US in push for GMO disregards evidence of harm - Health Supreme NewsGrabs 30 July 2011
USA: White House Pact with Industry to Push Genetically Engineered PlantsIn an effort to boost exports, the Obama White House has entered into a joint venture with the agricultural biotechnology industry to remove barriers to the spread of genetically engineered (GE) crops, even on national wildlife refuges, according to documents posted today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Today, PEER sued the White House Trade Representative, Office of Management & Budget (OMB) and the State Department to force release of documents detailing their partnership with industry.
19 Studies Link GMO Foods to Organ DisruptionA new paper demonstrates that consuming genetically modified (GM) food leads to significant organ disruptions in rats and mice. Researchers reviewed data from 19 studies and found that parameters including blood and urine biochemistry and organ weights were significantly disrupted in the GM-fed animals.
The kidneys of males were the most affected, experiencing 43.5 percent of all the changes. The livers of females followed at more than 30 percent. Other organs may have been affected too, including the heart and spleen, and blood cells.
According to the Institute for Responsible Technology:
"The GM soybean and corn varieties used in the feeding trials 'constitute 83 percent of the commercialized GMOs' that are currently consumed by billions of people. While the findings may have serious ramifications for the human population, the authors demonstrate how a multitude of GMO-related health problems could easily pass undetected through the superficial and largely incompetent safety assessments that are used around the world."
GMO in the US: Transparency Advocates Marching for 'right to know'A coalition of organizations, businesses and individuals announced a mobilization plan to raise awareness and pressure the government about the lack of labeling of Genetically Engineered foods people unknowingly consume. The GMO Right2Know March will feature daily events between New York and Washington, D.C., October 1-16 as thousands of marchers are expected to walk part or all of the 313 miles from the United Nations' Headquarters to the White House. The marchers are looking for support from communities along the route...
Árpád Pusztai and Ignacio Chapela have two things in common. They are distinguished scientists and their careers are in ruins. Both scientists chose to look at the phenomenon of genetic engineering. Both made important discoveries. Both of them are suffering the fate of those who criticize the powerful vested interests that now dominate big business and scientific research. Statements made by scientists themselves prove that 95% of the research in the area of genetic engineering is paid by the industry. Only 5% of the research is independent. The big danger for freedom of science and our democracy is evident. Can the public – we all – still trust our scientists?
Trailer: Scientists under Attack - Genetic Engineering in the magnetic Field of Money
The Wheels Come Off the Bus on Genetically Engineered Crops!Despite a lack of independent safety testing, the government has seen fit to declare there will be no oversight of a genetically engineered grass. Is this the beginning of a GE avalanche?
Just before the July 4th weekend, the USDA released a statement saying that the agency has no authority to regulate genetically engineered (GE) Kentucky bluegrass. This leaves Kentucky bluegrass completely unregulated—and sets the precedent for a complete lack of oversight of GE crops in the future. This is extremely worrying: there are very few independent studies investigating the safety of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and the ones that have been published show that GMOs can have very dangerous long term effects.
How supplements could prevent hearing lossThe researchers from the University of Florida and Southern Illinois University will explain how a combination of vitamins and magnesium, and a substance found in cheese and yoghurt could negate the damage caused by excessive noise.
They will be presenting their work at the International Commission on the Biological Effects of Noise conference, organised by academics from Queen Mary, University of London and the Institute of Acoustics.
Professor Colleen Le Prell of the University of Florida is conducting a trial to see if vitamin C and E, beta-carotene and magnesium can protect the hearing of a group of students listening to loud music.
Dr. Kathleen Campbell of Southern Illinois University School of Medicine is working with the US military to see whether a substance called D-met, found naturally but at low levels in cheese and yoghurt, can protect hearing during weapons training.
Zinc lozenges may shorten common-cold durationFor treating the common cold, zinc lozenges are dissolved slowly in the mouth. Interest in zinc lozenges started in the early 1980s from the serendipitous observation that a cold of a young girl with leukemia rapidly disappeared when she dissolved a therapeutic zinc tablet in her mouth instead of swallowing it. Since then over a dozen studies have been carried out to find out whether zinc lozenges are effective, but the results of those studies have diverged.
