Traditional Medicine Conerns over EU Legislation - Health Supreme NewsGrabs Wednesday, 19 May 2010
Chinese traditional medicine interests express concerns over European legislation
Following the meetings, Professor Mei said: “The issue of optimum integration of eastern and western healthcare systems is high on the agenda if healthcare systems are to benefit from medical traditions that have evolved over millennia. I strongly support all actions that work towards achieving this aim. As an east-west integrator, my life's work is devoted to cultivating East-West understanding for a better world. Regulations should be reasonable to engender human progress.”
Commenting on meetings in China, Dr Verkerk said: “EU legislation on traditional medicines has not taken into account the complex nature of very long-standing non-European medical systems. As a result, it discriminates against the traditional medical systems of both China and the Indian sub-continent, amongst others. These two systems alone are integral to over one-third of the world’s population. It is vital that amendments to the EU's Traditional Herbal Medicine Products Directive are enacted urgently to allow its better adaptation to the diverse range of long-standing traditions for which it was originally designed.”
India And Thailand Slam World Health Organization Over Conflicts
There is growing anger among numerous countries that the World Health Organization favors intellectual property rights over access to needed medicines in poor countries. This week, for instance, India and Thailand asked the WHO to end its involvement with IMPACT, the International Medical Products Anti-Counterfeiting Taskforce, which is accused of harboring conflicts of interest.At issue are concerns that IMPACT’s actions, which include involvement in seizing counterfeit drugs shipped between countries, is partly a smokescreen for delaying shipment of legitimate, lower-cost generic drugs to poor nations. Developing nations view the seizurese as a way to bolster patent protection for brand-name drugmakers.
Codex Serves Up A Hearty Helping of Melamine!
NHF’s delegate Scott Tips argued, unfortunately alone, that “Melamine is a synthetic chemical, deliberately added to foods. It is cumulative, deadly to humans and animals, and, as such, has no place in the food chain. Its acceptable limit for human consumption should be set at zero. Unlike naturally-occurring toxins, such as arsenic and lead, melamine is an intentional contaminant, whether directly or indirectly added to foods.”But hearing delegation after delegation after delegation support the EU position (even one, Ghana, which had promised earlier to support the NHF), the NHF argued its fallback position, which was that the 1.0 level for infants should then be set across the board for all foods and feeds. “Why,” Mr. Tips challenged the delegates, “if the issue is – as the EU and other delegations say – that we cannot keep melamine out of our foods as a practical matter, we are able to establish a level of 1.0 contamination for infants but find it impossible to set the same for adults? Why not 1.0 for all, at the very least?”
Not one single delegation answered that question...
Long-term use of vitamin E may decrease COPD risk
Long-term, regular use of vitamin E in women 45 years of age and older may help decrease the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) by about 10 percent in both smokers and non-smokers, according to a study conducted by researchers at Cornell University and Brigham and Women's Hospital.
Researchers discover association of vitamin A deficiency with lung birth defects
Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have discovered the mechanism responsible for the failure of the lungs to form as a result of vitamin A/retinoic acid (RA) deficiency. The study, which appears in the June issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, also shows that corrections to this network make it possible to prevent the lung defect in retinoic acid-deficient animals.
Iodine for Health
There is growing evidence that Americans would have better health and a lower incidence of cancer and fibrocystic disease of the breast if they consumed more iodine. A decrease in iodine intake coupled with an increased consumption of competing halogens, fluoride and bromide, has created an epidemic of iodine deficiency in America.
Genetically modified foods: 80% of what's in your grocery cart
by Tim O'Shea
Since the 1990s world agriculture and food production has undergone the most radical transformation in history. With very little public awareness, in just a few short years genetically modified foods have come to dominate both global agriculture and supermarket shelf space.What are GM foods?
What are their effects on human health and nutrition?
What are the effects on human DNA?
What have we done to our food?
Companies Put Restrictions On Research into GM Crops
Since the first GM crops were planted some 15 years ago, the companies that developed them have claimed broad control over their use. Farmers don't simply buy a bag of GM seed from Monsanto, Syngenta, or DuPont.Instead, they enter into a "Technology/Stewardship Agreement" with the company that developed it, the fine print of which lays out, among other things, the terms under which the seed can be used, where it can be grown, where it can be sold (many international governments do not allow the sale of GM crops or products made with them), and the brand of herbicides that can be used. This "bag-tag," as it's known, also specifically restricts any use of the seed for research.
