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Quackwatch Home Page
There is an old saying: "The highwayman demands 'your money OR your life,' but quacks demand 'your money AND your life!'" This statement is particularly true when it comes to dubious cancer treatment. The harm done by quackery may be categorized as economic, direct, indirect, psychological and societal.
Economic Harm
The amount of money wasted on cancer quackery is unknown but probably exceeds one billion dollars per year—the amount spent for cancer research. The financial impact upon individuals and families can be catastrophic if they fall into the trap of heroically "leaving no stone unturned" in their quest for a remedy in hopeless cases. Some quacks are quite willing to bleed them dry financially. I know of cases in which survivors were deprived of the family's savings, were left with a large mortgage on a previously paid-for home, or even lost their home.
Direct Harm
Dubious therapies can cause death, serious injury, unnecessary suffering, and disfigurement. Cyanide poisoning from ingesting apricot pits or laetrile, Salmonella dublin infection from drinking raw milk, electrolyte imbalance caused by coffee enemas, internal bleeding from deep body massage, and brain damage from whole-body hyperthermia have all caused needless death of cancer patients. At clinics providing substandard care, intravenous infusions of various concoctions have caused septicemia and malnutrition. And the application of escharotics (corrosive chemicals) to the skin of cancer patients has resulted in needless disfigurement.
Ruth Conrad, an Idaho woman, had a horrible experience as a result of consulting one of the state's many unlicensed naturopaths. While seeking treatment for a sore shoulder, she also complained of a bump on her nose. The naturopath stated that it was cancer and gave her a black herbal salve to apply directly. Within a few days, her face became very painful and she developed red streaks that ran down her cheeks. Her worried phone call to the naturopath brought the explanation that the presence of the lines was a good sign because they "resemble a crab, and cancer is a crab." He also advised her to apply more of the black salve. Within a week, a large part of her face, including her nose, sloughed off. It took three years and 17 plastic surgical operations to reconstruct her face.
Mrs. Conrad's experience illustrates another aspect of cancer quackery—fake diagnosis. She never had cancer in the first place. In addition to suffering direct harm from a caustic treatment, she also suffered the mental anguish of thinking she had a dread disease.
Indirect Harm
An example of a needless death involved an Oregon man who treated his basal cell carcinoma of the mouth with a mail-order remedy for 15 years. What makes this case especially tragic is that since this type of cancer almost never metastasizes, he had many years in which to correct his folly. Although badly disfigured by the growing tumor, he continued self-treatment.
Overreliance upon dietary treatment is a common means by which indirect harm kills cancer sufferers. The appeal of dietary remedies is connected to folk medicine. Nearly every culture, beginning with the ancient Egyptians, has believed in the half-truth "you are what you eat." This implies that diseases are caused by faulty diet and, conversely, can be cured by eating the "right" foods. Publicity given to epidemiological speculations about "cancer-prevention diets" encourages the belief that diet holds great promise for both prevention and treatment of cancer. The fact is that, although nutrient deficiencies can cause some diseases and dietary excesses can cause or aggravate several others, the vast majority of diseases do not have a nutritional cause.
One food-as-medicine approach that is popular today is macrobiotics, which received widespread publicity when Anthony Sattilaro, M.D., a Philadelphia physician, concluded that the diet had helped him overcome prostatic cancer. National magazine articles, a book and television appearances spread the belief that macrobiotics had cured his cancer. Although Sattilaro had also undergone conventional therapy, macrobiotics seemed to fulfill some emotional need unmet by regular therapy. He eventually died of his disease, but this fact was not mentioned in the macrobiotic press.
The macrobiotic diet bears some resemblance to currently recommended cancer-prevention diets. However, because of its rigidity, low-fat content, negligible use of simple sugars, and exclusive reliance upon vegetable rather than animal protein, it is a poor one for cancer patients undergoing radiation or chemotherapy. These patients need a high-quality, nutrient-dense diet because the ability of their intestine to absorb nutrients is impaired.
"Natural" treatments that can delay proper care are often advocated by well-meaning friends and relatives who are culturally conditioned to believe in their value. This thinking is deeply rooted in many cultures and is as old as written records themselves. The Book of Job, said to be the oldest in the Bible, is a drama aimed at dispelling the notion that victims are responsible for their own diseases. Job is a good man who suffers terribly. His friends plead with him to confess his wrongdoings, but he is innocent. The message is clearly that the presence of disease does not mean the sufferer is a sinful person. However, moralistic approaches that blamed victims for their diseases were prevalent until Pasteur proved the existence of germs that can strike the innocent and immoral alike.
