Up Close and Personal
The monthly interview with CTM founder Phillip Day

ECLUB: Packed and ready for Australia?
PHILLIP DAY: Can't wait!
ECLUB: What gives this month?
PHILLIP DAY: Well, the Execrable Establishment's seizure of the alternative health industry proceeds apace. The reason? About 10 million people use some sort of complementary or alternative medicine every year in Britain and about half of them see therapists, and the loss of revenue for the drug industry is proving intolerable.
We have excellent articles this month, firstly by Dr Jonathan Wright, discussing the global vitamin round-up from America's point of view. Once again, folks, the legislation banning or severely restricting the public's access to a whole range of supplements and herbs is not just a European phenomenon. We're seeing similar moves in Australia, New Zealand, the US and Canada as the drug industry and its lap-dog, Big Medicine, move to regain market-share.
ECLUB: The pernicious Doctrine of Sanctuary.
PHILLIP DAY: …wherein no expense is spared to convince the public those wicked supplements will do them in, and so tacitly allows government to enter every nook and cranny of their lives to 'protect them'. Naturally all this socialist legislation does is make more criminals, removes rights and freedoms, and severely limits the public's right of choice. But it does put the drug industry back in control of what we take to help our bodies heal. Uh-oh.
ECLUB : Leading inevitably to….
PHILLIP DAY: The next article, dealing with the deregistration of doctors who commit the unpardonable sin of advising their patients to change their diet to more healthy options.
ECLUB: They're deregistering them?
PHILLIP DAY: Absolutely. Worse, the National Health Service is employing nurses paid for by drug companies to encourage patients to take medication under schemes that will inevitably result in people receiving inappropriate treatments. We've seen this go on for years with the baleful HRT patches and pills causing heart attacks, coronary spasms, estrogen-positive breast cancer, etc. There's an article this month also about the dangers of those contraceptive patches, Ladies.
ECLUB: Wear a crash helmet to bed then?
PHILLIP DAY: I don't care what you do to put your wife off, Brian. The article entitled 'Blood Clot Warning for Women on HRT' reports women taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) are at an increased risk of developing life-threatening blood clots. A study involving almost 17,000 women aged over 50, found that those taking HRT for five years were at double the risk of getting a venous thrombosis. Anyone unsure about the dangers of HRT after all the ballyhoo should search the CTM archives under 'Menopausal Problems' or, alternatively, go to Dr Joseph Mercola's excellent site. There are dietary and lifestyle changes that will safely move you out of the problem.
ECLUB: What else?
PHILLIP DAY: Another article reports that people vaccinated against hepatitis B are at an increased risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a study of UK patients. And then we have a round-up of facts from the Fluoridation Action Network showing that fluoride not only doesn't improve cavity statistics, it sometimes actually worsens them.
ECLUB: You're going quite hard on water at the moment, aren't you?
PHILLIP DAY: Yes. Aside from the fluoridation mission, Dr F Batmanghelidj's excellent new book, Water and Salt, Your Healers from Within, and also a little Credence primer by me (Water - The Stuff of Life), both deal with the tremendous health benefits of proper hydration with clean, unfluoridated water. It has been estimated 80% of the western populations are chronically dehydrated as a result of drinking 'fluids' instead of water. This has led to the formation of several disease-types, primarily because cell-cleaning, elimination and blood viscosity are all adversely affected by a paucity of water.
ECLUB: And lastly politicians?
PHILLIP DAY: …like babies nappies, should be changed often, and for the same reason. The EU continues to put its foot in its mouth. Most of the ten newcomers to the EU are having serious reservations about what they have let themselves in for.
ECLUB: Do you have an answer?
PHILLIP DAY: There is only one answer to all the public's woes with both Big Industry and Big Government, and that's for the public to stop being lame-brained and get involved. As Eve Hillary so astutely points out in a recent article, the new global activism is dictating where the bulk of the money gets spent. Simply put, the ultimate power in the marketplace and ballot box is you, the public. If we can all be educated into making good choices (and even not to choose at all), the market must inevitably follow us. Australians, for instance, spend $2.3 billion a year on some form of alternative remedy, FOUR TIMES the amount they spend over the counter on drugs. This has forced the drug industry to seek ways to recoup market share (hence the vitamin snatch). Ultimately, if no-one buys the majority of their products anymore, they have to stop making them.
ECLUB: Hence your Break Free tour.
PHILLIP DAY: Break Free, Brian. A squirrel is just a rat with good public relations.

'Idiotic' EU Directive Accused of
Threat to Medical Research
by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard and Roger Highfield

Vital medical research is faltering across the European Union as the result of a poorly drafted law that has infuriated scientists.

Researchers fear that the EU's Clinical Trials Directive will impose a heavy burden of extra costs, complexity and paperwork on universities and hospitals carrying out low-budget studies of medical products.

The law was agreed in 2001 to harmonise EU standards, even though the existing code of conduct worked well. The directive, which came into force in Britain in May, has led to a Europe-wide freeze on a range of future trials planned by research groups, or caused a flight to more hospitable locations outside the EU.

Prof Richard Gray, the head of Birmingham Clinical Trials Unit, called the directive bureaucracy run mad.

"We have not undertaken any new projects for a year because of this," he said. "It's the most complete nonsense. Everybody is running around like headless chickens trying to work out how to cope."

More than 2,000 scientists have signed a petition calling for repeal of the law. A survey of more than 400 doctors found that only 40 per cent of respondents knew of the new directive. "It was quite shocking that so few knew about it and its implications," said Dr Neil Bacon, the founder and chief executive of Doctors.net.uk, which carried out the survey. "Doctors are starting to express concerns. It is clear that small, unfashionable trials won't be possible."

Almost 45 per cent of respondents said the directive would make them reconsider being involved in trials.

Britain is badly hit because roughly half all "phase-one" clinical trials in the EU are held here though complaints are pouring in from Italy, Spain, Ireland and Eastern Europe.

Prof Gray said the paperwork would deter doctors from referring their patients for trials, depriving the research bodies of their lifeblood in fields such as Parkinson's Disease, Alzheimer's, and cancer.

The worst affected would be the mass trials that often lead to a breakthrough in the hunt for cheap and easy treatments. These can involve as many as 70,000 people taking no more than a daily dose of aspirin, and rely entirely on goodwill and the volunteer spirit.

The law was intended for big drug firms which conduct high-cost trials with small numbers of people. It was made more draconian by Euro-MPs and ministers hoping to protect patients from abuse.

Dr Richard Sullivan, the head of Cancer Research UK, said it would raise the cost of academic and non-commercial studies by up to four times. "The idiots who designed this had no understanding of the vast amount of other research going on," he said. "It's not going to make the slightest difference to the big firms but it's awful for the little guys."

Privately, EU officials admit the directive was badly mishandled. They are preparing "flexible" guidelines that in effect urge governments to violate the law they have just introduced. British authorities are also searching for ways to soften the legislation.

Dr Brian Moulton, the head of Save European Research, said the law should be scrapped immediately. "Common sense will have to prevail somehow because you can't just let European research close down overnight - can you?" he said.
The Daily Telegraph, 4th October 2004

PHILLIP DAY'S COMMENT: There's no plainer example of the blind leading the blind and they both fall in a ditch. This story has less to do with scientists being thwarted as it does the meddlesome, nannying EU doing what it does best - wasting money, compromising efficiency and then telling everyone it's for their benefit.

And what of all this medical research on disease, the vast majority of which is a complete waste of time and money, since scientists are not concentrating on nutrition and lifestyle as causative and curative factors alike in these chronic, metabolic diseases.

