Health & WellnessS


Dollars

USDA: Yet another federal agency turned into a corporate puppet

Dr. Mercola
Mercola.com
Tue, 22 Mar 2016 00:00 UTC
USDA GMO
Many, if not most, of our regulatory agencies have a long history of protecting industry interests over public and environmental health. Most recently, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has come under increasing scrutiny following mounting charges of harassment and censorship.

In the first week of November 2015, Jonathan Lundgren, who spent the last 11 years working as an entomologist at the USDA, filed a whistleblower complaint against the agency, claiming he'd suffered retaliation after speaking out about research showing that neonicotinoids had adverse effects on bees.1

In the U.S., nearly all corn, about 90 percent of canola, and approximately half of all soybeans are treated with neonicotinoids. As the use of these pesticides has gone up, bee and Monarch butterfly populations have plummeted.

After publicly discussing his findings, Lundgren claims that "USDA managers blocked publication of his research, barred him from talking to the media, and disrupted operations at the laboratory he oversaw."

Comment:

Read More...
Syringe

More Gardasil controversy: Is the public being given all the facts?

Jefferey Jaxen
Health Impact News
Tue, 22 Mar 2016 15:21 UTC
Gardasil
© Gardasil.com. Is the public being given all the risks of the Gardasil vaccine?
The public, medical community and politicians throughout the world are witnessing a polarization regarding the safety of the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine. A historic, global backlash of parents, whose teenagers have been injured by the HPV shot, is currently threatening the very root of a multibillion dollar vaccine industry. While families and communities at the grassroots level continue to organize to effect change at the county, state and district levels, those within the ranks of medicine and research are making their objectionable discoveries public. However, when research findings threaten public immunization policy, initially set by conflicts of interest and compromised regulatory agencies, those in positions of power must react with integrity.

Comment: Yet another article confirming that the Gardasil vaccine is truly 'A formula for disaster'
Canadian neuroscientists Lucija Tomljenovic, PhD and Chris Shaw have published a number of papers in which they raise concerns about the health risks posed by HPV vaccines. They worry that the vaccine may trigger fatal autoimmune or neurological events in some cases. "The rationale behind current worldwide human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccination programs starts from two basic premises, 1) that HPV vaccines will prevent cervical cancers and save lives and, 2) have no risk of serious side effects." They note that,
"Careful analysis of HPV vaccine pre- and post-licensure data shows however that these premises are at odds with factual evidence and are largely derived from significant misinterpretation of available data."
Compared to all other vaccines in the U.S. vaccination schedule, Gardasil alone is associated with 61% of all serious adverse reactions (including 63.8% of all deaths and 81.2% cases of permanent disability) in females younger than 30 years of age. 3Since the same HPV vaccines are used in Canada, we can assume the rate of reactions and injuries is comparable. 3


Read More...
Attention

More toxic Glyphosate exposure: Why is it sprayed on crops right before harvest?

Ken Roseboro
Earth Watch
Sat, 05 Mar 2016 14:50 UTC
Glyphosate
What is not so well known is that farmers also use glyphosate on crops such as wheat, oats, edible beans and other crops right before harvest.
Glyphosate, the main ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup herbicide, is recognized as the world's most widely used weed killer. What is not so well known is that farmers also use glyphosate on crops such as wheat, oats, edible beans and other crops right before harvest, raising concerns that the herbicide could get into food products.

Escalating Use of Probable Carcinogen

Glyphosate has come under increased scrutiny in the past year. Last year the World Health Organization's cancer group, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, classified it as a probable carcinogen. The state of California has also moved to classify the herbicide as a probable carcinogen. A growing body of research is documenting health concerns of glyphosate as an endocrine disruptor and that it kills beneficial gut bacteria, damages the DNA in human embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells and is linked to birth defects and reproductive problems in laboratory animals.

Comment:
According to Dr. Seneff, desiccating4 non-organic wheat crops with glyphosate just before harvest came in vogue about 15 years ago. Interestingly enough, when you expose wheat to a toxic chemical like glyphosate, it actually releases more seeds. "It 'goes to seed' as it dies," Dr. Seneff explains. "At its last gasp, it releases the seed."

This results in slightly greater yield, and the glyphosate also kills rye grass, a major weed problem for wheat growers that is resistant to many other herbicides. What they're not taking into consideration is the fact that rye grass helps rebalance the soil, and from that perspective is a beneficial plant.

