China’s vaccine makers are gearing up over the next few years to push exports in a move that should lower costs of lifesaving immunizations for the world’s poor and provide major new competition for the big Western pharmaceutical companies.
Santorum off base on Health Care
February 3, 2012 by Steve
Filed under Big Pharma
No big surprise, Rick Santorum’s stance on Health care with a profit motive is a bit off base, in my opinion.
Believe me folks I am no socialist/communist etc…I believe in free enterprise. However, the health care system (I am not a proponent of Obamacare either! Quite the opposite) as we know it today is broken and we must look at all potential components of this disaster.
In my opinion, the take over of our health care system by Wall Street is a huge factor is why it isn’t working. You can call that profit driven…in my opinion profits are not the culprit, AVARICE IS!
Wall Street doesn’t care about the citizens, only profits. Capitalism with Compassion is a good thing in this case folks…to drive our health care system based solely on the ability to make a ton of dough seems wrong to me as it reflects on who can get health care and the quality of same.
Change is required, period.
Santorum defends drug companies in health care speech
Posted by
CNN’s Adam Aigner-Treworgy
Woodland Park, Colorado (CNN) – In what his campaign billed as a “major speech on health care,” Rick Santorum found himself Wednesday defending a profit-driven health care system to a woman who said her son requires expensive medication to stay alive.
The former Pennsylvania senator also detailed the deficiencies he sees in his rivals’ health insurance records.
Follow the Ticker on Twitter: @PoliticalTicker
One of the feistiest exchanges came in response to a young child’s question on the cost of medical care in America. Urged on by his mother, a boy asked what Santorum would do to lower medical costs, but before he could finish his question, the candidate said such things should be left up to the market.
“We can make medicine cheaper by using markets,” Santorum said. “That’s how you make medicine cheaper is that you have free people going out there and competing against each other and competition drives up quality and drives down costs.”
As Santorum was outlining his small-government, free-market approach to rising health care costs, another woman chimed in that she can no longer afford medication she desperately needs because the cost has become so exorbitant.
“The only reason new drugs are developed is because Americans actually do pay for the cost of that research,” Santorum said. “And so when you say oh, I’ll go and get my drugs in Canada, that’s great. Go get your drugs in Canada and if everybody did that, you’d have no new drugs. You have that drug and maybe you’re alive today because people have a profit motive to make that drug.”
Using a somewhat confusing metaphor, Santorum tried to explain the need for a profit motive by comparing health care consumption to technology consumption.
“People have no problem going out and buying an iPad for $900,” he said. “But paying $900 for a drug, they have a problem with it. It keeps you alive. Why? Because you have been conditioned to thinking that health care is something that you should get and not have to pay for. Drug companies, health care companies need to have a profit motive, because if they don’t, then how are we going to regulate costs? We are gonna ration care.”
The mother of the original questioner tried once more to plead her case, explaining that she’s paid $1.3 million a year to keep her son alive, and while she’s willing to go bankrupt for her child, it pains her to see his friends die in the hospital because their parents cannot afford the treatment.
Finding himself in the unenviable position of defending oft-derided drug companies, Santorum stuck to his guns.
“He’s alive today because drug companies thought that they would make money in providing that care and if the drug company didn’t think they could make any money by providing that care, I hate to put it in these terms, but that drug wouldn’t be here,” he said, adding that he sympathized with the mother, “we either believe in markets or we don’t.”
Asked by a reporter after the event about what alternatives people in such tough circumstances have, Santorum suggested that charity was a better option than government intervention.
“Even in the tough cases, even at the ones that pull at your heart strings, we’ve got to believe in people and markets and churches and families and charity instead of government, and that’s what I believe” he said.
Earlier in his remarks, while highlighting the similarities between the health care plan Mitt Romney passed in Massachusetts and the controversial plan passed by President Obama, Santorum came out against the widely-popular provision that requires insurance companies to offer plans regardless of preexisting conditions.
“I have family members who have preexisting conditions, and I’m not for preexisting condition clauses,” Santorum said.
