Global Cooling? - NewsGrabs 9 March 2008
Health Supreme's NewsGrabs - a selection of contrary and underprivileged news in health and (mostly) related sectors. Find what trends you may have missed - watch out for the weekly NewsGrabs.
Here is this week's selection for you:
Temperature Monitors Report Widescale Global Cooling (PDF)
There has been a one-year trend of cooling temperatures globally, as verified by the major temperature tracking stations, in 2007. It is too early to say if this is a reversal of the warming observed for the last decades, but it certainly is dramatic and it's unexpected.Global warming is not as clear-cut a thing as we are expected to believe, nor is the theory that says the warming we observe is due to human-generated increase in atmospheric CO2. Evidently, the global warming debate is far from over.
But the important point is not whether there is, or not, global warming, neither is it whether that warming is caused by human activities. The really important point is that our industrial activities are polluting our environment (air and water) in a completely untenable way. Planet Earth is becoming slowly uninhabitable for human life, because of dirty technologies polluting the environment both chemically and electromagnetically. THAT is the problem, not global warming.
Kids tucked in with a dose of melatonin
Melatonin, a hormone produced by the pineal gland in the brain, helps regulate the body's sleep-wake cycle, and its production is determined by light and dark. When darkness falls, the gland produces more melatonin, which promotes sleep.
Used with care and circumspection, melatonin can make a positive difference where someone has real trouble going to sleep. Certainly it would seem preferable to the chemical "tranqulizers" so freely prescribed today.
Magnesium - Epsom Salt Baths
(link from stephentvedten.blogspot.com - blog censored by Blogger)
Many people are deficient in magnesium, and by simply soaking in a relaxing bath with magnesium-rich Epsom salt we can boost our levels of this important element. Magnesium is the second-most abundant element in human cells and the fourth-most important positively charged ion in the body. Magnesium - the key component of Epsom Salt -- performs more functions in more systems of the human body than virtually any other mineral. Magnesium is an electrolyte, helping to ensure proper muscle, nerve and enzyme function. Magnesium is critical to the proper use of calcium in cells and it is an aid in helping to prevent heart disease and strokes by lowering blood pressure, protecting the elasticity of arteries, preventing blood clots and reducing the risk of sudden heart attack deaths. Magnesium also helps the body regulate over 325 enzymes, helps ease stress and improves sleep and concentration, plays an important role in organizing many bodily functions, like muscle control, helps regulate electrical (nerve) impulses, helps prevent artery hardening and blood clots, helps make insulin more effective, reduces inflammation to relieve pain and muscle cramps and helps improve oxygen use, energy production and the elimination of harmful toxins.We tend to forget these simple things over our excitement of hearing about the latest and greatest discovery by pharma of the new medicine they promise will take care of our ills - until we find out that it actually killed a lot of people and is withdrawn from the market or sold with a stern "black box" warning.So why not get back to basics - the very substances our bodies are made out of, the things they need to run properly. Like magnesium for instance.
Sugar: Too Sweet to be True
(link from stephentvedten.blogspot.com - blog censored by Blogger)
It's no secret that America has a love affair with sugar — and why not? It tastes great, gives you energy and can even elevate your mood. What's not to like? This is the crux of the problem. How can something that tastes so good be so bad for us?
Top Heart Expert Urges FDA to Retract Health Claim for Soy Protein
“We have filed this petition because there was never a sound basis for a soy health claim and the heavy marketing of soy as a 'miracle food' has put American men, women and children at risk.” says Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, author of The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America's Favorite Health Food and lead author of the 65-page petition filed this morning at the FDA offices in Rockville, Maryland. “The heart health claim gave soy a “healthy” image and quickly boosted sales from under one billion per year to more than $4 billion per year.”
BT Allergy in North India
Genetically engineered (BT) cotton planted widely in India is causing allergies in farmers and animals, in addition to having killed thousands of sheep in Andhra Pradesh, as they grazed on the cotton plants that remained in the fields after harvest."The itching started to appear during the Bt cotton season this year. The village Ayurvedic Hospital Compounder says that on average, 10 cases of skin allergy/itching symptoms in humans come to the hospital every day, and there is an increasing trend over the past three or so years. Even cotton factory workers in the area are complaining of itching problem. Itching is observed mainly on the skin and in reproductive organs. Animals are also affected. On average, 5-10 cases of skin allergy/itching in buffaloes are presented at the village veterinary hospital daily."
Yes, Monsanto and company, including government regulators tell us that GM has been researched to the hilt. They are plainly lying. The damage will only become obvious when people start dying en masse and it is too late to contain the modified plants as the genes pass into the environment to be expressed by weeds and contaminated traditional varieties...
Forcing Psychiatric Drugs Can Increase Violence
PsychRights’ President Jim Gottstein declared, “People’s rights in forced drugging proceedings are ignored as a matter of course, resulting in great harm to them and decreased public safety.” David Oaks, Director of MindFreedom International (MFI), noted, “Violence by a few individuals labeled ‘mentally ill’ has led to a backlash calling for a massive increase in forced psychiatric drugging.” Mr. Gottstein added, “Contrary to public perception, forcing people to take psychiatric drugs can often increase violence, rather than decrease it.”
