The Biotech Patent System Is Broken - NewsGrabs 14 September 2008

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Landmark study reports breakdown in biotech patent system
"The old IP approach of the biotechnology community has failed to deliver on its potential to address disease and hunger in both developing and industrialised nations. We need to do better, and the IT world has shown us part of the solution," Gold says. "Look at the way that change has swept through the IT world and brought benefits to millions."

While biotech's potential seems unlimited, so do its problems. The report finds that a fixation on patents and privately-controlled research has frequently given rise to controversy and roadblocks to innovation.

Percy Schmeiser, the Canadian farmer sued by Monsanto comes to mind. The broad issue here is the patentability of life forms - seeds, animals, plants. Patents were originally thought to protect inventions of human ingenuity. The biotech industry has hijacked the system for its own purposes, but the results are not quite what was expected. A backlash is underway.

Vitamin B12 may help stave off memory loss
"This study suggests that consuming more vitamin B12 through eating meat, fish, fortified cereals or milk as part of a balanced diet might help protect the brain. Liver and shellfish are particularly rich sources of B12.

"Vitamin B12 deficiency is a common problem among elderly people in the UK and has been linked to declining memory and dementia."

Let's not kid ourselves about changing eating habits wholesale. It just won't happen, at least not in the short term. What would be wrong with supplying a good dose of vitamin B 12 - some hundreds of micrograms - as part of a daily vitamin regimen? Many brain related problems in the elderly could be prevented by something that simple.

But then - as the Germans say - vitamin B12 is only needed in tiny amounts and why should there be supplements of it at all? Nothing to be gained from them. (See: German Risk Institute takes dim view)

Genetic variants associated with vitamin B12
"This is an unexpected finding. We thought we had already learned everything about the absorption of vitamin B12," said co-author Jacob Selhub, director of the Vitamin Metabolism Laboratory at the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University. He has conducted many of the studies linking B12 status in the elderly with cognitive impairment, anemia, and bone marrow density and osteoporosis.

Anything in the stomach that affects the normal acidity and digestive processes, ranging from infections to acid reflux medicine to aging, may also interfere with B12 absorption, studies suggest. B12 is first separated from food by stomach acid and then escorted from there by a protein called intrinsic factor to the small intestine, where the complex is absorbed and B12 is released into the blood.

A friend comments:

"This is further evidence in support of the concept of biochemical individuality in relation to nutrition",

meaning that everyone is different and generalized limits to nutrient availability as they are currently being considered, would interfere with the ability of those genetically different to obtain the nutrients they need - perhaps in amounts far higher than "the norm".

Report says dietary supplements for horses, dogs and cats need better regulation
The report stresses that clear and precise regulations need to be established so "only safe animal dietary supplements are allowed on the market." An improved adverse event reporting system for animal dietary supplements would help, because existing systems have various deficiencies, including limited public access, passive rather than active solicitation of adverse events, and unclear discrimination of minor versus serious adverse events.

While it is touching that there is so much concern for supplements - both human and animal - to be safe, would it not be better to start where the real damage is being done? What about the tens of thousands of approved yet unsafe pharmaceutical medicines that send hundreds of thousands of people to hospital every year because of adverse reactions?

Why do supplements have to go off the market (if they are found not to be completely safe) yet the things we KNOW to be unsafe can stay? Something fishy here...

UK’s NICE Spends On Spin, But What About Meds?
The health-rationing watchdog has come under attack for spending more money on spin than on evaluating drugs which could save patients’ lives, The Daily Mail reports.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, which is widely criticized for banning drugs from NHS use over cost, squandered about $9 million on ‘communications’ last year.

UK: Man convicted over cancer cure
He was convicted under the Cancer Act of 1939 of taking part in the publication of adverts offering to treat people for cancer. The 1939 act makes it illegal to offer a cure for cancer or to offer advice on how to treat it in any advertisement outside the medical profession.

"We are pleased that this case has resulted in a conviction which will hopefully raise awareness of this type of crime," said Jonathan Coupe, executive councillor for Environmental Services at Trafford Council.

Does that not go beyond the limit?

Consider the record of the medical fight, nay war, on cancer! And then tell me where there is a justification for keeping all natural alternatives to slash/burn/poison cancer treatments off the market? There appears to be a monopoly position, but without any product.

Almost as if medicine said: "If we can't cure cancer, neither can anyone else!"

Can MSG Cause Obesity?
This link between MSG consumption and increased body weight may have many explanations. The two obvious ones are that MSG somehow led individuals to consume more food or be less active. However, in this study, the authors accounted for these potential factors, which means that the link between MSG consumption and increased body weight appears to be independent of these factors.

The suggestion here is that MSG, the glutamate part, may have one or more metabolic effects in the body that might predispose consumers to weight gain. As it happens, administering MSG to animals has been shown to induce various changes that promote fat accumulation, including suppression of fat breakdown.

Marijuana ingredients show promise in battling superbugs
Besides serving as infection-fighting drugs, the substances also could provide a more environmentally-friendly alternative to synthetic antibacterial substances now widely used in personal care items, including soaps and cosmetics, they say. Their study is scheduled for the Sept. 26 issue of ACS' monthly Journal of Natural Products.

Scientists form alliance to develop nanotoxicology protocols
Previous studies have identified key gaps in scientific knowledge regarding the biological interactions with nanoparticles and subsequent toxicological responses. Progress in resolving these issues is limited by the lack of testing protocols that enable reproducible assessment of the biological interactions of nanoparticles with cells and animals, and the lack of correlations between interactions observed in cells and in animals. IANH is being formed to establish testing protocols that enable reproducible toxicological testing of nanomaterials at the cell and animal levels and to start developing correlations between these two systems.

Antipsychotics Induce Stroke and Diabetes
Neuroleptics (so-called antipsychotic drugs) are administered widely by psychiatrists, general practitioners and pediatricians who variously assign a diagnosis (Chinese menu style) such as psychosis, schizophrenia, paranoia, bipolar disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, aggression, hysteria, sleep disturbances, asthma, ADHD, misbehavior in children--or any other reimbursable label.

Study: 50 Percent Of US Anti-Depressant Use Not Tied To An Identifiable Diagnosis
In a study presented at the Canadian Psychiatric Association annual meeting, University of Winnipeg researchers asserted that more than 50 percent of Americans surveyed who took an anti-depressant did so "without possessing any indication for such treatment, according to accepted medical guidelines."

Medical schools, journals start to fight drug industry influence
"The influence that the pharmaceutical companies, the for-profits, are having on every aspect of medicine ... is so blatant now you'd have to be deaf, blind and dumb not to see it," said Journal of the American Medical Association editor Dr. Catherine DeAngelis, a longtime industry critic. "We have just allowed them to take over, and it's our fault, the whole medical community."

The Research Trough — where lack of progress brings more grants
Erwin Chargaff wrote wonderfully acerbic essays about the gap between the traditional high ideals of science and the actual practices of scientists, for example, “in our time a successful cancer researcher is not one