This post was written by Rob Reed. He is the founder of MomentFeed, a location-based marketing, strategy, and technology firm.

Location technologies are transforming how we experience, navigate, and ultimately better our world. From the global to the local, here are #10Ways geolocation is a positive force for good.

Social media has changed the world. It has revolutionized communications on a global scale, and the transformation continues with every status update, blog post, and video stream. The global citizenry has become a global network.

Since becoming widely adopted just a couple years ago, social media has supercharged social action, cause marketing, and social entrepreneurship. Indeed, the true value hasn’t been the technology itself but how we’ve used it. Today, a second wave of innovation is defining a new era and setting the stage for change over the coming decade.

Mobile technologies will extend the global online network to anyone with a mobile device while enabling countless local networks to form in the real world. We’ve decentralized media production and distribution. We’re doing the same for energy. And we’ll continue this trend for social networking, social action, and commerce.

The combined forces of smartphones, mobile broadband, and location-aware applications will connect us in more meaningful ways to the people, organizations, events, information, and companies that matter most to us—namely, those within a physical proximity of where we live and where we are. Can location-based services (LBS) change the world? Here are #10Ways:

1. Checking in for Good: If Gowalla and Foursquare have taught us anything, it’s that people respond to simple incentives. By offering badges, mayorships, and other intangible rewards, millions of people are checking in to the places they go. Apps like Whrrl take this a step further and enable like-minded “societies” to form on a local basis. The next step is for these apps to add greater purpose by encouraging more meaningful checkins and offering corresponding badges and stamps, thus mapping the cause universe. Or for a dedicated app to be developed that rewards conscious consumption, social responsibility, and civic engagement. Yes, the CauseWorld app features a cause element, but it’s not about cause-worthy places.

2. Eating Locally: Sustainability demands that we source our food as close to its point of production as possible. Many so-called locavores subscribe to the 100-mile diet, which requires that one “eat nothing—or almost nothing—but sustenance drawn from within 100 miles of their home.” Given the difficulty of accessing and verifying this information in order to live by this standard, there’s a geo-powered Locavore app. It gives you info on in-season foods, those coming in-season, farmer’s markets, and links to recipes. This rather simple app is clearly just the start. In time, location-aware apps will guide us not only to the grocery store or farmer’s market but through them. All the while identifying foods based on our particular diet or sensibility.

3. Political Organizing: In the next presidential election, politics will not only be local but location-enabled. We saw the power of social media in Obama’s 2008 landslide victory. In 2012, location-based apps and technologies will play a central role in how campaigns are organized, managed, and ultimately won. Much of this will be visible through mobile apps and location-aware browsers. Activists and volunteers will be more empowered. Voters will be more engaged in the moment, right down to casting their votes. Behind the scenes, though, we’ll see massive new sets of data available to campaigns for targeting, empowerment, and optimization. The party, candidate, and/or cause that has the best handle on geolocation will have a measurable advantage. (The Elections app will soon be updated for 2010.)

4. Finding Green Businesses: The web has effectively replaced the paper Yellow Pages as a way to find local businesses and services. However, this “stationary web” experience is quickly being supplanted by the mobile web and mobile applications, which give us access to this information when we most need it. The Yelp and Around Me apps are popular ways to find restaurants, coffee shops, or hotels wherever you are, but what about green-rated businesses? Greenopia has transformed its printed, local guides into a dynamic, nationwide mobile application that lets you find local, green-rated businesses in any category. No more paper and a much better experience. The Green Map app is another that facilitates discovery and connects us to local green environments.

5. Traveling More Efficiently: We’ve had access to GPS navigation systems and static traffic information for some time, but only now are we seeing the full potential of these technologies. With access to more detailed traffic information that is specific to your route and updated in real time, we can minimize congestion and maximize traffic flow (as much as physically possible). The new turn-by-turn MapQuest 4 Mobile app is a good start, as you can get traffic alerts specific to the route you program. However, user-generated information from apps like Trapster and Waze can crowdsource more specific details, such as whether to avoid an intersection due to a toxic chemical spill. Or, if you want to avoid automobiles altogether, Google Maps makes it easy to use public transportation and take a bike.

