Food Imperialism, Aspartame and the Tamiflu Dilemma - NewsGrabs 24 June 2007
Health Supreme's News Grabs are a weekly selection of links to articles, alternative health news and related bits of information. Follow these trends with me as they first appear - watch out for NewsGrabs ... every weekend.
In this issue:
FDA: New Rules for Supplements - Book: CODEX FOOD IMPERIALISM - What Codex Is And Why It Matters - SICKO: Must See - Dr Rath: Fighting Pharma - ADA President In Avandia Scam - New Zealand: No to Joint Health Agency - Australia: Medical Students Resist Vaccination - Court Victory Against 'Quackbuster' - Foie gras linked to Alzheimer’s - Consumers want no Antibiotics in Poultry - Fluoridation Doing More Harm Than Good - Aspartame Study: Deadly Truth About Sweeteners - New Zealand: Aspartame Chewing gum 'poisons' woman - HIV infection theory challenged - CDC Out of Control - FDA FOIA Inquiries Pile Up - Japan: Tamiflu dilemma - UK: Panel endorses girls' cancer jab - Psychiatry's Monsters - Motion to Protect Honeybee - 100 Professors Question 9/11 Report - Scientist calls global warming theory 'hooey'
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FDA issues 'Good Manufacturing Practice' Rules for Supplements
"This is a critical component of FDA's implementation of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education (DSHEA) act that was passed by congress in 1994," Robert E. Brackett, director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, said during a late morning teleconference. Under the act, manufacturers are responsible for making sure that their claims about their products are substantiated by adequate evidence, Brackett said. "This is to show the claims are truthful and not misleading," he added. .
Book: CODEX ALIMENTARIUS - GLOBAL FOOD IMPERIALISM
Codex affects your health through the "guidelines" it is creating for food supplements, genetically-modified organisms in food products, infant formulas, food additives, and many other related issues. Yet the mainstream media does not even mention this extremely important subject. And since your government is clearly not protecting your rights at Codex meetings, you absolutely must educate yourself about Codex now so that you can protect your own health and the health of your loved ones. Knowledge is power. Start with this book.
Natural Health Hamstrung? What Codex Is And Why It Matters To Your Wellbeing
Codex poses a very real threat to our health and wellbeing. Whether you consider the potential threat to our freedom of choice with regards to natural health and vitamin supplements, or indeed the food that makes it to our tables every day, it would certainly seem that there is reason to be concerned.
Michael Moore's SICKO: A Health Care Documentary Every American Must See
American people are the most diseased people in the world among advanced nations. We spend more on health care than anyone, we pay the highest prices for medications, and we're constantly told that we have the best medical technology in the world. But if our health care system is really so good, why do 50 million Americans have no health insurance? Why are hospitals literally dumping uninsured patients on the street, abandoning the sick to protect profits while our politicians actually negotiate on behalf of Big Pharma to make sure Americans keep paying the highest prices in the world for medications?
Dr Rath - Ten Years Fighting Pharma
Amazingly, never before this sobering analysis the point had been made publicly that the pharmaceutical industry - the very industry that for decades had built a worldwide monopoly as the "exclusive purveyor of health" - that this very industry is the biggest obstacle to achieve human health!
American Diabetes Association President Caught Red Handed In Avandia Scam
This coming weekend Dr. John Buse, M.D., Ph.D., takes his place as president of the American Diabetes Association. Dr. Buse was one of the first to speak out in defense of the diabetic drug Avandia a few weeks ago after reports of increased heart attacks and heart deaths by diabetics using that drug compared to those using other diabetic drugs. “A lot of people just freak out. But there’s no cause for panic,” said Buse of the drug Avandia.
New Zealand Balks at Joint Australia/NZ Health Products Agency
The New Zealand parliamentary select committee directed to report on the ANZ Therapeutic Products Authority (TPA) bill has split and will not recommend the scheme be passed by the NZ Parliament. After nearly six months of deliberation on the Therapeutic Products and Medicines Bill, the Government Administration Committee has said, "We have been unable to reach agreement and therefore cannot recommend that the bill be passed."
Australian Medical Students Resist Mandatory Vaccination
The Australian Vaccination Network says vaccines carry serious ill effects and it is unethical to require anyone to submit to medical procedure against their will. They see this as an opening to introduce generalized mandatory vaccination in Australia. There is also a Petition for all those Australians potentially affected to sign:
"We the undersigned wish to convey to the Health Minister our opposition to their decision to make vaccinations mandatory for health care workers. We wish to see the new policy modified to allow health care workers the choice to participate in the vaccination program with no repercussion to the health care worker that chooses not to participate. VACCINATION is a personal choice and carries with it known risks. It should not be a job requirement."