Pasteur's discovery was made more than a century ago. But even today, many people perceive cancer as a modern-day "leprosy" and consider it "a curse by God." The notion of a cancer-prone personality—capable of self-healing with psychological gymnastics that include visualization, laughter and excessive optimism—is unproven and may represent nothing more than elaboration of the old folklore. Unfortunately, cancer sufferers who believe this and fail to cure themselves may wind up with the added psychological burden of thinking that for some mysterious reason, they really don't want to be cured.
The frequency of needless or premature death due to quackery is difficult to ascertain. A survey of 166 California oncologists done for the National Council Against Health Fraud in 1980 found 12 probable needless deaths and 14 other adversely affected patients. Due to a low (7%) response rate, a second survey of 65 randomly selected cancer specialists who agreed by telephone to participate was done in 1981. Thirty-three respondents reported 7 probable needless deaths, 6 premature deaths, and 14 cases of hopeless prognosis due to diversion by quackery. These numbers are conservative because several doctors who stated they had cases failed to reply, and others withheld reports because of the difficulty of knowing whether certain patients would have survived longer without quackery.
Psychological Harm
In addition to the unjustified guilt referred to above, cancer patients and their loved ones can be psychologically harmed in several other ways.
Misplaced trust. In nearly every case of harm I have examined, misplaced trust either preceded the use of a directly harmful procedure or prevented the patient from obtaining effective care. The deadly message promoted by cancer quackery is that "orthodoxy cannot be trusted." Undermining trust in the research and therapeutic establishment, the government regulators, and the American Cancer Society is crucial to the promotion of so-called "alternative" approaches to cancer management.
A case I investigated from Oregon provides insight into the thinking and actions of "true believers." A health food store owner discovered a lump in her breast. After diagnosing it as cancer, she boasted to her health food friends that she was "going to prove once and for all that diet cure works!" Unfortunately, although at least 80% of self-discovered breast lumps are benign, hers was cancerous.
Her first attempt at self-treatment was to apply the methods in the book The Grape Cure. This book claims that grapes have "powerful" and "antiseptic properties" to help "eliminate evil while building new tissues." According to the book, "cleansing" and "purification" are accomplished by eating nothing but grapes and grape juice until one stops losing weight. In the second stage, fresh fruits, tomatoes and sour milk may be added to the grape diet. The third stage introduces a wider variety of raw foods, and the fourth stage a " mixed diet." After many months, it became apparent that the grape cure had not prevented the tumor from growing.
Next, she turned to a popular herbalist in her community who treated her with herbal remedies for about six months without avail. She then went to Mexico for laetrile. Several weeks later, she asked her husband to take her home because laetrile, too, had failed. Her husband looked after her for more than a year before the lesion became so gross and her pain so unbearable that she asked to be taken to a doctor for the first time. She died five days later.
The most shocking part of the story is that she went to her grave still believing that she had done the right thing. Her husband, who provided me with the details of the tragedy, also continued to believe in the value of diet cure. He stated that he knows where she went wrong, and that if he gets cancer, will use the dietary treatment correctly. He continued to operate the health-food store, send people to the herbalist, and advocate laetrile.
Conversion to deviance. Cancer patients and/or loved ones who accompany them to the cancer treatment underworld may become converted to antisocial behavior. Often these people are encouraged to steer other cancer patients to the clinics or urged to smuggle drugs across the border that cannot be legally marketed in the United States. Even when the cancer patient dies, the loved ones may continue to believe that the treatment is effective. Failures are commonly blamed upon not getting treatment in time or to negative effects of conventional treatment. Having met others who claim they were cured may cause loved ones to determine to use it exclusively should cancer strike them. This sets the stage for a future tragedy.
Untrained people should not be expected to realize that those who claim to have been cured either may not have had cancer in the first place, may have been successfully treated by conventional methods but not converted to believe in them, or may still simply be surviving with their disease. The fact that some cancers can take a long time to run their course or produce no symptoms for a long period of time has misled many patients into believing that a quack remedy had cured them.
Stealing time. By offering false hope, quackery steals the most precious thing terminal cancer patients have—the best use of what little time that they have left. The notion that terminal patients have nothing to lose by turning to quackery is dead wrong. Most people faced with a life-threatening disease can make a reasonable psychological adjustment. Those who face reality experience five classical stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Those who accept their fate are in the best position to use their remaining time wisely.
In the ABC-TV special "Who Will Love My Children" Ann Margret played an impoverished Iowa mother with cancer who spent her last few months finding homes for her ten children. I know of two similar cases. Quacks discourage people from making the difficult adjustment by reinforcing their denial. Such people usually die unprepared because preparation for death is an admission of failure.
