Happy Holiday Fudge

Easy Raw Fudge

½ cup butter (softened) (raw, organic is best if you can get it)
1 cup arrow root powder (less expensive in oriental stores)
*½ cup almond milk (or rice milk or coconut milk)
1 cup raw, organic carob
1 tsp. pure, organic vanilla
1 cup walnuts (optional)
1 cup of the best quality unsweetened coconut you can find.

Mix together and roll into bite size balls.
Enjoy!

*To make almond milk, soak almonds overnight, place ¼ cup almonds with 1 cup warm water in blender. Blend until smooth. (Can be strained, if you prefer.)

Artificial Sweetener Causes Cancer

New Study Suggests Artificial Sweetener Causes Cancer in Rats at Levels Currently Approved for Humans

Report in Environmental Health Perspectives calls for reevaluation of acceptable limits of aspartame consumption

[Research Triangle Park, NC] ] A statistically significant increase in the incidence of malignant tumors, lymphomas and leukemias in rats exposed to varying doses of aspartame appears to link the artificial sweetener to a high carcinogenicity rate, according to a study accepted for publication today by the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP). The authors of the study, the first to demonstrate multipotential carcinogenic effects of aspartame administered to rats in feed, called for an "urgent reevaluation" of the current guidelines for the use and consumption of this compound.

"Our study has shown that aspartame is a multipotential carcinogenic compound whose carcinogenic effects are also evident at a daily dose of 20 milligrams per kilogram of body weight (mg/kg), notably less than the current acceptable daily intake for humans," the authors write. Currently, the acceptable daily intake for humans is set at 50 mg/kg in the United States and 40 mg/kg in Europe.

Aspartame is the second most widely used artificial sweetener in the world. It is found in more than 6,000 products including carbonated and powdered soft drinks, hot chocolate, chewing gum, candy, desserts, yogurt, and tabletop sweeteners, as well as some pharmaceutical products like vitamins and sugar-free cough drops. More than 200 million people worldwide consume it. The sweetener has been used for more than 30 years, having first been approved by the FDA in 1974. Studies of the carcinogenicity of aspartame performed by its producers have been negative.

Researchers administered aspartame to Sprague-Dawley rats by adding it to a standard diet. They began studying the rats at 8 weeks of age and continued until the spontaneous death of each rat. Treatment groups received feed that contained concentrations of aspartame at dosages simulating human daily intakes of 5,000, 2,500, 500, 100, 20, and 4 mg/kg body weight. Groups consisted of 100 males and 100 females at each of the three highest dosages and 150 males and 150 females at all lower dosages and controls.

The experiment ended after the death of the last animal at 159 weeks. At spontaneous death, each animal underwent examination for microscopic changes in all organs and tissues, a process different from the aspartame studies conducted 30 years ago and one that was designed to allow aspartame to fully express any carcinogenic potential.

The treated animals showed extensive evidence of malignant cancers including lymphomas, leukemias, and tumors at multiple organ sites in both males and females. The authors speculate the increase in lymphomas and leukemias may be related to one of the metabolites in aspartame, namely methanol, which is metabolized in both rats and humans to formaldehyde. Both methanol and formaldehyde have shown links to lymphomas and leukemias in other long-term experiments by the same authors.

The current study included more animals over a longer period than earlier studies. "In our opinion, previous studies did not comply with today's basic requirements for testing the carcinogenic potential of a physical or chemical agent, in particular concerning the number of rodents for each experimental group (40-86, compared to 100-150 in the current study) and the termination of previous studies at only 110 weeks of age of the animals," the study authors wrote.

The authors of the study were Morando Soffritti, Fiorella Belpoggi, Davide Degli Esposti, Luca Lambertini, Eva Tibaldi, and Anna Rigano of the Cesare Maltoni Cancer Research Center, European Ramazzini Foundation of Oncology and Environmental Sciences, Bologna, Italy. Funding for the research was provided by the European Ramazzini Foundation of Oncology and Environmental Sciences, Bologna, Italy. The article is available free of charge at http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2005/8711/abstract.html.

EHP is published by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. EHP EHP is an Open Access journal. More information is available online at http://www.ehponline.org/. Brogan & Partners Convergence Marketing handles marketing and public relations for EHP, and is responsible for creation and distribution of this press release.

New Echinacea Study Not Relevant to Informed Practice

When you are searching for an effective echinacea product, contact the leaflady. Our echinacea is made from root and flowers of fresh herb plants and has been proven to be highly effective.

Now for the hype to keep you from good natural health products -

A much publicized article recently featured in the New England Journal of Medicine claims to establish that Echinacea has no effect in the prevention and treatment of the common cold. In the study, the authors compared the effect of different preparations of Echinacea angustifolia root on rhinovirus infection. The infection was artificially induced using a strain of rhinovirus type 39 which is considered to be safe. The dose of Echinacea root used was 900 mg per day for 7 days before the virus challenge and then 5 days after. The study evaluated both preventative and treatment effects of the various Echinacea preparations on the rhinovirus infection and found no significant results for either. An important consideration was that the dose was not adjusted for the acute infection phase of the study. The Echinacea angustifolia root was extracted under different conditions in order to compare the effects of the different phytochemical profiles that are typically found in Echinacea products.

The study has been widely condemned, especially in terms of the low dose of Echinacea used. To put this in perspective, the daily amount of Echinacea used in the trial was the equivalent of around one half of a MediHerb Echinacea Premium tablet. (This assumes that the extract the authors made themselves was at least comparable to the patented product we produce under pharmaceutical GMP. Since we have tested products worldwide and found not one that even comes near the levels of alkylamides in Echinacea Premium, this assumption in the authors’ favor is unlikely to be the case, making the relative dose used in the trial even lower). In contrast, MediHerb recommends 2 tablets per day as a preventative dose for immune support and 3 to 4 times this amount (6 to 8 tablets) during acute infections. No wonder the study found no benefit from the low dose of Echinacea used. It is like taking one quarter of a headache tablet and wondering why your headache is still there.

In defense of the dose used, Dr. Ronald Turner has recently claimed that: “There is no evidence from prior studies that the dose of Echinacea would have changed the outcome…”. But, in fact, a study published as far back as 1992 suggests that this is not the case. In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, 180 patients with upper respiratory tract infections received the equivalent of 1800 mg per day or 900 mg per day of E. purpurea root as a tincture, or placebo. Patients receiving the high dose experienced significant relief of symptoms. However patients receiving the lower dose (900 mg) were not significantly different from the placebo control. Also the doses recommended in professional herb texts are clearly higher than 900 mg per day.

Even one of the article’s authors has acknowledged that the amount of Echinacea used in the study may have been insufficient. David Gangemi, PhD, of Clemson University responded to a question posed about this research at last month’s Medicines from the Earth Symposium in North Carolina by stating, “I think in retrospect if we go back and we look at some of the other products that are out there maybe we're only one tenth the level we should be.”

Another aspect of this study which limits the generalization of its results to all users of Echinacea was that an artificial infection was induced in young, healthy volunteers. This could be irrelevant to the real life situation where people with compromised immunity are exposed to a range of constantly evolving viruses and bacteria.

Unfortunately, this trial represents a waste of money and a missed opportunity to better understand the real clinical value of Echinacea.

If only someone had asked an herbalist!

FLU VACCINE (Tamiflu) KILLS TWO TEENS

TOKYO - Two teenage boys who took the antiviral drug Tamiflu exhibited abnormal behavior that led to their deaths, with one jumping in front of an oncoming truck last year and the other falling from the ninth floor of a building earlier this year, health ministry and other sources said Saturday.

The drug in Japan carries a note listing impaired consciousness, abnormal behaviors, hallucination and other psychological and neurological symptoms as possible serious side effects. The ministry is considering making a fresh warning about them, following its decision to increase the stockpile of the drug amid growing fears about a possible pandemic of a new type of influenza as bird flu deaths rise across Asia.

© 2005 Kyodo News. All rights reserved.

http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=1&id=355181

Mercury (CAS#7439-97-6)
Sources of exposure: Mercury occurs primarily in two forms: organic mercury and inorganic mercury. Inorganic mercury occurs when elemental mercury is combined with chlorine, sulfur, or oxygen. Inorganic mercury and elemental mercury are both toxins that can produce a wide range of adverse health affects. Inorganic mercury is used in thermometers, barometers, dental fillings, batteries, electrical wiring and switches, fluorescent light bulbs, pesticides, fungicides, vaccines, paint, skin-tightening creams, vapors from spills, antiseptic creams, pharmaceutical drugs and ointments (Thimerisol is the mercury used in vaccines) (ATSDR, 1989a). Inorganic mercury vapor is at high concentrations near chlorine-alkali plants, smelters, municipal incinerators and sewage treatment plants. The organic form occurs when mercury is combined with carbon. The most common form of organic mercury is methyl mercury, which is produced primarily by small organisms in water and soil when they are exposed to inorganic mercury. Humans also have the ability to convert inorganic mercury to an organic form once it has become absorbed into the bloodstream. Organic mercury is known to bioaccumulate -- or pass up the food chain due an organism's inability to process and eliminate it. It is found primarily in marine life (fish), and can often be found in produce and farm animals, processed grains and dairy products, and surface, salt-, and fresh water sources (ATSDR, 1989a; Brenner and Snyder, 1980). Occupational exposure to mercury containing compounds presents a significant health risk to individuals. Dentists, painters, fisherman, electricians, pharmaceutical/laboratories workers, farmers, factory workers, miners, chemists and beauticians are just some of the professions chronically exposed to mercury compounds.

Target tissues: The absorption and distribution of mercury compounds depends largely upon its chemical state. Organic mercury compounds are absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract more readily than inorganic mercury compounds, with the latter being very poorly absorbed. After absorption in the gastrointestinal tract, organic mercury is readily distributed throughout the body but tends to concentrate in the brain and kidneys (Goyer, 1991b). Approximately 80% of mercury vapor is absorbed directly through the lungs and distributed primarily to the CNS and the kidneys (Friberg and Nordberg, 1973). Inorganic and organic forms of mercury have also been seen in the red blood cells, liver, muscle tissue, and gall bladder (Peterson et al., 1991, Dutczak et al., 1991, ATSDR 1989a).