Since the EU is a classic corruption of Big Business feeding off Big Government, it's hardly reassuring to know that even when politicians are fiddling, they are incompetent.

Further Resources
Health Wars by Phillip Day
The ABC's of Disease by Phillip Day

Fed up with the EU and want to do something about it?
Spread the word to friends with The Real Face of the European Union, our video documentary (PAL format only) which lays out the serious problems with the European Union and what you can do about it. Also, don't miss the two following incisive commentaries on the dangers of Britain's involvement with the EU:

Ten Minutes to Midnight by Phillip Day
Vigilance by Ashley Mote

Click here to purchase or review any of the above.
Click here for telephone sales around the world.

EU Newcomers Begin to Rue the Day They Joined
by Christopher Booker

Anger is still growing across the 10 countries that joined the EU in May as they discover how they were hoodwinked with fine promises of the benefits that would be showered upon them if they voted to join.

In southern Poland last week there were threats of rioting by thousands of small farmers whose woes have been compounded by a harvest even worse than Britain's. Like their British counterparts, they had lobbied their government for an advance payment of EU farm subsidies, due in December, to tide them over. The Polish government appeared sympathetic, but then sent out subsidy application forms so fiendishly complex that the farmers found them almost impossible to fill in.

However, the Self-Defence Party, which represents Poland's peasant farmers, engaged the services of British consultants, wise in the ways of EU form-filling. As a result, and to the astonishment of the Polish officials, most of the farmers' forms were successfully completed. The authorities, their bluff having been called, then had to confess that there was no hope of getting the money from Brussels before December after all.

Meanwhile in Malta, a row has erupted over the discovery that, instead of being able to buy sugar at the world price of  200 a tonne, the islanders must now pay the protectionist EC price of  840. The government tried to allay public outrage by announcing that it has negotiated with Brussels a special subsidy that reduces the sugar price to  380. But the opposition spokesman Noel Farrugia then pointed out that, since half this subsidy comes from Maltese taxpayers, they will still have to foot most of the additional bill - as well as seeing Malta's soaring government deficit going ever further beyond the EU's spending rules.

The official response came last week from Malta's EU commissioner, Joe Borg. In a bizarre outburst, he claimed that the Maltese eat far too much sugar anyway. Mr Farrugia, he said, should read Professor Yudkin's book Pure, White and Deadly, on the damaging effects of sugar on the human body. He should then advise his fellow citizens (10 per cent of whom, according to Mr Borg, are diabetic) to "applaud the government" for reducing consumption of this dreadful stuff.
The Sunday Telegraph, 3rd October 2004

PHILLIP DAY'S COMMENT: The 'sugar-guzzling' Maltese apparently voted overwhelmingly to join the EU. Welcome then to the world's greatest, protectionist market. And thank your new EU Commissariat from protecting you from yourselves. Have a jam doughnut.

Stop Meddling, Turkey tells the EU
by Amberin Zaman

Turkey told the European Union yesterday to stop meddling in its domestic affairs as a row over a move to criminalise adultery threatened to provoke a crisis between Ankara and Brussels.

Weeks before the EU is due to report on whether Turkey meets the criteria for membership talks, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister, lashed out at criticism from Brussels after a criminal law reform package was frozen in parliament because of a bitter inter-party squabble over the legal status of adultery. Mr Erdogan said: "We are Turkey and the Turkish people will make their own decisions."

Drawing applause from leaders of his Justice and Development Party, he added: "Joining the European Union is not the be-all and end-all." The dispute erupted when Ankara announced plans to reinstate laws to punish unfaithful spouses with jail sentences of up to three years.

Under pressure from critics at home and abroad, governing party leaders shelved the proposal this week.

On Thursday, however, parliament leaders temporarily retracted the entire penal code package - designed to draw Turkish laws closer to those in EU member states - following demands from conservatives in Mr Erdogan's party that the adultery proposal must be included.

Brussels restated its opposition yesterday. Jean-Christophe Filori, the European Commission spokesman, said criminalisation of adultery "would strengthen the hands of those in Europe who oppose Turkey's membership".

Gunter Verheugen, the enlargement commissioner, said the situation was "very worrying."
The Daily Telegraph, 18th September 2004

PHILLIP DAY'S COMMENT: Dear Turkey. Stay well clear, mate.

Further Resources
Spread the word to friends with The Real Face of the European Union by Phillip Day, a video documentary (PAL format only) which lays out the serious problems with the European Union and what you can do about it. Also, don't miss the two following incisive commentaries on the dangers of Britain's involvement with the EU:

Ten Minutes to Midnight by Phillip Day
Vigilance by Ashley Mote
Click here to purchase or review any of the above.
Click here for telephone sales around the world.

Euro 'Gendarmerie' Set Up to
Police the World's Trouble Spots
by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

The European Union added a fresh arm to its fast-growing military and police machinery yesterday, launching a fighting "gendarmerie" for quick deployment to trouble spots all over world.

EU defence ministers meeting in Holland agreed to back the French-inspired plan for a 900-man force to be operational by December. Comprising French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, and Portuguese units, the gendarmerie - or carabinieri in Italian - will be well-armed and ready for full-scale conflict if necessary. The first commander will be French, with headquarters in Italy.

Michelle Alliot-Marie, the French defence minister, said the force was designed for "post-conflict" duties in regions emerging from civil war such as Bosnia, Kosovo and Ivory Coast.

She extolled the move as further proof that Europe is coming of age as a genuine military power and added: "When we spoke of European defence 10 years ago, it was utopian; five years ago, it was just talk; now it's a reality."

Britain welcomed the scheme but without its own tradition of a militarised police it has no plans to take part. The gendarmerie is one of a plethora of cross-border military, paramilitary, and police bodies sprouting up in the EU, including a Finnish-Swedish force to patrol the Arctic wastes and a Franco-Spanish anti-terrorist police corps.

The EU's main project is a rapid reaction force, a pool of 60,000 troops, 400 aircraft and 40 warships, backed by a military staff and an intelligence cell in Brussels, supposedly ready for duty worldwide. Critics say it remains a paper army, lacking the basic airlift to project force overseas, or the sort of "smart" weapons that dominate modern warfare.

Mrs Alliot-Marie has been pushing for an autonomous EU military force outside NATO control. She is the chief advocate of a strategic alliance between the EU and China to counter American power, a plan that has infuriated Washington.

While Britain and France have been working closely together in pushing the EU's defence ambitions, their ultimate vision is starkly different. Paris sees it as part of long-term goal of breaking dependence on Washington: London sees it as a means of locking the EU into the transatlantic structure.
The Daily Telegraph, 18th September 2004

PHILLIP DAY'S COMMENT: The new superpower is coalescing, one that is fiercely antagonistic to America. The EU now has a population of 450 million, dwarfing America's 260 million. In addition, Vladimir Putin is having warm showers with Gerhardt Shroeder and Jacques Chirac, potentially augmenting the EU population to 1 billion, should Russia believe her economic woes could be improved by joining.

Russia in the EU?

Keep an eye on the EU/Russia ballet over the next few years. At least the latter doesn't have a law on adultery.

Further Resources
Spread the word to friends with The Real Face of the European Union by Phillip Day, a video documentary (PAL format only) which lays out the serious problems with the European Union and what you can do about it. Also, don't miss the two following incisive commentaries on the dangers of Britain's involvement with the EU:

Ten Minutes to Midnight by Phillip Day
Vigilance by Ashley Mote
Click here to purchase or review any of the above.
Click here for telephone sales around the world.

