The Times are Changing

The following short articles are from the mainstream press - "TIME". FORTUNE, etc., that show how things are slowly changing

"MERCURY RISING

Without "conceding any clear and present danger, a panel of experts has warned doctors against using vaccines that contain the preservative thimerosal. Their concern: mercury in thimerosal can cause neurological damage to kids. Vaccines with the preservative haven't been made since 1999, but older lots can still be found on clinic shelves."[TIME, OCT15]

"BAYER BUST

The popular cholesterol lowering drug Baycol has been pulled off the market after being linked to $1 US deaths. Reports of muscle destruction, a rare side effect of all "statin" class drugs, were about ten times as common for Baycol. Anyone taking the drug, especially those with muscle pain, should seek a doctor's advice. " [TIME, AUG 20-27] [SEE STATIN, NEXT PAGE.]

"100,000 villagers in the Karbi Anglong district of northeast India were found to be suffering from fluorosis, caused by excessive fluoride levels in their water. Many have been crippled for life. " [March 26]

"HORMONE HAZARDS

Long-term oestrogen use may double the risk of ovarian cancer. The report, in the JAMA. [Journal of the American Medical Association], says that although the study was conducted at a time when most doctors still gave women oestrogen by itself. Since then, women who haven't undergone a hysterectomy have generally received oestrogen plus progestin because the combo reduces the risk of uterine cancer. It's quite possible, taking both drugs reduces the risk of ovarian cancer as well. Clearly, medical researchers are not as confident of the health benefits of long-term hormone therapy as they used to be. Investigators were surprised last year when preliminary evidence from a WHI study revealed that taking oestrogen with or without progestin, slightly increased the risk of blood clots, heart attacks and strokes over a two year period. The researchers are waiting for the final results to see the if the short-term risk is outweighed by any long-term protection for the heart. " [TIME APRIL 2]

Short term risks? Of heart attacks, strokes and cancers'7 Are they crazy? People like Dr Raymond Peat have been telling them this for 20 years! See article on Progesterone, next issue.

"GENETIC PRESCRIPTION

Ever feel like you are getting every side-effect in the book? You may be right. According to geneticists, up to 70% of the population may have a genetic abnormality that causes them to metabolise many of the drugs on the market particularly slowly, meaning that chemicals hang around in the body longer and have more time to trigger toxic effects" [TIME APRIL 9]

Well dah! Only 70%? Look, I don't care if they blame genes, as long as they wake up to the fact that human beings [or animals and plants] are simply unable to cope with chemicals. Period!

"THE TYLENOL SCARE

For many of us suffering occasional aches and pains, reaching for a Tylenol has become almost a reflex. The best selling over-the-counter pain reliever and it's generic copycats are staples in American medicine cabinets. The active ingredient in Tylenol is acetaminophen, a versatile molecule that can cool fever, soothe a teething baby and dull the sharp joint pains of osteoarthritis.

Now however, the US Food and Drug Administration is asking some tough questions about acetaminophen. It's a drug that can do serious damage to the liver when used outside prescribed guidelines and it's not at all clear that the warning on the label are being heeded or even read by consumers. "

"GULF WAR SYNDROME

A L S , Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, the paralysing disease that took the life of Yankee great Lou Gerhig, is showing up in Gulf War veterans at twice the rate it occurs in other military personnel. That's the conclusion of the Defence Department and the Veterans Administration after reviewing the medical records of 2.5 million servicemen and women. ALS, which destroys nerve connections in the brain and spinal cord and causes muscles to atrophy, is the first disease directly linked to the generalised symptoms of Gulf War Syndrome."

I wonder - would they like to know the main cause? Would you believe it is aspartame! During the Gulf War, the troops quaffed huge volumes Diet Pepsi, filled with aspartame. What made it even worse is that they kept the pallet loads of Pepsi out in the hot Kuwait sun. If you remember the Aspartame article some time ago, heat, extreme heat of over 40 degrees, increases aspartame's toxicity 100 fold. That was the main cause of ALS.

"BAYCOL

Among the best selling prescription drugs in the US today are the statins - powerful medications that can lower cholesterol levels by as much as 30 points. A fix that quick comes at a price however, as Baycol users learned recently. The popular statin was pulled off the market after health officials discovered that a disturbing number of users were suffering from muscle disorders. Other statins, including atorvastatin, lovastatin and pravastatin, remain 'safe', according to the Food and Drug Administration."

'Safe'? You are kidding. Maybe they should first read what all the real experts say about the true cause of the so-called cholesterol 'problem'.

