Scientists have studied some of the activities of daidzein in their laboratories, working with cells or with animals such as mice. Studies in cells and in animals sometimes give hints as to what a chemical might do when given to humans, but no one can know what a chemical does in humans until the chemical is tested in a clinical trial.

Cell Proliferation Studies

Daidzein, like other isoflavones, has both estrogenic and anti-estrogenic effects. Soy supplements are often consumed by women for alleviating menopausal symptoms or for the perceived protective effects against breast cancer, particularly after a well documented low incidence rates of breast cancer and high soy food intake among Asian women. But taking soy supplements carries serious risks of harm, especially in people who already have cancer and are taking drugs to treat the cancer. Experimental evidence in cells and in animals show that even low concentration stimulates breast tumor growth in in vitro and in vivo, and interfere with the antitumor effect of the cancer drug, tamoxifen. T47D:A18/PKC alpha tumor growth was demonstrated to be stimulated by genistein, but partially inhibited by daidzein; however, coadministration of TAM with either daidzein or genistein produced tumors of greater size. On the other hand an epidemiological study shows that soy isoflavones consumed at levels comparable to those in Asian populations may reduce the risk of cancer recurrence in women receiving TAM therapy and moreover, appears not to interfere with the drug efficacy. Supportingly daidzein was demonstrated to induce human MCF-7 b

Antioxidant

Phytoestrogens are often strong antioxidant compounds. Antioxidants are important in maintaining normal physiology. Some people think that antioxidants might prevent aging by eliminating harmful free radicals but there is no evidence that this is true in humans. Scientific studies of daidzein’s antioxidant abilities have given contradictory results: some studies have shown antioxidant properties in laboratory experiments on cells, but in other experiments daidzein has caused oxidative stress on cells.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Daidzein, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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The Commonwealth Fund, in its annual survey, “Mirror, Mirror on the Wall”, compares the performance of the health care systems in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada and the U.S. Its 2007 study found that, although the U.S. system is the most expensive, it consistently under-performs compared to the other countries. One difference between the U.S. and the other countries in the study is that the U.S. is the only country without universal health insurance coverage.

Australia

The public health system is called Medicare. It ensures free universal access to hospital treatment and subsidised out-of-hospital medical treatment. It is funded by a 1.5% tax levy on all taxpayers, an extra 1% levy on high income earners, as well as general revenue.

The private health system is funded by a number of private health insurance organisations. The largest of these is Medibank Private, which is government-owned, but operates as a government business enterprise under the same regulatory regime as all other registered private health funds. The Coalition Howard government had announced that Medibank would be privatised if it won the 2007 election, however they were defeated by the Australian Labor Party under Kevin Rudd which had already pledged that it would remain in government ownership.

Some private health insurers are ‘for profit’ enterprises such as Australian Unity , and some are non-profit organizations such as HCF Health Insurance and GMHBA Health Insurance. Some have membership restricted to particular groups, but the majority

Most aspects of private health insurance in Australia are regulated by the ”Private Health Insurance Act 2007”. Complaints and reporting of the private health industry is carried out by an independent government agency, the Private Health Insurance Ombudsman. The ombudsman publishes an annual report that outlines the number and nature of complaints per health fund compared to their market share

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The private health system in Australia operates on a "community rating" basis, whereby premiums do not vary solely because of a person's previous medical history, current state of health, or (generally speaking) their age (but see Lifetime Health Cover below). Balancing this are waiting periods, in particular for pre-existing conditions (usually referred to within the industry as PEA, which stands for "pre-existing ailment"). Funds are entitled to impose a waiting period of up to 12 months on benefits for any medical condition the signs and symptoms of which existed during the six months ending on the day the person first took out insurance. They are also entitled to impose a 12-month waiting period for benefits for treatment relating to an obstetric condition, and a 2-month waiting period for all other benefits when a person first takes out private insurance. Funds have the discretion to reduce or remove such waiting periods in individual cases. They are also free not to impose them to begin with, but this would place such a fund at risk of "adverse selection", attracting a disproportionate number of members from other funds, or from the pool of intending members who might otherwise have joined other funds. It would also attract people with existing medical conditions, who might not otherwise have taken out insurance at all because of the denial of benefits for 12 months due to the PEA Rule. The benefits paid out for these conditions would create pressure on premiums for all the fund's members, causing some to drop their membership, which would lead to further rises in premiums, and a vicious cycle of higher premiums-leaving members would ensue.

There are a number of other matters about which funds are not permitted to discriminate between members in terms of premiums, benefits or membership - these include racial origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, nature of employment, and leisure activities. Premiums for a fund's product that is sold in more than one state can vary from state to state, but not within the same state.

The Australian government has introduced a number of incentives to encourage adults to take out private hospital insurance. These include:

* Lifetime Health Cover: If a person has not taken out private hospital cover by the 1st July after their 31st birthday, then when (and if) they do so after this time, their premiums must include a loading of 2% per annum for each year they were without hospital cover. Thus, a person taking out private cover for the first time at age 40 will pay a 20 per cent loading. The loading is removed after 10 years of continuous hospital cover. The loading applies only to premiums for hospital cover, not to ancillary (extras) cover.

* Medicare Levy Surcharge: People whose taxable income is greater than a specified amount (currently $70,000 for singles and $140,000 for couples) and who do not have an adequate level of private hospital cover must pay a 1% surcharge on top of the standard 1.5% Medicare Levy. The rationale is that if the people in this income group are forced to pay more money one way or another, most would choose to purchase hospital insurance with it, with the possibility of a benefit in the event that they need private hospital treatment - rather than pay it in the form of extra tax as well as having to meet their own private hospital costs.

** The Australian government announced in May 2008 that it proposes to increase the thresholds, to $100,000 for singles and $150,000 for families. These changes require legislative approval. A bill to change the law has been introduced but was not passed by the Senate. An amended version was passed on 16& October 2008. There have been criticisms that the changes will cause many people to drop their private health insurance, causing a further burden on the public hospital system, and a rise in premiums for those who stay with the private system. Other commentators believe the effect will be minimal.

* Private Health Insurance Rebate: The government subsidises the premiums for all private health insurance cover, including hospital and ancillary (extras), by 30%, 35% or 40%, depending on age. The Rudd Government announced in May 2009 that as of July 2010, the Rebate would become means-tested, and offered on a sliding scale.

Canada

Health care is constitutionally mainly a provincial government responsibility in Canada (the main exceptions being federal government responsibility for services provided to aboriginal peoples covered by treaties, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the armed forces, and members of parliament). Consequently each province administers its own health insurance program. The federal government influences health insurance by virtue of its fiscal powers - it transfers cash and tax points to the provinces to help cover the costs of the universal health insurance programs. Under the Canada Health Act, the federal government mandates and enforces the requirement that all people have free access to what are termed "medically necessary services," defined primarily as care delivered by physicians or in hospitals, and the nursing component of long term residential care. If provinces allow doctors or institutions to charge patients for medically necessary services, the federal government reduces its payments to the provinces by the amount of the prohibited charges. Collectively, the public provincial health insurance systems in Canada are frequently referred to as Medicare. This public insurance is tax-funded out of general government revenues, although British Columbia and Ontario levy a mandatory premium with flat rates for individuals and families to generate additional revenues - in essence a surtax. Private health insurance is allowed, but in six provincial governments only for services that the public health plans do not cover, for example, semi-private or private rooms in hospitals and prescription drug plans. Four provinces allow insurance for services also mandated by the Canada Health Act, but in practice there is no market for it. All Canadians are free to use private insurance for elective medical services such as laser vision correction surgery, cosmetic surgery, and other non-basic medical procedures. Some 65% of Canadians have some form of supplementary private health insurance; many of them receive it through their employers. Private-sector services not paid for by the government account for nearly 30 percent of total health care spending.

In 2005, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled, in Chaoulli v. Quebec, that the province's prohibition on private insurance for health care already insured by the provincial plan violated the Quebec Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and in particular the sections dealing with the right to life and security, if there were unacceptably long wait times for treatment, as was alleged in this case. The ruling has not changed the overall pattern of health insurance across Canada but has spurred on attempts to tackle the core issues of supply and demand and the impact of wait times.

France

The national system of health insurance was instituted in 1945, just after the end of the Second World War. It was a compromise between Gaullist and Communist representatives in the French parliament. The Conservative Gaullists were opposed to a state-run healthcare system, while the Communists were supportive of a complete nationalisation of health care along a British Beveridge model.

The resulting programme is profession-based: all people working are required to pay a portion of their income to a not-for-profit health insurance fund, which mutualises the risk of illness, and which reimburses medical expenses at varying rates. Children and spouses of insured people are eligible for benefits, as well. Each fund is free to manage its own budget, and used to reimburse medical expenses at the rate it saw fit, however following a number of reforms in recent years, the majority of funds provide the same level of reimbursment and benefits.

The government has two responsibilities in this system.

* The first government responsibility is the fixing of the rate at which medical expenses should be negotiated, and it does this in two ways: The Ministry of Health directly negotiates prices of medicine with the manufacturers, based on the average price of sale observed in neighboring countries. A board of doctors and experts decides if the medicine provides a valuable enough medical benefit to be reimbursed (note that most medicine is reimbursed, including homeopathy). In parallel, the government fixes the reimbursment rate for medical services: this means that a doctor is free to charge the fee that he wishes for a consultation or an examination, but the social security system will only reimburse it at a pre-set rate. These tariffs are set annually through negotiation with doctors' representative organisations.

* The second government responsibility is oversight of the health-insurance funds, to ensure that they are correctly managing the sums they receive, and to ensure oversight of the public hospital network.

Today, this system is more-or-less intact. All citizens and legal foreign residents of France are covered by one of these mandatory programs, which continue to be funded by worker participation. However, since 1945, a number of major changes have been introduced. Firstly, the different health-care funds (there are five: General, Independent, Agricultural, Student, Public Servants) now all reimburse at the same rate. Secondly, since 2000, the government now provides health care to those who are not covered by a mandatory regime (those who have never worked and who are not students, meaning the very rich or the very poor). This regime, unlike the worker-financed ones, is financed via general taxation and reimburses at a higher rate than the profession-based system for those who cannot afford to make up the difference. Finally, to counter the rise in health-care costs, the government has installed two plans, (in 2004 and 2006), which require insured people to declare a referring doctor in order to be fully reimbursed for specalist visits, and which installed a mandatory co-pay of 1 € (about $1.45) for a doctor visit, 0,50 € (about 80 ¢) for each box of medicine prescribed, and a fee of 16-18 € (20-25 $) per day for hospital stays and for expensive procedures.

An important element of the French insurance system is solidarity: the more ill a person becomes, the less the person pays. This means that for people with serious or chronic illnesses, the insurance system reimburses them 100 % of expenses, and waives their co-pay charges.

Finally, for fees that the mandatory system does not cover, there is a large range of private complementary insurance plans available. The market for these programs is very competitive, and often subsidised by the employer, which means that premiums are usually modest. 85% of French people benefit from complementary private health insurance.

Netherlands

In 2006, a new system of health insurance came into force in the Netherlands. This new system avoids the two pitfalls of adverse selection and moral hazard associated with traditional forms of health insurance by using a combination of regulation and an insurance equalization pool. Moral hazard is avoided by mandating that insurance companies provide at least one policy which meets a government set minimum standard level of coverage, and all adult residents are obliged by law to purchase this coverage from an insurance company of their choice. All insurance companies receive funds from the equalization pool to help cover the cost of this government-mandated coverage. This pool is run by a regulator which collects salary-based contributions from employers, which make up about 50% of all health care funding, and funding from the government to cover people who cannot afford health care, which makes up an additional 5%.

The remaining 45% of health care funding comes from insurance premiums paid by the public, for which companies compete on price, though the variation between the various competing insurers is only about 5%. However, insurance companies are free to sell additional policies to provide coverage beyond the national minimum. These policies do not receive funding from the equalization pool, but cover additional treatments, such as dental procedures and physiotherapy, which are not paid for by the mandatory policy.

Funding from the equalization pool is distributed to insurance companies for each person they insure under the required policy. However, high-risk individuals get more from the pool, and low-income persons and children under 18 have their insurance paid for entirely. Because of this, insurance companies no longer find insuring high risk individuals an unappealing proposition, avoiding the potential problem of adverse selection.

Insurance companies are not allowed to have co-payments, caps, or deductibles, or to deny coverage to any person applying for a policy, or to charge anything other than their nationally set and published standard premiums. Therefore, every person buying insurance will pay the same price as everyone else buying the same policy, and every person will get at least the minimum level of coverage.

United Kingdom

The UK's National Health Service (NHS) is a publicly funded healthcare system that provides coverage to everyone normally resident in the UK. It is not strictly an insurance system because (a) there are no premiums collected, (b) costs are not charged at the patient level and (c) costs are not pre-paid from a pool. However, it does achieve the main aim of insurance which is to spread financial risk arising from ill-health. The costs of running the NHS (est. £104 billion in 2007-8) are met directly from general taxation. The NHS provides the majority of health care in the UK, including primary care, in-patient care, long-term health care, ophthalmology and dentistry.

Private health care has continued parallel to the NHS, paid for largely by private insurance, but it is used by less than 8% of the population, and generally as a top-up to NHS services.

There are many treatments that the private sector does not provide. For example, health insurance on pregnancy is generally not covered or covered with restricting clauses. Typical exclusions for Bupa schemes (and many other insurers) include:

ageing, menopause and puberty; AIDS/HIV; allergies or allergic disorders; birth control, conception, sexual problems and sex changes; chronic conditions; complications from excluded or restricted conditions/ treatment; convalescence, rehabilitation and general nursing care ; cosmetic, reconstructive or weight loss treatment; deafness; dental/oral treatment (such as fillings, gum disease, jaw shrinkage, etc); dialysis; drugs and dressings for out-patient or take-home use† ; experimental drugs and treatment; eyesight; HRT and bone densitometry; learning difficulties, behavioural and developmental problems; overseas treatment and repatriation; physical aids and devices; pre-existing or special conditions; pregnancy and childbirth; screening and preventive treatment; sleep problems and disorders; speech disorders; temporary relief of symptoms.

(† = except in exceptional circumstances)

There are a number of other companies in the United Kingdom which include, among others, AXA, Aviva, Groupama Healthcare, WPA and PruHealth. Similar exclusions apply, depending on the policy which is purchased.

Recently (2009) the main representative body of British Medical physicians, the British Medical Association, adopted a policy statement expressing concerns about developments in the health insurance market in the UK. In its Annual Representative Meeting which had been agreed earlier by the Consultants Policy Group (i.e. Senior physicians)

stating that the BMA was "extremely concerned that the policies of some private healthcare insurance companies are preventing or restricting patients exercising choice about (i) the consultants who treat them; (ii) the hospital at which they are treated; (iii) making top up payments to cover any gap between the funding provided by their insurance company and the cost of their chosen private treatment." It went in to "call on the BMA to publicise these concerns so that patients are fully informed when making choices about private healthcare insurance." The NHS offers patients a choice of hospitals and consultants and does not charge for its services.

The private sector has been used to increase NHS capacity despite a large proportion of the British public opposing such involvement. According to the World Health Organization, government funding covered 86% of overall health care expenditures in the UK as of 2004, with private expenditures covering the remaining 14%.

United States

The United States health care system relies heavily on private health insurance, which is the primary source of coverage for most Americans. According to the CDC, approximately 58% of Americans have private health insurance. Public programs provide the primary source of coverage for most senior citizens and for low-income children and families who meet certain eligibility requirements. The primary public programs are Medicare, a federal social insurance program for seniors and certain disabled individuals, Medicaid, funded jointly by the federal government and states but administered at the state level, which covers certain very low income children and their families, and SCHIP, also a federal-state partnership that serves certain children and families who do not qualify for Medicaid but who cannot afford private coverage. Other public programs include military health benefits provided through TRICARE and the Veterans Health Administration and benefits provided through the Indian Health Service. Some states have additional programs for low-income individuals.

A recent study found that 62 percent of all bankruptcies filed in 2007 were linked to medical expenses. Of those who filed for bankruptcy, nearly 80 percent had health insurance. In just three years, the Medicare and Medicaid programs will account for 50 percent of all national health spending. This has fueled an outcry for an overhaul of the health care system in the United States. The House of Representatives passed a health care reform bill by a vote of 220-215 on November 7, 2009. Currently the fate of the bill rests on the Senate. The legislation once included changes that would give the government the power to negotiate policy premiums and to provide a public option, but in an effort to acquire the necessary votes to prevent a Republican filibuster the public option was eliminated from the bill. This would have given citizens the option to buy into public programs like Medicare for which current members pay only $96.40 monthly. Instead the bill now requires that all Americans purchase private health insurance or be subject to fines. The insurance industry represents a significant lobbying group in the United States. The major health interests have spent an average of $1.4 million per day to lobby Congress so far this year and are on track to spend more than half a billion dollars by the end 2009. On March 21, 2010, the House of Representatives passed a bill proposed by President Obama, which will supposedly offer a wide range of coverage and extend it to roughly 32 million more Americans without coverage.

California

In 2007, 87% of Californians had some form of health insurance. Services in California range from private offerings: HMOs, PPOs to public programs: Medi-Cal, Medicare, and Healthy Families (SCHIP).

California developed a solution to assist people across the State and is one of the only States to have an Office devoted to giving people tips and resources to get the best care possible. California's Office of the Patient Advocate was established July 2000 to publish a yearly Health Care Quality Report Card on the Top HMOs, PPOs, and Medical Groups and to create and distribute helpful tips and resources to give Californians the tools needed to get the best care.

Additionally, California has a Help Center that assists Californians when they have problems with their health insurance. The Help Center is run by the [http://dmhc.ca.gov Department of Managed Health Care], the government department that oversees and regulates HMOs and some PPOs.

Germany

Germany has Europe’s oldest universal health care system, with origins dating back to Otto von Bismarck’s Social legislation, which included the Health Insurance Bill of 1883, Accident Insurance Bill of 1884, and Old Age and Disability Insurance Bill of 1889. As mandatory health insurance, these bills originally applied only to low-income workers and certain government employees; their coverage, and that of subsequent legislation gradually expanded to cover virtually the entire population.

Currently 85% of the population is covered by a basic health insurance plan provided by statute, which provides a standard level of coverage. The remainder opt for private health insurance, which frequently offers additional benefits. According to the World Health Organization, Germany’s health care system was 77% government-funded and 23% privately funded as of 2004.

The government partially reimburses the costs for low-wage workers, whose premiums are capped at a predetermined value. Higher wage workers pay a premium based on their salary. They may also opt for private insurance, which is generally more expensive, but whose price may vary based on the individual’s health status.

Reimbursement is on a fee-for-service basis, but the number of physicians allowed to accept Statutory Health Insurance in a given locale is regulated by the government and professional societies.