Kinnock joins Britain in Europe
by Marit Ruuda

The outgoing Commission Vice-President Neil Kinnock has joined the board of Britain in Europe ahead of the referendum campaign on the Constitution. Earlier this week Commissioner for External Relations, Chris Patten, was also reported to have joined the pressure group.

The appointment of two such strong political figures is a sign that Britain in Europe will become more independent from No 10. and will be able to operate as an independent campaigning body, reports the Guardian.

Mr Kinnock said yesterday that he was very pleased to join the Britain in Europe board. "I want to combat the Euroneurotic wreckers, beat the bigots and their myths, argue for improvements in the union and sustain the case for full, influential engagement."

Britain in Europe is the pro-European campaign in the UK, launched by Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Ken Clarke, Michael Heseltine and Charles Kennedy in 1999.

The referendum is expected to be held in spring 2006.
EU Observer.com, 24th September 2004

Kinnock's Euro Pay-off is Condemned
by Toby Helm

The Conservatives accused Brussels of "appalling extravagance" last night after it emerged that Neil Kinnock, the outgoing European commissioner, would receive a pay-off of about £277,000 over the next three years followed by an annual pension of £63,900 a year for life.

Mr Kinnock, who has been a commissioner since 1995, and for the past five years has been in charge of tackling internal mismanagement of the EC, will receive the money under notoriously generous rules for former members of the Brussels executive. It will be in addition to any pension he receives from his 25 years as an MP at Westminster.

Graham Brady, the Tory EU spokesman, condemned the Brussels "gravy train".

"Hard-pressed British taxpayers will be appalled at this extravagant pay-off for Neil Kinnock, who has failed comprehensively to tackle fraud, waste and corruption in the EU," he said. "If he was being paid by results he would be refunding his salary not drawing this huge additional payment."

Under EC rules, retiring commissioners receive "transitional allowances" for three years to help them to adjust to life away from Brussels.

For those such as Mr Kinnock who have served the maximum of two commission terms (10 years) the transitional allowance amounts to 65 per cent of their final salary - currently £142,000 - for each of the three years. That amounts to about £277,000.

After that he will be paid an EU pension of 45 per cent of his final salary - £63,900 a year.

Chris Patten, the other retiring British commissioner, who has served one five-year term, will receive a smaller transitional allowance of about £210,000 over the next three years followed by an EC pension of about £32,000 a year for life.

If commissioners take a job after leaving Brussels they have to forfeit part or all of their transitional allowances only if the total salary from the new job plus the transitional allowance exceeds their old salary from the commission.

The Taxpayers Association of Europe condemned the Brussels rules as completely "unsuitable".

Brussels officials say the large transitional payments serve the purpose of deterring commissioners from trying to find other jobs in which they could use their inside knowledge of EC affairs.

Peter Mandelson, the former Cabinet minister and MP for Hartlepool, will take over as Britain's sole European commissioner on Nov 1.
The Daily Telegraph, 23rd September 2004

PHILLIP DAY'S COMMENT: Good to know that after the sticky-fingered Kinnock retires with a wadful, the thrice-disgraced, fiddling Peter Mandelson will take over as EU commissioner in Brussels and Strasbourg, the perfect home for such a man. Folks, I've often said, Britain will get the future she deserves, one way or another. Only a concerted effort by the British people to send a clear, unequivocal message that we want out of the EU will work. Remember, the safe, sane and ONLY option for Britain's future is to do what we thought we were doing back in 1975, vote for a free-trade agreement with Europe, not be ruled by their brand of 'democracy'. No-one in Britain, I'm afraid, will be able to bleat that they never saw the EU coming.

Further Resources
Spread the word to friends with The Real Face of the European Union by Phillip Day, a video documentary (PAL format only) which lays out the serious problems with the European Union and what you can do about it. Also, don't miss the two following incisive commentaries on the dangers of Britain's involvement with the EU:

Ten Minutes to Midnight by Phillip Day
Vigilance by Ashley Mote
Click here to purchase or review any of the above.
Click here for telephone sales around the world.

Union Leaders Deliver Blow to
Blair's Hope for EU Constitution
by Toby Helm

Tony Blair's hopes of winning a referendum on the European constitution suffered a setback last night when the Trades Union Congress refused to give its backing to the campaign for a Yes vote.

A heated debate on the constitution at the TUC in Brighton exposed deep splits within the union movement over the direction in which Europe is moving - leaving it unable to endorse the Government's pro-constitution policy.

Without the support of the TUC, representing more than six million voters, ministers know that they have almost no chance of winning a referendum, likely to be held in 2006.

Fearing that a vote in favour would be lost, TUC organisers issued a holding statement saying it was "inappropriate" to adopt a formal position before further debate.

Bob Crow, the general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union was one of several speakers to condemn the constitution on the grounds that it would strip Britain of its rights to determine its own economic policy.

"The constitution will institutionalise privatisation and the neo-liberal economics that have helped wreck industries in Britain and turned the EU into one of the world's low growth regions," he said in a speech greeted by cheers.

Condemning the Prime Minister's policies he added: "The bottom line is that any government that hands over power to the degree demanded by the proposed constitution is effectively no longer a government."

While some unions remain broadly in favour of the European Union and the constitution, many have now reverted to a strong anti-European line, seeing the community as geared more to the interests of business than working people. Even some of the bigger unions, including the Transport and General Workers and Amicus, the private sector union, are considering campaigning for a No vote unless they get more guarantees that the Government will push more aggressively for British workers to get equal rights to those on the Continent.

It was left to John Monks, a former congress general secretary who now heads the European TUC, to make a lone stand in favour of the constitution. Writing in a pamphlet by the Labour movement for Europe he accused those on the Left of "making common cause with Michael Howard and the Tories in opposing Britain's wholehearted engagement in Europe".

Polls show that a large majority of voters oppose the constitution.
Daily Telegraph, 16th September 2004

Further Resources
Spread the word to friends with The Real Face of the European Union by Phillip Day, a video documentary (PAL format only) which lays out the serious problems with the European Union and what you can do about it. Also, don't miss the two following incisive commentaries on the dangers of Britain's involvement with the EU:

Ten Minutes to Midnight by Phillip Day
Vigilance by Ashley Mote
Click here to purchase or review any of the above.
Click here for telephone sales around the world.

CTM Crosstalk

Hi All,
I received this today. Those of you in N. America may not be aware of the likely impact of the intended EU directive on sales of vitamins in N. America - I know I wasn't. Those of you who are in the UK may know people in the USA who would like to know this.
Best wishes
David Hunt

Hi Everyone,
I assume you all know of the impending European legislation - the EU directive on Dietary Supplements, part of the Codex Alimentarius, the impetus of which comes from the German pharmaceutical lobbies in the face of the rise in interest in alternative therapies and natural remedies by consumers. In case you don't, here's a very cogent summary, written by Dr Jonathan Wright for an American audience. Supporting the UK legal action of the Alliance for Natural Health against this legislation is critical if you wish to be able to buy any sort of useful nutritional supplement after August 2005.
Warmly,
Lynda

Most Supplements to be Banned
in Europe by August 2005

Two years ago, I told you about the passage of the European Union (EU) Directive on Dietary Supplements. This directive, which is part of a larger form of legislation called Codex Alimentarius, severely restricts access to natural health products in Europe. At the time, it probably seemed a long way off: After all, the law wasn't to go into effect for several years following the initial passage.

