Good News from Ukraine

By Wolodymyr Derzko

I was determined that my next op-ed would be strictly good news about Ukraine. However, that proved to be a far greater challenge than I had expected. I was getting tired, I suspect like most readers of all the recent down-right dreary political, economic and social news from Ukraine. Surely there must be something positive to say?

I thought I hit on a good news story about two weeks ago when a small item appeared on Facebook and around the Ukrainian internet web sites (Top-10.lviv.ua and http://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Адольф_Дасслер ). People were making claims that Adidas, the famous sports manufacturer, actually started in Lviv before it appeared in Germany. But it was all anecdotal and unsubstantiated by any historic facts. I called my friend Iryna Podolyak, who heads the Cultural Office at the Lviv City Council. Her reply: It is a fairy tale, but a nice story.

So my search for good news continues.

Finally, a good news story from one of Ukraine’s oligarchs Victor Pinchuk, the son-in-law of former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma.

In February, Ukrainian businessman and philanthropist Victor Pinchuk announced on his web site that he has “committed to give half or more of his fortune during his lifetime and beyond to philanthropic causes, joining the Giving Pledge, a philanthropic initiative founded in 2010 by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.” (http://pinchukfund.org/en/news/9633/) “We’re very pleased that Victor Pinchuk has decided to join the Giving Pledge,” said Bill Gates, pledge co-founder and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “Victor is a thoughtful and innovative philanthropist, and we welcome his perspective as the Giving Pledge brings people together to exchange ideas about how to be as effective as possible and smarter in our giving.” My reaction: I’ll believe it when I see it, and I hope that it will encourage other Ukrainian oligarchs to follow suite.

Good news from Chornobyl.

Undoubtedly, the Chornobyl nuclear accident was not just a tragedy for Ukraine, but for all of human kind. Now, there appears a good news story coming out of it. Scientists have found a fungus growing on the inside of the Chornobyl reactor that uses gamma radiation as a food and energy source, just like normal plants use sunlight for photosynthesis. It apparently mutated in a positive sense, adapting to its unique but harsh environmental conditions. This has exited scientists because this now offers an “onboard” food source for astronauts who may want to explore other planets like Mars, using gamma rays from their nuclear fuel source to grow fungi organisms.

Scientists also found a breed of mushrooms in the Chornobyl exclusion zone that is capable to sequester Cesium 137 (137Cs) from the surrounding soil in the mushroom caps, providing a natural bio-remediation. The radioactive fallout from Chornobyl can be controlled by disposing of the mushrooms.

Following this mushroom train of thought, traditional folk medicine has thousands of years of experience using natural mushrooms, flowers, herbs and grasses for healing common ills and preventive medicines. Only now is Western science and medicine starting to explore some of these ancient folk traditions and explaining scientifically and medically how and why they work.

A search on PubMed, a medical library database run by the US government National Institute of Health, shows numerous pre-clinical animal studies and human clinical studies which confirm the medical benefits of traditional folk remedies.

PubMed comprises more than 22 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online medical books. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed)

A mushroom called Lion’s Mane has a positive effect on memory. “Japanese studies have shown that it is able to regenerate neurons in the brain using a nerve growth factor (NGF). Produced in the body, NGF declines with age, and can significantly affect reaction time, intellectual acuity and reflexes. The bio-active compounds that act as NGF in Lion’s Mane can regenerate brain cells and improve memory, clarity, and coordination. This neural refreshing of the brain can effectively address neural damage and conditions that may result, including dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.”

Specific mushrooms or their extracts have also show to be effective for cancer prevention and treatment. Polysaccharide-K (PSK, Krestin) is one of the most commonly used medicinal mushroom extracts with a long history as an additive in cancer therapy in Asia, especially in Japan. PSK has a documented anti-tumour activity both in vitro and in vitro, in various types of cancers, including colorectal, gastric, breast, liver, pancreatic, and lung cancer. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22204346)

The Moffatt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida showed that by taking ordinary baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) orally, one can change the acidic pH around cancer tumors and shrink tumors (http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-01/hlmc-tce012413.php)

Of course, any course of natural treatment should be done in consultation with your medical practitioner.

I’ll be giving a talk on the topic of how traditional folk medicine is being confirmed by Western science on March 27 at 2 pm. at the Ukrainian Canadian Social Services – Toronto Branch, 2445 Bloor Street West (at Jane St.).