Co payments were introduced in the 1980s in an attempt to prevent over utilization. The average length of hospital stay in Germany has decreased in recent years from 14 days to 9 days, still considerably longer than average stays in the United States (5 to 6 days). Part of the difference is that the chief consideration for hospital reimbursement is the number of hospital days as opposed to procedures or diagnosis. Drug costs have increased substantially, rising nearly 60% from 1991 through 2005. Despite attempts to contain costs, overall health care expenditures rose to 10.7% of GDP in 2005, comparable to other western European nations, but substantially less than that spent in the U.S. (nearly 16% of GDP).

Insurance systems

Germany has a universal multi-payer system with two main types of health insurance. Germans are offered three mandatory health benefits, which are co-financed by employer and employee: health insurance, accident insurance, and long-term care insurance.

Accident insurance (Unfallversicherung) is covered by the employer and basically covers all risks for commuting to work and at the workplace.

Long term care (Pflegeversicherung) is covered half and half by employer and employee and covers cases in which a person is not able to manage his or her daily routine (provision of food, cleaning of apartment, personal hygiene, etc.). It is about 2% of a yearly salaried income or pension, with employers matching the contribution of the employee.

There are two separate systems of health insurance: public health insurance (”Gesetzliche Krankenversicherung”) and private insurance (”Private Krankenversicherung”).

Both systems struggle with the increasing cost of medical treatment and the changing demography. About 87.5% of the persons with health insurance are members of the public system, while 12.5% are covered by private insurance (as of 2006).

==Notes and references

*Navigating your health benefits for dummies. Charles M. Cutler MD Tracey A Baker CFP (c)2006 ISBN 978-0-470-08354-3

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Health insurance, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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The first known atheist feminist was Ernestine Rose, born in Poland on January 13, 1810 . Her open confession of disbelief in Judaism when she was a teenager brought her into conflict with her father (who was a rabbi) and an unpleasant relationship developed . In order to force her into the obligations of the Jewish faith, her father, without her consent, betrothed her to a friend and fellow Jew when she was sixteen . Instead of arguing her case in a Jewish court (since her father was the local rabbi who ruled on such matters), she went to a secular court, pled her own case, and won . In 1829 she went to England, and in 1835 she was one of the founders of the British atheist organization Association of All Classes of All Nations, which “called for human rights for all people, regardless of sex, class, color, or national origin .” She lectured in England and America (moving to America in May 1836) and was described by Samuel P. Putnam 3 as “one of the best lecturers of her time.” He wrote that “no orthodox [meaning religious] man could meet her in debate .”

In the winter of 1836, Judge Thomas Hertell, a radical and freethinker, submitted a married women’s property act in the legislature of the state of New York to investigate ways of improving the civil and property rights of married women, and to permit them to hold real estate in their own name, which they were not then permitted to do in New York. Upon hearing of the resolution, Ernestine Rose drew up a petition and began the soliciting of names to support the resolution in the state legislatur

Ernestine later joined a group of freethinkers who had organized a Society for Moral Philanthropists, at which she often lectured . In 1837, she took part in a debate that continued for thirteen weeks, where her topics included the advocacy of abolition of slavery, women’s rights, equal opportunities for education, and civil rights . In 1845 she was in attendance at the first national convention of infidels [meaning atheists] . Ernestine Rose also introduced “the agitation on the subject of women’s suffrage” in Michigan in 1846 . In a lecture in Worchester, Massachusetts in 1851, she opposed calling upon the Bible to underwrite the rights of women, claiming that human rights and freedom of women were predicated upon “the laws of humanity” and that women, therefore, did not require the written authority of either Paul or Moses, because “those laws and our claim are prior” to both .

She attended the Women’s Rights Convention in the Tabernacle, New York City, on September 10, 1853, and spoke at the Hartford Bible Convention in 1854 . It was in March of that year, also, that she took off with Susan B. Anthony on a speaking tour to Washington, D.C . Susan B. Anthony arranged the meetings and Ernestine Rose did all of the speaking; after this successful tour, Susan B. Anthony embarked on her own first lecture tour .

Later, in October 1854, Ernestine Rose was elected president of the National Women’s Rights Convention at Philadelphia, overcoming the objection that she was unsuitable because of her atheism . Susan B. Anthony supported her in this fight, declaring that every religion — and none — should have an equal right on the platform . In 1856 she spoke at the Seventh National Woman’s [Rights] Convention saying in part, “And when your minister asks you for money for missionary purposes, tell him there are higher, and holier, and nobler missions to be performed at home. When he asks for colleges to educate ministers, tell him you must educate woman, that she may do away with the necessity of ministers, so that they may be able to go to some useful employment .”

She appeared again in Albany, New York, for the State Women’s Rights Convention in early February 1861, the last one to be held until the end of the Civil War . On May 14, 1863, she shared the podium with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, and Antoinette Blackwell when the first Women’s National Loyal League met to call for equal rights for women, and to support the government in the Civil War “in so far as it makes a war for freedom” .

She was in attendance at the Equal Rights Association meeting in which there was a schism and on May 15, 1869, she joined with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Lucy Stone to form a new organization, the National Woman Suffrage Association, which fought for both male and female suffrage, taking a position on the executive committee . She died at Brighton, England, on August 4, 1892, at age eighty-two .

The most prominent other people to publicly advocate for atheist feminism in the 1800s were Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Matilda Joslyn Gage . In 1885 Elizabeth wrote an essay entitled “Has Christianity Benefited Woman?” arguing that it had in fact hurt women’s rights, and stating, “All religions thus far have taught the headship and superiority of man, [and] the inferiority and subordination of woman. Whatever new dignity, honor, and self-respect the changing theologies may have brought to man, they have all alike brought to woman but another form of humiliation” . In 1893 Matilda Joslyn Gage wrote the book for which she is best known, “Woman, Church, and State,” which was one of the first books to draw the conclusion that Christianity is a primary impediment to the progress of women, as well as civilization . In 1895 Elizabeth Cady Stanton wrote “The Woman’s Bible”, revised and continued with another book of the same name in 1898, in which she criticized religion and stated “the Bible in its teachings degrades women from Genesis to Revelation .” She died in 1902 . The right to vote was won for American women in 1920, and after that feminism of all types in America largely lay dormant until the 1960s .

In 1968 American writer and professor Mary Daly first came to prominence with her book “The Church and the Second Sex”, which criticized Christianity, especially Catholicism, as sexist

. Due to this book she was fired, briefly, from her teaching position at Boston College, but as a result of support from the (then all-male) student body and the general public, she was ultimately granted tenure . After the publication of “The Church and the Second Sex” she broke with the idea of reforming Christianity and became a “radical, post-Christian” atheist feminist . In 1973 she wrote “Beyond God the Father: Toward a Philosophy of Women’s Liberation” , which further criticized Christian sexism, famously noting “If God is male, then male is God”

.”She also wrote “to Sin is to Be. So I urge you to Sin. But not against these itty-bitty religions, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism — or their secular derivatives, Marxism, Maoism, Freudianism and Jungianism which are all derivatives of the big religion of patriarchy. Sin against the infrastructure itself!” . When asked in 1996 by Jeanette Batz of the National Catholic Reporter “Who has hurt women?” she answered in part, “Rightwing Christians. It’s not just the ancient fathers of the church and it’s not just the church. It’s all the major religions .” Mary Daly died in 2010 .

Atheist feminist Annie Laurie Gaylor cofounded the Freedom From Religion Foundation in 1976 , and was also editor of Freethought Today from 1984 to 2009, when she became executive editor . Aside from promoting atheism in general, her atheist feminist activities include writing the book “Woe To The Women: The Bible Tells Me So”, first published in 1981, which is now in its 4th printing . This book exposes and discusses sexism in the Bible . Furthermore, her 1997 book, “Women Without Superstition: ‘No Gods, No Masters’” is the first collection of the writings of historic and contemporary female

freethinkers . She has also written several articles on religion’s harm to women .

Other notable atheist feminists active today include Ayaan Hirsi Ali , Ophelia Benson , Amanda Marcotte

, and Taslima Nasrin .

Atheist feminism and the Bahá’í Faith

Atheist feminists object to the fact that women are not eligible to be members of the Universal House of Justice, which is the supreme governing institution of the Bahá’í Faith .

Atheist feminism and Buddhism

Atheist feminists oppose the Eight Garudhammas, also known as the Eight Heavy Rules, which are rules for Buddhist nuns which require them to be subordinate to Buddhist monks, and which are still in force in many Buddhist nunneries today . Atheist feminists note that, “In one passage from the Theravada Buddhist tradition, the Buddha’s own aunt, Prajapati, shaves her hair and walks barefoot for many miles to meet with the Buddha and entreat him to permit women to join the sangha, the Buddhist monastic community. The Buddha at first refuses her plea outright, and only relents when his disciple Ananda persuades him to change his mind; however… in some variants, [he] warns that the sangha will only last for five hundred years due to the presence of women, when it would otherwise have lasted for a thousand ” Atheist feminists also note that in most Buddhist lineages women are denied full ordination and that “the Theravadan Buddhists claim a woman could never become a Buddha [and] a popular belief in Buddhist countries is that negative karma results in a man being reborn as a woman .” Atheist feminists also note that fully ordained Buddhist monks and nuns abide by 253 and 364 precepts (rules) respectively, with the nuns having to abide by 111 more precepts than the monks . Atheist feminists also oppose the fact that the Tibetan Buddhist ordination ceremony declares that even the most senior nun has to sit behind the most novice monk because, although her ordination is superior, the basis of that ordination, her body, is inferior . Atheist feminists also denounce the story of Buddha’s virgin birth , saying that it teaches “a woman’s body is a dirty, sinful thing” not fit for a great religious leader to emerge from . Furthermore, atheist feminists oppose the fact that Buddhism considers menstruation to be unclean and that for that reason women were forbidden to come into contact with Buddhist sacred texts, and today are often forbidden from performing the religious ritual of walking around a stupa (a mound-like structure containing Buddhist relics, typically the remains of a Buddha or saint, used by Buddhists as a place of worship), or the main hall of a wat (a monastery temple in Cambodia, Thailand, or Laos) .

Atheist feminism and Christianity in general

A list of verses from the Bible that atheist feminists consider sexist is available at the Skeptic’s Annotated Bible, an atheist website .

Atheist feminists also note the sexism of “several of the most prominent and influential doctors and theologians of the early [Christian] church, including Tertullian (who wrote about women, ‘You are the port and gate of the devil. You are the first transgressor of God’s law’), Augustine (who wrote that women who seek power should be ‘repressed and bridled’), Jerome (‘Adam was deceived by Eve, and not Eve by Adam, and therefore it is just, that woman receive and acknowledge him for governor whom she called to sin, lest that again she slide and fall by womanly facility’), Ambrose (‘Woman ought not only to have simple arrayment, but all authority is to be denied unto her. For she must be in subjection to man…as well in habit as in service’), and John Chrysostom, whose name literally means ‘golden-mouthed’ and who, according to the New Advent Catholic encyclopedia, was ‘the greatest preacher ever heard in a Christian pulpit.’ This famous preacher wrote that women ‘ought at all times to have the punishment which was given to Eve sounding in [their] ears’ and that ‘in the nature of all women lurks such vices as in good governors are not tolerable..’”

Atheist feminists also denounce the story of Jesus’s virgin birth , saying that it teaches “a woman’s body is a dirty, sinful thing” not fit for a great religious leader to emerge from .

Atheist feminism and the Catholic Church

The Catholic Church is one of many Christian denominations that do not ordain women, and in fact any woman who attempts to be ordained is automatically excommunicated . Specifically, in 2007, the Vatican issued a decree saying that the attempted ordination of women would result in automatic excommunication for the woman and the priest trying to ordain her , and in 2010, the Vatican stated that the priest could also be defrocked, and that ordination of women is a “grave crime .”

Furthermore, the Catholic Church opposes all birth control besides natural family planning, and requires that natural family planning only be used when a couple have grave reasons for avoiding the woman getting pregnant, not simply because the woman does not want to be pregnant . The Catholic Church is also against all abortion, even when done to save a woman’s life . Furthermore, the Catholic Church is also against all divorce and remarriage after divorce, believing that the Bible does not allow divorce on any grounds . However, if it can be proven that a valid marriage had never taken place, then the Church may issue an annulment and may permit a remarriage . Atheist feminists think these are sexist ideas and oppose them .

Atheist feminism and the Mormon Church

A list of verses from the Book of Mormon that atheist feminists consider sexist is available at the Skeptic’s Annotated Bible, an atheist website . Atheist feminists opposed Mormonism for allowing polygamy (which the Mormon Church does not currently allow, but has not denounced, saying it was suitable for the time in which it was practiced.) Indeed, the Mormon Church once said that those who do not support polygamy will be damned to hell and that a man with only one wife shall be forced to be single in Heaven . Today atheist feminists also oppose the Mormon doctrine that men must have multiple wives to enter the highest degree of the Mormon heaven , and that women have to “hearken to the counsel of her husband” (previously having to obey their husband’s law) but husbands do not have to do the reverse , as well as Mormon women being excommunicated for discussing the Heavenly Mother Goddess, even though belief in her is a Mormon belief . Mormon belief also holds that a woman cannot access Heaven alone, and that only through marriage can a woman be saved – by her husband, who will ‘pull her through’ to the other side upon her death,” . Atheist feminists note that when Mormon men and women choose to become missionaries, the men serve for two years while the women only serve for a year and a half, and men are eligible to serve between the ages of 19 and 27, while women usually only serve between the ages of 21 and 24 . Atheist feminists also note that the Mormon Church does not ordain women and that “any policy decisions that are made at a local or general level usually are going to be made by the men, often without any consultation [with] the women .” Furthermore, atheist feminists point out that “the LDS [Mormon] Church actively and very effectively mobilized Mormons to vote as a bloc against ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (despite a fact that a poll published in the church-owned Deseret News in 1974 showed that 63 percent of Utahans approved of the ERA.) Most political analysts believe that had the LDS Church not taken such an aggressive position against the ERA, it would easily have been ratified by the required thirty-eight states, and would now be part of the U.S. Constitution” .

Atheist feminists also oppose all religions which do practice polygamy today, including American fundamentalist offshoots from the Mormon Church . They point out that polygamy provides for men to have as many wives as they want, but expects women to be content sharing one man with many other wives, and that polygamy is illegal

in all 50 American states .

Atheist feminism and Protestant churches

Many Protestant churches do not ordain women, and some advocate that family decision making power be concentrated in husbands and/or that wives should submit to their husbands . Some Protestant churches do not allow divorce and/or remarriage , and some allow them only in cases of adultery and/or desertion, but not for any other causes (such as spousal abuse) . Notable Protestant minister Rick Warren has stated that spousal abuse is not an acceptable reason for divorce, instead advocating church counseling and a temporary separation in such situations, despite the fact that regardless of how many times the abuser apologizes and promises never to do it again, experts agree: the cycle of domestic abuse doesn’t end until the victim leaves and doesn’t come back to the relationship . Atheist feminists strongly denounce these attitudes . They also denounce the fact that Rick Warren believes wives should be subservient to their husbands . Furthermore, some Protestant churches advocate that women (but not men) must dress modestly, which atheist feminists reject because they argue it implies that women are sex objects and men are not . Some Protestants, particularly those in the Quiverfull movement, oppose birth control, natural family planning, and sterilization, and some even oppose medical assistance during childbirth . Atheist feminists denounce all this as sexist .

Atheist feminism and Hinduism

Atheist feminists deplore the plight of Hindu widows, who are “traditionally shunned as bad luck and forced to live in destitution on the edge of society. Her husband’s death is considered her fault, and she has to shave her head, shun hot food and sweets and never remarry. In the pre-independence India of the 1930′s, the tradition applied even to child brides of 5 or 6 who had been betrothed for the future by their families but had never laid eyes on their husbands…” . They oppose sati, a Hindu religious practice illegal since 1829 , yet occasionally still occurring , where Hindu widows burn themselves alive on their husbands’ funeral pyres . Atheist feminists believe this to be wrong and sexist and point out it is often forced against the woman’s will . They also denounce the idea that women should be subservient to men, as advocated in this quote from a Hindu sacred text, “By a girl, by a young woman, or even by an aged one, nothing must be done independently, even in her own house. In childhood a female must be subject to her father, in youth to her husband, when her lord is dead to her sons; a woman must never be independent,” (Laws of Manu, V, 147-8) .

Atheist feminists also oppose the Hindu religious practice of devadasi, in which girls are “married” and dedicated to a deity (deva or devi) or temple . The marriage usually occurs before the girl reaches puberty and always requires the girl to become a prostitute for upper-caste community members . The practice of devadasi was outlawed in all of India in 1988, yet some still practice illegally .

Atheist feminism and Islam

A list of verses from the Quran that atheist feminists consider sexist is available at the Skeptic’s Annotated Bible, an atheist website .

Atheist feminists oppose the idea that women are made unclean by menstruation and must be under special restrictions during it, which is present in many religions including Islam . Furthermore, atheist feminists oppose sharia law (the sacred law of Islam) declaring it to be sexist and cruel to women . For example, atheist feminists oppose the fact that in many Muslim countries women (but not men) are forced by law to wear the veil, chador and/or other restrictive clothes, and can be punished by morality police if they do not comply . This is done because the Quran commands women to be modest (Sura 24:30-31), and even where it is not required by law, Muslim women (but not men) are required by their religion to wear headscarves and cover all of their bodies except their faces and hands , lest men lust after them, which atheist feminists reject because they argue it implies that women are sex objects and men are not . In Saudi Arabia in 2002, during a fire at a girls’ school, “morality police forced girls to stay inside the burning building because they were not wearing the head scarves and black cloaks known as abayas that women must wear in public in that kingdom” because it is considered sinful and immodest not to wear them; fifteen girls died as a result . Furthermore, “In Zamfara State in northern Nigeria [where sharia law is in effect], a pregnant 13-year-old girl called Bariya Ibrahim received 180 lashes of the cane in 2001 after being pimped by her father. The state’s attorney general said: ‘It is the law of Allah, so we don’t have anything to worry about,’” Atheist feminists oppose female genital mutilation and honor killings, which they believe are often caused by Islamic beliefs . For example, those who commit honor killings often try to justify them by saying the victim was refusing to wear Islamic clothing (such as hijab) or dating non-Muslim men , or otherwise not being a proper Muslim woman. Those who commit female genital mutilation also often try to justify it by saying it is required by Islam . Although female genital mutilation is not mentioned in the Quran, “it has, however, become a ‘law by custom’…The practice has become important to Islam because it is associated with female sexual purity .” Furthermore the practice “is often associated with the religion of Islam, and is most often perfomed in Middle Eastern and North African countries .” Atheist feminists oppose the Islamic idea of divorce, where a man can often divorce his wife simply by repeating three times “I divorce you,” while women often find it extremely difficult to get a divorce, or if they do get one, to retain custody of their children . They oppose the Islamic ideas that a woman’s testimony is only worth half that of a man (Sura 2:282), that her inheritance should be worth half of his (Sura 4:11), and that men are superior to women and a woman’s husband can beat her (Sura 4:34) . Furthermore, due to the testimony of women not being considered as valuable as men’s in the Quran (Sura 2:282), many Muslim countries, such as Saudi Arabia, have declared that a man can only be convicted of rape if he confesses or if four male eyewitnesses testify that the sex occurred and was forced and if this standard is not met the woman bringing the charge of rape may be found guilty of fornication and forced to endure 100 lashes , a punishment required for fornicators by the Quran (Sura 24:1-3.) If found guilty of adultery, sharia law allows her to be stoned to death, and this is still done in some Muslim countries, for example Saudi Arabia

Atheist feminists also condemn the fact that Muhammad, according to the “Hadith (the sayings and traditions of the Prophet)… married a prepubescent child [his wife Aisha bint Abu Bakr], and that when he was given two slave girls he gave the ugly one away to a friend and kept the beautiful one, Maryam, to use sexually .” Indeed, the age of consent to marriage is set very low in many Muslim countries, which look to Muhammad as their guide in such matters, “There are some that argue the Prophet married Aisha bint Abu Bakr, at the age of 9 and therefore deduct that child marriage is permissible,.” Furthermore “a 2009 Yemeni Ministry of Social Affairs report found that a quarter of all females in Yemen marry before the age of 15. In Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, personal status law is not passed and none of these countries have signed the CEDAW, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. Often new bills are passed in parliaments in several Muslim-majority countries to set the minimum age of marriage to 17 or 18, but then are rejected and found to be ‘unIslamic’” . Furthermore polygamy, which atheist feminists see as sexist since it provides for each man to have more than one wife, but expects each woman to be content sharing one man with many other wives, is legal in many Muslim countries and condoned by Islam . Atheist feminists strongly denounce all this and see Islam as the cause

Atheist feminists also note that “all Islamic schools ‘agree that women do not lead men in (performing) religious duties,’” although recently some Muslim women have tried to challenge

this .