Unfortunately, that several years is up, and the EU Directive is on track to take full effect in August 2005-less than a year from now--and by 2007, the scene described above will certainly be a reality for many, many people. Obviously, this is devastating news for Europe. But thanks to some pre-existing international agreements made by the U.S., the EU Directive will be just as devastating for the natural health community here. The main difference is that while the Directive has been big news in Europe for some time, it's been virtually ignored by U.S. media, which means that the severe restrictions it calls for will sneak up on most people and rob us all of our freedom to choose natural alternatives before we even know what's happening. That's why I and many of my colleagues in the health publishing world have done our best to keep you informed of the Directive's developments-and their consequences for the U.S.-over the years. And why we've decided to make a big push in our September newsletters by covering it in-depth.

Simply put, we're down to the wire, and if we don't act immediately, we will be facing the same fate as Europeans. There are steps you can take to get the word out and, hopefully, to diffuse this ticking time bomb. But first, let's take a few minutes and recount some of the specifics included in the Directive so that you know exactly what it is we're fighting against.

5,000 products set to disappear
The EU Directive classifies vitamins and minerals in Europe as "medical drugs" rather than dietary supplements, which means that they're subject to government regulation in terms of dosage and availability. It gets worse: There are many nutrients known to be vital to optimal health that are not on the government's RDA nutrient list including chromium picolinate, lysine, and selenium. Under the Directive, these types of supplements are banned from over-the-counter sale. Put simply, it will be illegal to buy them without a prescription.

The supplements that will be available will be restricted to multi-vitamins containing no more than 100 percent of the established RDA amounts, which are usually useless, trivial quantities - and they'll be far more expensive than what we have now.

This Directive, for all intents and purposes, makes it illegal for people to keep themselves healthy by supplementing with essential nutrients. Plus, the Directive only allows supplements to be made from a list of 15 minerals and 13 vitamins. That leaves out at least 40 minerals important in human metabolism and forbids the use of the most bio-available forms of vitamin complexes. In essence, it means that all nutritional supplements will be virtually the same - the specific combinations might vary, but the types and amounts of nutrients will be identical, no matter what product they're formulated into.

So, for instance, a middle-aged woman in Liverpool, England, who has a dangerously elevated homocysteine level will no longer have the option of reducing her risk of heart disease with a vitamin B dosage of her own choosing. If she's currently taking 5 mg of folic acid daily, under the new Directive she will be legally restricted to a prescription of 1 mg per day. If she's taking a 100 mg dose of B6, she'll be restricted to 10 mg. And her pantothenic acid (B5) intake of 500 mg will drop to 200 mg. These maximum dosage levels have been chosen to "protect" her (so we're told), when in fact the protection she needs the most will be unavailable.

In addition to these essential B vitamins, low maximum dosage levels have also been set for vitamin C, niacin, and vitamin E. But at least they made it on the list of allowed nutrients.

Approximately 350 supplement ingredients are missing from the list. If they are not added to the list by June 2005, they will be deemed illegal throughout the European Union. Supplement manufacturers may submit "technical dossiers" to support applications for the inclusion of individual elements or formulations on the so-called "positive list." But the EU has made this process so expensive and time consuming that many manufacturers simply can't afford the costs involved. As a result, around 5,000 safe formulas and nutrients that have been on the market for decades will soon be banned.

Saving us from ourselves
Of course, these regulations were all passed under the guise of "protecting the public." According to the World Health Organization, popular alternative medicines are often "misused" and may "harm patients." They point out that the "incorrect use" of alternative therapies has caused deaths in wealthy countries where more and more patients rely on them.

You could also argue that the incorrect use of kitchen knives, water skis, and even plastic bags have all caused deaths! Not to mention the use of AMA-sanctioned medical procedures and FDA-approved drugs. The key phrase here is "incorrect use."

The WHO could do everyone a service by first addressing the incorrect use of accepted mainstream therapies that have caused far more widespread death and adverse reactions than natural medicine therapies ever have or ever will.

Although they are few and far between, there are mistakes and fatalities associated with alternate therapies, supplements, and herbal remedies. It's always important to keep in mind that many of the compounds and herbs used in natural medicine treatments are very powerful. They have risks and potential side effects, which is why I always recommend that you work closely with skilled natural medicine practitioners whenever you use these therapies. But even with their cautions, natural remedies are far, far safer than prescription drugs, and one reason might be the users themselves. An article published in the journal Psychologist noted that people who seek out natural and alternative treatments are generally more health conscious than non-users, and believe that by making sound lifestyle choices they can influence their own health. But not if the EU has anything to say about it.

Where's the "fight for freedom" when you need it?
You'd think that such blatant abuse of power to restrict people's personal liberty would have our own self-proclaimed freedom-loving government up in arms (literally). But there's an even darker side to all this, and it has little--if anything-- to do with health or looking out for people's best interests.

Even if the American government didn't want to go along with the regulations imposed by the EU Directive, we really wouldn't have a choice. In fact, the United States never has acknowledged or stated any form of acceptance for the EU Directive. But hard as it is to believe, this "Directive" can actually over-ride United States law if it isn't stopped in Europe.

As a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the U.S. will be bound by any finalized standards put forth in the Directive.

If we choose to ignore the regulations our WTO-affiliation binds us to, we would face severe trade sanctions with other WTO countries, which could potentially cripple part of our economy. And there's no way that our already anti-natural-medicine government is going to let that happen over access to vitamins and minerals. So the best way to ensure it doesn't get to that point is to do everything we can to stop it now--before it happens.

Protect your rights with these 3 steps
There are three actions to take. The most urgent is to support a case brought by the British Alliance for Natural Health to overturn the European Food Supplements Directive. In January 2004, the Alliance's attorneys (a firm which has successfully had another European Directive overturned) won the first round in the High Court of Justice in London; the appeal was referred to the European Court of Justice. Please visit the Alliance's website, www.alliance-natural-health.org, read about their case, and most importantly, make a donation to support their efforts to protect everyone's supplements, including yours. Even a few dollars will help; a few dollars from each of us will add up. If we can help them overturn this food supplement dictatorship in Europe, it won't ever come here.

The second action I urge you to take is to write, call, and e-mail your state's Senators and Congressmen. Tell your Senators to oppose S.722, the Dietary Supplement Safety Act, and tell your Congressmen to oppose H.R. 3377, the Dietary Supplement Access and Awareness Act. These two bills put the wheels in motion for restrictions similar to those outlined in the EU Directive to become U.S. law, which would be even more threatening to us than just an inter-national code of standards. These extremely dangerous and misnamed proposals would allow the FDA to "roll back" most of the small amount of health care freedom you and I regained with the 1994 "DSHEA" law we all fought so hard for. Even if we're successful in helping the Alliance for Natural Health defeat the European Food Supplements Directive, if these bills are passed into law, our supplement choices will shrink dramatically anyway.

The final step to take is to tell your U.S. Senators and Congressmen to support U.S. Representative Ron Paul's H.R. 1146, the American Sovereignty Restoration Act. This accurately named (for once) legislation would make the Constitution of the United States the supreme law of the land again, and restore law-making and judging power to our elected representatives and American courts, respectively. Please don't leave this off your list; in the long run, it's the most important action of the three.

Please make a donation-of any size-to the Alliance for Natural Health as soon as you can. Then, please write, call, fax, and e-mail your U.S. Senators and Representative as often as you can, telling them to oppose S. 722 and H.R. 3377, and to support American freedom by voting for H.R. 1146.

