By Sara Novak, TreeHugger

March 10, 2010

After a 13-year battle, the largest chemical company in the world, BASF won approval from the European Commission to begin commercially growing a genetically modified potato for industrial use. Many onlookers were more than a little surprised by the decision considering the Commission's formerly skeptical approach to GMOs. The decision has incited fury amongst harsh critics which included Italy and Austria who fear a health disaster.

A decision by the European Commission to allow the commercial growing of Amflora, a genetically modified starchy potato, is causing deep seated anger from a part of the world traditionally whole heartedly opposed to GMOs. The potatoes will be grown in Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic. Amflora is currently only approved for starch production, not human consumption, but the leftover skins will be fed to cattle. It will used for industrial purposes like paper and yarn production and making spray concrete. Currently, Europe has the strictest labeling policies in the world with regards to identifying genetically modified foods, compared to the US, which has little to no GMO labeling.

Mike Adams

NaturalNews.com

March 9, 2010

For years, advocates of natural health have been hammering away at the message that soda causes diabetes and obesity. The soda industry, meanwhile, has remained in denial mode, mirroring the ridiculous position of the tobacco industry that "nicotine is not addictive." Soda doesn't cause diabetes, the industry claims, and it's perfectly safe to consume in essentially unlimited quantities.

The Corn Refiners Association has joined the denial with its own spin campaign that seeks to convince people High-Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is totally natural and completely harmless. HFCS is, of course, the primary sweetener used in sodas and soft drinks.

Now comes new research presented at the American Heart Association's Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention annual conference in San Francisco. This new research reveals that over the last decade, soda consumption has conservatively caused:

   * 130,000 new cases of diabetes

   * 14,000 new cases of heart disease

   * 50,000 more "life years" with heart disease over the last decade

AlterNet / By Martha Rosenberg

A potentially deadly drug manufactured by pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has been linked to the deaths of soldiers returning from war. Yet the FDA continues to approve it.

March 6, 2010 | Sgt. Eric Layne's death was not pretty.

A few months after starting a drug regimen combining the antidepressant Paxil, the mood stabilizer Klonopin and a controversial anti-psychotic drug manufactured by pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, Seroquel, the Iraq war veteran was "suffering from incontinence, severe depression [and] continuous headaches," according to his widow, Janette Layne.

Soon he had tremors. " … [H]is breathing was labored [and] he had developed sleep apnea," Layne said.

February 18, 2010

NewsWithViews.com

Thanks to very ambitious pharmaceutical companies, with the help of pediatricians, the American government and schools across the country, the USA has produced the most highly vaccinated infants in the world. We give American babies up to three times the vaccines as other first-world countries. While we have earned a "blue ribbon" for our vaccine rates, we are close to earning the "booby prize" in another category that should devastate every parent in the country. Since implementation of the CDC mass vaccine program we have gone from about 2-3 to about 41-42 on the international infant mortality list. Yes, this means that a high rate of American infants never live to see toddler hood.

Since public health is deteriorating, reform seems needed.

A recent discussion I have had with some friends on facebook, may serve as an illustration and could perhaps show how reforms may become possible, despite the seemingly overwhelming strength of the pharmaceutical juggernaut.

It started out with a link to a study that shows how ascorbic acid (vitamin C) in pharmacologic concentrations could have an important role in cancer treatment...

NaturalNews

Mike Adams

March 8, 2010

Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein (HVP) is one of most common soy-based food "fillers" used to make literally thousands of processed food products. It's found in veggie burgers, gravy mixes, soups and many other grocery products. Last Thursday, one of the largest producers of HVP in the United States, Las Vegas-based Basic Food Flavors Inc., was the subject of an FDA consumer safety warning announcement. Salmonella had been found contaminating the company's HVP production equipment, the FDA said, and a nationwide recall was initiated that now includes products from Trader Joe's, Safeway, McCormick and many other companies.

See the FDA list of recalled products here.

Danish Scientist Absconds with $2 million More Info - Key character who "proved" vaccines don't cause autism.

A Danish scientist who was a key researcher in two studies that purport to show that mercury used in vaccines and the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine do not cause autism is believed to have used forged documents to steal $2 million from Aarhus University in Denmark according to reports in the Copenenhagen Post Online and a statement from Aarhus University.