Atheist feminists also oppose the sexist idea, believed by many Muslims (yet considered a misinterpretation of Islam by others) that in the afterlife all male Muslim martyrs (or in some interpretations all male Muslims in general) will get 72 virgin women called houris to sleep with who do not menstruate, have children, have bad vaginal odors, or have menopause, while nothing similar is promised for women .

Atheist feminism and Jainism

Atheist feminists denounce the beliefs of the Digambara sect of Jainism that a woman “cannot achieve liberation without first being reborn as a man” and that “women are intrinsically harmful” .

Atheist feminism and Judaism

A list of verses from the Bible, including the Jewish Bible (also known as the Old Testament), that atheist feminists consider sexist is available at the Skeptic’s Annotated Bible, an atheist website .

Atheist feminists oppose the idea that women are made unclean by menstruation and must be under special restrictions during it, which is present in many religions including Judaism . They oppose the fact that during the time the Jewish temple existed in Jerusalem, when Judaism was served by priests rather than rabbis, only Aaron and his male descendants could be priests, as would be the case if the temple was ever rebuilt (as many Jews hope it will be) and even today only these male descendants can bless the congregation on the High Holidays, and are traditionally given the first and second aliyah . They oppose the prayer of male Orthodox Jews “Blessed is He that did not make me a woman,” and the attitude, held by some Orthodox Jews, that women should not be educated or work outside the home . They also oppose the fact that in Israel “…ultra-Orthodox Jews have set up ‘modesty police’ who terrorise young women who talk to men or show ordinary parts of their bodies. They break into their homes if they are seen with men; they force them to sit at the back of the bus, away from the men; and they even, in one recent instance, sprayed acid in the face of a 14-year-old girl . Atheist feminists also deplore the plight of the agunot, Orthodox and Conservative Jewish women whose husbands refuse to grant them a get (Jewish divorce certificate) which according to Jewish law a woman must obtain from her husband or else she cannot be considered divorced from him in Jewish law. This leaves her with no possibility of remarriage within Orthodox or Conservative Judaism, because Orthodox and Conservative Judaism refuse to recognize a woman’s right to initiate a divorce . Furthermore, atheist feminists note that Orthodox Judaism (unlike all other types of Judaism) does not ordain women as rabbis and cantors, and forbids them from signing marriage and divorce certificates, presiding over conversions, and being counted as members of a minyan Furthermore, in Orthodox Judaism women are required to sit separate from the men in the synagogue and at some religious celebrations, often at the back of the synagogue or in a upper floor balcony, and always separated from the men’s section by a wall called a mechitza . This makes it more difficult for women than men to see and participate in the prayer services and celebrations, and is done so that men will not be distracted by the beauty of women , while no provision is made for women who are distracted by the beauty of men, which atheist feminists argue implies that women are sex objects and men are not. Furthermore, Orthodox Jewish women are not allowed to recite prayers or blessings or read from the Tanakh in front of the congregation unless it is an all-female congregation, and even then they are not allowed to recite certain prayers that only men are allowed to lead, or prayers which require a minyan . This is so even in Orthodox Bat Mitzvahs . Furthermore, Orthodox Jewish women (but not men) are expected to wear head coverings after they get married (lest men other than their husband lust after them) and always to dress modestly , which atheist feminists reject because they argue it implies that women are sex objects and men are not . Furthermore, at the Kotel, a central Jewish holy site, part of the retaining wall of the Temple Mount on which the Second Temple stood before the Romans destroyed it in 70 CE, Israeli women (but not men) are banned from praying as a group, reading from a Torah scroll, or wearing tallit, and those who do so anyway are subject to a fine and up to six months in jail . This has been done to placate Orthodox Jews; indeed, women who violate this ban have been subject to verbal and physical abuse from some

Orthodox Jews . Furthermore, to placate Orthodox Jews women at the Kotel are forced to stay in a women’s section at the back, much smaller than the men’s section in front, and separated from the men’s section by a mechitza . Atheist feminists denounce all this as sexist .

Atheist feminism and Taoism

Atheist feminists object to the fact that one of Taoism’s goals for women is the end of menstruation . They also object to the fact that Taoism claims there is a masculine and a feminine energy mode, called yang and yin respectively, and that these are opposites, and that the masculine energy mode is associated with activity, warmth, aggression, control, heaven, light, and good spirits, while the feminine energy mode is associated with passivity, coldness, receptivity, yielding, hell, darkness, and evil spirits .

Atheist feminism and Zoroastrianism

Atheist feminists denounce the fact that Zoroastrian priests are required to be male .

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Atheist feminism, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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Eddy

Edwina Margaret Rose Monsoon, an only child, was born on 6 August 1951 in London. She later changed her name to Edina and is nearly always called Eddy; only her mother and ex-husband Justin call her Edwina. Edina is the owner of a successful metropolitan PR company. It seems that this stems partly from her being at the right places at the right times, and around the right people, from the late sixties to early eighties.

Patsy

Eurydice Colette Clytemnestra Dido Bathsheba Rabelais Patricia Cocteau Stone – always called Patsy, or Pats – is the last of a string of children born to an aging bohemian mother in Paris. She and Eddy were childhood friends, and since her mother despised and neglected her—regarding her more as a rival than a daughter—she came to rely on the Monsoons for most of her food (though she has only been seen eating twice), shelter and comfort. The first few years of her life were spent locked in a room, and the rest of her childhood was dismal by Patsy’s own description, without friends, parties or presents. She claims to have blocked out everything before 1968, though occasionally memories come back to her in the form of flashbacks. She is an outrageous, nymphomaniacal, past-her-prime fashion model and “ex-Bond girl” (although Patsy’s only actual “Bond” film was ”Bond Meets Black Emmanuelle”, Joanna Lumley was a genuine Bond Girl in ”On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”) who drinks like a fish and smokes like a chimney. She shares a codependent parasitic existenc

Patsy was born on 30 October, although her actual age is never clearly divulged, she often states herself to be between 39 and 43, although in one episode (“Hospital”), she admits to being 49 after a magazine claimed her to be 47. In one episode (“Cold Turkey”) a nurse guesses that she is around 65 years old. Patsy also has a sister named Jackie, whom Eddy abhors and who twice tried to kill Patsy with drug overdoses. Jackie intimidates Patsy into stating that Patsy is the elder of the two and says, in the same episode, that she is 72, to which Patsy replies “My God, then how old does that make me?”. Patsy usually seems as hard as nails and as cold as ice, especially in her behaviour toward her chief rival Saffy, but she sometimes reveals a more vulnerable side: in flashbacks to her bleak life with her mother, in her overeager admiration for the awful Jackie, and in those rare moments when Eddy temporarily withdraws her friendship.

Unlike Eddy, she is usually conservatively, but stylishly dressed, and almost invariably wears her hair in a characteristic blonde beehive. She has a well-paying, do-nothing job as a fashion director for a fashion magazine, which she received after sleeping with the publisher. She then went on to work in “Jeremy’s”—an exclusive high street fashion store, with celebrity clients such as Minnie Driver. It is hinted that Patsy has been involved in some questionable activities, such as adult films; she uses her knowledge from that time to blackmail Saffron’s prospective mother-in-law. When faced with a situation that someone else might find alarming or disconcerting, Patsy often responds with a cool “right cheers, thanks a lot.”

During the 1960s in Morocco, Patsy underwent a sex change and briefly lived as a man; but, as Eddy says “It fell off”. In a later episode she becomes one of the few tourists to smuggle marijuana into Morocco. She is very promiscuous up until “The Last Shout”, then begins to lose her power over men. In two episodes (“Door Handle” and “The Last Shout”), it is revealed that Patsy lives in the storeroom above Oddbins, a chain of UK liquor stores. She says that she has not eaten anything since 1973, having had a “stomach bypass”. She is shown in a flashback in the episode “Magazine” to be eating a plate of food. There are 2 other instances where she does eat. In the episode “New Year’s Eve”, she painfully chews and swallows a potato crisp, then is visibly shaken from having actually eaten something; and in the Christmas Special “Cold Turkey” she renders the entire assembly speechless by demurely asking for a small slice of turkey during Christmas lunch.

Saffy

Saffron Monsoon, Edina and Justin’s daughter, was born on 17 March 1975 in London. Although most people call her “Saffy”, Eddy usually refers to her as “sweetie”, “darling”, “sweetie-darling” and twice “little budgerigar” – meaning, according to Saunders, the voice of conscience in the household. Patsy, on the other hand, calls her “you little bitch troll from hell” etc. As the ever-virtuous intellectual, Saffy is the perfect foil for Eddy and Patsy, enduring abuse from both, especially regarding sex. Many times Eddy and Patsy refer to her as being virgin, and even she herself makes comments regarding it but in the chapter “Morocco” it is suggested that she may no longer be one: In the episode Humphrey, a “dirty old man” hedonistic acquaintance of Ed and Pats, after rudely introducing himself to Saffron by fondling her, invites the young lady to allow him to spread a mixture of honey, yogurt and almond extract over her body and allow “…a man old enough to be your father to lick it off.” Of course she lets the suggestion pass. There is cause to wonder though because, when the episode ends with Eddy and Patsy waking up from a 3 day substance abuse binge needing to return home, mum notices a smell like almond and honey on her daughter and as they leave the good-looking young Moroccan room attendant gives Saffron a knowing wink. You are left wondering how far the young lady may have actually gone, but it is evident she has had some sort of intimate contact. Little matter however as even after the trip to Morocco Saffy is still defending herself by constantly criticising her mother and Patsy, remorselessly assuming the moral high ground and the voice of reason. However, her mother’s neglectful ways, innumerable slights, and occasional outright cruelties have taken their toll, making her excessively serious and rather bitter.

Saffy is seen to defend her mother, especially from the controlling influence of Patsy. Saffy encourages her mother to have a boyfriend and an active sex life, something Patsy denies her (presumably for fear of losing the constant attention she craves). Saffy performs nearly all the domestic tasks (even for a brief period when she leaves home), due to her mother’s complete inability to look after herself. Saffy was also the only one to grieve when her maternal grandfather died, in contrast to the complete indifference to her Mother and Grandmother.

She dresses conservatively and almost always behaves responsibly; as a result, many unpleasant chores come her way, and she frequently must rescue Patsy and Eddy from sticky situations. Despite this, Patsy resents Saffy so intensely that once she even sells her into slavery in Morocco. Her mother sometimes treats her affectionately, and in one episode even defends her honour against a married-with-children college professor, who deceitfully tries to seduce her, by punching him in the face. Throughout Edina longs for a more exotic, fashionable daughter, and frequently tells her so. Saffy, for her part, passionately wishes to belong to a more normal family, and is once arrested for spying on a random family for her “Observations Diary.” Her older brother Serge ran away from home in desperation as a teenager and never calls or writes; nevertheless, he’s Eddy’s favourite child, even though she can no longer remember what he looks like.

In series 4, after completing her education, she writes a play about her life with her mother called “Self Raising Flower”; she means the play to be tragic and is confused when the audience starts laughing. At one point, she becomes involved with New Labour, and says her role model is Cherie Blair. In series 5, when she returns home pregnant from a stint of humanitarian work in Uganda, Eddy has nightmares at the prospect of being a grandmother until she learns that Saffy’s lover, John Johnson, is black, making the baby mixed race and, as such, a fabulous fashion accessory – “the Chanel of babies!” Saffy later gives birth to a daughter and names her Jane; Eddy, however, persists in calling her “Lola”.

At some point, Saffron became the legal owner of the house in which she and Eddy live; it had previously belonged to her father. In the final episode, she at last liberates herself from her mother and Patsy by throwing them out.

Serge

Serge Turtle is Edina’s eldest child and beloved only son, fathered by Marshall. He ran away from home as a teenager, in a fit of desperation. He is revered by Edina, her favourite child and often used as an example to Saffy of what an ideal child should be in Edina’s eyes. In the earlier series of the show, Serge is an unseen character whose whereabouts are referred to occasionally by Saffy, who seems to be in close contact with him. In the 2002 special ‘Gay’, Serge, played by Josh Hamilton, makes his first and only appearance, as the story revolves around Edina and Patsy finally taking a trip to New York, where Edina plans to track down her hitherto son who, she learns from her mother and Saffy, is gay.

On arrival in New York, Eddy and Pasty track down Serge to a New York bookstore and at first mistake his partner—a flamboyantly gay American named Martin—for Serge. Eddy is disappointed at first to find her son is actually a more reserved and bookish young man, something of a male counterpart to Saffy. However, she embraces her son, who finally reveals that he left because his of mother’s overbearing attitude and because she burnt his beloved books due to a claimed allergy to books (however Patsy says they did it because they were cold). After a somewhat tense stand off, Serge agrees to accompany his mother around New York. The episode eventually ends with a flashback, showing that Eddy adopted Martin as her son in New York.

Mother (Mrs. Monsoon)

Edina’s mother, Mrs. Monsoon, is a good-natured woman who often acts rather senile. She is despised by her daughter Edina but much loved by her granddaughter. She has an ambiguous relationship with Edina and seems to regard her with indifference, giving all her motherly devotion to Saffy. In the earlier series, she is a valuable ally for Saffy in her struggle for domestic control, often mentioning embarrassing facts from Eddy’s and Patsy’s childhood.

Edina addresses her, usually indirectly, as “The Old Woman,” never as “Mother”. Edina’s insults never seem to affect her; in fact, she usually manages to drop a few hard-hitting but humorous insults of her own. Sometimes she recognises the eccentricities of Edina, Patsy and visitors to the house. At times she even seems to see the dysfunctional qualities in Saffy.

In the first episode, she is apparently not in regular interaction with the other characters, appearing only in Edina’s flashback to her teenage years. By the second episode ”Fat” she is in evidence visiting Edina’s home to see Saffy. By the third episode ”France” when she meets Patsy there it seems the two have not seen each other in many years (“Still blonde then?”, remarks Mother); here Patsy seems to resent her and apparently the feeling is mutual. After this it is apparent that like Patsy, Mother is a regular visitor to Edina’s home, and that Patsy and Mother seem basically to like one another, despite the odd snide comment.

Later episodes reveal that Mother had been a sort of surrogate mother to Patsy, whose own mother neglected her; however, their relationship is ambiguous. Patsy shows her some respect, even helping her and calling her “Mrs M”. Mrs Monsoon sometimes makes condescending remarks about Patsy, even in her presence, once telling Edina that “poor dear sad old Patsy” is not a suitable or reliable friend. Mother has occasionally confused a transvestite for Patsy.

When Mrs. Monsoon’s husband dies (“Death”), Edina infuriates Saffy by responding to the news with a blank stare and the question “Did he leave a will?”. Mother doesn’t seem to care much either, realising that she’ll have a bit more room at her house. Oddly, in this episode, Mrs. Monsoon states that she was married for “nearly forty years”. It was established in series 1, episode 5, that Eddy turned 40, the implication thus being that Eddy was born before her parents were married.

Mrs. Monsoon displays a kleptomaniacal streak at times, taking random items from Edina’s household (mugs, ashtrays, clothing) and donating them to the charity shop she volunteers at. In series 4, episode 5, “Small Opening”, she is seen to be stealing larger pieces of furniture and asks for Patsy’s help to remove a wardrobe that has become “stuck on the stairs” that she is donating to Sheltered Housing.

In only one scene throughout the entire run of the show are she and Edina alone together, and it’s an awkward experience for both of them. After series 3, her mental faculties begin to decline and she increasingly inhabits a strange world of her own.

Bubble and Katy Grin

Bubble is Eddy’s personal assistant, played by English actress Jane Horrocks. The character speaks with a strong Lancashire accent, exhibits a daft fashion sense and acts in an apparently foolish manner. She is unable to remember the names of common objects or understand basic concepts. Frequent comedic dialogue between Edina and Bubble involves Edina dragging vital information out of her unresponsive PA. Bubble’s function in the PR company is simply to flatter Edina’s vanity by comparison.

Alongside her usual personality Bubble demonstrates rare glimpses of intelligence, even special abilities. She is revealed to be fluent in French but also speaks in French-sounding gibberish. Bubble has the most eclectic fashion sense out of all the characters. Her outfits are frequently bizarre, overtly theatrical and parodic of fashion.

At one point in the show Bubble is made editor of ”Vogue” magazine but it is unclear that she took up the position, eventually returning to Edina’s company. Bubble resigns as Edina’s PA on two further occasions: Edina dismisses Bubble for gross incompetence but Bubble sues—and wins—the right to keep her job. However, the details of her job are unspecified and she is demoted to Edina’s maid. Bubble later abandons Edina when the PR company is on the verge of a takeover. Damon (played by Antony Cotton) replaced her as Edina’s PA.

Bubble’s lookalike cousin Katy Grin (also played by Horrocks) is a slick but aggressive and arrogant television presenter who speaks with standard Received Pronunciation. Katy Grin shows no real affection for any of the characters and gleefully issues bitchy backhanders at the protagonists. She has an unnamed baby son born through artificial insemination from an anonymous father.

The creation of Katy Grin was due in part to Jane Horrocks’ reluctance to reprise the role of Bubble as the show progressed, turning down the chance to appear in the 1996 special ”The Last Shout”. When the series was revived Horrocks urged Jennifer Saunders to replace Bubble with the character ”Yitta Hilberstam”, an Icelandic waitress Horrocks had played in Saunders’ sitcom pilot, Mirrorball. Horrocks ultimately returned to ”Absolutely Fabulous” when Saunders created Katy Grin for series 4.