So, most of the non-organic wheat supply is now contaminated with glyphosate. A large percentage of processed foods are made from wheat, and this helps explain the explosion of celiac disease and other gut dysfunction.
The Examiner provided a chart from a USDA database, indicating that indeed, almost all of these types of wheat receive applications of glyphosate, even though there is no RoundUp-resistant wheat that is approved for mainstream use in the United States. According to Examiner, Barley is also treated with RoundUp right before harvest. Curious social media users began wondering what else, besides wheat, might be sprayed with RoundUp just before harvest.

According to Monsanto literature, farmers are encouraged to conduct pre-harvest RoundUp applications on many crops. Monsanto explains how to most efficiently use RoundUp as a pre-harvest treatment of wheat, feed barley, oats, canola, flax, peas, lentils, and dry beans.


Read More...
Dollars

How money from Big Pharma sways doctors' prescriptions

Charles Ornstein, Ryann Grochowski Jones & Mike Tigas
The Atlantic
Sun, 20 Mar 2016 13:48 UTC
Big Pharma

New research found that even receiving something as small as a meal made physicians more likely to prescribe brand-name drugs.

Doctors have long disputed that the payments they receive from pharmaceutical companies have any relationship to how they prescribe drugs.

There's been little evidence to settle the matter—until now.

A ProPublica analysis has found for the first time that doctors who receive payments from the medical industry do indeed tend to prescribe drugs differently than their colleagues who don't. And the more money they receive, on average, the more brand-name medications they prescribe.

Comment: Dollars for Docs: How Industry Dollars Reach Your Doctors

Read More...
Cow Skull

Food & drugmakers fight antibiotic regulation even after reports of growing human risks

Dr. Mercola
Mercola.com
Sat, 19 Mar 2016 22:22 UTC
antibiotics
Attempts by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to decrease the widespread use of antibiotics in livestock production have seldom succeeded.

An effort to prohibit cephalosporins like Cefzil and Keflex in 2008 was stopped by frenzied lobbyists from the egg, chicken, turkey, milk, pork and cattle industries, who claimed they could not "farm" without the drugs.

Their trade groups, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and the Animal Health Institute (AHI) also put pressure on the FDA, which backed down.1

In 2014, the FDA again tried to regulate antibiotics, floating a new plan in which drug makers voluntarily agree to remove "growth promotion and feed efficiency" as approved uses on livestock antibiotic labels so the drugs would only be used in cases of sickness and under the care of veterinarians.2

While drug makers have until the end of 2016 to make the voluntary changes, so far results are very disappointing and use has actually gone up rather than down.

Comment: The articles listed below provide additional data regarding the growing concern of the overuse of antibiotics in factory farmed meat production: David Kirby, author of the book Animal Factory depicts the many known health and environmental problems associated with large factory farms or CAFO's (Confined Animal Feeding Operations). In the article Factory Farms Make You Sick. Let Us Count the Ways, Kirby sums up the situation with Factory Farms quite clearly:
"You can pass all the laws you want, organize all the boycotts," Kirby said. "But ultimately when you cram thousands of animals into a single confined space without access to fresh air, outdoor sunlight, pasture, natural animal behaviors - you are asking for problems in the form of diseases that attack people."
For a more in depth look at The Problem with Factory Farms read the following:
Well, federal regulators have for years ignored the question and refused to release estimates of just how much antibiotics the livestock industry burns through. But that ended yesterday, when the FDA released its first-ever report on the topic. The answer: 29 million pounds in 2009.


Read More...
Bacon n Eggs

A beginner's guide to the Ketogenic diet

Rudy Mawer
authoritynutrition.com
Sun, 20 Mar 2016 19:00 UTC
keto 101
The ketogenic diet is a low-carb, high-fat diet that offers many health benefits.

Over 20 studies show that this type of diet can help you lose weight and improve health (1).

Ketogenic diets may even have benefits against diabetes, cancer, epilepsy and Alzheimer's disease (2, 3, 4, 5).

This article is a detailed beginner's guide to the ketogenic diet.

It contains everything you need to know.

Comment: Additional benefits of a Ketogenic diet:

Read More...
Sherlock

The anatomy of a false flag disease

Paul A. Philips
Activist Post
Sun, 20 Mar 2016 15:55 UTC
false flag disease
There's no better example of the deceptive world we live in than the manufacture of a fake disease. Epidemic or pandemic, whether it's the Zika virus or others such as Ebola, swine flu, bird flu, SARS, HIV/AIDS ... all these diseases share a number of common repetitive patterns throughout their deceptive histories.