Signs and symptoms: Mercury exposure can result in a wide variety of human health conditions. The degree of impairment and the clinical manifestations that accompany mercury exposure largely depend upon its chemical state and the route of exposure. While inorganic mercury compounds are considered less toxic than organic mercury compounds (primarily due to difficulties in absorption), inorganic mercury that is absorbed is readily converted to an organic form by physiological processes in the liver.


The acute ingestion of inorganic mercury salts may cause gastrointestinal disorders such as abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, and hemorrhage (ATSD 1989a). Repeated and prolonged exposure has resulted in severe disturbances in the central nervous system, gastrointestinal tract, kidneys, and liver. Daivs et al. (1974) reported dementia, colitis, and renal failure in individuals chronically poisoned due to the ingestion of an inorganic mercury containing laxative. Inhaled inorganic mercury can cause a wide range of clinical complications in individuals including corrosive bronchitis, interstitial pneumonitis, renal disorders, fatigue, insomnia, loss of memory, excitability, chest pains, impairment of pulmonary function and gingivitis (Goyer 1991b, ATSDR 1989a). Chronic inhalation of inorganic mercury compounds may result in a reduction of sensory and motor nerve function, depression, visual and/or auditory hallucinations, muscular tremors, sleep disorders, alterations in autonomic function (heart rate, blood pressure, reflexes), impaired visuomotor coordination, speech disorders, dementia, coma and death (Clarkson 1989; Goyer 1991b; Fawyer et al. 1983; Piikivi and Hanninen 1989; and Ngim et al. 1992). Ngim et al. (1992) have shown that a group of dentists exposed to mercury vapors occupationally perform significantly worse in neurobehavioral tests that measure motor speed, visual scanning, visuomotor coordination and concentration, verbal memory and visual memory. Kishi et al. (1993) have found that smelter workers exposed to inorganic mercury compounds continue to experience neurological symptoms-tremors, headaches, slurred speech-senile symptoms and diminished mental capacities eighteen years after the cessation of mercury exposure.


Our understanding of the effects of methyl mercury poisoning comes primarily from epidemic poisonings in Iraq and Japan. In iraq, more than 6,000 individuals were hospitalized and 459 died as a result of methyl mercury poisoning. Adults experienced symptoms including parasthesia, visual disorders, ataxia, fatigue, tremor, hearing disorders (deafness) and coma (Bakir et al., 1973; Mottet, Shaw, and Burbacher, 1985). Neuropathologic observations of exposed individuals have shown irreversible brain damage including neuronal necrosis, cerebral edema, gliosis, and cerebral atrophy (Mottet, Shaw, and Burbacher, 1985). Iraqi children poisoned through the consumption of methyl mercury containing food products (grains treated with mercury containing fungicides) exhibited nervous system impairment, visual and auditory disorders, weakness, marked motor and cognitive impairment, and emotional disturbances (Bakir et al., 1973; Bakir et al., 1978). Individuals in Japan experienced many of these same symptoms after the ingestion of fish containing large amounts of methyl mercury. Similarly, autopsies conducted on deceased Japanese in the Minamata Bay have shown pronounced brain lesions, cerebral atrophy, edema, and gliosis in the deeper fissures (sulci) of the brain, such as in the visual cortex (Takeuchi 1968). The Japan and Iraq epidemics have clearly established mercury as an agent that can disrupt developmental processes in the unborn, and infantile, individual. Methyl mercury can pass through the placental barrier and produce many deleterious effects on the unborn fetus (Mottet, Shaw and Burbacher 1985). Children born to mercury poisoned mothers were of smaller total weight, had decreased brain weights at birth, had fewer nerve cells in the cerebral cortex, and experienced an abnormal pattern of neuronal migration (Choi et al. 1978; Takeuchi 1968, Amin-Zake et al. 1974). Of those children that survived the epidemic, many experienced severe developmental effects like impaired motor and mental function, hearing loss, and blindness throughout their childhood (Amin-Zaki et al. 1974). Researchers have also observed a heightened incidence of cerebral palsy in children born to mothers in the Minamata Bay (Matsumoto, Koya, and Takeuchi 1965).
Mercury has recently been implicated as being a contributing factor to the increasing prevalence of autism in American children. The Autism Research Institute has focused on mercury containing vaccines (TMS) and their relationship to autism. Over 2 million individuals are affected with autism, a neurodevelopment syndrome that typically produces impairment in sociality, communication, and sensory/perceptual processes, and recent evidence has found a positive correlation between complications seen in autistics and complications seen in mercury poisoned individuals (Bernard et al., 2000). While it is difficult to ascribe causation in this case, it should not be altogether dismissed. Mercury poisoning has been implicated in the development of many other human dysfunctional states for many years. Among these are cerebral palsy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, psychosis, and chronic fatigue syndrome (Adams et al., 1983; Bernard et al., 2000; Dales 1972) .

Supreme Court RejectsCell Phone Radiation Appeal

Well folks, here we are, getting closer to the cell phone facts that harm your health. These harmful radiation emitting units will never be looked at in the same way again. This is, as I predicted, tobacco II.

***

Class action lawsuits against cell phone makers over radiation emissions will be able to go forward, after the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal by the companies.

The high court rejected hearing an appeal by companies like Nokia and Cingular Wireless challenging a decision by a U.S. appeals court that reinstated the lawsuits that argued manufacturers knew about and hid the risks of radiation emissions wireless phones posed to users.

Wireless phones are radios that emit frequency radiation, and in the United States the Federal Communications Commission must approve any device that sends out such radiation.

Exposure to high levels of radiation can cause adverse health effects, but it is less clear the impact on a wireless phone user who is exposed to low levels of radiation when a phone is held to an ear directly.

Health advocates have expressed concerns about radiation causing problems ranging from headaches to tumors. But the wireless industry has pointed to U.S. government statements that scientific evidence so far has not shown any health problems associated with wireless phone use.

Five class action lawsuits were filed in state courts seeking damages, including money for wireless users to buy a headset or reimburse those who had already had purchased one.

A U.S. district court judge dismissed the five lawsuits on the grounds that state regulation of wireless phone emissions was pre-empted by the FCC, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit overturned that decision and reinstated the cases.

The wireless industry is worried about being required to adhere to numerous different emissions requirements imposed by states, something the service providers and manufacturers argue would wreak havoc on the industry and consumers.

"This court's intervention is necessary to prevent the balkanisation of network standards...which will, if uncorrected, undermine the ability of consumers to use an FCC-approved wireless telephone in every state of the union," they said in their appeal to the high court.

Other companies that joined in the appeal include Motorola and Qualcomm. Cingular Wireless is a joint venture of BellSouth and SBC Communications

As a result of the high court's action, one lawsuit will go forward in federal court while the four other lawsuits will go forward in state court.

Copyright © 2005 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

Looking for a Little Sleep?

A 2003 study identified about 55% of those 18-49 own and frequently use cell phones. One of the major identified health complaints from exposure to EMF/ELF is insomnia. Now we see this report identifying the rising use of drugs and OTC products for sleep. Of course I would include poor nutrition, environmental pollution and stress as related factors. But really, now, what I want to clearly focus on here is the problems with radiation exposure from things that cause EMF/ELF exposure.

I’ve figured that there is an increasing number of health issues not being able to get a diagnosis for quite a few years. My prognostication has been to raise the Canary in the coal mine to react to electrical sensitivity syndrome. While this is as real as MCS (folks with MCS have a greater risk of ESS), although the Asthma and Allergy professional organizations say otherwise, I’m reminding them that IgE readings go up when dust is ionized. IgE is an allergy marker in blood. Now just how is it that dust is ionized? Why cell phone mast towers and cell phones, digital tv towers and microwave proliferation of course. But then you learned that in 8th grade science didn’t you?

I hope you’ll begin to see the same connections after reading the comments and reports that follow…

Prescription sleep aid use soaring in US: study
By Bill Berkrot

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The number of younger Americans reaching for prescription drugs to get a good night's sleep and the money being spent to keep from tossing and turning, is soaring, according to a study conducted by a prescription management company.

Among adults aged 20 to 44, use of sleep medications doubled between 2000 and 2004, while spending among the age group for a restful night jumped 190 percent over that period, the Medco Health Solutions study released on Monday found.

The numbers were even more startling among children aged 10 to 19 with use of sleep aids up 85 percent and spending up a whopping 223 percent over 2000 levels.

Medco's data analysis from the first six months of 2004 showed that 15 percent of the children taking sleep medicines were also using drugs to treat attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, but it was not clear whether the disorder or the medication treating it was causing the sleep problems.

The study also found that women among all age groups were far more likely to use sleep aids than men, with the largest disparity -- 58 percent higher -- among women ages 20 to 64.

"Although the elderly are still the most frequent users of sleeping aids, the evidence found in this study shows that younger adults and children are starting to use these medications with even greater frequency," said Dr. Robert Epstein, Medco's chief medical officer.

"The pattern of insomnia in children reflects difficulty in getting to sleep, whereas with adults it's a problem staying asleep," Epstein said.

More than 70 million people in the United States may be affected by a sleep problem, such as insomnia or sleep apnea, with some 60 percent of them suffering from a chronic sleep disorder, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Sleep drugs have clearly become big business and Epstein said there was every reason to believe the trends seen in the Medco study would continue to accelerate as new medicines come to market.

Americans filled more than 35 million prescriptions for sleeping pills in 2004, spending $2.1 billion, Medco said, citing NIH statistics.

Global Sales of Ambien, the world's most popular prescription sleep drug made by Sanofi-Aventis, hit $1.76 billion in 2004.

The Medco study reviewed prescription drug claims of 2.4 million Americans between 2000 and 2004.