Another character portrayed by Horrocks is the American character called ‘Lola’. Lola worked with Bo and Marshall on their TV Ministry. The character appeared in the 2002 Special “Gay” and participated in Saunders’ scathing parody of televangelism in the USA.

Sarah

Sarah, played by Naoko Mori, is a quiet, shy, studious girl and Saffron’s best friend since childhood. In the beginning of the series, she rarely drinks, but by series 4, Sarah carried a flask in her jacket, drinking even while working as the stagehand on Saffron’s play. Sarah is Saffron’s Patsy-figure in tempting Saffy to try drinking alcohol and teasing her about her romantic endeavours, real or imagined. Because of her timid demeanour, Sarah is often the subject of Edina’s derision and physical abuse. Edina consistently refers to her as “Titicaca” and once set her hair on fire with a candle. This triggered Sarah to seek professional counselling, which seemed to drive her into a deeper state of imbalance. In the series 4 and 5, Sarah starts to unravel, becoming more and more unstable, and eventually takes to stalking Spice Girl Emma Bunton, another friend of Saffron’s. At this point, Saffy realises Sarah needs more professional help and reports her to the police.

Justin

Justin is Saffron’s father and Edina’s second ex-husband. He is gay and keeps an antique shop with his partner Oliver, a frequent guest in the earlier series. Justin tries hard to be the best father he can to Saffron and the two of them have what is probably the healthiest relationship on the show; however, he sometimes seems quite afraid of Edina, and it is never explained why he left the infant Saffy in her care. Justin and Edina put up with each other for Saffron’s sake but are not always successful in carrying out this charade. At times Edina seems to be extremely bitter over the dissolution of their marriage, and she is also jealous of the warm relationship he shares with Saffy. Patsy and Justin have a variable relationship. They often act antagonistically toward each other, but other times seem to get along well. Oliver and Saffy are friends, even though he despises Patsy and loathes Edina. Justin is revealed to be Canadian and usually walks with a cane.

Marshall

Marshall Turtle is Edina’s first husband and father to Serge, Saffy’s half-brother who managed to escape the Monsoon household early on. Numerous references are made to Serge throughout the series, but he is only seen once in a special late in the series. Marshall is an unsuccessful movie producer in Hollywood who later begins pursuing other money-making schemes with his wife, Bo. Bo dominates him easily, and when he is with her he seems more like a young child than a husband. Early in the series, however, Marshall manifests a more masculine, adult persona when he appears with Sondra, a grief therapist, and Cherysh, a classic California airhead. Although Marshall is generally kind to Saffy, perhaps pitying her for having to live with Edina, he does comply with Bo’s attempt to steal her baby to be sold through their own private adoption agency to Hollywood actors wishing to adopt. It was hinted later in the series that Marshall had some homosexual feelings, which he explored with a leather daddy.

Bo

Bo Turtle (”née” Chrysalis) is Marshall’s wife throughout most of the series, although in series 1, she is one of several of Marshall’s L.A. girlfriends. She is a loud and obnoxious American, but with warm and caring tendencies. However, on one occasion, she tried to steal Saffy’s baby, but actually made away with the placenta. She is a nurse by training, but we see her in this role only once in the series when Patsy is living in New York. In the episode Birthin’, Marshall reveals that Bo is currently a dental nurse, when she was trying to help Saffy deliver. Bo has many wacky wigs and costumes. She tends to have a drug and alcohol problem when she’s experiencing hardships. Both Bo and Marshall experiment with different religious groups throughout the show, including Christianity, Judaism, and Scientology. Two of the series highlights for Bo involved her appearing on television. One was an infomercial where she was selling Staylene – “the non fat fat-eating product for the faith community”. Later is the spcial White Box, Bo and Marshall were running an evangelistic Christian channel, scamming viewers out of money. PureGold! “Praise him!”

Bettina & Max

Bettina & Max are the often mentioned designer friends of Edina’s. They were first mentioned in the original French and Saunders sketch ‘Modern Mother and Daughter’. Bettina is the “Queen of Minimalism” and was friends with Edina when they were youngsters, much to Patsy’s annoyance. She married Max, another designer. They first appeared in flashback in series 2′s fourth episode, “New Best Friend”, when Patsy was injured by an art installation in their minimalist home. This precedes a visit from the couple to Edina’s home in the present time. The impending visit infuriates Patsy, leading to a serious falling out with Edina, who is trying desperately to prepare her home for the minimalist designers. However, upon arrival, the couple are completely disorganised, slovenly, distraught and at odds with each other, mainly it seems thanks to the birth of their son, a baby whom neither seems able to cope with. After Eddy sleeps with Max, she ejects them from their home.

The two reappear in the 2004 special “White Box”, when Edina hires them to redesign her kitchen. Max is now gay and he and Bettina are divorced. Bettina is under heavy medication as a result of Eddy’s interference in her marriage. There are several contradictions about these characters. In the series 1 episode “France”, it is stated that Edina is in fact designing Bettina’s kitchen as the first of her forays into interior design. In “White Box” it is stated that Bettina and Max’s only child is a daughter, rather than a son. The daughter had herself taken into the care of the local authority.

Jackie Stone & Patsy’s Mother

Two members of Patsy’s family are seen in the course of the series. Her mother, an Absinthe swilling, bohemian nymphomaniac (portrayed by Eleanor Bron), is seen in flashback in three episodes, and was said by Jackie to have given birth to numerous illegitimate children, with Jackie and Patsy being the last of them. This might technically make Jackie and Patsy half-sisters if they did indeed have different fathers, but it’s not made clear that they did. Jackie however states “our father”, and claims he could have been any of the men in any of the bars in France. In the series 1 episode “Magazine”, Patsy recalls the misery of her upbringing for Saffy’s benefit, which ends with her mother dying in a retirement home. In the series 2 episode “Birth” Patsy again recalls her relationship with her mother, this time recalling the trauma of her birth. Another flashback sequence in the series 5 episode “Cold Turkey” explains Patsy’s aversion to celebrating Christmas thanks to her mother’s hatred of the holiday.

Patsy’s sister “Jackie” appears in two separate episodes. In the series 3 episode “Happy New Year” Jackie (played by Kate O’Mara), visits Patsy and Edina on New Year’s Eve 1994, hoping to be able to stay for the long term at Edina’s house. Patsy aids her in stealing money and jewellery from Edina, before Jackie returns to Paris to run her charity for unwanted cats. In the course of the episode, it is revealed that there are many other Stone siblings, but nobody knows how many, as their mother “was such a slut”. Jackie also forces Patsy to claim that she is the older of the two, by burning her with a cigarette. Jackie admits to being 72 years old when she is alone with Patsy. Jackie later returns in the series 5 episode “Cold Turkey”, when she is summoned to the hospital where Patsy is feared to be dying, apparently from the effects of a voodoo doll in Jackie’s possession. In the hospital, the two sisters recall how Jackie stole the ‘only man Patsy ever loved’. After forcing Patsy to leave her everything in her will, Jackie prepares to murder Patsy through a massive heroin overdose. However, it is Jackie who is discovered dead the next morning, the implication being that Patsy managed to switch the tables and that she in fact murdered Jackie.

Fleur, Catriona & Magda

Three recurring characters throughout all the AbFab seriess are Fleur, Catriona and Magda, played by Harriet Thorpe, Helen Lederer and Kathy Burke respectively. Initially, the three appear in series one, episode six, “Magazine” as colleagues of Patsy’s. Magda is the editor of the magazine where Patsy is Fashion Director, whereas Fleur and Catriona are either editors or directors of other departments—their roles never being specified. Fleur is obsessed with make up, whereas Catriona just wants to feature her friends in the magazine at every opportunity. Magda speaks in headlines in a thick Cockney accent and rarely constructs a complete sentence, whereas Fleur and Catriona seem extremely dim.

All three reappear at the beginning of series two, in the first episode “Hospital”, when they gather around Patsy’s hospital bed, prior to her plastic surgery. When Patsy visits the magazine’s office again in episode 4, “New Best Friend”, Fleur and Catriona are present discussing expensive beauty treatments that ‘don’t get you anything’, while Magda is only mentioned. In this episode the office is populated by Hamish, the magazine’s eloquent restaurant critic, played by Jennifer Saunders’ husband, Adrian Edmondson; Carmen, a filthy mouthed travel writer played by Jo Brand; and Suzy, the layout artist who spends all her time playing video games, played by Meera Syal.

In the series 3 episode “Fear” the trio meet up in Edina’s kitchen, after the magazine has closed. Magda is appointed the new editor of HQ magazine in New York, taking Patsy with her and Edina offers Catriona the job of her PA, having fired Bubble. Fleur states she intends to fall back on her Revlon connections to find work. In the two part special in 1996, “The Last Shout”, Catriona is still working as Edina’s PA, although this seems to be temporary while Bubble is away editing French Vogue. Fleur and Magda are both guests at Saffron’s wedding, which is the last time Magda appears in the series. By series 4, it seems that Fleur and Catriona have now become friends with Edina and Katy Grin. In episode four, “Donkey” they are part of a regular dining group with Edina, Patsy and Katy, and by the final episode of series 4, “Menopause”, both are working for Edina in her TV production company. Catriona then joins ‘Menopausals Anonymous’ and attends a meeting held in Edina’s house. The two appear again in the special “Gay”, having returned from London Fashion Week with Patsy. In series five, episode six, “Schmoozin’”, Fleur and Catriona appear to be working at ‘Jeremy’s’ with Patsy and intend to complain to Jeremy about Patsy’s behaviour. They rescind this when Patsy threatens to kill Fleur. Their final appearance is in the 2003 Christmas Special, “Cold Turkey” (aka “Drinkin’”) when they visit Patsy in hospital.

Like Bubble, the two characters seem extremely dimwitted, but somehow manage to hold down jobs at various magazines or shops. Catriona often appears to be oblivious of any conversations taking place around her, and indeed when the magazine they all work for closes, it isn’t until much later, back at Edina’s house, that she grasps the news, having been “in the loo” when the closure was announced.

Claudia Bing

A rival played by Celia Imrie running a more successful PR agency (Bing, Bing, Bing & Bing) who seems to pick up her remaining clients. Claudia generally seems to have relatively unoriginal ideas and is probably less creative and talented than Edina – however, she often beats her by working hard.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Absolutely Fabulous, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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Human reproduction

Folic acid is an important nutrient for women who may become pregnant, because a woman’s blood levels of folate fall during pregnancy due to an increased maternal RBC synthesis in the first half of the pregnancy and fetal demands in the second half. The first four weeks of pregnancy (when most women do not even realize they are pregnant) require folic acid for proper development of the brain, skull, and spinal cord. Serious birth defects like neural tube defects are less likely to occur when women take 0.4& mg of folic acid daily. Adequate folate intake during the preconception period, the time right before and just after a woman becomes pregnant, helps protect against a number of congenital malformations including neural tube defects (which are the most notable birth defects that occur from folate deficiency).

Neural tube defects (NTDs) result in malformations of the spine (spina bifida), skull, and brain (anencephaly). The risk of neural tube defects is significantly reduced when supplemental folic acid is consumed in addition to a healthy diet prior to and during the first month following conception. The protective effect of folate during pregnancy goes beyond NTDs. Supplementation with folic acid has been shown to reduce the risk of congenital heart defects, cleft lip, limb defects, and urinary tract anomalies.

Women who could become pregnant are advised to eat foods fortified with folic acid or take supplements in addition to eating folate-rich foods to reduce the risk of some serious birth defects. Having enough folic acid supplements i

A study published by Milunski et al. has indicated that women that take folic acid supplements during the course of pregnancy can dramatically reduce the prevalence of infant neural tube defects by 3.9 times. The prevalence had dropped from 3.5 to 0.9 defects per 1000 births.

Although the recommended folic acid intake for women planning for pregnancy is 400 micrograms per day, the mechanisms and reasons why folic acid prevents birth defects is unknown. It is hypothesized that the insulin-like growth factor 2 gene is differentially methylated and these changes in IGF2 result in improved intrauterine growth and development.

Folate deficiency during pregnancy can increase the risk of preterm delivery, infant low birth weight, and fetal growth retardation. Folate deficiency in the mother increases homocysteine level in the blood, which may lead to spontaneous abortion and pregnancy complications such as placental abruption and preeclampsia.

Recent studies have been conducted to test the hypothesis that folic acid supplementation reduces the risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia, but evidence so far has been weak.

Folic acid may also reduce chromosomal defects in sperm to some extent, which may be relevant for men considering to father a child. A benefit is indicated even for more than 700 mcg folate per day, which, though below the tolerable upper intake levels of 1,000& µg/day, was 1.8 times the recommended dietary allowance.

It is estimated that approximately 85% of women use folic acid supplements before they become pregnant, but only 18% use enough folic acid supplements to meet the current folic acid requirements due to socio-economic challenges facing some women.

Folic acid supplements may even protect the fetus against disease when the mother is battling a disease or taking medications or smoking during pregnancy.

Heart disease

An estimated 13,500 deaths occur annually due to folate deficiency’s effect on coronary artery disease and the risk of ischemic heart disease, and stroke has been reduced by 15% since folate fortification regulations were enforced. Adequate concentrations of folate, vitamin B12, or vitamin B6 may decrease the circulating level of homocysteine, an amino acid normally found in blood. There is evidence that an elevated homocysteine level is an independent risk factor for heart disease and stroke.

The evidence suggests that high levels of homocysteine may damage coronary arteries or make it easier for blood clotting cells called platelets to clump together and form a clot.

However, there is currently no evidence available to suggest that lowering homocysteine with vitamins will reduce risk of heart disease. The NORVIT trial suggests that folic acid supplementation may do more harm than good.

As of 2006, studies have shown that giving folic acid to reduce levels of homocysteine does not result in clinical benefit. One of these studies suggests that folic acid in combination with B12 may even increase some cardiovascular risks.

However, a 2005 study found that 5& mg of folate daily over a three-week period reduced pulse pressure by 4.7 mmHg compared with a placebo, and concluded that

:Folic acid is a safe and effective supplement that targets large artery stiffness and may prevent isolated systolic hypertension.

Also, as a result of new research, “heart experts” at Johns Hopkins Medical Center reported in March 2008 in favour of therapeutic folate, although they cautioned that it is premature for people to begin to self-medicate by taking high doses of folic acid.”

Hyperhomocysteinemia is a predictor of cardiovascular disease and hypertension among children and folic acid is a safe and effective supplement because it reduces serum homocysteine levels as well as systolic and diastolic blood pressure, thus preventing cardiovascular disease in children.

Folic acid supplements may improve the integrity of the vascular endothelium.

Folic acid supplements consumed before and during pregnancy may reduce the risk of heart defects in infants.

Folic acid supplementation may reduce the risk of children’s developing metabolic syndrome.

Folic acid supplements may worsen the outcomes in patients with cardiovascular disease such as angina and myocardial infarction.

Stroke

Folic acid appears to reduce the risk of stroke. The reviews indicate only that in some individuals the risk of stroke appears to be reduced, but a definite recommendation regarding supplementation beyond the current recommended daily allowance has not been established for stroke prevention. Observed stroke reduction is consistent with the reduction in pulse pressure produced by folate supplementation of 5& mg per day, since hypertension is a key risk factor for stroke. Folic supplements are inexpensive and relatively safe to use and that is why stroke or hyperhomocysteinemia patients are encouraged to consume daily B vitamins including folic acid.

Cancer

Folate deficiency decreases intracellular S-adenosylmethionine (SAM), which inhibits cytosine methylation in DNA, activates proto-oncogenes, induces malignant transformations, causes DNA precursor imbalances, misincorporates uracil into DNA, and promotes chromosome breakage; all of these mechanisms increase the risk of prostate cancer development.

The association between folate and cancer appears to be complex. Even though theoretically it has been suggested that folate may help prevent cancer actual trials have found that supplementation increases rates of cancer.

Some investigations have proposed that good levels of folic acid may be related to lower risk of esophageal, stomach, and ovarian cancers, but the benefits of folic acid against cancer may depend on when it is taken and on individual conditions. In addition, folic acid may not be helpful, and could even be damaging, in people already suffering from cancer or from a precancerous condition. On the converse, it has been suggested that excess folate may promote tumor initiation. Folate has shown to play a dual role in cancer development; low folate intake protects against early carcinogenesis but high folate intake promotes advanced carcinogenesis. Therefore, public health recommendations should be careful not to encourage too much folate intake.

Diets great in folate are associated with decreased risk of colorectal cancer; some studies show an association that is stronger for folate from foods alone than for folate from foods and supplements, while other studies find that folate from supplements is more effective due to greater bioavailability. A 2007 randomized clinical trial found that folate supplements did not reduce the risk of colorectal adenomas, but do in fact increase the presence of advanced lesions and adenoma multiplicity. Colorectal cancer is the most studied type of cancer in relation to folate and one carbon metabolism and most research studies associate high folate intake with a reduced risk of prostate cancer. However, folic acid supplement intake increased advanced colorectal cancer development by 67% in a 14 year European research study involving 520,000 men.

A 2006 prospective study of 81,922 Swedish adults found that diets great in folate from foods, but not from supplements, were associated with a reduced risk of pancreatic cancer.

Most epidemiologic studies suggest that diets high in folate are associated with decreased risk of breast cancer, but results are not uniformly consistent: One broad cancer screening trial reported a potential harmful effect of much folate intake on breast cancer risk, suggesting that routine folate supplementation should not be recommended as a breast cancer preventive, but a 2007 Swedish prospective study found that much folate intake was associated with a lower incidence of postmenopausal breast cancer. A 2008 study has shown no significant effect of folic acid on overall risk of total invasive cancer or breast cancer among women. Folate intake may not have any effect on the risk of breast cancer but may have an effect for women who consume at least 15 g/d of alcohol. Folate intake of more than 300& µg/d may reduce the risk of breast cancer in women who consume alcohol.

In men, folic acid supplementation appears to double the risk of prostate cancer. Recently, a clinical trial showed that daily supplementation of 1& mg of folic acid increased the risk of prostate cancer while dietary and plasma folate levels among non vitamin users actually decreased the risk of prostate cancer. The reasons why high levels of folic acid may increase cancer is because of its role in nucleotide synthesis (proliferating neoplastic cells need this and folate receptors are increased in cancers). Folate’s role in DNA methylation is important in prostate cancer. Unmetabolized folic acid is associated with a reduction in natural killer cell cytotoxicity, which reduces the immune system’s ability to defend against malignant cells. However, the study also showed that dietary baseline intake of folate may have inverse effects of prostate cancer.

The cancer drug methotrexate is designed to inhibit the metabolism of folic acid. Folic acid may interact unexpectedly with the cancer drug fluorouracil. The exact mechanism of interaction is unknown.

