All posts tagged: toxins

Psychedelic toxins from toads could treat depression and anxiety

Psychedelic toxins from toads could treat depression and anxiety

Published by skeptic

This desert-roaming toad releases a compound with potential benefits similar to those from LSD and psilocybin Milan Zygmunt/Shutterstock A psychedelic compound secreted by a poisonous toad could help treat depression and anxiety, according to a study in mice. When frightened, Colorado river toads (Incilius alvarius) release a hallucinogenic compound related to the drug DMT from glands in their skin. DMT, or dimethyltryptamine, is similar in structure and effects to psilocybin, a hallucinogen found in “magic mushrooms”. Colorado river toads live in and around the Sonoran desert spanning parts of Arizona, California and Mexico, and people seeking out the groovy effects of the substance may either lick the toads directly, or extract the venom, dry it and smoke it. Researchers at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York investigated the potential health benefits of the toad secretions. We know that psychedelics like psilocybin can treat depression in some people, but it isn’t fully clear why this compound helps. However, it appears to interact with serotonin receptors and reset the activity of neural circuits in the brain. Most …

Dangerous Levels Of Toxins Found In General Mills ‘LOADED’ Cereal: Report

Dangerous Levels Of Toxins Found In General Mills ‘LOADED’ Cereal: Report

Published by skeptic

Authored by Megan Redshaw via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), A new report is raising concerns over General Mills’ new cereal line after testing revealed that Trix LOADED cereal is literally loaded with high levels of heavy metals and agrochemicals. (Illustration by The Epoch Times, Shutterstock) General Mills, Inc. on Feb. 1 launched “LOADED,” a new cereal line with “puffed-up larger-than-life squares” of General Mills’ Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Trix, and Cocoa Puffs cereals filled with artificially flavored vanilla creme. Trix LOADED boasts 17 grams of whole grain per serving and 12 vitamins and minerals. Yet testing by Moms Across America (MAA), an organization dedicated to educating and empowering others to create healthy communities, found the artificially flavored creme-filled breakfast food also contains measurable levels of aluminum, cadmium, arsenic, lead, glyphosate, and pesticides shown to be harmful to humans. In a statement to The Epoch Times, MAA director Zen Honeycutt said her organization tested two samples of General Mills’ Trix LOADED cereal because they were alarmed that the company, which had previously seemed very committed to …

How poison dart frogs ship defense toxins to their skin

How poison dart frogs ship defense toxins to their skin

Published by skeptic

amphibians: A group of animals that includes frogs, salamanders and caecilians. Amphibians have backbones and can breathe through their skin. Unlike reptiles, birds and mammals, unborn or unhatched amphibians do not develop in a special protective sac called an amniotic sac.  biologist: A scientist involved in the study of living things.  cell: (in biology) The smallest structural and functional unit of an organism. Typically too small to see with the unaided eye, it consists of a watery fluid surrounded by a membrane or wall. Depending on their size, animals are made of anywhere from thousands to trillions of cells.   chemical: A substance formed from two or more atoms that unite (bond) in a fixed proportion and structure. For example, water is a chemical made when two hydrogen atoms bond to one oxygen atom. Its chemical formula is H2O.   chemical reaction: A process that involves the rearrangement of the molecules or structure of a substance, as opposed to a change in physical form (as from a solid to a gas).  diet: (n.) The foods and liquids …

Light and sound may slow Alzheimer’s by making the brain remove toxins

Light and sound may slow Alzheimer’s by making the brain remove toxins

Published by skeptic

A cross-section of a mouse’s brain highlighting neurons that seem to release a molecule that increases toxin clearance Tsai Laboratory/MIT Picower Institute A new explanation has emerged for why an experimental treatment for Alzheimer’s disease involving sounds and flickering lights may help slow cognitive decline. The frequencies involved seem to ramp up the brain’s waste disposal networks, which boosts the clearance of beta-amyloid and other toxic proteins that contribute to memory and concentration problems. “Once we understand the mechanism, we can probably figure out how to further optimise this whole concept and improve the efficacy,” says Li-Huei Tsai at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The treatment involves exposing people to lights flickering at a frequency of 40 times a second, or 40 hertz, and a low-pitched sound, also at 40 Hz. Typically, the stimulation needs to be experienced for about an hour a day. Key to the novel approach is that large networks of brain cells naturally fire in sync with each other at different frequencies – known as brainwaves. Brainwaves of around 40 Hz …

A cocktail of toxins is poisoning our fields. Its effect on humans? Nobody can tell us | George Monbiot

Published by Sam

It’s an experiment with 8 billion test subjects, no controls and no endpoint. What happens when you release thousands of novel chemicals, most of which have not been tested for their impacts on human health or ecosystems, into a living planet? What are the effects on the development of foetuses, on human brains, other organs, immune systems, cancer rates, fertility? What are they doing to other species and to Earth systems? We seem determined to find out the hard way. The gap between our actions and our knowledge is astounding. Of the 350,000 registered synthetic chemicals, about a third are impossible to assess, as their composition is either “confidential” or “ambiguously described”. For most of the rest, deployment comes first, testing later. For instance, the health and environmental impacts of 80% of the chemicals registered in the European Union have yet to be assessed. And the EU is as good as it gets. Our own government, as one of the benefits of Brexit, has just decided to downgrade the safety information chemical companies have to …