UK Minister Wants All Antidepressant Trial Data
Drugmakers are going to be ’shamed’ into handing over their clinical-trial data on the effects of antidepressants, amid growing concern that the pills may not work as well as originally promised, The Guardian reports.A government minister has taken the unprecedented step of calling on pharma to give the data to the body that will review the current depression guidelines, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, or NICE. Ivan Lewis, the minister with responsibility for mental health, says that ‘a failure to do so would leave the inevitable impression they had something to hide.’
Congress: Hearing on Psych Drugging of Children
The irresponsible drugging of children in foster care is the subject of a hearing by the House Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support of the Ways and Means Committee, on Wednesday, March 12.Psychotropic medications have been increasingly prescribed for children in recent years, but the use of these drugs appears to be particularly elevated for children in foster care. One recent study found that psychotropic drug treatment was three or four times more common for youth in foster care than for other children receiving health care services through the Medicaid program. Additionally, children in foster care are often prescribed multiple psychotropic medications, and sometimes these drugs are used for off-label purposes (i.e., meaning their effects have not been demonstrated in children). These medicines are most commonly used to treat depression, anxiety and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
Alaska: Millions of dollars at stake in Zyprexa trial
The state of Alaska sued Eli Lilly in 2006, alleging the company failed to warn of serious health risks for people who take Zyprexa, including the risk of diabetes. It wants the company to cover treatment costs of Medicaid patients who suffered serious health problems after being on the drug.But Eli Lilly says the state has two irreconcilable positions -- at the same time the state is suing the company, it continues seeking court orders to force mental patients to take the very drug it says is so harmful. Zyprexa has been prescribed for more than 23 million people since its initial approval in 1996, according to Lilly, and it still is being prescribed in the United States and more than 80 other countries. Global sales of Zyprexa last year topped $4.8 billion.
A Chilly Court: Alaska Attacks Lilly Over Zyprexa
In opening arguments, a lawyer for the state, Scott Allen, told the jury that memorandums from Lilly execs showed the drugmaker knew of Zyprexa’s dangers soon after the drug was introduced in 1996. But Lilly deliberately played down the side effects, so that sales of Zyprexa would not be hurt. Lilly’s conduct was “reprehensible,” Allen told them, according to The New York Times. Allen went on to describe internal memos and e-mails in which Lilly execs were concerned as early as 1999 that Zyprexa’s sales might be hurt if doctors believed that the drug caused diabetes.
Video: TeenScreen - Controversial and Unscientific
"This is a program that has some very vocal critics. They say Teenscreen usurps parental authority, sends kids to therapy who might not need it and they say the program encourages families to put adolescents on antidepressant drugs."There is also a petition to sign, to pressure for a ban on this program nationally. See the video and if you feel like it, come back to this link to sign the petition.
Pfizer ‘Milks’ New York City For Big Tax Breaks
Last year, Pfizer announced it was laying off 600 workers and ending production at the historic Brooklyn factory where the company was founded back in 1849. The last employee at the Williamsburg plant will be gone by the end of this year. Yet, writes a columnist for The New York Daily News, the drugmaker is milking New York City for lucrative tax breaks by promising to create jobs - only to turn around and cut its workforce.
Wyeth & Pfizer Unit Must Pay $27M In Hormone Case
The jury ruled today that Donna Scroggin should receive $19.3 million from Wyeth and $7.7 million from Upjohn in punitive damages. Jurors ruled in favor of Scroggin last month and decided that Wyeth inadequately warned her that its Premarin and Prempro drugs carried an increased risk of breast cancer. The lawsuit also named Upjohn, which made Provera. Wyeth plans to appeal.
11 Drugmakers Pay $125M In Price Settlement
For those unfamiliar, the stated AWP (average wholesale price) is used to set the price paid by consumers making Medicare Part B co-payments, as well as Medicare, insurers and other third-party payors that shell out for a drug. The lawsuit charged that consumers and third-party payors paid more than they should have because the drugmakers used false AWP reporting. The issue has embroiled the entire industry.
US Supreme Court Tied Over FDA Preemption
In a deadlocked 4 to 4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court essentially postponed a decision on an issue first raised by then, FDA Chief Counsel, Daniel Troy, who argued on behalf of Pfizer Pharmaceutical, that FDA approval of a drug preempts state product liability laws--essentially shielding pharmaceutical companies from product liability even when their products are demonstrably defective resulting in thousands of preventable deaths.
FDA Medwatch Reports For Lipitor
"FDA has a first rate monitoring system but a grossly deficient one for reporting findings back to the medical community. The average primary care physician in our country today would be startled to see these figures, especially the ones for cognitive dysfunction, neuropathy, rhabdomyolysis, depression, neuropathy and hepatitis.These are the people who write the prescriptions for statin use. From my 23 years of experience as a primary care doctor I would say that any doctor attempting to practice medicine without such information is liable for malpractice...