For further information on the European Union Directive on Dietary Supplements and on the Codex Alimentarius legislation, contact the American Holistic Health Association (www.ahha.org), the Alliance for Natural Health (www.alliance-natural-health.org), or the International Advocates for Health Freedom (www.iahf.com).
Dr. Jonathan Wright, 28th September 2004

Blood Clot Warning for Women on HRT

Women taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) are at an increased risk of developing life-threatening blood clots, it was reported today. A study involving almost 17,000 women aged over 50, found that those taking HRT for five years were at double the risk of getting a venous thrombosis.

A venous thrombosis is a type of blood clot which can travel up the body to the lungs, blocking an artery - a potentially life-threatening condition. The research, reported in the Daily Mail and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, was carried out in the United States.

It involved almost 17,000 post-menopausal women aged between 50 and 79. The study said that 167 women on HRT developed a venous thrombosis, compared to 76 taking a placebo pill. The researchers said that when they compared women in their 50s taking placebo, to those in their 60s on HRT they found a fourfold risk. The risk was seven times higher for women taking the treatment in their 70s.

The risk of developing a clot was also higher for women on HRT who were overweight or obese, the study found. The researchers concluded that HRT was associated with doubling the risk of venous thrombosis and that this risk increased still further with age or obesity.

This latest study involved a form of HRT taken only by women who have a womb, according to the Daily Mail. Dr John Stevenson, chairman of Women's Health Concern, told the newspaper that the extra risk of venous thrombosis for HRT users was well recognised. He said: "The risk of having a blood clot increases with age, regardless of HRT, and women using HRT are already counselled about it."

More than six million women in the UK are thought to have received HRT. However, large numbers are thought to have been scared away from the treatment following a series of health warnings.

In 2002, a Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study showed that far from protecting post-menopausal women, a common form of combined-hormone HRT actually increased the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

But earlier this year, experts raised doubts about the study and said women may have been misled about the effects of HRT.
The Daily Mail, 6th October 2004

Further Resources
Not clear about the dangers of HRT and the natural alternatives?

The ABC's of Disease by Phillip Day

Click here to purchase or review any of the above.
Click here for telephone sales around the world.
Click here if you wish to contact Credence for information on treatment options or resources.

Important Health Freedom Information Release
Australian Doctor Deregistered After Helping Cancer Patient

Doctors around the world are being deregistered in droves by their respective medical boards for doing nothing more than helping their patients with nutritional and naturally based treatments.

Recent de-registrants include notable pioneers in natural treatments such as Dr. Durrant-Peatfield, a UK doctor specializing in natural therapies for thyroid, adrenal and chronic fatigue conditions, and Dr. Serafina Corsello a respected holistic physician. Among those relentlessly harassed by their medical boards were: Dr. Revici, an internationally respected pioneer in the treatment of cancer by nutritional and natural means; Dr. Warren Levine, who founded the first Holistic Health Center in New York, having helped thousands of patients during the nearly 30 years he was in practice; Dr. Nicholas Gonzales, also deregistered, had been granted a sizeable sum by the National Cancer Institute to conduct testing on alternative cancer therapy when the Board's action pulled the plug on the research. The medical board of New Jersey deregistered Eric R. Braverman MD, clinician and author, after authorities noted his unique research and success in treating serious conditions with holistic therapies.

In Australia Dr. Eckard Roehrich, was deregistered on 21 September 2004 after he gave testimony in court on behalf of a family whose 11-year-old daughter was forced to have chemotherapy against her wishes and those of her parents. The child's treating oncologist at the John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle contacted the department of community services which instigated the forced treatment by way of a court order.

Dr. Roehrich, the family's primary physician, practiced integrative medicine, a combination of orthodox, complementary and evidence-based alternative approaches. He had made several attempts to gain humanitarian concessions for the child who was incarcerated in the hospital without privileges such as a familiar diet, nutritional supplements, regular walks outdoors and visits from friends. The hospital oncologist refused these concessions. On one occasion, when her parents' visiting hours were severely restricted by the welfare department, the girl tried to escape the hospital and was returned to the ward and put on 24-hour watch.

Not long after his court appearance on behalf of the child and her family, Dr. Roehrich began receiving letters from the New South Wales Medical Board. The Board notified him that its delegates intended entering the doctor's clinic to inspect his records and premises. When the doctor required the Board to provide him with a reason for its intended entry into his clinic without his consent, he was summoned before a special committee. After a short deliberation, the three-member New South Wales Medical Board Committee revoked his licence to practice medicine on 21 September 2004. The Board granted three days for Dr. Roehrich to wind up his practice, leaving over one thousand patients without medical care. The doctor's clinic was located in an area of acute doctor shortage. Many of his seriously ill patients were in the middle of treatments which had started to improve their health.

The doctor's deregistration has caused a community backlash against the Medical Board. Already hundreds of patients have contacted the doctor's clinic vowing their support for him.

The NSW Medical Board's action against Dr. Roehrich comes after its decision earlier in the year to clear four doctors who were investigated for poor practice after 14 deaths occurred at the Campbelltown and Camden Hospitals west of Sydney. According to a Sydney Morning Herald article on 23/1/04, the Medical Board cleared the doctors even before a special inquiry could complete its investigations into the deaths.

Dr. Roehrich maintains he was intensively targeted by the Medical Board shortly after he testified for the family that was besieged by the department of community services. He maintains when the welfare department forced the child to have chemotherapy, he felt it was his duty to help the family to reclaim their right to choose any valid treatment options for their child.

The Medical Board has not provided Dr. Roehrich with specific reasons for the suspension of his licence. He has written to the Board and telephoned them to request this information.
28th September 2004
www.evehillary.org/health.freedom.info.htm

Drug Manufacturers' Role in NHS Raises Fears Over Ethics
by Michael Day

The National Health Service is employing nurses paid for by drug companies to encourage patients to take medication under schemes that doctors fear could result in some people receiving inappropriate treatments.

In the most advanced scheme, nurses funded by Pfizer, the world's biggest pharmaceutical firm, are advising patients in north London on how to manage heart disease and diabetes.

The British Medical Association has called for new ethics standards to be agreed immediately to protect the independence of doctors and patients.

Dr Charles Simenoff, a member of the BMA's prescribing committee, and a general practitioner in Manchester, said: "I think that this is bordering on the unethical. There are issues about making sure that GPs prescribe their products rather than someone else's. If these care managers see that patients aren't being treated, or aren't being treated with Pfizer drugs then they might put the suggestion in patients' minds that maybe they should be."

NHS officials have conceded that the deals mark a profound shift in strategy by the drugs companies, as they focus on the expanding market for drugs that treat diseases of old age.

In north London, a four-strong team of "care managers" funded by Pfizer, has recently begun producing treatment plans for 600 patients in the Haringey Teaching Primary Care Trust health authority.

The care managers, who are trained nurses, use Pfizer software to produce treatment plans for the patients who are suffering ischaemic heart disease, diabetes or heart failure.

Although they will not be able to see patients' medical records, they will be told by doctors what medication is being prescribed so that they can "reinforce" the care given by GPs.

Sarah Barron, the assistant director for chronic diseases in Haringey, said that the Pfizer staff regularly contacted patients by telephone to "coach, support and advise" them. One of their main functions was to ensure that patients continued to take their medication. Failure to comply with medication is a problem in caring for the burgeoning number of people with long-term diseases such as heart failure, diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

In cases where patients have not been prescribed necessary drugs or where patients are on the wrong treatment, care managers can refer patients back to their GP. Some of the money for the scheme is coming from the Department of Health, but Pfizer is contributing half the cost - £125,000. The scheme is intended to save the NHS money by keeping patients out of hospital.

Pfizer said that it was unable to provide figures for its drug sales before and after the project in Haringey began.

