How To Save A Drowning Healthcare System - NewsGrabs 13 July 2008
How To Save A Drowning Healthcare System
Yet as Dr Andrew Weil - an enthusiastic proponent of nutritional supplementation - has suggested, this is a medical system that is on the verge of collapse anyway. He is confident, as many of us are, that when the collapse finally happens, a new integrative medical model will emerge. An 'upstream' model, that encourages individuals to 'express ownership of their own health' rather than leaving it up for grabs...
Groups urge European Commission to rethink policy on natural health
Dr Verkerk stated, after the meeting, "When you consider that the maximum daily vitamin and mineral levels the European Commission are considering for food supplements are much less than you’d find in a single, average meal—you know there’s a problem. You could find three times the possible maximum selenium level in a single brazil nut, or three times the beta-carotene level ins a single large raw carrot or three times the zinc level in a single 200 g steak."Dr Verkerk added, "The European Commission needs to re-think its approach..."
Vitamin A for newborns reduces infant mortality
"Because childhood mortality is greatest during the first few months of life, a single dose of vitamin A administered by mouth to a newborn child can save the lives of an additional 300,000 children in Asia every year," said Alfred Sommer, MD, MHS, professor and dean emeritus of the Bloomberg School of Public Health. "That is on top of the one million lives a year that would be saved by dosing all vitamin A deficient children twice a year from six months through 5 years of age."
Leading worldwide cause of cardiovascular disease may be modified by diet
According to the paper, if Americans were able to increase their potassium intake, the number of adults with known hypertension with blood pressure levels higher than 140/90 mm Hg might decrease by more than 10 percent and increase life expectancy. Similar studies show that diets high in magnesium (at least 500 to 1,000 mg/d) and calcium (more than 800 mg/d) may also be associated with both a decrease in blood pressure and risk of developing hypertension.
Are Artificial Sweeteners Sabotaging Your Weight Loss Efforts?
While the diet soda itself does not make you gain weight, it is becoming clear to researchers that the artificial sweeteners are affecting our natural ability to control our appetites. Sharon Fowler of the University of Texas Health Science Center states that for each diet drink consumed per day, the obesity risk increases by 41%. That´s a compelling argument against artificial sweeteners. There´s no question that our nationwide obesity problem is significantly worse than the 1950s. Are artificial sweeteners the hidden saboteurs of our weight loss efforts?
The Spin on Aspartame
... rather than simply rehash everything that has been written about aspartame, I wanted to take a different approach. I wanted to focus on a small part of the debate, and then follow it through to wherever it took me. I wanted to look at the folks who keep assuring us that it's safe: the experts. Experts in the government, experts in the medical field, the people who keep patting us on the head and telling us not to worry, that if aspartame was dangerous, they'd tell us.
Cargill to market stevia based sweetener
Truvia is made from certain compounds in the leaves of stevia, a shrub native to Paraguay, and will provide a natural alternative to artificial sweeteners including Sweet 'N Low, Equal and Splenda.Truvia is going on sale first at a handful of D'Agostino supermarkets in Manhattan, and will eventually be sold at grocery stores and big box retailers across the country...
Why do we need sustainable healthcare?
Contemporary healthcare in western countries is presently dominated by use of pharmaceutical drugs—and most indicators would suggest that these approaches have had very limited value in dealing with some of the greatest scourges facing human health, including chronic diseases, psychiatric diseases and even certain infectious diseases.From a cost/benefit perspective, pharmaceutical-based approaches to healthcare do not fare favourably and a sea change is required if mainstream western healthcare is to deal with the ever increasing burden on the healthcare system...
Sulston argues for open medicine
Britain's Sir John Sulston says that profits are taking precedence over the needs of patients, particularly in the developing world.The Nobel Laureate told the BBC: "Some people would say it is not corrupt because it is not illegal, and that is true; but I consider that advertising a medicine that doesn't make clear any disadvantages of the medicine, or, in fact, the fact that most people don't need this particular medicine - I would cite, for example, anti-depressants which are hugely oversold, especially in America. This is the sort of thing I mean by corruption. It's not legal corruption; it's moral corruption."
strong>Senior doctors “selling” drugs for $5000 a day
A long time drug industry insider in the United States says leading specialists can earn up to $5000 a day, for “educating” their peers on behalf of Big Pharma. The practise, where drug companies pay so-called “Key Opinion Leaders” to speak at industry sponsored educational events is widespread around the world.
US Senator Grassley Probes Psychiatrists Over Ties To Pharma
The investigation by the Senate Finance Committee, where Chuck Grassley is the ranking Republican, into the ties between drugmakers and medicine is expanding. After targeting grants issued to academic psychiatrists, Grassley now wants the American Psychiatric Association to open its books for a look-see at pharma funding.