Distortion of perspective. Without proper perspective, people can be made to "strain out gnats and swallow camels." Unable to tell good from bad, some people shun "toxic" chemotherapy, but swallow cyanide (laetrile). Unable to gauge how good a generally good thing is, they will overdose on vitamins, essential minerals, or dietary fiber.
Harm to Society
Quackery can also harm our democratic society when large numbers of people hold wrong beliefs about the nature of cancer and the best way to deal with it. The results can be far-reaching. Limited resources can be wasted if funds are used to follow leads based on data that are inadequate or faked. The public is giving large amounts of money in response to mass mailings by fund-raisers who extol dietary measures for preventing and treating cancer. When misinformation based upon wishful thinking becomes popular, the mass media exacerbate the problem with their power to spread ideas. These ideas can influence decision-making by patients, judges, policy-makers, and legislators. During the 1970s, the very fabric of our sound consumer protection law was seriously threatened by laetrile promoters who attempted to legalize its use. Fortunately, although about half the states passed laws permitting its sale, federal laws blocking interstate distribution were not changed. After the FDA won a protracted court battle, the use of laetrile within the United States became minimal.
Patients should be warned that when they patronize cancer quackery they face economic exploitation, risk injury or death, place themselves beyond reach of consumer protection laws, and help sustain quack operations that will exploit other cancer sufferers in the future. In addition, they expose themselves and their loved-ones to deception by some of the most persuasive con artists around—some of whom have criminal records. People who believe they are a match for an experienced cancer quack would do well to recall P.T. Barnum's sage advice: "Never try to beat a man at his own game."
What is Needed
Quackery is a society-wide public health problem. To cope with it adequately, a more scientific approach is required. As with any other public health problem, an epidemiologic strategy is needed to develop information on causal agents (which people become quacks and why), host susceptibility and resistance factors (the characteristics of people who do and do not turn to quackery), and environmental aspects that favor or discourage the proliferation of quackery. Vital statistics are needed on the morbidity, mortality, incidence and prevalence of cancer quackery.
Presently, we have only isolated case reports. These are enough to indicate that great harm is being done, but don't tell us how many people are being harmed. I suggest that a system be developed for reporting quackery cases, patterned after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's system in which doctors report cases of communicable disease. This would enable us to keep track of what is being promoted, where the "hot spots" are, and what legal and educational efforts are needed for an effective response.
Health professionals have a duty to take action when the public is being abused in an area in which they have special knowledge. The failure to take concerted action against cancer quackery sends an unprofessional message. We should not condone the "victim-blaming" ideology which says that if people are too dumb to spot quackery on their own, they are probably too dumb to be worth saving. Nor should we condone the attitude of law enforcement officials who feel that quackery is "merely" a form of white collar crime" that takes money from its victims. Through our actions, we need to convey that the exploitation of cancer sufferers should not be tolerated by our society.
Dr. Jarvis is Professor of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine and Public Health, Loma Linda University, and President of the National Council Against Health Fraud.
Quackwatch Home Page
Posted 5/29/97


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The man who says he coined the name Highway to Heaven believes the row of more than 20 religious institutions on Richmond's No. 5 Road contributes to immigrant integration into Canada.
But Balwant Sanghera, a member of the giant Nanak Niwas Sikh Gurdwara, also believes there is a long way to go before members of the many religions represented along the road engage more fully with each other and their new country.
Sanghera, a teacher and therapist who came to Canada from India decades ago, expressed two sides of the immigrant experience as a Sikh wedding with 600 guests was underway in the incense-filled sanctuary of the gurdwara, which is led by priests trained in the Punjab.
On one hand, Sanghera proclaimed: "I don't think anywhere in the world you will get so many religions working and living alongside each other."
However, the 73-year-old added, "We still have to get people out of their ethnic enclaves. It's too bad when we get into our little silos. We should be co-operating."
The interfaith hopes of many immigrants and city officials rest on the Highway to Heaven, which is unique in North America, possibly in the world.
The three-kilometre stretch of road is home to religious institutions and schools from the Buddhist, Sikh, Hindu, Jewish and Muslim traditions, all of which blend English with different global languages. There are eight Christian churches along the strip, predominantly evangelical Chinese, holding services in Cantonese, English and Mandarin.
Richmond city officials have promoted the Highway to Heaven as an oasis of multifaith harmony, a living symbol of how citizens from different ethnic and religious groups can get along.
It's a multicultural message that politicians in the city of 189,000 have been eager to get out, given that six out of its 10 residents are immigrants, according to the 2011 National Household Survey.