Miss Barron added, however: "We're under no illusion why Pfizer is doing this. They're keen to be part of something that is going to be very big in the NHS - the treatment and management of chronic diseases." Already 17.5 million Britons are being treated for chronic conditions and the figure will grow as the population ages.

Dr Richard Nicholson, the editor of the Bulletin of Medical Ethics, said: "We need an immediate public debate on this. The scheme in Haringey was happening on my own doorstep and I wasn't even aware of it. The Department of Health is happy to work with drugs companies regardless of whether this is in the long-term interest of patients. But we need to know whether the public really wants this and whether we should be opening up the NHS to private firms with vested interests."

The Sunday Telegraph has learnt that several other similar arrangements, funded by either GlaxoSmithKline or Pfizer are planned for health authorities or hospital trusts across London.

Dr Peter Fellows, the chairman of the BMA's prescribing committee, said that it was "inevitable" that the arrangement would influence GPs' prescribing choices. Pfizer has emphasised that the programme does not demand the prescription of its own heart drugs and that NHS doctors will have the final say on which drugs the patients receive.

Dr Olivier Brandicourt, the managing director of Pfizer UK, said: "Providing this kind of personalised education and support enables patients to become more active partners in their own healthcare."

A spokesman for GlaxoSmithKline said: "We're working with a number of strategic health authorities to help primary care trusts review patients. We can provide some of the resources to do that. We're helping the NHS achieve their objectives. While patients are not being reviewed, they might be going without treatment." He added, however: "Ultimately it's still the GP who decides what drugs the patients get."

Alan Maynard, a professor of health economics at the University of York, expressed concern.

"This gives the drugs companies a way in, the chance of more direct contact with patients. Ultimately they think that it will prove commercially advantageous or they wouldn't be doing it."

Charles Medawar, the director of Social Audit, an organisation that campaigns for greater transparency in drug regulation, said: "If there was ever a subject that deserves thorough examination, then this it is. The implications are very, very worrying indeed."
The Sunday Telegraph, 26th September 2004

Drug Companies Strike Back ...

As prescription drug prices rise, politicians, journalists, physicians and pharmaceutical companies play the blame game. It used to be that drug companies received all the grief but their recent rebuttals have put the magnifying glass on others, especially doctors.

In the face of FDA advisory committees and Attorney General lawsuits, big name drug companies have volunteered to post results of all clinical trials, even those unfavorable to their products.

Others have followed suit. The AMA is developing criteria for a mandatory national registry of clinical trials, and more than 10 top medical journals announced they will only publish studies if all the clinical trials have been made available on a public registry.

However, authors of four new books still say the drug industry and doctors who profit from it care more about dollars than making sense of health problems. According to these experts, pharmaceutical firms invest in getting the support they want -- from taking a doctor out to lunch to funding most medical studies.

Several experts from various fields showed concern over "me-too" drugs, or prescription medications that are similar to others on the market. Critics say companies do this to save money because the process is easier than finding breakthrough medications, which are sorely needed. Pharmaceutical company officials insist these medications work better in some patients than the original drug and they offer patients a cheaper alternative.

Experts say it is hard to find researchers who have no ties to drug companies and that they should be the ones coming out about negative studies.

Still, others say the only source for information is the drug companies and the need for neutral sources is great. Some states have taken this problem into their own hands and will send out pharmaceutical experts to visit practices and promote cost-effective treatments.
USA Today, 14th September 2004

DR. MERCOLA'S COMMENT: Though drugs are sometimes appropriate and at times can save a person's life, most of the time they are unnecessary, harmful and expensive. In my opinion, drug companies are driven by profits and have used their power to influence many areas of medicine. What is most unfortunate is that this has resulted in many biased studies, which ultimately lead to misleading information to the public.

The drug companies' intentions are evident in the $3 billion that was spent in 2002 for advertising costs and the vast amounts of money they donate toward grants and scholarships used to fund the costs of medical schools. Their motives don't stop there as they are also spending about $15 billion a year on physician marketing.

And while doctors play a role in the drugging of America, it's not completely their fault. Most physicians have no clue that the drug companies are spending (on average) $10,000 per doctor to influence their behavior. The doctors, of course, do not receive a check, but the perks can be quite significant.

One of the books in this article touches on all these aspects: "The Truth about Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What to Do About It," by Dr. Marcia Angell. I also recommend the book "Trust Us We're Experts."

Related Articles:

Drug Firms Ignore Federal Law, Not Reporting Studies
How Could Drug Companies be so Evil?
U.S. Drug Researcher Imprisoned for FDA Fraud
Odds Are The Drug Industry is Paying Off Your Doctor
Questions Arise on U.S. Drug Policy

www.mercola.com, 2nd October 2004
Free newsletter is available from this site.

Cavity Crises in Fluoridated Cities and States
by the Fluoridation Action Network
www.fluoridealert.org

---Tooth decay among (75% fluoridated) OKLAHOMA youngsters is a "silent epidemic." Nearly 70 percent of third-graders have at least one permanent or primary tooth decayed, missing or filled. http://www.newsok.com/cgi-bin/show_article?ID=1187970&TP=getarticle

---Oral health for poor children remains a terrible problem in (fluoridated) CINCINNATI - kids with untreated decay come to school with throbbing toothaches and bleeding gums - but the situation is worse in KENTUCKY (96% fluoridated).

The University of KENTUCKY recently found that 57 percent of third- and sixth- grade students had fillings or tooth decay, and that 31 percent needed treatment. Both rates are twice the national average. http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/02/02/loc_loc1aseal.html

--- "two out of every three children in WEST PHILLY (fluoridated) have at least one area of untreated tooth decay, a figure well above the national average, "
http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/local/7897766.htm

--- DETROIT Black children from (fluoridated) Detroit's poorest families have among the worst teeth of any group of children in the nation, according to a recent study by professors at the University of Michigan http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/7521679.htm

--- Two-thirds of elementary school children and thirty-three percent of preschoolers, living in SAN FRANCISCO, fluoridated since 1954, had cavities, many untreated, according to a 1996/97 survey revealing cavity prevalence in San Francisco is similar to the rest of California, mostly non-fluoridated at the time of the survey. http://www.dph.sf.ca.us/Reports/98ChildHealth/oralhe~1.pdf

--- In a study by the University of MARYLAND Baltimore, 53.7 percent of the region's school-age children had some form of untreated dental decay during the 2000- 2001 school year. The state average is 41.6 percent, and the national average is even lower, at 23.1 percent. According to the CDC, Maryland is 90.7 percent fluoridated. http://www.dailytimesonline.com/news/stories/20030822/localnews/107397.html
-
-"Are Cavity Rates Rising," Delta Dental
http://www.deltanj.com/kids_club/news_wisdom_1002.shtml#6

---NBC ARKANSAS News Report

---University of ROCHESTER, NY, News Release "Dental cavities on the rise again; back to 'drill and fill'"
http://fluoride.oralhealth.org/papers/2000/eurekaalert040800.htm

---"Rise in tooth decay may be tied to sugary pop, sports drinks and even bottled water," Seattle Times http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/healthscience/134458074_cavity21.html

---"Early Childhood Tooth Decay," by Stephen R. Branam, D.D.S http://www.drbranam.com/pgeArticle_Early.htm

---"Special Report: CINCINNATI's dental crisis,"
http://enquirer.com/editions/2002/10/06/loc_special_report.html

---The Wall Street Journal, "Health Journal: As kids' cavities rise, some dentists advocate using tooth sealants," Tara Parker-Pope, March 8, 2002

