Health & WellnessS


Syringe

Unvaccinated Children Healthier

In 1992 lAS conducted a survey on the health and vaccination status of New Zealand children. The questionnaires were distributed through lAS members, and member's friends and associates.

Such studies normally have inherent biases. In this study almost all the children were breastfed and babies were generally breastfed for longer than the majority of New Zealand babies. Many of the families surveyed included both vaccinated and unvaccinated children, suggesting that the parents developed an awareness of vaccination issues over time. However, many of the respondents were not members of lAS and the split between vaccinated and unvaccinated children was remarkably even.

Comment: Vaccination lies and other tales
Solutions for Forced Vaccinations
Government Vaccination Agenda: Parents Fighting Back
How Safe Are Vaccines?


Cheesecake

11 Charts to show what's wrong with the modern diet

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The modern diet is the main reason why people all over the world are fatter and sicker than ever before. Everywhere modern processed foods go, chronic diseases like obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease soon follow.

The studies are clear on this... when people abandon their traditional foods in favor of modern processed foods high in sugar, refined flour and vegetable oils, they get sick (1, 2, 3). Of course, there are many things that can contribute to these health problems, but changes in the diet are the most important factor.

Here are 11 graphs that show everything that is wrong with the modern diet.

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Cancer drug maker wants 4000% Spanish price hike

Drugs
© Jean-Pierre Muller/AFPPrice-fixing negotiations between the manufacturer and Spain's government are said to be in critical condition.

Drug manufacturer Aspen Pharmacare has reportedly threatened to stop selling its leukaemia and ovarian cancer treatments in Spain if Health Minister Ana Mato refuses to raise fixed purchase prices by up to 4,000 percent.

According to online daily El Confidencial Digital, the habitual bargaining between Aspen and the Ministry of Health has taken a turn for the worse.

The South African manufacturer of generic medicines is currently undergoing a rapid expansion in international markets.

The company is allegedly insisting on massive price increases for a number of drugs but the Ministry has flatly refused.

Sources close to the negotiations reportedly told El Confidencial that the company might refuse to continue supplying the Spanish market in the next few weeks because of lack of profitability.

Spanish law, however, states that companies must continue to supply pharmacies or run the risk of incurring penalties.

Prices for medicines in Spain are usually set after a deal is struck between the government and pharmaceutical manufacturers.

Alarm Clock

Doctors unsure what's behind dramatic increase in birth defects in rural Washington State

birth defects
© AFP Photo / Tim Sloan

As state and federal officials document the alarming rise of deadly birth defects in rural Washington, health experts are at a loss when it comes to pinpointing the source of the problem.

In the three years prior to January 2013, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found there had been 23 cases of anencephaly - a birth defect in which a child is born without parts of their brain or skull - reported in three Washington counties: Benton, Franklin and Yakima. This rate of 8.4 cases per 10,000 live births quickly attracted the attention of health officials, especially since it's four times the national average

Anencephaly wasn't the only severe birth defect confirmed by the CDC, however. Three cases of spina bifida were also uncovered, a condition that involves the failure of a baby's spine and brain to develop properly.

Since the publication of the report last year, another eight or nine cases of anencephaly and spina bifida have been reported by Susie Ball, a counselor at the Central Washington Genetics Program.

The most worrisome aspect of the whole situation isn't simply the increased rate of the defects, but the fact that no one is quite sure what's causing the problem. According to a report by NBC News, the CDC inspected the medical records of hundreds of individuals, looking for disparities between mothers whose children suffered birth defects and those whose children were fine.

Ambulance

Children exposed to more brain-harming chemicals than ever before

toxic chemicals graphic
© Maine Today Media
In recent years, the prevalence of developmental disorders such as autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and dyslexia have soared. While greater awareness and more sophisticated diagnoses are partly responsible for the rise, researchers say the changing environment in which youngsters grow up may also be playing a role.

In 2006, scientists from the Harvard School of Public Health and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai identified five industrial chemicals responsible for causing harm to the brain - lead, methylmercury, polychlorinated biphenyls (found in electric transformers, motors and capacitors), arsenic (found in soil and water as well as in wood preservatives and pesticides) and toluene (used in processing gasoline as well as in paint thinner, fingernail polish and leather tanning). Exposure to these neurotoxins was associated with changes in neuron development in the fetus as well as among infants, and with lower school performance, delinquent behavior, neurological abnormalities and reduced IQ in school-age children.

Now the same researchers have reviewed the literature and found six additional industrial chemicals that can hamper normal brain development. These are manganese, fluoride, chlorpyrifos, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, tetrachloroethylene and polybrominated diphenyl ethers. Manganese, they say, is found in drinking water and can contribute to lower math scores and heightened hyperactivity, while exposure to high levels of fluoride from drinking water can contribute to a seven-point drop in IQ on average. The remaining chemicals, which are found in solvents and pesticides, have been linked to deficits in social development and increased aggressive behaviors.

Comment: The best way to protect yourself and your children from environmental toxins is to be aware of the sources and take steps to limit exposure:
Toxic Chemicals in Everyday Products: Find Out What's in the Stuff You Use
Fluoride in Water Linked to Lower IQ in Children
Cadmium, mercury and phthalates - oh my!
Toxic Metals, Chemicals Found in Jewelry Marketed to Children
How to Detox Fluorides from Your Body


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Doctor says tap water still not safe to drink in West Virginia

Charleston, West Virginia -- People across the Kanawha Valley are all asking themselves the same questions: Is my water safe to drink? Can I shower in it? Can I even rinse off my toothbrush?