6. Scanning for Ethical Products: With online shopping, we’ve become accustomed to reading reviews and making comparisons before we buy. This can now be done in the physical world through games like MyTown and services like Stikybits. By scanning a product barcode using a smartphone camera, you can unlock a treasure of additional information (not to mention deals) that can help with your purchase. This might include where it was produced, how far it traveled, the reputation of the manufacturer, chemical contents, carbon footprint, or the full lifecycle analysis. Location-aware applications can also transform commerce itself by giving us better access to local inventories and locally-produced goods. Whether it’s fruits and vegetables or books and electronics, if something can be found within blocks of your current location, it makes no sense to ship it from afar.

7. Networking Neighborhoods: One of the hottest categories in geolocation is neighborhood networking. The vision for many of these apps is to strengthen the very fabric of our communities. With DeHood, you can keep track of what’s happening in your neighborhood, share your favorite places, and grease the wheels for actually meeting people. After all, if you’ve made contact through the app, it’s a lot easier to say “Hello” in the real world. Blasterous is another that lets you share information locally, whereas BlockChalk does this on an anonymous basis. Finally, NeighborGoods uses your street address to facilitate one-to-one borrowing and trading of useful stuff. In the end, making connections with your neighbors can lead to safer, more productive, and more sustainable communities.

8. Tracking Environmental Disasters: The size and scope of environmental disasters appears to be growing. In 2008, we had the Tennessee coal ash spill, which was billed as “the largest environmental disaster of its kind in the United States.” And that was before we realized it was three times bigger than originally estimated. More recently, the BP oil spill set daily records for “largest environmental disaster in the U.S. ever.” In each case, geolocation technologies can be used by engaged citizens to monitor and track the effects. They can be used by response teams to coordinate containment and cleanup efforts. Ultimately, these technologies can be used to accurately measure the size and impact of a disaster in order to better understand its damages and costs.

9. Viewing the World Through an Eco Lens: Augmented reality (AR) follows geolocation as one of the hot trends in mobile technology. It enables you to view the world through a smartphone camera (or similar device) and see layers of geo-specific content or information. One of the most popular apps is Layar, an augmented reality browser/platform that lets you choose specific data layers or experiences. The potential for green- and cause-related content is tremendous. You might view green-rated businesses, LEED-certified buildings, or virtual GHG emissions as they enter the atmosphere. Combined with smart meter technology, you could see the most efficient and inefficient homes around you in real time. And for the cynics among us, you could view our mountains, forests, rivers, and oceans as they once were…before the effects of climate change and so many environmental disasters.

10. Capturing the Moment: Better access to information about what’s happening around us—right now—can dramatically improve quality of life. This sense of “geospatial awareness” is possible through today’s smartphones, whereby a piece of content or information—a moment—is captured and preserved based on the unique time and place in which it occurred. It is essentially to document spacetime. Protests, natural disasters, sporting events, parties, political crises…real-time information about anything happening anywhere at any time, as well as the history of what happened. This will take several years and a number of different applications to realize. In the end, though, it will revolutionize how we access and consume content. It will complete the democratization and decentralization of news and information…based on time and location.

Cautionary note: Privacy is the single biggest issue in the LBS industry. It’s important to understand what information you are sharing with regard to your location and with whom.

Author’s note: We’ll be hosting geolocation events for Social Media Week in Los Angeles this September. This is the third in Max Gladwell’s #10Ways series of distributed blog posts. It was published simultaneously on as many as 300 blogs.

This post was written by Rob Reed. He is the founder of MomentFeed, a location-based marketing, strategy, and technology firm.

Location technologies are transforming how we experience, navigate, and ultimately better our world. From the global to the local, here are #10Ways geolocation is a positive force for good.

Social media has changed the world. It has revolutionized communications on a global scale, and the transformation continues with every status update, blog post, and video stream. The global citizenry has become a global network.

Since becoming widely adopted just a couple years ago, social media has supercharged social action, cause marketing, and social entrepreneurship. Indeed, the true value hasn’t been the technology itself but how we’ve used it. Today, a second wave of innovation is defining a new era and setting the stage for change over the coming decade.