Newspaper and other articles reporting rampant tooth decay in fluoridated areas: -- 83% fluoridation WESTERN AUSTRALIA (where children's dental care is free) "the end of the 1990s saw a period of increasing decay scores across all age groups. This was most evident for 5-year-olds who, between 1996 and 1999, experienced a 21.7% increase in recorded decay." (The Child Dental Health Survey, 1999 published in 2003) http://www.adelaide.edu.au/spdent/dsru/data_frame.html

-- DETROIT, Michigan, fluoridated since 1967 "describes one visit to a metro Detroit school where the majority of the children she treated had 'at least 10 cavities.'" http://www.freep.com/news/health/dent20_20010220.htm

--Fluoridated Water Not Preventing Rampant Decay Among SOUTHBRIDGE, (MASSACHUSETTES) Poor http://www.fluoridealert.org/news/705.html

-- Dental Health Crisis in Fluoridated MIAMI DADE and BROWARD COUNTIES, FLORIDA http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/2002/03/12/entertainment/2840646.htm

--88.8% fluoridated CONNECTICUT has an oral health epidemic: http://www.med.yale.edu/chldstdy/CTvoices/kidslink/kidslink2/health/texts/jshaw72400.html

--"Fluoridated since 1983 "...in BLADEN COUNTY (NC) about 32 percent of kindergarten children screened have untreated tooth decay...
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=2713951&BRD=1118&PAG=461&dept
id=92165&rfi=6

-- Oral health crisis in 100% fluoridated KENTUCKY 11/26/01 reported by the Associated Press http://www.fluoridealert.org/news/734.html

-- Tooth decay the least of huge problems in poor children in fluoridated MARION, South Carolina http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/2930943.htm

-- Children in fluoridated WASHINGTON DC, age 6, have five or six teeth with cavities http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-
yn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A38732-2002Mar4Found=true

-- "Poor diet is the single biggest culprit in cavities..." Finally, the truth in an article that tells us again that tooth decay is rampant in a fluoridated city - this time in PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania http://www.post-gazette.com/healthscience/20020402hclinic5.asp

-- New York City 100% fluoridated since about 1965 "Bleeding gums, impacted teeth, rotting teeth are routine matters in the children....Children get used to feeling the constant pain. They go to sleep with it. They go to school with it....The gradual attrition of accepted pain erodes energy and aspiration." Jonathan Kozol 1991. Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools. quoted in Oral Disease: A Crisis among Children of Poverty http://www.ncemch.org/pubs/PDFs/ohcrisis598.pdf

-- Despite decades of water fluoridation in Aiken County, SOUTH CAROLINA, "We haven't made a significant dent in the rate of dental disease in the 0-3 age group in the past 20 years..." http://www.augustachronicle.com/stories/042102/met_201-191.000.shtml

-- Dentists Rebuff Needy Clients http://www.spokesmanreview.com/news-
tory.asp?date=042002&ID=s1134820 Children in PULLMAN, Washington, fluoridated since 1956, have loads of tooth decay

* In CONNECTICUT, 88.8% fluoridated for decades, cavity rates increased -- average number of decayed, missing, or filled tooth surfaces (dmfs) increased from 2.8 to 3.0 and average dmfs in cavity-positive children increased substantially from 5.7 to 7.9, recently reported (1) by Connecticut Dentists.

* In fluoridated NEWBURGH, NEW YORK, despite 50 years of fluoridation, many children have more cavities than never-fluoridated Kingston, New York, according to a New York State Department of Health study (2).

* A FLORIDA fluoridated county -- Three- to five-year olds studied averaged 3.05 to 4.05 dmfs (4). (Children have 128 tooth surfaces, in 28 teeth. So, dmfs is a more sensitive cavity counter than dmft. Some teeth have five surfaces.

* Non-fluoridated LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK, second-graders are more cavity-free than nationally (5) ranging from no cavities to 0.6 dmfs in 1987-88.

* NEW YORK CITY, fluoridated for decades, 7-8 year-olds averaged 2.43 to 3.14 dft (decayed, filled primary teeth) 1993, according to "Dispelling the Myth that 50 Percent of US Schoolchildren Have Never Had a Cavity," by dentists Edelstein and Douglass (6).

* Edelstein and Douglass cite studies that show: 1. CALIFORNIA, the fluoridated parts -- 4.80 dfs in a group of 3- to 5-year olds -- 1990. 2. Fluoridated NORTH CAROLINA -- peak rates of 5.3 for 9-year-old males and 4.7 for 8-year-old females -- 1990 3. Fluoridated TENNESSEE -- Peak rates of 7.26 dfs and 2.61 dft at age 7

* Fluoridated TENNESSEE -- five- to eleven-year-olds averaged 6.94 dfs (7)

* Fluoridated IOWA -- low socioeconomic 8-year-olds 4.0 dfs (8)

Notes and more information at: www.fluoridealert.org

Pill Patch Linked to 17 Deaths
by Oliver Stallwood

A contraceptive patch used by thousands of British women has been linked to at least 17 deaths, it emerged last night. Scores of other women using the Ortho Evra patch have suffered complications, including 21 "life-threatening" cases of blood clots and other ailments, according to the US Food and Drug Administration.

Doctors who reviewed the FDA's reports said they were alarmed at the number of fatalities. Pharmaceuticals giant Johnson and Johnson launched the drug in Britain in June 2003. Spokeswoman Mona Terrell said: "We have received six reports of fatalities in which the role of our product is unclear. We are continuing to investigate those reports. All hormonal contraceptives could cause side effects and Ortho Evra was no riskier than the Pill," she added.

The first fatality publicly blamed on the patch came on April 2 this year, when 18-year-old Zakiya Kennedy collapsed in a New York underground station. A post-mortem examination revealed a blood clot had moved to her lung and a coroner ruled it was a direct result of using the birth-control device.

Ortho Evra delivers pregnancy blocking hormones into the bloodstream and is claimed to be 99% effective when used correctly. It is marketed as being more convenient than the daily Pill because it has to be changed just once a week.

US TV adverts for the patch feature models such as Naomi Campbell and the Norwegian Olympic beach volleyball players.

Ortho Evra does warn of possible side effects on its website. It reads: "Serious risks, which can be life threatening, include blood clots, strokes or heart attacks and are increased if you smoke cigarettes."

Last night, the Family Planning Association insisted the patch, like all contraceptives, was safe. A spokeswoman said: "Women should not panic or stop using it abruptly. Anyone concerned should speak to their doctor."
The Daily Mail, 20th September 2004

Around 10 Million Use Some Sort
of Treatment Every Year
by Celia Hall, Rachel Sylvester and Christine Doyle

About 10 million people use some sort of complementary or alternative medicine every year in Britain and about half of them see therapists.

Among people with cancer, use of unorthodox medicine rises by a third. Overall the nation spends £1.6 billion on such treatments, some of them supplied by GPs.

About half of family doctors (49 per cent) offer access to some form of complementary or alternative medicines (Cams) in their practice, from vitamin pills to hypnotherapy. This compares with 39 per cent in 1995.

A third of doctors also offer some sort of Cams in their own surgery. Some doctors and nurses have undertaken supplementary training in acupuncture, others have become medical herbalists, and osteopaths and chiropractors are now regulated by statute.

Demand for such treatments is buoyant and the Government has decided to go with the flow to make it easier for people to see therapists via their GPs. It fits nicely with a policy of extending patients' choice and it puts responsibility on the shoulders of GPs. While family doctors are in short supply it is worth noting that there are 49,000 complementary medicine practitioners, compared with 36,000 GPs. A recent poll found that three quarters of voters would like access to such treatments on the NHS.

