System D: The New Economic Superpower - Health Supreme NewsGrabs 6 November 2011
Economy: The Shadow Superpower
This is about the submerged market, sometimes called "black" or "grey", the market where people arrange and make a living despite all the rules and regulations. System D, as the French call it, is the system of the smart, those who make things go right in the teeth of poverty and stifling red tape. To say a man is a "débrouillard" is to tell people how resourceful and ingenious he is, hence ... System D.It used to be that System D was small -- a handful of market women selling a handful of shriveled carrots to earn a handful of pennies. It was the economy of desperation. But as trade has expanded and globalized, System D has scaled up too. Today, System D is the economy of aspiration. It is where the jobs are. In 2009, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a think tank sponsored by the governments of 30 of the most powerful capitalist countries and dedicated to promoting free-market institutions, concluded that half the workers of the world -- close to 1.8 billion people -- were working in System D: off the books, in jobs that were neither registered nor regulated, getting paid in cash, and, most often, avoiding income taxes.
In many countries -- particularly in the developing world -- System D is growing faster than any other part of the economy, and it is an increasing force in world trade.
Just how big is System D?
In the developing world, it's been increasing every year since the 1990s, and in many countries it's growing faster than the officially recognized gross domestic product (GDP). If you apply his percentages (Schneider's most recent report, published in 2006, uses economic data from 2003) to the World Bank's GDP estimates, it's possible to make a back-of-the-envelope calculation of the approximate value of the billions of underground transactions around the world. And it comes to this: The total value of System D as a global phenomenon is close to $10 trillion. Which makes for another astonishing revelation. If System D were an independent nation, united in a single political structure -- call it the United Street Sellers Republic (USSR) or, perhaps, Bazaaristan -- it would be an economic superpower, the second-largest economy in the world (the United States, with a GDP of $14 trillion, is numero uno). The gap is narrowing, though, and if the United States doesn't snap out of its current funk, the USSR/Bazaaristan could conceivably catch it sometime this century.
I do recommend reading the whole article if you're interested. My excerpts may catch the essence, but there is much more...
USA: Health Federation proposes Dietary Supplement Protection ActThe logic of the Dietary Supplement Protection Act (DSPA) is clear, given that the safety standards of the entire industry have undergone an overhaul since the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA), with much more stringent manufacturing practice standards in place; the current regulatory environment is vastly different from what it was 17 years ago. As a consequence, the innovative formulators and manufacturers of some 26,000 products added since 1994 have jumped through increasingly smaller flaming hoops to bring their products to market, meeting tougher and tougher standards.
Scott Tips, president of the National Health Federation, asks, “Where are the dead bodies from these new dietary ingredients? There are none, and the FDA knows this simple fact yet wants to push these safe supplements off the market or price them beyond the reach of most consumers through expensive and useless regulations camouflaged as ‘protecting the public.’ We must preempt the FDA, to push the goal posts far enough forward as is politically feasible so as to ensure that no matter the outcome of the Draft Guidance, the natural health industry, and the millions upon millions of consumers who use its products, are saved from the FDA’s immediate stranglehold on health freedom. We are very appreciative of Representative Dan Burton for introducing this bill.“
RDA-based approach to maximum vitamin levels breaches WTO rulesCountries that set maximum levels of vitamins in supplements based on RDAs (recommended dietary allowances) are out of step with the latest science and are violating three different World Trade Organization agreements, according to a legal analysis commissioned by the US-based Council for Responsible Nutrition.
While USDA continues to promote large-scale confinement agriculture, which is necessarily dependent on heavy use of antibiotics, the agency’s Food Safety Research Information Office has published a report on the growing problem of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). A single antibiotic-resistant pathogen, MRSA, now claims more lives each year than AIDS. The report blames AMR squarely on the “use and misuse of antimicrobial drugs in food animal production and human medicine. . .”
