Every day, I come across a number of interesting news items and stories related to the topics of this site but I cannot report on them all. This is a new kind of post that brings you the links to stories I find interesting, grabbing them as I go. Some of them are only links, others come with a short comment...
Yes! to Organic Medicine
The functions of a living organism that do not lend themselves to a reductionist description - those representing the organism's integrative activities and its interactions with the environment - are precisely the functions that are crucial for the organism's health. Because Western medicine has adopted the reductionist approach of modern biology, adhering to the Cartesian division and neglecting to treat the patient as a whole person, physicians now find themselves unable to understand, or to cure, many of today's major illnesses. There is a growing awareness among them that many of the problems our medical system faces stem from the reductionist model of the human organism on which it is based.
More recently, Mae-Wan Ho concluded that “decades of sequencing and dissecting the human genome in the hope of identifying genes for diseases have only served to confirm that the real causes of ill health are environmental and social”. Further, “It is not the genetic messages encoded in genomic DNA, but environmentally induced epigenetic modifications that overwhelmingly determine people's health and well-being. Early nutrition and parental care play a large role in an individual's physical and mental health and due attention must be paid to those aspects in delivering primary healthcare”.
I completely agree with Ho that “A new ‘organic medicine' could combine the best in non-invasive, non-destructive approaches from both traditional medical systems and contemporary science that would also revitalize indigenous medicines in all cultures and provide affordable healthcare for all. This project is all the more urgent in view of the increase in disease burden forecast for times of climate change.”
It is essential, for the benefit of humanity, that doctors from the two systems must intercommunicate with respect and with the same aim i.e. to heal the patients, not to get rid of the disease, such as those attempts in cancer treatment. Another urgent matter is that many medicinal plants in the world are being lost by the lack of knowledge in their usefulness, and therefore no conservation is attempted.
It is now clear that the time has come for appropriate sciences to join forces for the survival of our species...
U.S. Healthcare Reform Threatens Alternative Medicine
Because alternative medicine is highly effective in treating many of the chronic conditions which resist treatment by establishment medicine -from arthritis, heart disease, and chronic pain to insomnia and attention-deficit disorders - nearly 50 percent of Americans regularly use some type of alternative therapy, according to a study by the Journal of the American Medical Association. In fact, the study found that visits to alternative practitioners, for treatments ranging from acupuncture and chiropractic to herbal remedies, outnumber all visits to primary care physicians by almost two to one. Additionally, more than 100 million Americans "regularly consume dietary supplements as a means of improving and maintaining healthy lifestyles," according to a U.S. Senator who has worked on related legislation.
Nonetheless, "alternative therapies (including acupuncture, chelation therapy, biofeedback and holistic medicine) are not covered by Medicare," says the federal government. The same is true of Medicaid.
In the end, the essential point is not what the WHO recommends or whether acupuncture will be effective in relieving your chronic pain. The point is that every American deserves the right to make their own healthcare choices with their own healthcare dollars...
Codex Alimentarius: Health Alliance debates Food and Agriculture Organization
Dr Robert Verkerk, executive director of the Alliance for Natural Health, an international non-governmental organization, followed Dr Boutrif, questioning the independence of much of the science relied upon by Codex technical committees, providing evidence for the distortion of the process by large vested interests. Dr Verkerk also claimed that Codex’s work on genetically modified foods was inadequate to ensure consumer or environmental protection and that the basis for claiming that GM crops could alleviate hunger and poverty in developing countries was lacking. He advocated that agro-ecological models of agriculture that focused on the self-sufficiency of such agricultural communities—and not biotechnology—would be central to any resolution of the problems.
This is not doctor's advice, as you will plainly see when you start reading. Cal is just a normal guy with a bent for ferreting out biochemical connections and finding the important information hidden in scientific studies that the pharma-controlled cancer industry has no desire to make known. Since Cal is not an expert, you must make up your own mind ...
Sodium Bicarbonate Appears To Slow Progression Of Chronic Kidney Disease
A daily dose of sodium bicarbonate - baking soda, already used for baking, cleaning, acid indigestion, sunburn, and more - slows the decline of kidney function in some patients with advanced chronic kidney disease, reports a study in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. "This cheap and simple strategy also improves patients' nutritional status, and has the potential of translating into significant economic, quality of life, and clinical outcome benefits," comments Magdi Yaqoob, MD of the Royal London Hospital.
