Food Health Information Outlawed World Wide - NewsGrabs 13 April 2008
Health Supreme's NewsGrabs - a selection of contrary and underprivileged news in health and a wide range of (mostly) related sectors. Find what trends you may have missed - watch out for the weekly News Grabs.
The theme this week is information about health properties of foods. Governments are schizophrenic. On the one hand they preach we should eat well to prevent heart trouble and cancer. On the other hand, they bow to pressure from pharmaceutical manufacturers and outlaw any information that could even suggest that a food is healthy in anything but a generic sense. Preventing illness? No way. Healing? Forget about it. Only [pharma] medicine can prevent and heal illness!
Anyway, Here is this week's selection for you:
European Commission moves goalposts on health claims
According to the UK-based Alliance for Natural Health, the European Commission is signaling a potentially very restrictive attitude with regard to health claims for foods and supplements. "Health claims" are snippets of information that tell consumers that a food or a nutrient has certain positive health benefits. While publicly professing the need for "empowering consumers", the Commission officials are proposing to clamp down on the information that can be provided to extol the virtues of healthy foods and nutrients.
Shifting health claim criteria may provoke legal challenge
"We have had legal advice that says the legal platform for the Health and Nutrition Claims regulation is unbelievably shaky and this latest development only amplifies that position," he said. "The aim of the regulation is to ensure consumers have high quality information and choice. The regulation is not meeting its objectives and that may become significant in any legal challenge."
European Referendum for Natural Remedies
The protection of our health is one of the most fundamental human rights and yet, every year, millions of Europeans die from preventable health problems like heart attacks, strokes and cancer. Scientific findings have shown that these diseases (and many others) can be prevented using side-effect free natural remedies. To date, over 10,000 studies have been published in the scientific press and on the Internet demonstrating the vital importance of vitamins and other natural remedies.However, laws are being introduced at national and European levels which will ban free access to this vital health information and to non-patentable natural remedies, such as vitamins.
We appeal to all responsible politicians in the European Union to carry out a 'Referendum for Natural Remedies' to guarantee every citizen in Europe the right to free and unrestricted access to vitamin therapies and other natural remedies.
New Zealand Government Clamps Down on Health Information (Claims)
MedSafe have stated “It is illegal for dietary supplements to make claims relating to any disease appearing in Schedule I of the Medicines Act (which contains all known diseases)” You may be interested to note that Acne, Rosacea, Psoriasis, Eczema have been added to the list of diseases only treatable by a medical professional and toxic drugs.Schedule 1 essentially ensures that only pharmaceutical (toxic) medicines are allowed to treat disease. This is a similar situation to when only men could vote. The human race consists of two genders, both equally capable of voting, but a law made by men of the time for men excluded women. When women stood up and refused to accept this arbitrary and prejudicial law, it soon collapsed.
Passion fruit peel may ease breathing for asthmatics
A flavonoid-rich extract from purple passion fruit may ease wheezing amongst asthmatics, suggest findings from a randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial."As many patients are not able to tolerate the currently available anti-asthmatic medications, a natural dietary supplement with low or no toxicity would be an attractive candidate for further development."
UK: Food agency calls for ban on six artificial colours
The Food Standards Agency recommended ministers call for manufacturers to remove six artificial colours by the end of 2009 and lobby for a European Union-wide ban. The FSA's advice to parents will be strengthened to warn them about the dangers of the E-numbers tartrazine (E102), quinoline yellow (E104), sunset yellow (E110), carmoisine (E122), ponceau 4R (E124) and allura red (E129).These colours and the preservative sodium benzoate (E211) were linked to hyperactivity in a £750,000 study by Southampton University, which found they made primary school children become distracted and fail a computer attention test.
And when are we going to see a repeal of the utterly stupid system of coding additives with so-called E numbers which only makes it more difficult to know what we're eating? If you live in Europe, you've got to learn a whole lot of numbers by heart these days to even find out what's in your food and drink!
The Aspartame/Nutrasweet Fiasco
FDA approved Aspartame despite proof of toxicity
In October 1980 the Public Board of Inquiry (PBOI) impaneled by the FDA to evaluate aspartame safety found that the chemical caused an unacceptable level of brain tumors in animal testing. Based on this fact, the PBOI ruled that aspartame should not be added to the food supply.
Aspartame Can Mess Up Your Body and Brain
"It was seen that aspartame disturbs amino acid metabolism, protein structure and metabolism, integrity of nucleic acids [which are the building blocks of DNA], neuronal function, endocrine [hormonal] balances, and changes in the brain concentrations of catecholamines [brain chemicals such as noradrenaline and dopamine that can affect, among other things, mood]."It was also reported that aspartame and its breakdown products cause nerves to fire excessively, which indirectly causes a very high rate of neuron depolarization [which basically means aspartame has the capacity to 'excite' nerve cells].
The World According to Monsanto
On March 11 a new documentary was aired on French television (ARTE – French-German cultural tv channel) by French journalist and film maker Marie-Monique Robin, The World According to Monsanto - A documentary that Americans won't ever see. The gigantic biotech corporation Monsanto is threatening to destroy the agricultural biodiversity which has served mankind for thousands of years.