To justify his position, he described a hypothetical situation wherein healthy Massachusetts residents opt not to buy insurance, instead paying a fine. Then when they get sick, they purchase insurance, immediately dropping it again once they get better.
“What happens to the cost of health insurance,” Santorum asked the crowd, many of whom answered that costs would rise. “There’s a reason for preexisting conditions clauses. You want people to get insurance, and if they don’t, then they shouldn’t be free riding on everybody else. That’s exactly what’s going to happen with Obamacare.”
Santorum said this similarity between “Obamacare” and “Romneycare” would mean that “Barack Obama, in a debate or in this election, is going to destroy Mitt Romney on the issue of health care.” Both plans are wrong, he argued, because both represent top-down management of an issue that should be left up to families.
I don’t have insurance and haven’t had for many years now and thank God I haven’t really required any for my kids or wife or myself. We try to live a healthier lifestyle from that promoted on TV…junk food, visual garbage and mindless chatter. Organic food, herbal supplements and exercise is a common theme around here.
I don’t deny that there are others that have had the misfortune of falling ill and requiring intensive western medical treatments and they are probably financially ruined, even with insurance. This is just one of the reasons we have to see a rational change in the system, our minds and hearts.
Monsanto petition tells Obama: ‘Cease FDA ties to Monsanto’
January 30, 2012 by uncoverthenews
Filed under Big Pharma, Food Watch
A two-year-old Food and Drug Administration appointment is stirring up online protests once more.
In 2009, President Obama appointed Michael Taylor as a senior adviser for the FDA. Consumer groups protested the appointment because Taylor had formerly served as a vice president for Monsanto, the controversial agricultural multinational at the forefront of genetically modified food.
In recent days, a petition calling for the former Monsanto VP’s ouster is gaining steam.
“President Obama, I oppose your appointment of Michael Taylor,” the petition on Signon.org reads. “Taylor is the same person who was Food Safety Czar at the FDA when genetically modified organisms were allowed into the U.S. food supply without undergoing a single test to determine their safety or risks. This is a travesty.”
Over the weekend, the petition was signed by thousands of people. At this writing, it has around 60,000 signatures of its 75,000 goal.
Requests for comment from Monsanto and the FDA were not immediately returned.
Signees of the petition argue that Monsanto should not have influence at the FDA because it will hurt farmers and threaten plants and animals. They cite scientific research that has found genetically modified foods could be a cause for chronic illnesses or cancer in the U.S.
FDA Violates Federal Law: Emord and ANH Challenge Illegal Rulemaking
December 6, 2011 by Darren6688
Filed under Big Pharma
Even the mighty FDA can be brought to its knees and that is what we must do. They must be forced to play by the same legal rules as we the people. The good news is that a big lawsuit is taking place to make sure they do just that. Read below!
December 6, 2011
Bolstered by a massive outpouring of support from you, we are asking the agency to withdraw its New Dietary Ingredient (NDI) draft guidance completely!
The period for comments to the FDA on the draft guidance on NDI notifications closed on December 2. Along with the hundreds of thousands of messages you sent and the 20,000 phone calls you made to FDA and Congress, ANH-USA also submitted formal comments.
The problem with the FDA’s draft guidance on New Dietary Ingredients is that it allows FDA to arbitrarily deny the sale of any supplement created (or modified) in the past seventeen years. If you’re a supplement manufacturer or distributor or possibly even a health food store, and you don’t file a NDI “notification” (actually a request for approval) for each ingredient in each product developed since 1994 in just the way prescribed by the FDA, and the court later decides the FDA is right, then you are guilty of product “adulteration,” which is punishable by prison. With your favorite supplements off the market, it also would allow the drug industry to adapt and patent them, and sell them back to you—by doctor’s prescription only—for 10 or 100 (or even more) times what you’re paying now.
