease, it destroys normal cardiovascular health, itdestroys the healthy functioning of the nervous system, itcauses brain disorders, it causes heart attacks -- it is oneof the most prominent and yet toxic ingredients put intothe food supply. It also causes birth defects and essentialfatty acid deficiencies in both the mother and her fetus.



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FEATURED ARTICLES

Skin Bleaching Thrives Despite Ugandan GovernmentBan on Dangerous Cosmetics

Halima Abdallah Kisule, UgandaAugust 12, 2008

Scores of Ugandans continue to bleach their skindespite a government ban on the sale of several lotions,creams, gels and soaps which are largely used towhiten, even and tone the skin.

• In extreme cases of skin bleaching, the skin can becomemulti-colored and marred with inflammation or scarring.

Photograph courtesy of Halimah Abdallah Kisule. •

Due to ineffective enforcement of the ban, thesedangerous cosmetics are easily accessible anywhere inUganda; whether sold over the counter, along theroadside or by hawkers, vendors move the skinlighteners easily due to high demand. Such is the popularity that skin-whitening products have gainedtoday in Uganda.

Medically, skin whitening (or bleaching) products areused for treating pigmentation disorders like freckles, pregnancy marks, blotchy uneven skin tone, patches of brown to gray skin and age spots. Skin pigmentationoccurs because the body either produces too much or

too little melanin, the pigment responsible for creatingthe color of our eyes, skin and hair. It also providescrucial protection against the sun’s rays by absorbingultra-violet light. Doctors say that those with darkerskin are less susceptible to sunburn and the overalleffects of sun damage.

According to dermatologists, skin bleaching can beachieved through a combination of treatments thatreduce or block some amount of the body’s melanin production. Usually in the form of topical lotions, gels,

pills and creams, these products contain melanin-inhibiting ingredients along with sunscreen. Thesetreatments also contain amounts of hydroquinone, ormercury.

However, other cosmetics companies use natural

ingredients to make melanin-inhibiting products.Extracted from plant leaves, like the berry family,shrubs and pears, their naturally occurring arbutin leadsto bleaching.

• A young woman who has been bleaching, gets her hair plaited- her face and chest are a different color than her arms, hands

and legs. Photograph courtesy of Halimah Abdallah Kisule. •

In Uganda, the practice of skin bleaching is commonamong adults with dark skin, especially women, butmen also do it with little regard for the dangers posed totheir bodies. Some people even use the products foranal bleaching to reduce naturally darker pigmentationof the genital and perineal area.

Consumers of bleaching cosmetics claim that they want



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cosmetic ingredients (that are defined as drugs underthe Uganda National Drug Authority (NDA)regulations) that are on the open market. Productscontaining hydroquinone are still for sale after tradersasked the Ministry of Tourism to give them some timeto sell off their stock.

Ready markets for these highly valued cosmetics

suggest that smuggling won’t stop any time soon, butdemand alone does not explain why one wouldcontinue to use these dangerous products.

“Such a person lacks self-esteem, has low self-efficacyand a perception that she or he looks ugly,” says MrRobert Wandera, Coordinator of the PsychologyDepartment at Makerere University. “It is commonamong women who are not educated,” he adds.

Wandera’s colleague, Mr Calistas, says that it is verydangerous to have low self-esteem because severe casescan lead to suicide.

He urges, “Do something positive to counter [your lowself-esteem]. Take advantage of the good parts of your body or talents.”

Prolonged use of bleaching cosmetics can indeed bedisastrous both psychologically and physically. Onelady who I encountered on the street declined to benamed nor talk about her skin. Her dry, pale faceshowed no happiness. She had wrinkles too - not fromold age, but from the effects of starting and thenstopping the use of these cosmetics. I could easily readthe disappointment in her face when I asked her to talkabout her skin. Her response is a clear testimony to thenegative effects of bleaching cosmetics and hint at thelengths some will go to for beauty. Her unhappiness isthe other side of beauty that we rarely see, but one thatcan easily be avoided.

About the Author

Halimah Abdallah Kisule is a journalist in northernUganda who, for the last seven years, has coveredhuman rights, health, diplomacy, politics and educationfor numerous news outlets. She holds a diploma inJournalism and Media Studies and will soon receive herBA in Education from Makerere University in

Kampala.

Previously she worked for the independent newspapers,The Daily Monitor and The Weekly Observer , coveringlaw and human rights issues, providing both withextensive investigative journalism.

Halimah endeavors to use her writing skills to bringawareness to the human struggle and find solutions tosociety's problems. She is married with two children.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200806070128.html ☻☻☻☻☻☻

Continued from page 20 – Skin Bleaching Thrives

to enhance their beauty. One woman who declined to benamed, explains, “One has to look good, by having fair,lighter skin.”

Unfortunately, her skin is now multi-colored from bleaching. She has red skin on her face, yellow on herarms and dark skin on her back. The skin on her knees,

toes and finger joints failed to lighten and remain black.For this woman, the condition of her skin has only brought her shame; she now tries to cover most parts ofher body in an attempt to conceal the damage done by the products she thought would enhance her beauty.

Those in the medical profession explain that thiscondition occurs from allergic dermatitis or irritantdermatitis (abnormal, extensive and often localinflammation of the skin), both of which are commonamong people who have not previously used the bleaching cosmetics.

“I have cases where people get severe skin burns. Ithappens when people change to something new whichcauses allergic dermatitis and irritant dermatitis,” says DrMisaki Wayengera of Makerere University MedicalSchool.

He explains that the skin of the people using these bleaching products get inflamed, turns red, enlarges and begins to loose function as the cells fail to producemelanin.