Mobile technologies will extend the global online network to anyone with a mobile device while enabling countless local networks to form in the real world. We’ve decentralized media production and distribution. We’re doing the same for energy. And we’ll continue this trend for social networking, social action, and commerce.

The combined forces of smartphones, mobile broadband, and location-aware applications will connect us in more meaningful ways to the people, organizations, events, information, and companies that matter most to us—namely, those within a physical proximity of where we live and where we are. Can location-based services (LBS) change the world? Here are #10Ways:

1. Checking in for Good: If Gowalla and Foursquare have taught us anything, it’s that people respond to simple incentives. By offering badges, mayorships, and other intangible rewards, millions of people are checking in to the places they go. Apps like Whrrl take this a step further and enable like-minded “societies” to form on a local basis. The next step is for these apps to add greater purpose by encouraging more meaningful checkins and offering corresponding badges and stamps, thus mapping the cause universe. Or for a dedicated app to be developed that rewards conscious consumption, social responsibility, and civic engagement. Yes, the CauseWorld app features a cause element, but it’s not about cause-worthy places.

2. Eating Locally: Sustainability demands that we source our food as close to its point of production as possible. Many so-called locavores subscribe to the 100-mile diet, which requires that one “eat nothing—or almost nothing—but sustenance drawn from within 100 miles of their home.” Given the difficulty of accessing and verifying this information in order to live by this standard, there’s a geo-powered Locavore app. It gives you info on in-season foods, those coming in-season, farmer’s markets, and links to recipes. This rather simple app is clearly just the start. In time, location-aware apps will guide us not only to the grocery store or farmer’s market but through them. All the while identifying foods based on our particular diet or sensibility.

3. Political Organizing: In the next presidential election, politics will not only be local but location-enabled. We saw the power of social media in Obama’s 2008 landslide victory. In 2012, location-based apps and technologies will play a central role in how campaigns are organized, managed, and ultimately won. Much of this will be visible through mobile apps and location-aware browsers. Activists and volunteers will be more empowered. Voters will be more engaged in the moment, right down to casting their votes. Behind the scenes, though, we’ll see massive new sets of data available to campaigns for targeting, empowerment, and optimization. The party, candidate, and/or cause that has the best handle on geolocation will have a measurable advantage. (The Elections app will soon be updated for 2010.)

4. Finding Green Businesses: The web has effectively replaced the paper Yellow Pages as a way to find local businesses and services. However, this “stationary web” experience is quickly being supplanted by the mobile web and mobile applications, which give us access to this information when we most need it. The Yelp and Around Me apps are popular ways to find restaurants, coffee shops, or hotels wherever you are, but what about green-rated businesses? Greenopia has transformed its printed, local guides into a dynamic, nationwide mobile application that lets you find local, green-rated businesses in any category. No more paper and a much better experience. The Green Map app is another that facilitates discovery and connects us to local green environments.

5. Traveling More Efficiently: We’ve had access to GPS navigation systems and static traffic information for some time, but only now are we seeing the full potential of these technologies. With access to more detailed traffic information that is specific to your route and updated in real time, we can minimize congestion and maximize traffic flow (as much as physically possible). The new turn-by-turn MapQuest 4 Mobile app is a good start, as you can get traffic alerts specific to the route you program. However, user-generated information from apps like Trapster and Waze can crowdsource more specific details, such as whether to avoid an intersection due to a toxic chemical spill. Or, if you want to avoid automobiles altogether, Google Maps makes it easy to use public transportation and take a bike.

6. Scanning for Ethical Products: With online shopping, we’ve become accustomed to reading reviews and making comparisons before we buy. This can now be done in the physical world through games like MyTown and services like Stikybits. By scanning a product barcode using a smartphone camera, you can unlock a treasure of additional information (not to mention deals) that can help with your purchase. This might include where it was produced, how far it traveled, the reputation of the manufacturer, chemical contents, carbon footprint, or the full lifecycle analysis. Location-aware applications can also transform commerce itself by giving us better access to local inventories and locally-produced goods. Whether it’s fruits and vegetables or books and electronics, if something can be found within blocks of your current location, it makes no sense to ship it from afar.