So, here are 10 common repetitive patterns making up the anatomy of a false flag disease.
Read More...
Health

The many benefits of licorice root

Dr. Mercola
Mercola.com
Mon, 21 Mar 2016 14:14 UTC
licorice
The scientific name for licorice root, Glycyrrhiza, comes from "glukos" (sweet) and "riza" (root). This "sweet root" contains glycyrrhizin, a compound that can be up to 50 times sweeter than sugar. So it's not surprising that when many people think of licorice, they think of the confectionery by the same the name.

However, licorice is a perennial herb native to the Mediterranean that's been prized for its medicinal properties for centuries. In fact, its use is documented in Assyrian clay tablets and Egyptian papyri.

It was valued in ancient Arabia for treating coughs, while in ancient Greece it was also used for coughs along with asthma. The herb also has a history of use in China, where it was used to relieve irritation of the mucous membranes and spasms in the gastrointestinal tract.

Virtually all Chinese herbal formulas contain licorice because it assists in gastrointestinal absorption and "harmonizes" the herbal blends.1 In other words, it helps to enhance the effects of the other herbs.

In India, traditional Ayurvedic medicine regards licorice root as an expectorant, spasm-relieving, and anti-inflammatory, demulcent (relieves irritation of the mucous membranes) that also affects the function of the adrenal glands.2
Read More...
Bulb

Why hospitals need to recognize the science of healing thoughts

Arjun Walia
Collective Evolution
Tue, 15 Mar 2016 22:43 UTC
healing thoughts
© blogs.discovermagazine.com
The interaction of our thoughts with the physical material world is of huge interest today, garnering increasing attention by academics around the world. Despite a wealth of scientific data showing that one can influence the other, and even more evidence proving that certain emotional states can lead to chronic illness, many who work in mainstream medicine remain entirely ignorant of these concepts.

Perhaps this is why more and more people are gravitating towards alternative forms of medicine. As Garth Cook from Scientific American points out:
A growing body of scientific research suggests that our mind can play an important role in healing our body — or in staying healthy in the first place. . . There are now several lines of research suggesting that our mental perception of the world constantly informs and guides our immune system in a way that makes us better able to respond to future threats. That was a sort of 'aha' moment for me — where the idea of an entwined mind and body suddenly made more scientific sense than an ephemeral consciousness that's somehow separated from our physical selves.

Comment: Placebos, nocebos, and the symptoms of healing

Read More...
No Entry

The U.S. Attorney General is slandering supplements


Alliance for Natural Health
Tue, 15 Mar 2016 18:35 UTC
traditional medicine
Last week, Attorney General Lynch released a video for National Consumer Protection Week about supplements. Excuse us, but since when is the US attorney general an expert on this subject? Since she obviously isn't, she must be relying on distortions and untruths she has been fed by other agencies of the government such as the FDA and Centers for Disease Control.

For instance, Ms. Lynch warns consumers against "ingesting substances whose safety and efficacy are not guaranteed" by FDA study. As we pointed out in our response to PBS, pharmaceutical drugs are also not studied by the FDA. The agency relies on industry studies to determine if new drugs can come to market. No independent review is done to check the industry's results, which has led to all kinds of manipulation and sometimes disastrous outcomes (see the examples of Vioxx and Avandia). And after approval is granted, the actual medicine itself is never tested, even though it may be manufactured in Chinese plants or other faraway locales.


Comment: Public Broadcasting System: A front for Big Pharma?


Comment: Natural health false flag? Attacks against multivitamins & supplements continue
Chances are, you've recently been barraged by not-so-subtle headlines attacking multivitamins and supplements as a whole. The mainstream articles in 2013 were very loosely and poorly based on three simultaneous and ridiculously flawed studies - and are still being referred to today. If anyone bothers to read the studies, they might find that they are simply a vehicle for an attack - an attack so gratuitous and heavy handed as to make one wonder about their modus operandi.

But the real attack on multivitamins stems from a mere editorial cited by a media regurgitating the words "case closed," "we don't need multivitamins," "evidence mounting [against multivitamins]," "enough is enough" and projections like the "vitamin industrial complex." Oh...so the gavel has been slammed...God forbid someone have their own preference about a consumer product.


Read More...