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 Challenges
Life is full of challenges. As a mother of 3 teenage children (with a
fourth entering that age bracket in just a matter of weeks), I feel very
qualified to talk about the challenges of relating to these wonderful beings
who have all of the answers to every question ever asked including the ones we
haven't even thought of yet! It isn't easy - and even though I can still
remember myself the time when I 'knew it all', that doesn't help much when I am
on the receiving end of rolling eyes, snorts of derisive laughter and just
plain giggles because I am such a 'dag' about music, modern literature and life
in general.
But would I trade one minute of that time with my children - even though
they sometimes make me feel like the most backward individual on this great
green earth? No way, Jose!
As if those challenges weren't enough, I chose 15 years ago to start the
AVN. In a moment of extreme madness, I decided that Australian parents deserved
a fair go. That those of us who had vaccinated without information simply because
we were told to do so by our doctors had gotten a raw deal and that questions
about vaccines were valid and reasonable - lack of answers were neither. And
despite the fact that this organisation can be more troublesome than 4 teenage
children at their very worst, I do not regret for a minute my involvement with
and passion for this issue.
In the last 12 months, we have hosted seminars from the East to the West
coast of Australia, have lobbied NSW Parliament for the right of health
professionals to decline compulsory vaccination and have spoken with hundreds
if not thousands of parents who were either struggling to decide about
vaccination or were trying to help their vaccine-injured children. All very
satisfying but also very challenging.
Now, after 15 years of banging my head against the very solid brick wall
of mainstream medicine and Big Pharma, here I am - still trying to break
through those bricks. And even though I am seeing some encouraging cracks
emerging in that wall, it's still pretty painful to keep going. Especially when
I have to struggle every single day just to keep this organisation operating
despite the ups and downs in the economy, a steep decline in our membership
numbers and everything else that can affect how charities which are not
approved of by the government have to jump through hoops to survive.
"I support you 100%!" How many times have I heard those words spoken by
someone who has never been a member of the AVN or a subscriber to our magazine?
"I think you at the AVN do an amazing job! I just wish I could help somehow..."
Another common response from people who contact us for information and support.
And despite the fact that we work so hard to support natural therapies,
natural therapies seem afraid to support us in return. Perhaps it is too challenging for
them to come out and state that they believe in the importance of informed
health choices despite the fact that informed health consumers will be of
benefit to them? With the exception of those wonderful individuals and
companies who are professional members of the AVN or advertisers in Living
Wisdom, the very organisations which benefit from our hard work don't, in turn,
support us.
I don't know how many people reading this email are or ever have been
financial members or subscribers, but I do know that over the last few months,
we have had a drastic decline in support in both departments. So much so that
we are looking at having to cut back our services and - dare I say it - close
down completely if things don't improve quickly and dramatically.
What would happen if there were no AVN? Who would you call for
information, advice and support? Who else would be shooting off to Canberra or
Sydney to fight against discriminatory legislation, compulsory medication or
other measures aimed at taking away our rights if we weren't there to do it?
And if people are not willing to support us in a tangible and concrete way,
would they later regret it if this organisation were forced to close through
lack of funding and hands-on support?
Challenging questions, I know. But life is full of challenges.
Yours in health,
Meryl.
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 Health Month
First Ever Shingles Vaccine Will Hit Shelves Soon
The U.S. FDA has approved the first vaccine for adult
shingles. The vaccine, known as Zostavax, is intended for use in adults age 60
and older. Studies have shown that it can prevent shingles roughly half the
time.
Dr. David Markovitz, said that doctors may be tempted
to offer "off-label" vaccinations to adults age 50 to 59, but he
stressed that the vaccine remains unstudied in such patients and that
researchers still don't know how long immunity lasts after vaccination. "I
don't think I would rush out and get it myself," said Markovitz, who is
52.
Click here to read more
VA testing drugs on war veterans
The government is testing drugs with severe side effects like psychosis
and suicidal behavior on hundreds of military veterans, using small cash
payments to attract patients into medical experiments that often target
distressed soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, a Washington Times/ABC
News investigation has found.
Click here to read more
New Stealth Chemicals Hidden in Your Food
If you pick up a can of soup and find that the sodium levels are lower
than you expected, or that a food item advertises it has "less sugar"
or "no MSG" then there may be cause for alarm.
A relatively young company, Senomyx, may be responsible for the
sodium and sugar levels falling in various grocery store items. They may be
putting chemicals into your food right now, without telling you and without you
even realizing. Under the law, they don't have to.
Click here to read more
Concerns About Pet Vaccines
Pet owners and some veterinarians in Manitoba, Canada, are concerned that
common pet vaccinations, such as rabies vaccine, may do more harm than good.
According to vets, some pets have had autoimmune reactions to the
vaccines. One vet said," absolutely over-vaccination certainly
exists." Tim Dack, a spokesman for the city's animal services
department said given the constant threat of rabies in Manitoba, pets should be
vaccinated. However, the city is re-examining its vaccination requirement
in light of changing opinions and protocols in the veterinary industry.
Click here to read more
The FDA Wants to Stop You from Protecting
Yourself Against Drug Companies
Suing a drug company is
your only way as an individual citizen of protecting yourself against drug
company malfeasance. It's the only way for you or your survivors to get justice
or compensation if you have been injured or killed by drug company negligence.
It should be a basic right under the law, and right now it is; but the FDA and
the drug companies are on the verge of taking it away from you.