7. Networking Neighborhoods: One of the hottest categories in geolocation is neighborhood networking. The vision for many of these apps is to strengthen the very fabric of our communities. With DeHood, you can keep track of what’s happening in your neighborhood, share your favorite places, and grease the wheels for actually meeting people. After all, if you’ve made contact through the app, it’s a lot easier to say “Hello” in the real world. Blasterous is another that lets you share information locally, whereas BlockChalk does this on an anonymous basis. Finally, NeighborGoods uses your street address to facilitate one-to-one borrowing and trading of useful stuff. In the end, making connections with your neighbors can lead to safer, more productive, and more sustainable communities.

8. Tracking Environmental Disasters: The size and scope of environmental disasters appears to be growing. In 2008, we had the Tennessee coal ash spill, which was billed as “the largest environmental disaster of its kind in the United States.” And that was before we realized it was three times bigger than originally estimated. More recently, the BP oil spill set daily records for “largest environmental disaster in the U.S. ever.” In each case, geolocation technologies can be used by engaged citizens to monitor and track the effects. They can be used by response teams to coordinate containment and cleanup efforts. Ultimately, these technologies can be used to accurately measure the size and impact of a disaster in order to better understand its damages and costs.

9. Viewing the World Through an Eco Lens: Augmented reality (AR) follows geolocation as one of the hot trends in mobile technology. It enables you to view the world through a smartphone camera (or similar device) and see layers of geo-specific content or information. One of the most popular apps is Layar, an augmented reality browser/platform that lets you choose specific data layers or experiences. The potential for green- and cause-related content is tremendous. You might view green-rated businesses, LEED-certified buildings, or virtual GHG emissions as they enter the atmosphere. Combined with smart meter technology, you could see the most efficient and inefficient homes around you in real time. And for the cynics among us, you could view our mountains, forests, rivers, and oceans as they once were…before the effects of climate change and so many environmental disasters.

10. Capturing the Moment: Better access to information about what’s happening around us—right now—can dramatically improve quality of life. This sense of “geospatial awareness” is possible through today’s smartphones, whereby a piece of content or information—a moment—is captured and preserved based on the unique time and place in which it occurred. It is essentially to document spacetime. Protests, natural disasters, sporting events, parties, political crises…real-time information about anything happening anywhere at any time, as well as the history of what happened. This will take several years and a number of different applications to realize. In the end, though, it will revolutionize how we access and consume content. It will complete the democratization and decentralization of news and information…based on time and location.

Cautionary note: Privacy is the single biggest issue in the LBS industry. It’s important to understand what information you are sharing with regard to your location and with whom.

Author’s note: We’ll be hosting geolocation events for Social Media Week in Los Angeles this September. This is the third in Max Gladwell’s #10Ways series of distributed blog posts. It was published simultaneously on as many as 300 blogs.

Introducing Our Healthy Bathroom Change Over Pack

It has never been more affordable to line your bathroom cupboards with the purest products on the planet while cleansing and moisterising from head to toe. Whether it’s sparkling teeth and a mouth that tingles with good smells and freshness, or a body that’s naturally protected from odor, germs, and the environment, nothing feels better than Miessence!

Still using toxic products that cause allergies, irritation and disease? With 20% off the retail price of this unbelievable pack, you can afford to buy the good stuff.

Hurry! Offer is good for the month of July only!

FREE public webinar with Narelle Chenery and special guest Debra Lynn Dadd

Be sure to attend the Healthy Bathroom Changeover Pack webinar this month where you’ll learn valuable information about the 8 products included in our healthy changeover pack, get your questions answered by Miessence co-founder and product creator Narelle Chenery and Debra Lynn Dadd, hailed as “The Queen of Green” by the New York Times. Debra Lynn Dadd has been a pioneering consumer advocate since 1982, specializing in products and lifestyle choices that are safer for human health and the environment. She is the author of Home Safe Home.