Expert Predicts GM Crops Will Soon be Obsolete
"The United States has lost millions of dollars in exports (due to the rejection of GM crops in Europe)," said Kimbrell. Resistance to GMOs in these markets also stopped the development of GM wheat and rice. He also said that the science underlying genetic engineering is obsolete, and that genetic engineers have not been able to develop any other GM traits besides herbicide resistance and built-in pesticides. "They can't develop other things," he said. Finally, Kimbrell said the anti-GMO movement will stop the technology. "We will put pressure on companies that buy GM sugar beets. There is no way this industry can survive."
Unintended GMO Health Risks
In 1992, the Food and Drug Administration claimed that they had no information showing that GM foods were substantially different from conventionally grown foods and therefore were safe to eat. But internal memos made public by a lawsuit reveal that their position was staged by political appointees under orders from the White House to promote GMOs. FDA scientists, on the other hand, warned that GMOs can create unpredictable, hard-to-detect side effects, including allergies, toxins, new diseases, and nutritional problems. They urged long term safety studies, but were ignored.
North American Farmers' Experience with GMOs
Promotion of GMOs as allowing farmers to grow “high-quality food profitably”, in an “environmentally sensitive way”, and to attain “high yields while using less herbicide” sounds more and more fraudulent.GM varieties are not "high quality" - 99 per cent of GM crops are either herbicide tolerant or produce a bacterial toxin (BT), neither can the application of herbicides be described as "environmentally sensitive". There is also no evidence that GM crops produce more than their traditional ancestors - the opposite is true if anything.
When is someone going to sue Monsanto & Co for fraudulent promotion?
MERCURY FILLINGS BANNED IN NORWAY
The Townsend Letter, a well-known journal for holistic medicine practitioners, announced recently in 2008 that mercury has been banned from all dental fillings in Norway. From the beginning of this year dentists in Norway have to start using safer alternatives. The ban goes further than amalgam fillings, covering many other products; including measuring instruments such as thermometers and sphygmomanometers for measuring blood pressure.Norway has always been a leader in banning mercury, one of the worst neurotoxins known to man. Norway had previously restricted the use of amalgam fillings, especially in children and pregnant and nursing women, but is the first in the world to enforce a complete ban.
Medicine Mix-Ups Harm Hospitalized Kids
"These data and the Dennis Quaid episode are telling us that ... these kinds of errors and experiencing harm as a result of your health care is much more common than people believe. It's very concerning," said Dr. Charles Homer of the National Initiative for Children's Healthcare Quality. His group helped develop the detection tool used in the study.Researchers found a rate of 11 drug-related harmful events for every 100 hospitalized children. That compares with an earlier estimate of two per 100 hospitalized children, based on traditional detection methods. The rate reflects the fact that some children experienced more than one drug treatment mistake.
2.5 Million American Kids On Antipsychotics, Six-Month Old Diagnosed With ADHD
So a child was diagnosed with ADHD in the US at about six months of age? How? By whom? Based on what? How could a child that young be diagnosed with any psychiatric disorder? This simply makes no sense whatsoever. Who the hell are these doctors making these diagnoses and writing these scripts?
Tranquillisers putting children's lives at risk
David Healy, professor of psychological medicine at Cardiff University, says the drugs may cause heart, circulation and breathing problems. "There is a real question over whether the drugs can kill for a number of reasons. One is that all anti-psychotics act on [the brain chemical] dopamine." He said dopamine was known to have a role in cardiovascular regulation. A number of children in the US, given stimulants - which also act on the dopamine system - after being diagnosed with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), have suddenly died, said Healy.
Anti-psychotics may speed Alzheimer's decline
Anti-psychotic drugs frequently used in nursing homes to treat aggression in Alzheimer's patients don't provide any benefit and seem to lead to a marked decline in verbal ability, a report says.The Food and Drug Administration warned doctors in 2005 that some anti-psychotic drugs could increase the risk of death when given to older patients in nursing homes.
Drug research: To test or to tout?
Allen Jones knew the instant he was destined to be a whistle-blower. He says it was when his boss told him: "Quit being a salmon. Quit swimming against the stream with the pharmaceutical case.""They got expert opinion to be the deciding factor," Jones said in an interview. "Essentially, the drug companies could pay people to say what the drug companies could not claim themselves," namely that they were superior to the older generation of antipsychotics.
Portland doc flips on big pharma and reveals its “dirty little secret.”
“The practice of drug companies paying doctors to be their spokespeople is extremely problematic, because it creates a financial incentive for the physicians to intentionally be deceptive in their lectures to other doctors,” says Daniel Carlat, an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine.“It provides incentives to tweak the data to tell only part of the truth,” Carlat says.
Drugmakers To Spend $1B On Direct Marketing
As if there wasn't enough viagra and other "direct marketing" pharma drug spam in our mailboxes already.