Another mental illness linked with modern dietary advice is schizophrenia, a disorder characterized by hallucinations, delusions and paranoid behavior. Schizophrenics may have trouble maintaining jobs and social relationships. Researchers in Australia have found that newborn babies with low levels of vitamin D—due most likely to mom avoiding animal fats and sunlight—are more likely to develop schizophrenia later in life.
While health officials warn women in the U.S. against vitamin A supplements, a new Cochrane Review concludes that vitamin A supplement is effective in reducing all-cause mortality in Third World countries by 24 percent, mainly via reduced occurrence of measles and diarrhea...
Vitamin E Does Not Cause Prostate CancerOne of the key misconceptions about this study is that it actually found health benefits for the vast majority of nutrients studied. Only two individual nutrients were singled out as harmful: folic acid and copper. But since those two ingredients are frequently found in multivitamins, the big "news" from the study was that multivitamins were identified as being "slightly" harmful. According to the study, those who use them have a 2.4% higher mortality rate than those who do not.
If the vast majority of multivitamin users in the study were using low dose, packed with synthetic, commercial, one-a-day type vitamins, it sure would. It would be like basing a report on the safety of the entire airline industry, on statistics gathered analyzing Cubana Airlines.4 Frightening, but not particularly meaningful. If you want to read more about the silliness of this study...
Insects develop resistance to GM crop's toxinsThe emergence of more Bt-resistant pests is further proof of the futility of Bt crops - Dr Eva Sirinathsinghji
Bt is a toxin from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis, which produces a large family of similar proteins that target different insect pests; and quite a few of them have been incorporated in genetically modified crops to act as ‘biopesticides’. Unfortunately, the pests soon develop resistance to it.
Bt resistance has not only been documented in the laboratory, but also in the wild, with at least 8 populations of insects have developed resistance, 2 populations are now resistant to Bt sprays and at least 6 species are resistant to Bt crops.
USA: Why Is the State Department Using Our Money to Pimp for Monsanto?
People in India are up in arms about eggplant. Not just any eggplant -- the fight, which is also raging in the Philippines, is over Monsanto's Bt eggplant. Even as increasing scientific evidence concludes that biotechnology and its arsenal of genetically modified crops may be doing more harm than good, companies like Monsanto are still pushing them hard and they are getting help from the U.S.
The State Department is using taxpayer money to help push the agenda of Monsanto and its friends all across the world...
Catch the fever: It'll help you fight off infectionWith cold and flu season almost here, the next time you're sick, think twice before taking something for your fever. That's because scientists have found more evidence that elevated body temperature helps certain types of immune cells to work better. This research is reported in the November 2011 issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology.
Can't believe it. Even mainstream medicine seems to finally be catching up with what alt med proponents have been saying for decades... a fever is a useful reaction.
Video: Open-source cancer researchA new way to do research: Give away your findings. Stimulate interest and a competitive environment. A far cry from what pharmaceutical companies are doing, which is to work in secret and patent every advance before releasing any information.
"If anything is unique about this research, it's less the science than the strategy. This, for us, was a social experiment. An experiment of what would happen if we were as open and honest in the earliest phase of discovery chemistry research as we could be.
We seek, really to download, from the amazing successes of the computer industry two principles: that of 'open source' and that of 'crowdsourcing', to quickly, responsibly accelerate the delivery of targeted therapeutics to patients with cancer."
Lack of science behind mainstream medicine's rejection of alternative healingIn many instances, mainstream rejection of alternative healing violates the foremost principle of the scientific method itself - observation. Successful alternative healing has been observed to be successful dating back hundreds and even thousands of years. Mainstream medicine continues to reject observed success as merely anecdotal and contends that only rigorous testing will provide any validation.
Glaxo SmithKline to settle US drug disputes for $3.0 billionGlaxoSmithKline said in a statement that it had "reached an agreement in principle with the US government to conclude the company's most significant ongoing Federal government investigations."