***

Excerpts for a 56 page report completed by a Canadian researcher holding a PhD who is a Professional Engineer:

Oft-reported visible conditions that are linked to EMF exposure are memory loss, allergic reactions, insomnia, dizziness, forgetfulness, anxiety, nausea, skin rash, chronic fatigue syndrome, stress, and high blood pressure along with many more serious invisible conditions like childhood leukemia. The latency periods of some EMF-caused diseases are 20 to 30 years.

“The ICNIRP (International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection) guidelines were not formulated by scientists, but by technicians calculating how long it would take to heat a bag of sugar through one degree Celsius. This absurdity is all that stands between us and the risk of life threatening or chronic disease. The ICNIRP guidelines only measure the immediate and very short term thermal (heating) effect of radiation, not the long term biological effect, which is the main threat to health.” (6)

Robert Kane the author of ‘Cellular telephone Russian Roulette’ Report wrote, “In fact, the scattering of ionizing radiation throughout biological tissue efficiently breaks the covalent bonds that are the basis for construction of organic molecules” “Clearly, by now we must all agree that it is not necessary to ionize a DNA molecule to disrupt one or more of the molecule’s covalent bonds.” “In essence the effects can be identical - the disruption of covalent bonds is essentially what destroys DNA molecules and genetic information and leads to neo-plastic transformation of cells.” (77) D. L. Henshaw reported, “We present the hypothesis that exposure to power frequency magnetic fields causes increased risk of childhood leukaemia via the disruption of the nocturnal production of melatonin in the pineal gland.” “Melatonin is an antioxidant effective in protecting nuclear DNA, membrane lipids and possibly cytosolic proteins from oxidative damage.” Here EMFs were implicated melatonin disruption and eventual DNA damages. Henry Lai was the first to show that power-frequency EMF can cause both single and double-strand DNA breaks and later REFLEX confirmed it. It seems more likely either disruption of molecule’s covalent bonds or reduced melatonin production by low-level EMFs or both lead to DNA damages and eventual cancer initiation.

175 German doctors and country-wide lady doctors are combining together to put forward their observations of adverse health effects from pulsed high-frequency EMFs (microwave) to the Prime Minister Edmund Stolber. They have found the medical complaints of 356 people who have had long-term [radiation] exposure at far below the limit of thermal effects from mobile phone base station and DECT telephones. The people suffer from one, several or many of the following symptoms, like “sleep disturbances, tiredness, disturbance in concentration, forgetfulness, problem
with finding words, depressive mood, ear noises, sudden loss of hearing, hearing loss, giddiness, nose bleeds, visual disturbances, frequent infections, sinusitis, joint and limb pains, nerve and soft tissue pains, feeling of numbness, heart rhythm disturbances, increased blood pressure episodes, hormonal disturbances, night-time sweats, nausea” July 10, 2005 (56)

•Chronic or intractable medical problems associated with prolonged exposure to unsuspected harmful environmental electric, magnetic or electro-magnetic fields radiating in the bedroom or workplace and their exacerbation by intake of harmful light and heavy metals from common sources.
Omura Y, Losco M, Omura AK, Yamamoto S, Ishikawa H, Takeshige C, Shimotsuura Y, Muteki T. Heart Disease Research Foundation, New York.
Unsuspected prolonged exposure to abnormal environmental (very high frequency) electro-magnetic fields (EMF), electric fields (EF) or magnetic fields (MF) at 60 Hz or 16K Hz in the bedroom or workplace may contribute to the development of various intractable medical problems. Most of the clinical symptoms appear when the individuals are exposed to EMF for many hours a day for at least several months to 1-year for relatively benign diseases or symptoms (such as intractable pain or medical problems), or several to over 10 years for more serious diseases (such as cancers of the digestive system or other organs), all of which seem to appear with the additional co-existence of micro-circulatory disturbances with Thromboxane B2 (TXB2), bacterial or viral infections and decrease or absence of acetylcholine, and lead, mercury, or aluminum deposits, with or without asbestos. These abnormal environmental EMF's or EF's can be detected by the Bi-Digital O-Ring Test, which has good correlation with standard laboratory measurement, especially with EF measurement, and the distribution of EMF often includes a linear band-like appearance on the abnormal part of the patient's body, as well as on the patient's corresponding area of the bed, or at the workplace. These EMF's can be eliminated either by a metal sheet, acting as a reflector, which redirects the harmful EMF or eliminates it completely by grounding the metal sheet at high frequency range, while extremely low frequency (ELF) magnetic fields at the near field are more difficult to eliminate. Several examples of medical problems that appear to be associated with repeated and prolonged exposure to abnormal environmental EMF, EF or MF are summarized in this article. EF or MF-induced abnormalities were artificially and reversibly created in humans by exposing the extremities or head to a 10Volt/Meter (V/M) EF at 60 Hz about 33 (evening) to 50 cm (daytime or after midnight) from a pair of rubber insulated wires connected to an AC source, but where no current is passed, so that no extra MF exists. After exposing normal parts of the extremities and head to a 10 V/M EF for 5 minutes, abnormal increase of TXB2 and disappearance or significant reduction of acetylcholine was observed for 5 minutes, and slightly longer abnormal time duration was observed in those who have aluminum, lead, or mercury deposits. This indicates that the upper limit of relatively safe EF should be around 10V/M at 60 Hz rather than 25V/M at ELF by Swedish Government recommendation, which is now widely accepted.
Publication Types: * Case Reports
PMID: 1685623 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=1685623&dopt=Abstract

•From Swedish researcher Olle Johansson, assoc. prof.
The Experimental Dermatology Unit Department of Neuroscience Karolinska Institute
171 77 Stockholm Description of symptoms as well as occurrence of IgE and positive Phadiatop Combi in persons with the physical impairment electrohypersensitivity Please, note that I have got yet another article published - in Swedish only [the title is translated below into English]:
Holmboe G, Johansson O, "Symptombeskrivning samt förekomst av IgE och positiv Phadiatop Combi hos personer med funktionsnedsättningen elöverkänslighet", (="Description of symptoms as well as occurrence of IgE and positive Phadiatop Combi in persons with the physical impairment electrohypersensitivity", in Swedish), Medicinsk Access 2005; 1 (5): 58-63
http://www.medicinskaxess.se/nr5/eloverkanslighet5.pdf

FACTORY FARMING MAY BE ROOT CAUSE OF BIRD FLU EPIDEMIC

Migrating birds are being blamed for bird flu, yet for the past 60 years literally billions of broiler chickens & laying hens are kept in confined spaces. The only way they keep them alive is by an army of drugs, including antibiotics, in their feed. These birds have seriously compromised immune systems - yet we are surprised by the bird flu epidemic.

From the UK Press today.

More to Consider About the Vaccination Push

FLU SHOTS AND ALZHEIMERS

Does it seem like Alzheimer's is getting more and more common these days, or is it just me? Hugh Fudenburg, MD a leading immunogeneticist, with some 850 papers peer-reviewed, explains why:

"If an individual had 5 consecutive flu shots between 1970 and 1980, the chances of Alzheimer's Disease was 10 times greater than for those getting … no shots."

Think that might have anything to do with the aluminum?

Hemophilus influenzae vaccine (HiB) contains aluminum and mercury, both highly toxic poisons.

NB: Think how much the risk of Alzheimer's increases if you have had consecutive flu shots from 1981 through 2005...

ALUMINUM AND FORMALDEHYDE

As Drs. Russell Blaylock and Theo Colborn have well explained, it is not just its connection with Alzheimer's that makes aluminum such a danger to human physiology. It's that aluminum can interfere with the formation and development of virtually any human nerve tissue in a fully unpredictable fashion. We simply don't know.

As for formaldehyde, let's just ask how much danger of cancer is an acceptable risk in the pure, perfect blood of a newborn? Cancer occurs first in just one cell. So where are the studies that prove that this "trace" of formalin or antifreeze will not be sufficient to cause that first cell mutation that develops into cancer? Vaccines are not tested for carcinogenicity.

NB: Don't overlook the aluminum-fluoride connection in cancer and other dis-ease.

Breast Health Awareness Day

Just yesterday I was doing some long overdue grocery shopping. I was on the household goods aisle where I saw a relatively healthy looking woman picking up a non-stick cooking pan. I quickly said, "please don't use non-stick pans". She looked at me and actually asked why. I explained about PFOA in the coating. PFOA is a fluoride based substance that contributes to cancer and it is an integral part of every non-stick coating. DuPont, the makers of Teflon, is under fire for the toxic problems caused by this product.

I went on to explain that a study has shown the remnants of this substance in breast tissue in women and girls as young as 10 years of age. As she was putting the pan back she told me that she just purchased an entire set of expensive non-stick cookware for her home. Then she said, "I guess I'll go get stainless steel." We talked some more and she was very pleased I spoke out.

She made my day!

Yes, this is another piece of information women don't seem to get access to, along with very important information on the facts behind the breast cancer campaign.

While there is a month long focus called Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, with tomorrow, October 18, being the one big push, I am here to talk about Breast Health Awareness.

While 200,000 women were diagnosed last year with breast cancer, don't you stop to ask just exactly how it is that so many women are effected?

Well, after reading this current issue of my newsletter, herbalYODA Says!, maybe you will start to THINK BEFORE YOU PINK.

herbalYODA Says! October 2005 Part III

Here we are, one more time, listening to all the promotions about Race for the Cure, Think Pink, and Breast Cancer Awareness. October 18 is a week away and it is hailed as the day in this month long campaign to make sure you get your mammogram. Lifetime TV, touted as television for women, is actively involved in this program. This year it is titled "Stop Breast Cancer for Life".

Yes, I am against cancer. Yes, I'd like to receive some donations from General Mills for all those pink yogurt tops women send in. I probably do more for education and awareness than the organizations GM donates to from this campaign. They tell me I don't fit their criteria.

Consider too that a lot of this stuff that General Mills calls yogurt contains artificial sweeteners in the 'lite' type. Remember that aspartame (NutraSweet) is a proven cancer causing agent, but more about that in another issue.

