ROBOTS ROBOTS DAVID GARRETT & MORE GARRETT DAVID RISE OF THE Sexbots, Searchbots, Milbots and and Milbots Searchbots, Sexbots, Homebots – are we the ‘Jetsons’ yet? ‘Jetsons’ the we – are Homebots AMY BROOKE
permission to continue experiments continue to permission A controversial doctor with NZ links gets gets links NZ with doctor A controversial A CURE FOR CANCER?
next Prime Minister He could still be Labour’s Labour’s be still could He OF SHANE JONES THE REDEMPTION delivering harmful doses of it of doses harmful delivering And why bottled milk formula may be be may formula milk bottled And why CAN LOWER YOUR BABY’S IQ BABY’S YOUR LOWER CAN THE THAT CHEMICAL
for the discerning woman for the discerning current affairs and lifestylecurrent affairs
April/May 2014 April/May PLUS in HIS: MARK STEYN PLUS in HIS:
| Jones Shane 04/2014 | Cuts Defence | Decline Western HERS Fluoride & IQ | Rise Of The Robots | Cancer Doctor | 04/2014 HIS April/May 2014 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM 49
publiceye-INVES6014 CONTENTS Issue 143 | April/May 2014 | www.investigatedaily.com
features Fluoride & IQ It’s the chemical that could be dumbing down our kids: fluoridated water used to make infant formula takes babies over the maximum poison limit, 93% of the time. IAN WISHART reveals more about the fluoride debate page 10 Rise Of Robots Once the stuff of science fiction, robots are everywhere these days, in factories and even some homes. What does the future hold, and should we be worried? page 16
April/May 2014 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM 1 CONTENTS
Formalities 04 Miranda Devine 06 Martin Walker 08 Chloe Milne
Health & Beauty 26 Diet temptations 28 Varicose veins 34 Gettin’ wiggy with it 26 Cuisine & Travel 36 James Morrow on Spaghetti 38 Beatles’ Liverpool 36 Books & Movies 40 Michael Morrissey 42 Single Moms Club
Home & Family 44 Pre-marital sex 46 Career aspirations
34 46 42
HERS / DEVINE
The truth about John Howard had emptied boat people out the Miranda Devine detention
young man came to our doorstep seeking our centres. There help and we killed him. That is what happened on were just four “A Tony Abbott’s watch and Tony Abbott now needs to show some principle and sack Scott Morrison”. boat people That single quote from Greens MP Adam Bandt sums up the emotional flatulence and sanctimonious hypocrisy that left in detention has been spewing from the Establishment Left all week. when Labor If by “we”, Bandt meant the Greens and other opportunists who have been parading their bleeding hearts and crocodile came to office. tears repeatedly, then he would have been correct. Because if anyone is to blame for the death of 23-year-old The boats had asylum seeker Reza Berati during a violent riot at Manus Island stopped. The it is those very people who persuaded Kevin Rudd to dismantle the Howard government’s hard-won border protection. deterrent was And further, it was the toxic partnership of the Greens and Labor which turbocharged the people smuggling racket and in place. lured asylum seekers like Berati with the promise of open borders. Yet Labor’s Senator Sue Lines had the hide to accuse Scott When 200 asylum seekers drowned off Java in Decem- Morrison of having “blood on his hands”. ber 2011, what was Greens Senator Sarah Hanson Young’s Greens leader Christine Milne even came close to accusing response? “Tragedies happen. Accidents happen.” the Immigration Minister of “murder”. Imagine if Morrison said that about Manus Island? What a joke. His competent, methodical way of dealing with every Yes, Berati’s death was tragic. And if there are lessons to be drama in his poisoned chalice of a portfolio enrages his learned about how to manage Manus Island, the government opponents. will need to heed them. Now the grownups are in charge not a single boat has But the glee with which the compassionistas are pouncing arrived in Australia for 76 days and counting. on this story is unseemly. Now we can see that it was the “humanitarian” policies of What makes it even more infuriating is that this tragedy Labor and the Greens that were the sole cause of those 1200 never should have happened. John Howard had emptied out deaths at sea, of detention centres bulging at the seams with the detention centres. There were just four boat people left in unhappy people, including 1000 children. detention when Labor came to office. The boats had stopped. And the preening careless compassionistas still have the The deterrent was in place. No one left to riot. No asylum hide to lecture Morrison about “gulags” and bombard his seekers dying at sea. office with abuse Labor arrogantly dismantled it all with the result that They have the hide to attack the people charged with more than 50,000 people bypassed our immigration system cleaning up the humanitarian catastrophe they created – like and more than 1200 people drowned trying to get here. our navy, and like Lieutenant General Angus Campbell, the Yet the bleeding hearts were silent on those deaths, which Operation Sovereign Borders commander. were every bit as tragic. Senator Stephen Conroy even had the gall to accuse The tragedies were the direct result of achieving their General Campbell during a Senate estimates hearing of “a heart’s desire and few had the integrity or humility to admit political cover-up”. they were wrong. How dare he.
4 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM April/May 2014 That’s how desperate the “humanitarian” Left is to derail lark, as Abbott haters took to Facebook with comment such the government’s efforts to stop the boats, because the conse- as “beheading’s too good for that scumbag” and “shame it quences of their feel-good carelessness has been laid bare. can’t happen in the flesh”. Really, where were they when asylum seekers were drown- Where were the misogyny police when Abbott’s mother’s ing at the rate of one every two days during Labor’s six years photo was posted on twitter with violent and unprintable in office? comments? And where were the Destroy the Jointers and other noble Or when his daughters were subjected to crude sexual defenders of the sanctity of prime ministerial office when insults? Channel V was promoting the violent decapitation of an Collective moral amnesia is the only answer. effigy of Abbott on stage during a music festival in Sydney. Blood spewing out of the headless body – ho ho ho, what a [email protected]
April/May 2014 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM 5 HERS / TALKING POINT
The United States remains Putin as carnivore far more Martin Walker potent in pure
he unfolding Ukraine crisis has become a classic military terms example of the complex nature of power in the modern age. but President T Military, economic, diplomatic forms of power intertwine with geography, energy and political will in Vladimir unexpected ways that point to the unpredictable shape of international relations in a future marked by high levels of Putin rightly financial interdependence. calculated In the classic traditional calculations of power, based largely on military and industrial might, Russia should have been the Obama deterred from its aggressive and adventurous policy toward Ukraine. The United States remains far more potent in pure administration military terms but President Vladimir Putin rightly calculated would not risk the Obama administration would not risk any use of force. Crimea was too far away for an easy deployment of U.S. any use of force military might, the stakes seemed too low for the risk involved and the precise nature of political events on the ground too murky for decisive American action. The Crimea line through the Baltic Sea, now bringing nearly 2.1 trillion is a part of the sovereign state of Ukraine, but the balance cubic feet of gas, has sharply increased German dependence. of demographic and political forces on the ground appeared This means Europe’s overall economic power is balanced complex, and the U.S. was not inclined to match the Krem- by Russia’s energy power. Just as importantly, the varying lin’s readiness to take political risks. levels of dependence on Russian energy supplies makes it The European Union economy is roughly eight times more difficult for the 28 EU member states to reach a con- greater, in terms of gross domestic product, than Russia’s. sensus on policy. The German economy alone is more than half as large again By all the traditions of diplomacy, Russia should have as the Russian, but the Europeans had neither the policy been heavily outgunned. The U.S. and Europe are opposed consensus nor the political will to use their economic power. to an expansion of Russian influence in Ukraine and to what In part, this is because of the interdependence of the Rus- looks like an effective Russia takeover of Crimea. The United sian and European economies, the importance of Russian Nations is committed to maintaining the territorial integrity oil and gas supplies and the amount of European investment of its member states. The United States and Britain signed at risk in Russia if the crisis escalates. agreements to guarantee Ukraine’s security when Ukraine An enlarged photograph of some briefing papers carried voluntarily surrendered its nuclear weapons in 1994. by a senior British official to a meeting of the national secu- But Putin played a weak hand well. He understood the rity council in Downing Street revealed the British govern- likely divisions among the Europeans and between Europe ment thought it should not support, for now, trade sanctions and the United States. He also understood the geographic ... or close London’s financial centre to Russians. advantage of Russia’s proximity to Ukraine and to the power Germany, the largest single European economy, is highly on the ground of Russian naval forces already at their base dependent on Russian energy, getting about half of its daily in Crimea. Putin understands the importance of interde- consumption of 2.8 billion barrels of oil from Russia mainly pendence, that sanctions on Russia could hurt the British via the Druzhba pipeline through Belarus. In 2011, Germany financial industry and German energy supplies. imported around 1.6 trillion cubic feet of gas from Russia, Putin also understands the power of media in the modern more than 60 percent of its gas imports and some 4 percent age. Russian TV has overwhelmingly portrayed the demon- of its total gas consumption. But the new Nord Stream pipe- strators in Kiev who toppled the government of the pro-Rus-
6 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM April/May 2014 sian President Viktor Yanukovych as neo-Nazis and extreme acute sense of the levers of power in the modern age, to use nationalists threatening the lives and property of ethnic his political will and determination to achieve his goal. Russians. At the same time, Putin has muddied the waters of But in the long run, he has increased the isolation and media perception, arguing the shadowy pro-Russian groups suspicion of Russia. Putin is now perceived as a ruthless car- who now claim power in Crimea are the real representatives nivore in a Europe of soft vegetarians. He is a ruthless rogue of the Crimean population. running an aggressive rogue state which uses its energy Recently, this columnist suggested Russia may have won power as a diplomatic weapon (and which also deploys a the political battle of this Ukraine crisis, but was likely to formidable nuclear arsenal). And that will impose a price on lose the much longer war, which is about deterring Putin’s him in the future, both internationally and domestically. attempt to rebuild a subtler version of the old Soviet Union How much that price will be is unclear in these swirling and recovering as much as he can of the USSR’s pre-1991 new interplays of economic, military, energy, media and influence and control. political power. But this is likely to be the confused and Putin is a hard power man with authoritarian instincts. complex shape of international crises in the future. We have He knew what he wanted and set out, craftily and with an been warned.
April/May 2014 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM 7 HERS / GEN-Y imagine comfort
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113338 Investigate Apr-May14 stressless.indd 1 2/19/14 11:16:58 AM Brushing Up Scienceon the Why you’re not being given the facts about fluoride
It’s the debate that never goes away. Fluoride: it does get in – we all agree on that much – but what does it do when it gets there? IAN WISHART reports on the landmark High Court ruling giving the green light to fluoridation nationwide, and what that ruling does, and doesn’t, mean
ew things are more likely to get estab- But what does the judgement, approving the lishment news media more agitated fluoridation process, actually mean? into “public education campaign” For many, it seemed like a judicial endorsement mode than a health story. Virtually of fluoridation after carefully weighing the pros and every night, our news bulletins are full cons of the arguments. Here, for example, is how Fof stories about health issues and the wonderful the Bay of Plenty Times newspaper revelled in it: medications being used to treat them. “The anti-fluoride brigade must be gnashing its When the battle to stop fluoridation in Hamil- rotten teeth after receiving a huge blow in the long- ton’s water supply welled up in recent years, the running battle over fluoride in drinking water. news media fell over themselves to act as mouth- “On Friday, the High Court ruled against a group pieces for the Ministry of Health, trotting out New Health New Zealand, which had taken on the officials in white coats assuring the public that South Taranaki District Council. fluoridation was a key weapon in fighting child “The anti-fluoride group said the council had no tooth decay. legal powers to put fluoride in water. The on-again/off-again process of adding fluoride “But a judge dismissed the claims, saying there to Hamilton water looks set to be on again after the was “implied power to fluoridate” in the Local March High Court ruling in favour of the South Government Act, and putting fluoride in water was Taranaki District Council’s right to fluoridate. not a medical treatment, as argued by campaigners, Local authorities around New Zealand had been so it was not in breach of the Bill of Rights as the watching that case like hawks. anti-fluoride group claimed.