Mark your calendars today, and be sure to invite your family and friends to this won’t-want-to-miss public webinar!

http://onegroup.na6.acrobat.com/bathroomchangeoverwebinar/

Region Date Time
Australia Friday 9 July 11:00am – 12:00pm (AEST Brisbane)
Europe Friday 9 July 2:00am – 3:00am (BST London)
North America Thursday 8 July 6:00pm – 7:00pm (PDT Los Angeles)

You can check your time zone at: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/

NOTE: This URL is only working as per the dates and times above. Please plan to join the webinar five minutes prior to the published start time. This webinar will use internet audio only (no dial-in number), and will be recorded.

P.S.Last month’s Healthy Hair Webinar wasn’t only informative, it was a lot of fun! You can view it in its entirety by clicking here: http://onegroup.na6.acrobat.com/p26104231/.

The Healthy Hair Pack is still available under Value Packs in your Shopping Cart.

Standard discounts apply.

Miessence Reflect Outdoor Balm (sunscreen)

Miessence Reflect Outdoor Balm was chosen as one of 39 top rated sunscreens this year by the Environmental Working Group (EWG). EWG  evaluated 500 sunscreens to come up with their recommended list of 39 sunscreens for 2010.

As a kid, I grew up in New Mexico where the sun is bright, intense and out all day during the summer.  I was on a swim team and so I spent every day at the pool.  To get the most protection for my skin I used straight zinc oxide on my nose, on my cheeks and on my forehead.   Remember those days of the all white zinc on the face?  Now many sunscreens that are using zinc oxide break the particles down to smaller size so the sunscreen does not appear totally white when you apply it.  Miessence Reflect uses micronized particles of zinc, which are greater than 100nm, meaning they are NOT nano particles.

I have to agree with EWG in saying “The Best sunscreen is a hat and a shirt.”  Most of the time now, I shade myself and do not sit out in the direct sunlight for long periods of time anymore.  I minimize my exposure to long periods of time in the sun… but I know this is not possible for everyone all the time.  This is where the Miessence Reflect Outdoor Balm comes into play for me.

Miessence reflect outdoor balm (tested to SPF 25**) is a water-free nourishing balm with natural minerals that help reflect damaging ultraviolet radiation. Microfine zinc oxide offers protection from harmful rays while organic olive oil keeps the skin supple.

Potent antioxidants including natural vitamin E, beta carotene and polygonum extract, protect the skin from premature aging and prevent damage caused by the elements.

Zinc oxide is the mineral used in Reflect. It has over a 300 year history of safety with no known adverse reactions (which is why it is often used to treat babies). It protects against UVB and UVA spectrum and is the closest thing to a total sunblock on the market today.

No other sunscreen ingredient provides broader protection. (1) (1) Excerpt from : Dr. Pinnell, The J. Lamar Callaway Professor of Dermatology at Duke University, Medical Center, Durham, NC, is a consultant for sunSmart, Wainscott, NY, and SkinCeuticals, Dallas, TX. Dr. Madey is the medical/scientific liaison for SkinCeuticals, Dallas TX.

*Due to regulations in Australia for SPF ratings, ONE Group would have to have this product manufactured in a licensed SPF facility (instead of their own manufacturing plant) to claim an SPF higher than 15.

**ONE Group submitted it for third party testing which gave it a rating of SPF level 29.5

Giveaway ALERT: For your chance to win a $25.00 ecertificate for miessence products from Ely Organics make sure you enter the giveaway over at Zealandsmom blog spot.

Make sure you check out the latest EWG guide on sunscreen.

Environmental Working Group 2010 Best Beach & Sport Sunscreen guide

The evidence is mounting…

This is not new information to me.  In 2005, the ONEgroup wrote an article in their Organic and Natural Living Tabloid about this very topic.

Chemicals Make You Fat – The Medical Evidence – Eliminate Chemical Calories

What is the cause of obesity?  Why do current estimates suggest that women are gaining weight to the tune of 450g and men 225g each year despite the many diets they undertake?  Could it be true that the chemicals in our food, skin care and detergents make us fat?

The foundation for most diets today is based on the work of Dr’s Johnston and Newsborough of the University of Michigan who, during the 1930s, developed the theory that if a person consumes fewer calories than the body needs, the body will burn up its fat stores.