The low dihydrofolate reductase activity in the liver of humans compared to other animals and so the low conversion of folic acid into its active derivatives might be due to the control of this enzyme by transcription factors such as E2F-1 involved in cell proliferation. It has been suggested that “the low level of DHFR, and the other proteins under the control of E2F-1, in humans may have evolved to hinder the development of cancer. If this is the case, other animals with slow tissue turnover rates, possibly related to long life span, might also have low DHFR activity.”

Although the relationship between folate and prostate cancer is not yet clear, there have been suicide gene studies that show a target vector for folate to prostate and nasopharyngeal cancer cells. Growth of tumor cells is significantly inhibited when a folate-linked nanoparticle is injected intratumorally. The mechanism might be the interference of transfection and communication failures of intracellular gap junctions.

A Finnish study consisting of 29,133 older male smokers resulted in the observation that prostate cancer risk had no relationship with serum folate levels.

Folic acid supplements prevent mistakes from occurring during DNA replication and repair, for example the mistake of inserting uracils into the DNA. This is a proposed mechanism for folic acid’s protection against colorectal cancer.

Folic acid supplements stimulate the PI3k/Akt signaling cascade, which leads to improved cell survival but this could be beneficial or harmful for the body because cancer cells may use this pathway to survive. Folic acid may also reduce the levels of PTEN (a tumor suppressor gene), making this relationship even more controversial.

Antifolates

Folate is important for cells and tissues that rapidly divide. Cancer cells divide rapidly, and drugs that interfere with folate metabolism are used to treat cancer. The antifolate methotrexate is a drug often used to treat cancer because it inhibits the production of the active form of THF from the inactive dihydrofolate (DHF). However, methotrexate can be toxic,

producing side-effects such as inflammation in the digestive tract that make it difficult to eat normally. Also, bone marrow depression (inducing leukopenia and thrombocytopenia), acute renal, and hepatic failure have been reported.

Folinic acid, under the drug name leucovorin, is a form of folate (formyl-THF) that can help “rescue” or reverse the toxic effects of methotrexate.

Folinic acid is ”not” the same as folic acid. Folic acid supplements have little established role in cancer chemotherapy.

There have been cases of severe adverse effects of accidental substitution of folic acid for folinic acid in patients receiving methotrexate cancer chemotherapy. It is important for anyone receiving methotrexate to follow medical advice on the use of folic or folinic acid supplements. The supplement of folinic acid in patients undergoing methotrexate treatment is to give non-rapidly dividing cells enough folate to maintain normal cell functions. The amount of folate given will be depleted by rapidly dividing cells (cancer) very fast and so will not negate the effects of methotrexate.

Obesity

Folic acid increases lipolysis in adipocytes and may have a role in the prevention of obesity and type 2 diabetes. This mechanism involves the beta adrenoceptors in the adbdominal adipocytes.

Folic acid supplements may reduce the accumulation of cholesterol in the liver and in the blood; this may be due to folic acid’s role in incorporating cholesterol into bile acid. Folic acid supplements have been shown to increase bile acid production and flow.

Depression

Some evidence links a shortage of folate with depression.

There is some limited evidence from randomised controlled trials that using folic acid in addition to antidepressants, specifically SSRIs, may have benefits. Research at the University of York and Hull York Medical School has found a link between depression and low levels of folate. One study by the same team involved 15,315 subjects. However, the evidence is probably too limited at present for this to be a routine treatment recommendation.

Folic acid supplementation affects noradrenaline and serotonin receptors within the brain and this could be the cause of folic acid’s possible ability to act as an antidepressant.

Memory and mental agility

In a 3-year trial on 818 people over the age of 50, short-term memory, mental agility, and verbal fluency were all found to be better among people who took 800 micrograms of folic acid daily, twice the current RDA, than those who took placebo. The study was reported in ”The Lancet” on 20 January 2007.

Schizophrenia

Folate deficiency may increase the risk of schizophrenia because by increasing homocysteine levels folate also increases interleukin 6 and tumor necrosis factor alpha levels and these two cytokines are involved in the development of schizophrenia. The exact mechanisms involved in the development of schizophrenia are not entirely clear but may have something to do with DNA methylation and one carbon metabolism and these are the precise roles of folate in the body and that is why folate deficiency has been linked to schizophrenia.

Allergic diseases

There is a relationship between folic acid and allergic diseases. In one study that examined the relationship between serum folate levels and markers of atopy, wheeze, and asthma in 8083 subjects serum folate levels were found to be inversely related to IgE level, atopy, and wheeze in a dose-response relationship. Increased folate levels were also associated with decreased risk of doctor-diagnosed asthma. Folic acid supplementation during late pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of childhood asthma, increased risk of persistent asthma, and poorer respiratory function in young children.

Rheumatoid arthritis

Folic acid supplementation of 5–27& mg per week has shown to have a protective effect against rheumatoid arthritis.

Fertility

Folate is necessary for fertility in both men and women. In men, it contributes to spermatogenesis. In women, on the other hand, it contributes to oocyte maturation, implantation, placentation, in addition to the general effects of folic acid and pregnancy. Therefore, it is necessary to receive sufficient amounts through the diet, in order to avoid subfertility. Also, polymorphisms in genes of enzymes involved in folate metabolism could be one reason for fertility complications in some women with unexplained infertility.

Renal disease

Folic acid supplements may reduce the risk of children developing renal diseases or injuries such as microalbuminuria.

Type 1 diabetes mellitus

Type 1 diabetes mellitus patients have lower plasma levels of folic acid and may benefit from folic acid supplements or folic acid fortified food products.

Macular degeneration

A substudy of the Women’s Antioxidant and Folic Acid Cardiovascular Study published in 2009 reports that use of a nutritional supplement that contains folic acid, pyridoxine, and cyanocobalamin decreased the risk of developing age-related macular degeneration by 34.7%.

Bone health

It has been hypothesized that folate deficiency can lead to elevated homocysteine levels, which, in turn, leads to an increased risk of bone fractures, osteoporosis, and reduction in BMD but research studies so far show controversial results.

Menopause

Folic acid supplements help relieve hot flushes in postmenopausal women. Just like in estrogen hormone replacement therapy, folic acid interacts with neurotransmitters (norepinephrine, serotonin) in the brain to reduce hot flushes.

Infectious disease

Folate deficiency is linked to anemia causing Plasmodium falciparum malaria in areas such as Colombia where malaria has reached endemic proportions.

Bone loss in Parkinson’s disease (PD)

Folate lowers homocysteine (Hcy) levels, which, in turn, prevents bone loss in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients taking levodopa (a psychoactive drug taken to treat Parkinson’s disease). Improvements in bone health include increased BMD at the lumbar spine, total femur, and femur shaft.

Folic acid supplements and masking of B12 deficiency

There has been concern about the interaction between vitamin B12 and folic acid. Folic acid supplements can correct the anemia associated with vitamin B12 deficiency. Unfortunately, folic acid will not correct changes in the nervous system that result from vitamin B12 deficiency. Permanent nerve damage could theoretically occur if vitamin B12 deficiency is not treated. Therefore, intake of supplemental folic acid should not exceed 1000 micrograms (1000& µg = 1& mg) per day to prevent folic acid from masking symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency. In fact, to date the evidence that such masking actually occurs is scarce, and there is no evidence that folic acid fortification in Canada or the U.S. has increased the prevalence of vitamin B12 deficiency or its consequences.

However, one recent study has demonstrated that high folic or folate levels, when combined with low B12 levels, are associated with significant cognitive impairment among the elderly.

In any case, it is important for older adults to be aware of the relationship between folic acid and vitamin B12, because they are at greater risk of having a vitamin B12 deficiency. Patients 50 years of age or older should ask their physicians to check their vitamin B12 status before taking a supplement that contains folic acid.

Overdose Risks

The risk of toxicity from folic acid is low because folate is a water-soluble vitamin and is regularly removed from the body through urine.

The Institute of Medicine has established a tolerable upper intake level (UL) for folate of 1& mg for adult men and women, and a UL of 800& µg for pregnant and lactating (breast-feeding) women less than 18 years of age. Supplemental folic acid should not exceed the UL to prevent folic acid from masking symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency.

Research suggests high levels of folic acid can interfere with some antimalarial treatments.

A 10,000-patient study at Tufts University in 2007 concluded that excess folic acid worsens the effects of B12 deficiency and in fact may affect the absorption of B12.

A study at the University of Adelaide concluded that the intake of folic acid supplements during late pregnancy increases the risk of babies developing childhood asthma by 30%, although researchers emphasized that their finding did not contradict recommendations to supplement folic acid in first trimester, when no additional risk was found.

Elderly population

There are benefits and risks of food folic acid fortification for elderly populations. Elevated exposure to folic acid due to fortification can improve folate and homocysteine levels but can also mask symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency. A study where 747 subjects aged 67 to 96 years were measured for B vitamin and homocysteine status showed that diets with folic acid fortification of 140& µg/100 g of grain product decreased homocysteine level and heart disease risk. However, Canada’s food supply is fortified with 150& µg/100 g of grain and much of the elderly population also take a supplement that includes a folic acid component of 400& µg. Therefore, it is important not to consume quantities over the recommended DRI.

Folate deficiency

Folate deficiency may lead to glossitis, diarrhea, depression, confusion, anemia, and fetal neural tube defects and brain defects (during pregnancy). Folate deficiency is diagnosed by analyzing CBC and plasma vitamin B12 and folate levels. CBC may indicate megaloblastic anemia but this could also be a sign of vitamin B12 deficiency. A serum folate of 3 μg/L or lower indicates deficiency. Serum folate level reflects folate status but erythrocyte folate level better reflects tissue stores after intake. An erythrocyte folate level of 140 μg/L or lower indicates inadequate folate status. Increased homocysteine level suggests tissue folate deficiency but homocysteine is also affected by vitamin B12 and vitamin B6, renal function, and genetics. One way to differentiate between folate deficiency from vitamin B12 deficiency is by testing for methylmalonic acid levels. Normal MMA levels indicate folate deficiency and elevated MMA levels indicate vitamin B12 deficiency. Folate deficiency is treated with supplemental oral folate of 400 to 1000 μg per day. This treatment is very successful in replenishing tissues even if deficiency was caused by malabsorption. Patients with megaloblastic anemia need to be tested for vitamin B12 deficiency before folate treatment because if the patient has vitamin B12 deficiency, folate supplementation can remove the anemia but can also worsen neurologic problems. Morbidly obese patients with BMIs of greater than 50 are more likely to develop folate deficiency.

Patients with celiac disease have a higher chance of developing folate deficiency.

Cobalamin deficiency may lead to folate deficiency, which, in turn, increases homocysteine levels and finally may result in the development of cardiovascular disease or birth defects.

Iron-Folic acid supplementation risk for children

Some studies show that iron-folic acid supplementation in children under 5 may result in increased mortality due to malaria; this has prompted the World Health Organization to alter their iron-folic acid supplementation policies for children in malaria prone areas such as India.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Folic acid, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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Birth mothers over 50=

Age 50 to 54

*1999: Aracelia Garcia of Sunnyside, Washington astounded doctors when she naturally conceived (without hormonal treatment) all-female triplets in 1999 at the age of 54. She delivered three healthy girls Arianna, Brianna and CeCelia by Caesarean section in January 2000.

*2000: Elizabeth Edwards, wife of the former U.S. Senator and Vice Presential nominee John Edwards, gave birth to son Jack in 2000 at the age of 51. The couple decided to have children again after their 16-year-old son was killed in a car accident in 1996. Mrs. Edwards had also had a daughter at the age of 49. Some fertility experts believe she used donor eggs; Elizabeth Edwards has remained silent on this question.

*2001: American portrait photographer Annie Leibovitz was 52 when she gave birth to her daughter Sarah in October 2001.

*2007: Rosinete Serrao gave birth to her own twin grandsons at a hospital in Recife, Brazil on September 28, 2007 at the age of 51, after choosing to act as a gestational surrogate for her 27-year-old daughter, Claudia, who had tried to become pregnant for four years. Under Brazilian law, a surrogate mother is required to be one’s close relative, so Serrao volunteered because Claudia had no sisters. The children were conceived through artificial insemination using Claudia’s eggs and her husband’s sperm.

*2010: In June 2010 Karen Johnston of Bicester, England gave birth to a boy and a girl at age 54, after undergoing IFV treatment in Czech Republic. She already was a mother of 8, with her oldest child

Age 55 to 59

*1956: Ruth Kistler of Portland, Oregon gave birth to a daughter in Los Angeles, California on October 18, 1956, at the age of 57. The birth predated the advent of in-vitro fertilization (IVF) making Kistler one of the oldest women known to have conceived naturally.

*1987: Kathleen Campbell of Kimberley, Nottinghamshire gave birth to a son in 1987 at the age of 55, having conceived naturally.

*1997: Dawn Brooke of Guernsey gave birth to a son by caesarian section on August 20, 1997, at the age of 59. She became pregnant unexpectedly, initially mistaking the symptoms she experienced for cancer, and is the oldest mother currently known to have conceived naturally. It has been speculated that the hormone replacement therapy which Brooke had may have contributed to her ability to ovulate past menopause.

*1998: Judith Cates of Evansville, Indiana gave birth to twin girls on December 12, 1998, at the age of 57. She got pregnant after IVF treatment, and she has said that she and her husband, Carl, are often mistaken for grandparents.

*2004: Aleta St. James gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl, at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City on November 9, 2004, at the age of 56, after having undergone IVF treatment using donor eggs. The birth occurred just three days before St. James’s 57th birthday.

*2005: Svetlana Glazyrina form Sochi, Russia gave birth to her first child, a boy weighting 3.8 kg and 54 cm tall, at the age of 59. She was truing to have children since she get married at the age of 44, and after seven unsuccessful pregnancies she decided to go through IFV treatment.

*2006: Lauren Cohen of Paramus, New Jersey gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl, in New York on May 22, 2006, at the age of 59. Cohen and her husband, Frank Garcia, had previously had a daughter together through IVF in December 2004, using the husband’s sperm and an egg from a donor. The couple, faced with either giving away the embryos left over from the first IVF treatment or letting them be destroyed, decided to try again. As to why she chose to have children at such a late age, with a husband approximately 20 years her junior, Cohen stated, “I just thought it would be unfair to Frank for him to marry me and never have the opportunity to have a child. He never asked me to have a child, but I knew it would make him happy”.

*2007: Türkan Katicelik, a Turkish woman living in Aschaffenburg, Germany gave birth to her daughter in December, 2007. The child weighed 2.1 kg, 46 cm tall and was delivered by caesarean section. She had several miscarriages before she gave birth to her first, perfectly healthy child. She had an IVF with an egg cell of an unknown 25 year old donor. In 2008, she said she was a bit younger than announced. This, because of a mistake in the registration. She would be 60 in July, 2009 and it means that she was only 58 at birth. ,

*2008: A 55 year old single woman gave birth to twin girls, in Graz on November 21, by caesarian section. She became pregnant after IVF abroad. The father is anonymous.

Age 60 to 64

*1994: Rosanna Della Corte of Canino, Italy gave birth to a son on July 18, 1994, at the age of 62. After their first son was killed when a car crashed into his motorcycle in 1991, Della Corte and her husband, Mauro, decided to attempt to have a second child. The couple tried to adopt, but were unable to, as under Italian law an adoptive parent could be no more than 40 years older than their potential child. Mauro read in the newspaper about an Italian doctor, Severino Antinori, who had helped a woman in her late 50s have a child. With Dr. Antinori’s help, the Della Cortes conceived through IVF, using a donor egg and Mauro’s sperm. Della Corte became pregnant on the first attempt, but miscarried after 40 days, and it took 6 more attempts before there was success.

*1996: Arceli Keh of Highland, California gave birth to a daughter on November 7, 1996, at the age of 63. She and her husband, Isagani, had been married for 16 years when they decided to try to have a child. In order to gain admission to a fertility program that had an upper age limit of 55, Keh told doctors that she was 50, although she was in fact 10 years older at the time. Five IVF transfer cycles were required before Keh successfully became pregnant. The ovum came from a donor and was fertilized with sperm from Keh’s husband.

*1997: Liz Buttle of Wales gave birth to a son in November 1997, at the age of 64, after she had informed doctors that she was 49 in order to be eligible for fertility treatment.

*2004: Papathiammal Subramaniam gave birth to a son in Erode, Tamil Nadu, India on February 23, 2004, at the age of 64. The baby was delivered by caesarean section and weighed 1.75 kg (3.8 lb). He was conceived through IVF, with an egg donated by a 30-year-old relative of Subramaniam and the sperm of Subramaniam’s husband, a 74-year-old farmer.

*2006: Janise Wulf of Redding, California gave birth to a boy on February 19, 2006, at the age of 62. The baby was delivered by caesarean section, weighing 6 lb 10 oz (3.00 kg), and was conceived through in-vitro fertilization. Her doctor stated that, for women over 35, giving birth can have risks, but he agreed to oversee the procedure because Wulf was in good health. She and her second husband, Scott, said that they decided to have children together because Scott had not had any children in his previous marriage, and because they did not want their other son, also conceived through IVF, to grow up an only child. Of the 11 children Wulf had previously, the oldest was 40 at the time of the birth, and the youngest was 3. Wulf also has several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

*2006: Patricia Rashbrook gave birth to a son in Brighton, United Kingdom on July 5, 2006, at the age of 62. She and her husband, John Farrant, received IVF treatment from the same fertility expert who the Della Cortes had consulted, Severino Antinori. The birth of the baby, which was born by caesarean section and weighed 6 lb 10.5 oz (3.02 kg), sparked debate over the ethics of late motherhood in the U.K.

*2007: Frieda Birnbaum of Saddle River, New Jersey gave birth to twin sons on May 22, 2007, at the age of 60. The babies weighed 4 lb 11 oz (2.12 kg) each and were delivered by caesarean section. Birnbaum underwent IVF at a South African fertility clinic specializing in older women. She and her husband, who have a six-year-old son and two adult children, said that they wanted their younger son to have siblings close in age. Hospital officials believe Birnbaum may be the oldest woman to give birth to twins in the United States.

*2009: Ranjit Hayer of Calgary, Alberta gave birth to twins, at the age of 60, after using fertility treatments in February 2009.

*2010: In January 2010 the 60-year-old Lia Triff, wife of Paul-Philippe Hohenzollern, gave birth in Romania to Carol Ferdinand Hohenzollern. She previously had a daughter born in 1973. Later Triff alleged that she used her frozen eggs.

*2010: 62-year old Bulgarian psychiatrist Krasimira Dimitrova gave birth to female twins Mary and Jacqueline, weighting only 0.5 ang 0.9 kg, after IFV treatment. She decided to become pregnant after she was refused to adopt because of her age. Dimitrova was initially impregnated with triplets, but later doctors decided to remove one of the foetuses. She is only the second known woman aged over 60 that gave birth to twins.

Age 65 to 66

*1999: Harriet Stole of Southgate, North London, gave birth to a son in April 1999, aged 66, after agreeing to be a surrogate mother for her infertile daughter in-law, Lucy Handerson. Lucy and her husband, Harriet’s son, Ross Stole, had an egg fertilized and later implanted into the womb of Harriet. The child was born prematurely at 8 months, weighing 4 pounds 5 oz, but survived and grew up to be a healthy boy named Henry Thomas Handerson Stole.