USA: A World of Benefits from Biotechnology
They would like us to believe that the "science" will deliver more nutritious food, higher yielding crops, drought resistant crops and an end to world hunger. These claims however, are not based in science, but only on "the promise", or "the hope" of GM doing what its supporters claim it can do.The science, or lack thereof, that we should take note of is the glaring lack of regulation of GM crops and the serious questions about their safety. Nina Fedoroff, Science and Technology Adviser to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton noted "We preach to the world about science-based regulations but really our regulations on crop biotechnology are not yet science-based."
Research Links Pesticides With ADHD In Children
The study dealt with one common type of pesticide called organophosphates. Levels of six pesticide compounds were measured. For the most frequent compound detected, 20 percent of the children with above-average levels had ADHD. In children with no detectable amount in their urine, 10 percent had ADHD.The study provides more evidence that the government should encourage farmers to switch to organic methods, said Margaret Reeves, senior scientist with the Pesticide Action Network, an advocacy group that's been working to end the use of many pesticides.
"It's unpardonable to allow this exposure to continue," Reeves said.
Brand-Name Drug Prices Rose Nearly 10 Percent
Prices for the most widely used brand-name meds jumped 9.7 during the 12-month period ending in March, according to AARP, which called the increase the largest since the organization began tracking this sort of thing in 2002. Specialty drug prices rose 9.2 percent and generics fell by 9.7 percent. AARP notes that general inflation climbed 0.3 percent during the same period.Pharma's for-profit model of health care is not sustainable. Just one more indicator.
Statins, Pregnancy, Sepsis, Cancer, Heart Failure: a Critical Analysis: Part IV
When you become obsessed with getting your LDL numbers low, you're just trading off death by heart attack with death by cancer or infection or heart failure. At the same time, you're incurring additional expense, along with often annoying and in some cases devastating side effects associated with statin drugs. Doesn't this seem counterproductive?
Corruption of peer review & science
Hand in hand with rushing to produce anything that doesn’t rock the boat goes a fierce determination to exclude anything that threatens the bandwagon and gravy train. Peer review, like other aspects of science, has become thoroughgoingly corrupted by the change from “little science” to “Big Science”, which means commercial science, for-profit science. It has become routine for editors to choose manuscript reviewers with a view to getting the advice they want, namely, something that will not rock the profitable mainstream boat.
Norway: Swine Flu Vaccine Caused Deaths - Investigation Launched
Ten people in Norway have died as a result of last year’s mass vaccination programme against the swine flu (Influenza A H1N1).According to figures released by the Norwegian Medicines Agency (Statens legemiddelverk), the Pandemrix vaccine also accounted for 801 reported incidents of side-effects. Health authorities considered 201 of these cases to be severe.
WHO Panel To Get Pharma Swine Flu Documents
A panel investigating the World Health Organization’s response to last year’s swine flu outbreak wants to see confidential exchanges between the agency and drugmakers. The 29-member panel wants WHO records and correspondence from before and after the H1N1 strain was declared a pandemic in June, the Associated Press reports.On the defensive for her handling of the outbreak, WHO Director-General Margaret Chan convened the panel last month and urged its members to conduct a “credible and independent review” that she promised would be transparent, the AP notes. Recently, members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe planned an inquiry into industry influence. The WHO denied allegations that drugmakers were given privileged access to national decision-makers.
AIDS: Cal Crilly’s HIV (HERV) and METHYLATION ACTIVITY RATIO TEST
High levels of endogenous retroviral activity are associated with autoimmune diseases, cancers and symptomatic AIDS while low levels of S-adenosylmethionine are also associated with autoimmune diseases, cancers and AIDS.The HERV and Methylation Activity Ratio test (HAMAR) takes two very different markers of methylation to monitor methylation levels in a patient and enable a researcher or physician to decide whether interventions to correct methylation are needed.
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posted by Sepp Hasslberger on Wednesday May 19 2010
updated on Monday November 22 2010URL of this article:
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2010/05/19/traditional_medicine_conerns_over_eu_legislation_health_supreme_newsgrabs_wednesday_19_may_2010.htm