In her groundbreaking book, The Detox Diet – Eliminate Chemical Calories and Enhance Your Natural Slimming System, (out of print, first published in 2002) Dr. Paula Baillie-Hamilton tackles what she believes is the root cause of weight gain.  Our own natural weight-control system is being poisoned by the toxic chemicals that we encounter in our everyday lives – this damage makes it increasingly difficult for our bodies to control their own weight, so we end up getting fatter even if we eat less food.  This detox diet approach tells us how to avoid the most “fattening” chemicals, or “chemical calories” in our food and around our home.  It explains how we can shed our body’s load of chemical calories safely, and rebuild our natural slimming system.

Synthetic chemicals damage our health in two ways.  First, by acute “poisoning” through expposure to large quantities, which induce almost immediate and often violent reactions that account for a staggering 220,000 fatalities worldwide every year.  The second, more subtle way is by long-term exposure to much lower levels.  This is what Dr. Baillie-Hamilton explores in her book.

“The Detox Diet” links the current fat epidemic to the toxic synthetic chemicals used in agriculture, skin care, cosmetics and household products.  Toxic synthetic chemicals are highly fat soluble and when we are exposed to them the body creates fat to safely store those toxins it cannot process and eliminate safely.  Carbamates, a group of insecticides and herbicides used in the growing and of food, cosmetic and medicinal ingredients, are also used as growth promoters in battery-farm situations because they slow down the metabolic rate.  So, the same synthetic chemicals used on our fruit and vegetables are used to fatten livestock!  Carbamates are also used in medicine to promote weight gain in humans.

People are not overweight simply through their own lack of effort, such as exercise.  The truth is that the finger of blame must also be pointed at toxic chemicals.  It is known that toxic chemicals, even when present in very small amounts, directly damage muscles and disrupt the hormones that control their growth.  Catecolamines, a valuable group of slimming hormones, also seem to come under frequent attack by these chemicals, which interferes with the metabolic process and in hibits our body’s own natural slimming systems.  Dr. Baillie-Hamilton recommends the replacement of our food, skin care, cosmetics and household products that contain toxic synthetic chemicals with organic products, combined with effective detoxification.  In addition, her research suggests that the highest levels of “slimming nutrients” are found in organically grown produce.

watch video now: Chemicals That Make You Fat

Chemicals can turn genes on and off; new tests needed, scientists say.

A National Academies workshop examined the evidence of epigenetic effects and considered whether the thousands of chemicals in use today should be tested for them. Some pollutants and chemicals don’t kill cells or mutate DNA. Instead, they may be more subtle, muting genes or turning them on at the wrong time, which can lead to diseases that are passed on for generations. Asthma in New York City children exposed to traffic exhaust is an example, experts say.

By Bette Hileman
Environmental Health News
Aug. 3, 2009

Each of us starts life with a particular set of genes, 20,000 to 25,000 of them. Now scientists are amassing a growing body of evidence that pollutants and chemicals might be altering those genes—not by mutating them, but by sending subtle signals that silence them or switch them on at the wrong times.

Last week, several dozen researchers and experts convened by the National Academies tackled this complicated topic, called epigenetics, at a two-day workshop in Washington, D.C. They discussed new findings that suggest chemicals in our environment and in our food can alter genes, leaving people vulnerable to a variety of diseases and disorders, including diabetes, asthma, cancer and obesity. They also considered whether regulatory agencies and industry should start testing the thousands of chemicals in use today for these effects.

“There is little doubt these epigenetic effects are important. The next question is how we test for effects,” said William H. Farland, professor of environmental and radiological health sciences at Colorado State University. “We don’t need to abandon current approaches to chemical testing. When testing chemicals in animals, we may just need to add some new endpoints.”

Liinda S. Birnbaum, Director, NIEHS

Linda S. Birnbaum, Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
Exposure to gene-altering substances, particularly in the womb and shortly after birth, “can lead to increased susceptibility to disease,” said Linda S. Birnbaum, who was named director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and of the National Toxicology Program in December. “The susceptibility persists long after the exposure is gone, even decades later. Glands, organs, and systems can be permanently altered.”

Animal studies indicate that some environmental chemicals cause epigenetic changes that trigger breast and prostate cancer, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, asthma, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease and learning disabilities, she said. And some new human studies are now adding to the evidence.