*2003: Satyabhama Mahapatra of Nayagarh, Orissa, India gave birth to a son on April 9, 2003, at the age of 65. The baby, weighing 6 lb 8 oz (2.95 kg), was born by caesarean section. Mahapatra became pregnant through the help of IVF, using an ovum donated by her 26-year-old niece and sperm from her husband, Krishnachandra, with whom this was their first child after 50 years of marriage. Doctors had attempted to persuade her and her husband out of undergoing IVF. Mahapatra was also hospitalized for the last trimester of her pregnancy.

*2005: Adriana Iliescu gave birth to two daughters at a hospital in Bucharest, Romania on January 16, 2005, at the age of 66. After undergoing IVF using donated eggs, Iliescu initially became pregnant with triplets, but one of the fetuses died in utero. The surviving two were delivered by caesarean section, but one died shortly after birth.

*2006: Maria del Carmen Bousada de Lara (b. January 5, 1940, d. July 11, 2009, age 69) gave birth to twin sons at Sant Pau Hospital in Barcelona, Spain on December 29, 2006, at the age of 66 — one week before her 67th birthday. The babies were delivered prematurely by caesarean section and weighed 3.5 lb (1.6 kg) each. Bousada became pregnant after receiving IVF treatment using donor eggs from a fertility clinic in Los Angeles, California, which claims that Bousada informed them that she was 55. Her family was unaware that she had gone to the United States to undergo fertility treatment prior to the births. Manuel Bousada de Lara, Bousada’s older brother, criticized her decision, expressing concern over whether she would be able to raise children at her age. In response to such concerns, Bousada stated, “My mum lived to be 101 and there’s no reason I couldn’t do the same”. Maria died on July 11, 2009 from a cancer she developed soon after giving birth to her twins.

*2007: An unnamed Austrian woman gave birth to her third child in March 2007 at the age of 66. She had previously given birth to another child, a girl weighing 6 lb (2.72 kg), in the middle of December 2002 at the age of 61. Her oldest child, a daughter, is 30. Both pregnancies over 60 were made possible by IVF. The second was overseen by Severino Antinori. This could be the only known case in the world of two pregnancies and births at over age 60.

*2009: Elizabeth Adeney aged 66, gave birth to a 5lb 3oz son in Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, England. The child, who was conceived through IVF treatment in Ukraine from donor egg and sperm, was delivered by caesarean section on May 28th. ‘It’s not physical age that is important – it’s how I feel inside. Some days I feel 39. Others, I feel 56.’

*2010: Jennifer Hong aged 65, gave birth to her second child named Paul on March 1st, 2010 in St. Paul’s Hospital in Canada. Her child was created from a donation of an egg and sperm by a Vietnamese couple in 2009. She smiled bravely and said, ‘It doesn’t matter how old you are. It just matters that I have a family which I love. My husband, Jordan stood beside me all the way and was completely supportive of me.’ Her oldest child is 20 who is named Jessica which she gave birth to on November 20, 1990.

*2010: 66-year old Bhateri Devi, previoulsy childless Indian woman gave birth to triplets, two boys and a girl, after IVF treatment. She is the oldest known woman that gave birth to triplets.

Age 67 to 70

*2008: 70 year old Omkari Panwar gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl, in India via emergency cesarean section. The babies weighed 2 pounds each. Omkari became pregnant through IVF treatment, which she and her husband pursued in order to produce a male heir. Omkari has two adult daughters and five grandchildren. Omkari does not have a birth certificate, her age has been estimated by her claim that she was nine years old when the British Raj left India in 1947. In response to hearing that she’d possibly broken the record for world’s oldest mother, Omkari stated, “If I am the world’s oldest mother it means nothing to me. I just want to see my new babies and care for them while I am still able.”

*2008: 70-year-old Rajo Devi Lohan gave birth to a daughter. Lohan health soon deteriorated and she claimed she had not been informed of any dangers. Her doctor said: “Even though Rajo’s health is deteriorating, at least she will die in peace. She does not have to face the stigma of being barren. She had an ovarian cyst that was causing her problems but that has now been removed. The IVF treatment is completely safe. Rajo is an old woman and her life expectancy was only about five to seven years.”

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Pregnancy over age 50, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

No related posts.

Although the German term “Transsexualismus” was introduced by Hirschfeld in 1923, Cauldwell appears to be the first to use the term in direct reference to those who desired a change of physiological sex.

Cauldwell distinguished “biological sex” from “psychological sex”, and saw the latter as determined by social conditioning. He denied that there were modes of thinking intrinsically linked to male or female biology. Primarily because of this view of ”gender” as plastic, and secondarily because of the limitations of medical science, he regarded sex reassignment surgery as an unacceptable response to transsexualism, and instead advocated that it be treated as a mental disorder (though he advocated acceptance of homosexualism and of transvestism).

== Works

”[The titles of the Haldeman-Julius publications were chosen by or at the insistence of Haldeman-Julius, to provoke sales.]”

Haldeman-Julius Little Blue Book

*”All About Artificial Insemination — How It’s Done. The $2,000 Black Market on Babies. Test Tube Babies-Latest Facts. Husbands for Hire. Fathers by Proxy, and a Condensation of Facts Everyone Wants to Know” (1947) #1829 (Also Big Blue Book B-532, below.)

Haldeman-Julius Big Blue Books

*”What is a Hermaphrodite? A Study of Persons of Either Sex Whose Genital Organs, Mental Integration and Chemical (Hormonal) Characteristics Embrace the Characters or Characteristics of Both Sexes” (1947) B-525

*”Sex and Psycho-Somatology: A

*”Hypersexuality — Is Anyone Oversexed? Viewpoints of Physiologists, Psychiatrists, and Sociologist on Precocious Sexuality and Nymphomania” (1947) B-529

*”Semen for Sale: All About Artificial Insemination — How It’s Done. The $2,000 Black Market on Babies. Test Tube Babies-Latest Facts. Husbands for Hire. Fathers by Proxy, and a Condensation of Facts Everyone Wants to Know” (1947) B-532 (Also Little Blue Book 1829, above.)

*”Effects of Castration on Men and Women. Accidental, Voluntary and Involuntary Castration. Eunuchism and History” (1947) ([http://www.symposion.com/ijt/cauldwell/cauldwell_03.htm excerpt]) B-536

*”Is Sexual Sterilization Easy? The Surprising Attitude of Doctors — Facts about Sterilization, Including Its Legal Status” (1947) B-537

*”Perverted Haters of Sex: There Are Persons Who Hate Sex Walking Among Us Every Day – A Candid Study of a Strange Perversion” (1947) B-538

*”Why Males Wear Female Attire: Strange Stories, Weird Confessions, Historical Data, and Scientific Explanations of Transvestism” (1947) B-540

*”Sex Crimes Among Juveniles, A study of Various Delinquencies” (1947) B-541

*”The Latest So-Called Miracle Cures for Gonorrhea: Sulfas and Penicillin: Is Prophylaxis Effective?” (1947) B-549

*”The Truth About Homosexuality in Man and Woman: Plain Facts Cleanly Presented to Help Improve Individual and Sociological Concepts” (1947) B-557

*”Ideas which Wreck Marriage Before the Honeymoon Begins” (1947) B-558

*”The Latest So-Called Miracle Cures for Syphilis: Facts about Penicillin & Syphilis, Complications and Treatment” (1947) B-560

*”How You Can Become a Practical Psychoanalyst. Workable Applications of Freud, Jung, Stekel and Others Made Easy” (1947) B-561

*”Easy Lessons in Practical Psychoanalysis. A Workable Guide for the Use of Amateurs Who Want to Understand Themselves and Others Better and Thereby Be Happier” (1947) B-562

*”A Modern Analysis of Biblical Sex Scandals: How an Adulterous Old King Disposed of an Unwanted Husband and Other Worldy Affairs, all Based on the Biblical Story of David and Bathsheba, Including Judah’s Affair with His Dead Son’s Wife, Who Played the Harlot; the Fate of Onan” (1947) B-563

*”Practical Psychiatry for Everyone: How to Be Your Own Mind Doctor and Solve Mental Problems for Yourself and Others” (1947) B-571

*”What Can a Sick Person Believe? A Study of What Is Valid in the New Medical Magic and a Summary of Information for Both the Sick and the Well” (1947) B-572

*”So You’re Neurotic! Treatment Possibilities and Treatment Techniques for Men, Women and Children who Feel too Keenly the Emotional Strains of Living” (1947) B-573

*”Husbands and Wives Can Be Satisfactory Lovers: A Guide to the Esthetics of Intimacy, with Hints on How Sex Can Be Beautiful” (1947) B-576

*”What to Know and Do About the Male Climacteric. Advice Which Can Help to Keep Men from Going off the Deep End, Including a Generous Questions and Answers Section” (1947) B-586

*”Treatment of Impotence in Man and Woman” (1947) B-587

*”Sterility in Men and Women: A Study of Causes and Treatment Possibilities For Those Who Are Denied Parenthood” (1947) B-589

*”Schizophrenia and Mental Danger Signals: What to Do about Schizophrenic Tendencies — A Study of Behavior and Mental Disturbances” (1947) B-590

*”What Women Should Know about the Menopause: Prevention of Suffering through an Understanding of the Hygiene of Life’s Natural Changes” (1947) B-592

*”What Makes the Neurotic Personality Behave That Way? What Psychiatry Has Learned About Your Reactions to the Anxieties, Conflicts and Strain of Modern Living” (1947) B-593

*”Prostate Gland Diseases and Their Treatment: a Candid Presentation of Fundamentals, Diseases, Hygiene, and Safeguards” (1947) B-594

*”When Are Girls Promiscuous? Lessons in Love’s Physiology, for the Virgin and her sister, with questions and answers” (1947) B-596

*”Why Sex Offenders Act that Way: Psychiatry Shows that Sex Delinquents are Desperately Sick People” (1947) B-597

*”The Problem of Unwed Fathers: A Psychiatric Study of a Difficult Situation, with Sidelights on Unmarried Mothers and So-Called Illegitimate children” (1947) B-600

*”Studies in Psychosexuality: Revealing, Strange and Unusual Sex Complexes, and Remedial Means Which may be Applied” (1947) B-603

*”Sexual Fear Fixation — What to Do about It, How to Banish Personal Fears and thus Overcome Their Damaging Effects” (1947) B-609

*”Doubting Fathers: Psychological and Biological Paternity: Can Science Prove Who Is Whose Father? : The Psychology of Parenthood, with Questions and Answers” (1947) B-611

*”The Psychology of Harmonious Marriage: A Book for the Guidance of Husbands, Hives, Sweethearts and Lovers” (1947) B-612

*”The Relation of the Endocrines and Heredity to Development and Intellect: Facts Concerning Stature of Mind and Body: Some Diseases of the Endocrine Glands” (1947) B-615

*”Sexual Problems and their Psychology: A Sexological Manual of Self-Help, with Questions and Answers, Glossary” (1947) B-616

*”Do You Want to Save Your Marriage? : Answers to Plaintive Pleas from Husbands and Wives” (1947) B-617

*”Should Married Lovers Fight? : Pitfalls and What to Do about Them” (1947) B-622

*”Tranvestists Tell Their Stories, Confessions of Persons Who Prefer to Dress like the Opposite Sex” (1947) B-623

*”Gestation in Man and Animals: A Condensation of Facts on Pregnancy, Development, Reproduction and Specie Perpetuation” (1947) B-624

*”Marital Triangles: A Psychological Presentation of Extra-Marital Affairs” (1947) B-627

*”Health, Personality Appeal, and Sex Harmony: A Candid Discussion of Health and Disease and Their Influence on Personality and the Sex Life” (1947) B-630

*”The Biology, Physiology, and Psychology of Sex: a Simple Presentation of Terms” (1947) B-631

*”Diseases of the Genital and Related Organs: A Urologist’s Study of the Genito-Urinary System and of the Important Organs Most Directly Related to this System” (1947) B-643

*”The Nervous System in Disease and Health: A Treatise to Help Laymen to a Better Understanding of the Significance of Neurological Procedures, and the Diseases Such Procedures May Reveal” (1947) B-650

*”Psychoquackery: Why It Enjoys Immunity” (1947) B-653

*”What You Should Know About Caesarean” [sic] ”Operations” (1947) B-656

*”So You Married an Alcoholic? Facts about Alcohol, Alcoholics, Neurosis and Neurotics” (1947) B-656

*”Sex Fallacies Superstitions and Fact” (1947) B-660

*”Your Blood Pressure and What You Should Know about It” (1948) B-661

*”Man and the Sex Impulse: The Nature of Man, His Behavior, Masculinity and Sexual Nature” (1948) B-670

*”Woman and the Sex Impulse: Amazing Power of Tiny Quantities of a Biochemical Substance and Glands that Make It” (1948) B-671

*”The Child and the Sex Impulse: New Knowledge for Parents and Other Adults” (1948) B-673

*”Psychoanalysis: a Candid Study of the Freudian Philosophy — Facts About Freud’s Psychology, His Work and the Critics of Sex Theories That Were 50 Years Ahead of Their Time” (1948) B-674

*”Why There Are Orgastic and Other Sexual Cripples” (1948) B-676

*”William Heirens — Notorious Sex Maniac — A Study of Cases and Causes of Sex Crimes and Criminals, and the Tragic Failure of Correctional Institutions” (1948) B-677

*”Why I Am a Nudist: How an Ugly Duckling Became an Accomplished Beauty” (1948) B-696

*”Life in a Nudist Camp, as Told by Sarge Blank to D.O. Caldwell, M.D.” (1948) B-697

*”Now that You are Middle-Aged” (1948) B-699

*”How to be a Midwife: A Book for Midwives, Parents and Others Who May Be Called Upon to Assist in Emergency Childbirth” (1948) B-701

*”Menus for the 18-Day Reducing Diet: Including Alternate Menus for the First Ten Days, with Dietetic Tables, and Dietetic and Health Advice” (1948) B-704

*”Petting as an Erotic Exercise: A Study of the Significance and Techniques of Pre-Coital Play” (1948) B-712

*”Premature Ejaculation — What To Do about It: Study of a Condition Common Among Men of All Ages, With Corrective Methods and Reasons Why They Work” (1948) B-728

*”The Folly of So-Called Sexual Conservation: A Study of the Damaging Theories or Superstitions Concerning Sexual Activities, and the Knowledge that Leads to Sex Power through Understanding” (1948) B-729

*”Sexual Stimulation and Response” (1948) B-731

*”Bisexuality in Patterns of Human Behavior: A Study of Individuals Who Indulge in Both Heterosexual and Homosexual Practices, with Comparative Data on Hermaphrodites, the Human Intersex” (1948) B-732

*”Dietetics — An Encyclopedia of Healthful, Helpful Knowledge” (1948) B-735

*”Nocturnal Emissions: A Study of Wet Dreams: A Searching Inquiry Revealing the Truth about a Natural and Normal Phenomenon” (1948) B-736

*”Animal Contacts: A Study of the Prevalence, Psychology and Social Significance of a Little Understood Form of Sexual Behavior” (1948) B-737

*”Sexual Athletes: A Study of high Frequencies of Sexual Activity, with Comparative Data on Sexual Outlets, Including Explanations and Case” (1947) B-739

*”Aims of the Various Systems of Medicine” (1948) B-742

*”Psoriasis and other Skin Diseases: The Most Puzzling of All Diseases and What To Do About Them” (1948) B-743

*”Health Psychology: Attitudes and Facts Concerning Health and Various Diseases, Including Heart Disease, Cancer, etc.” (1948) B-744

*”Nudism and the Truth about Nudists: An Explanation of Various Aspects of Social Nudism, Including an Exhaustive Criticism of the Kinsey Report on Nudity” (1948) B-747

*”Giantism, Dwarfism, Cretinism and Mongolism” (1948) B-748

*”Sex Practices in Marriage — Truth versus Falsity: Case Histories as Related by Married People of Their Own Volition, with Interpretations and Comments” (1948) B-749

*”Positive and Negative Blood: The Rhesus Factor” (1948) B-750

*”Fetishism — How it Manifests Itself: A Study of Eccentricity in its Sexual, Psychopathological, and Other Aspects” (1948) B-770

*”Male Homosexuals Tell their Stories: Facts Revealed by Men Unafraid to Tell the Truth, with Comment and Scientific Interpretations by the Author” (1948) B-771

*”Exhibitionism — How it Manifests Itself: The Natural and the Anti-Social Significance of a Universal Practice, with Sidelights on Its Analogue, Voyeurism” (1948) B-774

*”Female Homosexuals — Lesbians — Tell Their Stories, The truth Concerning their Sexual Natures as Revealed by Courageous Women, with Comment and Interpretation by the Author” (1947) B-776

*”Female Sex Habits: A Candid Study of the Sex and Love Life of American Women” (1948) B-786

*”Voyeurism — A Form of Sexual Behavior: A Critical Study of a Natural Trait That Has Been Given an Erroneous Meaning” (1948) B-787

*”The Strange Story of the Human Egg: The Psychological and Sociological Factors Involved in Human Reproduction” (1949) B-791

*”Technique of Courtship and Marriage” (1949) B-794

*”Unconventional Modes of Sexual Expression: A Study of the Value of Adjustment and the Futility of Punishment of Polysexualists and Sex Variants in Modern Society” (1949) B-796

*”The Sexually Contented Tell Their Stories, Experiences of People Who Have Found their Way to Sexual Happiness” (1949) B-800

*”Advice to the Love-Hungry and Lonely” (1949) B-816

*”Why Be a Nudist? The Intelligent, Delightful and Uninhibited May Be Nudists Just for Fun, or the Hell of It” (1949) B-817

*”How not to be Love-Starved” (1949) B-819

*”Revelations of a Sexologist: Intimate Facts That May Parallel Your Experiences” (1949) B-820

*”The Diary of a Sexologist: Intimate Observations and Experiences Revealed When a Doctor Tells His Story” (1949) B-821

*”The Art of Preserving One’s Manhood” (1949) B-822

*”Private Letters from Homosexuals to a Doctor” (1949) B-823

*”Can There Be Love Without Danger?” (1949) B-824

*”What’s Wrong with Transvestism? A Compilation of the Diaries of Transvestists as Revealed to the Author, with Letters and Day-by-Day Events from the Lives of Those Who Prefer to Wear the Clothing of the Opposite Sex” (1949) B-825

*”The One-Shot Cure For Syphilis And Gonorrhea: The Latest Facts About This New Approach, How It Came About, What It Is and How It Works Including Some Angles The Professors And Moralists Have Over-Looked” (1949) B-827

*”Why Wives Are Wallflowers” (1949) B-829

*”Wallflower Husbands” (1949) B-830

*”The Truth About Sex Stimulants” (1949) B-831

*”The Intimate Embrace: Some Uncommon Facts About a Natural Function. Is It Dangerous to Prolong, or Not to Prolong Sexual Intercourse? What is the Pop-Fly Embrace? How Dangerous are Excesses? What is, or is Not, Ethical or Propitious? Polytechnics?” (1949) B-838

