Subject: EMF/chemical symbiosis (guru)..
Date: Mon, 1 May 2000 041813 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Roy L. Beavers"
To: emfguru
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........I love this one!!! It reminds me, too, of a brainy young
cheerleader, confident, idealistic and determined. First, she
"conquered" the U.S. Air Force Academy -- now she is "conquering"
Hollywood.....
The young lady below shows how important it is these days - when
all wisdom is thought to be in Ph.D.s - to "follow your own ideas,
that they may become the universal law." (Emerson - paraphrased.)
Also, she "discovered" something that has been speculated about here
on EMF-L: a possible symbiosis of EMF/chemical activity that could
result in biological effects.....
You will enjoy the following....
Cheerio.....
Roy Beavers (EMFguru)
roy@emfguru.com
.....It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness.....
NEW!!! Website... http://emfguru.com
...................People are more important than profits.................
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12:02 PM ET 04/30/00
Girl Finds Cancer-Causing Particles
By CHRIS LEHOURITES=
Associated Press Writer=
CONWAY, Ark. (AP) _ Claire Nelson was in the seventh grade when
the thought occurred to her: Can cancer-causing particles seep into
food covered with household plastic wrap while it is being
microwaved?
``I thought it would be easy to test,'' said Nelson, 18, a
freshman at Hendrix College.
Motivated by her discovery that no one had done extensive
research on plastic wraps before, Nelson decided to study the
effects of radiation on carcinogens. Roughly six years later, she
is receiving international accolades and meeting some of the most
influential people in the scientific field.
Nelson had read that one of several suspected carcinogens _
di(ethylhexyl)adepate, or DEHA _ is in many plastic wraps, and that
the Food and Drug Administration had never tested whether the
carcinogen migrated into food being microwaved. That's when she got
her idea.
She microwaved plastic wrap in virgin olive oil, hoping to find
that the carcinogens seeped into the oil. She found that, and more.
``I tested four different kinds of plastic wraps and I found not
just the carcinogens but also xenoestrogen was migrating, and that
causes low sperm count in men and breast cancer in women,'' Nelson
said.
Getting to that point took discipline and determination.
At age 12, Nelson didn't have the resources to undertake her
research, and so set it aside.
``I had the idea, but I didn't start to work on the project
until the 10th grade,'' when the promise of an automatic A in a
science class revived it, she said.
``My teacher said if we made regionals in the science fair that
we would get 10 bonus points. So I asked what we get if we make
states, and she said 30 points. Then I asked what we get if we make
internationals, and she said an automatic A,'' Nelson said.
Without the equipment or facilities to get the job done, she
started making phone calls. Many calls later, she got help from Jon
Wilkes, a scientist at the National Center for Toxicological
Research in Jefferson, southeast of Little Rock.
``Sometimes students who work with us come to us and ask for
help with science projects. In her case it was different,'' Wilkes
said. ``She had already done a fair amount of research and she had
already concluded that nobody had ever studied plastic wraps.''
Nelson, by then a junior at Hall High School, at first had her
mother drive her 25 miles every couple of days from the family's
home in Little Rock to Jefferson. A year later, with her family
moved to Mississippi and she living in an apartment in Little Rock,
Nelson was making the trip by herself and balancing time between
debate team competition and cheerleading.
Wilkes said it isn't rare for non-scientists to come up with an
idea like Nelson's, but it is rare for them to actually pursue a
way to test their theories. Wilkes and the toxicological research
center, an arm of the FDA, let her run her experiments using
government equipment.
``Sometimes she would be asleep standing up,'' Wilkes said.
``But she'd be there working _ if there was no debate or basketball
game to cheer at.''
Her research concluded, Nelson got her A.
``The first year I had specific evidence but not numbers. The
second year I got the numbers,'' said Nelson, whose family
continues to live in Southaven, Miss., outside Memphis, Tenn.
Her analysis found that DEHA was migrating into the oil at
between 200 parts and 500 parts per million. The FDA standard is
0.05 parts per billion. Nelson couldn't find any regulations
concerning xenoestrogen, making it difficult to know how much is
too much.
Her findings won her the American Chemical Society's top science
prize for students while she was a junior. Last year, she was the
salutatorian at Hall and placed fourth in the International Science
and Engineering Fair in Fort Worth, Texas.
Recognition for her research continues as Nelson completes her
freshman year at tiny Hendrix College in Conway. Her findings were
published as a one-paragraph summary in several science journals,
and submitted to others. Nelson also appeared in an advertisement
in the March edition of Discover magazine, touting the
international science fair.
``I went to Washington recently for the largest science
conference in the world and I got to meet Nobel Prize winners from
all over the world,'' she said.
Still, Nelson isn't sure whether she wants to pursue a career in
science.
``I'm undeclared right now,'' she said of choosing a major. ``I
think I might want to get into broadcast journalism.''
In the meantime, she has lined up a summer job at America Online
in New York, using an age-old connection to get her foot in the
door.
``My boyfriend's uncle got me the job,'' she said.
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Archive provided courtesy of WaveGuide, http://www.wave-guide.org
Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.emfguru.com