Dr. Harri Hemila of the University of Helsinki, Finland, carried out a meta-analysis of all the placebo-controlled trials that have examined the effect of zinc lozenges on natural common cold infections. Of the 13 trial comparisons identified, five used a total daily zinc dose of less than 75 mg and uniformly those five comparisons found no effect of zinc. Three trials used zinc acetate in daily doses of over 75 mg, with the average indicating a 42% reduction in the duration of colds.
USA: SENATOR DURBIN AND THE FDA VICIOUSLY ATTACK DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS
by Byron Richards
Under the cover of the July 4th holiday, Senator Richard Durbin (D-Illinois) and the FDA launched an unprecedented and coordinated assault on the dietary supplement industry – in essence a direct attack on consumers who rely on dietary supplements to support their health.Without a massive consumer protest of this abhorrent abuse of regulatory power consumers will be denied access to many dietary supplements they currently take.
USA: FDA Copies the European Union and Slips In One of its Deadliest WeaponsIf the US natural products industry values its ability to keep a diverse range of products available for the benefit of the American public, and believes in not exposing the public to unnecessary costs, we strongly suggest that it look very closely at the latest guidelines from the FDA—with eyes wide open. We refer to the FDA guidelines on so-called “new dietary ingredients” (NDIs) that we’ve been telling you about over the past several weeks. These guidelines preempt a crackdown on ingredients used in natural products, one that appears to be coordinated closely with a similar clampdown happening currently in Europe. The guidelines bear an uncanny likeness to the European Union’s Novel Food Regulation.
The justification given for the new guidelines is—as is always the case when facing a tighter regulatory noose around dietary supplements—consumer safety...
Study: Drinking diet soda actually causes weight gain, blood sugar spikesA landmark new study out of Texas confirms this, having found that not only do diet sodas not help with weight loss, but they actually cause both weight gain and health problems.
Researchers from the University of Texas Health Science Center (UTHSC) at San Antonio gathered ten years worth of data on 474 participants from a larger, ongoing study called the San Antonio Longitudinal Study of Aging. Among these participants, those that consumed two or more diet sodas a day experienced waist size increases that were a shocking six times greater than those who did not drink diet soda.
FDA wants to regulate Mobile Health AppsThe following examples represent mobile apps FDA considers “mobile medical apps” under the narrow definition it outlined in the draft regulatory guidelines it published this morning. The FDA is seeking comments and feedback from the public. Here are the types of apps the FDA plans to regulate:
Mobile apps that are an extension of one or more medical device(s) by connecting to such device(s) for purposes of controlling the device(s) or displaying, storing, analyzing, or transmitting patient-specific medical device data. Examples of displays of patient- specific medical device data include remote display of data from bedside monitors, display of previously stored EEG waveforms, and display of medical images...
Taking Antidepressants Nearly Doubles Your Chance of RelapseA new study demonstrates that using antidepressants nearly doubles the chance of suffering a major depressive relapse—and soon after discontinuing the drugs. This, of course, creates a vicious cycle that results in dependence on the drugs.
Published in the journal, Frontiers of Evolutionary Psychology, another highly significant finding was made. Not only do antidepressants worsen the condition they're meant to treat, the underlying theory that there is a chemical imbalance in the brain is pure nonsense. Antidepressants do not treat an imbalance. These drugs actually create it!
Teen Screen: Should We Be Testing for Mental Illness?These advocates are pushing to get every teenager in the U.S. screened for mental health problems, contending that "screening can help find those youth who are suffering from undiagnosed mental illness or are at risk for suicide, make their parents aware of their children's difficulties, and help connect them with mental health services that can save their lives."
Like all medical screening, this one sounds reasonable on the surface. Teen suicide and depression are well known, and prevalent. If teenagers have undiagnosed and untreated mental health problems, and if we could do something to screen teenagers for mental illness -- and help divert them from a path of destruction -- why wouldn't we do it?
Unfortunately, when it come to types of medical screening that look good in theory but are largely unworkable in practice, mental health screening is probably the archetype. The mental health "Teen Screen" program is riven with gross conflicts of interest and inappropriate political influence, all which has led to the rapid uptake and prescribing of some of the most dangerous drugs on the planet.