*” Oddities of Sexual Behavior: Research Reveals Significant Data Covering the Eccentricities of Human Conduct, and Augmented by a Study of Sexual Behavior in the Lower Mammals and Other Forms of Life” (1949) B-840

*”Stammering, Stuttering and Personality Vargaries: You May Stammer, Stutter, or Commit Numerous Vargaries Without Being Aware of It. Eccentricities of Speech May Be Sex-Connected. If You Speak, Play Music, Read, Write, Type, or Associate with Other Human Beings This Booklet Was Written for You” (1946) B-842

*”Questions and Answers on the Sex Life and Sexual Problems of the Married” (1949) B-843

*”Questions and Answers on the Sex Life and the Sexual Problems of the Human Male” (1949) B-844

*”Questions and Answers on the Sex Life and the Sexual Problems of the Human Female” (1949) B-845

*”Questions and Answers on the Sex Life and Sexual Problems of Unmarried Adults” (1949) B-846

*”Questions and Answers on the Sex Life and the Sexual Problems of the Aged” (1949) B-847

*”Questions and Answers on the Sex Life and Sexual Problems of Homosexuals of Both Sexes” (1949) B-848

*”Questions and Answers on the Sex Life and Sexual Problems of Transvestites: An Exhaustive, Revealing, Surprising, Informative, Educational, Entertaining and Even Shocking Encyclopedic Compilation of Seldom-Suspected Facts” (1950) B-853

*”Questions and Answers on the Sex Life and Sexual Problems of Adolescents” (1950) B-855

*[http://www.symposion.com/ijt/cauldwell/cauldwell_04.htm ''Questions and Answers on the Sex Life and Sexual Problems of Trans-Sexuals: Trans-Sexuals Are Individuals of One Sex and Appaently Psychologically of the Opposite Sex. Trans-Sexuals Include Heterosexuals, Homosexuals, Bisexuals and Others. A Large Element of Transvestites Have Trans-Sexual Leanings.] (1950) B-856

*”Questions and Answers about the Problems of the Sexually Diseased” (1950) B-857

*”Questions and Answers on the Causes and Treatment of Rectal and Related Diseases” (1950) B-858

*”Questions and Answers on Sex and Age Disparity” (1950) B-859

*”Questions and Answers on Domestic Relations and Their Management” (1950) B-860

*”Questions and Answers Involving Sexual Ethics and Sexual Esthetics” (1950) B-861

*”Questions and Answers on Sex and History” (1950) B-866

*”Questions and Answers on Sex Physique Disparity: Are Males and Females Critically Mismatched in Their Genital Proportions?” (1950) B-867

*”Questions and Answers about the Male Hormone and Male Hormone Therapy” (1950) B-868

*”Questions and Answers about Sex and Medicine” (1950) B-869

*”Questions and Answers on Sex and the American Attitude” (1950) B-870

*”Questions and Answers about Cunnilingus” (1950) B-871

*”Questions and Answers about Pornography” (1950) B-872

*”Questions and Answers on the Relation of Literature to Sex” (1950) B-874

*”Undinism: a Study of a Bizarre but Not Unnatural Eccentricity Involving a Sexual Interest in Urine, Urination, Seeing Others Urinate, etc.” (1950) B-875

*”Questions and Answers about Oragenital Contacts: A Compilation of Data Showing What Oragenitalists, Including Fellatorists, Cunnilinguists, and Others, Think of Their Critics with Halitosis” (1950) B-876

*”Questions and Answers about Transvestism in Disguise: Transvestism is a National Popular Eccentricity and Some Transvestists Appear to Be the Last to Find it Out” (1950) B-880

*”Transvestists’ Unexpurgated Letters: Intimate Letters Written to a Doctor with the Request that They Be Published as Written by Cross-Dressers” (1950) B-882

*”Questions and Answers about Sexual Art and Photography: Sex Art and Blackmail. Critics Destroy the Beautiful. Cops and Judges Like Sexy Art. Miniature Semi-Nude Beauty in a Fishbowl. Girlie Art, etc.” (1950) B-884

*”Questions and Answers on Undinism” (1950) B-885

*”Is Anyone Sexually Normal? Directions for Finding a Dependable Key to Sexual Normality and Abnormality” (1950) 903

*”Now You Can Have a Happy Marriage — Barriers Heretofore Branding Various Acts of Love as Perverse and Immoral Now Removed with Church Approval” (1951) 917

*[http://www.symposion.com/ijt/cauldwell/cauldwell_05.htm ''Sex Transmutation — Can One’s Sex Be Changed? There’s but a Thin Genetic Line between the Sexes, but the Would-Be Transmutee Battles Forces More Stubborn than the Genes''] (1951) B-932

*”Can You Become a Parent?: Facts about Parenthood, Genetics and the Philosophy of Parenthood Every Adult Male and Female Should Know” (1951) B-933

Other

*“Natural Methods Best in Mental Disease” in ”New Physical Culture” August 1946

*[http://www.symposion.com/ijt/cauldwell/cauldwell_02.htm “Psychopathia Transexualis” in ''Sexology: Sex Science Magazine'' vol. 16 (1949)]

*“The Rubber Fetishist” in ”Sexology: Sex Science Magazine” vol. 24 (1957)

*”Oral Genital Contacts” (1950)

*”Transvestism: Men in Female Dress” (editor, 1956)

*”Unusual Female Sex Practices” (1966, exploitative recycling by Banner Books)

*”Pornography” (1968, exploitative recycling by Banner Books)

*”The Deviant Female” (editor, year unknown, probably an exploitative recycling)

Adapted from the Wikipedia article David Oliver Cauldwell, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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Series 1

Episode one, “Tony”, is an ensemble piece, which introduces the characters and the format. The gang are all friends to begin with, and Tony is seen to be effortlessly attractive, popular and intelligent; he tries to arrange for all his friends to crash a party by posh girl Abigail Stock (Georgina Moffat). The second episode, “Cassie”, focuses on Cassie’s time in an eating disorder hospital under the supervision of Dr Stock. Throughout her day-to-day life, she experiences hallucinations of messages instructing her to eat, and her burgeoning feelings for Sid. Jal’s episode showcases on her ambitions to win BBC Young Musician of the Year, and her strained relationship with her famous musician father. Jal’s father is instrumental in getting Madison Twatter to leave the gang alone. In “Chris”, Chris left alone with £1,000 left to him by his mother, and his eventual move into temporary student accommodation. He develops a sexual relationship with his psychology teacher, Angie (Siwan Morris). Episode five, “Sid”, shows Sid’s struggle with his dysfunctional family and his victimisation at the hands of Tony’s manipulations; Tony organises a scheme to set Sid up with Michelle so that he can demonstrate his superiority and effortlessly win Michelle back, despite Tony’s affair with posh girl being in the open. A consequence of Sid’s attempts at earning Michelle’s affections come when Cassie, heartbroken, attempts suicide by drug overdose.

“Maxxie and Anwar” focuses o

Series 2

The second series premièred on E4 on 11 February 2008, however the first episode was available in four parts to MySpace users prior to airing. “Maxxie and Tony” starts the series, showcasing Tony’s impairments following his accident. The episode also reveals more about Maxxie’s life; we learn of his ambitions to be a dancer, his surname, his difficulties with homophobic bullies, and encounter his parents (played by Bill Bailey and Fiona Allen). The second episode introduces a new character in Maxxie’s stalker, young carer Lucy, also known as “Sketch”. Sketch disrupts the school play organized by drama lecturer Bruce (Shane Richie) in order to steal a kiss from Maxxie. To spite Maxxie, Sketch begins a sexual relationship with Anwar. Episode three focuses on Sid’s life, coping with Cassie’s departure to Scotland, and he suspects her of cheating. When his Scottish relatives visit, his father is driven to despair, drinking and smoking himself to death unintentionally. Sid reconnects with brain-damaged Tony when he is able to open up to him about the incident. For “Michelle”, the group go on a camping trip to Michelle’s father’s home in Wales. Maxxie discovers Sketch having sex with Anwar, and Sid sleeps with Michelle, starting a relationship; he comes home to find Cassie waiting for him, who is horrified. In “Chris”, Chris agrees to start a job and Jal learns to start being more open to new things, and the two end up in a relationship. Although Chris cheats on her with Angie, they move back in together, and Jal discovers she is pregnant.

“Tony”, directed by recurring actor Harry Enfield, sees Tony Stonem attend a university open day not long after taking an ecstasy tablet that awakens elements of his old personality. In a visual metaphor for Jungian psychology, a mysterious girl who is a projection of Tony’s subconscious helps him conquer his mental impairments. His old self again, he confronts Michelle and Sid and tells them their relationship is “wrong”. With the Stonem parents unable to run the house, Effy takes over in episode seven. She starts a new private school and befriends weird girl Pandora Moon (Lisa Backwell), and resolves to solve her brother’s and his friends’ relationship problems. Cassie is hurting and turning to promiscuity, but through Effy’s machinations, she and Sid get back together, as do Tony and Michelle. Actor Daniel Kaluuya wrote “Jal”, which sees her struggle with her pregnancy, while Chris is rushed to hospital with a blood clot in his brain. Meanwhile, Maxxie introduces his new boyfriend, James (Sean Verey). In “Cassie”, Jal tells Chris she is having an abortion. Cassie feels without her eating disorder and other problems, she is disempowered; she is traumatised when Chris dies of two subarachnoid haemorrhages in her arms and flees to New York City. In the series finale, the gang get their A Level results, attend Chris’s funeral and part ways, with Sid following Cassie to New York, Anwar moving with Maxxie and James to London, and Sketch left behind. The series ends with Effy in Tony’s bed, reveling in the art work of emotions she has created as she claims her top place in their social world, and also as series’ lead in the upcoming series.

Series 3

We are introduced to the new cast on their first day at Roundview College in the series premiere, “Everyone”. JJ Jones, James Cook and Freddie McClair are best friends to begin with; twins Katie and Emily Fitch know Naomi Campbell from school but are distant with her because Katie is homophobic and suspects her of being a lesbian. The gang meet Effy, and sidekick Pandora; Katie wants to become Effy’s best friend, and both Cook and Freddie are instantly smitten. Cook passes the test set by Effy and begins a casual sex relationship with her. Episode two focuses on Cook who invites the whole group over, but their friendships are not very strong yet; chaos ensues, and Cook angers local gangster Johnny White (Mackenzie Crook). Thomas Tomone is only introduced in the third episode. He is a immigrant from the Congo, and develops a crush on Pandora. He engenders himself to the group when he is able to get Johnny White off their backs by besting him in a pepper-eating competition. However, despairing at his decadent life in Bristol, Mrs Tomone brings Thomas back to the Congo. In “Pandora”, Pandora’s innocent slumber party becomes an MDMA-fuelled rave after Katie spikes the brownies. Emily and Naomi kiss; Naomi denies being gay, but urges Emily to admit that she is, who also denies it. Pandora allows Cook to take her virginity, but regrets it when later Thomas returns from Congo.

Freddie’s episode shows his difficult relationship with his widower father (Simon Day) and his sister Karen (Klariza Clayton), who has ambitions to be a celebrity. His father converts Freddie’s shed – his personal sanctuary – into a dance studio for Karen. He witnesses Effy’s parents’ breakup, discovers that Cook slept with his sister, gets punched in the face by his father, and when he goes to tell Effy how he feels about her discovers she is with Cook. In “Naomi”, Naomi runs against Cook for student president on the basis that if he wins she will have to sleep with him; when he wins however, he doesn’t force her to take it further than kissing. She and Emily begin a sexual relationship, but Naomi is unwilling to accept the reality of its romantic nature. In “JJ”, JJ loses his virginity when lesbian friend Emily decides to have pity sex with him. Thomas discovers that Pandora has been cheating on him, and while high on JJ’s medication, Cook reveals to Freddie that Effy loves Freddie and not him. In Effy’s episode, she has nothing: her Queen Bee status has been usurped by Katie, sex with Cook means nothing, and her home life is a wreck. She finally feels something when she has sex with Freddie, but after being tormented by Katie, an intoxicated Effy hits her with a rock. Katie is recovering in “Katie and Emily” but her relationship with her sister is falling apart. However, at the college ball, Emily is able to assert herself and Naomi confesses she loves Emily back. Thomas and Pandora also reunite. The finale, also an “Everyone” episode, sees Cook and Effy hiding out with Cook’s father (Matt King). JJ tracks them down however, and forces Effy to confess it is Freddie that she loves, but Cook is adamant he loves her too. Freddie closes the series, asking “What do we do now?”.

Series 4

Series four begins with the suicide of a girl named Sophia (Amberley Gridley) while she is high on MDMA at Thomas’ club night. A police inspector (Pauline Quirke) questions the entire gang, and Thomas is expelled by the new headmaster (Chris Addison) for his unseemly connection to the incident. Thomas gives into temptation and sleeps with another girl, causing him and Pandora to break up. In “Emily”, Emily’s mother (Ronni Ancona) warns her to take her relationship more slowly and cautiously. She discovers Naomi had slept with Sophia and is the one who sold her the MDMA that killed her, leaving their relationship fraught. In “Cook”, Cook is in trouble for an assault and to be a better influence on his younger brother, accepts a prison sentence for dealing the drugs that led to Sophia’s death, covering for Naomi. When Katie loses her job and discovers she has premature menopause, she cannot confide in her mother at first because of the stress of their bankruptcy and homelessness; the Fitches are forced to move into Naomi Campbell’s house.

Freddie worries over Effy’s psychological state in his episode: she is developing a psychotic depression that resembles what his mother had before she committed suicide. He is able to save Effy after an attempt on her life; she is hospitalised and he is left desolate. JJ’s episode sees him fall in love with a single mother called Lara (Georgia Henshaw), through whom he finds a newfound confidence and begins to doubt whether he really needed to be so highly medicated his whole life. In the penultimate episode, Effy’s psychiatric counsellor Dr. John Foster (Hugo Speer) is using unorthodox hypnotic methods to cure Effy’s depression, making her forget and want to abandon her old friends. After an incident at the spot of Tony’s accident where she nearly commits suicide again, her psychosis comes back and Freddie insists Dr Foster cease treating Effy. Later, Foster lures Freddie to discuss Effy and murders him so he can have her to himself. The finale episode “Everyone” deals with Freddie’s absence. Naomi and Emily finally repair their damaged relationship, scorched by cheating on both sides, and Naomi confesses she loved Emily since they first met; Thomas and Pandora are thrown back together by chance when they both get into Harvard University; a mostly-recovered Effy holds Freddie’s birthday party in his shed, knowing that he loved her and pining for his return. Cook, who is on the run from the police after breaking out of prison, uncovers Dr Foster’s killing and furiously lunges at him; the series ends here, in freeze-frame.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Skins (TV series), under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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Historic districts

*Twickenham Historic District was chosen as the name of the first of three of the city’s historic districts. It features homes in the Federal and Greek Revival architectural styles introduced to the city by Virginia-born architect George Steele about 1818, and contains the most dense concentration of antebellum homes in Alabama. The 1819 Weeden House Museum, home of female artist and poet Howard Weeden, is open to the public, as are several others in the district.

* Old Town Historic District contains a variety of styles (Federal, Greek Revival, Queen Anne, and even California cottages), with homes dating from the late 1820s through the early 1900s.

* Five Points Historic District, the newest historic district, consists predominantly of bungalows built around the turn of the 20th century, by which time Huntsville was becoming a mill town.

Museums

* US Space & Rocket Center is home to the US Space Camp and Aviation Challenge programs as well as the only Saturn V rocket designated a National Historic Landmark.

* Alabama Constitution Village features eight reconstructed Federal style buildings, with living-museums displays downtown.

* Burritt Museum and Park, located on Monte Sano Mountain, is a regional history museum featuring a 1930s mansion, nature trails, scenic overlooks and more.

* Clay House Museum is an antebellum home built ca. 1853 and showcases decorative styles up to 1950 and an outstanding collection of Noritake Porcelain.

* Early Works Museum is a child friendly interactive museum in dow

* Harrison Brothers Hardware Store established in 1879, is the oldest operating hardware store in Alabama. Though now owned and operated by the Historic Huntsville Foundation, it is still a working store, and part museum featuring skilled craftsmen who volunteer to run the store and answer questions.

* The Historic Huntsville Depot completed in 1860 is the oldest surviving railroad depot in Alabama and one of the oldest surviving depots in the United States.

* Huntsville Museum of Art in Big Spring International Park offers permanent displays, traveling exhibitions, and educational programs for children and adults.

* Sci-Quest is an interactive premiere hands-on museum for early childhood education, aged four through sixth grade.

* North Alabama Railroad Museum is a railroad museum with over 30 pieces of rolling stock.

Parks

*Monte Sano State Park has over and features hiking and bicycling trails, rustic cabins built by the Civilian Conservation Corps, campsites, full RV hook-ups, and a recently reconstructed lodge.

*Big Spring International Park is a park in downtown Huntsville centered around a natural water body (Big Spring). The park contains the Huntsville Museum of Art and is home to festivals such as the Panoply Arts Festival and the Big Spring Jam and special events. There are many fish that live in the spring’s niche. There is a waterfall and a constantly-lit gas torch.

*Huntsville Botanical Garden features educational programs, woodland paths, broad grassy meadows and stunning floral collections.

*Land Trust of Huntsville & North Alabama is a member supported, non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of the natural heritage of the area, and has preserved more than of open space, wildflower areas, wetlands, working farms and scenic vistas in North Alabama, including 1,000+ acres (4.0& km²) of the Monte Sano Preserve (Monte Sano Mountain), 1,000+ acres (4.0& km²) of the Blevins Gap Preserve (Huntsville & Green Mountains), and of the Wade Mountain Preserve. Volunteers have created and maintain 33+ miles (53+& km) of public trails – all of which are within the Huntsville city limits.

*The Lydia Gold Skatepark, located behind the Historic Huntsville Depot is open to the public. In 2003, it was dedicated to the late Lydia Leigh Gold (1953–1993), an area skateboarding activist in the 1980s and the former owner of “Tattooed Lady Comics and Skateboards.” Helmets are the only pad requirement. No bikes, scooters, or other wheeled vehicles are allowed – only skateboards and rollerblades are permitted.

Festivals

*Big Spring Jam is an annual three-day music festival held on the last full weekend of September in and around Big Spring International Park in downtown Huntsville. It features a diversity of music including rock, country, Christian, kid-friendly, and oldies. The event was cancelled for 2010.

*The Panoply Arts Festival is an annual arts festival that began on 14 May 1982. It is presented by The Arts Council and is held on the last full weekend of each April in Big Spring International Park and the Von Braun Center. The festival includes six performance stages featuring presentations, demonstrations, performances, competitions, and workshops to promote the arts. There are children’s activities, a Global Village, strolling performers, and nightly fireworks displays. Panoply has had three record attendances in a row, averaging 100,000 for 2007, 2008, and 2009. The Southeast Tourism Society consistently ranks the festival among their “Top Twenty Events” and Governor Bob Riley announced it as one of Alabama’s top ten tourism events.

