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Alternative Medicine in the News
April 2010 edition 69
published weekly
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The Evidence Check is dead (UK)
19 April 2010
H:MC21 (the Homeopathic activist lobby) has received a
statement from the Department of Health that the government will NOT be
responding to the Evidence Check: Homeopathy by the Commons Science and
Technology Committee because an election has been called. The full text is
below.
What this means, is that this report is very probably dead, as it
seems unlikely that an incoming government will bother with a report which has
provoked so much controversy, and which offers so little benefit to the
electorate or the NHS.
We believe that the mass lobby of Parliament
organised by H:MC21, combined with the handing in of 28,741* signatures in
support of homeopathy and the unknown number of letters written to MPs, have
meant that the government's response was delayed until it could be avoided
altogether. We would like to congratulate all those who have been involved in
making our response to the report so powerful and so successful.
*
This includes a further 629 which have been sent to the Department of
Health.
Excerpts from the Department of Health's letter
The Department of Health is currently unable to publish its response to the
House of Commons Science and Technology Committee's Evidence Check on Homeopathy
now that the Genneral Election has been called and Parliament has been
dissolved. The Department cannot comment on the matter at this
time.
...
The current position, that decisions on the provision
and funding of all types of treatments are the responsibility of the NHS,
remains unchanged. What happens on this issue in the future will be a matter for
the incoming government.
I realise that this reply will be a
disappointing one, but I hope it clarifies the Department's position.
Comment from Didi: Congratulations to the UK team of activists who have, through their efforts, confirmed that the Freedom to Choose one's Healthcare is a right of the people. To all Kenyan, UK, and other citizens of the globe who supported these efforts by signing petitions, etc. thank you very much.
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World Homeopathy Awareness Week celebrates 200 years since the publication fo the Organaon
10 April 2010
100
million people in Europe, one billion people worldwide use homeopathy
as part of their continuing healthcare. On the date of Samuel
Hahnemann's 255th birthday (10 April), he who discovered the natural laws that
underpin homeopathy's effectiveness, a week of further awareness
raising and celebration begins.
For 200 years homeopathy has worked for
ever more people around the World and it will only grow in popularity
in the future for one simple reason - it works.
Let's take a moment this week to remember this great sage and genius, Samuel Hahnemann.
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WHO Investigation of H1N1 Pandemic Proves a Whitewash
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that it will be appointing
an "independent" committee to investigate the conduct of WHO in the
H1N1 swine flu panic of 2009. The investigation is meant to decide
whether the actions of WHO were warranted - specifically the
declaration of a pandemic. Margaret Chan, Director-General of WHO,
called for a "frank, critical, transparent, credible and independent review" (emphasis added) and then proceeded to a closed-door meeting to begin proceedings.1
It
is what will obviously be yet another whitewash where a governmental
organization investigates itself and eventually comes to a foregone
conclusion. In this case, just looking at the appointees tells you what
the ultimate outcome of this "independent" investigation will be.
One
of the committee members is Dr. John Mackenzie. Mackenzie has direct
links with various vaccine and pharmaceutical companies and was
influential in the WHO declaration of a level 6 pandemic in 2009.2 No conflicts of interest there.
Of
course, Dr. Mackenzie will not have any foregone conclusions in his
part in the investigation of WHO's actions. That is, unless you think
he lied in Der Spiegel3 last month when he said "I think we did everything right."
Others
aren't quite as sure as Mackenzie is. The Council of Europe criticized
the way WHO handled the swine flu pandemic. Paul Flynn (United Kingdom
representative) declared that "A pandemic cannot be whatever the WHO
declares it is. If it turns out that former PACE [Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe] member Wolfgang Wodarg was right
when he said the pandemic was decided to help the pharmaceutical
industry make bigger profits, this might well turn out to be one of the
biggest health scandals ever."4
This is no small accusation. Not only did WHO change the definition of a "pandemic" just before declaring H1N1 to be one,5
but also this new internal investigation happens right as the Council
of Europe is in the middle of close hearings on their own investigation
into WHO and how the pandemic was conducted.
Of course, Natural
News and Mike Adams were quick to inform readers of the swine flu lie
and make it clear that the pandemic was just another hoax to sell
vaccines and pharmaceuticals. While WHO estimated that there would be
two billion infections of H1N1 and millions of deaths, in reality the
2009 flu season was milder than normal with few infections and very few
deaths.