Richmond has the highest concentration of ethnic Chinese of any major North American city, 47 per cent of all residents. Another seven per cent of Richmond's population have South Asian roots, seven per cent are Filipino and two per cent have Japanese origins.
Many of the places of worship along the Highway to Heaven — which the city of Richmond encouraged in 1990 through zoning that was meant to combine religious assembly with farmland protection — are visually striking. The Buddhist, Muslim and Sikh temples especially stand out.
But many other religious and educational buildings along the route are nondescript. In addition, the potential visual splendour of the long Highway to Heaven is broken up by a rag-tag mix of scraggly lots and decrepit buildings.
Some adherents of the diverse religious institutions along the route, however, prefer to point to the positive way the groups often cooperate.
Sikhs, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Christians and Jews, for instance, are pleased with the way they provide overflow parking to each other, since their religious services come on different days of the week. They also sometimes share equipment and technical advice, including such issues as sewage upgrades.
And, on occasion, leaders of the various religions host inter-faith visits to each other's institutions.
Tibetan Buddhist monk Rabjor Dawa joins Sanghera in being among the most keen promoters of interfaith dialogue along the Highway to Heaven, a term Sanghera said he coined about nine years ago in a public letter.
Dawa, a monk from Thrangu Monastery, appreciated the inter-religious discussion that took place several months ago at the Shia mosque on No. 5 Road.
And Dawa likes the way Richmond's tourism and museum officials often direct visitors and students on fields trips — sometimes hundreds at a time — to the Highway to Heaven, particularly to his Buddhist monastery. "We're here to serve the community."
However, there are limitations to the level of interfaith connection and immigrant integration that can flow from the Highway to Heaven.
One problem is its isolation in a sprawling section of Richmond on the west edge of Highway 99. Most members drive long distances from their homes and workplaces to the Highway to Heaven to attend its spiritual services and schools.
Sanghera said the biggest barrier to further inter-spiritual connection and immigrant integration lies in language divisions.
"We have, as immigrants, an obligation to adapt and integrate and become Canadians. And learning the language is the first step in that," Sanghera said.
Even though the gurdwara offers language classes for immigrants from South Asia, Sanghera worries that "language remains a big barrier" for many members of the different temples, mosques and Chinese churches on No. 5 Road.
For instance, it's not optimal, Sanghera acknowledges, that Canada's Sikh priests are trained in India, mostly in the Punjabi language.
More importantly, he added, Metro Vancouver is now home to strong ethnic enclaves, including high concentrations of South Asians in Surrey and Chinese in Richmond.
Sanghera described how easy it has become for many new immigrants from India and China to move to and live in Metro Vancouver without ever learning English.
Such newcomers can find work in Metro Vancouver in their native language, Sanghera said, go to stores in their native language and worship in their native language.
As a result, many immigrants to Metro Vancouver "don't have to have one word of English to get along," Sanghera said. "What I tell them is 'That's great. But you are Canadian now. Try to reach out.' "
The Highway to Heaven's effectiveness as a vehicle for immigrant integration and "religious transnationalism" is the subject of a major research project sponsored by Metropolis B.C., which did research on immigration between 1996 and this year.
The study was conducted by three geographers: Claire Dwyer of University College in London, England; UBC PhD student Justin Tse and UBC professor David Ley.
Referring to Richmond as a "Chinese ethnoburb," the report says the Highway to Heaven illustrates the way many immigrants to Canada are moving into suburbs, which have become "the locus of most recent Asian settlement, (where) the largest and most spectacular new religious buildings have been constructed."
Citing Ley's groundbreaking book, Millionaire Migrants, and other sources, the research project explains that many Asian immigrants to Canada are wealthy people who have been welcomed by the government to fuel economic growth.
As a result, nearly all the edifices along the Highway to Heaven have been built by recent immigrants mostly to serve immigrants.
Twenty-five per cent of all immigrants to Canada are Muslim, Sikh, Hindu or Buddhist (compared to only three per cent of Canadian-born residents), the report says. In addition, many East Asian immigrants are Christians.
The academic study explains how the Highway to Heaven came into existence in the early 1990s as part of Richmond's effort to protect threatened agricultural land. Religious groups were allowed to build on one third of the designated strip of farmland on No. 5 Road if they committed to cultivating the other two-thirds.
"The consequence is a landscape of religious diversity, where buildings of different faith communities stand somewhat incongruously cheek by jowl," the report says.
"(It is) a juxtaposition celebrated by local politicians, the media and even the city's planners as testimony of Canada's distinctive tolerance and multiculturalism."
Most famously, the report says Highway to Heaven was nominated in 2006 as a contender for a CBC poll that aimed to name the "Seven Wonders of Canada."