Wayengera says that bleaching can be achievedmedically using low dosage hydroquinone, recommended

at 2%. He advises that it should be used only in the areasof the skin that need to be lightened. He also advisedconsumers to always read the contents of cosmetics because those that bleach cause health problems like skincancer, leukemia, thyroid disorders and delay or preventthe ability to diagnose leprosy. Mercury is the most toxicof these ingredients and leads to liver problems.

Though the East African Custom Management Act of2006 banned the import of all soaps containing mercury, products like Mekako soaps are readily available in thecountry having been smuggled in before being re-exported to neighboring Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda.

“They are smuggled in jerricans disguised as water whileothers come in through ordinary containers but aredeclared as cosmetics, when [in reality] they are drugsthat fall under the NDA mandate,” says Gyavira Musoke,Head of Imports Inspection at Uganda’s National Bureauof Standards (UNBS).

UNBS says that Kenya is blaming Uganda for failing tostop the importation of this toxic cosmetic despite theexistence of the law. This is just one of the 400 prohibited


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Continued from page 19 – Mass Poisoning of Humanity

And it's put in foods on purpose, for the convenience ofthe food manufacturers. Hydrogenated oils don't go bad,which means they save money for the foodmanufacturing companies, because their foods don't go bad on the shelves. And how do you make hydrogenatedoils? Well, you don't find them anywhere in nature -- you

have to have a chemical processing facility to makehydrogenated oils. And you do it by bubbling hydrogengas through liquid soybean oil or other types of oils,using a catalyst (in most cases the catalyst is nickel). Sowith this nickel and the bubbling of hydrogen gas, youget extra hydrogen atoms attached to the molecules in oil,which makes them solid at room temperature. Since theyare solid at room temperature, they can be more easilyused to make margarine products, or used in crackers andcookies. And all of this, again, is for the convenience ofthe food manufacturing companies.

Food manufactures don't care what happens to your

health, their job is just to sell food products. If you have ahealth problem as a result, that's your problem, not theirs.You won't find food companies offering to pay for yourmedical bills if you have a heart attack from eatinghydrogenated oils. They are basically passing the buckand demanding that you pay for the health consequencescaused by their foods. In fact, they're working hard to pass legislation that would outlaw lawsuits against foodcompanies!

Pepperoni-Shaped Poison

Not to be outdone, the meat processing companies in thiscountry also want to make sure they get lots of poisoninto your food products. It's not enough to just sell youred meat, which is by itself an extremely unhealthy foodingredient that promotes colon cancer, heart disease,obesity and many other disorders, they also have to putcancer-causing chemicals in various meat products.

This makes sure that you get colon cancer from theadditives, if not from the red meat itself. This additive iscalled sodium nitrite, and you'll find it in virtually every packaged meat product found at the grocery store,whether it's pepperoni, breakfast sausage, or bacon. Youcan buy sliced ham, sliced chicken, deli slices, lunch

meat, packaged ham, pepperoni, the meat that goes intosoups, the meat that goes into those little lunch trays ... pretty much any form of packaged meat at the grocerystore has this toxic ingredient in it. That's why the dailyconsumption of processed meats has now been clinicallyshown to produce a 6,700% increase in the risk of pancreatic cancer!

Guinea Pig People

And what is this ingredient again? Sodium nitrite! Whenyou ingest sodium nitrite, it mixes with the digestive

juices of your stomach and creates a class of chemicalcompounds called nitrosamines. These nitrosamines are potent cancer-causing chemicals. In fact, as I'vementioned before, they are so potent that labresearchers actually inject mice with nitrosamines whenthey want to give those mice breast cancer or otherform of cancer they can study. And yet, as humans, we put sodium nitrite right into the food supply. It's almost

as if we were treating the entire population as lab rats --and in fact that's not far from the truth.

Drugs are frequently released in this country on anexperimental basis, using the population as guinea pigsto find out how many people might die from that drugin order to get more safety data. Let's face it, when theFDA approves drugs for public use, they are not at all proven safe. The American public is routinely treatedas a collection of guinea pigs in order to promote prescription drugs, foods, artificial sweeteners or otherelements.

Toxic Personal Care ProductsSo now we've got toxic chemicals in our mouths, inour public water supplies, and in our foods and beverages. Where else can money hungry corporations put toxic chemicals into our immediate environmentand get them into our bodies? Well, think hard and youmight come up with some other ideas. Let's look at the personal care products industry, because practicallyevery brand name shampoo, cologne, perfume,deodorant, antiperspirant or other personal care producton the market is made with toxic fragrance chemicals.These can contain solvents, carcinogens and

compounds that are registered in government databasesas having strong liver toxicity.

The reason these ingredients are allowed in these products are because the FDA has mistakenly assumedfor many, many years that whatever you put on your body doesn't get absorbed into your body. They think,for example, that you could just coat your body withtoxic chemicals and you would be fine, because yourskin is a barrier. I've even heard pharmacists tell methat the skin is a great barrier, so whatever you put onyour skin won't go into your body.

That's utterly ridiculous! As pharmacists, haven't these people ever sold nicotine patches? How do you thinkthose work? They work by releasing nicotine that getsabsorbed directly through your skin into your bloodstream. If your skin didn't absorb nicotine, thenicotine patches wouldn't deliver a dosage. You have to be half-crazy to think that the skin is some kind of permanent barrier that keeps out everything you put onit.



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Continued from page 23 – The Mass Poisoning of Humanity

In fact, the skin is very porous -- the skin breathes. Yes, itkeeps out bacteria, but it sure doesn't keep out chemicalsolvents, and it doesn't keep out

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Melanin and Skin