Sodium Benzoate, deadly drugs and the Chinese FDA - NewsGrabs 3 June 2007
Health Supreme's News Grabs are a weekly selection of links to articles, alternative health news and related bits of information. Keep your finger on the pulse of health trends - watch out for NewsGrabs ... every weekend.
In this issue:
Omega 3 for heart attack - vitamin D - Cancer and ATP - Sodium Benzoate in soft drinks - Coca Cola goes for Stevia - Deadly Prescription Drug Effects - Violent Attacks correlated with prescribed drugs - anthrax vaccine contracts - Pfizer Experiment on Nigerian Children - China: drug chief sentenced to death - The Chinese Solution for the FDA's Problems - Bayer Pesticide Blamed for Deaths of Honeybees - Pesticides 'up Parkinson's risk' - My war on electrosmog - Families ditch Wi-Fi - U.S. fights mad cow testing - Video: AIDS Inc. - Gary Null
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Heart attack victims to be given omega 3
Tens of thousands of heart attack victims are to be prescribed fish oil supplements under guidelines to be published today. Doctors will tell heart patients to eat at least two portions of oily fish per week or take omega 3 fatty acid tablets for up to four years to reduce the risks of a second attack. Previous research has suggested that eating oily fish or taking the supplements has a range of health benefits including reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke, better immune system functioning, and improved behaviour in primary school age children. A clinical trial found daily 1g doses of highly concentrated omega 3 within three months of a heart attack cut the risk of a patient later dying suddenly by 45 per cent.
Intake of vitamin D and calcium associated with lower risk of breast cancer before menopause
"A possible explanation for the evident difference by menopause status may be related to the joint relationship among calcium, vitamin D and insulinlike growth factors (IGFs). In vitro studies have suggested that calcium and vitamin D exert anticarcinogenic effects on breast cancer cells expressing high levels of IGF-1 and IGF binding protein 3. Calcium, vitamin D and IGF binding protein 3 have been shown in vitro to interact with each other in promoting growth inhibition in breast cancer cells."
Cancer and ATP: The Photon Energy Pathway
The essential components of mitochondrial cell respiration are light absorbing molecules that react to frequencies from the near ultraviolet band down to the yellow/orange spectral range of visible light. Yet, the source of energy for these cellular power plants is not sunlight, as one might easily be led to assume. The flow of para-magnetically aligned electrons in the respiratory organelles gives rise to a low frequency pulsating electromagnetic field which, enormously accelerated through catalytic processes activated by enzymes, in turn activates a spin-mediated information and energy transfer from the physical vacuum, the zero point field, to the biological entity.
Caution: Some soft drinks may seriously harm your health
Research from a British university suggests a common preservative found in drinks such as Fanta and Pepsi Max has the ability to switch off vital parts of DNA. Concerns centre on the safety of E211, known as sodium benzoate, a preservative used for decades by the £74bn global carbonated drinks industry. Sodium benzoate derives from benzoic acid. It occurs naturally in berries, but is used in large quantities to prevent mould in soft drinks such as Sprite, Oasis and Dr Pepper. Sodium benzoate has already been the subject of concern about cancer because when mixed with the additive vitamin C in soft drinks, it causes benzene, a carcinogenic substance.
Cargill, Coca-Cola develop natural sweetener
Agribusiness Cargill has teamed up with Coca-Cola to market a new calorie-free natural sweetener made from the South American herb Stevia.Most non-diet soft drinks in the United States are currently sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup, which has come under increasing criticism for contributing to obesity. Lower-calorie sodas are made with artificial sweeteners such as saccharin, aspartame and sucralose. UK newspaper The Times has speculated that the development could be an indication that Tate & Lyle's sucralose is falling out of favour.
US House may prevent states from protecting food supply
"no State or locality shall make any law prohibiting the use in commerce of an article that the Secretary of Agriculture has inspected and passed; or determined to be of non-regulated status."
The preemption language has been traced to Iowa Representative and Subcommittee Chair, Leonard Boswell. His intention is to prohibit state and local policies banning the sale of products approved by USDA and other regulatory agencies. The broad scope of the language would affect state and local prohibitions on the cultivation of genetically modified crops, bans on the sale of rBGH milk, and the outlawing of foie gras for starters.
Researchers Find Deadly Prescription Drug Effects Six Years Before FDA
"The old way of doing business was a large number of incomplete reports that took an average of seven years to find adverse reactions to drugs," Bennett said. "We propose with our system we can cut that to between one to two years. That's a six-year savings. For a billion dollar drug, can you imagine how many people that's affecting."
Increased Violent Attacks-- correlated with prescribed drugs
Psychiatrist Stefan Kruszeuski-who is a board member of AHRP--points out that: "There is a significant relationship between restlessness and agitation induced by medicine and the propensity for violence. But this has not been adequately studied at any psychiatric hospital." A common side effect of ALL antipsychotics (neuroleptics) and SSRI antidepressants is akathisia, an excruciating physical and mental restlessness and agitation which has led patients to leash out in violent outbreaks. Akathisia was thought to be an uncommon side effect with the newer anti-psychotics. But company data for three of the atypicals in common use at Western, show that akathisia is a common adverse drug effect.
Well-connected drug company obtained anthrax vaccine contracts despite side effects
Last month, Emergent BioSolutions announced that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) intended to purchase more than 18 million doses of its Biothrax vaccine for the Strategic National Stockpile. Last year, the Department of Homeland Security granted BioThrax special protections under its Support Anti-Terrorism by Fostering Effective Technology Act, or SAFETY Act. It was the first vaccine to receive protection under the Act.“The pharmaceutical industry is a strong case in point of the corruption of revolving doors,” says Craig Holman of Public Citizen, a national, nonprofit consumer advocate and government watchdog group. To help jump-start its lobbying effort, from September to November 2004 Emergent board member and former Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Louis Sullivan provided “consulting services for a fixed fee of $25,000 per month”...
