Health & WellnessS


Pills

Heavily Medicated: ​One in three in France on psychotropic medication

Prescription medication, pills
© AFP Photo / Joseph EidStreet Legal
A study by France's National Drug Safety Agency (ANSM) found that one third of French people were taking and at times misusing antidepressants, mood stabilizers and other psychotropic drugs, prompting fresh warnings by health experts.

The report by ANSM, carried by Le Parisien Tuesday, found that 32 percent of French citizens were using psychotropic medication, such as antipsychotics, antidepressants, ADHD drugs, anti-anxiety medications and mood stabilizers.

Comment: The pharmaceutical industry seems to be doing well...


Health

Sleep apnea tied to hearing loss in large study

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Patients with sleep apnea are at increased risk for a number of comorbidities, including heart disease and diabetes.
Both high and low frequency hearing impairment have been linked with sleep apnea in a new study of nearly 14,000 individuals.

"In our population-based study of 13,967 subjects from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos, we found that sleep apnea was independently associated with hearing impairment at both high and low frequencies after adjustment for other possible causes of hearing loss," said lead author Amit Chopra, MD, currently at the Albany Medical Center in New York.

The study was presented at the 2014 American Thoracic Society International Conference.

All subjects underwent successful in-home sleep apnea studies and on-site audiometric testing at baseline. Sleep apnea was assessed with the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), which indicates sleep apnea severity based on the number of apnea (complete cessation of airflow) and hypopneas (partial cessation of airflow) per hour of sleep. Sleep apnea was defined as an AHI ≥ 15 events/hour. High frequency hearing impairment was defined as having a mean hearing threshold of greater than 25 decibels in either ear at 2000, 3000, 4000, 6000 and 8000 Hz, and low frequency hearing impairment was defined as having a mean hearing threshold of greater than 25 decibels in either ear at 500 Hz and 1000 Hz.

Comment: Those who suffer from sleep apnea might want to take a look at this article:

Breathe in: Exercises may help sleep apnea

Also if you haven't tried any breathing techniques, you can check out the Éiriú Eolas breathing program here.


Whistle

Bribery, fraud and corruption charges against big pharma

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What happens when the 'Average Joe' gets caught committing a crime? He or she usually gets the book thrown at them, most often spending time in the slammer. However, what happens when "corporations too big to fail" get caught with "their hands in the cookie jar," so to speak? Not very many folks pay the time, but the corporate treasury pays the fine. Why? Apparently, large sums of money can "absolve corporate sins" time after time after time. One industry that has had enormous fines levied against it is the pharmaceutical industry, also known as Big Pharma.

It is the opinion of this writer that Big Pharma's corporate largess is too tempting to resist by federal government agencies, and fines work nicely. Pharma's lobbyists spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year contributing to congressional campaign coffers, which should be outlawed because it is nothing short of bribery - plain and simple. Obviously, a member of Congress will champion a cause - or is 'morally' obligated to do so - for the money Pharma's lobbyists freely hand out. [3]

Syringe

No benefit to Gardasil vaccine

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© New York Post/Creative Commons
The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine is given to prevent the risk of cancer associated with HPV and is typically administered between the ages of eight and 26. Opponents argue that not only is the vaccine risky, but it is of no value.

The HPV vaccine effects are said to last for only about five years.

In a Health Impact News Daily Post dated today, Dr. Mark Flannery states that, "The problem with this vaccine is this: Even though it's estimated 60 percent of women have the HPV virus, only 1-2 percent of the total population gets cervical cancer, and most of those women get the cancer in their 50s. If the vaccine only works for five years, is administered up to age 26, and yet most cases of cervical cancer happen to women in their 50s, the benefits of the Gardasil vaccine are questionable given the severe consequences it can cause."

In Dr. Flannery's practice, he has worked with a number of people injured by the Gardasil vaccine for HPV and, according to SaneVax, Inc., as of 2013 more than 32,000 people have reported adverse affects to the Gardasil vaccine, more than 145 have died, over 1,000 are permanently disabled, and more than 6,400 have yet to recover. Dr. Flannery writes, "The evidence shows HPV rarely proceeds to cancer and that very few women with HPV develop cervical cancer, as other risk factors are involved."

Comment: In short: Gardasil: Medical torture and child abuse by Big Pharma. See also Vaccine's safety: A crime against humanity.


Bullseye

More spin than science: The latest efforts to take down organics

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Several weeks ago, a group called Academics Review published a report harshly attacking the organic industry and its nonprofit allies for what they called "deceptive marketing practices," designed to instill "false and misleading consumer health and safety perceptions about competing conventional foods." The study also implicates the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) as a willing partner that allows companies to use their sanctioned organic label to deliver fear-mongering messages about the dangers of industrial food.

And while most coverage of the study appeared in small and agriculture-focused publications, some other sources, like the New York Post and Food Safety News, picked up the story without much in-depth research about its source. The headlines "Report: Organic Industry Achieved 25 Years of Fast Growth Through Fear and Deception" and "The Organic Industry Has Been Fibbing All Along" were especially alarming.

