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Dear Erik I freely confess to be an ignorant when it comes to American politics, but I believe using redundant historical arguments to perpetuate problems of the present to be one of the main aliments of the modern world. I have heard these arguments to justify the apathy in N Ireland, Kuwait and the PLO, and the current Nightmare in the Balkans. Of course things can change and sometimes overnignt, even if it has to be political. As an Englishman perhaps I should be advocating the renervation of Adrians wall to keep out the troublesome celts ? If an aggressor hits your country in the 1990's it will not be with hand guns and rifles. Mel introduced another debate recently on tobacco. Guns, tobacco etc are more about big business and money, not what is right and sensible. Finally hopefully you will concede that the UK has many less firearm offences than the US. I know you said the reasons are complex and not accessibility; so please run them by me. After Dunblane in this country our government showed real political guts in reducing further the access of hand weapons; I wish your government would do the same. The film coverage of the Colorado massarce were beyond belief; truly horrific. Regards Kevin -----Original Message----- From: Erik Goossens <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]> Date: 05 June 1999 06:31 Subject: Re: FOOD & BEHAVIOUR Joe, remember that Laws should be adapted to the time IS not WAS...Yes, the Constitution WAS written ... YEARS AGO... you FOUGHT a war... Stop living in the past and think about those YOUNG people died in your country because some other youngsters had no problem laying their fingers on deadly weapon... They probably didn't care about the meaning of the Constitution and WHY IT WAS WRITTEN ? Just a personnal opinion, straight from the heart.... Joe Amedure schrieb: > Dear Kevin, The constitution of the US was written to protect its people > against aggression from without and aggression from WITHIN. The 2nd > amendment was not number 2 by accident. We fought a war against your govt to > protect our rights: the constitution was written to protect these rights, > rights for the people, not the government. Short of changing the amendments > which I hope you are not advocating, gun control laws have not worked, all > 22,000 of them. I could go on and on. The problems are not guns, when > someone picks up a gun and shoots some one the problem did not start at that > time. It began years eariler, the problem is mulitfacited as Mel describes. > By the way there is a lot of statistical chicanery floating > round, ----Original Message----- > From: kevin reese <[log in to unmask]> > To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]> > Date: Friday, June 04, 1999 7:51 PM > Subject: Re: FOOD & BEHAVIOUR > > Dear Mel > > I have been for an exceptional night out, so please excuse the standard of > my typing and response. > > Several years ago I saw the statistic that hand gun deaths in the US were > 10450 per annum in the UK 20. Our population is only 1/5 that of the US so > the above statistic is way out of proportion. Before looking at nutrition > could I suggest that the accessibility of fire arms in your country is the > main problem not nutrition. > > This right to bare arms business is silly in the 1990's and if dysfunctional > adults/adolesents have easy access to fire arms only the worst can be > contemplated. Lobby your government against this foolishness. > > Regards Kevin. > -----Original Message----- > From: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]> > To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]> > Date: 04 June 1999 10:34 > Subject: FOOD & BEHAVIOUR > > It has been about two months since the tragic murders at Columbine High > School in our suburb and we have heard psychologists, teachers, politicians, > crime experts, children and many others presenting their opinions of why a > dreadful crime could have been perpetrated by school children. > > Obviously I could not have heard all the contributors to these discussions, > but I was wondering if anyone had raised the issue of nutritional factors as > one of the possible contributory factors in this crime. Certainly in trying > to decipher the nature of complex and complicated human behaviour, it would > be overly simplistic to blame any single factor, just as it is overly > simplistic to blame a single cardiac risk factor for causing coronary heart > disease. > > Initially it might sound a bit far-fetched to suggest that faulty > nutritional > habits could be one of the factors involved in leading to that horrendous > event, but before we dismiss such a notion at the outset, let us examine > some > research which may have a bearing on the issue: > > 1. In the 1980s, hardened juvenile delinquents at a detention facility in > Virginia were fed a balanced diet low in sugar and chemical additives for > two > years instead of the typical fast food, low nutrient diet characteristic of > those age groups. Over the duration of that study, theft decreased by 77%, > hyperactivity by 65% and insubordination by 55% (Schoenthaler S “Diet and > Crime: An empirical examination of the value of nutrition in the control and > treatment of incarcerated juvenile offenders’ Intern J of Biosocial > Research 1983, 4(1): 25-39). The same researcher elaborated on this study > in > the next issue of that journal: ‘Types of Offenses which can be reduced in > an > Institutional Setting using Nutritional Intervention - A Preliminary > Empirical Evaluation. 1983, 4(2): 74-84. > > 2. Several other studies using diets with low sugar and no chemical > additives for a total of over 8000 youths in 12 juvenile correctional > facilities reduced deviant behaviour by 47% (Schoenthaler S “Institutional > Nutritional Policies and Criminal Behavior’ Nutrition Today 1985, 20(3) : > 16) > > 3. In Los Angeles juvenile detention facilities, similar diets administered > to nearly 1500 adolescents reduced problem behaviour and suicide attempts by > 44% (Schoenthaler S ‘ The Los Angeles Probation Department Diet Behavior > Program: An Empirical Evaluation of Six Institutions’ Intern J of Biosocial > Research 1983, 5(2): 88-98 > > 4. The Lancet reported that 79% of children diagnosed as being hyperactive > improved when dubious foods were removed from their diets, but deteriorated > as soon as these additives and suspect foods were reintroduced. The worst > offenders were identified as artificial colourants and flavourings, with > sugar also having a significant effect (Egger J et al ‘Controlled Trial of > Oligoantigenic Treatment in the Hyperkinetic Syndrome’ Lancet 1985: 540) > > 5. A double-blind, placebo-controlled study in the 1979 Journal of > Biological Psychiatry showed that large doses of vitamin B6 was more > effective than Ritalin in reducing hyperactivity in children (cited by > Autism > Research Institute, San Diego, June 1992 - see their website: > http://www.autism.com/ari/ which also reports on the possible role for > magnesium, vit C and DMG in treating autism). > > 6. In a 4 year study (1979-1983), considerable improvement in academic > performance of over 1 million children at 803 public schools in New York > city > took place when only the at-schoolmeals were altered to eliminate artificial > additives and reduce sugar, while adding fresh fruits, vegetables, whole > grains and more plant-based proteins (Schoenthaler S ‘The Impact of a low > food additive and sucrose diet on Academic Performance in New York Public > Schools’ Intern J of Biosocial Research 1986 8(2): 182-195 > > Besides the implications for the behaviour of children, these studies and > many others indicate that it is not simply narcotics, stimulants, hormones, > LSD and other obviously psychoactive drugs which may modify one’s > psychological state, but even ones which are far more subtle and which are > associated with our normal modern eating habits. Extrapolating this > directly > to the world of sport, let us for a moment shift aside our current > preoccupation with the physiological effects of anabolic-androgenic steroids > (AAS), prohormones, ephedra, caffeine, energy replacement drinks and other > substances which are popularly researched in sponsored studies, and ask if > sufficient attention is being focused on the psychological effects of these > drugs, as well as other constituents of one’s normal daily diet, insofar as > this may affect sporting performance. > > Dr Mel C Siff > Denver, USA > [log in to unmask] -- Erik Goossens Dipl. PT SRK - PT Educator Akad. TvdL Landquart Physiotherapie Erik Goossens GmbH MediFIT Medical Reconditioning CH-4102 Binningen - Switzerland %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%