Studies find treating vitamin D deficiency significantly reduces heart disease risk
Researchers at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute last fall demonstrated the link between vitamin D deficiency and increased risk for coronary artery disease. These new studies show that treating vitamin D deficiency with supplements may help to prevent or reduce a person's risk for cardiovascular disease and a host of other chronic conditions. They also establish what level of vitamin D further enhances that risk reduction.
Factors Predicting Mortality in the Elderly in the Community
Comments my friend in Australia:
Some studies make me chuckle.... "The findings regarding low vitamin C intake in men and low serum pyridoxine levels in women should be regarded with caution...."
What do they mean by caution? In case people suddenly start squeezing lemons and taking vitamin B6?
.... the reason women get anemia so much is cos they get told to take iron which poisons in the long run, when B6 deficiency is the main cause of anemia. If you are B6 deficient you get proteinuria.... The 2 deficiencies also allow too much iron to build up in the brain which causes dementia.... and vitamin C of course stops cancer and heart disease.... this study is soooo long ago and soooo simple
Welcome Our Microbial Overlords
Can the bacteria in our bodies control our behavior in the same way a puppetmaster pulls the strings of a marionette? I tremble to report that this wonderfully creepy possibility may be true.
The human body is, to some extent, just a luxury cruise liner for microbes...
Is High Cholesterol The Cause of Heart Disease? An Interview with Dr Uffe Ravnskov "I have never thought that it [the cholesterol theory of aterosclerosis] was true. I heard about it for the first time in 1962 shortly after having got my MD. My biochemical knowledge was still intact at that time and I knew that cholesterol was one of the most important molecules in our body, indispensable for the building of our cells and for producing stress and sex hormones as well as vitamin D. The idea that cholesterol in the blood should kill us if its concentration is a little higher than normal, as they wrote in the Framingham paper, seemed to me just as silly as to claim that yellow fingers cause lung cancer."
The Benefits of High Cholesterol
People with high cholesterol live the longest. This statement seems so incredible that it takes a long time to clear one´s brainwashed mind to fully understand its importance. Yet the fact that people with high cholesterol live the longest emerges clearly from many scientific papers...
Mercury: How To Get This Lethal Poison Out Of Your Body
Unfortunately, toxic mercury problems are common. Along with polar bears, beluga whales, ducks, otters, panthers, and all river fish as well as most large ocean fish, we humans are poisoning ourselves with mercury at ever increasing rates.
There's no doubt about it, mercury is the most alarming, disease-causing source of environmental toxicity that I see daily in my practice. Many of patients have toxic levels of mercury -- and they're not alone. I personally suffered from mercury toxicity and chronic fatigue syndrome...
Breaking the Monsanto seed monopoly - Eight Steps the US Department of Justice Could Take to Reform Farming
In a world in which food security is as much of an issue as nutrition, the establishment of a level playing field on the farm is vital to the health of our food system. And while the lack of federal oversight and regulation of trade practices on the farm has enhanced Monsanto's profitability drivng shareholder value, its costs are being externalized not only onto our nation's farmers but also onto the 300 million American eaters.
Review of Video: Food, Inc. this is by my friend Sterling Allan ofPESN - Pure Energy Systems News
A major step toward solving a problem is identifying the problem; and this film identifies several whoppers. Though the level of corruption and monopolization of the food processing industry is depressing, the film doesn't leave you feeling helpless. It presents a remedy: vote with your purchases, buy organic, and buy healthy. The power that companies like Monsanto wield to patent and control seeds is blatantly corrupt and must be stopped. Also exposed are the conflicts of interest within the government regulatory bodies tasked with protecting the food supply.
The Astonishing Court Case of Becky McClain
A former Pfizer scientist, Becky McClain, says she was fired from her job in the vaccines and genetic engineering division after she was inadvertently infected and subsequently debilitated by a genetically engineered lentivirus used in vaccine research. According to the article, the alleged infection left McClain with an "acute intermittent paralysis" described in the article as "a condition that causes complete paralysis as many as 12 times a month."
Links Between WebMD and Eli Lilly
Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, is investigating financial ties between Lilly and WebMD Health Corp because of a WebMD TV ad exhorting people to undergo a Lilly depression screening.
Lilly is not the only pharma company receiving unmarked product placement on WebMD.