The article doesn't mention the Highway to Heaven received only 2,200 online votes out of a total of 1.1 million.
Nor does the paper express concern about how Richmond's efforts to protect farmland by allowing religious groups to construct along the Highway to Heaven has been only a limited success.
It is most obviously the Buddhist temples and Muslim mosques on No. 5 Road that have kept their farming promises to the Agricultural Land Reserve, planting significant orchards and gardens on their non-developed land.
Most of the fertile farmland behind the Sikh and Christian places of worship, however, remains unused; overgrown with weeds or grass.
The scholars' paper, meanwhile, supports Sanghera in touching on how language may be proving a partial barrier to immigrant integration. It describes the challenges that arise when some religious leaders and adherents along the road don't speak English.
Nevertheless, the scholarly report by Dwyer, Tse and Ley is guardedly optimistic in suggesting the Highway to Heaven has, to a certain degree, helped immigrants integrate into Canada.
The highway's religious and educational centres have not only supported "over-stressed" immigrants, says the paper, they have created opportunities for interaction with the wider community.
The authors suggest much more integration is possible. They recommend Richmond find ways to encourage the Highway to Heaven to become "a public education resource" and a "teaching tool in school curriculum as a way to promote religious literacy in the spirit of Canadian multicultural integration."
Despite the Highway to Heaven's problems, there is quiet excitement about its future.
As he came out of the grand doors of the Az-Zahraa Islamic Centre, electrician Shabbir Dharsi said he was happy with the way he could share his mosque's parking lot and maintenance equipment with other religious institutions along N0. 5 Road.
And though some of the Chinese evangelical pastors in the churches along the Highway to Heaven did not return The Vancouver Sun's messages, Dawa and Sanghera went out of their way to say they are staunch supporters of increased inter-connection.
In particular, Dawa was excited to highlight an interfaith meeting several months ago at the Al-Zahraa mosque.
"The Muslim leaders wanted all of us to learn about how Islam works. And we talked to them about how Buddhism works," the monk said, describing the event. "When it comes down to the base (of every religion), it's all about generosity, love and compassion for all humanity."
As a longtime advocate for adherents of different world views to try to better understand each other, Sanghera also has no intention on giving up his vision of a more unified human family.
"We're trying to promote reaching out," Sanghera said. "It's taking its time. But I'm optimistic."

subset: commoncrawl


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Partner companies in the Joint Industry Project "Wave Impact on Fixed Turbine" are studying the impacts of steep, breaking waves and more moderate seas with an eye to the design rules currently used for fixed offshore wind turbines.
A Dutch research institute, Deltares, announced it has begun initial scale model tests to study the impact of steep, breaking waves on offshore wind turbines. Believing wind turbines at sea could be much cheaper, reducing material costs by 10 percent, Deltares and the other members of the Joint Industry Project "Wave Impact on Fixed Turbine" (JIP WiFi) are joining forces to conduct research that tests this hypothesis.
The design rules currently used to determine the impact of breaking waves on the turbines are very conservative, according to Deltares. The objective of the JIP WiFi is to improve the way effects of steep, breaking waves and more moderate seas are taken into account in the design methodology of fixed offshore wind turbines.
Considerable research already has been done in this area, "but further insight is required to take this effect better into account in future wind farms," the company's announcement stated, adding that results will be available to participants in 2014.
The other project partners are Ramboll, a Danish engineering, design, and consultancy company; MARIN and ECN, Dutch research institutes; Statkraft, based in Norway and Europe's leading renewable energy provider; and classification companies GL and DNV.


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Welcome to Watch List, where we identify five things on TV to watch while you stay at home and spend four hours trying to figure out how to fold up that new stroller you bought for your kid. The instructions are USELESS, I tell you. LET'S GO!
SURVIVOR – 8:00PM (CBS) Could it be? I don't believe it. It is! It's an honest-to-goodness fall premiere of a popular returning show! My Lord, it feels like it's been forever. I feel like I was just ON Survivor, it's been so long since I got quality network programming. Anyway, the 11th season of Survivor will take place in luscious Nicaragua, where the contestants can presumably run through the jungle collecting spread-firing powerups and shooting pesky aliens. There are two tribes divided by age. The Espada tribe consists of people over 40, including former Dallas Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson, who is sure to get the boot within three episodes, just because the others will be petty like that. The La Flor tribe (so pretty!) consists of people under 30. It's oldies vs. younguns! I think we all know who's winning the shuffleboard immunity challenge. ANTICIPATION: OLD PEOPLE SHIRTLESS!