After thousands of gallons of a relatively-obscure chemical leaked into the Elk River on Jan. 9 and then into the water plant that supplies nine counties, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention set 1 part per million as the safe level for crude MCHM in drinking water based on limited information available, mostly tests on rats.

However, the CDC took a step back on Jan. 15 - two days after the first zone had been lifted from the do-not-use order - and advised pregnant women not to drink tap water until undetectable levels of crude MCHM are found in the tap water.

In a press conference at the state Capitol this month, Dr. Tanja Popovic, acting director of the National Center for Environmental Health within the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the CDC doesn't like to use the word "safe," and that the advisory was meant to "empower" pregnant women.

"What we want them to do is we want them empowered to feel that they can follow their instincts and do what they feel is good for them," Popovic said.

If you ask Elizabeth Brown, an internal medicine doctor from South Charleston, about the safety of your tap water, her advice to you will be simple: "I don't think it's really safe for anyone at this point."

Brown has seen the effects of what she believes is MCHM exposure first-hand. She continues to see them daily.

"My patients who are coming in with strange rashes and irritated eyes they connect with the water, I'm telling them to avoid it for now and use extra caution," Brown said.

Bacon n Eggs

On sugar and our heart

Heart
© Rudyard.org
My father used to eat a fairly healthy bacon-and-eggs breakfast every morning before heading off to his job at the factory - that is, till we all got word from the medical powers-that-be that this sort of fare would kill us. Dutifully, my dad swapped his heart-healthy but now anathema bacon for a big bowl of Rice Krispies sweetened with a top layer of Cheerios, over which he would slice half a banana and pour a cup of 2 percent milk. At 9 p.m. every night it was his habit to have milk and cookies, which he'd share with our five dogs. And he loved candy. My parents had a special cupboard in our kitchen set aside for themselves that housed nothing but sweets.

My father also made a point of eating plenty of vegetables, which he also believed were good for his heart, and, I think, just because he liked them. He ate this way, as far as I know, for decades, obediently and unquestioningly following the low-cholesterol dictates of medical authority, just as a lot of people did. On the day I started naturopathic medical school, my dad died of a massive stroke. He was dead, I was told three thousand miles away, before he could even be got to the hospital. I don't know how many countless lives have been lost owing to the absolutely unsubstantiated medical advice that cholesterol and saturated fat are bad for us and that we should eat a bunch of carbohydrate in all its various guises, but my father, as you now know, was one of them.

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Backslide: Dow and Dupont get a green light to grow GMO corn in EU

GMO Protest
© Tobias Schwarz/ReutersA protest against GMOs outside Berlin’s Bundestag. The sign says “Stop Genetically Modified Corn.”
While it isn't Monsanto getting away with murder this time around, Dow and DuPont Chemical companies have been given a seal of approval by the European Union to grow their GMO corn. The vote which took place that could have vetoed the proposition lost 19 to 28, with 4 member states abstaining from voting. This means only five states wanted GM corn, but the way the weighted voting system is set up in the EU, the Commission is now obliged to pass the GMO crop initiative.

Without a negative qualified majority against the proposal the Commission says it will pass it, according to the Health and Consumer Policy Commissioner, Tonio Borg.

Germans who didn't want GMO crops in their country are furious at their representatives from abstaining to vote, since their single vote would have made a difference. Peter Simone from the Green's said:
"Today the Federal government missed an historic opportunity to be a clear voice against genetic engineering in Europe. The approval of genetically modified maize on European soil puts genetically modified food on consumer's plates. Almost all Germans oppose that."

Health

Symptoms of GABA Deficiency

gaba deficiency
Want to know your brain a little better? Here's an intro to one of your main inhibitory neurotransmitters - GABA.

Inhibitory sounds like a bad thing, but there's a balance between the excitatory and the inhibitory aspects of all function; just as there's light/dark, up/down, fast/slow and cold/hot. If we were to run on hot all the time, like most of us do in modern times, we'd get burnt out. Sick... Tired...

And often oddly wired at the same time.

Bandaid

The remarkable power of the placebo: Patients who had FAKE surgery for a broken back recovered just as well, documentary reveals

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Test: Dr Kallmes set up a revolutionary trial to test if fake operations could also heal damaged vertebra in the back. He found that patients who believed they'd been treated - but actually hadn't - recovered as well as those who really did have the op.
We've all heard of placebos. They're dummy pills. They can't do anything real. After all, there's nothing in them.At least, that's what we thought. But in recent years, evidence has built up to suggest that placebos can be highly effective - particularly in treating pain, depression, and even alleviating some of the symptoms of Parkinson's disease.

And it isn't just dummy pills that seem to be able to work: you could get life-changing improvements from a pretend potion that's actually just water; or perhaps fake acupuncture with needles that don't even puncture your skin.

The key is simply that you think it might help you. But when it comes to placebos, it doesn't get much more dramatic than what's been called sham surgery - as Dr David Kallmes discovered a few years ago.

He's a successful radiologist at the Mayo Clinic, one of the world's leading hospitals - it's where the Presidents of the United States often get treated. For the past 15 years, he's been fixing broken backs by injecting them with a special kind of medical cement.

Dr Kallmes regularly performed the procedure - called vertebroplasty - and found it hugely effective. 'We saw terrific results from the procedure, really amazing results,' he told me.

However, there were some questions as to exactly what was going on - because some people seemed to get better even when the operations went horribly wrong.