“There is a huge potential impact from these exposures, partly because the changes may be inherited across generations. You may be affected by what your mother and grandmother were exposed to during pregnancy,” Birnbaum said. “There is a huge potential impact from these exposures, partly because the changes may be inherited across generations. You may be affected by what your mother and grandmother were exposed to during pregnancy.” Linda Birnbaum, Director, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

What a pregnant mother eats and the chemicals she is exposed to can affect her offspring without causing mutations in the DNA, the experts said. Instead, such exposures can disrupt the way that genes behave, according to both animal and human studies. These changes, in turn, can be passed on to the next generations.

Some environmental chemicals enable methyl groups (carbon atoms with three hydrogen atoms attached) to attack genes, which turns them off or mutes them, at a time when they should be turned on. When genes are turned off, they can’t direct the manufacture of proteins that are essential for proper cell function. Chemicals also can uncoil parts of the chromosome, causing genes to be expressed, or turned on, at inappropriate times.

An example is asthmatic children. Wan-Yee Tang, a researcher at the University of Cincinnati, found that children in New York City exposed in the womb to high levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), common air pollutants from traffic, were much more likely to have asthma than those who were not exposed. By studying cord blood, she found that a particular gene (ACSL3) was methylated in the asthmatic children and unmethylated in the unexposed children, and concluded that the abnormal methylation patterns probably caused the asthma.

The finding could in part explain why worldwide asthma rates have skyrocketed in much of the world, reaching epidemic proportions among children. In the boroughs of New York City with the worst air pollution, about 25 percent of children are asthmatic.

Epigenetic changes also have been observed in children conceived with assisted reproductive technologies, said Richard Meehan of the Medical Research Council in Scotland.

One of the disorders that occurs at a higher rate in these children is Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome, which is characterized by abdominal wall defects and a higher risk of certain childhood cancers. The culture medium where fertilized eggs are grown for several days before implantation probably causes the syndrome, he said. It appears that all the different media used for the eggs might be problematic because they contain chemicals that stimulate the addition of methyl groups to the cells.

The scientists at the workshop said it’s important to understand epigenetics not only to figure out which chemicals might endanger public health, but to find new ways to prevent or treat diseases.

Scientists are just now beginning to figure out normal methylation patterns in the genome so they can learn what is abnormal, said Karl T. Kelsey, professor of community heath and pathology at Brown University in Rhode Island. As a result of this new understanding, epigenetic therapies have been developed for some types of cancers, and some have been successful in clinical trials, he said. Unlike traditional cancer drugs, which kill cells, the new drugs simply change how the cells act.

Research with rats shows that gene-altering chemicals can change animals’ brains—in some cases, in a beneficial way.

Moshe Szyf, a pharmacology and therapeutics professor at McGill University Medical School in Montreal, found that rats that received healthy doses of maternal licking as pups grew up to be calmer than pups who had inattentive mothers. The maternal grooming brought about a chemical change in the part of the pup’s brain that produces stress hormones, he said.

The rats reared by attentive mothers had different levels of corticoid gene expression and lower levels of stress hormones than those reared by inattentive mothers. Szyf found he could cure the stressed rats by injecting a chemical called TSA into their brains, which reversed the inappropriate methylation caused by inattentive mothering.

This understanding of epigenetics may lead to new medications for treating human problems. By using approaches similar to those used in the rat study, Szyf is hoping to find drugs that will help alleviate human psychiatric conditions.

Szyf also studied the preserved brains of suicide victims and of people who died suddenly from causes other than suicide. He found that certain genes in the suicide victims were methylated, or turned off. In contrast, those same genes were not methylated in the victims who died by other means. Abnormal methylation patterns could cause depression in some people, he said.

Some compounds, such as nickel, chromium and arsenic, are well-known carcinogens—not because they are toxic to cells but because of their epigenetic effect, said Max Costa, a New York University professor of environmental medicine and pharmacology. They increase DNA methylation, which results in gene silencing and cell transformation and leads to cancer, he explained.

Researchers at the meeting spent a great deal of time discussing whether and how to test chemicals for their ability to cause epigenetic changes.