Big Pharma "Doomed" If It Doesn't Change, Says Eli Lilly Chairman
With patents set to expire on major products and no new blockbusters on the horizon, the pharmaceutical industry must adapt or die, the chairman of Eli Lilly & Co. has said."I think the industry is doomed if we don't change," said Sidney Taurel.
It is not just the expiry of patents, that besets Big Pharma. More important is a general loss of faith in pharmaceutical medicine, driven by continuous scandals of drugs that kill. The much touted "risk/benefit ratio" just isn't right.
Pharma Must Clean Up Its Act
“The public relations problems pharma has do not come from nothing. It’s not from paranoia or the figment of somebody’s imagination. It’s an industry that has been repeatedly caught red-handed trying to skew results and to bring drugs to the market that, perhaps, should not be there ... I would say the biggest thing pharma can do to improve its reputation is to clean up its act."
Pharma: Online Medication Sales Fueling Abuse
“In spite of those efforts, anyone of any age can obtain dangerous and addictive prescription drugs with the click of a mouse,” Joseph Califano Jr., a former US Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, who heads CASA, says in a statement. “This problem is not going away. It is morphing into different outlets for controlled prescription drug trafficking like Internet script mills and membership sites that sell lists of online pharmacies, and different payment methods like eChecks, COD and money orders.”
Heart attacks and suicides... yet the dangers were all kept so quiet. So how CAN you trust your medicine?
More recently, an American academic who looked at more than 60 trials found that other manufacturers had concealed data about the effects of their antidepressant drugs on adults.Half of the studies were positive and all of these had been published; virtually none of the negative ones had.
When the results of both the published and ‘concealed’ trials were combined, the drugs were shown to be no better than a placebo for mild to moderate depression.
Eli Lilly: From Pot To Prozac And Zyprexa
Eli Lilly once made a tincture of cannabis--used for treating muscle spasms and aches and pains back before marijuana was declared illegal--and so did many other companies. For fun, here's a pictoral history of where Eli Lilly has gone in the last 100 years or so in treating depression, psychosis and the aches and pains of life.
Cholesterol Drugs Recommended For Kids
New guidelines are due out from the American Academy of Pediatrics later today, calling for much younger kids to have their cholesterol levels checked and for statins to be used to treat the kids, despite a lack of evidence for safety and efficacy in using these drugs in kids.What's driving all of this is America's obesity "epidemic" -- or alleged epidemic, depending on how you view these things -- and when public health officials get on a jihad, then science often goes out the window.
AAP Recommends Aggressive Screening and statins in Children - evidence????
Neither reporters of the Associated Press or The New York Times questioned what scientific evidence supports the use of statins in children who do not have heart disease. Cholesterol-lowering drugs were first introduced in 1987 (Mevacor), and are currently the most prescribed drugs in the U.S.So, why has there been no dramatic improvement in U.S. mortality rates? Why are more Americans becoming obese, diabetic--and dying of heart attacks compared to the rest of the world?
8-Year-Olds on Statins? Backlash Bites AAP
"We're talking about potentially treating thousands and thousands of children simply to possibly prevent one heart attack," says Dr. Sanghavi, from the University of Massachusetts. "That kind of risk benefit calculation is entirely absent from the A.A.P.'s policy."
Quote Of The Day: 'I'm Embarrased For The AAP'
“To be frank, I’m embarrassed for the AAP today,” Lawrence Rosen of Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, and vice chairman of an academy panel on traditional and alternative medicine, tells The New York Times. “Treatment with medications in the absence of any clear data? I hope they’re ready for the public backlash.”
Mirapex, A Lawsuit & Restless Gambling Syndrome
A former Wall Street banker who claims he lost $3 million from compulsive gambling caused by the popular drug, which is used to treat Restless Leg Syndrome and Parkinson’s disease, is suing Pfizer and Boehringer Ingelheim for losses he accumulated while taking the pill, Reuters reports.
Anti-Depressants Linked To Internal Bleeding
The study seems pretty straightforward in its findings, but psych researchers seem torn by the implications, according to the wire service Health Day News:'Certainly, doctors should be advising patients of this finding, but it's far from definitive,' said Dr. Ewald Horwath, professor of psychiatry, epidemiology and public health at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. 'The risk of discontinuing antidepressants and getting depression and its consequences are much greater than this drug.'
Children's suicide attempts raise concerns about ADHD medication
New questions are being raised about the safety of a drug used to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder amid reports that more than 40 Canadian children have attempted suicide after taking it.Health Canada said it received 189 reports of adverse reactions associated with atomoxetine, sold under the name Strattera, from the time it was put on the market in February, 2005, to the end of last year.