10 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM April/May 2014 April/May 2014 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM 11 “He agreed with council evidence rights of the individual. From a doctrine that the preponderance of evidence that showed the advantages of fluori- a century ago that the State had next to shows that ingested fluoride in dos- dation significantly outweighed the no rights to interfere with individual ages now prevalent in public exposures mild fluorosis that was “an accepted health and food choices, Hansen is aggravates existing illnesses, and outcome of fluoridation”.” clearly of the view that the State has pre- causes a greater incidence of adverse cisely those rights, if officials can couch health effects,” reports the Interna- asy to see in that editorial it within the terms of “public health” tional Academy of Oral Medicine that the newspaper regarded rather than individual health: and Toxicology (IAOMT) – a major Eit as a test case on the merits “Provided it does not have conse- North American dental professional of fluoride. Yet here’s what Justice quences for public health a person association. Hansen actually said at the start of his has the right to make even the poor- “Ingested fluoride is hereby recog- judgement: est decisions in respect of their own nized as unsafe, and ineffective for the “It is important to make it clear at health,” ruled Hansen. purposes of reducing tooth decay.” the outset that this judgment is not “But where the state, either directly That decision, says the IAOMT, was required to pronounce on the merits of or through local government, employs reached after careful analysis of the fluoridation. The issues I am required public health interventions, the right scientific research. to address concern the power of a local is not engaged. Were it otherwise, While Justice Hansen may have body to fluoridate drinking water sup- the individual’s right to refuse would found the research prepared by New ply. That is a legal question which does become the individual’s right to decide Zealand’s Ministry of Health compel- not require me to canvass or express a outcomes for others. It would give ling as to efficacy of fluoride, it’s fair to view on the arguments for and against any person a right of veto over public say the IAOMT’s latest report is scath- fluoridation.” health measures which it is not only ing of the quality of that research sug- In other words, the focus of the case the right but often the responsibility of gesting fluoridated water is beneficial: before him was not whether fluoride local authorities to deliver.” “Upon examination of studies was good or bad, but purely whether Constitutionally, that’s a doctrine espoused by promoters of fluoridation councils had the power, within existing upholding the view that “the State as proof of effectiveness, the Academy NZ law, to add it to water. knows best what’s good for you”. was able to ascertain that there are no Although Hansen arguably went on It’s a judgement that could be used epidemiological studies indicating effec- to exceed his brief by praising fluoride to enforce compulsory vaccinations tiveness of ingested fluoride that conform as a public health initiative – “Accept- or any other health procedure the to scientific standards for broad-based or ing, as I must, that there is respectable Government decides the community random selection, blinded examinations, scientific and medical support for the should be forced to undertake. and appropriate controls.” Council’s position, I am driven to the Accepting that Hansen did not In other words, the quality of the conclusion that the significant advan- make a binding ruling on the merits cited studies is highly dubious. tages of fluoridation clearly outweigh of fluoride, but only on its legality as It turns out New Zealand is directly the only acknowledged drawback, a council-sanctioned water additive, guilty of providing some of that highly the increased incidence of fluorosis. I what does the evidence actually say suspect “research”. Anti-fluoridation am satisfied that the power conferred about the merits? scientist Dr Paul Connett toured New on local authorities to fluoridate is a Because the real question for parents Zealand in the lead up to the court proportionate response to the scourge or anyone else for that matter who ruling and highlighted how the science of dental decay, particularly in socially drinks water is this: does fluoride in the justifying fluoride has been twisted: disadvantaged areas” – readers must water cause harm? Does it protect teeth? “It appears the fluoridation pro- recall, he did not actually go deep It is often said dentists are strongest gramme was launched in New Zealand enough into the evidence for and advocates of fluoride. Perhaps in New in 1964 based upon a fraudulent study,” against fluoride to justify his statement. Zealand, but elsewhere debate rages. Connett told the Ian Wishart radio Justice Hansen’s decision was one that “There is no discernible health ben- show on Live365.com. placed the rights of the State above the efit derived from ingested fluoride and “I’m referring here to the Hastings- There is no discernible health benefit derived from ingested fluoride and that the preponderance of evidence shows that ingested fluoride in dosages now prevalent in public exposures aggravates existing illnesses, and causes a greater incidence of adverse health effects – International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology
12 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM April/May 2014 Napier trial in which, after a very short Leslie,” Connett told the Ian Wishart “It’s a bad medical practice, using the time, the ‘control’ city of Napier was show. “He was then the head of the water supply to deliver medication for dropped (for reasons that may not have Dental Division for NZ – the top dental human treatment – you can’t control been legitimate), but either way after guy in the country. And in this letter, the dose, you can’t control who receives dropping Napier it became a longitu- dated October 1962 – eight years into the medicine, and you are violating the dinal study – you compared the tooth this experiment – he is lamenting the individual’s right to informed consent. decay in the children in Hastings at the fact that they can’t find any evidence No doctor should support fluoridation beginning of the experiment, with the that fluoride is reducing tooth decay. in my view. tooth decay in the children at the end Now this is eight years into the experi- “Secondly, the benefits have been of the experiment ten years later. ment. In the last sentence of his letter he wildly exaggerated by the promoters “This trial went from 1954 to 1964. writes, ‘I won’t rest easily until we have of this practice, and sadly we have civil Now, what happened in the middle of found a simple method of demonstrat- servants, particularly in New Zealand, this trial was the diagnostic for what ing fluoridation equals less fillings’. acting as outright propagandists for teeth required filling was changed. At “I think this is the smoking gun. this practice rather than providing the beginning, school dental nurses If after eight years of your trial you objective information to the public. were being instructed to fill mere can’t find the evidence that fluoride “Finally, there are serious risks indentations, not even caries, and that equals less fillings, and then magically, involved that are becoming clearer and requirement was more stringent. mysteriously, two years later, the report clearer, largely because of studies done “Then they changed it so that you is published and they claim a dramatic in China and India where they have didn’t do fillings until caries were actu- reduction in tooth decay – if you join high natural levels of fluoride. You ally creating holes in the teeth. the dots I think we are looking at fraud are not doing the studies – the health “Now what makes this fraud in here, which means the whole fluorida- studies – in New Zealand or Australia my view, when this study was finally tion programme of New Zealand is or the other fluoridated countries, but published and they claimed a huge based upon a fraudulent study.” in these countries which don’t have a reduction in tooth decay as a result of Connett ended up in a huge debate fluoridation programme to protect it’s ‘fluoridation’, they didn’t indicate to with pro-fluoridation soil scientist obvious that there are huge risks. the public that this diagnostic had been Ken Perrott about whether the study “A big concern of mine, in addition changed. That to me is fraud. If you was “fraudulent” or not. Perrott was to the fact that fluoride accumulates in change a key parameter which has an forced to admit the New Zealand study the body, in the bones – will it increase effect on your result, that’s outrageous was certainly “bad science” but was arthritis, hip fractures and so on – but from a scientific point of view.” offended by the allegation of fraud. my big concern is what it’s doing to Nonetheless, their debate showed even our babies’ brains. There are now 37 he net result of the change was New Zealand’s most ardent fluoride studies indicating a lowering of IQ in simple. At the start of the study, supporters had been forced to admit children, associated with fairly modest Thuge numbers of fillings were the local research has been appalling. exposure to fluoride. In one study the being carried out because the defini- It seems bizarre that New Zealand level was just 1.8 part per million (ppm) tion of tooth decay was set at a lower health officials are still arguing – and of fluoride in the water. Now you ask threshold – even mere specks resulted managing to convince high court judges any toxicologist, and that offers no in fillings. Halfway through the study, – that fluoridated water is beneficial adequate margin for safety to protect a change in the definition of tooth against tooth decay when even the most against damage to the whole range of decay resulted in a huge drop in the ardent fluoride supporter internation- children in New Zealand.” number of fillings, as nurses were then ally – the American Dental Associa- That 1.8ppm threshold for harm instructed not to fill unless they found tion – admitted in its journal fourteen becomes particularly important when actual holes. years ago “that the mechanism by which you realise there are many other That change alone was probably fluoride may have a meaningful impact sources of fluoride in our diet than just responsible for the purported drop in on the reduction of dental caries is by drinking water at 1ppm. Chuck in the ‘tooth decay’. If the scientists conduct- topical application, not ingestion.” amount of fluoride that kids swal- ing the study had been honest, the This, says the IAOMT, supports “the low when using toothpaste, and the study would have been abandoned at contention that the claimed study- fluoride present in some foods (fluoride the point the definition changed. But results of large scale reduction in tooth is a soil chemical), and it’s little wonder it wasn’t, and the researchers did not decay are results obtained by study- that the University of York in Britain mention the elephant in the room. design bias.” found 48% of children in areas with Behind the scenes they knew about In other words, the pro-fluoride fluoridated water had toxic levels of it, alright, because their own analysis studies are worthless. fluoride in their bodies. of the corrected data revealed fluori- For anti-fluoridationist Paul Con- That York study was published in dated water was having no impact on nett, the research against adding the British Dental Journal in 2002 and tooth decay: fluoride to the water supply has become reported on nine studies showing evi- “They published a letter from G H compelling: dence of fluoride damage to bones in
April/May 2014 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM 13 children at exposures lower than 1ppm The last thing you want to swallow into A similar result was found in India: – the current drinking water standard your body is fluoride, it’s a stupid idea. “The average IQ level of schoolchil- for New Zealand. “But the other thing, and I don’t dren (N = 50) from the low F villages think you have to be a rocket scientist was 97.17, which is significantly higher onnett, with science and chem- to understand this point, the level of (p≤0.001) than 92.53 of schoolchildren istry degrees from Cambridge fluoride in mother’s milk, the baby’s (N = 34) from the high F villages.”2 CUniversity and Dartmouth in the first meal, is extremely low, point zero Another peer reviewed study in USA (his PhD), is no slouch on fluoride zero four parts per million (0.004ppm) 2013 compared 12 year olds in areas science but admits he came late to it: yet we fluoridate water at about 1.000 with less than 1.5 parts per million “I taught chemistry at St Lawrence parts per million. of fluoride in the water, compared to University from 1983 to 2006 when “This means that a bottle-fed baby in areas above that level. They too found a I retired. My speciality at the end Auckland or anywhere in New Zealand drop in IQ: “Reduction in intelligence was environmental chemistry and that’s fluoridated, is getting about was observed with an increased water toxicology. 200 times more fluoride than nature fluoride level.”3 “It was during this teaching that I intended. I think that’s absolutely reck- Even if fluoridated water did protect first got involved with the fluorida- less. I think we’re now paying the price. against fillings, is it worth dropping tion issue. I didn’t want it, I really We’re finding out that if you expose your child’s IQ with life-changing didn’t want to be involved, but my wife baby in these early days, it’s not just consequences? persuaded me that this issue needed a question of impacting the growing Connett argues the international to be examined. I was heavily involved teeth you are also impacting the baby’s studies can be trusted – unlike the in waste management issues, fighting growing brain cells, and maybe the Western ones – because the primary incinerators and promoting alterna- endocrine system, maybe their bones. study aim is one of public health, not tives for reducing municipal waste, It’s reckless, and countries like New shoring up an investment: and that activity was using up all my Zealand are not tracking those health “They don’t have a fluoridation weekends, all my holidays. effects, they’re not going out and doing programme to protect, but they do “I certainly didn’t want a third issue studies to check and see if harm is have their children to protect however, that would stigmatise me as ‘looney- being done. Instead they’re putting and therefore they have every reason toons’. As you know, proponents of more money into promoting fluorida- to try to find out what the lowest level fluoridation always maintain that they tion and propaganda for fluoridation of fluoride is that causes harm, because have the authority, they have the sci- than they are spending to genuinely see after they determine what that level ence, and the people against this are if any harm is being caused. is, they then have to determine what junk scientists using junk science. “This is pretty serious when we water supply the fluoride has to be “They’ve done their level best over have – not one IQ study but 37! There removed from and what level it has to 60 years to portray all opponents of are over 40 animal studies that show be removed down to. fluoridation as crazy people. That’s fluoride can damage the brain, 19 stud- That’s the basis for the research being why many academics don’t want to get ies on animals that show impact on done in China at the moment – what involved with this issue. But my wife memory and reaction times. All kinds level can we get away with? Because the was persuasive enough for me to start of neurological tests, fetal brain dam- more fluoride they have to remove, the reading the papers that she put on my age in China with so many abortions more it actually costs them, so they’re desk, and there were two things which – some abortions have been taking actually looking for a safe level. So I really struck me: I had thought at the place in naturally fluoridated areas and don’t think they have any desire to time that the opponents had confused you find damage to the baby’s bones fudge the information. the highly reactive element fluorine and brain. All this evidence is being “Twenty seven of these studies were with the fairly benign stuff called ignored or downplayed,” says Connett. recently reviewed by a team from sodium fluoride. That’s like compar- When you actually look at the stud- Harvard University which included a ing chlorine gas with sodium chloride ies (some of which are reproduced in couple of Chinese researchers and a (salt). If you get those two mixed up the book Totalitaria), suddenly the world famous epidemiologist. Out of 27 there’s a big difference. Elements dra- argument in favour of fluoridating studies, 26 showed a lowering of IQ.” matically change their properties when water seems empty, facile and grim: But it went further than just compar- they become compounds. An Iranian study in 2012 compared ing fluoridated areas with non-fluori- “And it was true that fluoride is children from low fluoride areas with dated areas. Paul Connett explains that not very reactive chemically, but it those from medium and high fluoride some studies measured actual fluoride in turns out to be extremely reactive areas. Look at the massive drop in IQ: the bodies of participants, just to be sure: biologically. That is the shock; it has “The mean IQ scores decreased from “What 11 of these studies found was the capacity to interfere with all kinds 97.77±18.91 for the normal fluoride a correlation between low IQ and the of biological systems and structures, group to 89.03±12.99 for the medium level of fluoride in the urine. One of the including enzymes, proteins, G-pro- fluoride group and to 88.58±16.01 for other studies published 2011 showed teins and a whole litany of other things. the high fluoride group (P=0.001)”1 the lowering of IQ correlated with the