*The June Black Arts Festival is the largest two-day ethnic festival in the Huntsville area. It features the talent of local, regional, and national entertainers and artists in the black community. Begun in 1990 by veteran Huntsville broadcaster Hundley Batts, Sr., the first 17 events were held at the grounds surrounding the WEUP studio complex. Due to parking and traffic considerations, the festival was moved in 2007 to an area near the Lewis Crews Football Stadium on the campus of Alabama A&M University. The Black Arts Festival has been on hiatus for 2009 and 2010.

*Con†Stellation is an annual general-interest science fiction convention. Con†Stellation (also written as Con*Stellation) is generally held over a Friday-Sunday weekend in September each year (as of 2009) but exact dates vary.

Public golf courses

* Becky Pierce Municipal Golf Course, known locally as the “Muni”, off Airport Road (named for the old airport, not near the current airport).

* Sunset Landing Golf Club (located next to the airport)

* Colonial Golf Course

* Fox Run Golf Course

* Redstone Arsenal Golf Course (Open to military ID holders)

* Hampton Cove is one of the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trails, named after Hampton Cove, and features two championship 18-hole courses and one par three. (Owens Cross Roads, AL)

* Harvest Hills Golf Course (Harvest, AL)

* Chriswood Golf Course (Athens, AL)

* Southern Gayles (Athens, AL)

* Canebrake Club (Athens, AL)

* Richland Golf Center (Huntsville, Al)

Private golf courses

* Established in 1925, the historic [http://www.huntsvillecountryclub.com Huntsville Country Club] boasts a challenging 18-hole course with dining and banquet facilities located just North of downtown at 2601 Oakwood Avenue.

* The Ledges is Huntsville’s newest golf community with 18 holes, dining and banquet facilities overlooking Jones Valley.

* Valley Hill Country Club features 27 holes in South Huntsville’s Jones Valley.

Libraries

*The Huntsville Madison County Public Library founded in 1818, is Alabama’s oldest continually operating library system with 12 branches throughout the county including one bookmobile. The Main Library Archives contains a wealth of historical resources, including displays of photographic collections and artifacts, has Alabama’s highest materials circulation rate, and features daily public programs. The library system provides free public access internet computers and wireless internet access in all facilities.

Arts Associations

Several arts groups have passed the 50-year mark: Huntsville Community Chorus Association; Huntsville Art League; Theatre Huntsville (through its parent company); Broadway Theatre League; Fantasy Playhouse Children’s Theatre; Rocket City Chorus; Huntsville Symphony Orchestra; and Huntsville Photographic Society among them.

*Founded in October 1962 as a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization, The Arts Council, Inc. includes over 100 local arts organizations and advocates. TAC sponsors the arts through five Core Programs: Arts Education—including the “Meet the Artist” interactive, “distance learning” program at Educational Television and ArtVentures Summer Arts Camp; Member Services; the annual Panoply® Arts Festival; Concerts in the Park, a series of “summer serenades under the stars” held at Big Spring International Park in partnership with the City; and Community Information Services, featuring “Boost Your Buzz,” an annual publicity workshop. Each March, TAC launches the nautically themed SEAFARE, a fundraiser anchored by a seafood buffet, music, and a silent auction. In November, TAC offers pARTy, an annual art sale/cocktail event providing a forum where regional artists exhibit their work for collectors. TAC further champions area visual artists with two galleries: art@TAC, utilizing the walls near the company’s Von Braun Center offices, and the JavaGalleria, in Sam & Greg’s Pizzeria/Gelateria. TAC supports The Bench Project and the strategic planning effort to support Huntsville-Madison County’s economic development goals through expanded arts and cultural opportunities known as Create Huntsville.

Performing arts

*The Flying Monkey Arts Center is located in the historic Lowe Mill under the auspices of Lowe Mill ARTS and Entertainment and hosts a variety of events such as the traditional Cigar Box Guitar festival, the Sex Workers’ Art Show, concerts, and many presentations of the Film Co-op.

*Huntsville Symphony Orchestra is Alabama’s oldest continuously operating professional symphony orchestra, featuring performances of classical, pops and family concerts, and music education programs in public schools.

*Fantasy Playhouse Children’s Theatre, Huntsville’s oldest children’s theater, was founded in 1960. An all-volunteer organization, Fantasy Playhouse performs for the children of North Alabama both on stage and off. cademy, the organization’s dance, music, and art school, teaches children and adults each year. Fantasy Playhouse regularly produces three plays a year with an additional annual play, ”A Christmas Carol”, produced early each December.

*Theatre Huntsville, the result of a merger between the Twickenham Repertory Company (1979–1997) and Huntsville Little Theatre (1950–1997), is a 501(c)(3), non-profit, all-volunteer arts organization that presents six plays each season in the Von Braun Center Playhouse. It produces the annual “Shakespeare on the Mountain” in an outdoor venue, such as Burritt on the Mountain. Presentations range from “The Foreigner” and “Noises Off” to the occasional musical (“Little Shop of Horrors”, and “Nunsense”). In addition, TH presents drama-related workshops (stage management, stage makeup, etc.), as announced.

*Independent Musical Productions, was founded in 1993 and presents at least one annual main production such as “Ragtime,” “Civil War,” “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”, “Into The Woods,” and “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”. In addition, musicals for children and outreach programs complete the season.

*Plays are performed at Renaissance Theatre, with two stages, the MainStage (upstairs) and the Alpha Stage (downstairs), each with seating about 85. Formerly the commissary building for the historic Lincoln Mill Village.

*Merrimack Hall Performing Arts Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that opened in 2007, after nearly $3 million in renovations to the historic building. It was once the social center of the Merrimack Mill Village in the early 1900s. The Company Store, gymnasium, bowling alley, were all there and provided a place for socialization and recreation to all of the village’s residents. Merrimack Hall now includes a 302-seat performance hall, a foot dance studio, and rehearsal and instructional spaces for musicians. Past productions and performers include “Menopause The Musical”, “Dixie’s Tupperware Party”, Billy Bob Thornton and The Boxmasters, Dionne Warwick, Lisa Loeb, Wade Robson, Claire Lynch, and the Second City Comedy Troupe.

*Broadway Theatre League was founded in 1959. BTL presents a season of national touring Broadway productions each year, a family-fun show, and additional season specials. Shows are presented in the Von Braun Center’s Mark C. Smith Concert Hall. Recent past productions include “Mamma Mia!”, “A Chorus Line”, “The Color Purple”, and “An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin”.

*Ars Nova School of the Arts is a local conservatory for music and performing arts. Ars Nova produces musical theatre, opera, and operetta for the local stage.

*Huntsville Community Chorus Association is the state’s second-oldest performing arts organization, producing both choral concerts and musical theater productions. In addition, HCCA features its Madrigal Singers; “Glitz!” (a show choir); a Chamber Chorale; an annual summer melodrama/fundraiser; and three children’s groups: the Huntsville Community Chorus (HCC) Children’s Chorale (ages 3–5); the HCC Treble Chorale (ages 6 – 8); and the HCC Youth Chorale (ages 9 – 12).

*The Huntsville Youth Orchestra was founded by Russell Gerhart, founding conductor of the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra, in 1961. The HYO is a non-profit corporation whose purpose is to “foster, promote, and provide the support necessary for students from North Alabama to experience musical education in an orchestral setting.” The organization has six separate ensembles: the Huntsville Youth Symphony, Sinfonia, Philharmonia, Concert Orchestra, Intermezzo Orchestra, and Novice Strings.

*Huntsville Chamber Music Guild—Organized in 1952 in order to promote and present chamber music programs, the group seeks to present recitals in which artists are presented in works of the classical masters.

Visual arts

*The Huntsville Museum of Art is looking towards its 40-year anniversary, having opened in 1970. It boasts the largest privately owned, permanent collection of art by American women in the U.S., featuring and Anna Elizabeth Klumpke, among others.

*The Huntsville Photographic Society started in 1956. A non-profit organization, the HPS is dedicated to furthering of the art and science of photography in North Alabama.

* The Huntsville Art League held its first meeting in October 1957, adopting the name “The Huntsville Art League and Museum Association” (HALMA). Its current location is 3005 L&N Drive, just south of Drake Avenue near Parkway Place Mall. In addition to their Visiting Artists and “Limelight Artists” series, which highlight both nonresident and member artists at the home office, HAL features its members’ works at galleries located in the Jane Grote Roberts Auditorium of the Huntsville-Madison County Public Library – Main, the Heritage Club, and the halls of the Huntsville Times.

Convention centers and arenas

*The Von Braun Center, which opened in 1975, has an arena capable of seating 10,000, a 2,000-seat concert hall, a 500-seat playhouse (~330 seats with proscenium staging), and of convention space. Both the arena and concert hall are currently undergoing major renovations; upon completion, they will be rechristened the Propst Arena and the Mark C. Smith Concert Hall, respectively.

Other

*The National Speleological Society is headquartered in Huntsville on Cave Street.

*The Von Braun Astronomical Society has two observatories and a planetarium on 10 acres (40,000& m²) in Monte Sano State Park.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Huntsville, Alabama, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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The use of Chinese herbs is a very popular tradition. “Many of the modern day drugs have been developed from these herbs such as the treatments for asthma and hay fever from Chinese ephedra, hepatitis remedies from schizandra fruits and licorice roots and a number of anticancer agents from trees and shrubs”. “There are several herbal drugs that invigorate the energy, nourish the blood, calm tension and regulate menstruation such as Bupleurum Sedative Pills and Women’s Precious Pills”. There are over three hundred herbs that are commonly being used today that have a history that goes back at least 2,000 years.

“The two most common ways to using herbs are to make a strong tea that should be simmered for about an hour or possibly more, or to make large honey bound pills”.

Most Chinese herbs are usually used to help build and strengthen the body. The most commonly used herbs are Ginseng (人参, 人參, rénshēn), wolfberry (枸杞子), Dong Quai (”Angelica sinensis”, 当归, 當歸, dāngguī), astragalus (黄耆, 黃耆, huángqí), atractylodes (白术, 白朮, báizhú), bupleurum (柴胡, cháihú), cinnamon (cinnamon twigs (桂枝, guìzhī) and cinnamon bark (肉桂, ròuguì)), coptis (黄莲, 黃蓮, huánglián), ginger (姜, 薑, jiāng), hoelen (茯苓, fúlíng), licorice (甘草, gāncǎo), ”ephedra sinica” (麻黄, 麻黃, máhuáng), peony (white: 白芍, báisháo and reddish: 赤芍, chìsháo), rehmannia (地黄, 地黃, dìhuáng), rhubarb (大黄, 大黃, dàhuáng), and salvia (丹参, 丹參, dānshēn). These are just a few of the herbs.

Ginseng

The use of ginseng (人参) is well over two thousand years old in Chinese medicine. Ginseng is known to help boost energy, reduce stress and increase endurance. Ginseng contains ginsenosides. The amount of ginsenosides in ginseng depends on how the plant was cultivated and the age of the root. Wild ginseng is rare and commands the highest prices on the market, but most ginseng on the market today is a reasonable price. Red Panax ginseng is the most popular form of ginseng and it is usually packaged as a liquid or tea. Ginseng comes in two kinds, red and white. The color of the ginseng depends on how it is processed. “White ginseng is unprocessed and dries naturally. Red ginseng is processed with steam and is believed to be more effective”. Native Americans have used American ginseng for dry coughs, constipation and fevers. Many women found relief from night sweats and hot flushes from the use of American ginseng.

Mushrooms

Mushrooms have long been used as a medicinal food and as a tea in Chinese herbology. Clinical, animal, and cellular research has shown mushrooms may be able to up-regulate aspects of the immune system. Notable mushrooms used in Chinese herbology include Reishi and Shiitake.

Wolfberry

Wolfberry (枸杞子) is grown in the Far East and is grown from shrubs with long vines. The shrubs are covered with small trumpet-shaped flowers, which turn into small, bright red berries. The berries are usually fresh and sometimes used when it is dried. “Goji Berry is mostly used to treat kidney, liver, eye, and skin problems, diabetes, tuberculosis, anxiety, and insomnia. It also helps to lower the blood pressure and cholesterol levels. They are known to improve the state of health, strengthen the immune system and increasing the longevity and vitality of the human kind”.

Dang Gui

Dang Gui (当归, ”Angelica sinensis” or “female ginseng”) is an aromatic herb that grows in China, Japan and Korea. It is used to regulate the menstrual cycle and to treat menopausal symptoms caused by hormonal changes. Even though it is good for women, it also helps treat the heart, spleen, liver and kidneys that help both men and women. The effect of the herb in treating menstrual cramps is explained by the compounds that help relax the muscle tissue and relieves pain. Dang Gui also stimulates the central nervous system, which can remedy menstrual weakness and headaches. The use of this herb is mostly found in tea, herbal preparations, capsules and extracts. It usually comes in tablet, liquid extract and raw root forms. The best use of Dang Gui to provide long term relief from menopausal syndromes is to take it regularly for 8 to 12 weeks at a time. Using Dang Gui regularly relieves menstrual cramps, prevents the symptoms of menopause and PMS, corrects hormone imbalance and acts as a general tonic for the female reproductive system. There isn’t a certain amount of dosage for Dang Gui but in Chinese medicine Dang Gui is made in a special way- it is boiled or soaked in wine, then the liquid is taken orally while the root is being removed. In the United States and Europe, Dang Gui is a very popular flavoring component in food products such as ice cream, candy, gelatins and puddings but in Asia it is most likely used to treat female problems.

Astragalus

Astragalus (黄耆) is a root used for immune deficiencies and allergies. “The Chinese use the dried sliced or powdered root to boost the immune system, to increase the body resistance to infections, healing allergies and to raise and renew vitality. Astragalus is usually mixed with other herbs to make tea such as ginseng and Codonopsis. Astragalus is known to help prevent diseases but not to cure them”.

Atractylodes

“Atractylodes (白术) is considered very important to the treatment of digestive disorders and problems of moisture accumulation. The herb helps move moisture from the digestive tract to the blood that reduces diarrhea, gas and bloating. Atractylodes is rarely if ever used by itself. It is usually included into tonic prescriptions”.

Bupleurum

“Bupleurum (柴胡) is useful for the treatment of liver diseases, skin ailments, arthritis, menopausal syndrome, withdrawal from corticosteroid use, nephritis, stress-induced ulcers, and mental disorders. Bupleurum is rich in saponins that reduce inflammation and regulates hormone levels. This specific herb isn’t to be used by itself, but combined with 4 to 12 other ingredients that is made into tea, pills or tablets.”

Cinnamon

“Cinnamon (桂枝, 肉桂) or mostly known as gui zhi and rou gui are twigs and bark from large tropical trees that warm the body, invigorate the circulation in the body, goes to all 12 channels (meridians) of the body, and harmonizes the energy of the upper and lower body”. Cinnamon also reduces allergy reactions. The herb is usually cooked together with other herbs to make tea that regulates the circulation of blood.

Coptis chinensis

Coptis chinensis (黄莲) is an underground stem that is one of the bitterest herbs used in Chinese medicine. “It is full of alkaloids that inhibit infections and calm nervous agitation”. Coptis is usually combined with other bitter-tasting herbs such as phellodendron, scutellaria and gardenia. This herb has many uses including the treatment of skin diseases, intestinal infections, hypertensions and insomnia. Since coptis is such a bitter tasting herb, it is often used to make pills or tablets.

Ginger

Ginger (干姜, 乾薑) is a herb and a spice that can be used for many uses even in Chinese cuisine. In this case, it is used in Chinese medicine. “Ginger is highly spicy and is beneficial to digestion, neutralizing poisons in food, ventilating the lungs, to warm the circulation to the limbs, diarrhea and heart conditions”. “Many herbalists use ginger to treat coughs and the common cold”. It is famous for treating nausea. Ginger is also used in making tea.

Licorice

The use of licorice(甘草) is to treat hepatitis, sore throat, and muscle spasms. When licorice is baked with honey it is believed to also help in the treatment of hyperthyroidism and heart valve diseases. It is very often added to a Chinese formula to harmonize all of the herbs, as well as slow the speed that the formula is digested.

Ephedra

Ephedra (麻黄) is another type of herb. “Ma-huang is a stem-like herb that stimulates perspiration, opens the breathing passages and invigorates the central nervous system”. “It is said that ma-huang has a metabolic enhancer that can burn more calories for those that are trying to lose weight”. However, this can have dangerous side effects. Ma-huang can be made into a tea or can be used in an extract form but powdered ma-huang is rarely if ever used. Because of the marketed, over the counter use of ephedra as diet or energy pills, it is now no longer legally available to Chinese herbalists. The use of Ma Huang in the formula ‘Ma Huang Tang’ is a well known formula used for colds (wind-cold).

Peony

Peony (白芍, 赤芍) is also known as bai shao(white) and chi shao (red) is a flower where the Chinese use the root of the peony to regulate the blood. “The root of the peony relaxes the blood vessels, reduces platelet sticking, nourishes the blood and promotes circulation to the skin and extremities”. “The roots of both wild and cultivated are used. The wild peonies “red peony” (chi shao) are a fibrous root that is used to stimulate blood circulation. The cultivated peony “white peony” (bai shao) is a dense root that nourishes the blood. Peony is often combined with tang-kuei or licorice”. In TCM, it is known as a liver blood tonic.

Rehmannia

“Rehmannia (地黄) is a root where the dark, moist part of the herb is used to nourish the blood and the hormonal system. It is usually used in the treatment problems of aging because the herbs ability to restore the levels of several declining hormones. There are two forms of the herb that are currently used. One is designated ”sheng dihuang” or raw rehmannia is given to reduce inflammation. The other designated ”shou dihuang” or cooked rehmannia is used as a nourishing tonic. Often the two forms are combined together in equal proportions to address inflammatory problems. This herb is mostly used in making decoctions or dried decoctions”. This herb is in a famous formula called Liu Wei Di Huang Wan (6 Ingredient Rhemannia) which treats ”yin” deficiency.

Rhubarb

“Rhubarb (大黄) is a large root and was once one of the first herbs that was imported from China. Rhubarb is a reliable laxative and it enhances the appetite when it is taken before meals in very small amounts. It also promotes blood circulation and relieving pain in cases of injury or inflammation and inhibiting intestinal infections. Rhubarb can also reduce autoimmune reactions. The impact of the rhubarb depends on how it is prepared. If the rhubarb is cooked for a long time, the laxative actions are reduced but other actions are retained”.

Salvia

Salvia (丹参) are the deep roots of the Chinese sage plant. It is applied in cases where the body tissues have been damaged by disease or injury. Salvia is given for post-stroke syndrome, traumatic injury, chronic inflammation and/or infection, and degenerative diseases. It is best known for its ability to promote circulation in the capillary beds or the microcirculation system. Also, salvia lowers blood pressure, helps reduce cholesterol and enhances functions of the liver. Salvia can be taken alone or consumed with other herbs, teas or pills.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Chinese herbology, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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