Last summer, a video featured a woman patient confessing she was fearful of life while a voice over said she needed treatment for "general anxiety disorder" and the camera showed bottles of Forest Pharmaceuticals' antidepressant Lexapro moving down the manufacturer's assembly line. Get it? No disclaimer on the video or "sponsored content" appeared.
Another unsponsored WebMD video last summer urged people on antidepressants to remain on their therapy "despite side effects" and a third suggested women concerned about cancer, heart attack and stroke risks of postmenopausal hormone therapy should continue their treatment at lowered doses. Hang in there, valued customers.
And many troops are taking more than one kind, mixing several pills in daily “cocktails” — for example, an antidepressant with an antipsychotic to prevent nightmares, plus an anti-epileptic to reduce headaches — despite minimal clinical research testing such combinations.
The drugs come with serious side effects...
Gardasil: Will FDA 'eat crow' over this vaccine?
March 12th 2010 saw six very special women from around the world, present documents and research about the HPV vaccines Gardasil and Cervarix to the FDA by request. Never before have the FDA turned to members of the public regarding vaccine safety but in an extraordinary move this is exactly what happened. Dubbed the ‘Little Women’ by the FDA the group presented evidence that will shock the world and could have the FDA eating their words.
The reports that were presented, detailed worldwide data, proving that women and young girls have suffered severe adverse reactions, including death, after being vaccinated with the HPV vaccines.
Detailed charts were shown to the FDA clearly outlining evidence of girls from around the world showing very similar adverse reactions after having these vaccines. Only a few of these adverse reactions have ever been listed by either manufacturer on their leaflets.
MMR doctor proved right in week he was condemned as 'dishonest'
In the week that the doctor at the centre of the controversy over the MMR vaccine and autism was called “dishonest, irresponsible and callous” by a medical disciplinary board, a new study has been published that suggests he could be right all along. Researchers in New York have discovered that children with autism spectrum disorder also had inflammation in the ileum, part of the small intestine – the exact same discovery made by Dr Andrew Wakefield...
The new study, from the New York University School of Medicine, discovered that 143 children with autism spectrum disorder also suffered from chronic gastrointestinal symptoms, and inflammation in the small intestine.
1949 Noticing that polio strikes most in the summer, when children increase their intake of sugar, Dr. Sandler warns NC residents to cut down on sugar and dairy products in. Polio cases dramatically decrease to 249.
1950 The 1948 findings of Dr. Sandler in North Carolina are denigrated in the public media, which claim that Sandlers findings are a “myth.”
1950 Rockefeller Milk Trust and Coca Cola force return to previous levels of sugar and dairy product consumption. Polio levels rise to pre-1949 level....
"An amazing event took place last month that was banned from mainstream media but which was well represented on the internet, especially at youtube.com
In a very prestigious convention in southern California, Bill Gates rose to the occasion with a PowerPoint presentation that sounded like an out-take from V For Vendetta. You can see it yourself by searching youtube with the phrase Bill Gates Vaccines. Then watch the clip that comes up. Don't be deterred by seeing the extreme titles that various sites have given the talk-- just watch it yourself, very carefully. Then watch it 2 more times to make sure you got it. No kidding, just do it, and then call me and convince me that Gates didn't just say unequivocally and with no ambiguity that one of the main reasons he just invested $10 billion in global vaccines is that they are one of the 3 chief instruments that will reduce global warming by doing away with 1.5 billion people. I know, I know. Just watch it and tell me I'm wrong.
The CDC and NIH are stirring the cauldron yet again: Black Box-labeled drugs are being dispensed to healthy gay men and heterosexual women – as long as they’re African-American. What’s a Black Box drug? One that has caused permanent or fatal injury in patients at normal prescribed doses. Why would a healthy person take such a drug?
ANH challenges EU strategy on cancer
The Alliance for Natural Health is working with the office of Greek MEP Mr Theodoris Skylakakis, who has himself expressed concern over society’s approach to cancer, and particularly the lack of emphasis of prevention and the use of nutrition.
"to adopt policies to support the principles embodied in the World Health Organization's Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health launched in 2004".
and calls on the Commission
"to ensure that Community legislation contains incentives for researchers and industry to develop nutritional and other natural product-based approaches to cancer prevention validated through nutrigenomic and epigenetic research".