For sure I know cancer can be stopped, treated naturally for more recovery and less damage than the medical model, and prevented. Read on and you'll see that the government and the American Cancer Society know it too.

Where do you hear the word 'prevention' in any of these campaigns? There is so much you can do to prevent cancer and breast cancer. Don't forget too that men can get this form of this dis-ease. That's not to say that mammogram would should be required annually for men too, but I can surely say that there are many better ideas for screening. These better ideas do not cause you to get breast cancer, and even related problems from the readiation like heart failure and thyroid problems.

The real purpose of my writing is to get you to think first, ask questions, and demand answers. Hopefully this special edition of herbalYODA Says! will help in that process.

Think Before You Pink –

"The benefit is marginal, the harm caused is substantial, and the costs incurred are enormous..."

“…Mammograms increase the risk for developing breast cancer and raise the risk of spreading or metastasizing an existing growth,' says Dr. Charles B. Simone, a former clinical associate in immunology and pharmacology at the National Cancer Institute...“…the annual mammography screening of 10,000 women aged 50-70 will extend the lives of, at best, 26 of them; and annual screening of 10,000 women in their 40s will extend the lives of only 12 women per year."

In a Swedish study of 60,000 women, 70 percent of tumors detected by mammography weren't tumors at all. These "false positives" aren't just financial and emotional strains, they may also lead to many unnecessary and invasive biopsies. In fact, 70 to 80 percent of all positive mammograms do not, upon biopsy, show any presence of cancer. Remember also that it takes 8 to 12 years for a 'tumor' to be detected by x-ray.

For some reason mammography-centric medicine has completely overlooked the much safer thermal and infrared imaging technologies... Further no comments are made regarding dangers of X-Ray exposure.

An allegation that breast screening is being over-promoted to women who are not being alerted to the harm that can result was published in the British Medical Journal several years ago. Hazel Thornton, a former breast cancer patient and visiting fellow at the University of Leicester, and Michael Baum, emeritus professor of surgery at University College, London, and a long-time critic of screening, have teamed up with a colleague to demand information for women that sets out the risks and benefits. They cite evidence showing 1,200 women would have to be screened for 14 years to save one life from breast cancer while during that time scores would suffer anxiety, surgery and mastectomies for suspicious lumps that turned out to be benign.

In 1978, Irwin J. D. Bross, Director of Biostatistics at Roswell Park Memorial Institute for Cancer Research commented about the cancer screening program: "The women should have been given the information about the hazards of radiation at the same time they were given the sales talk for mammography... A jump to the exposure of a quarter of a million persons to something which could do more harm than good was criminal and it was supported by money from the federal government and the American Cancer Society."

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) was warned in 1974 by Professor Malcolm C. Pike at the University of Southern California, School of Medicine. A number of specialists concluded that "giving women under age 50 a mammogram on a routine basis is close to unethical." Repeat... The experts in the government were told not to do this to healthy women in the YEAR 1974! The warning was ignored.

"Over 280,000 women were recruited without being told that no benefit of mammography had been shown in a controlled trial for women below 50, and without being warned about the potential risk of induction of breast cancer by the test which was supposed to detect it ...in women below 50…mammography gives no benefit..." Mammography was known to cause cancer but the media and the "health officials" in the government stayed silent! The mammography policy pushed by the American Cancer Society to fill its bank account remained the U.S. government policy for ten more years until a massive Canadian study showed conclusively what was known 20 YEARS earlier (1972) but what was not in the interests of ACS and NCI to admit: X- raying the breasts of women younger than age 50 provided no benefit and probably endangered their lives.

1992. Dr. Samuel Epstein “…The high sensitivity of the breast, especially in young women, to radiation induced cancer was known by 1970. Nevertheless, the establishment then screened some 300,000 women with x-ray dosages so high as to increase breast cancer risk by up to 20 percent in women aged 40 to 50 who had mammogram annually. Women were given no warning whatever; how many subsequently developed breast cancer remains uninvestigated. “…Additionally, the establishment ignores safe and effective alternatives to mammography, particularly trans-illumination with infrared scanning. “…For most cancers, survival has not changed for decades. Contrary claims are based on rubber numbers."

Find more information about the risks of breast screening at http://www.leaflady.org/women.htm. Visit the cancer page on our site too for more information.

Please visit our new shopping village at www.leaflady.org to shop at over 100 stores. Your shopping will help provide Creating Health Institute with greatly needed financial support.

herbalYODA Says! is written by Gayle Eversole, DHom, PhD, MH, CRNP, ND, and comes to you through the courtesy of Creating Health Institute,
www.leaflady.org. Please share our newsletter with your friends and others.

Copyright 2005. All Rights Reserved.

Quote for today

"Personal health should not be abrogated by corporations trying to substitute their corporate serving policies for genuine state concerns over protecting health."

Superfund 25th Anniversary Report Finds America’s Safety Net is Weakest When Needed Most

Silver Valley Community Resource Center Calls on EPA to keep communities safe from toxins

Contact: Barbara Miller

Silver Valley Community Resource Center

PO Box 362, Kellogg, Idaho 83837

Phone/Fax: 208-784-8891

Kellogg, Idaho. The Silver Valley Community Resource Center joined with over 50 organizations across the country to release the"25th Anniversary of Superfund: America’s Safety Net in Crisis," a national report which finds the program is at its weakest, at a time when it is needed most to respond to the toxic emergencies.

On the 25th anniversary of Superfund, and the upcoming 2nd anniversary on October 1st of Superfund’s depletion by the loss of polluter pays fees, the report finds that the once-robust and successful toxic waste safety net is now in crisis.

Since its creation in 1980, Superfund has cleaned up 936 sites protecting hundreds of communities. EPA has secured over $22 billion from polluters who have funded approximately 70% of the site cleanups (the remaining 30% are cleaned up with Superfund monies).

Since polluter pays fees expired in 1995, and Congress refused to reinstate them, the burden on taxpayers to support the Superfund Trust Fund has increased by 300%. Taxpayers now fully shoulder the burden of the program’s $1.2 billion annual appropriation to clean up abandoned sites. "This unfair situation has occurred since the Bush Administration made a policy decision to give polluters a free ride and pass the bill on to taxpayers," noted Lois Gibbs, Executive Director of the Center for Health, Environment & Justice, a co-author of the report. It is the first and only administration to oppose the reinstatement of polluter pays fees. When the fees expired in 1995, Superfund had a surplus of $3.8 billion—but on October 1, 2003 all industry fee monies were spent shifting the burden totally to taxpayers.

Superfund has a weakened Trust Fund with a decrease in funding of $600 million annually—from $1.8 billion in 1993 to $1.2 in 2004—according to a recent federal report.

Consequently, Superfund cleanups have slowed to a crawl with an approximate 80% reduction in annual site cleanups—from 88 sites in 1997 to just 16 sites cleaned up in 2005. *

The report includes a Superfund Site Profile for every state in the U.S. with community updates describing health problems, including birth defects and cancer.

"The Bunker Hill Superfund site in North Idaho and Eastern Washington was first designated in 1983. Interior of homes and schools have yet to be remediated and there remains a grave concern with all the mine pollution remaining in yards and Coeur d’Alene Lake and river banks of the Coeur d’Alene and Spokane rivers", says Cass Davis, SVCRC Board member. Recently in an order to close the gap of resources being eliminated because of the Bush Administration not replenishing the polluter pays tax, SVCRC has affiliated with a Clear Corps USA a national organization for lead education and outreach. "Superfund is supposed to be our safety net when toxic emergencies occur," said Gibbs. "Now on its 25th anniversary, it is time for Congress to restore the hazardous waste fees on polluting industries. The core principle is that polluters—not taxpayers—should pay to clean up these toxic waste sites. The ailing Superfund is at its weakest when we need it most to quickly respond to the horrific pollution from toxic and oil waste releases and flooded toxic waste sites resulting from Hurricane Katrina."

For more information, please visit www.besafenet.com/superfund

[* As of September 14, 2005, 16 sites have been remediated in Fiscal Year 2005, which ends on September 30, 2005

Decisions, decisions

"When we give government the power to make medical decisions for us, we, in essence, accept that the state owns our bodies."

~U.S.Representative Ron Paul, MD

Dr. Paul has said a few good words which are quite timely. The publicity and marketing campaign is underway again to coddle you into beleiving the adminstration's drug plan is a winner.

The only winner in this campaign is the drug lobby and their members, BIG PHARMA.

NOT IN MAINSTREAM NEWS

As an "Herbalist for Peace" I wholeheartedly support Camp Casey.

As an American and descendant of signers of the Declaration of Independence, I wholeheartedly support Camp Casey.

Remember that war is not healthy for children or other living things.



Love and Peace,

YODA

The Long Forgotten Art of Medicine

Today, mainstream media reported, just two days after the death of Peter Jennings from lung cancer, that Dana Reeve, widow of actor Christopher Reeve, is being treated for the same dis-ease.

In healing there are four basic levels at which things operate. The four principles are, starting at the basic level, physical, mental emotional and spiritual.

Decades, when medicine was still very much an art, the emotional and spiritual planes were not so avidly avoided. This changed, I'd say, in the 70s when all medical education was moved forward (or really backward) to a cause and effect model. If you have A then you get treated with B, or maybe it should be called rote medicine. I'm not so sure about what it should be called, but I'd guess that "illness care" is a much better term.

I'm not a follower of Andy Weil mainly because I see that he gives rather superficial information to the masses, and he is in favor of fluoridation and vaccination. I don't favor giving out superficial information, nor do I support fluoridation or vaccination. I do however have one point that I share wholeheartedly with Dr. Weil and that is the belief called " placebo effect". Dr. Weil states that the placebo effect is the most underutilized tool in medicine. I agree, yet I know that it was such a strong point for doctors of days gone because it touched on the emotional and spiritual levels of care. And, it worked!

So here we have a young, grieving widow in the throws of chemotherapy, radiation and possibly surgery to treat her dis-ease.

