Health Supreme NewsGrabs - 13 October 2006
Health Supreme's News Grabs - alternative health news and other interesting bytes of information ...
In this issue:
Vitamin C increases fertility, Hamer's New German Medicine, Mercury toxic to pancreatic cells, WHO's DDT recommendation scandalous, biased drug studies, prescription fish oil, pharma profits endanger health, ADHD drug safety, cervical cancer vaccine, the big fat truth, nanotech health implications, new US space policy, 600,000 Iraqi deaths
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Vitamin C Increases Fertility
In an open trial, 13 infertile but healthy men ages 25 to 35 were given 1,000 mg of vitamin C orally twice daily for a maximum of two months. The study, published in the Journal of Medicinal Food (9, 3: 440-442, 2006), recorded several semen parameters, including sperm motility, sperm count and sperm morphology at baseline and again at two months. General semen analysis recorded at baseline revealed oligozoospermia; mean sperm count was 14.3 ± 7.38 × 106 sperms/mL, mean sperm with normal morphology was 43 ± 7.87 percent and mean sperm motility was 31.2 ± 9.61 percent. After two months of vitamin C intake the same parameters were recorded to be significantly increased; sperm count was 32.8 ± 10.3 × 106 sperms/mL, mean sperm motility to 60.1 ± 8.47 percent and mean sperm with normal morphology increased to 66.7 ± 4.77 percent.
Hamer out of Prison - Asks Recognition of 'New German Medicine'
He was released in February this year, not before having been asked to submit to psychiatric treatment in prison, and to promise he would no longer promote his scientific views on illness. Hamer refused to compromise on both counts and was released after a Europe-wide campaign of letters and protests.
Mercury Compound Found In Fish Damages Pancreatic Cells
Researchers in Taiwan say they have established for the first time that the mercury compound present as a contaminant in some seafood can damage insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. Previous studies have shown that methylmercury is toxic to various cells. Liu and colleagues now have added pancreatic beta cells to that list.
DDT scandal at WHO
Global Coalition of Health and Toxics Experts Demand that WHO Stop Irresponsible Promotion of DDT Spraying
Scandal brewing over WHO's promotion of DDT, health advocates call for investigation: Public and environmental health advocates from around the world demanded that the World Health Organization (WHO) withdraw its recent controversial announcement advising increased use of DDT for malaria control in Africa, and called on WHO governors to investigate the scandal within the global health agency. In a statement delivered to the hundreds of officials gathered in Budapest for the Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety meeting this week, a broad coalition of medical professionals and toxics experts revealed dissension within WHO over the Sept. 15th press statement by Dr Arata Kochi, Director of WHO's Global Malaria Program. The announcement was significantly made in Washington DC instead of WHO headquarters in Geneva and was not based on any new assessment by WHO of DDT. The decision directly undermines the global treaty on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). Several WHO malaria experts have resigned in protest. Read the coalition response.
Study Finds Bias in Drug Studies
Tests and reviews of drugs that are supported by the pharmaceutical industry should perhaps be read with more than a hint of skepticism.Compared to reviews supported by the pharmaceutical industry, reviews undertaken by the Cochrane Collaboration -- an independent body -- were of a higher quality and were more likely to address the potential for bias in the review.
Of seven industry-supported reviews, all recommended the experimental drug without reservation, while none of the corresponding Cochrane reviews reached the same conclusion.
Fish Oil Now Available By Prescription!
When we saw the marketing materials for this new prescription fish oil product, we knew it would be more expensive than what dietary supplement companies charge. We almost fell off our chairs, however, when we called the largest pharmacy in the United States to find out the actual price. A bottle containing 180 1000-milligram capsules costs a whopping $236.89! That is about nine times more expensive than what this amount of fish oil sells for in a health food store.
How the Pharmaceutical Industry & the FDA are Endangering Your Health for Profit
Over 60,000 People Died in the Single Greatest Drug Catastrophe in America - See Senate testimony from the insider physician who blew the whistle on the FDA and how it is virtually incapable of protecting the American public.
Great video on Dr Mercola's site, and ... thanks to the Alt Med Yahoo Group for the link!
FDA Suspends ADHD Drug Safety Study - Approves Risperdal for Autistic Children Without Public Hearing
FDA approved expanded use of Johnson & Johnson’s drug, Risperdal ... approved its use to control aggression and other bad behavior in autistic children. A body of scientific evidence ... shows that the drug increases the risk of severely disabling adverse drug effects and premature death in adults and children for whom it has been used off-label. The drug label indicates: “Safety and effectiveness in children have not been established.”FDA announced that it suspended a safety study of drugs used to treat ADHD that an FDA advisory panel urged the agency to undertake when evidence suggested the drugs increased the risk of sudden death from stroke and cardiac arrest.
The Big Fat Truth
Federal and state agencies are hoping to regulate an industrial poison responsible for perhaps 100,000 deaths per year in the United States. The poison is produced by mixing certain liquid organic chemicals with industrial catalysts such as platinum or palladium to alter the chemical bonds. The altered version takes on a solidified form useful for industry but, apparently, deadly for humans.Trans fats have largely replaced butter and lard in commercial bake goods and fast foods. Advocates say they lower food costs, allowing poor people better access to french fries and other junk foods. They extend shelf life, too, which saves somebody money. Opponents say the only problem with this convenient scenario is that trans fats cause a lot of heart disease.
FDA Gets Mixed Advice on Nanotechnology
"We cannot assume what we know about bulk-size substances applies to the nanotechnology-size substances," Philippe Martin, of the European Commission, told the meeting. Martin cited the ring he wears: it's made of gold, is yellowish and inert. But take a gold nanoparticle one nanometer in size, and it turns both blue and mildly reactive. Bump the size up to three nanometers, and the gold turns a reddish hue and now acts like a catalyst.Kathy Jo Wetter, of the civil society organization ETC Group, told the FDA it was understaffed, underfunded and ill-equipped to deal with nanotechnology. Wetter said hundreds of nano products have already crept onto the market with little scrutiny. "Unfortunately, so far the U.S. government has acted as a cheerleader and not as a regulator," Wetter said.
ETC Group is calling for entries in an international graphic design competition to develop a hazard symbol specific for nanotechnology.
New Bush space policy unveiled
... the Bush space policy is designed to "ensure that space capabilities are available in time to further U.S. national security, homeland security, and foreign policy objectives." Moreover, a fundamental goal of the policy is to "enable unhindered U.S. operations in and through space to defend our interests there."The policy calls upon the Secretary of Defense to "develop capabilities, plans, and options to ensure freedom of action in space, and, if directed, deny such freedom of action to adversaries."
Freedom of action in space, says the report, is as important to the United States as air power and sea power.
Wholesale slaughter of Iraq civilians - Study says hundreds of thousands dead
"What Does 600,000 Iraqi Deaths Make George Bush? Or Us?" asks Mark Levine in this article in the Huffington Post.
"President Bush bears direct, and according to US and international law, the Nuremburg Principles, and military regulations (Army Field Manual 27-10), criminal responsibility for every one of the well over half a million deaths that have occurred as a direct result of the US invasion and occupation of the country"
Comments on the article are worthwhile to read as well, to get an idea of the sentiment (or lack of it) in the US population about this unmitigated disaster.Paul Craig Roberts says in another article, that for all intents and purposes, Bush has achieved America's Demise
posted by Sepp Hasslberger on Friday October 13 2006
updated on Thursday December 16 2010URL of this article:
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2006/10/13/health_supreme_newsgrabs_13_october_2006.htm