14 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM April/May 2014 level of fluoride in the blood plasma, and every argument was documented What they say, evidently, is believed and that’s the last point before it by references to the scientific literature. and taken at face value by the Courts, reaches the brain.” In all there are 80 pages of references. and used as the basis for rolling out a “Shortly after that book was pub- national fluoridation campaign. If the he International Academy of lished I was invited to go to the State decides it’s good for you, you and Oral Medicine and Toxicology Ministry of Health in Wellington and your kids will be forced to take the Tsays it has weighed up study present the case. Much to our surprise medicine unless you spent $500 per results like these against studies on the there were about 20 people there, so drinking tap in your house to install effectiveness of fluoridated water in they were obviously taking this seri- filters capable of removing fluoride. protecting against tooth decay – just ously. I went through all the informa- Roll on Nanny State. to see if there are genuine benefits to tion presented calmly in the book.” fluoride in the water. Despite the New Connett says that – as per normal References Zealand High Court endorsement that scientific procedure – he invited the 1. “Effect of High Water Fluoride Concen- it “must accept” the science presented Ministry of Health scientists to peer tration on the Intellectual Development by New Zealand’s Ministry of Health, review the research in the book and of Children in Makoo/Iran”, B. Seraj et al, the expert review panel wasn’t fooled. come back with a scientific rebuttal – Journal of Dentistry (Tehran). 2012 Sum- The smoking gun, it says, was the 2000 which is how scientific disagreements mer; 9(3): 221–229. http://www.ncbi.nlm. study published in the Journal of the are conducted and resolved. nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3484826/ American Dental Association: “I’m sad to tell you that after three 2. “Fluoride contamination of groundwater “The fluoride incorporated into the years, they haven’t done it, they have and its impact on IQ of schoolchildren tooth developmentally – meaning sys- not responded to this book. Instead in Mundra, Gujarat, India”, Trivedi et al, temically, in the normal tooth mineral they continue to promote fluorida- Fluoride 45(4)377–383 October-December – is insufficient to have a measurable tion with a religious fervour, quoting 2012, http://fluoridealert.org/uploads/ effect on acid dissolution.” a so-called ‘sixty years of science’ to trivedi-2012.pdf “Importantly, this means that fluoride support them. That sixty years of sci- 3. “Effect of fluoride exposure on the intel- incorporated during tooth mineral ence is lousy science. It’s switched from ligence of school children”, Saxena et al, J development at normal levels of 20 to science to a belief system.” Neurosci Rural Pract. 2012 May-Aug; 3(2): 100 ppm (even in areas that have fluori- Connett blames the fluoride evange- 144–149. doi: 10.4103/0976-3147.98213, dated drinking water or with the use of lisation campaign on the high priests http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/ fluoride supplements) does not measur- of dentistry in New Zealand. PMC3409983/ ably alter the solubility of the mineral,” “I think NZ dentists are true believ- writes the study’s lead author, Feather- ers. There’s only one dental school in stone. “Even when the outer enamel has NZ, in Otago, and they are adamantly higher fluoride levels, such as 1000 ppm, pro-fluoridation down there. So they it does not measurably withstand acid- only get one side of the story at dental induced dissolution any better than school. Once they’re out in the com- enamel with lower levels of fluoride.” munity treating patients they’re too In other words, fluoride might “get busy to keep reading literature on the in”, but it doesn’t actually work. fluoridation debate, so they are left tak- “New Zealand’s fluoridation pro- ing the word of the professional bodies gramme is like some kind of sacred which do have reputations and liabili- cow – you can’t talk about it without ties to protect. In the United States the being insulted,” laments Connett. “The American Dental Association has its Minister of Health goes on national name associated with all the fluori- TV saying opponents of fluoride are dated products that people use, so if misrepresenting – it’s all rubbish. fluoridation does go down one day “After 14 years of investigating, I there could be some serious liabilities published a book on this, along with arising from those endorsements. two other scientists, called The Case “What scientific evidence do they Against Fluoride. The three of us marshall to demonstrate that fluorida- were all retired professors. One was tion is effective, that it is safe, and that a biologist, one a physicist and I was it is ethically sound to override the the chemist. We had plenty of time to citizens who don’t want to be forced to look at all the literature and digest it. swallow it? They were very careful to keep the tone “What do they say about 97 % of right, we understated rather than over- Europe where water is not fluoridated stated, every single argument that we yet their rates of tooth decay are as raised we tried to express the caveats, good or even better than ours?”
April/May 2014 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM 15 the rise of the ROBOTS
While computer gurus are trying to create the ultimate artificial intelligence, robotics crews are trying to build the most life-skilled machines. A combination of the two might be devastating, and for now robotics is the sexier of the two industries. IAN WISHART edits this appraisal on just how far robots have come since Lost in Space and Star Wars
t seems like something from a movie, dents are taking place every weekend in America but all over the planet robots are emerg- and virtually every month in New Zealand, but as ing from hiding to take over tasks you’d expect it’s in the US defence industry that the predicted long ago when the Jetsons real cutting edge research is taking place. were young. If you watch late night or Youtube is full of promotional videos for the lat- daytime TV, you’re repeatedly invited to est generation of defence robots, thanks to what is Iget acquainted with iRobot’s Roomba – the robot known as the DARPA Robotics Challenge that pits vacuum cleaner, or the Dolphin robot pool cleaner. major US defence contractors against each other to Robots are being touted to replace forestry work- develop robots with search and rescue capability. ers in an industry plagued by fatalities, the logic The prize is US$2 million for the winning team. being that aside from purchase cost and mainte- Some are already in production – four legged nance they don’t need a wage, they don’t have a beasts acting as packhorses for the US military but mortgage and kids, and the insurance cost on a presumably capable, with heat seeking cameras busted robot is considerably lower than the payout and friend-or-foe electronic signal recognition, of on a dead forester. pursuing and shooting enemy combatants. Robotics competitions among high school stu- The thing about going toe to toe with a machine
16 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM April/May 2014 is that there’s no guarantee, even if you mentary. DolphinPacific imports the am heavily involved in the service and shoot it, that your shot has hit a critical Maytronics robot range of pool clean- repair of these units too. function. ers, and CEO Adrian Hill says it’s been “The reaction to the product in the But defence bots are not the only a 10 year journey. marketplace has improved dramati- avenue opening up to robotics engi- “My involvement with the Dolphin cally, like most electronic products the neers. In a world where internet porn Robotic Pool cleaner started approxi- price has moved downwards as the vol- is ubiquitous, it was only a matter mately 10 years ago. It was a bit of an umes have gone up, season on season of time before someone developed expensive side line product in a range in NZ the product has experienced a sex robots with machinery in all the of pool products in a company I was 300% increase in units in the market. appropriate places. running at the time. “The technology will get better and The Japanese, meanwhile, are devel- “I left this company and then was better, the gyro’s that are in use in oping bots to act as household servants approached by Maytronics to distrib- commercial machines will migrate to and companions – lifelike and pre- ute the product in NZ. So I guess I’m residential machines giving even bet- programmed to assist. in it by default ! That being said, there ter coverage and performance, prices For most New Zealanders, our robot are so many benefits to this technol- will continue the downward trend and experience is confined to the rudi- ogy, I really enjoy the tech side of it and eventually will spell the demise of the
April/May 2014 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM 17 traditional suction cleaner.” US company iRobot’s Roomba has been unleashed on New Zealand homes and apartments. Although it can’t yet hold a candle to a human pushing an ordinary vacuum cleaner, it’s not bad as a general floor-sweeping bot. The company is not to be underesti- mated, though. Roomba’s big brothers will be doing sweeps of the security kind at this year’s FIFA World Cup in Brazil, as the first of these news stories – all from the last few weeks and which we’ve selected to show common robots now are - illustrates: Military robots to protect 12 Brazilian cities during World Cup: report HOUSTON, March 18 (Xinhua) – Brazil has secured a 7.2 million U.S. dollars deal with iRobot, a U.S.-based company that makes defense and security robots for the U.S. military, who will create 30 new robots tasked with protecting and monitoring 12 cit- ies during this year’s World Cup, U.S. media reported Tuesday. The robots, called PackBots from iRobot, a Massachusetts-based com- pany, are pre-programmed to analyze suspicious-looking objects in 12 cities hosting World Cup match-ups across Brazil. The robots will start monitoring from June in the run up to FIFA 2014 World Cup event, according to the online marketing and publicity ser- vices website PRWeb. Each robot can fit in a backpack, reach up to nine miles per hour whilst traversing all kinds of terrain and can travel in water up to two meters deep. PackBot’s other attributes include a state-of-the-art GPS, video image display, system monitoring, electronic compass, temperature sensors. The robot is manipulated with an inte- grated Pentium-based computer. The sleek PackBot robot system, designed by iRobot, made its debut in 2002 in Afghanistan, where it helped soldiers clear bunkers, caves, collapsed building and to cross minefields. The versatile machine was used again in 2003 in Iraq in urban warfare situa- tions and to search vehicles, according to Robohub, an online platform dedi-
18 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM April/May 2014 cated specifically for robotics. ers managed to make a fish that was think it will change people’s lives,” said By 2007, more than 800 of these capable of moving with extreme speed Satoshi Shigemi, senior chief engineer military robots were in use throughout and at high angles, able to turn on a at Honda R&D Co. Afghanistan, Iraq and several other dime in less than a blink of an eye. Shigemi said assistant robots should countries. The PackBot was also the They did this in part by using a novel be able to handle small daily chores, first remote controlled robot to enter form of actuator (or motor) that basi- like putting dishes away or folding the Fukushima nuclear facility after the cally uses carbon dioxide gas to inflate laundry. This goal is still years or East Japan Earthquake and tsunami in the soft tail at different points to make maybe even decades away, but Asimo, March 2011. it move in specific ways. standing just 130 cm tall and weighing The resulting robot is able to turn as 48 kg, has been evolving. This robot fish with sea- sharply as 100 degrees on the order of When Asimo debuted in 2000, its green skin swims like the 100 milliseconds, comparable with real main feature was mainly the ability to real deal fish that suddenly flit away as a hungry walk. Later, it was given the ability to By Amina Khan/Los Angeles Times predators swims up, said Daniela Rus, recognize voices, faces, run (at 9 kph), March 13 – Think of a robot. Chances who heads up the lab where the fish jump and carry things in its arms. are you imagined one with legs like was built and co-wrote the paper. In 2011, Asimo even acquired C-3PO of “Star Wars” fame or some- The robo-fish “pushes the envelope “autonomous behavior control technol- thing with wheels like NASA’s Mars on what machines could do today,” ogy,” which allows it to make its own rover Curiosity. Neither of these rigid said Rus, who was also behind these decisions, depending on the situation. body types are particularly flexible and cute-yet-creepy colorful jumping robot For instance, when Asimo detects certainly can’t move through water blocks. several people approaching from dif- well. But what about a robot with a tail? ferent directions, it predicts their paths Scientists at the Massachusetts Insti- Honda’s robotics tech in order to avoid bumping into them. tute of Technology have designed a soft headed for homes of the While these might be easy things for robot based on a fish, which can bend future people to carry out, “it’s technologically its body and quickly flee the way that By Kazuaki Nagata/Japan Times really difficult to make robots do what real fish do to escape predators. March 10 – As technology evolves, humans naturally do,” Shigemi said. Typical robots are rigid with every household is predicted to have Thus, improving Asimo’s hardware exposed mechanisms and unnatural at least one robot in the future, just and mobility is still a must, but Shi- movement, but the fish described in as many of today’s consumers feel gemi said the ability to make its own the first issue of the new journal Soft incomplete without Internet access or a decisions and adjust to various situa- Robotics is covered in a soft silicone mobile phone. tions is crucial. skin. This sea-green skin protects the That’s the future envisioned by “I think we already have the technol- robot’s hard parts – the power source, Honda Motor Co., and with the ogy that enables robots to do what they the computational hardware, the actu- progress being chalked up by Asimo, are told to do. But the important thing ating mechanisms that make it move its humanoid robot, such an era is is for robots to sense people’s inten- – in the front and allows for a soft tail approaching. tions and make their own decisions on in the back. In some ways, it’s a lot Honda is using its robotics prowess to doing things. Otherwise, they won’t like the animal it’s modeling, said lead seek new possibilities in human mobil- become truly useful,” Shigemi said. author Andrew Marchese, a graduate ity. These include one-person vehicles This is probably feasible, although student in MIT’s electrical engineering and machines that help people walk. the scenarios would be limited. and computer science department. Honda unveiled Asimo in 2000, but its For instance, robots could work at “When we thought about it, a fish robotics technology dates back to 1986. train stations and interact with cus- makes sense. It has a very similar The automaker’s goal is simple: Cre- tomers in various ways, such as by tell- structure,” Marchese said in the video ate a society where every household has ing them which trains to catch when, above. “In the head of the fish, where at least one “assistant robot.” and how to buy tickets. the brains are held, it’s a little bit more “If we have such robots that can He said it is difficult to predict rigid. But in the rear of the fish, where take care of small things for humans, I when Honda will actually be able to the undulatory motion happens, it’s quite soft and compliant.” Other scientists have also been Honda is using its robotics prowess working on creating robots that swim and fly – and they’ve found that soft- to seek new possibilities in human bodied flying and swimming animals have distinct advantages that they all mobility. These include one-person seem to share. Some are even working vehicles and machines that help on a manta-ray robot. For this project, the MIT research- people walk