Vitamin D better than vaccines at preventing flu, report claims
The risk of children suffering from flu can be halved if they take vitamin D, doctors in Japan have found. The finding has implications for flu epidemics since vitamin D, which is naturally produced by the human body when exposed to direct sunlight, has no significant side effects, costs little and can be several times more effective than anti-viral drugs or vaccine.
The first clause is that information sought under the RTI Act may be negated by citing the information to be confidential. What is more draconian is that anybody who tries to “mislead the public” without having “scientific evidence” can be imprisoned for not less than six months, which can be extended up to one year and imposed a fine...
Monsanto and company really are trying hard to force Indians to eat GM foods. Is it only because of the huge profits they envision or does someone think that there are too many Indians... ?
Conference to note on your calendar: Selling Sickness
An international conference: 'Selling Sickness: Influence on influence' will be held in Amsterdam on October 7-8, 2010. The focus will be understanding problems and developing solutions for improving pharmaceutical information and promotion to benefit the public. The host is Healthy Skepticism (Netherlands) assisted by the Dutch Institute for Rational Use of Medicine and Healthy Skepticism (International). The sponsors are the Dutch Ministry of Health and the Dutch Health Care Inspectorate. The conference is designed for everyone with an interest in pharmaceutical information and promotion including: the public, health professionals, policy makers, regulators, inspectorates, staff of pharmaceutical, advertising and public relations companies, staff of NGOs and journalists. More information on the conference programme, the speakers and registration will be coming soon...
Fosamax for Pre-Osteoporosis: A Bad Idea By Jeffrey Dach, M.D.
The Fosamax (Alendronate) medical study for FDA approval failed to show any benefit for the osteopenia group. Fracture rates actually went up for the osteopenia group.
Bisphosphonate drugs like Fosamax have severe adverse side effects of jaw necrosis (OJN), spontaneous femur fracture, atrial fibrillation (a heart rhythm disturbance), and severe bone and joint pain...
Vitamin D and calcium interplay
The body's skeleton needs adequate dietary calcium to reach its full potential in terms of bone mass. Still, many other factors affect bone mass, such as exercise, smoking and vitamin D - the latter through its effect on calcium absorption and direct effect on the skeleton.
Central Figure in CDC Vaccine Cover-Up Absconds With $2M by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
The discovery of Thorsen's fraud came as the result of an investigation by Aarhus University and CDC which discovered that Thorsen had falsified documents and, in violation of university rules, was accepting salaries from both the Danish university and Emory University in Atlanta -- near CDC headquarters -- where he led research efforts to defend the role of vaccines in causing autism and other brain disorders. Thorsen's center has received $14.6 million from CDC since 2002.
Thorsen's partner Kreesten Madsen recently came under fierce criticism after damning e-mails surfaced showing Madsen in cahoots with CDC officials intent on fraudulently cherry picking facts to prove vaccine safety.
USA: Vaccine court finds no link to autism
A federal court ruled Friday that the evidence supporting an alleged causal link between autism and a mercury-containing preservative in vaccines is unpersuasive, and that the families of children diagnosed with autism are not entitled to compensation.
Special masters of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims released more than 600 pages of findings after reviewing three test cases and finding all the claims wanting.
"Petitioners' theory of vaccine-related causation is scientifically unsupportable," wrote Special Master Patricia Campbell-Smith in her conclusion about William P. Mead, whose parents, George and Victoria Mead, had brought one of the suits.
This is the special court of claims the US set up to hear cases brought for vaccine damage. Its purpose is to prevent vaccine damages being heard in the normal courts. One might argue that the court was set up to make sure the vaccination agenda the US government seems married to, will not suffer from adverse judgements pronounced by "normal" judges.
Rebecca Estepp, who attended the hearings and has a son with autism, says she was not surprised. "You have government attorneys defending a government program using government-funded science before government judges." (All funded with unlimited tax dollars). (Thanks Evelyn Pringle)
Pregnant women warned over Prozac risk to foetus
Pregnant women who take Prozac, the antidepressant, are twice as likely to give birth to babies with a congenital heart problem, the medicines regulator has warned.
The agency said it had looked at the evidence from a number of studies of fluoxetine, the active ingredient in Prozac, and concluded that it could double the background rate of congenital heart defects.