OUTLAW – 10:00PM (NBC) NBC's first new offering of the fall is this legal drama starring the always welcome Jimmy Smits, who the ladies hope will flash a cheek or two somewhere down the line. Smits plays Cyrus Garza. Such an edgy name! Cyrus used to be a Supreme Court justice, but then he was like, "I've had it up to here with your statutes! I'M OUTTA HERE, MAN!" So now he's in private practice, taking on cases other lawyers find too hot to handle. So he went from judicial branch judge to crusading lawyer. What a rebel. It's like I'm staring at Jimmy Dean! ANTICIPATION: OUTLAWY!
TOP CHEF – 10:00PM (Bravo – an NBC/Universal Network) We're still in Singapore for the finale and tonight it comes down to Ed, Angelo, and Kevin. Last week, I almost grew sympathetic for Angelo while he blubbered up during the elimination. And Ed was kind of a bastard to him all episode long (even happily admitting so). Then there's Kevin, who seemingly doesn't belong here but has pulled some serious dishes out of his toquehole over the past two weeks. Maybe he sneaks in a takes home the prize. But the favorite remains Ed, who looks like every guy I've ever seen on any local golf course. ANTICIPATION: PADMA IS STILL MEAN!
TOP CHEF: JUST DESSERTS – 11:00PM (Bravo – an NBC/Universal Network) Right after the original "Top Chef" finale comes this dessert-only spinoff competition, hosted by Gail Simmons' and Gail Simmons' robust cleavage. Tonight, the 12 new chefs must dazzle famed chocolatier Jacque Torres, whom my mother finds attractive. My mom is a sucker for dudes who sculpt swans out of 75% cacao. ANTICIPATION: SWEETNESS!
AMERICA'S GOT TALENT – 8:00PM (NBC) It's the finale tonight. Which means that this year's run of pointless summer programming is jussssst about over. ANTICIPATION: TALENTISH!
Wednesday Watch List: Premiere Viewing
Welcome to Watch List, where we identify five things on TV to watch while you stay at home and spend four hours trying to figure out how to fold up that new stroller you bought for your kid. The instructions are USELESS, I tell you. LET'S GO!


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Despite her claims to have won the largest Mega Millions jackpot ever, a Maryland woman wants to be left alone with her alleged millions.
Mirlande Wilson held a press conference Wednesday after claiming last week to have won the lottery game, but she has not produced the ticket yet, according to NBCWashington.com. Not even her lawyer has seen the ticket.
Wilson, who said nothing at her news conference, has come under fire for claiming that she paid for the winning ticket herself and not from the lotto pool composed of her co-workers at a Baltimore McDonald's.
A 37-year-old mother of seven, Wilson once welcomed the attention. She told News4′s Shomari Stone that she purchased the winning ticket worth $105 million after taxes from a Milford Mills 7-Eleven. She reportedly was responsible for a McDonald's employee pool of Mega Millions tickets but says the winner wasn't part of the pool.
Wilson sought legal counsel, saying she's afraid someone will go after her for her money.
The attention has been negatively affecting her, according to her lawyer. Wilson has had to seek treatment for high blood pressure recently, he told NBC.
There are two more unnamed Mega Millions winners from Kansas and Illinois, according to the Associated Press. Should Wilson have a winning ticket, she and the two others will split the $640 million jackpot at $213 million each before taxes.


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If this week's Social Good Summit in New York could only prove one point, it would be that social media has a crucial role to play in communicating the story of international development. Whether it is a blog, a tweet, or a large Facebook presence—social media is a way to actively engage the public on development issues.
The second annual summit, hosted by Mashable and the UN Foundation, brought innovative thinkers dedicated to solving the world's biggest problems, such as famine, malaria, maternal health mortality, and child marriage, together with bloggers and social media types.
The four-day summit included a star-studded line up—from Archbishop Desmond Tutu to cycling legend Lance Armstrong. It was live streamed by Mashable, and bloggers and attendees watched the panel discussions and livetweeted throughout the event using the hashtag #socialgood. The conversation was viral with thousands actively participating around the world via Twitter.
The highlights of the week include USAID Administrator Raj Shah launching our new FWD campaign, which is a digital campaign that showcases interactive maps to tell the story of crisis and response in the Horn of Africa. The website is a place where people can get the latest information, forward the facts, and find ways to do more.
Read the rest of this entry »


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I LOVE this tree! I've taken pictures of my tree, shared them with family/friends and everyone loves it. It was so easy to set up. I love that the tree was pre-lit. No more stringing lights for me. The color is so pretty and fun.