April/May 2014 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM 19 provide robots for practical use, but To move forward, numerous small people’s legs, as well as a large battery. since Tokyo will host the 2020 Olympic wheels come together to act as one One prototype they came up with Games, the firm hopes to demonstrate big wheel. To move laterally, the small weighed about 30 kg, which was unre- what Asimo and its robotics technolo- wheels kick in and slide. There is also alistic for practical use, Takahashi said. gies can really do at that time. a small wheel behind the combined But the engineers later realized that When people view Honda’s Uni-Cub big wheel that makes for smoother the machine would not have to be that for the first time, for example, many turning. big if its sole purpose was just to help would have a hard time believing it’s But the Uni-Cub’s odd appearance people move their legs. This helped a vehicle. That’s because it looks like – it looks something like a unicycle – make the device considerably lighter, a stool that appears to fall over when often raises the question: How does it and it now weighs in at about 2.6 kg. someone sits on it. stay upright? According to Takahashi, it is still Anyone’s doubts would grow once Kobashi explained that the vehicle unclear when Honda will be able to they are instructed to “drive” the Uni- uses the same tactics people use when launch the walking assistant, but it has Cub just by sitting on the saddle and trying to balance a stick vertically in provided the machines to hospitals for shifting their weight. But the ride is sur- the palm of their hand. experimental purposes in the field of prisingly smooth whether the Uni-Cub Most people would rapidly move rehabilitation both in Japan and the is going forward, sideways or diagonally. their hand back and forth to keep the United States. Once riders get the hang of riding stick standing. The same thing happens Takahashi said the machine can on Uni-Cub, which has a maximum inside the Uni-Cub as its computer help paralyzed people who can still speed of 6 kph, they feel they are mov- brain instructs the machine to keep its move their legs walk more smoothly. ing naturally without thinking about balance. It also works well with the elderly and it. That is one of Honda’s main aims – It is currently illegal to drive a Uni- healthy people by helping them walk to make riders feel they are moving in Cub on public roads in Japan because it with an appropriate rhythm. harmony with the environment. doesn’t fall into any vehicle category. This section on the second Monday “The keyword is a pedestrian. People To promote its use, marketing of each month reports on new tech- are riding on the Uni-Cub but are still should begin in places like shopping nologies under development expected able to act like pedestrians,” said Shin- malls, amusement parks or museums to hit the market in the near future. ichiro Kobashi, chief engineer of the where walking might be considered a Smart Mobility Development Division chore, said Kobashi. U.S. defense research at Honda R&D. Another new form of mobility being agency mulls human-robot “The Uni-Cub won’t be used casu- developed with robotics technology teams for disaster response ally if pedestrians think ‘Wow, there is a device to assist a person’s walking WASHINGTON, (Xinhua) – In the are some weird machines driving through an apparatus worn around the future, when an earthquake or tsu- around’ when they see the Uni-Cub. waist and thighs. nami strikes a populated area or a It has to fit perfectly with the natural The gadget’s waist belt is equipped terrorist attack decimates a city, teams environment,” Kobashi said. “I think with a computer and battery to operate of disaster experts partnered with this is actually the foundation of our the thigh sections, which are equipped robots – whose skills are being honed robotics technology, whether it’s Uni- with small motors that give the wear- in rigorous competitions funded by the Cub or Asimo.” er’s legs a little push with each step. Defense Advanced Research Projects Honda uses some tricks to make Around 1999, “we started brain- Agency (DARPA) – may be the first Uni-Cub riders feel like they are storming about whether we could responders. pedestrians. create something useful for the upcom- Having people and robots work For instance, even though it is a ing aging society with our robotics together in teams is essential to robot sitting-style vehicle, unlike the Segway, technology,” said Hideaki Takahashi, success in disaster response, Gill Pratt, eye level for most riders remains quite chief engineer at Honda R&D. DARPA Robotics Challenge program high, although the rider must be at “The No. 1 thing people need to manager, told American Forces Press least 155 cm tall to use it. This makes continue living independently is to be Service recently, saying that DARPA it easier and more natural to talk to able to walk. We had the technology expects the field of robotics to undergo people who are standing nearby. This to make robots walk, so we started a historic transformation that could is different from using a wheelchair, developing this technology (further) by drive innovation in robots for defense, which tends to make people feel like taking advantage of it,” said Takahashi. health care, agriculture and industry. they’re being looked down upon. But the research did not go as “For the foreseeable future, our Also, Uni-Cub is designed so that planned. Takahashi said Honda first robots are not going to have anywhere the rider must execute a U-turn to tried to make a walking assist device near the intelligence they require to move in the opposite direction. This that would depend nearly entirely on do even small parts of missions on is to take into account the fact that the power of the machine. their own,” Pratt said. “They’re going people hardly ever walk backward, In that case, the machine would to require a human being to figure out Kobashi said. need a motor powerful enough to move what the plan is, to figure out what the
20 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM April/May 2014 contingencies are and to understand the situation.” What robots can do, Pratt said, is contribute sensing and physical effects at a distance from a human controller, operating in a dangerous environment while a human operator stays back where it’s safe and directs the action. “Together, working as a team,” he added, “they can be more effective than either one of them working by themselves.” Launched in October 2012, the DARPA Robotics Challenge has held two of three competitions last year – a virtual event in June and a live two-day event in December. The first competition tested software teams’ ability to guide a simulated robot through three sample tasks in a virtual environment. In Decem- ber, teams had to guide their robots British engineers broke a world record Dynamics, the all-terrain robot trots through as many as eight individual by solving a Rubik’s cube in 3.253 and then gallops across a parking lot, physical tasks that tested robot mobil- seconds. free from any tethers or treadmills that ity, manipulation, dexterity, perception David Gilday, a principal engineer have constrained such devices in the and operator-control mechanisms. at ARM, and Mike Dobson, a security past. During the finals, to be held some- systems engineer for Securi-Plex, said Boston Dynamics has developed a time in the next 12-18 months, human- they spent 18 months building the number of robots, including a BigDog robot teams will attempt a circuit CubeStormer 3 robot and the device model and a Cheetah which could hit of consecutive physical tasks with made its debut at the Big Bang Fair at 29 mph but was confined to a treadmill degraded communications between the the National Exhibition Center in Bir- because of its system of tethers provid- robots and their operators. mingham, England, the Birmingham ing hydraulic power. Even with progress made in the Mail reported Monday. DARPA Robotics Challenge and else- The robot was able to beat the record Vacuum cleaner guru where in the industry, Pratt said, “We of 5.27 seconds set by the duo’s previ- James Dyson puts $8 don’t know how to make robots intel- ous robot, CubeStormer II, two years million into robotics lab ligent enough to do sophisticated tasks, ago. LONDON, (UPI) – British inventor but we do know how to make them do The record-breaking attempt is a James Dyson, who changed the humble very specific subtasks.” bit of fun for us, Gilday said. Our real home vacuum cleaner into a desirable These days in a laboratory, he said, a focus is to demonstrate what can be high-tech gadget, says he’s investing $8 robot can be told to open a door and the achieved with readily available technol- million in a robotics lab. robot will use its visual sensors to locate ogy to inspire young minds into taking The new Dyson Robotics Labora- the door, compare that image against a a greater interest in science, technol- tory will be located at Imperial College library of different handles it’s been pro- ogy, engineering and mathematics. London, where a research team of grammed to recognize, turn the door There is now potential for robots to researchers and engineers will work handle and pull the door open. cope with disruption. on advanced sensing, interpretation Pratt said DARPA expects roughly a Our big challenge now is working of environment, and robot vision and dozen teams to participate in the finals, out if it’s possible to make it go even interaction, CNET reported Monday. including the top eight teams from the faster, he said. The research could yield household December trials that are in contract chore robots and other domestic help negotiations with DARPA to receive 1 Boston firm unveils four- hardware. million U.S. dollars for development legged sprinting robot My generation believed the world this year. BOSTON, (UPI) – A Boston robotics would be overrun by robots by the year firm has publicly unveiled its newest 2014, Dyson said in a release announc- Robot solves Rubik’s cube creation, a four-legged free-running ing the investment. “We now have the in 3.253 seconds robot dubbed WildCat that can hit mechanical and electronic capabilities, BIRMINGHAM, England, March 17 speeds of 16 mph. but robots still lack understanding – (UPI) – A robot created by a pair of In a YouTube video release by Boston seeing and thinking in the way we do.
April/May 2014 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM 21 Burzynski RIDES AGAIN FDA AGREES TO LET PATIENTS GET CONTROVERSIAL DRUG
Late last year Investigate ran the story of controversial US doctor Stanislaw Burzynski and his claims to be able to treat difficult brain tumours with a new class of drugs he’s invented. Among the patients awaiting treatment when his trial was suspended by the US Food and Drug Administration were New Zealand children whose parents were paying hundreds of thousands for treatment. Now, there’s an update on our story. USA TODAY reports the trial is back on for a fortunate few.
he Food and Drug Administration cancer or even help people live longer. has agreed to allow a handful of Burzynski has been unable to give these drugs cancer patients to receive unapproved since 2013, when the FDA placed his experiments drugs from a controversial Texas doc- on hold after the death of a 6-year-old New Jersey tor, but only if they can find another boy taking antineoplastons. In December, the FDA physician to administer them. sent Burzynski a warning letter, noting that he TThe drugs are made by Houston doctor Stani- inflated his success rates and failed to report side slaw Burzynski, who was the subject of a USA effects and to prevent patients from repeatedly Today investigation last year. While his support- overdosing. The Texas Medical Board also charged ers consider him a medical maverick, mainstream Burzynski last year with false advertising. doctors describe him as a snake-oil salesman. None of that has deterred a group of eight fami- Burzynski has claimed for more than 36 years to lies whose loved ones are suffering from incurable be able to cure certain hard-to-treat brain tumours brain tumours and who would like to try Burzyn- with drugs he calls antineoplastons. The National ski’s patented therapy. Those families include the Cancer Institute notes that Burzynski has never parents of 12-year-old McKenzie Lowe of New published definitive evidence that his drugs cure Hampshire; the parents of 6-year-old Refael Elisha
22 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM April/May 2014 April/May 2014 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM 23 Cohen of Texas; and 47-year-old Liza York area, where the child is in the when taking a product that has not Cozad-Lauser of California. hospital. Because Refael is in a coma, been found to be safe and effective,” All contacted the FDA to however, he’s unlikely to benefit from the FDA said in its statement. “We rec- ask for “compassionate use” of antineoplastons, says attorney Antonio ognize that there is a range of opinion antineoplastons. Martinez, a lobbyist working with the about the extent to which individuals The FDA acknowledged this month ANP Coalition, a group advocating for should be able to decide for themselves that it has agreed to allow them to antineoplaston access. how much risk they are willing to tol- use the experimental drug, but only “It’s the FDA’s job to protect the pub- erate from an experimental therapy.” if they can find a qualified, indepen- lic, but when does the FDA’s authority Richard Saunders, whose daughter dent physician to administer the drug. go too far?” asked Martinez. Address- Amelia was treated by Burzynski, says Beyond infusing the drug and oversee- ing Refael’s case, he asks, “Why he welcomes the FDA’s decision. Ame- ing their care, the doctor would have to couldn’t they (the FDA) have allowed lia, from the United Kingdom, died of formally apply for expanded access to him to try ANP six months ago? Now, cancer at age 4, in 2013. an “investigational new drug,” as well he has almost no chance.” “If there is any way for patients to get as get approval from an institutional McKenzie’s grandfather, Frank access to antineoplastons, and have the review board, an independent panel LaFontain, says he hopes to get treat- choice to do so – but under controlled, that reviews safety and ethical issues ment for his granddaughter, who has professionally guided circumstances – involved in clinical trials. had chemotherapy and radiation, then that has to be a good thing,” says The FDA grants an average of more while she’s still healthy. Today, he says, her father, Richard, who wrote a book than 1,000 requests a year for expanded “she runs, she plays basketball for her about his experience, called Saving access. school, there’s no stopping her. She just Amelia. keeps going.” Some doctors and patient advocates urzynski will supply anti- Burzynski has attracted a large fol- say they’re disappointed by the FDA’s neoplastons for free, says his lowing over the years from supporters decision. Battorney, Richard Jaffe. of alternative medicine and critics Tina Cowles, whose husband died While Cozad-Lauser has found of the FDA, with whom he has often of lung cancer after being seen by a doctor willing to administer the done battle. A new study in JAMA Burzynski in 2012, says antineoplas- antineoplastons, McKenzie’s family Internal Medicine finds that about tons may deserve further study. But members say they have contacted doz- half of Americans believe in medical she’s glad that it won’t be done by ens of doctors, but have been unable to conspiracies, such as the notion that Burzynski. find a qualified oncologist to agree to government and industry are hiding “I would agree with not letting participate. cures from the public. Burzynski anywhere near any cancer “I’m an adult. I should be able to Others have been critical of the patient,” says Cowles, who said she felt make this decision,” says Cozad- FDA’s tolerance for Burzynski. “duped and disappointed” after going to Lauser, who was diagnosed with an “I have no idea why the FDA would Burzynski’s clinic. “He strikes me now inoperable brain stem tumour, diffuse do this after finally showing signs of as egotistical and paranoid. And oh, intrinsic pontine glioma, or DIPG, 18 doing its job with respect to Burzyn- what a financial empire he as built on months ago. Although the tumour is ski,” says oncologist David Gorski, the backs of the desperate and dying.” diagnosed in 200 to 300 people a year, whose blog, Respectful Insolence, Jan Buckner, chair of oncology at there are few long-term survivors. “My has long been critical of Burzynski. the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, says own government is telling me I can’t “It’s a major propaganda victory for he wouldn’t advise patients to take choose a medicine. I should have the Burzynski.” antineoplastons. right, when there is no standard of care In a statement, the FDA says the “There have not been well-conducted available to me and every doctor had agency has a duty to protect patients studies that demonstrate efficacy of told me I have no chance of survival.” from unproven products that could do antineoplastons for patients with any Refael’s family posted an update on more harm than good. malignancy,” says Buckner, who tried their Facebook page, asking friends “Patients, including those who are to conduct a rigorous clinical trial of to help them find a doctor in the New terminally ill, deserve this protection antineoplastons in the 1990s, until Burzynski withdrew support for it. “There are known toxicities. Since Burzynski has attracted a large there is not clear benefit, I would not advocate treatment with antineoplas- following over the years from tons outside the setting of a well- designed clinical trial.” supporters of alternative medicine Oncologist Howard Ozer says he’s and critics of the FDA, with whom he disappointed that the FDA is allowing patients to take antineoplastons outside has often done battle of a rigorous clinical trial.