Hip Saver puts the muzzle on researchers
In an amazing and highly troubling move, HipSaver, a corporation that manufactures hip protection gear, is suing the authors of a study who had the temerity to write in their article: "These results add to the increasing body of evidence that hip protectors, as currently designed, are not effective for preventing hip fracture among nursing home residents."
Nursing Homes And Chemical Straightjackets
Connecticut’s nursing homes dole out antipsychotic drugs to residents who do not have psychotic disorders at one of the highest rates in the country, raising questions about whether the medications are being used to subdue agitated patients because of a lack of staffing and attention to alternate treatments...
FIRST AUTISM-VACCINE LINK: HOW HANNAH MADE HISTORY
While government officials continue to maintain that vaccines don't cause autism, advocates say the recent settlement of the girl's injury case in a secretive federal vaccine court shows otherwise. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has concluded the family of Hannah Poling of Athens is entitled to compensation from a federal vaccine injury fund, according to the text of a court document in the case. The amount of the family's award is still being determined.
AIDS, CANCER AND ARTHRITIS—A NEW PERSPECTIVE
I learned a great deal from this book, about mycoplasmas and microbiology and virology in general, not only about HIV/AIDS. Among other things, the book gives a concise and cogent discussion of the lack of evidence that HIV has ever been properly isolated.I recommend the book unreservedly.
(From Henry Bauer, author of the book "The Origin, Persistence and Failings of HIV/AIDS Theory", who has a great blog which points to the evidence that HIV is 'not the necessary and sufficient cause of AIDS')
Living Without HIV Drugs - Karri's story
I had many horrible side effects from these drugs over the past decade +, and they have robbed me of some of the best years of my life. In April 2007, my beloved husband, Joe, while on the Internet one night, happened to “stumble across, by accident” a lot of information that was new to us. We found out that there is a WHOLE OTHER SIDE TO THE HIV STORY. One we were never told of. These facts are hardly ever spoken of in any mainstream media sources. Something that the establishment and AIDS orthodoxy would like to keep buried and continue to try and discredit...
UNRAVELING HIV/AIDS
Nevertheless, countless published articles have described “HIV” in extraordinary detail of genetic sequence and physical structure—all postulated on the basis of highly indirect inferences, since, to repeat, no single authentic particle of the virus has ever been obtained from an “AIDS” patient. All the so-called “viral isolates” stem from work with cultures; and even those are revealed by electron microscopy as motley mixtures of bits and pieces of various sizes and shapes.An empirical and natural way of defining “HIV” is: “what HIV tests have been held to detect”. Under that view, published data from tens of millions of “HIV” tests in the United States show that “HIV” is not a sexually transmitted agent, indeed is not an infection at all, because it has been present at about the same level and in the same geographic distribution for more than two decades.
Ethanol and Intensive Confinement Factory Farms--A Toxic Synergy
CAFO's = Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations
Every single square foot of my house has a garbage fly on it in the Summer and I'm almost a mile away from a CAFO. This is a huge problem that will only get worse as the ethanol industry produces cow and hog feed as a waste product. Anywhere near an ethanol plant or proposed ethanol plant is sure to have massive CAFOs either being built or existing dairy operations expanding. The sad fact is that all of this environmental destruction is being funded with massive taxpayer subsides...
The Next Revolution in Sustainable Agriculture: Urban Farming
"Urban agriculture in most people's minds is a contradiction of terms," said Michael Ableman, an urban farmer, author and educator, and the conference's keynote speaker. "Doesn't agriculture take place on farms, far from cities?"More on Urbanfarming.org and Urban Agriculture News.
The Gift Economy - Receiving stimulates giving
Nature gives to us abundantly, and we have no problem accepting what is offered. We do have some problems with stewardship, with giving of ourselves to Nature. Traditional cultures included taking care of the land and other creatures. They also practiced giving as a routine economic activity. How is it that we have turned away from giving as a delightful and satisfying pastime?- - -
More information out there...There is much I cannot cover but other sources for this kind of information exist and are active.
Dr Mercola's health blog and Mike Adams' Natural News have great health information.
The Alternative Medicine Yahoo Group is a place where you can discuss and exchange information on what is happening in the world of natural health.
For the influence of electromagnetic waves from radio, mobile phones and other radio emitting devices, check out the emfrefugee group on Yahoo.
If you are interested in a different take on the news that isn't health centered but is certainly fun, check out Robin Good TV News.
Some more sites to keep up to date with the other side of world affairs, the stuff you won't necessarily find on your tv or in the papers:
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com
http://www.commondreams.org
http://www.vialls.com/
http://www.globalresearch.ca/
http://rawstory.com/
http://www.truthout.org/... and remember:
"The individual is supreme and finds its way through intuition."
posted by Sepp Hasslberger on Sunday March 9 2008
updated on Wednesday December 8 2010URL of this article:
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2008/03/09/global_cooling_newsgrabs_9_march_2008.htm