I wonder, dear Dana, did you doctor ever take the time to mention that cancer is, at the forgotten level, a deep hurt? Did he mention that lungs speak to the issue of not being able to take life in fully?

Maybe you'll see this, maybe a friend will and will tell you about it.

For your sake I hope so.

What You Might Not Know About Drugs and Death

In US Healthcare today drugs have become the leading cause of death-
The Leaflady has addressed this issue over many years, going back to the time about a decade ago when drugs were the fourth leading cause of death. Here is an update on this issue:

According to the latest government statistics from the Center for Disease Control, there are over 130 million drug prescriptions written in this country each year. Studies indicate that 90% of these prescriptions are unnecessary, or even worse, are causing great harm to the public health in the form of adverse drug reactions, prescription errors, and harmful side effects. Conservative research has shown that close to half a million people suffer adverse drug effects each year, that serious medication errors occur in over five (5%) percent of all prescriptions, and that one in four individuals using prescription medications will sustain observable side effects. Every year over 100,000 Americans die from adverse drug reactions.

Multi-billion dollar profit motives drive the pharmaceutical industry to expand its market of prescription-based revenue streams, regardless of the consequences to true health. Pharmaceutical sales reps and doctors are provided with lucrative rewards to generate ever greater numbers of prescriptions. These pecuniary rewards have created inherent conflicts of interest throughout the whole trillion-dollar health care delivery system.

The FDA, which should be protecting public health, has actually become the leading advocate for the pharmaceutical industry, and consistently approves drugs that have been proven to be unsafe and even deadly. The revolving door between the FDA and the pharmaceutical industry, the problem with former drug executives acting as government regulators, and how the unwary American public has been left with a hungry fox guarding the henhouse is now well known because of the efforts of Dr. David Graham. How and why the pharmaceutical industry, in tandem with the FDA, seeks to suppress, limit, and ban natural dietary supplements, and other methods of improving health, as competitive threats to their monopoly of patented drugs is a keen concern.

In current times modern medicine has become focused entirely on treating diseases through toxic medications instead of preventing the conditions that breed disease in the first place.

You have a stake in your health and in this issue. Act to keep your representatives and your doctors aware of these issues and call for accountability.

CHI has for years offered educational programs to medical professionals and general public on how to safely use natural approaches to health. Classes are available on-line and in your location, just contact us at www.leaflady.org for more information. Keep up-to-date by visiting our website, sign up for our newsletter and read our BLOG.

Is CODEX for Killing the Elderly?

This morning, as is fairly ususal, I start my day reading emails and posts to my website, www.leaflady.org. While perusing the mail I came across a note from a fellow who offered up a great comment. That comment stirred my thinking for this BLOG post.

I felt pretty strongly about his ideas because I have a large number of Elders who are clients and attend my educational programs. So here is what 'Deacon Elurby' has to say -

Codex is for saving social security systems!

All we have to do in the U.S. to stop CODEX is mobilize the elderly.

How? By explaining to those vitamin-popping seniors that CODEX's bottom-line purpose is not to make Big Pharma and doctors and pharmacists rich, but to reduce socialist nations' elderly populations, and to the reduce the life expectancy of the next crop of old people (you and me).

In other words, HIGH doses of vitamins, as nutrition-science journalist Bill Sardi would put it, SAVES AND EXTENDS LIVES!

CODEX is about killing off people who would otherwise live longer and strain the socialists' social security systems.

Who has contacted the AARP on the matter, to get those seniors mobilized against CODEX?

Again, CODEX is about killing people who would live more healthily and longer by taking LARGE DOSES of vitamins.

CODEX is about killing-off the elderly.

Who'll get the message to them (I've written to AARP magazine editors, have you?).

D.E.

P.S. I've been harping on this matter for months, and nobody - note even Bill Sardi - has thought to pick up on that tactic for saving us from tyrannical regulation of life-saving/life-extending vitamins.

Go figure!

I've written AARP a few times myself about their failure to address health issues with good natural health care information. Nothing ever came of that, not even a thank you. But AARP has a way of getting around this by saying "well you know we have millions of members." I don't think that is good enough but it's their way.

AARP is also selling vitamins. The ingredients are low quality, the prices are too high, but then it's all about money. Remember that AARP supported the Bush drug plan for Elders. This plan is about the biggest corporate welfare plan to come along in years; it surely doesn't do much for health.

I'm not sure why Bill Sardi no longer is the outspoken health writer he once was. Might be because he is supported by a large global corpoaraion that just happens to be in the vitamin business.

I'm for vitamins, I'm against CODEX. I'm against killing people with pharmaceutical drugs, GM food, and a whole list of other health restricting measures. Gee aren't a lot of these Members of Congress on the right pro-lifers?

Don't think I can think of something more pro-life than your right of freedom of choice and your right of access to vitamins and minerals to protect your health.

Hope you'll get mobilized when you read this!

Visit the leaflady on the net and see what you can learn for yourself to stay well and be well in these toxic times. Thank you for supporting our work with your donations and purchases.

New JAMA Study Unfairly Attacks Vitamin E

In the typical biased slant of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), an article published in the July 6th edition bashes vitamin E once again. In the latest report from the Women’s Health Study – a long-term analysis of the health of female health-care professionals that has been ongoing since 1992 – the authors state that women who took 600 I.U. natural source vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) every other day for 10 years had no reduction in major cardiovascular events (heart attack, stroke) or incidence of cancer during the trial. However, vitamin E supplementation DID result in “decreased cardiovascular mortality in healthy women.” This result is a significant finding and should have been emphasized in the article’s conclusion. Instead of stating that women who took vitamin E for 10 years had a 24-percent reduction in risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, the authors concluded, “These data do not support recommending vitamin E supplementation for cardiovascular disease or cancer prevention among healthy women.” Even though their data can substantiate their conclusion regarding cancer, the beneficial cardiovascular data is very important and highly significant, and should have been emphasized.

Learn more about the health promoting aspects of vitamin E by clicking on the link

JAMA itself is not without fault. In their weekly press release they put forth the “negative” aspects of the study with the headline “ Long-Term Vitamin E Supplementation Shows No Overall Benefit For Major Cardiovascular Events Or Cancer In Women.” The positive aspects of the study (the long-term safety of vitamin E and a 24-percent decreased risk of cardiovascular death) were buried in paragraph four with no commentary about these findings. Of course, the television networks and newspapers ran with the negative aspect of the story as spoon-fed to them by the JAMA press release.

JAMA has a long and inglorious history of publishing negative studies regarding the use of nutrients, and this latest article shows that even a positive result can be turned into a negative by biased researchers and/or publishers.

The bottom line – vitamin E supplementation has not been shown to be harmful for healthy human beings, and decreases the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease.

Fake Research Hits New High

Martha Mendoza, AP National Writer, is on to something. That something is much of what herbalYODA has been educating about for years. Too bad that doctor who won't give out any real information about herself other than claim she is a 'pundit' (someone who thinks they know a lot) can't come to terms with her own profession that has sold itself out for false fame and fortune, all at the expense of human lives.

Here's what Mendoza says for starters -

"Allegations of misconduct by U.S. researchers reached record highs last year as the Department of Health and Human Services received 274 complaints - 50 percent higher than 2003 and the most since 1989 when the federal government established a program to deal with scientific misconduct."

Read the full article via the link.

Nutraceutical Hype

Well folks, here we are. Vioxx and other COX 2 inhibitors have caused havoc for thousands who have pain and inflammation. When its not drug we are worrying about it might be patented nutraceuticals on their way to glutting the market with high priced products that just might be no better than what Grandma used to tell you about, or have you eat, in the days when there was real food. There weren't to many cases of difficult diseases in those days, and there might not be so many today if most of us weren't having problems getting a wholesome diet.

Earlier today I had to send off this missive to my local food co-op. I've tried for the past few years to instill some education about the products glutting the natural food marketplace, but in this area there has been little hope. (Thank goodness for Friends of CHI or it would be pretty lonely here.)

One thing about the natural foods marketplace these days is that United is the corporate kingpin and pretty much dictates what products get to your local co-op shelves, that is of course unless you have a pretty active group in the co-op membership that demands better. United recently purchased Select Nutrition Distributors so they now have a big chunk of the supplement marketplace, being what it is with mostly junk products out to make bucks but no real health impact (stick with those things granny told you about for safety and benefit please).

So here is my two cents about a new nutraceutical for those of you that are suffering.

There is a jab in this article because the co-op that I pay a membership fee to every year tells me that I can't have articles published because "I'm not a regular contributor". The editor doesn't regard the co-op newsletter guidelines very well, but then I'm not one to kow-tow to cliques either.

Since the 1970s a great amount of dietary misinformation has been promoted in the form of claims that a non-fat or low-fat diet can prevent many health conditions. In past months there has been a discussion of saturated fat in the diet. Unfortunately, because of lack of understanding, some people have been unwilling to accept the idea that the right kind of saturated fat promotes health. Now comes Celadrin, a patented nutraceutical that turns naturally occurring foods into a drug because so many are suffering these days with inflammation and arthritis. Celadrin is an esterified fatty acid. The base fatty acid is sourced from beef tallow. Beef tallow is the source of myristolic acid, which is then bonded to cetyl alcohol to create cetyl myristoleate. CM is also high in butter. CM has been known since the 1950s, after it was discovered by Harry Diehl who was a researcher at the National Institute for Arthritis, a federal agency in Rockville, MD. In addition to the beef tallow, EPA and DHA, mainly from cod liver oil is beneficial. In the 1970s, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine proved that cod liver oil was extremely beneficial for arthritis and other joint problems and inflammation. The Naturade product containing Celadrin and Glucosamine in the lotion form. The 1.5 ounce bottle retails for about $15. A bottle of 45 caps retails for about $26. Maybe it might be helpful to look at changing your diet to one with healthy saturated fats or weighing in for the very low cost of taking cod liver oil daily. Thank you for the opportunity to comment, Dr. Gayle Eversole Fat Facts and Your Health can be read here: http://www.leaflady.org/fatfacts.htm PS, Diet Hansen's Soda is made with Splenda. It might help shopper's looking for low cal drinks to know that Splenda aids in imparing immune function and calcifying the kidneys, along with other risks. Educational information about these products should be made available to shoppers to help them select wisely. Gayle Eversole, DHom, PhD, MH, NP, ND is Executive Director of Creating Health Institute, a founding member of Sno-Isle Co-op and a member of the Moscow Co-op. She is an internationally known natural health practitioner, author and speaker. She was recently awarded a patent for a nutritional supplement used for extreme sports and health conditions. CO-OP members receive 10% discount on all CHI natural health services.