24 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM April/May 2014 “This is a cop-out,” says Ozer, direc- denying dying patients something of their case when her son developed tor of the University of Illinois Can- that could help them,” says Friedman, complications. Their family spent cer Center, who studied Burzynski’s deputy director of the Preston Robert $24,000 in two weeks at Burzynski’s research results in the 1990s. Tisch Brain Tumour Center at Duke clinic – more than her husband, the “Because it can be toxic and cause University in North Carolina, who also minister at a small church, makes in a life-threatening sodium problems, reviewed Burzynski’s studies in the year. They paid Burzynski’s fees with patients (who take antineoplastons) are 1990s. “It will get FDA off the hook.” donations from other churches. at risk and could die,” Ozer says. Burzynski declined to comment. Smith says the FDA plays an important The scientific community will learn Sandy Smith, who took her son role in protecting vulnerable families nothing by giving these patients Andrew to see Burzynski, says she from opportunists who prey on people antineoplastons, because there will be approves of the FDA’s decision, because suffering from life-threatening diseases. no comparison group, Ozer says. Any it could allow scientists to learn if anti- “We can’t just have a free-for-all doctor who agrees to give antineoplas- neoplastons have any value. where everyone feels entitled to do tons could be biased in favor of them, “With true science, if something is anything and there is no consideration which could skew the results. working, then someone else should be of safety,” she says. Oncologist Henry Friedman says the able to come up with the same results,” Yet Smith says she can understand FDA made a savvy political decision says Smith, a breast cancer survivor the desperation of families. in granting compassionate use of the from Michigan, whose son died of a “I wish it were easy to say, ‘This drugs. DIPG at age 8 in 2009. doesn’t work. Don’t waste your time on “It will deflect criticism from any- Smith says she felt misled by Burzyn- this,’” she says. “You don’t want to take body who says the FDA is unilaterally ski, who seemed to wash his hands away someone’s hope.”
April/May 2014 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM 25 HERS | HEALTH
Trying to understand dieters’ temptations
WORDS BY MARY MACVEAN
f there’s no caramel cheese- Who hasn’t stopped at the supermarket The participants gave into tempta- cake, you’re not likely to eat any. after a long day and bought foods they tion a little more than half the time, IBut plop one down on a table might better have left on the shelf? according to their diaries. They were among a group of friends and the But while some of those might seem particularly vulnerable at night and forks come out. That’s a simple scene obvious, the researchers are looking more likely to have an alcoholic drink that embodies some of the complex at exactly what’s going on in an effort than to eat a sugary snack. mechanisms that make it so hard for to develop ways to empower people to British dietitians have ranked lack people to lose weight and keep it off. resist temptation. Would it help, for of willpower as more important to the Researchers in England who were example, if you had a phone app to development of obesity than genetics, trying to sort out what tempts dieters record your feelings every time you the researchers said. and what makes them give into temp- happened upon a bowl of chips or an “In the fight against obesity, we need tation looked at a group of 80 people, ad for ice cream? to help people become more aware of mostly women, over seven days, giv- “The findings help piece together the the various personal, situational and ing them phones and apps to record complex jigsaw surrounding the daily environmental factors that expose instances of temptation: how they felt, predictions of dietary temptations them to dietary temptations,” the what was happening and whether they and help us to better understand how researchers wrote. And then, they said, took a bite or a sip. dietary temptations and lapses oper- they need to develop skills to cope. Over the week, they recorded 898 ate,” the researchers wrote in the jour- One thing that appeared to help the instances of temptation. nal Annals of Behavioral Medicine. dieters was an ability to focus on their As every dieter knows, keeping weight The 80 participants were part of a long-term goals. off for good is extremely difficult. weight-loss group or were dieting on No surprise, they reported they were And some of the factors the research- their own. For a week, they were asked more aware of their eating because ers reported were no surprise: Being to fill out a phone diary each time they they were carrying around the phones. around friends, late-night cravings were tempted. The researchers said And one of the limits of the work will and alcohol have a major effect. Other previous studies of willpower had been surely ring true with dieters: The study factors, as the makers of desserts and done in lab conditions; this one was was just seven days long. What hap- snacks surely know, include being tired. done in “real” life. pened on the eighth day?
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April/May 2014 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM 27 Men to blame not HERS | AltHEALTH Don’t overlook varicose veins
WORDS BY MCT
t’s an unsightly health prob- does not get back to the heart suffi- varicose veins was a procedure called lem that most people don’t even ciently and pools up in your veins. vein stripping, where a doctor would Iknow is a health problem. “When those valves dilate and surgically remove the vein after placing Medical schools don’t spend much get bigger and aren’t as flexible, the the patient under anaesthesia. time on it, as there are more pressing blood will flow backwards,” he said. “It was very invasive procedure and matters. “Repeated over and over again, that left a lot of scars,” Nolan said. “If a “You can’t teach everything,” said blood has to go somewhere. In some patient is faced with that, most patients Dr. Matthew M. Nolan, interventional people it seeps out in skin, and their would say, ‘No, thank you.’ “ cardiologist with Cardiology Associ- legs get bigger and bigger. In some While new surgical procedures have ates of West Reading. “A lot of stuff you cases it leads to cordlike varicose been developed, another highly prom- learn is the deadly stuff.” veins.” ising area of research is using extract Nolan is talking about varicose Why should people be concerned of horse chestnut, such as the natural veins, those bumpy, twisted, spiderlike about them? remedy Venotrex. A recent study in the structures that can crawl up your legs. “(Venous insufficiency) can be a Global Journal of Pharmacology found He said it’s important for people to painful, debilitating disorder leading the extract increases “the tone of veins know that varicose veins are a sign of not only to unsightly legs, but also and accelerates bloodflow”, thus reduc- an underlying health problem. swelling, discoloration and difficulty ing the likelihood of vascular disease “A lot of people think that this prob- with walking,” he said. “It is actually and in particular thrombosis, which lem is a cosmetic problem and only a one of the leading causes of disability can be fatal.1 cosmetic problem,” Nolan said. “This is in the workplace. Most people, and pri- Earlier this year the International a medical disease.” mary physicians, commonly overlook Journal of Drug Development and Nolan said people downplay their the problem as well as lead people to Research noted of the horse chestnut varicose veins, but they shouldn’t. believe that the only treatment for the extract that it is used: “for the treat- There are treatments that are covered disorder is a painful surgery, which is ment of peripheral vascular disorders by insurance and won’t require a long not true anymore.” including haemorrhoids, varicose recovery. He said it’s more common in the veins, leg ulcers and bruises. It is used So what’s going on with varicose elderly, pregnant women, people with a in the treatment for chronic venous veins? family history, obese patients and those insufficiency and peripheral edema.2 Varicose veins are a symptom of a who stand for long periods of time. “It has antilipemic, expectorant, medical problem known as “venous “One of the most common symp- diuretic properties and antimicrobial insufficiency or bad veins,” Nolan said. toms is difficulties for people to walk,” activity. It is also used for the preven- The veins are built to bring blood he said. “Restless leg syndrome is com- tion of gastric ulcers, reduction of back to your heart from the rest of the mon, and the feeling that they can’t cerebral edema, reduction of cellulite, body. Nolan said the veins have valves stop moving their legs at night.” as adrenal stimulant, hypoglycemic that prevent blood from flowing the What’s the treatment? agent, antithrombotic, anti‐inflamma- wrong way. Most people will start with a conser- tory, and also for reduction of hemato- “The purpose of the valves is so when vative therapy, which includes a weight mas and inflammation from trauma or we stand up, the blood doesn’t pull to loss plan, more walking and compres- surgery.3 the feet and you’d faint,” Nolan said. sion stockings that can ease the symp- In other words, Venotrex may be Younger people tend to have healthy toms of the disease. useful in a number of areas. This latest veins, but as we get older, sometimes “Unfortunately, a lot of these treat- study found it was also a potent scav- due to genetics and other causes, the ment options, they don’t definitively fix enger of free radicals.4 valves start to get wear and tear. This the problem,” he said. The take home message from the leads to a problem where the blood He said for years the treatment for studies appears to be, varicose vein
28 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM April/May 2014 prevention is easier than cure – it phy.” Global Journal of Pharma- might pay to consider a supplement as cology 7.3 (2013): 321-324. part of an approach to either minimis- 2. Bielanski, T. E.; Piotrowski, Z. ing the risk or minimising the impact. H. Horse-chestnut seed extract for chronic venous insufficiency. Extra reportage on natural supplement J. Fam. Pract., 1999, 48, by Ian Wishart 171-172. 3 . Zhizhen Zhang, Shiyou References Li and Xiao-Yuan Lian, An 1. Postoyuk, Natalya Aleksandrovna, Artem Overview of Genus Aesculus L.: Aleksandrovich Markaryan, and Tamara Ethnobotany, Phytochemistry, Darijapovna Dargaeva. “Study of Biologi- and Pharmacological Activities cally Active Substances of Dry Extract from Pharmaceutical Crops, 2010, 1, 24-51 Ethanolic extract of Aesculus hippocasta- the Leaves of Ordinary Horse Chestnut with 4. Geetha et al, In Vitro Antioxidant and num Int. J. Drug Dev. & Res., July-Septem- High-Performance Liquid Chromatogra- free Radical Scavenging activity of the ber 2013, 5 (3): 40 3-407
April/May 2014 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM 29 HERS | BOUTIQUE
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April/May 2014 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM 31 Sleek Smartphones
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$549 ZTE | Vodafone 1.5GHz Quad core, 3G, WiFi, GPS Dual sim (Can run Vodafone & 2Degrees) 1920 x 1080 screen Gorilla glass display Android 4.2 Click here to view specs or purchase HEALTH REVIEW TEBONIN® EGb 761® HERS | BEAUTY Tokoroa’s Jim and Diane use Wigs going mainstream Tebonin® to help with both balance WORDS BY MICHAEL MILLER air extensions are not just or handing my mom the curling rods,” Wigs and extensions & inner ear calm and silence for celebrities. she said. But Melissa Moore, of Mid- Sophisticated Styles sells wigs, exten- are not just for formal H s we age our circulatory dle Township, owner of Sophisticated sions and a wide range of hair-care occasions. A lot of people system can lose effi ciency. Styles & Supplies, said her customers products. The smaller blood vessels choose extensions for the same reasons Wigs and extensions are not just for like wigs for their ready- of the microcirculation as Beyonce, Kim Kardashian and Keira formal occasions. A lot of people like to-wear practicality. They are the fi rst to experience Knightley – they look good. wigs for their ready-to-wear practi- thisA decline. Red blood cells lose “People might ask, ‘Is that real hair?’ cality, she said. They make it easier make it easier to get suppleness, capillary walls become less And you can say yes, because you to get ready for work or school in the fl exible and blood fl ow is impeded. The microcirculation, which plays an bought it,” she said. morning. ready for work or school important role in maintaining good Since Moore’s mother, Anna Moore, Wigs at Sophisticated Styles range in in the morning health, carries blood to the extremities was a hairdresser, she grew up around price from $30 to $300 in a variety of including the complex organs such as the business. colours and lengths. Everyone should the brain, eyes, ears, and even hands and “I was always the one sweeping up have a wig in their wardrobe, she said. feet. “It’s easy. It’s all-natural. You can’t students who come to Cape May to Effective blood fl ow through the very even tell it’s not your own hair,” she work for the summer. fi ne capillaries of the microcirculation said. “The Russian girls all like to wear