Our comments, drafted by acclaimed attorney Jonathan Emord on our behalf, show that the FDA is engaged in substantive new rulemaking, in violation of the federal Administrative Procedure Act (APA). “The APA says if an agency’s action is legislative in nature, that’s rulemaking,” explained Emord. “The guidance distorts the plain language of the laws that govern supplements. FDA needs to comply with the APA’s formal rulemaking requirements, not issue unilateral guidance as a deceptive means of creating new rules.”
We argue that the FDA is acting illegally. The FDA circumvented the regulatory process by issuing a guidance, which gives them cover and flexibility, instead of going through the rulemaking process, which is required when creating a new law—and we believe the guidance in fact does create new law. As a result, FDA’s actions leave interested parties little recourse within the regulatory system.
In technical terms, a guidance is supposed to be legally non-binding. It is meant to simply present the FDA’s interpretation of the rule. However, the NDI guidance goes well beyond an interpretation, and we believe it is in fact a legislative rule with legal implications:
- The NDI guidance is a departure from the FDA’s previous standards for NDI notifications. It alters and broadens the meaning of what qualifies as an NDI, and creates new—and very expensive—requirements to comply with the NDI notification process (creating what we would call a de facto pre-approval system), counter to what is outlined in Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA).
- Not fulfilling the NDI notification requirements outlined in the guidance ensures that the supplement will be considered adulterated and therefore illegal. This indicates there’s a clear, legally binding impact to the NDI guidance.
- Supplements that are considered illegal can be confiscated, and under the Food Safety Modernization Act, as we noted lasted week, can now be subject to administrative detention as well.
You may recall that Joanna M. Shepherd Bailey, PhD, professor of law and economics at Emory University, demonstrated that FDA grossly underestimated the economic cost of the NDI guidance. Her report found that:
- Between 22,240 and 41,700 nutritional supplements would likely be removed from the market, at an economic loss of between $5.6 billion and $10.5 billion;
- The nutritional supplement market could shrink by between 28% and 52.5%, producing an annual loss for the industry of between $7.84 billion to $14.7 billion; and
- Between 55,720 and 104,475 jobs in the supplement industry could be lost.
FDA’s analysis did not take into consideration the costs of the expanded reach and requirements of the NDI guidance. The agency therefore misled the Office of Management and Budget, in violation of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1996.
FDA has arbitrarily determined that supplement companies need to show at least “25 years of widespread use” in order it to meet the “history of safety” standard in NDI notification. In other words, only supplements on the market before October 1986 could be considered “safe.” This is patently ridiculous, since the cutoff date for grandfathered ingredients assumed to be safe, according to DSHEA, is October 1994.
The NDI notification system was intended to ensure safety. The very reason pre-DSHEA supplements were grandfathered is because they had proven themselves safe through years of use by hundreds of thousands of consumers! If safety is of utmost concern to FDA, why does the guidance document burden the supplement industry with regulatory requirements that have nothing to do with proving the safety of the supplements? It appears FDA is acting out of spite—and not in the public’s best interest. Moreover, many of the provisions in the guidance are totally unrelated to safety and serve only to limit consumers’ access to nutritional supplements.
We believe FDA will be unable incorporate enough changes to their draft guidance to bring it in line with existing law, preserve supplement access for customers, and remove needless regulatory hurdles for industry. Because of this, we asked FDA in our formal comments to withdraw the draft guidance at the earliest possible moment.
Now that the FDA’s comment period is closed, the agency is supposed to review the comments and prepare a final version of the guidance document—though they are under no legal obligation to do so. In fact, because it is guidance, they are under no legal obligation even to take public comments into consideration. Nor is there any timeline: the agency is still sitting on a guidance, now nearly three years old, that was meant to create a distinction between beverages and liquid dietary supplements.
Even worse, since this is presented as guidance and not formal rulemaking, the FDA is very likely to enforce the provisions in the draft guidance as though they were final—with limited legal recourse for affected parties!
We believe FDA’s actions require them to follow the Administrative Procedure Act, which calls for a formal rulemaking procedure. Under this law:
- FDA will be forced to have a formal comment period, and to review and consider all comments before they issue a final rule. This includes a rulemaking record that shows the data and analysis behind a proposed rule, and sometimes even public hearings.
