We try to take care of our bodies by watching what we eat and drink and exercising. But did you know that you also need to take care of the toxins that may be lurking in your home?

Research shows that common household products and body-care products are increasingly being found to have negative effects on our nervous and immune systems, on our reproductive systems, and our cardiovascular and respiratory systems.

Most chemicals found in our home cannot be tasted or smelled. Chemicals in the average home products may be fine in individual or small doses, but problems can arise when one is exposed to them in larger amounts, over extended periods or in a combination.

Dr. Frank Lipman, an integrative physician and author on chronic disease prevention, says that tolerance levels to chemicals are different depending on genetics, nutritional status, and previous contacts with many chemicals.

Lipman also points out that many of the cleaning products we use to clean furniture, bathrooms and windows are full of toxic chemicals, some of which do not even appear on the labels. The same goes with personal care products that we put on our skin and pet products. “Most tick and flea products contain active ingredients and solvents that might cause cancer in animals,” says Lipman. Making sure you air out your home is also important in keeping toxic levels at bay. “Indoor air is typically 2-5 times more polluted that outdoor air and carpet can introduce a myriad of toxins to our homes,” adds Lipman. “Carpet can also trap dirt, fleas, dust-mites and lead.”

Lawn chemicals have also been linked to cancer and some are known to cause nervous system poisoning. “These findings are not saying that we should not keep our houses comfortable and clean and our yards looking good,” says Lipman. “What’s important is to understand that how we do this can have an important impact on our health. Abundant toxins can and do lead to health problems.”

Dr. Lipman and Planet Green.com offers 20 suggestions to help detox your home and while some ideas may be easier to implement than others, they all offer tips and suggestions that you can use in one form or another.

1. No shoes in the house.
2. Place floor mats vertically by your entryways to wipe off shoes.
3. Keep the air clean in your home by opening windows and doors as much as possible and use green plants as natural air detoxifiers. Use flowers or herbs for fragrances in your rooms rather than air fresheners and have your air ducts and vents cleaned with nontoxic cleaners. Use soy base or beeswax candles instead of scented ones.
4. Switch from the standard household cleaning products to cleaner and greener ones, such as organic products. Some other top basic cleaning ingredients include baking soda, washing soap, distilled white vinegar; vegetable based liquid soaps and tea tree oil.
5. Replace skin and personal care products with less toxic and chemical free options. Learn how to identify toxins in deodorants, toothpastes, cosmetics, hair products, nail polish and perfumes.
6. Use plastics without Bisphenol A (BPA) which is linked to cancer. Avoid plastic shower curtains, plastic food packaging, and using plastic containers to microwave foods. Stay away from children’s toys marked with a “3” or “PVC.”
7. Avoid non stick pans, pots, bakeware and utensils, as Teflon contains perfluorinated chemicals which have been linked to cancer and developmental problems.
8. Keep house dust to a minimum by mopping all surfaces once a week and use a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter for your carpets.
9. Avoid excess moisture as it encourages the growth of mold and mildew.
10. Get a shower filter to keep toxins from becoming airborne.
11. Get a water filter as more than 700 chemicals have been identified in drinking water.
12. Avoid stain-guarded clothing, furniture and carpets due the presence of PFC’s.
13. Be conscious of toxins in carpeting, especially in products made from synthetic materials. It is better to use natural fibers and replace carpeting with hardwood floors or tile and use nontoxic gules, adhesives, stains or sealers for installation.
14. Seal with a non toxic sealer and replace particle board walls, floors or cabinets which often contain formaldehyde. Other items to avoid are plywood, fiberglass, fiberboard and paneling.
15. Avoid harmful pet-care products and avoid toxic pest control.
16. Replace toxic lawn and garden pesticides and herbicides with less harmful natural ones.
17. Tell the dry cleaner not to use the plastic wrap or remove it as soon as possible. The plastic traps the dry cleaning chemicals on clothes and in your closet.
18. Use low VOC, low odor latex paints. Open windows to properly ventilate after painting indoors.
19. Have your house checked for carbon monoxide leaks commonly found in leaking gas stoves, gas fireplaces, furnaces, chimneys, and gas water heaters.
20. Check Radon levels in poorly ventilated basements that have cracked walls and or floors. Radon has been linked to lung cancer.

Obviously, no one expects you to do all of these 20 steps, but knowing what to look for and what you can do to simply reduce the toxins you use each day can be a big step to a healthier home and family.

Imagine you have lost your sense of smell.

Imagine that favorite smell, the smell of clean sheets, just isn’t there anymore.

Imagine you cannot taste anything.

Imagine your once favorite dish just tastes…well, wrong.

That is just a little of what many users of Zicam will endure for the rest of their lives.

Currently, legal cases against the maker of Zicam are pending in federal court and have been transferred to the Honorable Judge Martone in Phoenix.  In February of 2010, the judge held his first hearing and it seems that Judge Martone, to his credit, is trying to move the cases far more quickly than can be “normal” for these types of proceedings.