—Mary Christmas from Foristell, Mo
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"Boone Large Monster Fish Bag - 23"" x 70"""
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|University of Kentucky Entomology
by Michael F. Potter, Urban Entomologist
University of Kentucky College of Agriculture
One spider in Kentucky that is potentially dangerous is the brown recluse, sometimes referred to as the violin or fiddleback spider because of the violin-shaped marking on its dorsum. Although bites are rare, the venom can cause serious wounds and infestations should be taken seriously.
Distribution and Diagnosis
The brown recluse spider, Loxosceles reclusa, is found throughout the south central and midwestern United States. Infestations in Kentucky are intermittent, becoming more common as one travels westward. Other species of Loxosceles spiders occur in the southwestern U.S. and southern California, but the brown recluse is the most notable and widespread. Recluse spiders are rare outside their native range and are widely over-reported. Occasionally, one or a few spiders may be transported to a non-native area in boxes or furnishings, but infestations seldom become established.
Distribution of the brown recluse spider (dark shading) and other species of Loxosceles spiders in the U.S. (light shading) (adapted from distribution map of R. Vetter, Univ. Calif. Riverside)
Though variable in size, adult brown recluse spiders with legs extended are about the size of a U.S. quarter. Coloration ranges from tan to dark brown, and the abdomen and legs are uniformly colored with no stripes, bands or mottling. The legs are long and thin and lack conspicuous spines. For laypersons, the most distinguishing feature of a brown recluse is a dark violin-shaped mark on its back, with the neck of the violin pointing toward the rear (abdomen) of the spider. This feature is consistent in adult brown recluses, but sometimes less obvious in younger spiders.
Seeing this feature clearly requires a good quality hand lens. Many harmless brown spiders are mistaken for the brown recluse, so it is prudent to have specimens confirmed by an entomologist or knowledgeable pest control firm.
Habits and Development
In nature, brown recluse spiders live outdoors under rocks, logs, woodpiles and debris. The spider is also well adapted to living indoors with humans. They are resilient enough to withstand winters in unheated basements and stifling summer temperatures in attics, persisting many months without food or water. The brown recluse hunts at night seeking insect prey, either alive or dead. It does not employ a web to capture food -- webs strung along walls, ceilings, outdoor vegetation, and in other exposed areas are nearly always associated with other types of spiders.
During daylight hours, brown recluse spiders typically retreat to dark, secluded areas. They often line their daytime retreats with irregular webbing, which is used to form their egg sacs. Adult female recluses seldom venture far from their retreat, whereas males and older juveniles are more mobile and tend to travel farther. Consequently, they are more likely to wander into shoes, clothing or bedding at night and bite people when they inadvertently become trapped against the skin. At times, brown recluse spiders will be seen during daylight hours crawling on floors, walls and other exposed surfaces. Such behavior can be triggered by hunger, overcrowding, pesticide application, or other factors.
About 40-50 eggs are contained within 1/3 inch diameter off-white silken egg sacs. The tiny emerged spiders gradually increase in size, molting five to eight times before becoming adults.
Brown recluse spiders mature in about a year and have an average lifespan of 2 to 4 years. The females produce up to 5 egg sacs in a lifetime. Infestation levels in homes vary greatly, ranging from one or a few spiders to several hundred.
Bites and Medical Significance
Like other spiders, the brown recluse is not aggressive. It is quite common, in fact, to live in a building that is heavily infested and never be bitten. Most bites occur in response to body pressure, when a spider is inadvertently trapped against bare skin. Some people are bitten when they roll over one in bed. Other bites occur while moving stored items or putting on a piece of clothing that a spider has chosen for its daytime retreat. Brown recluse spiders have remarkably small fangs and cannot bite through clothing.
The initial bite is usually painless. Oftentimes the victim is unaware until 3 to 8 hours later when the bite site may become red, swollen, and tender. The majority of brown recluse spider bites remain localized, healing within 3 weeks without serious complication or medical intervention. In other cases, the victim may develop a necrotic lesion, appearing as a dry, sinking bluish patch with irregular edges, a pale center and peripheral redness. Often there is a central blister. As the venom continues to destroy tissue, the wound may expand up to several inches over a period of days or weeks. The necrotic ulcer can persist for several months, leaving a deep scar. Infrequently, bites in the early stages produce systemic reactions accompanied by fever, chills, dizziness, rash or vomiting. Severe reactions to the venom are more common in children, the elderly, and patients in poor health. Persons bitten by a brown recluse spider should apply ice, elevate the affected area, and seek medical attention immediately.