Poul Thorsen, MD PhD, headed up a research unit at Aarhus University that was hired by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to prepare a series of studies that would exonerate thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative and adjuvant used in vaccines, and the MMR vaccine from any role in causing autism. The veracity of the three studies he co-authored is now in doubt.

These studies formed the foundation for the conclusions of several Institute of Medicine reports that claimed that it was highly unlikely that thimerosal or MMR were implicated in autism.

When the Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive was passed in 2004, many herbal producers, including those producing herbs for the great and ancient traditions of Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine, saw the Directive as a 'godsend'.

Here was a piece of law that would give these herbal products a proper medicinal classification, meaning they could actually be used to help make sick people healthier. The food supplements regime, under which most of these products have been sold in Europe, of course doesn't allow any claim to be made about the treatment or protection against disease. In fact, food supplements are intended only for healthy persons (so they say)!

We are now 6 years into the implementation of the Directive, and only there's only a year before it's all-important transition phase runs out.

The American Botanical Council approached the ANH with three questions, asking its views on this issue that is of great importance to natural health, especially in the European Union. But obviously it has a major impact on suppliers from all around the world, and given the way in which European regulatory models are viewed in other regions, the practical workability of the system is crucial if it's going to be adopted elsewhere.

Here's what we had to say in response to the questions (in bold text) from the American Botanical Council...

continue reading at ANH Update on Traditional Herbal Medicines in Europe

March 4, 2010

By Evelyn Pringle

A month before the first Paxil birth defect trial against GlaxoSmithKline was set to begin, the Associated Press ran the headline, "Glaxo Used Ghostwriting Program to Promote Paxil," in reporting on a program called "CASPPER," which allowed doctors to "take credit for medical journal articles mainly written by company consultants."

"Drug companies frequently hire outside firms to draft a manuscript touting a company's drug, retain a physician to sign off as the author and then find a publisher to unwittingly publish the work," the Associated Press said on August 19, 2009. "Drug company salespeople often present medical journal articles to physicians as independent proof that their drugs are safe and effective."

Confidential report reveals: Big Pharma trying to stop long-term safety studies of ADHD drugs (Ritalin, Concerta)

It says, among other things:

...the manufacturers were ordered to submit data how they could do long-term studies of psychiatric adverse effects (e.g. depression, hostility and psychotic reactions) and of cognitive effects (effects on learning, intellectual function) of the drugs. The answer from the pharmaceutical companies was a confidential report Feasibility Assessment of a Study of Long-term Effects of Methylphenidate on Cognition and Psychiatric Outcomes written 30 October 2009 – now made public by a Swedish court. As stated by the manufacturers: “This information is provided on behalf of the following Marketing Authorisation Holders for methylphenidate-containing medicinal products in the EU: Novartis, Johnson & Johnson, Shire, Medice and Laboratorios Rubió (also referred to as the “Consortium”).” The document can only be characterised as an aggressive effort to explain why long-term studies about adverse psychiatric outcomes of methylphenidate treatment could not and should not be done, together with distorted facts about the beneficial long-term outcomes of drug treatment. The intention with the feasibility assessment study is clearly to stop or delay needed safety actions for methylphenidate drugs.

Now Janne Larsson, the Swedish investigator and writer of that article, has asked the European Commission to take decisive action to clarify, once and for all, what are the damaging side effects of these drugs. Here is his letter...

2 March 2010

Health Minister accused of swine flu ‘overreaction’

By Staff Writer

Michael McGimpsey

Health Minister accused of swine flu ‘overreaction’

Stormont's Health Minister has been accused of overreacting to the swine flu scare after it emerged that a further £16m of emergency funding has gone unspent.

Finance Minister Sammy Wilson said his executive colleague Michael McGimpsey should have scrutinised scientists' advice about the pandemic alert more rigorously before asking for the money from Government coffers.

The DUP representative said some elements of the scientific community had their own agenda for over-stating the scale of certain crises.

“Ministers when they are faced with a crisis should scrutinise any advice they are given as rigorously as possible to make sure that they are not overreacting,” he said.