The WHO whitewash will undoubtedly conclude that they
did nothing wrong and were merely incorrect in their estimations.
They'll likely pat themselves on the back for getting the word out and
doing their part to convince so many millions of people to take the
experimental vaccines their friends in Big Pharma cooked up for the
event.
Resources:
1 - WHO chief wants 'frank and critical' review of its handling of swine flu outbreak, The Canadian Press, April 12, 2010.
2 - Head of Key WHO Emergency Committee Has Links to Big Pharma, Reports Information by TheFluCase.com
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Scientists fear MMR link to autism
By SALLY BECK, Mail on Sunday
http://www.dailymail.co.uk
New American research shows that there could be a link between the
controversial MMR triple vaccine and autism and bowel disease in
children.
The study appears to confirm the findings of British doctor Andrew
Wakefield, who caused a storm in 1998 by suggesting a possible link.
Now a team from the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in
North Carolina are examining 275 children with regressive autism and
bowel disease - and of the 82 tested so far, 70 prove positive for the
measles virus.
Last night the team's leader, Dr Stephen Walker, said: 'Of the
handful of results we have in so far, all are vaccine strain and none
are wild measles.
'This research proves that in the gastrointestinal tract of a
number of children who have been diagnosed with regressive autism,
there is evidence of measles virus.
'What it means is that the study done earlier by Dr Wakefield and
published in 1998 is correct. That study didn't draw any conclusions
about specifically what it means to find measles virus in the gut, but
the implication is it may be coming from the MMR vaccine. If that's the
case, and this live virus is residing in the gastrointestinal tract of
some children, and then they have GI inflammation and other problems,
it may be related to the MMR.'
The 1998 study by Dr Wakefield, then a reader in gastroenterology
at the Royal Free Hospital in North London, and 12 other doctors
claimed to have found a new bowel disease, autism enterocolitis.
At the time, Dr Wakefield said that although they had not proved a
link between MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) and autism, there was cause
for concern and the Government should offer the option single vaccines
- instead of only MMRs - until more research had been done.
The paper - and the confused interpretation of its findings -
caused uproar and led to many parents withdrawing their co-operation
for the triple jab. Ten of the paper's authors also signed retractions
on the interpretation but stood by the science.
This is the second independent study to back up Dr Wakefield. In
2001 John O'Leary, Professor of Pathology at St James's Hospital and
Trinity College, Dublin, replicated his findings.
Last night Dr Wakefield said: 'This new study confirms what we
found in British children and again with Professor O'Leary. The only
exposure these children have had to measles is through the MMR vaccine.
'They were developing normally until they regressed. They now suffer autism and bowel disease.
'The Department of Health and some of the media wanted to dismiss
our research as insignificant. The excuse was that no one else had the
same findings as us. What they didn't say is that no one else had
looked.'
A spokesman for the Department of Health said they had not read the
American report, but added: 'MMR remains the best form of protection
against measles, mumps and rubella.'
Comment from DIDI: What an excuse!! Ok, even if you don't debate the efficacy of the vaccine, what about the AUSTISM!! Which parent wants to be be burdened with the knowledge of having destroyed their child's life for the sake of supporting BigPharma for these relatively benign diseases (that is, easily controlled by other means)? What kind of human beings are these doctors that are willing to sacrifice thousands of lives because it's "still the best form of protection...blah blah". It's obviously NOT the best form of protection! Doctor: Do No Harm is your first rule.
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Dark-skinned immigrants to Canada urged to take vitamin D supplements
Canadian doctors and nutritionists are urging dark-skinned immigrants
coming to Canada to supplement with vitamin D in order to stay healthy.
Many Canadian immigrants have relocated from countries with warmer,
sunnier climates, and are exposed to far less natural sunshine in
Canada than in their native lands. As a result, many of them have
become deficient in vitamin D.
Immigrants come to Canada to
work, to go to school, and simply to live, but few realize that the
change in climate conditions could have devastating effects on their
health. Darker-skinned people who come from places that receive more
sunlight and are warmer for more months out of the year often have
trouble maintaining healthy vitamin D levels in places like Canada that
are colder and get less overall sunlight.
According to Dr. Kevin
Pottie, nearly all of the immigrant and refugee patients he tests have
low vitamin D levels, especially during the wintertime when the angle
of the sun is at its lowest and the fewest ultraviolet-B (UVB) rays
make their way to people's skin.