Glaxo Fights Against Public Paxil Trials
... the Administration has spent a massive amount of tax dollars filing amicus briefs on behalf of just about every drug maker involved in litigation in an attempt to get the lawsuits filed by private citizens thrown out of court. The government claims that, once a drug and the warnings on its label are approved by the FDA, claims alleging injuries caused by a company's failure to warn about a risk not listed on the label
are preempted.The Bush Administration says preemption applies even when a company
(1) continues to sell a drug when a risk is known;
(2) fails to warn when new risks are discovered;
(3) fails to send letters notifying prescribing doctors of a known risk, and
(4) fails to disclose a known risk to the FDA during the approval process, or anytime for that matter.If Americans realized what was happening, there is no way they would approve of their tax dollars being spent to help the richest industry on the planet deprive fellow citizens of their right to a jury trial.
Heart Drug Trial Information Suppressed by Merck and Schering
A heavily promoted heart drug endorsed by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) may be worthless, according to a newly published trial.Ezetimibe (Ezetrol) was recommended by NICE last year for patients with inherited high cholesterol, to be used in conjunction with a statin drug such as simvastatin. But results published in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented yesterday at the American College of Cardiology annual scientific session in Chicago show that it may add nothing to the effectiveness of the statin.
Cancer Trials Stopped Early For The Wrong Reason
Researchers have discovered a sharp increase in the number of studies that are terminated early and argue that drugmakers are halting trials whenever benefits are discovered - and use the premature results as the basis for license applications. As a result, the researchers claim, drugs that are hailed as breakthroughs could be of less benefit or even cause more harm, the paper writes.A team from the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research, in Milan, Italy, found that of 14 trials stopped early between 2005 and 2007, 11 were used to support a license application.
Giovanni Apolone, maintained that "this suggests a commercial component in stopping trials prematurely..."
Innoculated Against Facts (Secret Science)
Thousands of parents whose previously healthy children suffered neurological brain damage following vaccination have been trying to gain access to the unpublished evidence about adverse vaccine effects--much as parents had battled to get the truth about the suicide risk linked to SSRI antidepressants.In both cases, the powerful medical establishment--which has a huge financial stake in the business of medicine--fought side by side with manufacturers and government agencies against consumers. In both cases government officials--from the FDA and the Center for Disease Control--not only denied the risks, but helped conceal the evidence in their own file drawers. In both cases, lawsuits, which afford plaintiffs the opportunity to subpoena documents, uncovered evidence to support the claim that the drug (or vaccine) triggered harm.
CNN HELPS AUTISM DEBACLE BLOW UP IN GOVERNMENT'S FACE
Why does a mom have to do the work of the CDC? The answer is rather simple: our government’s zeal to insist on too many vaccines while ignoring the actual risks is the driving force behind the autism tragedy. Sure there are many related factors – but the bottom line is that our government is causing disease at an alarming and devastating pace.
UK: Wakefield MMR trial begins
The doctor behind worldwide concern over the MMR jab yesterday insisted he was right to seek answers for parents whose children had developed autism.Dr Andrew Wakefield, 51, who linked the condition to the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, said he was simply doing his duty "as a physician and a human being" when mothers came to him for help.
He said yesterday that in his opinion, he and his colleagues complied "entirely consistently" with ethical guidance.
Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, Why You Should Care
CAFOs are said to be an efficient cost effective farming system; (if one ignores the cost to the environment, animals living in unnatural conditions, potential for pollution and possible human health concerns). They are necessary only as long as we demand large amounts of grain fed meat, dairy and eggs. If cheap food is the only priority, they meet the challenge. Most consumers happily hunt for bargains never questioning the production practices that made the bargains, bargains.So really, consumers asked for CAFOs, they wanted cheap food, and they weren't all that concerned where it came from. If that idea bothers you, start learning about how food is produced, where and by whom. Farmers will operate CAFOs only as long as consumers choose to buy what the CAFO produces.
Navy sonar blamed for death of beaked whales found washed up in the Hebrides
The main suspect in the case is sonar, as it is known that beaked whales are highly sensitive to the powerful sound waves used by all the world's navies to locate underwater objects such as submarines.Groups of beaked whales have been killed, with sonar suspected as the direct cause, several times in recent years; well-documented incidents include anti-submarine exercises in Greece in 1996, the Bahamas in 2000 and the Canary Islands in 2002. In 2003, an American judge banned the US Navy from testing a new sonar after a court case brought by environmentalists to protect marine life.
Money: A New Beginning
An irremediable structural flaw lies at the base of our civilization. I call it Separation, and it has generated all the converging crises -- economic, health, ecological, and political -- of our day. It manifests as separation from each other in the dissolution of community, separation from nature in the destruction of the environment, separation within our selves in the deterioration of health. Science is its deep ideology, technology is its accomplice, and money is its agent.Money as we know it today is intimately related to our identity as discrete and separate selves, as well as to the destruction that our separation has wrought. A saying goes, "Money is the root of all evil." But why should it be? After all, the purpose of money is, at its most basic, simply to facilitate exchange; in other words, to connect human gifts with human needs. What power, what monstrous perversion, has turned money into the opposite: an agent of scarcity?
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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.
A few 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.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 April 13 2008
updated on Wednesday August 15 2012URL of this article:
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2008/04/13/food_health_information_outlawed_world_wide_newsgrabs_13_april_2008.htm