Eric if the history of taxol is any indication then my point is valid regarding trying to patent a natural substance which leads me to believe the rules of the game are restrictive and favor synthetic drugs. The following is an excerpt from a Wikipedia article on taxol which shows even a pharmaceutical company has had numerous headaches with the process: While it seems clear the NCI had little choice but to seek a commercial partner, there was also controversy about the terms of the deal, eventually leading to a report by the General Accounting Office in 2003, which concluded the NIH had failed to ensure value for money.[52] In related CRADAs with the USDA and Department of the Interior, Bristol-Myers Squibb was given exclusive first refusal on all Federal supplies of Taxus brevifolia. This exclusive contract lead to some criticism for giving BMS a "cancer monopoly".[53] Eighteen months after the CRADA, BMS filed a new drug application (NDA), which was given FDA approval at the very end of 1992. [50] Although there was no patent on the compound, the provisions of the Waxman-Hatch Act gave Bristol-Myers Squibb five years exclusive marketing rights. In 1990, BMS applied to trademark the name taxol as Taxol(R). This was controversially approved in 1992. At the same time, paclitaxel replaced taxol as the generic (INN) name of the compound. Critics, including the journal Nature, argued the name taxol had been used for more than two decades and in more than 600 scientific articles and suggested the trademark should not have been awarded and the BMS should renounce its rights to it.

Posted by silversword (My Page) on Wed, Oct 1, 08 at 14:20 Someone mentioned PAS Syndrome, so I looked it up to see what it is. This is the definition of PAS as described by R.A. Gardner who discovered the syndrome and has become an expert in dealing with the issue.Gardner's definition of PAS is: "The parental alienation syndrome (PAS) is a disorder that arises primarily in the context of child-custody disputes. Its primary manifestation is the child's campaign of denigration against a parent, a campaign that has no justification. It results from the combination of a programming (brainwashing) parent's indoctrinations and the child's own contributions to the vilification of the target parent."(Excerpted from: Gardner, R.A. (1998). The Parental Alienation Syndrome, Second Edition, Cresskill, NJ: Creative Therapeutics, Inc.) Basically, this means that through verbal and non verbal thoughts, actions and mannerisms, a child is emotionally abused (brainwashed) into thinking the other parent is the enemy. This ranges from bad mouthing the other parent infront of the children, to withholding visits, to pre-arranging the activities for the children while visiting with the other parent. http://www.paskids.com/ I don't know very much about it, but this is what my mom used to do with my dad. It really is sad how children get in the middle. Posted by sue36 (My Page) on Wed, Oct 1, 08 at 19:39 A good friend of mine had this happen to him. He had custody and then custody got transferred to his ex-wife after she cleaned up her act. She had basically abandoned the kids (after cheating on her husband, our friend) and after getting custody she set out to systematically eliminate our friend from the children's lives. It got very, very ugly. He now has no contact with the children. Many years ago I dated a guy who was recently divorced and something similar happened to him. While he was in the military, away on deployment, his wife moved out of their on base housing without even telling him (he learned when he got back from a deployment, can you imagine?). She moved back to her home state and they got divorced. They agreed she would have custody (the child was young) and he would have visitation where he would go to her home state until the child was a certain age. She then married a former boyfriend very soon after the divorce. The custody arrangement wasn't worth the paper it was written on. She decided her new husband should be the child's father (not just step father). She would disappear with the kid when he showed up for court ordered visitation (he had to fly there). She wouldn't answer the phone when he called to speak to his child. The court (the court in her home state) wouldn't do anything. He eventually gave up his parental rights and her new husband adopted the child. He couldn't take it anymore. Both of them spent small fortunes fighting to enforce the visitation orders and got nowhere. Â Posted by moonie_57 (My Page) on Wed, Oct 1, 08 at 20:45 And I don't think that PAS is necessarily one parent against another, although I didn't read the link provided. Just from the explanation, I feel like this is what my DD's adult friend has done. She bad mouths DH and I to DD. Even after going to court, and the woman being found guilty of contribution to the delinquency of a minor, DD still has contact with her. I'm just trying to find proof. Â Posted by silversword (My Page) on Thu, Oct 2, 08 at 15:42 Moonie, I didn't think of it like this, but you're right! "And I don't think that PAS is necessarily one parent against another" I have seen this happen as well. It must be really hard to deal with your individual situation because this is probably an older, "cooler" person than your DD and she must look up to them. It's hard to see sometimes, especially as a teenager, that your parents really have your best interests at heart and aren't just trying to keep you away from your "good friend". I remember my mom telling me one of my friends wasn't a nice girl, and I didn't believe her. In retrospect, she was right. I only hope this girl removes her tentacles from your daughter before more damage is done.