USA: State of Massachusetts joins lawsuit over anti-psychotic drugs in nursing homes
Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office joined a federal lawsuit yesterday that contends that Johnson & Johnson paid tens of millions of dollars in kickbacks to get its drugs, especially the powerful antipsychotic Risperdal, prescribed in nursing homes.
“The inappropriate off-label marketing of antipsychotic drugs to nursing homes is a significant health and safety issue for our seniors,’’ Coakley said in a statement released by her office.
Flu shots are futile: study Study co-author Dr. Tom Jefferson says he "can't see any reason" for vaccinating anyone against flu -- arguing the shots did nothing to save lives -- and that most influenza-vaccine studies are "rubbish."
"What troubled us is that [shots] had no effect on laboratory-confirmed influenza," said Dr. Roger Thomas of the University of Calgary, lead author of the paper published by the respected Cochrane Library.
"What we were looking for is proof that influenza ... is decreased. Didn't find it. We looked for proof that pneumonia is reduced. Didn't find it. We looked for proof deaths from pneumonia are reduced. Didn't find it."
If You Find Problems with Genetically Modified Foods: Watch Out!
In the early 1990s, Dr. Pusztai was awarded a $3 million grant by the UK government to design the system for safety testing genetically modified organisms (GMOs). His team included more than 20 scientists working at three facilities, including the Rowett Institute in Aberdeen, Scotland, the top nutritional research lab in the UK, and his employer for the previous 35 years. The results of Pusztai’s work were supposed to become the required testing protocols for all of Europe. But when he fed supposedly harmless GM potatoes to rats, things didn’t go as planned.
Within just 10 days, the animals developed potentially pre-cancerous cell growth, smaller brains, livers, and testicles, partially atrophied livers, and damaged immune systems.
“HIV-positive” tests and racial cleansing A tongue-in-cheek discussion of "HIV" tests by Henry Bauer
This little exercise was stimulated by a “CNN Presents” TV program on the night of Saturday, March 13. Several experts were deploring the fact that the rate of “HIV-positive” in Washington is more than 3 times the national average (3% vs. less than 1%). Naturally the experts called for even further “prevention” efforts and described a number of initiatives intended to enhance prevention...
Spiegel: 2009 swine flu pandemic a boost for Big Pharma
"The pharmaceutical industry did not influence any of our decisions," says Fukuda. But in mid-May, about three weeks before the swine flu was declared a pandemic, 30 senior representatives of pharmaceutical companies met with WHO Director-General Chan and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon at WHO headquarters. The official reason for the meeting was to discuss ways to ensure that developing countries would be provided with pandemic vaccine. But at this point in time the vaccine industry was mainly interested in one question: the decision to declare phase 6.
Everything hung on this decision. At stake was nothing less than a move to supply large segments of the world's population with flu vaccine. Phase 6 acted as a switch that would allow bells on the industry's cash registers to ring, risk-free...
Western scientific medicine has been dominated for almost a century by a strong industrial interest group, the pharmaceutical manufacturers. This domination and the commercial interest behind it, prevent any real reform even in the face of evidence that some natural treatment method works better than the pharma-based method of choice.
Since public health is deteriorating, reform seems needed...
Technically, Senator McCain cannot withdraw the DSSA from the Senate without unanimous Senate agreement; however, he can publicly announce his intention to withdraw his support for the disastrous provisions of the bill, what he has already told Senator Hatch privately. We invite McCain to clear up the remaining confusion about his intentions and set the record straight!
It’s critical to receive confirmation from McCain directly.
McCain's DSHEA Repeal Legislation Delayed, Not Dead
For the time being, on the Senate side of Congress, the bill has apparently been delayed. However, unless and until McCain formally pulls his bill, the DSSA bill is still alive in the Senate for the rest of this year. The Hatch-McCain understanding does not, under Senate procedures, preclude any other Senator like Dorgan, or the anti-supplement, DSHEA-hating Dick Durbin (the Assistant Senate Majority Leader), from filing a Motion to Discharge S.3002 from the Senate HELP committee, where it currently is. If this happens the bill can be sent directly to the full Senate for a passage vote.