The investigations included the probing of GSK's sales and marketing practices, begun by the US Attorney's office of Colorado in 2004 and later taken over by the US Attorney's Office of Massachusetts.
And they also referred to the Department of Justice's probe into the development and marketing of its former blockbuster diabetes drug Avandia.
400% Rise in Anti-Depressant Pill Use: Americans Are Disempowered
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently reported that antidepressant use in the United States has increased nearly 400 percent in the last two decades, making antidepressants the most frequently used class of medications by Americans ages 18-44. Among Americans 12 years and older, 11 percent were taking antidepressants by 2005-2008 (the most recently reported study period), and 23 percent of women ages 40–59 years were taking them.
Why has U.S. antidepressant use skyrocketed? Are the symptoms of what is commonly called depression—helplessness, hopelessness, and immobilization—always evidence of a medical condition? Or is it time to repoliticize a great deal of our despair, and reconsider the old-fashioned antidepressant of political activism?
A Drug As Scary As Halloween; Blockbuster Drug Causes Cancer, Tuberculosis And Lethal InfectionsHow did Abbott Laboratories' Humira become an $8 billion a year drug, even though such drugs (which include Remicade, Enbrel and Cimzia and are called TNF blockers) are linked to TB, rare cancers and lethal infections like histoplasmosis?
The same way all expensive, dangerous drugs become blockbusters: an easy touch FDA, bought doctors and doctor groups, PR firms to establish diseases as "public health threats" and massive direct-to-consumer advertising!
UK: Anti-smoking drug 'greatly raises suicide risk'A popular anti-smoking drug greatly raises the risk of suicide and should only be used as a last resort, doctors said last night.
They say patients who take Champix are also more prone to attempted suicide, suicidal thoughts and depression than those who use nicotine patches and gums.
Champix, which was prescribed more than one million times in Britain last year, has previously been linked to heart attacks, strokes, unprovoked violence and blackouts.
USA: Chantix, Suicide Risks And First-Line UsageThe latest study found that Chantix was the primary suspect in 92 percent of suicides reported to the FDA for smoking cessation drugs over a period stretching nearly 13 years, and accounted for 10 times more reports of suicidal behavior and depression than the Zyban antidepressant, which is also used to treat smoking habits and is sold by GlaxoSmithKline. Another nugget: after adjusting for seven possible confounding factors, Chantix was 8.4 times more likely to result in a report to the FDA of suicidal behavior or depression than other nicotine replacement products.
The study, which was published yesterday in PLoS One, analyzed 3,249 case reports of serious injury in the FDA’s Adverse Event Reporting System from 1998 through September 2010 for self-injurious behavior or depression linked to Chantix, Zyban and nicotine replacement products. They found 2,925, or 90 percent, of the cases of suicidal behavior or depression were linked to Chantix.
Some Asthma Drugs Kill More People Than Asthma: Why Is Big Pharma Allowed to Hawk Deadly Pills?Big Pharma has been accused of selling drugs that are so dangerous they cause death and drugs that cause the exact conditions they're supposed to treat. The popular asthma drugs Symbicort, Advair Diskus, Serevent Diskus, Dulera and Foradil do both and actually warn on their labels that they cause an increased "risk of death from asthma problems."
Big Pharma and the FDA have known for years that formoterol fumarate, found in Symbicort, Dulera and Foradil, and salmeterol, found in Advair Diskus and Serevent Diskus, can paradoxically cause asthma deaths...
HPV Vacine: Cancer Repackaged as a Sexually Transmitted DiseaseSeventh graders can now be vaccinated without parents’ knowledge or permission.
Vaccine marketers scored a landmark victory in California in October 2011 when Jerry Brown fetched the stick and signed into law a new bill allowing schools to vaccinate 12 year olds without informing their parents.
There can be no doubt that the underlying motive behind the new law was the promotion of the controversial Human Papilloma Virus vaccine, but the new law never mentions HPV.