Chiropractors Claim Court Victory Against Infamous 'Quackbuster'
In a strongly worded opinion, the Appeals Court for the State of Pennsylvania ruled against Stephen Barrett, a long-time critic of chiropractic and alternative health care. During heated and often dramatic courtroom proceedings, Negrete pointed out many of the questionable statements Barrett includes on his websites attacking chiropractic, as well as facts about Barrett's own credentials that shocked even his supporters. Under Negrete's intense cross-examination, Barrett admitted that he had not been a licensed physician for more than a decade and had failed the neurological exam, preventing him from being certified as a specialist. Negrete demonstrated that, despite his claims, Barrett had no real expertise in any medical field.
Foie gras could be tasty way to get Alzheimer’s
The possible risk comes from “amyloid” proteins found in the delicacy, which is made from the swollen livers of force-fed geese and ducks. The proteins have been linked to the onset of all these conditions. In their study, the researchers found mice fed on foie gras started growing amyloid proteins in various organs. They observed a similar result when extract of foie gras was injected into the rodents’ bloodstream. …
Foie gras - literally fatty liver - is made of the livers of artificially (read: forcefully) overfed geese and while it tastes great, somehow France seems to be the home not only of this traditional pate', but also of widespread liver disease ... and now it seems that one of the effects of the food made from diseased livers might be an increased likelihood to succumb to Alzheimer's disease.While the protests of animal lovers had little impact on the practice of force feeding geese, perhaps the news of unintended negative health effects will finally give the geese a well deserved break...
Consumer Pressure Forces Chicken Giant Tyson to Ban Antibiotics in Poultry Operations
Although the chicken will cost more, Tyson said its market research shows the higher price is well below the additional cost consumers say they are willing to pay for such products. "According to our research, 91 percent of consumers agree it's important to have fresh chicken produced and labeled 'raised without antibiotics,' " said Dick Bond, Tyson president and chief executive officer.
Fluoridation Doing More Harm Than Good, Studies Show
Pizzo and colleagues reviewed English-language fluoridation studies published from January 2001 to June 2006 and write, "Several epidemiological studies conducted in fluoridated and non-fluoridated communities suggest that [fluoridation] may be unnecessary for caries prevention." They also report that fluoride-damaged teeth spiked upwards to 51% from the 10-12% found over 60 years ago in 'optimally' fluoridated communities.
Study reignites debate on sweetener's safety
Devra Davis, an epidemiologist at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, said the work done by the Italian group was cutting edge, and the researchers' methodology was "the wave of the future. You kill a rat at two years, that's comparable to killing a person at 60," she said. "Let them live the entirety of their lives, and you're following the animals into the equivalence of their 80s, she said, adding "some of us are concerned about life after our 60s." She said the Italian team was "among the premier research groups in the world." And she said that "it would be a mistake not to take this study seriously."
Aspartame Study Reveals What Mainstream Media Don't Tell You: The Deadly Truth About Sweeteners
A recent study into the carcinogenic qualities of the much-used sweetener product aspartame has proved without a doubt that it is essentially a deadly toxin. And yet time and time again industry insiders have done all they could to prevent news like this from going public.
New Zealand: Chewing gum habit 'poisons' woman
When Ms Cormack, 25, of Wellington, began suffering crippling muscle cramps and tingling in her hands and feet about five months ago, she feared she was having a heart attack. She started suffering heart palpitations, anxiety attacks, depression and skin rashes, was unable to sleep and had to take sick leave.
New Zealand: Chewing gum case strengthens school diet drink ban
"Like Ms McCormack, many consumers have no idea that aspartame is a controversial additive, or that it has been linked to a significant number of side-effects, especially if it is frequently consumed in large quantities. Aspartame, once ingested, breaks down into aspartic acid, phenylalanine and methanol, which in turn converts into formaldehyde which is a deadly neurotoxin," Ms Kedgley says.
HIV infection theory challenged
Researcher Professor Jaroslav Stark said: "Scientists have never had a full understanding of the processes by which T helper cells are depleted in HIV, and therefore they've been unable to fully explain why HIV destroys the body's supply of these cells at such a slow rate. Our new interdisciplinary research has thrown serious doubt on one popular theory of how HIV affects these cells, and means that further studies are required to understand the mechanism behind HIV's distinctive slow process of cellular destruction."
Are we witnessing the HIV/AIDS paradigm (HIV causes AIDS - AIDS leads to certain death - antiretroviral drugs are the only thing that may save those infected) slowly falling apart at the seams?