- If the result is not to the liking of interested parties, “Each agency shall give an interested person the right to petition for the issuance, amendment, or repeal of a rule.” This means, that unlike a guidance, it is possible to challenge a rule in court. It is very likely that FDA conveniently issued a guidance, instead of going through the rulemaking process, to avoid this very outcome.
Now that the NDI comment period is closed, we will start implementing the next phase of our strategy—which will include both legal and legislative components. We will, of course, keep our supporters and allies in the loop.
Thank you all again for your tremendous outpouring of letters and phone calls! It has laid important groundwork for our next actions.
The latest ploy to get you vaccinated. And you thought you were safe in church!!!!???
December 6, 2011 by Darren6688
Filed under Big Pharma, Commentary, General News, Green Living, Health News, Survival Info
Though you might not want to believe it, this is true information. When you go to church next your pastor might just be encouraging you and your family to get vaccinated with all of the risks that can entail. Learn more and become informed! The following article appeared on mercola.com
Recently the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, held an invitation-only call.
The call was co-sponsored by the U.S. Health and Human Services, the Office of Minority Health, and CDC.
Conspicuously, the end of the invitation read:
“This call is off the record and is not for press purposes” – but it became public when it showed up on the HHS website.
Fortunately one of our staff was able to get on the call.
The focus of the call was on getting faith-based organizations to sponsor flu clinics with Walgreens.
Basically, they want to move inside your church, mosque or synagogue, and set up shop, with your pastor, priest, imam and rabbi on hand to convince you to get a flu shot.
As an example, they cited a priest who stopped in the middle of mass to roll up his sleeve and get vaccinated, inspiring the rest of his parish to line up behind him.
Talk to God, Get a Shot
The idea of holding out your arm and getting a shot in the middle of a worship service, with your pastoral leader urging you on, really seems to be pushing it. The reason they’re doing this, health officials said on the phone, is that they’ve found that non-traditional settings such as worship services can be highly effective in influencing people’s decisions.
Speaking directly to church leaders, Joshua DuBois, executive director of the White House Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnership, said:
“As trusted messengers, you’re able to spread messages and help get people vaccinated.”
Zeroing in on minorities, particularly older adults, blacks and Latinos, health officials said churches, mosques and schools are places where barriers to vaccinations can be taken down, and these minorities can be convinced to get vaccinated. Besides hosting flu shot clinics, churches can also help by putting reminders in their bulletins, and by church members personally reminding others to get their shots, officials said.
They even went so far as to encourage the churches to pay people’s insurance co-pays so they’d be more inclined to get the shots. For those who simply can’t pay anything, there’ll be 300,000 free shots given out as part of the flu vaccine crusade.
Who’s Funding This?
The original concept of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, developed in 2001, was to help community leaders enhance the 1998 Initiative to Eliminate Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health.
The partnership targets cancer screening, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, infant mortality, HIV/AIDS and vaccinations. It also originally covered complementary and alternative health care options, although that type of care, which would include health measures other than vaccines, was not even listed as an option during this phone conference.
For at least 10 years, this collaboration of community-based volunteers, nonprofit organizations and faith-based groups worked at a grassroots level in their respective neighborhoods, funded by Congress through various health care grants.
However, in 2010 the initiative took a turn with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which moved the initiative’s management to the Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, paving the way for the federal government to fund and run projects like flu clinics right in your church.
Interestingly, flu shots were already covered by most insurance plans, Medicare and the Vaccines for Children (VFC) program.
But for some reason health officials have decided it’s OK to push the government into places of worship, mid-service, to sell and administer vaccines – and this no-press-allowed phone call reiterated that over and over again. I can only wonder which vaccine they’ll move into your church next, all in the name of “community health.”
The Secret’s Out – Flu Shots Are Hardly Effective, If at All
In February 2011, new research showed that 76 percent of white seniors get flu vaccines, with 68 percent of English-speaking Hispanic seniors getting them, and 64 percent of Spanish-speaking Hispanic seniors doing so. In the phone conference, officials emphasized that they want to increase flu vaccine coverage beyond those numbers.