Now maybe this might help you re-discover your inquiring mind when you are out shopping!
and three cheers for Bill Spear's pin that encourages me to Write Hard, Die Free.

Needless Attacks

I'm a true believer in the right of free speech and the First Amendment. I believe I have a right to express my opinion as I do those who might not see the world in the same way I do.
I think in these times with the horror of CAFTA and CODEX looming over all of us, we might do better to join together, put aside our differences, and defeat those whose greed wishes to deny our basic rights to health care of our choice.
There are some BLOGGERS on this 'channel' that seem to think otherwise and have gone to the extent of attacking the web site connected to this BLOG, Natural Health News.
On the surface you might think these folks would do some homework of their own to see that I present well researched information based on a scientific foundation. Well they haven't. In both cases, the authors, one a physical therapist, and the other, a doctor. Neither identify themselves and the doctor uses the pseudonym so her patients won't know she is writing a BLOG.
Both these folks seem not to have read any of the solid data on my site related to the items they are protesting.
Well, I'm not attacking them, just questioning their integrity a little, and stating that I'm happy she isn't my doctor and he isn't the local physical therapist.
So much for supporters of BIG PHARMA that just parrot what the drug detail folks spout out, as if it had anything to do with helping people get well.

EPA: Compound in Teflon may cause cancer

Now another government agency reporting that, yes folks!, those teflon pans we've been warning you about for decades just might contain cancer causing chemicals...and the heavy weight weigh-in points to FLUORIDE! Just remember that fluoride is that nasty thyroid supressing substance they want you to drink in your water,bathe your teeth in everytime you brush or see the dentist, and the anti-biotic and anti-depressant your doctor told you to take today.
---------------------------------------------

WASHINGTON - With five kids, it seems Barbara Andrukonis always has something cooking in a pan. But it's the chemical compound used to make the pan's Teflon coating that has her — and an EPA panel — concerned.

"I think that anything that sort of isn't the way that nature made it has to have some type of problem with it for us humans," says Andrukonis.

The compound is perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA. Trace amounts of it have shown up in blood samples taken from people across the country. When rats and mice were exposed to PFOA in far greater amounts, they developed brain tumors. Now, an EPA advisory panel reports, "PFOA is a likely carcinogen in humans."

Activists have been pushing the EPA to regulate PFOA for years.

"Our concern is that this is a very unique chemical," says Richard Wiles with the Environmental Working Group. "It lasts, literally, for eternity, and now it has been determined to be a likely human carcinogen. That ranks it up there with DDT, PCBs and dioxin as a very serious hazard. It needs to be banned."

Teflon, and the products that contain PFOA, are everywhere — from pots and pans, to Gore-Tex jackets, carpet coatings, computer chips, engine fuel lines and even pizza boxes.

Teflon’s manufacturer, DuPont, says it doesn't know why PFOA is turning up in human blood samples nationwide. It says there is no PFOA left in Teflon-coated pans during cooking because the PFOA is destroyed during the manufacturing process. And DuPont says its tests indicate that PFOA is not a threat.

"Clearly, based on our assessment of the science, we do not believe this poses any cancer risk to the general population," says Dr. Robert Rickard, DuPont's chief toxicologist.

There are non-stick coatings that don't contain Teflon, but the EPA must decide whether PFOA should be a regulated toxin.

"The EPA is prepared to act, but we do have to have a pretty complete understanding of the risk and the exposures," says Charlie Auer, EPA's director of pollution prevention.

The issue now before the EPA is whether a chemical that's become a part of everyday life is also a threat.

© 2005 MSNBC Interactive, Tom Costello

Panel Affirms Radiation Link to Cancer

See the latest report issued today on the risks of x-rays. At CHI we've been working over many years to alert people, especially woman led to believe mammogram will protect them from cancer when it contributes to the ever increasing rate of breast cancer annually. Our hero of the day today is Dr. John Gofman and we thank him for his research.

A Way to Manipulate Markets: Social Security Reform

By Kerry Lynch

GREAT BARRINGTON, MASS. - One of the biggest potential dangers of the White House plan to create a private investment option as part of Social Security is the incentive it would create for the government to interfere with the markets.

Under the type of program favored by the White House and most free-market economists, a worker could channel a portion of his or her payroll tax into a personal investment account similar to an IRA or 401(k) plan. The investment options probably would be limited to a small group of index funds, similar to those offered in the federal employees' 401(k)-style Thrift Savings Plan (TSP).

And therein lies the rub. Who would decide which funds are approved? Government officials would - and they'd do it by limiting investment options to a few index funds. It's not hard to envision special interests pressuring Congress or the White House to require the Social Security investment funds to exclude certain stocks- or to use inclusion of certain stocks as leverage to force companies to change their ways. For example: Suppose a fund held shares in a tobacco company, or in a company being sued for sex or race discrimination. Suppose the fund owned stock in a company that sells products made by sweatshops in China.

Also politicians would have an even stronger incentive than they have now to use US fiscal and monetary policy to create a perpetual bull market and keep the economy and markets artificially booming. That's because the bigger personal accounts get before retirement, the smaller the traditional Social Security benefits would be - and the less it would cost the government.

And even the most sincere effort to limit political interference would, itself, require Washington to interfere in the market. Because limiting investment options to a few index funds would in effect channel hundreds of billions of dollars into a few thousand, or even a few hundred, companies, thereby excluding thousands of others.

Though proponents of private accounts focus on the benefits of letting individuals control their investments, it is hard to imagine how Washington would keep hands off when Social Security provides such a large and compelling target.

For proof, look no further than legislation introduced recently by House Government Reform Committee chairman Thomas M. Davis III (R) of Virginia and colleagues Chris Van Hollen Jr. (D) of Maryland, and Jon C. Porter (R) of Nevada. With backing from the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts, the legislation would require the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (which oversees the federal employees' savings funds) to include a real estate investment (REIT) trust fund among the five investment options available to federal employees.

The issue isn't whether REITs - which have recently outperformed the S&P 500 Index - are sound investment vehicles. The issue is political meddling. After 20 years of existence, the Thrift Savings Plan now has approximately $130 billion in assets. But if just 10 percent of the Social Security payroll taxes collected last year had been diverted into personal accounts, the total investment for that year alone would have been $40 billion. (And 10 percent is less than most "privatization" advocates envision.)

Social Security would be a far more tempting target because of its importance and size.

Social Security was originally designed, in President Franklin D. Roosevelt's words, to "give some measure of protection to the average citizen and to his family against ... poverty-ridden old age." The program has drifted from that original goal. Changing it to a national investment plan would push it even further away.

• Kerry Lynch is director of research at the American Institute for Economic Research.

White Flour Promotes Diabetes

White Flour Contains Diabetes-Causing Contaminant Alloxan

June 15, 2005
By: Mike Adams

White flour contains diabetes-causing contaminant alloxan You may want to think twice before eating your next sandwich on white bread. Studies show that alloxan, the chemical that makes white flour look "clean" and "beautiful," destroys the beta cells of the pancreas. That's right; you may be devastating your pancreas and putting yourself at risk for diabetes, all for the sake of eating "beautiful" flour. Is it worth it?

Scientists have known of the alloxan-diabetes connection for years; in fact, researchers who are studying diabetes commonly use the chemical to induce the disorder in lab animals. In the research sense, giving alloxan to an animal is similar to injecting that animal with a deadly virus, as both alloxan and the virus are being used specifically to cause illness. Every day, consumers ingest foods made with alloxan-contaminated flour. Would they just as willingly consume foods tainted with a deadly virus? Unless they had a death wish, they probably would not. Unfortunately, most consumers are unaware of alloxan and its potentially fatal link to diabetes because these facts are not well publicized by the food industry.

How does alloxan cause diabetes? According to Dr. Hari Sharma's Freedom from Disease, the uric acid derivative initiates free radical damage to DNA in the beta cells of the pancreas, causing the cells to malfunction and die. When these beta cells fail to operate normally, they no longer produce enough insulin, or in other words, they cause one variety of adult-onset type 2 diabetes. Alloxan's harmful effects on the pancreas are so severe that the Textbook of Natural Medicine calls the chemical "a potent beta-cell toxin." However, even though the toxic effect of alloxan is common scientific knowledge in the research community, the FDA still allows companies to use it when processing foods we ingest.

The FDA and the white flour industry could counter-argue that, if alloxan were to cause diabetes, a higher proportion of Americans would be diabetic. After all, more consumers consume white flour on a regular basis than are actually diabetic. This point is valid, but it does not disprove the alloxan-diabetes connection. While alloxan is one cause of adult-onset type 2 diabetes, it is of course not the only cause. As the Textbook of Natural Medicine states, "current theory suggests an hereditary beta-cell predisposition to injury coupled with some defect in tissue regeneration capacity" may be a key cause. For alloxan to cause injury to an individual's beta cells, the individual must have the genetic susceptibility to injury. This is similar to the connection between high-cholesterol foods and heart disease. Eating high-cholesterol foods causes heart disease, especially in people who have family histories of heart disease. The link between alloxan and diabetes is as clear and solid as the link between cholesterol and heart disease.