CDC Off-Center - Extraordinary Report CDC Out of Control
U.S federal healthcare oversight agency, it appears are being run by reckless and irresponsible administrators. Previous reports confirmed this sorry state of affairs at:
* the Food an Drug Administration--which is largely under the control of the pharmaceutical industry that it is mandated to oversee;
* the National Institutes of Health where financial conflicts of interest and scientist' double dipping has undermined the integrity of science and the safety of human subjects;
* the Environmental Protection Agency which is headed by an administrator who would conduct a pesticide experiment on African American toddlers were it not for the public outcry and the intervention of several senators.
Drug & Food Risks Concealed as FOIA Inquiries Pile Up
"Clearly, protecting the agency and previous agency decisions is much more important to the FDA than providing the public information that would allow it to make an independent decision about the safety and efficacy of licensed drugs," said Nass, who served as a consultant on litigation brought by members of the military against the Defense Department for requiring anthrax vaccinations.
Japan struggling with Tamiflu dilemma
While initial reports had the total number of citizens afflicted by the medication at 199 in May, Japan's Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry recently confirmed 211 people have now shown symptoms, the Yomiuri Shimbun said Monday. That figure, which represents reported cases before May 31, was part of an overall total of 1,377 cases that have been recorded since the medication's 2001 release. Included in that multi-year total are 71 people who died after taking Tamiflu, with some showing abnormal symptoms prior to their deaths and others dying suddenly. Some experts have theorized the drug, which is produced by the Roche pharmaceutical group in Switzerland, may effectively shut down the nervous systems of those who ingest it.
That is the drug that has been stockpiled in hundreds of millions of doses world wide "just in case" the bird flu hits. Imagine the disaster of widespread consumption of Tamiflu. The cure, in that case, might be worse than the disease...
UK: Panel endorses girls' cancer jab
All girls aged between 12 and 13 in the UK should be vaccinated against the virus that causes cervical cancer, a government panel has recommended. The government said it accepted the advice "in principle", but would have to decide if it was financially viable.
To roll out a vaccination with unknown but already emerging side effects because it could "save hundreds of lives" over decades, without considering the immediate and possibly more severe down side of 'side effects', is to put it mildly irresponsible, if not outright corrupt.
Boston Globe - Portrait of One of Psychiatry's Monsters
When confronted with the child casualties of his paradigm of toxic drug treatment modality, Dr. Biederman resorts to invoking his own superior "authority." Critics, he claims, "are not on the same level... We are not debating as to whether [a critic] likes brownies and I like hot dogs. In medicine and science, not all opinions are created equal," said Biederman.Dr. Steve Hyman, Provost of Harvard Unviersity, former director of the National Institute of Mental Health, acknowledges: "We don't know the first thing about safety and efficacy of these drugs even by themselves in these young ages, let alone when they are mixed together." Dr. Hyman is a a neurobiologist specialized in the intersection of molecular neuroscience, molecular biology, and psychiatry.
Emergency Motion on Protecting the Honeybee
Honeybees have been disappearing worldwide. 1 Across the United States, beekeepers have been losing 30 to 90% or more of colonies in a “colony collapse disorder” (CCD) that's causing huge economic losses not only to beekeepers but also to fruit and vegetable growers. CCD has been reported from Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, and the UK. Many believe that when the honeybee disappears, our species will soon follow. Will the European Commission take the appropriate measures to halt the colony collapse of the honeybees?
100 Professors Question The 9/11 Commission Report
The collective voices of these respected professors along with over 50 senior government officials and over 100 media professionals and stars give credibility to the claim that the 9/11 Commission Report is tragically flawed. These dedicated individuals from across the political spectrum cannot be simply dismissed as irresponsible believers in some 9/11 conspiracy theory. Their sincere concern, backed by impeccable credentials, demonstrates that criticism of the 9/11 Commission Report is not only reasonable and responsible, it is in fact a patriotic duty.
Local scientist calls global warming theory 'hooey'
The UW-Madison professor emeritus, who stands against the scientific consensus on this issue, is referred to as a global warming skeptic. But he is not skeptical that global warming exists, he is just doubtful that humans are the cause of it.
Gas Hydrates on the ocean floors - On June 15, 2007 the Science channel noted that there is enough energy in gas hydrates in the Gulf of Mexico to power all USA energy needs for 3,000 years. These deposits are found worldwide in the oceans and represent a cleaner and far more abundant source of energy than oil. Methane hydrate is the most common form.
posted by Sepp Hasslberger on Sunday June 24 2007
updated on Thursday December 16 2010URL of this article:
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2007/06/24/food_imperialism_aspartame_and_the_tamiflu_dilemma_newsgrabs_24_june_2007.htm