Most researchers there agreed that compounds need to be tested for epigenetic effects. But practical testing of the 80,000 or so chemicals in commerce would require rapid screens that would prioritize the compounds into high, medium, and low-risk groups. Those at high risk for epigenetic effects could then be subjected to more definitive and expensive tests.

John M. Greally, associate professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, pointed out that no single test is ideal for detecting epigenetic effects.

“All of the assays have drawbacks,” he said. For example, one assay requires immediate sample processing so it cannot be used on stored samples.

Nevertheless, many researchers said that testing chemicals for epigenetic changes can begin soon.

“The fact that we don’t know a great deal about this area doesn’t mean it’s daunting,” said George Daston, research fellow at Procter & Gamble. “We just need to build on what we have. Microassays already show how chemical exposures change the gene expression in certain parts of the genome. The fact that we don’t know a lot doesn’t mean we can’t start testing quickly.”

Birnbaum, who formerly was head of experimental toxicology at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said regulators and industry don’t have to start from square one.

“We’re already marching down this road,” said Birnbaum. “The National Toxicology Program is already talking about including some epigenetic studies in the program.”

The most important public health issue that arises from epigenetics, Birnbaum told Environmental Health News, is that the current environment may not be the crucial factor to consider when examining what causes diseases.

“Asking heart attack victims what they ate this year or last may be far less important than what they were exposed to in the womb and shortly after birth,” she said.

“Ten Americans”: We all know pollution and toxins are bad for you. But the Environmental Working Group has conducted perhaps the deepest analysis of this issue on the most vulnerable demographic on the planet. Some shocking information in one of the most entertaining presentations of the conference. Ken Cook speaking on the Health. Plenary at Tides’ Momentum 2008.

CBC documentary, The Disappearing Male

“It sounds like a B movie, millions of males vanish, the fact is, there aren’t as many now adays.  Not human males, not frogs, not fish. Chemicals are moving us to the most rapid evolution this species has ever experienced.   From toys to shampoo, we’re awash in strange new compounds.  We’re only just learning that males are being hit hardest.

There are many warning signs, a growing body of evidence shows that something is wrong with the sexual health of human males. Sperm counts world wide have been cut in half over the past 50 years.  Sperm abnormalities and male rates of infertility have radically increased.  Rates of testicular cancer have doubled in the last 20 years.  The question is: why?

Scientists now believe that certain man made chemicals are now to blame.  They interfere with the male hormonal system and are playing havoc with the basic building blocks of male sexual development.  The problem is, these chemicals are everywhere.”

This Doc Zone asks: Where have all the boys gone.  Watch the 45 minute documentary that discusses the growing scientific evidence that something is wrong with the sexual health of human males.

Watch now:

The Disappearing Male, CBC documentary

It is a common cry of many scientists and economists that within the next 20 years we must implement a strategy to create an ecologically sustainable world. Logically, business is the most powerful vehicle to expedite that outcome. It is imperative that we move rapidly towards a time when technologies mimic nature while delivering the standard of living society expects. A time when advertising budgets dually promote products and social education and when every business decision considers future generations.

A true enterprise is an expression of the individual’s purpose in life. Like water, business has to keep moving to remain useful. If it stands too long, it stagnates and goes into ‘liquidation’. But, without water, nothing would survive. So, water shows us that to fulfil our business goals, we must both advance and benefit society. This is indeed the true nature of business.

The business of the future will pursue a far greater vision than its own survival to deliver products with social and environmental advantages. Part of that vision will involve education, for it is through education that business can make its greatest impact. The education of society is the responsibility of everybody who interacts with it – both social or corporate.

2 Webinars have been scheduled:

Australia    Wednesday 20 May     11:00am – 12:00pm (EST Brisbane)   &  7:00pm – 8:00pm (EST Brisbane)

Europe      Wednesday 20 May      2:00am – 3:00am (BST London)    &    10:00am – 11:00am (BST London)

North America    Tuesday 19 May    6:00pm – 7:00pm (PDT Los Angeles)    &    2:00am – 3:00 am (PDT Los Angeles)

http://onegroup.acrobat.com/eactivism/