Comment: More evidence on WHY consumers care about pesticides, antibiotics, hormones or GMOs in our food:
Other Key Health Benefits of Organic Food
Paying for Health: The Cost of Organic Food Versus Conventional
Going organic for one week cuts pesticides in urine by 90%
The Obvious Advantage of Organic Food Over Conventional
New Study Confirms: Organic Food is Far Healthier Than Conventional
More propaganda: organic food has no added nutritional benefit, says Food Standards Agency
Organic vs. Conventional: Pundits are welcome to their own opinion, but not their own facts
New 'Study' Based on Crops No Longer Grown, Twists Its Own Results, and Fails to Analyze Thinking Outside the Processed Foods Box: Health and Safety Advantages of Organic Food


Health

Preventable factors cause majority of US deaths

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As recently reported by CNN Health1 and Time Magazine,2 five things account for nearly two-thirds of all deaths in the US, or about 900,000 each year:
  • Heart disease
  • Cancer
  • Lung disease
  • Stroke
  • Unintentional injuries, including medication overdoses and car accidents

Arrow Up

Russian lawmakers want to impose criminal penalties on those conducting GMO business

GMO
© Natural Society
In an act of lucidity and light that our own country should somewhat imitate, Russian lawmakers are considering equating GMO-related activities to a terrorist act or death threat, a criminal act that Russia says deserves the punishment which killers and creators of mass ecological and human genocide deserve.

A Russian newspaper, Izvestia, writes that criminal liability will be imposed on any act that involves producing, selling, or transporting genetically modified organisms, if Russian lawmakers get their way.

A bill supporting this ideaology was submitted to the Russian State Duma lower parliament house by the Duma agrarian committee as well as the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) (who claimed the parliament's bill was too mild.)

Those initiating the bill suggest that criminal responsibility should be applicable to companies and government officials, but not to farmers who were convinced that GMOs were safe to grow. They believe individuals should only undergo disciplinary action, and not criminal charges.

The bill would also heavily fine companies for distorting or concealing information about the environmental impacts of GMOs. If this bill were to pass in the US, I'm sure Monsanto would go broke paying all the fines they would be subject to. They've paid off scientists and entire institutions, as well as our own FDA and EPA to conceal evidence about both health and environmental damage that GMOs cause.

Pirates

Why the FDA should be charged with murder

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© thenhf.com
If you worked for a federal agency that was killing people at the rate of 100,000 a year, every year, like clockwork, and if you knew it, wouldn't you feel compelled to say or do something about it?

At the FDA, which is, in fact, killing Americans at that rate, no one has ever felt the need to step forward and speak up.

Let's shift the venue and ask the same question. If you were a medical reporter for a major media outlet in the US, and you knew the above fact, wouldn't you make it a priority to say something, write something, do something?

I'm talking about people like Sanjay Gupta (CNN, CBS), Gina Kolata (NY Times), Tim Johnson (ABC News), and Thomas Maugh II (LA Times).

Syringe

Vaccine's safety: A crime against humanity

Dr. Sherri J Tenpenny warns about the perils of vaccination.
Tenpenny

Dr. Sherri J. Tenpenny is an osteopathic medical doctor, board certified in three medical specialties.

Comment: See also: If you think your kid's vaccines are safe, don't watch this!


Info

How do you get enough calcium if you don't eat dairy?

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OK - I am addressing the popular question concerning why I don't recommend calcium supplements. Basically, the American public has been completely bamboozled by the American Dairy Association to believe that calcium is somehow the most important mineral ever and that we should all want to get as much of it in our diets or supplementally as possible ("don't forget to take your Tums!"). There is no rational foundation for this.

Calcium is, in fact, the single most abundant mineral in our food supply. Even if you completely avoid dairy products (which isn't the worst idea in the world, btw) there would still be plenty of existing calcium in other foods to meet anyone's daily requirements. If, for some reason you truly are deficient in calcium, the problem isn't likely to be a "deficiency" of dietary calcium. The problem is much more likely to relate to deficiencies in essential cofactors (i.e., magnesium, phosphorus, vitamin D3, vitamin A, vitamin K2, boron...etc.) OR - very commonly - an issue with insufficient hydrochloric acid production, absolutely required for the proper ionization of calcium so that it may be properly absorbed. Hormonal imbalances and errant signaling can also contribute improper calcium metabolism. If these happen to be your issues, then calcium isn't going to be the only thing you are likely missing and calcium supplementation is anything but advised.

Comment: Learn more about the benefits of bone broth:

Broth: A Food That Heals
Stock vs Broth - Are You Confused?
Top 5 reasons why bone broth is the bomb.
The amazing health benefits of bone broth
10 benefits of bone broth + gut healing recipe
Bone Broth - One of your most healing diet staples
Traditional Bone Broth in Modern Health and Disease