If you've been eating white bread for years and you have a family history of diabetes, all hope is not lost for you. Studies show that you can reverse the effects of alloxan by supplementing your diet with vitamin E. According to Dr. Gary Null's Clinicians Handbook of Natural Healing, vitamin E effectively protected lab rats from the harmful effects of administered alloxan. Now, you're not a lab rat, but you're a mammal and vitamin E is definitely worth adding to your daily regimen of nutritional supplements, especially if you have a history of eating foods made with white flour and are at high risk for diabetes.

Even if you are already diabetic, some simple changes to your diet can help treat your diabetes. First of all, stop eating foods made with white flour. Even though you already have diabetes, vitamin E supplements can still help you, as can many common foods. Garlic, for example, does wonders for diabetes. As Dr. Benjamin Lau states in his book Garlic for Health, "When fed garlic, the rabbits' elevated blood sugar dropped almost as much as it did when they were given the antidiabetic drug tolbutamide. Researchers postulated that garlic may improve the insulin effect."

If you can't handle the taste of natural garlic, you can take it in widely available supplements. Aloe vera is a traditional diabetic remedy in the Arabian Peninsula, and its therapeutic characteristics are now gaining worldwide acceptance in the treatment of diabetes. According to both human and animal research studies, aloe vera lowers blood glucose levels by an unknown mechanism. According to the Clinicians Handbook of Natural Healing, this natural hypoglycemic effect extended over a period of 24 hours. Adding onions to your diet (along with the garlic) can also significantly reduce your blood sugar level. Additionally, as Dr. Michael T. Murray writes in The Healing Power of Herbs, studies show that ginseng controls glucose in both diabetic humans and diabetic laboratory animals.

It all comes down to asking if putting yourself at risk for diabetic coma, blindness, limb amputation and death is worth eating white bread. If you're willing to risk your quality of life and your life itself, then go ahead and eat all the foods made with white flour you want. However, if you want to stop poisoning yourself with alloxan, a known toxic chemical, then make a few simple dietary changes. Eat groceries (see related ebook on groceries) made with whole-grain wheat flour, not processed white flour.

The experts speak on alloxan Animal experiments have shown that animals which have their Beta cells destroyed by alloxan are able to regenerate Beta cells after a few months when taking GS, a herb grown in India. The Beta cell is the cell that produces insulin. Diabetics needing insulin treatment (Type 1) have been able to decrease their insulin after GS therapy.

A Physicians Guide To Natural Health Products That Work By James Howenstine MD, page 112 In the mid-1980s, however (when herbal remedies again were popular), pata de vaca's continued use as a natural insulin substitute was reiterated in two Brazilian studies. Both studies reported in vivo hypoglycemic actions in various animal and human models. Chilean research in 1999 reported the actions of pata de vaca in diabetic rats. Their study determined that pata de vaca was found to "elicit remarkable hypoglycemic effects," and brought about a "decrease of glycemia in alloxan diabetic rats by 39%." In 2002, two in vivo studies on the blood sugar-lowering effects of pata de vaca were conducted by two separate research groups in Brazil. The first study reported "a significant blood glucose-lowering effect in normal and diabetic rats."S The Healing Power of Rainforest Herbs by Leslie Taylor, page 382 When beta cells in the pancreas fail to secrete enough insulin, the body loses its ability to metabolize carbohydrates and to reduce glucose levels in the bloodstream. Researchers believe that some people have weak free radical defenses in these beta cells, and that free radical damage to DNA in beta cells, resulting in dysfunction or cell death, helps cause maturity-onset diabetes. It is known, for example, that many chemicals agents beta cells.

Freedom From Disease by Hari Sharma MD, page 94 ...nearly two decades later, researchers at RNT Medical College in India induced diabetes in rabbits with intravenous injections of alloxan. When fed garlic, the rabbits' elevated blood sugar dropped almost as much as it did when they were given the antidiabetic drug tolbutamide. Researchers postulated that garlic may improve the insulin effect by either increasing the pancreatic secretion of insulin or by releasing bound insulin.

Garlic for Health by Benjamin Lau MD PhD, page 22 Commercial yeasted breads, even the whole-grain varieties, often have other problems. They typically contain flour bleach, which forms alloxan, a compound known to cause diabetes in animals by destroying the beta cells of the pancreas (Clinical Nutrition Newsletter, Dec. 1982). S Healing With Whole Foods by Paul Pitchford, page 452 Insulin dependent diabetes mellitus is generally recognized to be due to an insulin deficiency.1 Although the exact cause is unknown, current theory suggests an hereditary beta-cell predisposition to injury coupled with some defect in tissue regeneration capacity. Causes of injury are most likely hydroxyl and other free radicals, viral infection, and autoimmune reactions. alloxan, the uric acid derivative used to induce experimental diabetes in animals, is a potent beta-cell toxin, causing destruction via hydroxyl radical formation.

Textbook of Natural Medicine Volumes 1-2 by Joseph E Pizzorno and Michael T Murray, page 1197 In this study, mice received intraperitoneally melatonin in doses ranging from 100 to 450 mg/kg. Results showed that such treatment proved plasma glucose increase due to alloxan-induced pancreatic toxicity.

The Clinicians Handbook Of Natural Healing by Gary Null PhD, page 88 Bleached white flour. Not only have the bran and germ been stripped away, but bleached flour also contains a substance from the flour bleach (alloxan) which causes diabetes in animals. Unbleached white flour should also be avoided since it is stripped of essential nutrients.

The Enzyme Cure by Lita Lee with Lisa Turner & Burton Goldberg, page 123 When fed garlic, the rabbits' elevated blood sugar dropped almost as much as it did when they were given the antidiabetic drug tolbutamide.

Researchers postulated that garlic may improve the insulin effect by either increasing the pancreatic secretion of insulin or by releasing bound insulin.

Garlic for Health by Benjamin Lau MD PhD, page 22 Aloe vera also exhibits a hypoglycemic effect in both normal and alloxan-induced diabetic mice. A small human study shows benefit in diabetics. Five patients with non-insulin dependent diabetes ingested half a teaspoonful of aloe 4 times daily for 14 weeks. Fasting blood sugar in every patient fell from a mean of 273 to 151 mg/dl with no change in body weight. The authors concluded that aloe lowers blood glucose levels by an unknown mechanismS.

Textbook of Natural Medicine Volumes 1-2 by Joseph E Pizzorno and Michael T
Murray, page 587 Results of this study showed that rats given vitamin E before being administered either streptozotocin or alloxan provided protection against the diabetogenic effects of each. It was also observed that rats with a depleted antioxidant state due to a vitamin E and selenium-deficient diet showed increased diabetogenic susceptibility to normally nondiabetogenic doses of streptozotocin.

The Clinicians Handbook Of Natural Healing by Gary Null PhD, page 312 Noting that the dried sap of the aloe plant to be a traditional diabetic remedy in the Arabian peninusla, this study examined its ability to reduce blood glucose levels in 5 non-insulin-dependent diabetics and in Swiss albino mice made diabetic with alloxan. Results showed that the intake of 1/2 teaspoon of aloes daily for 4-14 weeks signficantly reduced the fasting serum glucose level fell in all patients. Fasting plasma glucose was significantly reduced in diabetic mice by glibenclamide and aloes after 3 days.

The Clinicians Handbook Of Natural Healing by Gary Null PhD, page 369 This study examined the effects of exudate of Aloe barbadensis leaves (oral administration of 500 mg/kg) and its bitter principle (ip administration of 5 mg/kg) on plasma glucose levels of alloxan-diabetic mice. Results showed that the hypoglycemic effect of a single oral dose of aloes on serum glucose level was insignificant in while that of the bitter principle was highly significant and extended over a period of 24 hours.

The Clinicians Handbook Of Natural Healing by Gary Null PhD, page 369 Ginseng exerts numerous pharmacological effects in humans and laboratory animals, including S improved glucose control in humans and diabetic (alloxan-induced) rats; S.

The Healing Power of Herbs by Michael T Murray ND, page 269

White flour contains diabetes-causing contaminant alloxan

Source: http://www.newstarget.com/008191.html

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Chloroform Danger With Antimicrobial Soap

It's now been over six or seven years that I have advised people not to use hand soaps with anti-bacterial ingredients. The main reason for my advice has been that these chemicals, such as triclosan, disturb the balance of naturally occuring staph bacteria on the skin's surface (epidermis). Now here is more convincing evidence.

The problem remains that this substance is not just in soaps, but many other items labelled as "anti-bacterial". It has been proven over the years that the process of hand washing, and the friction it causes, aids in the removal of dirt, grime and bacteria. A best bet is to get our natural hand cleaner with pure essential oils, and switch to one of our recommended 'safe'soaps, herbalYODA Says!


By Kellyn Betts, Environmental Science & Technology
4-15-5

Washing dishes by hand with an antibacterial dishwashing liquid can do more than just ensure that the plates, glasses, and silverware are free from grease and germs, according to Peter Vikesland of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. In research published this week on ES&T's Research ASAP website (es048943+), he and his colleagues show that the triclosan antimicrobial agent used in household dishwashing soaps reacts with chlorinated water to produce significant quantities of chloroform. The research also suggests that the reaction of triclosan with chlorine could be producing highly chlorinated dioxins in the presence of sun
light.

Because of its antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral properties, triclosan is found in toothpastes, acne creams, deodorants, lotions, and hand soaps. It is also incorporated into a wide range of consumer goods, including kitchen tiles, children's toys, cutting boards, toothbrush handles, hot tubs, and athletic clothing. As triclosan flows down drains, it is making its way into surface waters and sewage treatment plants, the bile of fish, and breast milk, according to the Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics, a consumer group. Since 2000, the American Medical Association has been urging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to closely monitor and possibly regulate the home use of antimicrobials such as triclosan.

The formation of chloroform from triclosan is of concern because the U.S. EPA classifies the compound as a probable human carcinogen. Moreover, the presence of trihalomethanes such as chloroform in drinking water has been linked with human bladder cancers and miscarriages.