But unfortunately, they neglected to mention the shocking lack of evidence supporting flu vaccines.
The truth is flu vaccines just don’t do what the CDC claims they do. I’ve written about this several times so far this year and the past few years, along with major news media like Time Health. Even the Centers for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) admitted on its website on November 4, 2011 that it’s time to revise public messages regarding this vaccine.
Specifically, what happened is that a study published in the prestigious journal The Lancet revealed that flu shots provide only “moderate protection” against the flu, and in some seasons is altogether “reduced or absent.”
Specifically, the Lancet said the vaccine is about 59 percent effective. But when you break the numbers down statistically, what it really works out to is that the vaccine prevents flu 1.5 times out of 100.
That’s right. Using the Lancet’s own numbers, statistics show that the vaccine only works 1.5 times out of 100.
It’s a far cry from the 60 percent the CDC claims on its website, or the 70 to 90 percent it claimed before it changed the numbers this year. Some people call this lying with statistics, but any way you look at it the secret’s out: flu vaccine statistics just don’t add up to warrant pushing them in your church – or anywhere for that matter.
The Real Way to Good Health this Winter
Only the CDC, HHS and the Faith-Based Partnership Center can say why they’re pushing flu vaccines in churches in the wake of statistics like this. So instead of trying to second-guess them, what I’ll do is offer up some good ways to stay healthy this winter.
Ultimately it is the state of your immune system that determines whether or not you will get sick from being exposed to viral or bacterial organisms associated with infectious diseases like the flu.
The key to boosting your immune system, then, and making it a “lean, mean, disease-fighting machine” lies in your lifestyle habits — healthy food, stress relief, exercise, sleep, and safe exposure to sunlight, among other things. Artificially manipulating your immune system with a vaccine to try to stay healthy is not the same thing, nor does it produce the same kind of immunity and sought-after, disease-fighting result. It may actually make you less healthy in the long run.
Since numerous studies show that vitamin D boosts immunity, particularly vitamin D3, the first thing you want to do is make sure you maintain your vitamin D levels at 50-70 ng/ml year-round. The only way you can be sure of what your levels are is to be tested. For an in-depth explanation of everything you need to know before you get tested, please read my latest updates in Test Values and Treatment for Vitamin D Deficiency.
While a supplement is OK, the best way to get your vitamin D is with safe exposure to sunshine, or by using a safe tanning bed (one with electronic ballasts rather than magnetic ballasts, to avoid unnecessary exposure to EMF fields). Other things that you can do include eating healthy, avoiding sugars and artificial sweeteners, exercising, and getting enough sleep. We also recommend that you take a product called Daily Immune Support throughout the cold and flu season to keep your immune system in tip top shape.
Other Supplements
Other supplements that can be used as an adjunct to healthy dietary and lifestyle measures are:
- Vitamin C: A very potent antioxidant; use a natural form such as acerola, which contains associated micronutrients. You can take several grams every hour till you are better unless you start developing loose stools
- Oregano Oil: The higher the carvacrol concentration, the more effective it is. Carvacrol is the most active antimicrobial agent in oregano oil.
- Propolis: A bee resin and one of the most broad-spectrum antimicrobial compounds in the world; propolis is also the richest source of caffeic acid and apigenin, two very important compounds that aid in immune response.
- A tea made from a combination of elderflower, yarrow, boneset, linden, peppermint and ginger; drink it hot and often for combating a cold or flu. It causes you to sweat, which is helpful for eradicating a virus from your system.
- Olive leaf extract: Ancient Egyptians and Mediterranean cultures used it for a variety of health-promoting uses and it is widely known as a natural, non-toxic immune system builder.
- Medicinal Mushrooms and greens formulas as well as immune building herbs
Educate Yourself on Vaccines
Now that the government is moving into the most sacred area of your life – your place of worship – you need to be informed more than ever about vaccines and your rights when it comes to vaccine choice. The best place to learn this is from the National Vaccine Information Center. There, you’ll find resources that’ll tell you the ingredients in vaccines, their possible side effects, and the information you need to make intelligent, informed decisions about vaccinations.