Don’t get Vaccinated if You are PregnantThat is my advice. I realize I am currently in the minority of physicians who would prescribe this advice, however, I will say it again, do not get vaccinated if you are pregnant. Such a stance, even a few years ago used to be more widespread, obvious and even commonsensical. One does not start any new drugs while pregnant unless seriously ill, and most certainly would not want to initiate a massive immune response at the same time one is carrying an antigenically distinct baby.
There is also a data driven reason for offering this advice. If we turn now to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System...
Paraguay: Vaccine caused outbreak of foot-and-mouth diseaseA botched vaccine intended to protect Paraguay's livestock against foot-and-mouth disease was responsible for transmitting the ailment to hundreds of animals that later had to be destroyed, the government said Tuesday.
Authorities said all told, more than a thousand cattle had to be sacrificed during the outbreak, which sent tremors through a region that prizes its meat industry.
Officials said they have not yet determined who would be held accountable for the costly mistake..
United Nations committee told to ban use of mercury in vaccinesThe United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) is considering a comprehensive, worldwide action to reduce environmental exposure to mercury contamination. Mercury is highly toxic and interferes with brain development by inhibiting the growth of neural tissue. A ban would likely involve prohibition of the use of mercury in vaccines, as well as other uses of the heavy metal.
CDC – the Centre for Devious Cover-ups – and public deception?Things are really heating up at the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) given what is emerging about its prior knowledge of the dangers of the mercury-containing preservative, thimerosal, widely used in vaccines.
USA: Infamous Endorsement of Anthrax Vaccine for ChildrenOctober 28, the National Biodefense Science Board (NBSB), a government-appointed panel of "experts" voted its approval (12 to 1) for the government to proceed with an unconscionable medical experiment that would expose healthy US children to the risks of the anthrax vaccine, a vaccine which offers absolutely no direct benefit, but whose risks include serious adverse reactions such as Stevens-Johnson syndrome, neurological disorders, disability and death.
Afghanistan: Victim raises doubts about polio vaccine efficacyExposing the inefficacy of oral polio vaccine (OPV), a Swabi child has tested positive for polio despite being administered seven doses of vaccines over a period of time, health officials said here on Tuesday.
Official sources told Dawn that the National Institute of Health, Islamabad had found poliovirus in the blood of Asif Khan, 27-month-old son of Azeem Shah, a resident Narangi in Razar tehsil of Swabi district.
Australia: Class action against manufacturer of Gardasil cancer vaccineA class action against the manufacturer of the cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil – which is distributed by company CSL in Australia – is being led by a 28-year-old Melbourne-based woman, Naomi Snell.
Snell is leading the class action against the Gardasil manufacturer, Merck, after having suffered an auto-immune and neurological attack, following the first jab of the vaccine in July 2008.
With a view to join the court case against Merck, seven other Victorian women have complained that the Gardasil vaccine – which, under a federal government campaign, is administered free to Australian women aged between 12 to 26 years – was the cause behind their reported anaphylaxis and physical breakdowns, and even a miscarriage in one of the cases!
Researchers Report Alarming Rise in Brain Cancer in Scandinavian CountriesNew cases of brain tumors have continued to rise throughout the past three decades in some Scandinavian countries with longer-term and heavier cell phone use, according to analyses conducted by Environmental Health Trust scientists. The analyses are based on data provided by the national cancer registries of Finland and Norway to the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Death rates have dropped, reflecting improvements in treatment and early detection, but incidence has increased over the past decade for both men and women. In Norway, brain tumor incidence rose in men and women about 1.7 and 2.8 percent each year for the past decade, with women who use cell phones more having higher rates than men. Similar but smaller increases were evident in Norway.
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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"
posted by Sepp Hasslberger on Sunday November 13 2011
URL of this article:
http://www.communicationagents.com/sepp/2011/11/13/system_d_the_new_economic_superpower_health_supreme_newsgrabs_6_november_2011.htm