Pfizer Faces Criminal Charges For Conducting Experiment on Nigerian Children
The government alleges that Pfizer researchers selected 200 children and infants from crowds at a makeshift epidemic camp in Kano and gave about half of the group an untested antibiotic called Trovan (trovafloxan). Researchers gave the other children what the lawsuit describes as a dangerously low dose of a comparison drug made by Hoffmann-La Roche. Nigerian officials say Pfizer's actions resulted in the deaths of an unspecified number of children and left others deaf, paralyzed, blind or brain-damaged." The lawsuit further charges researchers with failure to obtain consent from the children's families and with knowledge that Trovan was an experimental drug with life-threatening side effects that was "unfit for human use."
A civil suit for restitution of damage was also filed. See Nigeria sues Pfizer for $2 billion
China: Corrupt drug chief sentenced to death
CHINA'S former top drug regulator was sentenced to death in a Beijing court this morning on charges of bribe taking and negligence. Zheng was convicted to accept bribes from eight pharmaceutical companies from June 1997 to December 2006 and seek profits for them by taking advantages of his post. Drugs improperly approved by Zheng's agency reportedly included an antibiotic that killed at least 10 patients last year before it was taken off the market.
Western media comment that this is a crackdown to help remedy problems with Chinese food and drug safety. Fine and good, but let's not forget that the US has similar problems. Actually there are thousands if not hundreds of thousands of deaths caused by shoddy drug approval and by the FDA covering up side effects once they occur. When will we start to hear of legal action against those that accept the bribes or cause the deaths here?
CHINA HAS A SOLUTION FOR THE FDA's PROBLEM
The penalty in China is death, in America its business as usual. Zheng Xiaoyu, the former head of China’s FDA, was sentenced to death for accepting $832,000 in drug company bribes and for dereliction of duty. Like China, our country is in the middle of a drug and food safety crisis. Why is FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach, M.D. getting a free pass? Why did the Senate just pass legislation (S.1082) that gives von Eschenbach significantly more power to do whatever he pleases? And exactly what is it that von Eschenbach is doing?
Widely-Used Bayer Pesticide Blamed for Mass Deaths of Honeybees
The chief suspect, say many scientists, is imidacloprid, the most commonly used insecticide on the planet. Honeybees come into contact with pesticides because they are needed to pollinate scores of crops, including apples, cherries, blueberries and other crops in southwestern Michigan. The die-off has been a major concern for farmers and scientists, who have been looking into potential causes, from diseases and parasites to pesticides. A member of a class of pesticides called neonicotinoids, imidacloprid is a synthetic derivative of nicotine and works by impairing the central nervous system of insects, causing their neurons to fire uncontrollably and eventually leading to muscle paralysis and death. The potent chemical can be sprayed on plants or coated on seeds, which then release the insecticide through the plants as they grow. Research has shown that in sublethal doses imidacloprid and other neonicotinoids can impair honeybees' memory and learning, as well as their motor activity and navigation.
Pesticides 'up Parkinson's risk'
Exposure to pesticides could lead to an increased risk of contracting Parkinson's disease, a study has found. Researchers discovered that high levels of exposure increased the risk by 39%, while even low levels raised it by 9%.
My war on electrosmog: Julia Stephenson sets out to clear the airwaves
The worldwide centre of the mobile phone industry, Sweden is where much of the research on environmental illness has been carried out. It was the first country to recognise electromagnetic hypersensitivity as a valid medical condition, and has set up a federal body to assist sufferers of those affected (www.feb.se). There have been calls for the Swedish government to close down the nation's Wi-Fi networks, pending further investigation.
Worried families ditch their Wi-Fi after watchdog voices health concerns
Nicola Hart, of Dartmouth Park in north London, was so concerned about the radiation emitted from the systems that she removed Wi-Fi from her home, and persuaded her neighbours and her daughter's school to do the same. She said last night: "We put the system in about four months ago because my 17-year-old son wanted to have access to the internet at the same time as us. I did not really think about any effects it might have." While it was in, she said, she suffered "a lot of funny symptoms" which she thought were due to "an early menopause". But once she had the system removed she began sleeping and feeling better.
U.S. on mad cow: Don't test all cattle
The Bush administration said Tuesday it will fight to keep meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease. The Agriculture Department tests less than 1% of slaughtered cows for the disease, which can be fatal to humans who eat tainted beef. But Kansas-based Creekstone Farms Premium Beef wants to test all of its cows. A federal judge ruled in March that such tests must be allowed. The ruling was to take effect June 1, but the Agriculture Department said Tuesday it would appeal — effectively delaying the testing until the court challenge plays out.
Comment from a friend: The argument used by the USDA is that the widespread testing for Mad Cow disease "could lead to a false positive that would harm the meat industry." The US government never seems concerned that the many many false positives on the AIDS test, which result in people getting dosed with chemo-toxins, and murdered is cause for concern. I guess they care more about the meat packing industry than they care about the lives of humans living in this country.
7-minute Video trailer: (re-linked) AIDS Inc. by Gary Null
posted by Sepp Hasslberger on Sunday June 3 2007
updated on Friday November 26 2010URL of this article:
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2007/06/03/sodium_benzoate_deadly_drugs_and_the_chinese_fda_newsgrabs_3_june_2007.htm