the is essential for maintaining good health. The key is to match your hair colour hair extensions,” said employee Dandy A healthy microcirculation supports: “We both believe this tablet does all it says it will do ... and more. cognitive function, mental focus, and texture, which is easier today Elsey, of Middle Township. It seems to have helped our mental alertness and even the texture performance and agility, healthy skin, of our skin. We recommend it to all who want to support healthy with so many choices, she said. When Some of the store’s customers are inner-ear peace and normal balance. done properly, the results are virtually women with thinning hair, alopecia or microcirculation. We have used Tebonin® EGb 761® for over fi ve years Without a healthy blood supply, cognitive seamless. hair loss from a medical condition. But to support normal balance, mental function and inner ear calm and function can deteriorate, eyes and ears quiet. It helps us keep up with the grand kids.” But some people prefer to draw most simply like the way wigs look on can struggle to function normally; hands Jim and Diana Ryan, Tokoroa. attention to their new look, opting them, she said. and feet can become cold even on warm for a two-toned style known as an Hair-dressing and cosmetology jobs days. Ombre. are expected to grow by 13 per cent by There is something we can do to manage countries and with over 600 published Tebonin® is a relevant natural alternative “You don’t dye your hair red 2022, according to the U.S. Bureau of this decline. Tebonin® EGb 761® has been research papers Tebonin® is one of the for all who want to maintain a healthy overnight,” she said. “It’s fun to Labour Statistics. clinically shown to support a healthy world’s most researched, tested and used microcirculation. do. It gives you versatility in your The Professional Beauty Associa- and normal microcirculation. natural health products. look.” tion, a trade group based in Scotts- By supporting vein wall health and Due to Tebonin®’s patented extraction More beauty schools include dale, Ariz., said the industry saw suppleness as well as pliability of the processes other Ginkgo biloba products wigs and extensions in their above-average growth in the first half red blood cells, Tebonin® helps optimise do not have the same composition Available microcirculation blood fl ow. training, she said. “We have of 2013 based on its index of service as Tebonin® therefore other Ginkgo from leading products cannot make the same claims. pharmacies and quite a few salons in the area and sales, retail sales, customer traffic and Tebonin® is extracted by Schwabe Pharmaceuticals in Germany. Current Tebonin® is sold around the world to health stores. most of them do it.” employee hours. worldwide consumption exceeds eight support a variety of health functions Moore started her business Meanwhile, spa and salon owners million tablets a day. Listed in over 80 related to a healthy microcirculation. while working full time helping reported a 36 per cent increase in capi- people file retirement and disabil- tal spending compared to 2012. For more information ity claims for the Social Security Moore said the industry has been phone 0800 657 876 Mon-Fri 9am-5pm or Administration, where she still recession-proof. Even when times are email [email protected] works. tough, people find ways to pamper Distributed by Pharma Health NZ Ltd, Your Health. Nature’s Power. Middle Township has numerous themselves and keep up appearances, www.pharmahealth.co.nz personal-care businesses, includ- she said. People on blood thinning medication or prior ing hair and nail salons. So the “There is no recession for beauty. to surgery should check with their doctor fi rst. location was a good fit, she said. When it comes to beauty, people will Supplementary to and not a replacement for a Among the store’s customers pay. It’s about their self-confidence,” balanced diet. Use only as directed and if symptoms Unhealthy microcirculation blood fl ow. Healthy microcirculation blood fl ow. persist, see your health professional. TAPS NA 6228 are many Eastern European she said.
34 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM April/May 2014 HEALTH REVIEW TEBONIN® EGb 761®
Tokoroa’s Jim and Diane use Tebonin® to help with both balance & inner ear calm and silence
s we age our circulatory system can lose effi ciency. The smaller blood vessels of the microcirculation are the fi rst to experience thisA decline. Red blood cells lose suppleness, capillary walls become less fl exible and blood fl ow is impeded. The microcirculation, which plays an important role in maintaining good health, carries blood to the extremities including the complex organs such as the brain, eyes, ears, and even hands and feet. Effective blood fl ow through the very fi ne capillaries of the microcirculation is essential for maintaining good health. A healthy microcirculation supports: “We both believe this tablet does all it says it will do ... and more. cognitive function, mental focus, It seems to have helped our mental alertness and even the texture performance and agility, healthy skin, of our skin. We recommend it to all who want to support healthy inner-ear peace and normal balance. microcirculation. We have used Tebonin® EGb 761® for over fi ve years Without a healthy blood supply, cognitive to support normal balance, mental function and inner ear calm and function can deteriorate, eyes and ears quiet. It helps us keep up with the grand kids.” can struggle to function normally; hands Jim and Diana Ryan, Tokoroa. and feet can become cold even on warm days. There is something we can do to manage countries and with over 600 published Tebonin® is a relevant natural alternative this decline. Tebonin® EGb 761® has been research papers Tebonin® is one of the for all who want to maintain a healthy clinically shown to support a healthy world’s most researched, tested and used microcirculation. and normal microcirculation. natural health products. By supporting vein wall health and Due to Tebonin®’s patented extraction suppleness as well as pliability of the processes other Ginkgo biloba products red blood cells, Tebonin® helps optimise do not have the same composition Available microcirculation blood fl ow. as Tebonin® therefore other Ginkgo from leading Tebonin® is extracted by Schwabe products cannot make the same claims. pharmacies and Pharmaceuticals in Germany. Current Tebonin® is sold around the world to health stores. worldwide consumption exceeds eight support a variety of health functions million tablets a day. Listed in over 80 related to a healthy microcirculation.
For more information phone 0800 657 876 Mon-Fri 9am-5pm or email [email protected] Distributed by Pharma Health NZ Ltd, Your Health. Nature’s Power. www.pharmahealth.co.nz People on blood thinning medication or prior to surgery should check with their doctor fi rst. Supplementary to and not a replacement for a balanced diet. Use only as directed and if symptoms Unhealthy microcirculation blood fl ow. Healthy microcirculation blood fl ow. persist, see your health professional. TAPS NA 6228
April/May 2014 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM 35 HERS | CUISINE
On top of spaghetti... James Morrow is on a roll
very now and then I wonder Christmas – and promptly declared it drove at university a “sports car”, or just what my sons think of the ‘the best Christmas gift ever’. a Maltese terrier a “dog”. Only in the Egender roles that play out in my (In my defence, I also really enjoy vaguest, kinda-sorta way is this true. house. On the one hand, I do just about guns having once shot 23 out of 25 at And the marvellous thing about the all of the cooking and fume quietly to the double traps at Rolling Rock Hunt Kenwood – if you buy the full kit – is myself when someone leaves the lid off Club, I like my meat blood-rare, and do that it comes with enough attachments the mayonnaise on the kitchen bench. not have much time for cosmopolitans, to do just about anything you want On the other, when a leak developed either as drinks, magazines, or even to do in the kitchen. This is, in fact, in the shower requiring the tiles to be foreign policy paradigms). why I am convinced so many men are yanked up and re-laid, well, let’s just say Now a Kenwood, for those who are now into cooking, and why so many it was not yours truly in there going at not familiar with this particular beast, supposedly enlightened professional the grout hammer and tongs. And don’t is about 1,000 watts of pure kitchen women who spent years wishing their even bring up the subject of pay packets. processing power [I feel a Jim ‘the tool husbands and partners would help Which is why I am probably not man’ Morrow grunt coming on, Ed.]. out around the house would just let doing my manly-man quotient much Yeah, OK, you could call it a “mixer” or them cook a damn dinner for once: good in the eyes of the reader when I a “food processor”, but that’s like call- It’s a great way to use sharp things, also reveal that I got a Kenwood for ing the VW cabriolet your girlfriend dangerous things, flaming things, and
36 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM April/May 2014 powerful things, all in the service of we made a double batch. (You might atavistic instincts to do everything want to as well). from feed the family to demonstrate The next morning, Number One status. Really, there’s a doctoral thesis Son staggered out to the kitchen table, just waiting to gather dust on a shelf sipped a glass of water, got real quiet, somewhere in all this. and announced … At the moment, my favourite attach- “Dad, I just did a burp. And it tasted ment is the meat grinder, for a number like meatballs”. of reasons. For one thing, it is liberat- Not quite a Michelin star, but I’ll ing to never have to buy supermarket take it. mince again: after all, who knows what is really in that stuff? For another, grinding one’s own I recently spent a happy afternoon with my boys meat allows the chef to control both making meatballs – it is one of the most kid-friendly fat and flavour. Mince is generally sold too lean in the shops, and as a result we meals around, both in the preparation and in the are eating sub-standard hamburgers eating – and discovered that they need not be the and the like. (Similarly, campaigns to market pork as a “healthy alternative” stuff of steam trays and school lunches makes it increasingly difficult to find cuts of pig that are properly marbled, inevitably returning us to an era of dried-out pork chops, albeit by a differ- ent route). Meatballs with pappardelle And it means that one can mix Adapted from Thomas Keller’s Ad hoc at home meats. Now there are as many recipes for “authentic” spaghetti bolognese as You’ll need: there are Bolognans, but most of the 2 teaspoons canola oil real ones (i.e., ones where a squeeze of 1 cup chopped onion ketchup does not figure prominently) 2 teaspoons minced garlic call for a mix of beef, pork and veal. 300g boneless beef sirloin Similarly, meatballs. They sound basic, 300g boneless beef chuck and in a sense they are. The Roman 250g boneless pork butt chef Apicius lists a number of meatball 250g boneless veal shoulder recipes, and from India to the Mediter- ¼ cup dried bread crumbs ranean one can find any number of 3 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley meatball recipes in the “kofte” family. 1 large egg I recently spent a happy afternoon 125g fresh mozzarella cheese with my boys making meatballs – it 500g fresh pappardelle is one of the most kid-friendly meals 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted around, both in the preparation and in Juice of ½ lemon the eating – and discovered that they A good quantity of your own red sauce, need not be the stuff of steam trays and or quality jarred marinara school lunches. Instead, it is quite pos- sible to class them up: in this case, by 1. Grind your meat. First, cut your meat 3. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees C. Set flavouring the meat with slowly cooked, into uniform cubes and mix together with a cooling rack over a baking sheet, and finely minced onions, and by adding some salt. Set up your meat grinder with bring a large pot of slated water to the a thumb’s press-worth of mozzarella a 3/8 inch die, run your meat through into boil. Place your meatballs on the rack and cheese to the centre, it is impossible to a chilled bowl, then run through again bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until cooked dry them out, even in the oven. using a smaller, 3/16 inch die. Add your through but still juicy. Remove from the We served these with pasta, but that onion, which you have softened slowly in oven and let the meatballs rest on the was very much the side attraction as canola oil, along with the breadcrumbs, 2 rack for a few minutes before serving. the boys competed to see who could tablespoons of the parsley and the egg. 4 . Meanwhile, cook the pasta; drain and eat the most meatballs. The winner, Mix thoroughly but do not over-mix. put in a large bowl. Toss with the melted but- Nicholas, attempted to eat one for each 2. Make your meatballs. Divide the meat into ter, remaining parsley and the lemon juice. of his eight years on this earth, but 12 equal balls, and cut the cheese into 12 Spoon the tomato sauce into a shallow serv- stopped one short of his goal. Still, an equal cubes. Shape the meatballs, stuffing a ing dish and top with the meatballs. Serve impressive innings, and made me glad cube of cheese into the centre of each. with the pasta on the side.