The judge previously requested a joint plan from the parties with regard to timing and scheduling for the cases, but ultimately rejected the proposals from both sides.  He has ordered that all of the work that routinely takes 2 to 3 years to finish in other MDL proceedings be completed within the next several months. In Multi-District Litigation there is a great deal of work that has a common application to all the cases pending, including:

• Document discovery
• Corporate depositions
• Production of expert witness reports
• Depositions of experts
• Preparation of briefs and arguing various legal and evidentiary issues common to all the cases

The court will be holding a hearing on class certification on January 21, 2011, as well as a determination of the sufficiency of the scientific and medical evidence supporting the link between the Zicam products and the loss of sense of smell and taste and other injuries suffered by the plaintiffs.

The Court’s hearing concerning scientific evidence is what is known as a “Daubert hearing.”  Daubert hearings present very significant hurdles for plaintiffs to clear, as the standards imposed by federal courts are often difficult.   The plaintiffs have the burden of proving  that there is sufficient scientific support to substantiate causation, or, in other words,  that the use of Zicam can be proved as the primary cause of the plaintiffs’ injuries. There is great leeway given to the judge in being able to dismiss claims where the judge feels that the science is inadequate.

The judge has also imposed a deadline of February 1, 2011, for completion of all of the depositions of the Defendants’ employees, and on May 6, 2011 will hear legal motions on various generic legal issues that could result in a dismissal of cases if the defendants are successful.

The judge has indicated that he fully intends to complete his role as the coordinating MDL judge for the Zicam cases by July of 2011, and will transfer all of the pending cases back to local courts for completion of case-specific discovery and scheduling of individual trial dates, if a global settlement of all of the cases is not reached before then.

It does not appear that Judge Martone is going to employ the traditional “bellwether” trial plan, which would have delayed the start of case-specific discovery in the pending cases while the MDL court focused on preparing only a few individual cases for trials to be conducted by the MDL judge. Historically, most MDL cases involving drugs and medical devices have settled just prior to the transfer of some or all of the pending cases back to local courts.

Judge Martone has appointed a special master to assist with monthly mandatory settlement conferences in order to motivate continued discussions for concluding the cases without the extraordinary expense of multiple trials and litigation of individual cases in federal courts around the country It would seem that the Court recognizes the benefit to all the parties for economical and expeditious handling of these cases.

Trasylol® (Aprotinin injection) is an amino acid derived from the lung tissue of cows.

Bayer manufactured Trasylol and originally set forth its indication for use as:

“For prophylactic use to reduce perioperative blood loss and the need for blood transfusion in patients undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) in the course of coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery”

The FDA approved Trasylol in 1993, for use in cardiopulmonary bypass grafting surgery to reduce perioperative blood loss and eliminate the need for blood transfusion. Ultimately, a black box warning was added to the label cautioning about the potential for anaphylactic reactionsin patients.

Since 1994, the numbers of patients having Trasylol administered has steadily increased from 27,000 to 246,000 in 2005. After going market, 41% of the Bayer postmarketing reports were for hypersensitivity reactions and a sponsor study demonstrated over 18% of the anaphylactic shock cases resulted in deaths.

In the context of Trasylol, the term anaphylaxis included:

• Cardiovascular events
• Hypotension
• Cardiac arrest
• Respiratory events
• Dermatologic events

In 2006, the FDA Drugs Advisory Committee met to evaluate the risk of Trasylol and the findings of two different studies of it. One study by Mangano indicated that Trasylol carried with it an increased incident of renal complications, congestive heart failure, and stroke. Unfortunately, Mangano was not able to provide full disclosure of his data, due to confidentiality issues.

Surprisingly and not until after the FDA had met did Bayer finally disclose that it had conducted a study involving 67,000 patients and that study clearly demonstrated the very complications raised by the Mangano study.

Bayer may not have revealed its retrospective study to the FDA if the author of that study, Harvard investigator, Dr. Alexander Walker, had not “blown the whistle. When he noticed that Bayer had not mentioned its study to the FDA during the September 21, 2006 meeting on Trasylol® safety, Dr. Walker promptly notified the FDA that there was such a study.

A 2009 study published by the New England Journal of Medicine analyzed almost 12 million Medicare beneficiaries and found:

• 20% of patients were readmitted within 30 days of discharge
• 34 % of patients were readmitted in 90 days of discharge
• 67.1% of patients percent were readmitted one year after discharge or had died

This revolving door effect cost Medicare $17.4 billion dollars in 2004 and the problem continues to escalate.

Medicare is responding by collecting data on all hospitals and will keep a running three-year average on readmission rates. Those hospitals having high rates will be financially penalized.

According to a Medicare Payment Advisory Commission study, 75 percent of all 30-day hospital readmission are preventable and if they can be avoided, the quality of patient care will improve. Higher rates of hospital readmission are associated with infections and other complications acquired by patients during hospital stays.

In a pilot project in which hospitals were paid bonuses and held accountable for better outcomes and less bounce backs, quality improved and readmission rates fell substantially.

The cause for patients having to readmit patients after a hospital stay seems to fall into one of the following categories:

1. Lack of communication between patient and doctor
2. Complete lists of medications missing from patients
3. Follow-up appointments were never made or communicated
4. Wound care or other instructions were confusing or never received
5. No official hand-off from one physician to another
6. Insufficient monitoring of patients after discharge — especially regarding medications

Medicare does not currently pay hospitals for monitoring or mentoring patients after discharge.

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