Aerotoxic Syndrome - Airplane industry's dirty little secret
Compressed air in airplane cabins has - since the 60's - been taken from the air the plane's jet motors compress. There is no guarantee that this air doesn't contain engine oil fumes - it often does and there aren't any air filters between the engine and the cabin. Engine oil contains organophosphates. Are you surprised that cabin crew and passengers may suffer "unexplained" toxic effects or so-called Aerotoxic Syndrome? The solution would be simple - a separate airpump/compressor for cabin air, but it has not been adopted. See this great Nexus article for the details...
Nanotoxicity in Regulatory Vacuum
Seven young women (aged 18–47yrs) working in a paint factory and exposed to nanoparticles for 5–13months fell ill and were admitted to hospital. Two subsequently died. Pathological examinations of the patients' lung tissue showed nonspecific inflammation, fibrosis and foreign-body granulomas (tumours resulting from inflammation) of the pleura (membrane around the lungs). Transmission electron microscopy revealed nanoparticles of polyacrylate lodged in the cytoplasm and the nucleus of cells and in the chest fluid. The polyacrylate nanoparticles were confirmed in the workplace.
Years of smoking associated with lower Parkinson's risk
Several studies have shown that smokers have a lower risk of developing Parkinson's disease. A new study published in the March 10, 2010, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, shows that smoking for a greater number of years may reduce the risk of the disease, but smoking a larger number of cigarettes per day may not reduce the risk.
Let's give those smokers a break, now and then ...
Snake oil—or a breakthrough for bipolar disorder?
A number of trials so far have been successful and researchers involved are increasingly hopeful that micronutrients, as opposed to drugs, may represent an exciting step towards the successful restoration of mental health. This research points to the benefits of synergistic blends of micronutrients, as found in Truehope’s EMpowerplus formula, as compared with individual micronutrients such as niacin and omega-3 fatty acids which have shown very clear benefits in their own right previously.
Writing in Clinical Medicine Insight: Psychiatry, researchers Dermot Gately and Bonnie Kaplan found that among 682 adults diagnosed with bipolar disorder, symptoms decreased with increasing dosage of the EMpowerplus formula and reduced dosages of medications approved for bipolar disorder (lithium, anticonvulsants, atypical antipsychotics). The researchers claimed that ‘symptom improvements were significant and sustained at 6 months, and decreased symptom severity over the 6 months was associated with increasing micronutrient dosage and with reducing medication’.
Vitamin D is crucial to activating immune defenses
Scientists at the University of Copenhagen have discovered that Vitamin D is crucial to activating our immune defenses and that without sufficient intake of the vitamin, the killer cells of the immune system - T cells - will not be able to react to and fight off serious infections in the body.
Danish scientist who "proved" vaccines don't cause autism absconds with $2 million
A Danish scientist who was a key researcher in two studies that purport to show that mercury used in vaccines and the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine do not cause autism is believed to have used forged documents to steal $2 million from Aarhus University in Denmark according to reports in the Copenenhagen Post Online and a statement from Aarhus University.
Poul Thorsen, MD PhD, headed up a research unit at Aarhus University that was hired by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to prepare a series of studies that would exonerate thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative and adjuvant used in vaccines, and the MMR vaccine from any role in causing autism. The veracity of the three studies he co-authored is now in doubt.
Drug use in nursing homes puts elderly at risk
“Way too many patients in nursing homes are treated with antipsychotics purely to sedate them or to control behaviors that are difficult for the staff,’’ said Robert A. Stern, an Alzheimer’s specialist and brain researcher at Boston University School of Medicine.
USA: Supreme Court Accepts Appeal Over Vaccine Safety
In what could have huge implications for the vaccine industry the US Supreme Court has agreed to hear in a case which will decide if parents can sue vaccine makers. Parents who say that a range of preventive vaccines given their young children can cause serious health problems will have their appeal heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The justices Monday agreed to decide whether drug makers can be sued outside a special judicial forum set up by Congress in 1986 to address specific claims about safety.
A Positive Routine “HIV Test” Is Likely To Be a False Positive
The FDA said in 1987 that “the significance of antibodies in an asymptomatic individual is not known.” It is still not known, as positive tests have been reported in many illnesses, including multiple sclerosis, tuberculosis, malaria, and aplastic anemia. They have also been reported after immunizations to tetanus or influenza, and may even be caused by pregnancy itself.
“The problem of false positive tests applies to all screening tests, not just HIV,” states Jane M. Orient, M.D., executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS). “If a population with a very low likelihood of a disease is tested, there will be very few positive tests. But even with an excellent test, a positive is more likely than not to be a false positive.”