This is important because when it comes right down to it, the only one who can protect you is YOU. Mass vaccination policies are made at the federal level. The laws are made at the state level. That means you must be vigilant in watching BOTH state and federal moves and programs – programs like this one that want to interrupt your church service to give you a vaccine.
One way to keep abreast of what’s going on at a state and national level is to sign up for NVIC’s free Advocacy Portal at www.NVICAdvocacy.org, where you’ll get access to practical, useful information to help you become an effective vaccine choice advocate in your own community. This portal will also give you up-to-date information and call-to-action items that you can use.And finally, I encourage you to visit the following NVIC web pages, where you can learn even more:
- NVIC Memorial for Vaccine Victims: View descriptions and photos of children and adults, who have suffered vaccine reactions, injuries and deaths. If you or your child experiences an adverse vaccine event, please consider posting and sharing your story here.
- If You Vaccinate, Ask 8 Questions: Learn how to recognize vaccine reaction symptoms and prevent vaccine injuries.
- Vaccine Freedom Wall: View or post descriptions of harassment by doctors or government officials for making independent vaccine choices.
The real scoop on probiotics
December 2, 2011 by Darren6688
Filed under Big Pharma, Featured, Food Watch, General News, Green Living, Health News
In this great article by Dr Willliams learn more about why probiotics are so important, but why just taking a supplement is not all it takes. J. E. Williams, OMD, FAAIM
For the natural health conscious, probiotics factor high on their list of supplements. And, most of these people know that probiotics, or friendly bacteria that live in the gut, play important roles in digestive function, including assimilation of nutrients from foods and supplements. However, the beneficial functions of probiotics do not stop at a happy gut; they also support a healthy immune response. This is because probiotics inhibit the growth of pathogenic bacteria by producing organic acids, hydrogen peroxide, and unique natural antibiotic substances. In turn, these process and neutralize toxic compounds.
There are studies that illustrate the effectiveness of probiotics in supporting a healthy immune response. For instance, a Scandinavian study has shown that those who supplement with probiotics before surgery are less likely to have postoperative infections. In fact, the use of antibiotics to treat all hospital-based infections decreased for those taking probiotic supplements. Furthermore, a healthy gut in which there are robust probiotic populations prevents colds and flus. A study in China showed that school-aged children who supplemented with probiotics suffered from upper respiratory infections 34% less than children who did not.
Despite what these studies show, simply adding a probiotic supplement is not enough to stay healthy if you have low levels of probiotic species or imbalances of friendly to potentially harmful bacteria. Normalizing probiotic populations requires time and the right ingredients. First, you need a product that contains active, live probiotic species. If you haven’t had a stool test, where you can find out which species you need to supplement, a broad spectrum of probiotic species is best. Second, you need enough of them. On average, 5 billion active organisms are sufficient. However, if you have low levels (determined by stool testing), you need more – at least 25 billion, twice daily. Thirdly, they have to get past stomach acid and the upper intestinal digestive enzymes, which can destroy bacteria on contact. No one has tested the absolute best time to take probiotics, but my clinical experience suggests that taking them immediately before meals helps move them past the stomach and through the small intestine faster. Others say between meals; but, though I did recommend that approach for many years, I now question whether it makes good sense to have live bacteria sitting in the stomach for hours – exposed to a bath of gastric acid. For practical purposes, taking them with food makes sense, too.
To help build strong probiotic colonies, you also need the right substrate of fiber and prebiotics, a category of nutrients that support the growth of healthy microflora. The most commonly recommended prebiotics are inulin and fructooligosaccharides (FOS). They can be taken as supplements but are also found in foods like chicory root, garlic, onion, and other fruits and vegetables. Naturally fermented foods like sauerkraut, kimchi, and dairy drinks (like kefir) are good sources of prebiotics. Getting enough soluble fiber is also important. You need at least 20-25 grams daily, and more if you have digestive concerns.