The reaction of phenols such as triclosan with free chlorine is well known, but Vikesland's research is important because "it ties the use of a household product [to] increased exposure to a disinfection byproduct," says David Sedlak, a professor in the civil and environmental engineering department at the University of California, Berkeley. "This research is important for demonstrating that the chlorination of triclosan can occur under environmentally relevant conditions," says Kristopher McNeill of the University of Minnesota's department of chemistry. "The fact that you can chlorinate triclosan [under] pretty mild conditions is troubling," he adds.

Since writing the paper, Vikesland's team has conducted follow-up research under conditions that more closely mimic those found during home dishwashing. The new experiments used EPA's maximum allowable residual disinfectant concentration of 4 milligrams per liter in tap water and were conducted at 40 C, which fits well with the cleaning recommendations of the Soap and Detergent Association. (The association's website says that dishwater temperatures of less than 33 C, even with sufficient detergent, are likely to leave a greasy film, while the hottest water most people's hands can tolerate is about 43 C.)

Under these conditions, triclosan reacts with free chlorine to generate more than 50 parts per billion (ppb) of chloroform in the dishwater. When combined with the other trihalomethanes in the water, the additional chloroform could easily ratchet up the concentration of total trihalomethanes to 80 ppb, which is EPA's maximum allowable amount, or higher, Vikesland says.

"Since chloroform and other trihalomethanes and disinfection byproducts are already likely to be present in the tap water, and since chloroform, the other THMs, and many other [disinfection byproducts] are highly volatile, there is a very real likelihood that washing dishes with triclosan-containing liquid could cause additional and troubling significant exposure to these volatiles through inhalation and potentially through dermal absorbtion," says Erik D. Olson, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, a nonprofit environmental group. Olson calls the research "significant."

Water treatment plants are working hard to keep the levels of trihalomethanes in tap water below 80 ppb, Vikesland says, noting that the admissible level has recently decreased from 100 ppb. If there is any bromide in the water, the level of trihalomethanes produced during dishwashing is likely to shoot up even higher, he says.

The research makes clear that it is always wise to wear gloves when dishwashing, says Doris Day, M.D., an assistant professor of dermatology at New York University Medical Center. In light of previous studies showing that the levels of trihalomethanes in people's blood increase when they shower, the research raises questions about exposures to chloroform when antimicrobial soaps are used. At this point, however, no one knows what risk they may pose.

Vikesland's research also shows that triclosan's reaction with free chlorine produces a number of chlorinated triclosan intermediates, including 2,4 dichlorophenol. In the presence of sunlight, these chlorinated intermediates could be producing dioxins, say McNeill and his colleague, William Arnold of the University of Minnesota's department of civil engineering. The two have recently demonstrated that sunlight readily converts triclosan in river water to produce dioxins (Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 2005, 24, 517ñ525). But the more highly chlorinated dioxins that could be generated photochemically from chlorinated triclosan intermediates could be far more toxic, says McNeill.

It is unlikely that such dioxins would be generated during dishwashing even near a window on a sunny day because the glass would screen out most of the ultraviolet light necessary to produce the dioxin. But the research suggests that dioxins could be forming near swimming pools in some situations. "There's triclosan in hand soaps and moisturizers. [If] someone who has triclosan-containing moisturizer [on jumps] into the pool Ö they're a potential source for chloroform [and chlorinated dioxin] formation," Vikesland says. The same is true for a child using an antimicrobial soap before getting into the pool, McNeill and Arnold agree. "You could produce a dioxin on the surface of your skin [that] gets absorbed through the skin," Sedlak adds.

McNeill and Arnold say that the research also calls for more detailed studies of whether chlorinated triclosans are being released from wastewater treatment plants. Because triclosan is widely found in the environment, chlorinated triclosan could be a source of toxic dioxins in the environment, says Arnold. Research has already shown that the presence of triclosan can affect algae populations (Environ. Sci. Technol. 2003, 37, 162Añ164A).

Copyright © 2005 American Chemical Society

http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/esthag-w/2005/apr/science/kb_chlorine.html

Another New Wonder Drug

Phosphagenics announces study results from their new drug APA-01. My question is why do we need another drug that may show something in the lab, but little, if anything, is known about how it will respond in humans. Another question is why do we need a drug when we have chelation and vitamin C. Of course lifestyle changes are at the foundation of any health improvement program, but this may be the hardest of all to accomplish.

LONDON 15 April (Dow Jones)--Phosphagenics Limited said Friday that its new patented drug, APA-01, can greatly slow or prevent the development of atherosclerosis, the successful completion of an animal trial shows.

Atherosclerosis is the leading cause of heart disease in the western world, the company said.
See full article

More Medical Mania

This researcher might just have overlooked the reduction in the effect of the immune function of the stomach by encouraging "gastro-protective" medicines, and the harm to kidneys, lever, etc. from Motrin (ibuprofen) and Aleve (naproxyn).
Oh well, I just guess there will be a new dis-ease from this combo and of course they'll have to come up with another new combo to fight the side effects and damage.
Strange they do not look into herbs such as yucca that have been known to be anti-inflammorty since the beginning of time.

Two-Drug Combo May Best Replace Bextra, Vioxx

In the post-Bextra, post-Vioxx age, how can arthritis patients get effective pain relief while protecting their hearts and stomachs from dangerous side effects?

The answer may have arrived in a major new study, which used computer models to determine that a combination of two drugs -- a non-cox-2 pain reliever like Aleve, Advil or Motrin and a gastro-protective medicine like Prilosec or Nexium -- may be the best solution for a majority of arthritis patients.

In fact, it may have always been the best solution, some experts say.

"For years I've been advocating a 'back to the future' combination of these two old and safe drugs," said Dr. Mark Fendrick, a long-time expert on these issues and a professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Although not involved in the current study, Fendrick agreed that, for the vast majority of patients, a traditional non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) plus one of the newer generation of acid-reducers, called proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), is the safest, most effective way of easing joint pain while sparing the heart and stomach.

The furor over the cox-2 subclass of NSAID drugs began last September, when Vioxx was pulled from the market after studies linked its long-term use to increased cardiovascular risk. Then, last week, another cox-2, Bextra, was pulled because of similar fears, as well as evidence of increased risks for a rare but potentially fatal skin reaction.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has allowed a third cox-2, Celebrex, to remain on the market, albeit with tough labels warning of possible cardiovascular risk. And in its order April 7, the agency also mandated black-box warnings on all similar prescription drugs and labeling changes for similar over-the-counter drugs.

Bextra's demise brought up the same question, however: What now for cox-2 users?

Reporting in the April 15 issue of Arthritis Care & Research, a team led by Dr. Brennan Spiegel, of the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, may have provided an answer.

The study used complex computer modeling to estimate the one-year costs, both in terms of patient health outcomes and financial expenditure, of three standard treatments for chronic arthritis pain in a hypothetical group of 60-year-old patients. Those treatments included a cox-2 inhibitor drug alone; a traditional NSAID alone; or an NSAID plus a PPI drug, used to prevent the gastrointestinal damage common to all NSAIDs.

Reflecting current medical practice, all of the "patients" in the hypothetical model were also taking a heart-healthy daily aspirin.

"What we found is that, under every circumstance that we could imagine, there was no health-economic benefit to using the cox-2 inhibitors, at all," Spiegel said.

While cox-2s did reduce arthritic pain, the costs linked to their use rose considerably when researchers factored in an increased incidence of heart attacks and strokes. And while Vioxx, Bextra and Celebrex are somewhat safer on the stomach than traditional NSAIDs, they still convey some risk in that area, too.

"The most frequent thing that happens is dyspepsia -- nuisance symptoms like belly aches," Spiegel said. "Belly aches themselves cost money, and that's another reason we see quite a big difference in cost. That really hadn't been looked at before."

Use of pain-relieving traditional NSAIDs alone still left users with these added gastro risks, however, so the best therapy seems to be combining an over-the-counter NSAID like Aleve, Motrin or Advil (the latter two contain ibuprofen) with a stomach-quelling PPI like Nexium, Prevacid or Prilosec.

The study was funded by Tap Pharmaceuticals, the makers of Prevacid, but Spiegel said his team worked hard to fight any potential bias that would favor PPIs.

"We actually went through a lot of steps to try and make it as hard as possible for the PPI strategy to look good," he said. "But, like the phoenix rising from the ashes, it still came out looking good."

Spiegel advocates using any of the PPIs, in fact: "They're all the same, as far as I'm concerned. I say go with the cheapest."

He stressed that, unlike cox-2s, there's a wealth of long-term safety data on these drugs, which work by shutting down acid production in the stomach. "In general they are extremely safe," he said.

Fendrick said the study more or less validates what he's been saying for years. He believes that, for most patients, the combination of naproxen (Aleve) with a PPI may be best. That's because -- as in the Michigan model -- the majority of older patients requiring chronic pain relief are also taking daily aspirin to fight cardiovascular disease.

"If you take ibuprofen and aspirin at the same time, however, ibuprofen blocks aspirin's protective effect on the heart," he pointed out. That's why non-ibuprofen Aleve may be safer for aspirin users, as opposed to other common NSAID pain relievers such as Advil or Motrin, which contain ibuprofen.

Fendrick believes that only a small fraction of pain sufferers -- those with a very high risk for gastrointestinal bleeding -- should turn to Celebrex. "That's probably only about 10 percent of the market," he said.

He also stressed that "there's no one-size-fits-all" solution for patients, and that patients should make their decision in consultation with their doctor, based on their specific risk-benefit profile.

According to Spiegel, since traditional NSAIDs and cox-2 drugs "are equal in effectiveness" in terms of easing pain for the vast majority of arthritis sufferers, it only makes sense to go with the safest, cheapest option.

Of course, all of this begs the question of whether it was necessary for the FDA to approve cox-2s in the first place.

While he believes there may be some small role left for cox-2s, Spiegel said the FDA "was a little shortsighted in the framework that they were using" as they weighed the risks and benefits of these medications.

"That's because they were only really looking at cox-2s versus the traditional NSAID," he said. "They really hadn't thought about this combination, which many people use practically every day now -- a PPI plus an NSAID."

By E.J. Mundell
HealthDay Reporter