The reports included 55 suicide attempts - 41 of which were among children aged 6 to 17, and 12 that were adults between 18 and 45.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder? No, they're just naughty, say experts
Teachers could be labelling children as hyperactive when they are simply naughty, experts have suggested.A study reveals only a handful of youngsters believed to have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, actually suffer from the syndrome.
Children targeted with live flu vaccine
Each half milliliter portion of the formula, called FluMist, contains particles of "live, attenuated influenza virus," writes Robert Carrillo on his extensive blog posting about the vaccine. "That means that between 10 million and 100 million viral particles will be forcefully injected into the nostrils administered," he says.
Video: H5N1 DNA in Flu Vaccine?
Flu Mist over the counter live flu vaccine has been found to contain two H5N1 DNA markers, these markers seem to have been sewn into the flu mist vaccine to ensure that H5N1 or another strain of Avian Flu goes pandemic.
Top French Bird Flu Researcher Brutally Murdered In London
Most interesting about these reports, however, is not just the brutal murder of Mr. Bonomo, but the area of study he was embarked upon at London’s Imperial Collage, one of the World’s premier institutions investigating the deadly H5N1 Avian Flu Virus, and which is being reported to be the claim made by the Indonesian Government that this deadly virus has been ‘engineered’ by the United States.
Pfizer Settlement Talks With Nigeria Collapse
The head of the Kano victims’ association, Alhaji Mustapha Maisikeli, said a series of meetings were held in Abuja, London and in Dubai last week, but the victims turned down an offer of $10,000 to each victim with minor deformities and $100,000 to each victim with major deformities or death arising from the Trovan drug test of 1996. The state government also rejected the offer.Maisikeli called the offer demeaning and outrageous. “We want to announce that talks between us have failed after they discriminatorily offered to give us $10 million, the same amount offered since the beginning of this year. This is at a time they equally offered to give the counsel $21 million dollars for the cost of litigations,” he tells the Trust.
HPV Vaccine Linked To Teen's Paralysis?
Soon after getting that third injection, her parents say, Jenny began experiencing the first signs of a degenerative muscle disease. They say their daughter is now almost completely paralyzed.Did Gardasil cause Jenny's condition?
US Congress pressures dentists on mercury
The dental industry, asked to testify Tuesday about pollution from mercury in tooth fillings, found itself under attack from lawmakers who blame mercury for everything from autism in children to skin discoloration.
Mercury: Chelation study suspended
This article is an ugly testimonial to what happens when the same people who have for decades denied that mercury may have anything to do with autism or otherwise negatively impact health are then charged to test whether a mercury-removal protocol is valid.
HIV/AIDS SCAM: Have antiretroviral drugs saved 3 million life-years?
The whole article deals not with actual patients but with “hypothetical patients”. This fulfills the suggestion, reported in a previous post, that one no longer needs human beings for clinical studies, computers can conveniently substitute [VIRTUAL HIV/AIDS RESEARCH AND TREATMENT, 17 June 2008]. The most convenient thing about this, of course, is that it’s much easier to get the results you want from a computer model you have yourself designed than from observations of real people.The outputs of this model deserve no credence whatsoever. The claim of more than 3 million saved life-years is utterly bogus. Even were it not bogus, it would reveal the claimed benefits of antiretroviral therapy to be at best marginal and procured at egregiously excessive cost.
Rift delays release of study on safety of cellphones
"There seems to be a split," said Lennart Hardell, a participating Swedish cancer specialist who said the divisions focused on whether the faulty memories of brain cancer patients skewed the results of the study. "It's not fair to the public. This has been paid for by taxpayers and they have a responsibility to show the results."Here's a multi-billion dollar industry trying desperately to prevent us from finding out that their technology seriously sucks. Or is it just plain denial? Can't say that there is lack of evidence...
Kansas City: Monsanto intimidates GM farmers
Across rural America, Monsanto is known for aggressive legal efforts to protect its patent. Farmers who save and replant the patented seeds in subsequent growing seasons quickly hear from the company's lawyers - and almost always lose, or settle out of court before trial.Now Monsanto is raising the stakes against this so-called seed piracy with an unprecedented lawsuit against a farm co-op it accuses of aiding the illegal practice by cleaning seeds for use in future crops. That practice violates the contract between Monsanto and farmers which prohibits farmers from stockpiling seeds or selling second-generation seeds.
U.S. War On Drugs - Only Cops & Criminals Benefit
The United States has been spending $69 billion a year worldwide for the last 40 years, for a total of $2.5 trillion, on drug prohibition -- with little to show for it. Is anyone actually benefiting from this war?
- - -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://therealnews.com/
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 July 13 2008
updated on Wednesday August 15 2012URL of this article:
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2008/07/13/how_to_save_a_drowning_healthcare_system_newsgrabs_13_july_2008.htm