Malabsorption of sugar causes the wrong type of fermentation in the gut with symptoms of gas, bloating, pain, diarrhea or constipation. It also disrupts colonization of probiotics and favors potentially pathogenic microorganisms like yeast and fungi. It is well known that lactose can cause this effect, but other sugars, including sucrose and fructose, cause similar problems. When attempting to recolonize the gut, cut back on the simple sugars, or better yet, eliminate them entirely for a few months.
KEY POINTS FOR PROBIOTIC REPLACEMENT THERAPY
- Take a probiotic product containing live species.
- Take enough: 5 billion for general health, up to 50 billion for replacement.
- Take just before or with meals.
- Provide enough fiber and prebiotics.
- Cut back on all sugars.
- Eat a wide range of fermented foods.
- Be regular by taking them daily for at least one year.
The probiotic product you take needs to guarantee precise identification of species and number of units. Advanced probiotic manufacturers use DNA-based technology and PCR (polymerase chain reaction) to identify bacteria types. The combination of viable bacteria that adhere to and colonize the gut with a low sugar, high fiber, plant-based diet is necessary in repairing the gut. Getting the right bacteria to recolonize your gut is not easy. It takes time, up to a year or longer to make progress. However, your health depends on it, and it will be worth the time and effort for improved immunity and digestive health.
Your Question of the Day: Do you take probiotics? If so, what kind?
Psychiatric drug use spreads despite increased knowledge of risks. 1 in 5 adults on these.
November 29, 2011 by Darren6688
Filed under Big Pharma, Food Watch, Green Living, Health News, Survival Info
In a sad statement of our times, when 1/5 of our adults are taking psychiatric drugs with numerous side effects, it should make us question what the American Dream has become; a nightmare for many. Interestingly enough the same percentage of the working population is unemployed. The truth is, however, that despite the socioeconomic challenges we are facing nowadays, a cleaner healthier diet, growing your own veggies at home and taking enough B vitamins as well as sleep enhancing and nervous system relaxing herbs, can go a long way to keeping people off psychiatric drugs.
This video gives some insight into the gravity of this issue;
China’s vaccine makers gear up for overseas markets; product safety image still a concern
November 29, 2011 by uncoverthenews
Filed under Big Pharma
By Associated Press, Updated: Tuesday, November 29, 2:27 AM
Study: Taking Just a Little Too Much Tylenol Each Time Can Be Deadly
November 23, 2011 by uncoverthenews
Filed under Big Pharma
Taking just a little bit too much acetaminophen (Tylenol) over the course of days or weeks is more likely to be fatal than taking a single, massive overdose, according to a new study. In part, that’s because when people take such a “staggered overdose,” physicians aren’t always able to identify the problem in time to help.
Acetaminophen is one of the most commonly used drugs in the world, with 28 billion doses purchased in the U.S. in 2005 alone. But its very familiarity can obscure the fact that it is a powerful drug, and that taking only slightly higher than recommended doses can cause potentially fatal liver damage. Tylenol overdose is the leading cause of acute liver failure in the U.S., leading to 26,000 hospitalizations and nearly 500 deaths annually, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
Has the flu flown away or should be wary of science that is not in the public interest?
November 23, 2011 by Darren6688
Filed under Big Pharma, General News, Green Living, Health News
In this article below from NaturalNews read how scientists have been purposefully and even openly weaponising flu strains. Also read my previous article on the flu and how to be prepared for it since the season is already here.
For years, health officials from around the world have been warning that the H5N1 avian flu virus, which is currently not a threat, will one day mutate into a deadly, pandemic strain. But now their predictions — or warnings, depending on how you look at it — could come true, as a European scientist has genetically altered H5N1 to effectively spread between mammals.
NPR reports that Dr. Ron Fouchier from Erasmus Medical Centre in the Netherlands announced at a recent flu conference in Malta that he had discovered a way to make the avian flu virus more contagious. By deliberately modifying the virus’ genes, Dr. Fouchier was able to induce H5N1 transmission between ferrets, which represent the animal model typically used to study flu transmission between humans.