"BSE

The panic over Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, commonly known as 'mad cow' disease, spread all the way to Japan last year, where a handful of cases caused beef sales to plummet. The good news was that researchers using a mathematical model, estimated that the brain-wasting BSE variant in humans may 'max' out at 100 cases per year in Britain, ground zero for mad cow and kill no more than a few thousand people in the coming decade. Feel any better?"

I would love to try Colloidal Silver on BSE!

"FISH OIL

You've seen the 'heart healthy' menu logo next to the fish entrees. Well, supersize that. Studies have shown that eating fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids [such as sardines, salmon and herring] not only protects you against heart disease but also cuts your risk of stroke. The more you eat, the greater the protection. And if that isn't enough to steer you to seafood, a 30 year study of 6,000 Swedish twins found that non-fish eaters are two to three times as likely to get prostrate cancer. Go fish!"

"CT SCANS

Computed tomography is an invaluable tool for doctors, giving them an inside view of the body that can help spot appendicitis as well as cancer, pneumonia and other dangerous diseases before they become unbeatable. But young children, whose growing cells are still dividing rapidly, may be at higher risk of developing brain cancer when exposed to the radiation of CT scans, according to a new study. The risk is small, but it can be reduced even further if technicians lower the dose for kids."

The risk is small? Well, at least they are starting to admit that there is a risk.

Then in the January 21 issue of TIME, there was also an article by Christine Gorman, a regular medical columnist, titled "Playing Chicken With Our Antibiotics", subtitled "Overtreatment is creating dangerously resistant germs". The story starts off with:

"It's the sort of thing any good farmer notices right away: a few of the birds in the grow-out building have started snickering - the chicken equivalent of coughing. A respiratory infection could spread to the 20,000 other birds in the chicken house in a matter of days. The vet recommends the antibiotic enrofloxacin - the animal version of Cipro. [If we hadn 't known about Cipro before, the recent anthrax scare sure brought it to everyone's attention].

Since it's not practical to treat the birds individually, the farmer pours a 5 gallon jug of the drug into the flock's drinking water. Five days later, the birds are doing fine. Disaster has been averted.

Or has it? While enrofloxacin kills the type of bacteria that sickened the chickens, it doesn't quite eliminate a different strain, called Campylobacter, that lives in the intestine. The surviving germs, which don't cause any poultry diseases, quickly multiply and spread the genes that helped them fend off the antibiotic. Six weeks later, when the broilers are carved up at the slaughterhouse, resistant bacteria spill out everywhere. Even with the best sanitary controls, some campylobacter is shrink-wrapped along with the thighs, breasts and drumsticks that are delivered to your kitchen counter.

That's where the real trouble begins. Campylobacter is a major cause of food poisoning in humans. Less than diligent hand washing or improperly cooked meat could park you on the toilet for the next few days. And if you are sick enough to need medical treatment, you might be out of luck. Chicken Cipro is so closely related to human Cipro that any germ that has become resistant to the animal drug can shrug off the human one just as easily.

Welcome to the harrowing world of antibiotic resistance, where drugs that once conquered everything from pneumonia to tuberculosis are rapidly losing their punch. Chicken Cipro is only the latest example of how humans are burning their pharmacological bridges.

Well - haven't we been telling them that and more for decades? Dr Gorman has still not mentioned the huge collection of watered-down antibiotics in our water supplies that, Borgia-like, make all the bacteria in Nature either die off or, mutate to survive, creating Frankenstein monsters in miniature. Dr Gorman did include an extra box with this:

"If the widespread use of antibiotics is helping drug-resistant germs spread, will thing get even worse if everybody starts using those new antibacterial soaps? No one knows for sure but there is cause for concern.

Unlike antibiotics, which are either found in nature or mimic the action of natural substances, antibacterial soaps contain triclosan and other synthetic chemicals that manufacturers once claimed could wipe out all bacteria. But in the past two years, researchers have shown that some germs can, at least in the laboratory, mutate to counter triclosan's effects. That could be a problem because so many household products - from sponges to cutting boards to dishwashing liquids - now contain triclosan Once a few germs develop resistance, they will be much more likely to survive in a world full of triclosan. Many researchers believe that prudent consumers, for their own good, not to mention the good of the planet, should keep triclosan products out of their house.

What about alcohol based sanitisers such as Purell? They are less likely to pose a problem because liquid alcohol quickly evaporates and leaves no bug-fighting residue. "

Remember friends, all the above is from the 'main-stream' presses, not from me! Changes are happening, as we speak!

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