Asthma Self-Help for African-Americans

Asthma in the African-American child may be caused by things other than what is commonly suggested.  In many African-American homes sometimes we do things that others might not be doing, such as burning incense.  Incense has a flux that comes off like any burning weed or leaf and that might be causing a child to have asthma.  So I would advise anybody that has asthmatic children, not to burn any of those types of things in their homes.  The roach is a big problem because the exoskeleton comes off and disintegrates into a protein dust which is highly allergenic.  Mite dust is another problem.   In your mattress, there are mites that eat the dead skin that flakes off your body.  These mites defecate and their waste is called mite dust.  Every time you roll over in a mattress, that dust comes up.  So people should really spend more money replacing mattresses than on doctor visits and medicines. 
Also, the residual remains of roach bombs does not easily dissipate, particularly in the winter when everything is closed up to keep the heat in.  Everything else stays as well.   If you also use a gas stove to heat a house, you get a lot of non-combustibles coming in, carbon dioxide, things like that, and you run the danger of creating a negative pressure in the house.  This negative pressure can draw gases back down a flue, gases that should be released to the outside.  This is how many people get carbon monoxide poisoning.   This is very common, and yet it gets treated as though it were the flu or some kinds of upset stomach, or headache you think is do to a cold. 
When you bring your clothing home from the dry cleaner, air it out well before you bring it into your closet.  Because perchloroethylene is a very toxic chemical.  
In African-American homes, we use a lot of disinfectants, pine and different kinds of detergents and cleaners.  Any of these aerosol products that have aromas, floral scents, should not be used in the home around children.  There are many chemicals in the spray system of the can.
Of course, there should be no smoking in a house with children.  No smoking at all.   A baby=s lungs are very sensitive and susceptible to damage from cigarette smoke.  There is not one thing in the diet that can=t cause asthma.  You can have asthma from eating one type of food.  I had a patient who went to see her daughter at college, and she went into a little restaurant and had some chili, without knowing they had used peanuts in the preparation.   She ate it and died from an asthmatic attack. 
One of the biggest things found now in many foods is sulfite.  We have something in our bodies called sulfite oxidase which can oxidize the sulfite when it comes into our bodies.  But that enzyme system is limited in the amount of work it can do.  When it gets overloaded the system shuts down and you end up with a lot of sulfites moving through your body causing difficulty.  Researchers have found that you can protect the sulfite oxidase by using vitamin B-12.  If you look in any allergy journal sulfites is high on the list.  In fact, they have outlawed sulfites on store lunch counters, where they were used to keep the vegetables looking fresh.  Sulfites are used mostly for cosmetic purposes.  They keep tuna fish white, and the fruint in fruitcake  red, orange, pink or yellow.  Dried fruits have to be sulfited to keep their color.  White raisins are kept white by sulfites. 
A big problem that children have is with the sulfites in the quarter-water drinks.  If you go into the average Bodega and you=ll find a wide variety of these drinks, and many with sulfites.  These sulfites can build up in the body and constrict the small bronchi leading into air sacs of the lungs, triggering an asthmatic attack.   These drinks also cause hyperactivity in children because of the intense fructose that=s in it.  It intoxicates the brain.  Then there are also dyes they have put in these things to hold the color.  So the result is a variety of chemicals going into your body that the body was never designed to handle and can=t even recognize.  Give your children juices instead of the colored water drinks.  Read the labels carefully.  If this was done, it would reduce asthma as much as one-quarter. 
These drugs that are used to treat asthma are horrible.   They make children nervous, and upset, and prevent them from functioning well in school.   The pharmaceutical companies do produce some lifesaving products, but they are also profit-making enterprises, manufacturing products which they recommend be used daily.  These companies are not necessarily the best source of information on how  to prevent asthma in a more natural and safe way.   Examine everything you take into your body and remove those things that have asthma-causing properties.   Be aware of your environment and of the air quality around you.  An air purifier can have a very beneficial effect for asthmatics.    and don=t forget, consult with your allergist or doctor before changing or discontinuing any medication.

