NEW INFO: Traveling with rGH

[Guest guest]

Hello everyone, about 12 hours too late (having just returned from

NY) I received this email from Earl Gershenow of the Human Growth

Foundation. He suggests that rGH always be HANDSCANNED by security

personnel at airports, and NOT put through the xray machines.

Please read below. Salem

A Message to Transportation Safety Administration Personnel

Operating or

Supervising the Operation of Airport Security Scanners: Possible

Damage to

rhGH Upon Being Scanned by Enhanced Airport Security Scanners.

by Earl A. Gershenow on behalf of the Human Growth Foundation (April

16,

2005)

The question of possible damage to rGH from the enhanced airport

security

scanners has arisen on more than than occasion on the HGF Internet

Support

Lists. Below is information that you can provide to any airport

Transportation Safety Administration personnel who ask why your rGH

needs to

be hand checked. (We use rGH to mean human recombinant hormone on

the HGF

Internet Support Lists because it's one less letter to type; and, we

are

obviously discussing human, not some other kind of, recombinant

growth

hormone. Below, the more precise acyronym, rhGH is used for others

who may

read this message.)

Human growth hormone (hGH) is an essential hormone for growth and

development in children, and for physical and mental health in

adults. hGH

is a polypeptide consisting of 191 amino-acid, 22-kd [kilodaltons]

protein

with two intramolecular disulfide bonds, and 5-10% is a 20-kd form

produced

by alternate splicing of the second coding exon that delete the

codons or

amino acids 32 to 46 from the RNA. hGH is present in several

different forms

in the anterior pituitary. Textbook of Endocrinology, 9th

Ed., W.B.

Saunders (Philadelphia: 1998) at p. 256. Recombinant (biosynthetic)

growth

hormone (rhGH) is identifical in its DNA sequencing and functioning

to

natural growth hormone.

rhGH proteins are organic in source and in nature; and, are

especially

fragile and sensitive to damage and destruction from environmental

and other

and external sources from low-dose ions emitted from enhanced airport

security scanners. In seconds, the ionizing radiation can cause

damage that

(1) breaks the DNA strands and causes oxidative damage, (2) affects

the

potency of rhGHm, and (3) possibly can result in additional risks of

injury

if injected into the human body. See the following articles, which

can be

accessed on the internet at the following URLs:

http://www.rense.com/general41/airporttravelerstoget.htm

http://www.lawsonimaging.ca/investigators/stodilka/pdfs/331g2005revno

tes.pdf

http://www.llnl.gov/str/JulAug03/Wyrobek.html

In an article entitled " Do Airport X-rays Ruin Medicine?, " published

by

NAPS:* on [date], it is stated: " New information indicates that

exposure to

X-rays can potentially change the composition of organic compounds

found in

medicines. According to physical chemist Dr. Selen Altunata,

exposure from a

high-dose airport security X-ray scanner can cause up to a 25 percent

degradation in medications, depending on the length of the exposure

and the

physical makeup of the medicine. The impact is even more likely with

homeopathic medicines. " Because homeopathic medicines contain minute

amounts

of active ingredients they are more susceptible to being affected by

ionizing radiation from airport scanners, Altunata explained. "

http://www.napsnet.com/pdf_archive/109/55792.pdf. Because of the

extreme

fragilitiy of the rhGH proteins, it is quite possible that more than

25%

degradation occurs in rhGH.

For the above reasons, and in the absence of any known studies that

demonstrate that the enhanced airport security scanners do not

damage the

rhGH, and the harm to a child or adult, rhGH should not be subjected

to the

ionizing radiation of an airport security scanner; but, should be

hand

checked.

______________

* NAPS (North American Precis Syndicate) distributes feature

releases for

more than 750 companies, including Nokia, IBM, GM, and SINGER;

nonprofit

associations, such as the Multiple Sclerosis Society and Boys Town

USA; and

government agencies such as the Department of Transportation, and the

Centers for Disease Control. See http://www.napset.com

End