April/May 2014 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM 37 HERS | TR AVEL
The Beatles’ Liverpool still has so many sights to see
WORDS BY WILLIAM HAGEMAN
t’s the same barber shop where Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Lennon and McCartney took what John Lennon got haircuts as a Ringo Starr landed in America 50 years they saw on a daily basis and incorpo- Ikid, the place immortalized in the ago with their historic appearance on rated the people and events into the Beatles song “Penny Lane.” the “Ed Sullivan Show” on Feb. 9, 1964. song “Penny Lane.” The “shelter in the But instead of “a barber showing The British Invasion had begun. middle of the roundabout” was once a photographs” and “a banker sitting Though they left Liverpool behind, bus terminal and a public toilet; it was waiting for a trim,” on this afternoon the city never let go of its favorite sons. later Sgt. Peppers, a pub. The spot is proprietor Adele Allan is snipping Reminders of the Beatles are every- being renovated, albeit slowly, into a away on Jillian Keig. where. Beatles tourism brings about bistro. Allan’s shop is decorated with “I didn’t know why people were $665 million to the local economy Beatles photos. The banker who “never making a fuss, actually,” Keig says of annually, says Joe Keggin of Market- wears a mac in the pouring rain” the early days of Beatlemania, now a ing Liverpool. Here’s some of what the worked just up the street (his bank is half-century gone. “I remember the tourists come to see. now a clinic). St. Barnabas Church, first record they did. ... I thought they where McCartney was in the choir, is should pack it in.” Penny Lane: The street was a haunt across the street. Thankfully, they didn’t. Lennon, for Lennon, McCartney and Harrison. “(Penny Lane) is where George, Paul
38 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM April/May 2014 and sometimes John would meet to go Sutcliffe’s flat (9 Percy St.): The age 5 by his mother’s sister, Mimi. The off to the city center to their schools,” apartment where Lennon and Sutcliffe bedroom above the front door was Len- says David Bentley, a delightful Liver- spent a lot of their time. non’s and was where he wrote “Please pool cabbie who doubles as a delightful Please Me.” In 2002 Yoko Ono bought it tour guide (daytrippertaxitour.com). Starr’s first home (9 Madryn St.): and donated it to the National Trust. It “This is where Paul would stand and Now abandoned and recently saved was reopened in 2003. start observing people. He’d see the from demolition along with similar banker struggling to get his key in the homes, the tiny house was where Starr McCartney’s home (20 Forthlin door. They’d laugh at him. There’d be lived from birth in 1940 to 1943. Road): One of several of McCartney’s girls from the Salvation Army selling childhood homes; he and Lennon trinkets from their trays. And they’d be Starr’s second home (10 Admiral wrote more than 100 songs within its saying the same thing every day, talking Grove): He considers this his child- walls. It was purchased by the National about religion. ‘They’d feel as if they’re hood home, where he lived from 1943 Trust in 1995. in a play,’ reciting the same lines.” until Beatlemania intervened. How bad was it? “Sometimes Ringo Harrison’s home (12 Arnold Liverpool Maternity Hospital would be in the house, and he couldn’t Grove): The simple and well-kept (Oxford Street): Its days as a mater- use the (outside) toilet,” Bentley says. two-bedroom home was Harrison’s nity hospital ended long ago, but the “Girls would be out there, standing on first house. According to Bentley, he 1920s-era building still draws people as the wall (at the back of the property), used the street name, Arnold Grove, as the site of Lennon’s birth. His mother, looking for Ringo. So (his mother) an alias when checking in at hotels. Julia Lennon, was admitted there the would go out and chase the girls off the night of Oct. 8, 1940, the evening of a wall so he could ... use the toilet.” heavy German air raid, and her son was born the next day. Julia, worried The Empress (93 High Park St.): the bombing would resume, kept John Around the corner from Starr’s home, under her sturdy iron bed for five days. this pub is where he and his mother would enjoy a pint. It was used for the Liverpool College of Art (Hope cover of his first album, “Sentimental Street): Lennon enrolled here in 1957 Journey.” and had a checkered academic career. It’s also where he met Cynthia Powell, The Palm House (Sefton Park): his future wife, and Stuart Sutcliffe, This spot was a favorite of Harrison, who became a close friend and was the who would visit the Victorian glass Beatles’ first bassist. The building is conservatory with his family as a child. now owned by the Liverpool Institute But it fell into disrepair and was closed for the Performing Arts. in the 1980s. On a visit to Liverpool, Harrison saw the state of the building Liverpool Institute High School and joined efforts to restore it. With for Boys (Mount Street): Next door his help – reportedly $1.6 million given Strawberry Field (Beaconsfield to the College of Art, the institute was anonymously – the building was saved Road): The gate and wall stand out- where Harrison and McCartney went and reopened in 2001. side what used to be a Salvation Army to school. It closed in 1985 but was orphanage near Lennon’s home. In reborn in 1996 as the Liverpool Insti- Dovetail Towers (60 Penny Lane): 1979 Lennon helped fund an annex at tute for the Performing Arts, started The former St. Barnabas Church Hall is the building, and in 1984, four years by McCartney and Mark Featherstone- where the Quarrymen, precursor to the after his death, Ono brought their son, Witty (McCartney contributed a Beatles, occasionally played. Sean, to visit the site. reported $5 million). Julia’s death (Menlove Avenue): St. Peter’s Church (Church Road): Lennon’s mother was struck and killed The last stop on our tour is where the on July 15, 1958, near a bus stop on Beatles story really began. On July 6, Menlove Avenue (the street has been 1957, Lennon met McCartney for the reconfigured). The car was driven by first time at a church picnic where Eric Clague, an off-duty policeman. the Quarrymen played. And in the He became a mail carrier, with the churchyard is the grave of Eleanor McCartneys on his route. Rigby. McCartney for years said the title character in his song was fic- Mendips (251 Menlove Avenue): tional but in recent years has back- Lennon was raised in this home from tracked on that.
April/May 2014 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM 39 HERS | READIT
Wild women, wild towns
WORDS BY MICHAEL MORRISSEY
THE FLAMETHROWERS love. Here is the atmosphere rendered land artists, avant-garde film makers, By Rachel Kushner in her furnace-hot prose: “I heard the followers of Andy Warhol’s famous (or Vintage Books, $27 silky glide of toolbox drawers, the infamous) Factory, but just as we are The Flamethrowers by relative new- tink of wrenches dropped on the hard adjusting to the hectic life of New York, comer Rachel Kushner – Telex From salt. Tanned little boys darted past me the scene shifts to Italy and its futuris- Cuba was her first novel, this is her on bicycles, wearing mesh baseball tic artists who also love speed and wish second – is a wild restless picaresque caps propped high on their heads in to convert it into an art form. So does stampede of a novel that takes read- mimicry of the fathers and uncles who Reno, but her camera gets broken in ers from the salt lakes of Utah to artsy crowded around work benches, bent the process. New York and on to Italy at various over vehicles, their belts buckled off Reno is divided in her attraction times of the twentieth century. It has no centre to avoid scratching the paint. between Sandro and Ronnie Fontaine formally structured plot but it will keep Beyond the workbenches, large women who it seems can outtalk most people, you reading with its rich dazzling fact fanned themselves and guarded the even New Yorkers. Just as our pulse is and incident-studded prose. igloo coolers.” racing (though the emotional aspect The heroine is Reno and she is a After Reno sets a record herself at seems left behind), there is a heart- champion speedster. She loves motor- a more moderate 300 mph, the book wrenching description of the rubber cycles, the faster the better, and the shifts to New York and the art scene tappers’ lives in Brazil who work like men who ride them. But her love of with no diminution of pace. The dogs and are little more than slaves. the iron beasts extends to cars as well. Flamethrowers is filled with exotic If you think this scene is somehow Like anyone impressionably young, characters both real and imaginary extraneous, it serves to remind us that she has her yearned-for hero – Flip – the deep-voiced Nina Simone who rubber makes the tyres on which the Farmer, a world beater at 500 mph takes a pot shot at somebody, the speedsters do their stuff and that rub- driving a car propelled with a jet voluptuous Giddle, and a gaggle of ber is owned by Sandro’s family. engine. He seems real though he may artists including the loquacious Ron- The avant-garde politics of the time be a fictional version of Craig Breed- nie Fontaine and her boyfriend, the is imprinted by a radical group called unfaithful Sandro Valera, scion to the the Motherf…ers who specialise in Valera fortune. One senses throughout urban terrorism such as robbing the turmoil of incident that Reno wants stores, banks, and supermarkets then to leave her mark whether on history distributing the goods as free feeds to (or at least on art history) but doesn’t the poor or anyone who is on hand. quite succeed. She is near the action Surprisingly (or unsurprisingly), they but not quite at its epicentre – so, in a don’t like the softer a-political style sense, her world record on a motorbike of the hippies but feed them just the is her most definite achievement. same. The fictional leader is Burd- The New York art scene is filled with moore Model, presumably a fiction-
One senses throughout the turmoil of incident that Reno wants to leave her mark whether on history (or at least on art history) but doesn’t quite succeed. She is near the action but not quite at its epicentre – so, in a sense, her world record on a motorbike is her most definite achievement
40 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM April/May 2014 alised version of Ben Morea, founder of With a serious view to survival, the aforesaid group. tasks are allotted. Slangham does the We shift to Italy again in the late building of shelter, Toper is the cook, 1970s, where the kidnappings and Gargantua tends the potatoes and political unrest of the Red Brigade Bloodworth fetches firewood. But this is somewhat more serious than the sensible and practical organization revolutionary tactic of their American does not make for personal harmony. counterparts and with more serious All are prone to lash with the tongue, punishment – their lives. No summary though Slangham is the most aggres- of this windstorm of novel can convey sive. With only an uninhabited island its descriptive richness. Indeed, the to explore, it is not surprising that nar- descriptions are, if anything, more rator Bloodworth gives us much acute vivid than the characters who can observation of penguins, seals, and begin to sound – despite their outra- albatrosses. The ever symbolic alba- geous comments – a little alike. The tross, harbinger of death (shades of the zeitgeist of history sometimes has the famous Coleridgean poem “The Rime effect of giving the protagonists who of the Ancient Mariner”), plays con- endeavour to mould it a certain same- stantly on his mind, though in the end, ness. This is an adrenalised, thrilling it is not the giant bird that brings about read but beware, love and romance are his doom but his vindictive comrades. never very prominent within its pages. In the style of Robinson Crusoe, there are lots of detail about practical things As with her previous THE BRIGHT SIDE like making shoes out of sealskin that OF MY CONDITION will last (curing with human waste is novel, Hokitika Town, By Charlotte Randall required) and not rot away. the lack of higher Penguin Books, $30 As with her previous novel, Hoki- Some arch cynic once asserted that tika Town, the lack of higher educa- education of the main there were only seven basic stories. I’ve tion of the main characters enables often wondered what they were. (Yes, Randall to explore her considerable characters enables you can find them on line.) Later, I gift for rendering dialect dialogue. Randall to explore gather, the number was quadrupled to This technique is less popular than 36. Still despite my scepticism of such it was in (say) Hardy or Lawrence’s her considerable gift a prefiguring, one of the basic stories time, but this is 1811 or thereabouts, for rendering dialect we love to read is the one that has a few so it is appropriate. Only Gargantua, victims marooned on a desert island, who is French-educated, drops items dialogue imprisoned in a doomed submarine of historic, naturalistic or mythic lore or spaceship, sealed up in a mineshaft, from time to time. So when he refers or trapped on a snowed-in mountain, to Medusa, or white polar bears, his needing to draw blood from them to broken down lift, etc. Obviously the companions are frequently sceptical. restore what he was losing through readers – not to mention the pro- On occasion, Bloodworth comes out some mysterious cause. tagonists – eagerly await rescue while with arcane words like gelid or cositive What is admirable about Randall’s endeavouring to rescue themselves. In but generally sticks with his clumsy yet prose is her ability to render deep and the greater majority of these stories, the surprisingly articulate style of talking philosophic questions in the crude lan- central characters are generally male and of thinking. guage of Bloodworth and his compan- (though the trapped in a lift enables Caution: plot spoiler coming up. ions thereby revealing an intelligence some females to play a part). When Bloodworth falls out of favour, and sense of inquiry not unlike ancient In The Bright Side of My Condi- the others push him off a cliff and so Greek philosophers. Once you get past tion that wonderfully gifted writer might the story end but in the man- (as it were ), the odd dialect language, Charlotte Randall has four ex-Norfolk ner of Pincher Martin by William this is a sad yet absorbing tale – one Island convicts marooned on Snares Golding or one of Borges’s stories, the worthy of being a classic of the type. Island which is a sub-Antarctic island consciousness of the falling man is Even if it isn’t one of the seven basic below New Zealand. The four are rendered in supreme slow motion and plots, it is arguably a variation of the Slangham, a large muscular hard- prophetic insight. This enables Blood- Voyage and Return theme. Randall has working bully, the religious and super- worth to “hear” the dialogue with had a fair amount of recognition, but stitious Toper, who believes in moon the remaining trio’s rescuer, Captain she deserves much more. She is one of snakes, the learned Gargantua, and the Coffin, and their preposterous story our leading novelists and her earlier narrator Bloodworth. None of them that part of the reason for doing away The Curative is a masterpiece and, are charmers. with him was he was a human vampire arguably, our finest novel to date.