Reinhold Vieth, a researcher
from the University of Toronto, explained in a CBC News interview that
the color of a person's skin actually plays a role in how much vitamin
D that person produces when exposed to sunlight.
People with
lighter skin tend to produce far more vitamin D when exposed to natural
sunlight than do those with darker skin. People from countries with
lots of natural sunlight and warm climates generally have dark skin, a
trait that Vieth believes has developed throughout their ancestries in
order to protect them from sun damage. As a result, dark-skinned people
must be exposed to far more sunlight than light-skinned people in order
to produce the same amount of vitamin D.
"Basically, what we're
doing is transplanting people from an area for which their skin is
optimized in terms of its color to an area where their skin is often
too dark to be healthy," he explained in an interview.
A
University of Toronto study co-authored by Vieth found that those of
South Asian descent are six times more likely to have vitamin D
deficiency than those from European descent. Researchers believe this
is due, in part, to a diet that is low in foods containing vitamin D.
Many women from these cultures also wear traditional clothing that
covers nearly all their skin, limiting their exposure to the sun.
Immigrants
who generally spent a lot of time outside in their native lands tend to
stay indoors in Canada due to the colder weather and harsh winters. As
a result, they are more prone to vitamin D deficiency diseases like
bone density loss, arthritis, diabetes, cancer, multiple sclerosis, and
even mental illness.
The Canadian Cancer Society is recommending
that people take 1,000 international units (IU) of vitamin D every day
throughout the year in order to maintain good health.
Sources for this story include:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/sto.
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MalariX now on sale
Homeopathic anti-malarial medicine now available
 We are happy to announce that our excellent malaria medicine is now registered with the Kenyan Pharma and Poisons Board and is available though tel: +254710620323 sales@abhalight.org - Healthy U outlets
Elixir, Village Market ABC Pharmacy
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Twenty health-giving reasons for adding maple syrup to your breakfast
07 April 2010
There are 20 health-giving reasons why you should be adding maple syrup
to your daily breakfast, say researchers. The syrup contains 20
compounds that have positive benefits on human health - and that's
eight more than science thought it had, researchers from the University
of Rhode Island have discovered.
Maple syrup is rich in phenolics, an anti-oxidant usually found in
berries, and it also helps fight cancer, bacteria and diabetes, too.
But researchers stress that it's important to use pure maple syrup, and
not products that just have maple syrup flavouring, or that contain
some of the syrup along with other ingredients.
(Source: Annual meeting of the American Chemical Society, March 21,
2010).
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Swine flu more likely in people who have the seasonal flu jab
14 April 2010
The swine flu (H1N1) pandemic that wasn't still affected quite a few
people - and they were more likely to get it if they had been given the
standard seasonal flu jab.
People who had had the seasonal flu jab were more than twice as likely
to get swine flu, one study of households in Quebec discovered. The
risk went from 68 per cent and up to 2.5 times in the study that
included 2,700 people, some of whom developed swine flu.
The researchers are not convinced there is a direct cause-and-effect
relationship between the seasonal flu vaccine and swine flu, but they
do suggest that our health guardians need to think more carefully about
the vaccine programmes they prepare.
(Source: PLoS Medicine, 2010; 7: e10000258; doi:
10.1371/journal.pmed.1000258).
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Flaxseeds as good as a drug for lowering cholesterol
07 April 2010
A few tablespoons of flaxseeds every day can be as effective as a
powerful drug in lowering your cholesterol levels, a new study has
discovered.
The seeds, which are rich in omega 3 fatty acids and in lignans, a
phytoestrogen, reduced cholesterol levels in a group of men by around
10 per cent in just three months. Cholesterol-lowering drugs usually
achieve a reduction of between 10 and 20 per cent, but often with side
effects.
For the study, 90 men with high cholesterol consumed 150 milligrams -
that's three tablespoons - of flaxseeds every day for the three months,
usually by sprinkling the seeds on the food they were eating.
Strangely, the flaxseeds didn't help women reduce their cholesterol
levels.
The researchers from Iowa State University reckon that the lignans in
the flaxseeds are the active ingredient, and their ability to protect
the heart has been proven in earlier studies, too.
(Source: American Society for Nutrition annual meeting, April 24-28,
Anaheim, California).
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Medical Disclaimer:
The information contained within does not take the place of medical diagnosis or
prescription. See your health care provider in case of sickness.
Editorial Disclaimer: Publication of these articles are to promote food for thought. The opinions expressed in these articles may not be the opinion of editors.
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