So in case you missed it, a virologist has deliberately altered the deadly H5N1 avian flu virus to become more transmissible between mammals — and he has done so in the name of studying the nature of the virus and, according to NPR, “what it is capable of.” Never mind that in its native state, H5N1 is incapable of doing much at all on a global scale. Now that it has been purposely altered, the virus could eventually have devastating global consequences should it ever be released into the wild.
“It’s just a bad idea for scientists to turn a lethal virus into a lethal and highly contagious virus,” said Dr. Thomas Inglesby, a bioterrorism expert and director of the Center for Biosecurity at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, concerning the experiment. “And it’s a second bad idea for them to publish how they did it so others can copy it.”
Though Dr. Fouchier has not yet published his findings in a scientific journal, he very well could in the near future. In response to an NPR inquiry as to whether or not he intends to publish the study, Dr. Fouchier allegedly told NPR via email that he refused to comment until a National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity committee decides whether or not to recommend that the study be published.
In defense of publishing sensitive studies of this nature, Lynn Enquist, editor in chief of the Journal of Virology, told NPR that it is necessary in order to “be prepared” for how the virus might evolve and spread.
How to have clean air without killing yourself with poisonous air fresheners?
November 21, 2011 by Darren6688
Filed under Big Pharma, General News, Green Living, Health News
There is a safer way to keep your house smelling fresh. Air it out daily by simply opening windows for an hour or so. Use an air purifier. These can cost as little as $50 for a smaller one. Also buy some essential oils and mix up to 10 drops with a quart of water in a spray bottle. Spray your house safely and naturally in this manner. Check out this article that appeared on infowars by Jonathan Benson to understand why this is crucial to improving and maintaining your health. Here is the article!
Millions of Americans use scented candles, air freshener sprays, plug-in deodorizers and diffusers to make their living spaces smell clean and pleasant, but are the chemicals in these products safe? New research compiled by scientists from Emory University in Atlanta, Ga., and the Atlanta Allergy & Asthma Clinic suggests that various chemical additives in air fresheners can trigger allergies, asthma and other health problems.
“The chemicals in some of these products can trigger the nasal congestion, sneezing and the runny nose,” said Dr. Stanley Fineman, an allergist from Emory who helped gather data for the study. “With the asthmatics, there’s really good data showing their lung function changes when they’re exposed to these compounds.”
Many scented air freshener products contain harmful volatile organic compounds (VOCs) like formaldehyde, petroleum distillates, benzene and limonene, which are known to trigger asthma and other respiratory symptoms, as well as eye irritation, bone damage and leukemia. They also contain various other toxic ingredients like benzyl alcohol, camphor, dichlorobenzene, ethanol, naphthalene, phenol and pinene (http://mcs-america.org/airfresh.pdf).
Even some scented products labeled “natural” contain harmful ingredients like phthalates that can build up in the liver and fatty tissue over time. Phthalate exposure is linked to low sperm counts and reproductive damage (http://www.naturalhomeandgarden.com…). This is why it is always a good idea, even with “natural” products, to verify all ingredients with product manufacturers prior to purchasing them.
In 2007, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) tested 14 different brands of popular household air freshener products and found that most of them, even those labeled “all natural” or “unscented,” contained dangerous chemicals linked to hormone disruption and reproductive problems (http://www.nrdc.org/media/2007/0709…).
The worst offender in the test was Walgreens Scented Bouquet Air Freshener, which contained 7,300 parts per million (ppm) of di-ethyl phthalate (DEP), a chemical linked to damaging hormones and impairing genital development, followed by Walgreens Air Freshener Spray with 1,100 ppm of DEP.
You can read the full NRDC report here: http://www.nrdc.org/health/home/air…
“Consumers have a right to know what is put into air fresheners and other everyday products they bring into their homes,” said Dr. Gina Solomon back in 2007. “There are too many products on the shelves that we assume are safe, but have never even been tested. The government should be keeping a watchful eye on these household items and the manufacturers who produce them.”