April/May 2014 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM 41 HERS | SEEIT
Dark, daft and deft
WORDS BY ROGER MOORE
e should all be so lucky device is the long flashback to the painting and be framed for murder, and as to live in a world designed, old hotel owner’s youth, when Zero we’ll see a prison break, a snowy chase Wpeopled and manipulated by Moustafa was “lobby boy” to the famed on skis and sleds (filmed with minia- Wes Anderson. concierge, Monsieur Gustave, played tures and dolls) and a noisy shootout. His latest film,The Grand Budapest with hilarious relish by Fiennes. And the old hotel owner Mr. Hotel, is a dark, daft and deft triumph M. Gustave is all about service and Moustafa will remember the love of his of design details. From the purple good manners, maintaining “the faint younger self (Tony Revolori): the birth- velvet with red piping hotel uniforms glimmer” of civilization as war is about marked baker (Saoirse Ronan, in Scots to the drinks, colognes and artwork to break out all around the imaginary accent) who helped him try to save M. of Europe between the World Wars, Republic of Zubrowka. Gustave from the violence and bad Anderson ensconces his eccentric “A lobby boy is completely invisible, manners and prison sentence threaten- characters and us in a time of baroque, but always in sight,” he lectures. He usu- ing his happiness. imaginary 4-star hotels run on what ally follows his lectures with a florid and The Wes Anderson repertory com- used to pass for 4-star service. overlong poem of his own composition, pany – from Jason Schwartzman to Bill It’s all about framing – the odd but no one pays attention those. Murray – went to Germany with him aspect ratios Anderson plays with in And M. Gustave? His attentions all to film this funny fantasia. Harvey Kei- the shape of the screen, elongated – go to the guests – little old ladies that tel, Lea Seydoux, Mathieu Amalric and made to fit narrow rooms, tall eleva- this perfumed and flamboyant dandy many other faces familiar from indie tors, funicular rail cars and tall actors beds during their stay at the Grand and European film turn up in the sets like Ralph Fiennes, Jeff Goldblum, Budapest. of the Hotel Borse (in Gorelitz, Ger- Edward Norton and Tilda Swinton. “I go to bed with all my friends,” he many) and Potsdam of this quirkier- Fittingly, the story is a framework croons. It’s just part of the service. than-quirky movie, which Anderson within a frame, a tale told by a long- But when a guest (Tilda Swinton, says in the credits was inspired by the dead novelist (Tom Wilkinson) about hidden in old age makeup) dies and Austrian Belle Epoch novels of Stefan what inspired his famous novel, a tall Gustave is in the will, the concierge Zweig. The Max Ophuls film of Zweig’s tale he heard as a younger man (Jude faces his ugliest foes – an heir (Adrien Letter from an Unknown Woman is one Law) from the owner, Mr. Moustafa (F. Brody) and that heir’s murderous of the great triumphs of sentimental Murray Abraham) of the gone-to-seed henchman (Willem Dafoe). Before this 1940s period piece production design, Grand Budapest Hotel. tangled knot unravels, Zubrowka will just as Budapest is the greatest expres- And framed within that framing be invaded, Gustave will steal a famous sion of Anderson’s love of ornate build- ings, old money, older furniture, tiny models and modish, saturated colours. “He certainly sustained the illu- sion with a marvellous grace,” Mr. Moustafa eulogizes M. Gustave, at one point. That could be turn out to be the deadpan Anderson’s epitaph as well, should this Tsar of Surreal Silliness ever be so gauche as to die. Or retire.
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Tony Revolori, Saoirse Ronan, Jude Law Directed by: Wes Anderson Running time: 99 mins Rating: R for language, some sexual content and violence GGG
42 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM April/May 2014 t was a good run. Well, maybe Indeed. woman and waitress, pampered “kept” “good” isn’t the right word for Perry’s wish fulfillment fantasies women and working mothers, sets off ITyler Perry’s decade of mak- are aimed squarely at women, with no sparks. ing movies for Lionsgate. The studio a little something-something for gay And without Madea, without any decided to drop its option to distribute men (shirtless hunks). Here, aside from reasonable facsimile of a joke, Lion- his films earlier this month, nine years Crews as a blast of tooth-flashing fun sgate finally caught up to what audi- and many “Mad Black” women later. as a suitor to the waitress, the menfolk ences have been noticing for a while, His steadily eroding box-office have even less to do than usual. The and critics have complained about appeal would be the reason for that. women are dressed up and coiffed and for years. You can’t be a Mad Black You’ve seen the desperation in his made-up to the hilt, with the exception Woman when you’ve grown too rich recent films, casting a Kardashian here, of Smart, whose makeup looks as if a and happy to wear the dress. a Cable Guy there. child plastered it on. And none of the Then again, maybe the studio folks ladies ever look as primped as Perry THE SINGLE MOMS CLUB had just left a screening ofThe Single himself – teeth bleached, nary a whis- Cast: Nia Long, Tyler Perry, Moms Club, Perry’s latest and maybe ker on his perfectly-trimmed beard out Amy Smart, Terry Crews last picture for them. It’s excruciating. of place. Directed by: Tyler Perry He rounded up a modest cast – Nia There’s little tragedy, no drama, no Running time: 110 mins Long, Amy Smart, Wendi McLendon- emotions at all to Single Moms Club. Rating: PG-13 for some sexual material Covey, Cocoa Brown and Zulay The culture clash of white professional G Henao as the moms, supported by Perry himself and the unconquerable There’s little tragedy, no drama, no emotions at all Terry Crews. He found another way of to Single Moms Club. The culture clash of white depicting women as put-upon victims of selfish, greedy, cruel and no-count professional woman and waitress, pampered “kept” men, and reason for empowering them – single motherhood. women and working mothers, sets off no sparks But he is flat out of laughs, and his heartfelt Oprah-approved sermonettes about every woman deserving a “good man” and the like feel exhausted and played. Perry has made better movies, and perhaps worse ones. But never one as dull as this. The women all have their kids in an exclusive Atlanta prep school. One (Smart) is a sheltered housewife going through a divorce. Another is a work- ing reporter and would-be writer whose little boy’s daddy is a never-ending disappointment. A third is a publishing exec whose career is hampered by the child she had as if adding an acces- sory to her wardrobe. The sassy Waffle House waitress has a brood of kids, a couple in prison. And the Latina in this stew has a new man in her life but is still controlled by her rich jerk of an ex. Their kids are going off the rails, so the school hurls them together to plan a dance. They meet, clash cultures, drink wine and get all girl-bonding friendly. The shared parenting wisdom is deep – “You can’t think about it. Just do it ...You take it one snotty nose and one dirty diaper at a time.” And “I raised boys, honey. If you don’t break’em early ...”
April/May 2014 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM 43 HERS | FAITH
Is pre-marital sex still a sin?
THE KANSAS CITY STAR
he Rev. Penny Ellwood: Set- I believe God’s intention is that one loss of purity and innocence that can’t ting aside for a moment the person would give himself or herself be recaptured. Tvoice of my mother, which rings fully to another in a relationship where My pastor offers a duct tape analogy in my ear with this question, we would “two shall become one flesh,” as it says for this situation, that when you give have to start by defining sin. in Genesis. The problem with premarital yourself to someone, and it doesn’t In the original Greek New Testa- sex is that it causes us to miss the mark work it’s like placing duct tape on car- ment, the most common word trans- of God’s intent for this relationship. pet and then pulling it away. When we lated as “sin” or “sins” is “hamartia,” For when we give ourselves to pull the tape away some of the adhesive which literally means “to miss the another and it doesn’t turn out to be stays on the carpet and some of the mark.” As in an archer who shoots an the right one it causes a host of conse- carpet sticks to the tape. Then when arrow and misses the target, or in this quences from the pain or wounding of you go to stick the tape to something case, the path God intends for us. another in a broken relationship to a else the bond is compromised.
44 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM April/May 2014 You lose a piece of yourself, and you in creating new life: “be fruitful and You lose a piece of take something of the other person multiply” (Genesis 1:28); “it is not good away. You bring this past into every for man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18); yourself, and you new relationship and you don’t have the “the two shall become one flesh” (Gen- take something of full innocence of yourself to offer ever esis 2:24). again. It doesn’t mean that you can’t In the conjugal act of man and the other person work through the past when you meet woman is the experience of compan- “the one” but it’s not God’s ideal for us. ionship, a permanence of union, and away. You bring this Now that I have children searching for the openness to new life. Catholic past into every new the right partner, I know this to be true. teaching maintains these reflections as When I was young I didn’t want to admit statements on the constitutive nature relationship and you it. I hate it when my mother’s right! of the human person. Jesus affirms the don’t have the full The Rev. Justin Hoye: Yes, sexual creation and union of male and female activity of any kind outside of marriage into one flesh, and ascribes attempts to innocence of yourself is considered sinful, because sexuality undo this union as a result of hardened to offer ever again is meant to be “a complete and lifelong hearts (Mark 10:5-9). mutual gift of a man and a woman.” Scripture and tradition propose a (Catechism of the Catholic Church) view of mankind that asserts a specific From the earliest pages of scripture purpose of sexuality, and of men and a truth that speaks to the longings in we see the differentiation of mankind women’s unique physical and sexual the depths of our being: companion- into male and female, how the two differences. ship; a permanence of union; and the complement one another and how their The Church believes that when we invitation to participate in the creation union – the conjugal act – participates reflect on these proposals, we will find of new life.
April/May 2014 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM 45 HERS | FAMILY
Helping kids find a sweet spot between practical & idealistic
WORDS BY HEIDI STEVENS
y son is split between in both financial and emotional capi- about psychology than anything I two career paths right now: tal? How do we raise them to do well learned in 25 years,” he says. “And Mpresident of the United States and do good? much of it has to do with doing a good or ninja. A new study conducted by The Intel- job today. He’s 4, so he’s got a few years before ligence Group (an organization that “Not aiming for an award,” he says. he has to nail down a college major and analyzes young people’s consumer “Not aiming for a write-up in The land an internship, be it White House preferences) found that 64 percent New York Times. Just doing a good page or medieval-era mercenary agent. of millennials (people born between job right now. On this dish. With this Either way, he wants to change the 1980 and 2000) say it’s a priority for customer.” world. them to make the world a better place. We should encourage our kids, abso- I want my kids to dream big. I want Seventy-two percent want to be their lutely, to shoot for the stars. But we also them to feel empowered to carve their own bosses. have to teach them how to methodi- own paths and search for meaningful In When Will My Grown-up Kid cally climb up there. outlets for their singular talents. Grow Up? (Workman), co-authors Jef- I will be delighted if one of my kids I also want them to get jobs and frey Jensen Arnett and Elizabeth Fishel becomes president, particularly if I move out of my house. (Eventually.) write, “This generation, particularly the get to live in Michelle Obama’s mom’s Amy “Tiger Mom” Chua addressed college-educated portion of it, holds on room. (Ninja will delight me less.) But this dichotomy recently at an Execu- to dreams for work that makes a differ- I also want them to know that all the tives’ Club of Chicago breakfast, ence to them and to society.” leadership skills they’re learning in according to Tribune reporter Melissa I want my children to find that kind school – Steven Covey’s seven hab- Harris, who covered the event. of work. I just wonder if we should sur- its, leader of the month lunches, star Chua was promoting her new book, round their dreams with some lessons scholar awards – can be called on for co-written with her husband, Jed in sweat equity and resilience and the smaller endeavors too. Rubenfeld, The Triple Package: How beauty of timely bill payment. “One issue actually resolves the Three Unlikely Traits Explain the Rise I called Carl Alasko, a family thera- other,” Alasko says. “Doing a good job and Fall of Cultural Groups in America pist and author whose work I admire. and finding meaning are so connected. (Penguin). She argues we need a more How, I asked, do I raise my kids to find If we interact well with each other and rigorous education system and higher meaning in their work, but also to, you are ethical toward each other, we gain overall expectations for our children if know, work? huge satisfaction from that.” they’re going to compete for jobs and “Somehow this poetic construct got And we change the world – at least leadership positions on the world stage. inserted into our language, ‘I want to our tiny corner of it – in the process. “Do you want happiness for your change the world,’” Alasko says. “Often child or success?” Chua asked the what happens is people say, ‘I need to group. “When you frame it like that, think of something world-changing of course, you choose happiness. It’s before I’m going to do anything at all.’” just not that simple. There is nothing Alasko lived and studied in Rome for happiness-producing about not being more than a decade before settling in able to get the job you want.” California to practice psychotherapy. I think her question perfectly distills Two years ago, he and his daughter, the yin and yang of parenting. Saroja, opened an Italian restaurant, il How do we encourage our children Vecchio. to achieve goals that can be measured “The restaurant has taught me more
46 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM April/May 2014 How do we encourage our children to achieve goals that can be measured in both financial and emotional capital? How do we raise them to do well and do good?
April/May 2014 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM 47