March 4th, 2010

To keep soft drinks fresh and prevent harmful bacteria from growing, sodium benzoate has been used in soft drinks for many years. However, discover why this common preservative has been implicated in being a detriment to our health – and find out how you can help minimize any potential toxic and mitochondrial damage from sodium benzoate.

by Nicole Cutler, L.Ac.

By accelerating the course of liver disease, drinking soda may contribute to the decline of your health. Once diagnosed with liver disease, the overarching therapeutic goal is working to prevent your condition from worsening. With the progression of liver disease, the quantity of functioning liver cells diminishes, causing liver fibrosis and – ultimately – cirrhosis. Additionally, non-functioning, cirrhotic liver cells are more prone to mutating into cancer than healthy, vibrant ones. Protecting the deterioration of liver health helps your liver cells function at the highest level possible.

29 September 2009

A 56 year old male was referred to Auckland Hospital ICU on 1 July 2009 with total respiratory failure, for ECMO external oxygenation. The patient had contracted H1N1 Swine flu (confirmed by tests) while on holiday overseas, and had developed what is known as ‘white out’ pneumonia. This refers to x-rays showing no air space in the lungs.

After 20 days of life-sustaining ECMO treatment and other critical care, the patient, who was unconscious by induced coma, had not responded. The ICU team advised the family of the likely outcome and had prepared them for the possibility of the patient’s death.

Family members approached Centre for Advanced Medicine Limited (CAM) for advice on the clinical use of intravenous vitamin C for such cases.

At the family’s request, information was provided to ICU doctors including ISO 9001:2008 registered protocols, safety data, dosages and access to vials of IV vitamin C under CAM's license for wholesale medicines.

The ICU team agreed to administer intravenous vitamin C according to the family's wishes. This decision acknowledged the family's rights, in compliance with the New Zealand Health and Disability Act, 1997.

The patient received intravenous vitamin C starting on the evening of 21 July, continuing until 29 July. 25 grams was provided on the first day increasing over the first three days to 50 grams twice daily which was sustained for a further six days.

By 24 July x-rays indicated increasing lung function and ECMO external oxygenation was discontinued on 26 July. After several days of assisted ventilation and critical care for ongoing secondary conditions, the patient was able to commence his recovery and rehabilitation.

The patient was discharged from hospital on Friday 18 September, and is recovering at home on the farm.

The decision by the Auckland Hospital ICU team to administer adequate dosages of IV vitamin C, and their skillful coordination of ICU procedures, were responsible for the positive medical outcome.

Permission from the patient and his family has been sought by CAM to publish these details on its website and elsewhere in the interests of accuracy. This permission was willingly provided and CAM expresses its thanks, admiration and respect.

CAM welcomes opportunities to provide similar professional support for registered medical practitioners and their patients.

Source: http://www.camltd.co.nz/h1n1.html

(NaturalNews) In response to growing awareness about the dangers of artificial sweeteners, what does the manufacturer of one of the world's most notable artificial sweeteners do? Why, rename it and begin marketing it as natural, of course. This is precisely the strategy of Ajinomoto, maker of aspartame, which hopes to pull the wool over the eyes of the public with its rebranded version of aspartame, called "AminoSweet".

Over 25 years ago, aspartame was first introduced into the European food supply. Today, it is an everyday component of most diet beverages, sugar-free desserts, and chewing gums in countries worldwide. But the tides have been turning as the general public is waking up to the truth about artificial sweeteners like aspartame and the harm they cause to health. The latest aspartame marketing scheme is a desperate effort to indoctrinate the public into accepting the chemical sweetener as natural and safe, despite evidence to the contrary.

Three out of four cancer patients survived an average of five months longer after taking the cocktail of vitamins

Cancer patients with terminal disease who take a daily cocktail of vitamins could extend their lives by two years or even longer, claim researchers.

Three out of four in a pilot study survived an average of five months longer than the expected one year, and some were still alive three years after treatment started.

Dr Bob Lister, co-author of the study by British and Danish researchers, said the results were similar to the survival gains from new drugs and in some cases better.

But the important difference was there were no side effects reported by patients taking vitamins, he said.

- - -

'Most importantly, taking these supplements is extremely safe, and there were no adverse reactions among the patients.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1251286/Cocktail-vitamins-cancer-patients-extra-years.html