Magnolia Tree Earth Center’s Garden Party Fundraiser

Offers Surprises and 2010 Hattie Carthan Founders Day Awards to Ten Top New Yorkers SATURDAY, JUNE 26 at the VICTORIAN MANSION in Brooklyn

New York City prides itself on being ahead of the curve in the “green” movement.  But more than 40 years ago, the late visionary Hattie Carthan, Bedford Stuyvesant’s First Lady of the Environment saved one magnificent tree from Model City bulldozer’s, inspired several block associations to join in the planting of 1500 trees, and subsequently jumpstarted the neighborhood’s first “green” initiative.

Her Magnolia Tree Earth Center — three connecting brownstones on Lafayette Avenue across from Von King Park – still stand protecting the magnificent Magnolia grandiflora, from north winds. The Board of Directors there has formed a protective embrace around Mrs. Carthan’s legacy, and is working hard to bring it into the 21st century … as Mrs. Carthan would have wanted.  And you can join in the effort.

There’s still time to help the Board reach its goal for the summer.  Their annual Summer Solstice fundraiser – complete with lemonade, music, networking, remembrances, silent auction (including framed photograph of a window in environmentalist Harriet Tubman’s home donated by artist Olivia Cousins; a book of John James Audubon’s watercolors work donated by Bernice Elizabeth Green; Matthew Fraser’s popular Miracle Step health product, an officedesk water fountain crafted by Joanna Williams), and more — takes place this SATURDAY, JUNE 26, 4:00-8:00pm in the elegant Carthan-like setting of the historic Victorian Mansion, 247 Hancock Street, near Marcy Avenue in Brooklyn.  Tickets are $40.

In addition, ten of New York’s most distinguished community leaders who exemplify Mrs. Carthan’s ideals of excellence, leadership, and proactive vision, will be awarded The Hattie Carthan Founder’s Day Award, the highest honor of the Board of Directors of the Magnolia Tree Earth Center of Bedford-Stuyvesant.  Awards ceremony commences at 5:45pm. 

The honorees include: Kristina Beecher, principal of The Bedford Village School/P.S. 3; Carlton Brown and Walter Edwards, COO and CEO, respectively, of Full Spectrum New York green construction firm; Pamela E. Green, Executive Director of the Weeksville Heritage Center; Sydney Katz, founder of Super Foodtown; Liam Kavanaugh, First Deputy Commissioner of New York City Department of Parks and Recreation; David McMaster, Vice President, Bartlett Tree Expert Company; Akiima Price, Chief of Education, New York Restoration Project; Dr. Vicente Sanchez, USDA Forest Service; and Antonia Yuille Williams, Director of Public Affairs, Con Edison.
This award is bestowed annually to individuals, organizations or enterprises that best exemplify the standards and vision of the late great environmentalist Hattie Carthan whose visionary work more than 40 years ago – in developing a neighborhood ecology and environment center for children – continues to inspire young people today.  Her accomplishments – ahead of their time – also have contributed directly to Bedford-Stuyvesant’s active participation in New York City’s movement towards sustainability.
Says Board Chair David Mark Greaves, “These leaders, through their work and commitment to building a sustainable future for the City’s under-resourced neighborhoods where Mrs. Carthan lived and worked, are deserving of this honor.  We’re proud they are part of our family and we’re proud of them.
“Also, this year, the Board is proud to announce two milestones: the 40th anniversary of the designation of the Lafayette Avenue environmental center’s 19th century magnolia grandiflora as a New York City historic landmark (New York’s only living landmark), and the debut in the fall of a perfume developed by Rodney Fitzgerald Hughes from the essence of the tree’s flower petals.  The perfume, now in its 12th month of an 18-month process, will be ‘tested’ by Hattie’s Angels, Alma Carroll, Elsie Richardson and Vernell Albury, three stalwart pioneers in Bedford Stuyvesant history.  And as a salute to Mrs. Carthan’s emphasis on children first, there will be music and oratorical performances by young people associated with the Center through Project Green and other programs.”
This annual summer solstice event kicks off Magnolia Tree Earth Center’s seasonal fundraisers; one is scheduled for early fall, when the much-anticipated, high-end Magnolia Grandiflora perfume will debut and in the early winter, when a possible Harvest/Winter Ball will take place.
This season’s event is being catered by Simply Elegant and will feature the R&B sounds of the popular U4RIA group.  For more information, call Andrea Brathwaite: 718-387-2116.  Tickets are $40.  For press interviews, call Bernice Green, 718-599-6828.