by Open mind 37 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
It seems to me they did get "new light" on this and said leeches were OK now. Anybody else remember this? Can't find the source material right now; I will look.
The real question would be, Why did God make creatures that blatantly disobey his law on blood? Maybe because this law does not exist.
Open Mind:
Are you still an elder?
No...make that hell no. Got voted off the BOE island back at the end of last year. Took several tries at tribal council elders' meetings with the CO before they got a CO that would make it stick....I switched congos...been fading since...although not successfully.
By the way, here is an article..pretty legit source... the FDA!.... about leeches (herein referred to as "medical devices"): http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2004/504_leech.html
SnakesInTheTower (of the "I'd let a leech save my foot or hand " Sheep Class)
Beyond Bloodletting:
FDA Gives Leeches a Medical MakeoverBy Carol Rados
For thousands of years, leeches have been worming their way in and out of medicine as a questionable cure for anything from headaches to gangrene, reaching their height of medicinal use in the mid-1800s. Today, the slimy aquatic creatures are making a comeback as a legitimate treatment that can help heal skin grafts and restore blood circulation. Their primary function is to drain blood. Pooled blood around a wound can threaten tissue survival.
In June 2004, the Food and Drug Administration cleared the first application for leeches (Hirudo medicinalis) to be used in modern medicine as medical devices. By definition, a medical device is an article intended to diagnose, cure, treat, prevent, or mitigate a disease or condition, or to affect a function or structure of the body, that does not achieve its primary effect through a chemical action and is not metabolized.
Surgeons who do plastic and reconstructive surgery find leeches especially valuable when regrafting amputated appendages, such as fingers or toes. Severed blood vessels in such cases often are so damaged that they lack the ability to clear the area of blood. In these cases, it is difficult for the surgeon to make a route for blood to leave the affected part and return to circulation.
"The idea behind the leeches is to cause blood to ooze so that the body's own blood supply will eventually take over and the limb can go on and survive," says Rod J. Rohrich, M.D., president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and chairman of the Department of Plastic Surgery at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Leeches apply the perfect amount of suction to get the blood flowing. But Rohrich also says he uses the leeches only when there's a compromised situation, such as following surgery, "when the patient's own blood supply isn't adequate."
Packing a one-two chemical punch, the benefit of leech therapy comes not from the amount of blood that is extracted, but in the powerful anti-clotting agent hirudin, contained in the parasite's saliva, which keeps blood flowing freely. At the same time, leeches emit a natural anesthetic that minimizes pain during their feast.
Having disk-shaped suckers on each end of their bodies helps leeches feed, as well as hang on. The number of leeches used varies with each patient--typically two or three leeches are applied to the body until they drop off after about 40 minutes, and then the process is repeated with a new leech "team." At $7 to $10 apiece, their expense won't break budgets of physicians or hospitals.
The FDA considered safety data as part of reviewing the marketing application for the leeches submitted by Ricarimpex SAS of Eysines, France. In addition, the agency studied published literature on the use of leeches in medicine, how the leeches are fed, their environment, and the personnel who handle them.
Leeches were already being used in hospitals. A 1976 law has allowed companies that raised and sold medical leeches before that year to continue doing so. Newcomers seeking to market leeches for medical purposes, however, were required by the 1976 law to gain FDA approval.
You won't find the type of leeches approved for medical use in a lake, river, or swamp. Rudy Rosenberg, owner and vice president of Leeches USA Ltd., the initial importer and distributor for Ricarimpex in the United States, says the leeches are raised under optimum conditions in controlled basins and laboratories. The facilities are certified, and all lots are tracked. This, he says, protects patients from infection. Leeches drop off after "feeding," and must be treated as infectious waste material. Rosenberg says that he knows of no case of leech-borne infection having been reported.
How do people react to being treated with these slimy parasites? "Initially, they're repulsed by the idea of leeches as a treatment," says Rohrich, "but eventually, they come to terms with the fact that it may be saving their lives."
What if you kept leeches as pets, and then got bitten? Would you be disfellowshipped? What if your pet dog bit you, drew blood (dogs being carnivores)...or am I being silly?
Midwich (of the ''I'm putting leeches on my Christmas wish-list Class'')
OM,
I never knew about this either. This is almost as bad as the twisted logic they use for not allowing toasting. Its actually embarrasing that any of us believed one word the WT ever printed!
Here is an old thread I started....LOL
I guess I'll post this half of my response here.... Glad you liked the tidbit about leeches, Open Mind. I find it amusing as well. Of course there are crazier things in the Society's history, but this is one of those bazaar things that is still, as far as I know, current light. The point about feeding snakes live mice is illustrative of one of the major problems I have with the Organization's reasoning. Blood is the symbol of life, so it's wrong to allow something else to consume it to preserve its life. However, a living animal, life itself, can be fed to a snake without violating their rules; likewise, living people are allowed to die for the symbol of life.
Why did Jehovah break his own law by making leeches and mosquitoes that feed on blood only? What should we do if we are bitten by a mosquitoe or pick up a leech accidentally? Wash ourselves and be unclean until the evening?
pick up a leech accidentally?
This happens to me far more often than you'd think...
Excuse me, I have to make a phone call:
"Hello, is this the lab? Okay, remember that blood sample you got from me back in 1987? What did you do with the leftovers? Nevermind why, I just need to know! No, you can keep the stool sample. Unless I get some new light."
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!! That was great, Bumble Bee!
I loved the various comments about the mosquitoes, too.
Troubled Mind... My husband prescribed leech therapy to an elderly patient a few years back who had a horrible ulcer on their lower leg which was not responding to any medication. The leeches worked very well, and very quickly.
This thread is quite interesting..