Without the right to sue
pharmaceutical companies, not only will individuals fail to obtain justice,
sealed company data about the harmful effects of drug will remain secret. That
can become a public health problem when serious adverse reactions are hidden
from view. The Wall Street Journal has released data indicating that
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) may have manipulated research in order to hide that its
antidepressant Paxil was causing people to attempt suicide. In the weekend
edition of June 14-15, 2008, the newspaper described how the drug manipulated
its figure to disguise the frequency of Paxil-induced suicide attempts.
Click here to read more
Fall in hormone replacement
therapy associated with fall in breast cancer
A sudden fall in the use of
hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in Australia has been associated with a drop
in the incidence of breast cancer among older women, a study has shown (Medical
Journal of Australia 2008;188:641-4).
A 40% decline in HRT
prescribing between 2001 and 2003 was associated with a 6.7% fall in the
incidence of breast cancer standardised for age in women aged 50 and older.
Click here to read more
Critical care by
specialists is linked to unexplained extra deaths
A retrospective look at
more than 100 000 critically ill patients in 123 intensive care units in the US
suggests that patients managed by specialist intensivists are more likely to
die than those cared for by regular doctors. The odds of death in hospital were
around 40% higher for those managed exclusively by intensivists, even after
extensive adjustment for the fact that specialists cared for people with a
worse prognosis (odds ratio 1.42; P=0.001).
The authors were surprised.
They had expected the opposite.
Click here to read more
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EARTH MATTERS! Car buyers do not like hybrids
The Countryside Agency, a
thinktank set up by the British government, has predicted that food shortages
across Britain are likely as a result of increasing fuel prices. A report from
the group indicates that there are only nine meals per person, available in the
food distribution chain, and that any serious interruption to oil supplies
could see mass starvation break out in less than one week. Lord Cameron of
Dillington, who headed the Agency said that 95 percent of the costs of
producing food are directly related to oil. Food prices have fallen from 30
percent of the average British household budget in 1960 to around 7 per cent.
Rising food prices have already had a major impact on household budgets and the
economy as a whole. Now the government is preparing for shortages as well.
Fertliser prices soar to $1600 per tonne
An increase last week of
$200 per tonne in the price of fertiliser in Australia has alarmed growers,
already reeling from the high cost of fuel, water shortages and low rainfall
across much of the country. The worse news is that international prices are
rising faster, as demand from India and China increases. Fertiliser is
generally made from natural gas and gas prices are rising along with other
fossil fuels.
Farmers experiment with organic fertilisation
Cotton farmers are road
testing the legume, Vetch, for its ability to fix nitrogen and relieve them of
the neccessity to apply oil based fertilisers. A 12 year experiment by CSIRO
scientist Dr John Angus in Wee Waa has shown that rotating Vetch in the cotton
field can fix up to 200 kilograms of nitrogen per hectare, decreasing the use
of fertilisers by 40 percent to achieve the same yield. The vetch is dug into
the soil as green manure, but another crop, faba beans, have the advantage of
generating revenue while also fixing nitrogen. These natural fertilisers also
improve the delivery of phosphorus and trace elements to the crop.
Farmers call for governments to free up food markets
The National Farmers
Federation president, David Crombie, released a report yesterday calling on
governments to remove tarrifs, subsidies and export controls on the global food
supply and let markets sort out the global food shortage. Mr Crombie said,
"Foreign governments must leave their domestic policies at home and once
and for all abandon their trade distorting subsidies, tariffs and other
artificial barriers. "The only workable policy response is to facilitate
an open, market-oriented system for the production, distribution and
consumption of food that enable farmers to respond to genuine market demands
and ensure consumer needs are met."
Organic family farms the future says Peak Oil analyst
Peak Oil analyst, Rupert
Edwards, predicts that small, family run, organic farms will dominate
agriculture in the future as the cost of inputs for agribusiness increase, and
transport prices eliminate the advantages of scale and international trade. He
predicts that largescale agriculture will disappear as local governments move
to protect their farmers and food supply and the cost of inputs increase. He
nominates small, family run mixed farms as robust because of the variety of
food they produce and their proximity to local markets. All farmers will find
organic methods cheaper and more producting in the long term, he predicts.
California considers solar powered steam train
Transport experts in the
capital city of California, Sacramento, are considering the installation of a
solar powered steam train as a tourist attraction and proof of concept on the
tourist line in Old Sacramento. The system would be based on a 1940's fireless
locomotive, powered by superheated steam from solar thermal plants placed at
points along the train track. In San Francisco, Bay Area businesses will now
have to pay a tax of 4 cents per tonne of carbon dioxide emitted by their
businesses. This is the first local government tax on emissions and is on top
of mandatory emissions targets and other incentives to reduce greenhouse gases.
Court orders Bush to release climate report
US president, George
Bush, last week released a climate change report under orders from the Federal
District Court of California. The report summarises the work of all US Federal
Departments as well as a range of other studies. It confirms that disease,
malnutrition and homelessness will affect large numbers of United States
citizens, primarily the poor. It also notes that the US economy will be hard
hit by climate change and that the nation is not well prepared. The White House
has fought the release of the report for three years.
Compiled by The Generator for the Community Radio Network of Australia.
You can read the Generator news every day, or download this broadcast, from thegenerator.com.au |
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In 1999, the Australian government ordered the removal of mercury from all childhood vaccines. It was several years however before the old mercury-laden vaccines were actually used up and in all that time, children continued to receive mercury - a known killer of brain cells - in their shots.