Psychiatry: The Real Biederman Scandal" The real scandal perpetrated by Biederman has nothing to do with his consulting fee shenanigans and everything to do with the real life (and death) consequences of the methods now used by modern pediatric psychiatry to tag normal childhood behaviors with diagnoses – like “childhood bipolar” -- and the pediatric medical profession’s complicit acquiescence to such malarkey. It has been nothing short an epic assault on our children by those who prescribe antipsychotic medications as an antidote to normal childhood behavior. "
Drug firms paid 'independent' expertsDoctors working in state hospitals and community mental health centers began switching patients to the atypical antipsychotics because they were deemed the best treatment by an expert panel convened by the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation.
But a detailed examination of public records documents on file in a whistleblower lawsuit that has been joined by the Texas Attorney General's Office allege that the experts hired to evaluate the drugs and make recommendations for their usage were also accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments from the companies developing and marketing the medications.
Why Does Academic Medicine Allow Ghostwriting? A Prescription for ReformThe practice of ghostwriting is neither rare nor harmless. Alleged ghost authors haunt the clinical trial literature of virtually all the recent blockbuster drugs, including medicines like Vioxx, Avandia, Paxil, Zoloft, Zyprexa, hormone-replacement therapy, and Fen-phen. As the makers of these drugs are embroiled in product liability lawsuits from their product’s tendency to cause harm, the involvement of ghostwriters in the production of scientific evidence to support their use has raised eyebrows.
Big Pharma Spends $95 Thousand Per Doctor on Marketing Each YearYou've likely seen your doctor using a nifty mobile phone application, called Epocrates, before writing a prescription. Such a clever device—and your doc didn't have to pay a penny for it. But you do. You pay for it in terms of adverse effects, less effective drugs, and money. Lots of money.
Video: The FDA, Big Pharma And How You Are Being Lied To
Hidden in plain sight: The damage done by antiretroviral drugsWeiss & Cowan point out that there’s no gold-standard HIV test, that there’s no such thing as a “confirmatory” test, that no HIV test can diagnose HIV infection, and that a large number of positive tests are false positives; yet mainstream practice continues to ignore these facts, and public defenders of the faith blather on about the desirability of universal testing.
Jay Levy has enumerated all the things about HIV/AIDS that are not known — namely, all the central matters like how HIV could possibly do what it’s alleged to do.
And when antiretroviral drugs are mentioned, they are routinely described as life-saving — even though the literature is full of evidence that the drugs are anything but life-saving and instead are highly toxic.
Rethinking AIDS Conference, Washington DC, December 1-3The conference will also provide a viewing of Joan Shenton’s new documentary, Positively False: Birth of a Heresy, and opportunities to network with other rethinkers. No event this year will bring together so many experts who question the HIV=AIDS dogma, including scientists, doctors, journalists, lawyers and HIV-positive people.
Go to http://ra2011.org now and register! The first 50 people to register will receive a free, autographed copy of a book by a noted rethinker. You will be able to choose from books by Peter Duesberg, Etienne de Harven, Henry Bauer and several others...
Quantum Coherent Water, Non-thermal EMF Effects, and HomeopathyAccording to our regulators to this day, there is no conceivable mechanism whereby the very low intensity EMFs emitted by mobile phones and base stations or high tension power lines could have any biological effects, because the energy involved is below that of the random molecular motions of a system at thermodynamic equilibrium. I add the emphasis because everyone who has studied physics or chemistry at school will have recognized that organisms are anything but ‘systems at thermodynamic equilibrium’, so any regulator using that argument is grossly, if not wilfully ignorant, and should be immediately disqualified as a public menace.
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More information out there...
There is a lot more information out there about natural health and pharmaceutical medicine that I cannot cover ... but fortunately other sources for this kind of information exist.
Dr Mercola has a good health blog
Mike Adams publishes Natural News.
In the UK we have the One Click Group.
The Dr Rath Foundation campaigns for a New Healthcare System.
Natural health and nutrition on La Leva di Archimede
Food, Agriculture and more on the Organic Consumers Association site.And remember...
"The individual is supreme and finds the way through intuition"And since you got to reading so far, here's a little bonus. Check out this YouTube video about the WAYSEER MANIFESTO. For all you troublemakers and revolutionaries out there...
posted by Sepp Hasslberger on Saturday July 30 2011
updated on Tuesday December 13 2011URL of this article:
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2011/07/30/us_in_push_for_gmo_disregards_evidence_of_harm_health_supreme_newsgrabs_30_july_2011.htm