Medical Misdiagnosis
Spider bites are difficult to diagnose, even by physicians. Contrary to popular belief, it is exceedingly hard to diagnosis a brown recluse spider bite from the wound alone. Many medical conditions mimic the necrotic-looking sore from a recluse bite, including bacterial and fungal infections, gangrene, and diabetic or pressure ulcers. Several recent misdiagnoses have arisen from outbreaks of drug-resistant infections by Staphyloccus aureus. The bacterium produces painful skin lesions that resemble recluse bites, and can run rampant in close living quarters such as hospitals, nursing homes, summer camps, military barracks, and correctional facilities. Similar-looking lesions can also be caused by other types of insects and arthropods.
Alleged bites occurring outside the normal territorial range of the brown recluse spider are particularly unlikely, given that surveys rarely yield recluses in non-native areas. With all alleged spider bites, verification generally requires finding a spider at the time and proximity of the bite. Presumptive bites become even more unlikely if thorough inspection of the premises yields no sign of brown recluse spiders. Anyone bitten by what is thought to be a brown recluse should try to collect the specimen and bring it to a qualified individual for identification. Even badly crushed specimens can usually be identified. Confirmation by an expert will help the physician decide on the appropriate course of treatment.
Controlling Infestations
Brown recluse spiders are challenging to control, largely because of their secretive habits. Virtually any dark, undisturbed area can serve as harborage, and many such places occur within buildings. Because the spider is a potential health threat -- and requires skill and persistence to eradicate -- such treatments are best performed by knowledgeable professionals.
Outdoors the spiders may be found in barns, sheds, woodpiles, and under anything lying on the ground. Migration indoors can be reduced by moving firewood, building materials, and debris away from foundations. Sealing cracks and holes in a building's exterior can further help to keep spiders and other pests outdoors. Some of the more common entry points for brown recluse spiders include gaps under doors; vents and utility penetrations; beneath the lowermost edge of siding; and where eaves and soffits meet the sides of buildings. Outdoor populations of brown recluse spiders are less common in the northern portions of its range.
The more glue traps used the better -- dozens placed throughout a home will reveal "hot spots" where spiders are most abundant. Traps should be placed in corners and along wall-floor junctures, especially behind furniture and clutter since spiders tend to travel in these areas. Besides being useful for detection, glue traps can capture and kill large numbers of spiders, especially the males, which are more likely to wander into places where people are accidentally bitten. Ongoing eradication efforts can be judged by the number of new spiders collected in traps. Glue traps should be installed before insecticide treatments, as some products will cause spiders to relocate and wander into traps.
Insecticides - Brown recluse infestations will usually warrant the use of insecticides. Some spiders will not be caught in glue traps, especially the adult egg-laying females, which stay hidden more so than male spiders. Insecticides should be applied into cracks, voids, and other areas where spiders are likely to be hiding, attempting to contact as many as possible. Spray, dust and aerosol formulations may be employed. Dust insecticides are particularly effective for treating cracks, such as under baseboards and along sill plates in basements and crawl spaces. Dusts also work well when treating under insulation, within voids of hollow block foundations, and behind light switch and outlet plates to contact spiders traveling along wires from attics. Typical dust insecticides include silica gel (two professional brands are Drione and Tri-Die) and deltamethrin (DeltaDust).
Insecticide sprays can also be effective applied into harborages and along floor/wall junctures, edges of suspended ceilings, and other places where spiders tend to travel. Better spray ingredients include cypermethrin, cyfluthrin, bifenthrin, deltamethrin and lambda cyhalothrin, which are contained in such professional insecticide brands as Demon, Tempo, Talstar, Suspend, and Demand. Consumer versions containing similar ingredients include Bayer Advanced Multi-Insect Killer, Spectracide Triazicide, and Ortho Home Defense Max. "Bug bombs" and total-release foggers are seldom effective against these spiders, and should only be considered when treating otherwise inaccessible areas. Treatments can also be made outdoors to help reduce spider entry. Cracks in exterior walls can be treated, and sprays can be applied along the base of foundations and likely entry points with one of the above-mentioned insecticides.
Avoiding Bites
As treatments are being implemented, precautions can be taken to lessen the chance of being bitten. Beds should be moved away from walls, drapes and other furnishings, and skirts and bedspreads removed to break contact with the floor. Shoes and clothing should also be kept off floors, or at least shaken well before wearing. Remove excess clutter and store seldom-used items in plastic storage containers. There may be comfort in knowing that bites are a rare occurrence, even in homes where brown recluses are abundant.
Revised: 6/05
CAUTION! Pesticide recommendations in this publication are registered for use in Kentucky, USA ONLY! The use of some products may not be legal in your state or country. Please check with your local county agent or regulatory official before using any pesticide mentioned in this publication.
Of course, ALWAYS READ AND FOLLOW LABEL DIRECTIONS FOR SAFE USE OF ANY PESTICIDE!
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