HIV/AIDS theory: Evidence — Archives — Resources
Try to convince someone that HIV/AIDS theory is wrong, and you have a number of difficulties. An important one is that most people can’t imagine that “everyone”, the authoritative agencies, the big media, could possibly be wrong about such a thing. One way to respond to that is to show that competent, distinguished, well informed scientists explain how and why it’s never been established that HIV exists or that “HIV” cause AIDS, that in fact there’s strong evidence against those things, and that moreover the drugs used to treat patients on the basis of HIV/AIDS theory are deadly.
But how can you show people that?
Video:Is Fluoride Necessary?
More and more communities are beginning to jump on the anti-fluoridation bandwagon, such as Corning, New York, Bellingham, Washington and Juneau, Alaska....
Europe: Traditional Herbal Medicines in Legislative Distress
When the Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive was passed in 2004, many herbal producers, including those producing herbs for the great and ancient traditions of Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine, saw the Directive as a ‘godsend’. Here was a piece of law that would give these herbal products a proper medicinal classification, meaning they could actually be used to help make sick people healthier.
Actually it did not turn out this way. The medicinal registration process is a hurdle so difficult to take that not one product of the prolific Ayurvedic and Chinese herbal traditions has successfully navigated its pitfalls. Even Europe's own herbal tradition is not in much better shape.
This shows what happens when the pharmaceutical lobby convinces legislators to "regulate" their competition. The Alliance for Natural Health is working to change this obviously insane law by proposing amendments and, failing this, to mount a legal challenge to it.
USA: Senator McCain Defends Dietary Supplement Proposal "Opponents have stated that the legislation would seek to limit consumers' ability to purchase dietary supplements, vitamins, or prescription drugs. That is completely false . If you take a vitamin now, this bill will in no way restrict your ability to take that vitamin."
McCain clearly hasn't read his own bill. Perhaps he needs a plain English version...
Well, the latest news is that McCain has withdrawn support for that bill (see next link just after this one). So the question becomes: Who wrote the bill for him? I guess he is not going to trust those people in the future...
McCain offered the Dietary Supplement Safety Act of 2010, S. 3002, in February. The Arizona Republican will now collaborate with Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, on revised legislation that allegedly provides for transparency and safety within the supplement industry but without the intensive regulatory intervention proposed in S. 3002. No timeline is set for introduction of a new bill.
Bacterial balance keeps us healthy
The thousands of bacteria, fungi and other microbes that live in our gut are essential contributors to our good health. They break down toxins, manufacture some vitamins and essential amino acids, and form a barrier against invaders. A study published today in Nature shows that, at 3.3 million, microbial genes in our gut outnumber previous estimates for the whole of the human body.
... and remember - antibiotics kill those beneficial bacteria, leaving us weaker after each "cure".
Although ascorbate addition to medium generated H(2)O(2), ascorbate addition to blood generated no detectable H(2)O(2) and only trace detectable ascorbate radical. Taken together, these data indicate that ascorbate at concentrations achieved only by i.v. administration may be a pro-drug for formation of H(2)O(2), and that blood can be a delivery system of the pro-drug to tissues. These findings give plausibility to i.v. ascorbic acid in cancer treatment, and have unexpected implications for treatment of infections where H(2)O(2) may be beneficial.
Translation: Vitamin C was found to selectively kill cancer cells while not affecting normal cells in this experiment.
Why is this therapy not in general use yet - what are we waiting for?
Standard cancer treatments not only often fail to eradicate cancer, but can make it worse.
That argument isn't coming from a fringe proponent of alternative medicine, but from the founder of the University of Michigan's Comprehensive Cancer Center and a pioneer in research on why cancers recur and spread to other parts of the body.
SWEET POISON - ASPARTAME
In October of 2001, my sister started getting very sick. She had stomach spasms and she was having a hard time getting around. Walking was a major chore. It took everything she had just to get out of bed; she was in so much pain...
Big Pharma trying to prevent long-term safety studies of ADHD drugs Ritalin, Concerta by Janne Larsson
The companies producing methylphenidate products (like Ritalin and Concerta) are normally competitors, marketing ADHD as a disease and the narcotic drugs as its solution. But when they are threatened with marketing restrictions they have a common interest.