I have been very happy with a non-toxic trick I use to get fleas out of carpets. Before you go to bed, take a shallow, shiny metal pan - I use a pie pan - half fill it with water and a couple of drops of dish soap. This breaks the surface tension of the water. then aim a light directly into the pan. Since it is the only light source, the fleas jump toward the light and then fall into the water and drown. When you wake up you'll see lots of drowned fleas in the bottom of the pan. I just kept doing it until we stopped catching fleas, and moved it into different rooms every night or two. I haven't had fleas in 10 years, since I moved to the High Desert but recently moved back into an area that is less desert and more suburb. Low and behold, a flea has been spotted! just another reason to not be excited about living in town. Good to know that they could have been carried in from elsewhere and my dog isn't to blame. She has only been in the house and back yard for the last month. Dawn

My Dad lived a very healthy life up to 91 years. My stepmother became wheelchair bound and my dad took sole care of her at home for years. When he became frazzled with it he placed her in a nursing home. EVERY day and NEVER missed one day in five years, he took her homemade breakfast and dinner. He was incredibly devoted to her. When my stepmother past away Dad tried to find ways to keep busy, but his age and mourning took a toll on him. I was my Dads ONLY caretaker as well as visitor, he had no one he wanted in his life but me. I lived a half hour away from him and tried my best to be there every other day to visit and had a standing Tuesday and Thursday outing to lunch. On a Easter Sunday he drove to my home (yes still drove at 91) and as the meal progressed he looked somewhat out of sync. We asked if he felt alright and he said he was just tired and better go home. I walked him to his car, he got in started it and said "get Jerry"(my husband) I ran got DH and Dad said "my car won't go". Well the reason it would not go was that his foot was UNDER the brake pedal and he was pushing on the floor! We figured he had a minor stroke. That's the moment we knew the end was on our doorstep. I drove dad home and told him get some rest as we were going to check into getting a nursing home. I never would have left him alone, but my dads Neighbor 20 feet away had two sons that worked with dh and they would be eyes and ears for us. My dad refused nursing homes or home nursing and said he would ONLY move in with me, so HE made me choose my home or me moving in with him! I was livid he asked that of me. We ended up moving him in our home as I had no choice. It was as BLFenton expierenced a nightmare! As I was packing him up he was WALKING perfectly fine. He said don't forget to bring stepmothers wheelchair.( I could not understand why). And don't forget the Tylenol pm! I told him I had Tylenol pm and didn't need his right now. He said "you don't have enough for me" What I yelled. He said "you know I take Tylenol pm TWO of them FOUR times A DAY, been doing it for months now" Oh my I had no idea. He was driving for months and could have caused some serious problems. We moved Dad in and the moment he walked in our door he asked for the wheelchair. He sat in it and NEVER once walked again. He from the next day began having minor strokes daily and constantly falling. I had hospice come in and Thank God for them for the help I got. It was so hard and exhausting taking care of him. I turned into a mean and angry person while he was here. I spent all day doing only for him and DH took the night shift after a very exhausting day of work. Hospice arranged for a week of respite care so I could take a breather. They found a room next door to where my dad spent 5 years visiting my stepmother and where she died. One hour after taking Dad there he fell, broke his hip and from then on spiraled fast downhill. He died there 3 weeks after his arrival. One thing we did do several years earlier was made me his personel rep and placed me on ALL accounts which made his estate a absolute breeze. Something I wish to say to all in a situation with elderly parents is sometimes trying to take care of them in their own home or yours isn't always the right choice! I feel that had I not been so exhausted I never would have been mean angry and resentfull. I feel as though I wasted precious moments I could have shared with my Dad had someone else been taking care of his physical needs.