...the manufacturers were ordered [by the EU Commission] to submit data how they could do long-term studies of psychiatric adverse effects (e.g. depression, hostility and psychotic reactions) and of cognitive effects (effects on learning, intellectual function) of the drugs. The answer from the pharmaceutical companies was a confidential report Feasibility Assessment of a Study of Long-term Effects of Methylphenidate on Cognition and Psychiatric Outcomes written 30 October 2009 – now made public by a Swedish court.
As stated by the manufacturers: “This information is provided on behalf of the following Marketing Authorisation Holders for methylphenidate-containing medicinal products in the EU: Novartis, Johnson & Johnson, Shire, Medice and Laboratorios Rubió (also referred to as the “Consortium”).”
The document can only be characterised as an aggressive effort to explain why long-term studies about adverse psychiatric outcomes of methylphenidate treatment could not and should not be done, together with distorted facts about the beneficial long-term outcomes of drug treatment. The intention with the feasibility assessment study is clearly to stop or delay needed safety actions for methylphenidate drugs...
Janne Larsson, the Swedish investigator and writer of the previous article, has asked the European Commission to take decisive action to clarify, once and for all, what are the damaging side effects of these drugs.Here is his letter...
Ghostbusting in Paxil Birth Defect Litigation by Evelyn Pringle
A month before the first Paxil birth defect trial against GlaxoSmithKline was set to begin, the Associated Press ran the headline, “Glaxo Used Ghostwriting Program to Promote Paxil,” in reporting on a program called “CASPPER,” which allowed doctors to “take credit for medical journal articles mainly written by company consultants.”
“Drug companies frequently hire outside firms to draft a manuscript touting a company's drug, retain a physician to sign off as the author and then find a publisher to unwittingly publish the work,” the Associated Press said on August 19, 2009. “Drug company salespeople often present medical journal articles to physicians as independent proof that their drugs are safe and effective.”
Paxil Birth Defect Cases - Six Hundred and Counting
According to Vickery, Glaxo conducted a study on Wellbutrin (bupropion), another antidepressant, after discovering a possible link to birth defects. "The review found no problems with Wellbutrin, but discovered that a significant number of mothers who had been prescribed Paxil (nearly twice as many as those who had not taken the drug) had children born with heart defects," he says.
Australia: Merck Loses Vioxx Case, Must Pay Damages
Federal Court Justice Christopher Jessup found Vioxx doubled the risk of heart attack for users and was a defective product unsuitable to treat arthritic pain under the Trades Practices Act. He told the court a 2000 clinical trial showed “worrisome and important signals” of cardiovascular risk, although he dismissed claims Merck “turned a blind eye” to the results. At the same time, he ruled that Merck’s failure to warn doctors of the risks, instead emphasising its safety, amounted to misleading conduct.
Hormone replacement therapy linked to increased lung cancer risk
Women aged 50 to 76 who take estrogen plus progestin may have an increased risk of lung cancer, according to a new study published in the pre-print online edition of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
"Although HRT use has declined and is not recommended except for short-term treatment of menopausal symptoms, our results indicate millions of women may remain at risk of developing lung cancer," said Chris Slatore, M.D., principal investigator and an assistant professor of medicine (pulmonary and critical care medicine) in the Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine, Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center; and a member of the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute.
Is the Gardasil Vaccine an Experiment on your Children?
To say that a virus is the main cause of cervical cancer is no more than a hypothesis. We all know that there are many environmental influences that cause one to have cancer. We are giving "False Hope" to parents when we state this vaccine will reduce the chances of their children getting cervical cancer. Another concern, like all the other vaccines recommended, there are no long-term safety or efficacy studies done on this vaccine and the short- term studies are of great concern.
Video:No Vaccines No Autism http://homefirst.com/ "We have a fairly large practice. We have about 30,000 or 35,000 children that we've taken care of over the years, and I don't think we have a single case of autism in children delivered by us who never received vaccines," said Dr. Mayer Eisenstein, Homefirst's medical director who founded the practice in 1973.
Video:Migranes, Maladies and [Mobile Phone] Masts
'To watch this big piece of tower go up 30 metres from your bedroom window and know that that is going to be radiating through your home 24/7...'
We all want the technology that connects us to the 21st century, but nobody wants it in their back yard.
But, as a woman interviewed in this video says: "Would you stick your head in a microwave oven?"
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