Many Cams are already used in the NHS, from innovative schemes such as using aromatherapy to treat post-operative patients to physiotherapists who practise acupuncture.

The Department of Health has supported homoeopathy for years. The Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital, in central London, is undergoing an £18.5 million refurbishment. There are other thriving NHS homoeopathic units in Bristol, Liverpool and Glasgow.

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE), which advises the Government on treatments for the NHS, has found "some evidence" that seven Cams "might be of some benefit" in relieving the symptoms of multiple sclerosis. Among those that NICE listed were reflexology, massage, fish oils and t'ai chi. NICE has also approved the use of massage and healing therapies for people with terminal cancer.

The latest development is the creation of a more formal structure for Cams in the NHS. Here, the Gateway Clinic, Lambeth, south London, which specialises in Chinese medicine, is ahead of the field. It provides 24,000 treatments a year to NHS patients referred by GPs from 120 practices in the area. The service is funded by Lambeth Primary Care Trust to the tune of £124,000 a year. Patients usually receive six treatments.

"We liaise with GPs and if the treatment clearly provides benefit we might continue with another 10 treatments," said Nick Johnson, acupuncturist and herbalist. "This saves patients waiting for hospital appointments and also GPs' time." Michael Fox, director of the Prince of Wales's Foundation for Integrated Health, said: "There should be equity of access. At the moment, you can strike lucky and have a good range of options - or you can be unlucky and have none unless you pay for therapy."
The Daily Telegraph, 9th October 2004

PHILLIP DAY'S COMMENT: Notice, not one mention of nutrition and lifestyle changes, since you cannot patent them and sell them for profit.

MS, Hepatitis Vaccine Links Found

People who are vaccinated against hepatitis B are at an increased risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a study of UK patients.

American public health experts discovered a link between the vaccine and MS when they examined records of more than 1,500 people. The research team does not know if the vaccine causes MS of those already susceptible to the disease or if it speeds up the onset.

Hepatitis B is a virus that could lead to liver problems, and possibly, liver failure. It usually is passed by blood contact, but the virus also is present in saliva and other bodily fluids. UK doctors encourage patients who are at an increased risk for the disease to get immunized. Medical professionals, prison staff and inmates, people who share drug needles and those with several sexual partners are among those at the highest risk of getting hepatitis B.

In the 1990s, there was some evidence that supported the link between the vaccine and MS; however, other studies disputed this. Still, the idea spurred further research. In this study, researchers looked at UK patients diagnosed with MS from 1993-2000 and compared hepatitis B vaccination records of the 163 MS patients to about 1,600 control group patients without the disease. Investigators estimated there was a three-fold increase in the incidence of MS within three years of being administered the shot.

Liver disease groups warn that the study' results may have holes because vaccination records for the control group may not have included workplace vaccinations. If so, then the incidence of MS would go down significantly.

Despite the controversy, experts say that this is an important study that needs to be considered in future research.
BBC News, 14th September 2004

Further Resources
Concerned about vaccines and wish to know more?
Wake up to Health in the 21st Century by Steven Ransom
For multiple sclerosis, see The ABC's of Disease by Phillip Day
Available through www.credence.org

DR. MERCOLA'S COMMENT: The so-called experts will use fear and the power of the media to spread the message that vaccines really are good for you and your family. But, if you read my free eHealthy News You Can Use with any regularity, you know better than that!

Some researchers who conducted studies of hepatitis B vaccine and MS incredulously found no link between the two. One thing to keep in mind about those earlier studies: Both were partially funded by drug companies. These pharmaceutical giants care more about the dollar than common health sense.

Plenty of other research points to the opposite -- that hepatitis B immunization and MS are linked. In fact, vaccinations are linked to other serious health problems, including:
Autism
Cancer
Monkey Virus
Heart Problems
Asthma
An essential resource for anyone interested in finding out more about the vaccine issue is "Vaccines: What CDC Documents and Science Reveal," a two-hour video by world-renowned vaccine expert Dr. Sherri Tenpenny. The video is the culmination of Dr. Tenpenny's three-year investigation into the real story behind vaccines. The facts on several crucial areas are covered including:

· How vaccines can cause illnesses including autoimmune diseases, allergies, ear infections, and more
· The very real link between vaccines and developmental learning and behavioral disorders in children
· How vaccines have never been proven safe
· The ingredients and contaminants in vaccines and why they're detrimental to your health
· How vaccine studies are seriously flawed
· Related Articles:
· The Challenge to Mass Vaccination
· Shoot First and Ask Questions Later
· Shots in the Dark
· Five Common Toxic Metals to Avoid, and Where You'll Find Them
· Tell the Truth About Vaccines -- or Keep Away From my Children

Visit Mercola.com for health news and information you can really use, and sign up for the free twice weekly Mercola e-newsletter today at www.mercola.com

Water - The Stuff of Life
by Phillip Day

"Chronic pains of the body which cannot easily be explained as injury or infection, should first and foremost be interpreted as signals of chronic water shortage in the area where the pain is registered. These pain signals should first be considered and excluded as primary indicators for dehydration of the body before any other complicated procedures are forced on the patient." - Dr F Batmanghelidj

"Insanity: Viewing an overflowing sink and going for the mop instead of the tap." - Phillip Day

The human body is a bio-electrical water machine that requires a quart a day for every 50 lbs of body weight. The blood alone is made up of a large percentage of watery serum. The lymph fluids which transport waste and nutrients, comprising four times the volume of blood in the body, are made from the water we consume. Every cell that makes us who we are literally owes its life to an adequate supply of fresh, clean water. When the body does not receive a constant, reliable supply of water, it has to ration what is available and cut back on certain functions to make the supply go round. Essential systems like the brain are prioritised, others are impaired or cut back until the brain has decided a reliable source of water has been garnered.

Here's the rub. Most citizens have become chronically and dangerously dehydrated (especially the elderly), since we decided water was too bland to drink and ignored it in favour of tea, coffee, beer, wine, addictive sodas, flavoured water and other chemical-laced water alternatives. A disastrous and dangerous move for the body and society's health in general, to be sure, compounded further since most doctors today cannot readily identify the many water-deficient diseases and associated pains. Thus the underlying dehydration process continues to wreak its havoc while the inevitable drugs given will switch off the warning signals (symptoms).

Consider the following conditions:
Heartburn, arthritis, lupus, asthma, 'high cholesterol', high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer formation, hot flushes and menstrual problems, obesity, allergies, bulimia, chronic fatigue syndrome, ME, angina, lower back pain, gout, kidney stones, skin disorders, diabetes, fungal/yeast overgrowths, multiple sclerosis, allergies, migraine headaches, general aches and pains, morning sickness, depression, heavy/burdensome periods, colitis, dyspepsia, peptic ulcers…

All, in various ways, linked to a chronic state of dehydration?

World-renowned water expert Dr Fereydoon Batmanghelidj, in his latest bestseller, Water and Salt - Your Healers From Within, maintains that the above conditions are the body's many cries for water, complaints dramatically improved with a consistent and long-term intake of the fresh, clean stuff. Dr Batman's timely work has helped thousands quash long-term health problems effortlessly and inexpensively. He writes:

"The report of my having successfully treated with water more than three thousand people with symptoms and clinical signs of peptic ulcer disease was published in the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology in June 1983. I came away from that experience with the understanding that the people I treated were thirsty, and I uncovered the phenomenon that 'pain' in the body indicates thirst, even though the condition is classified as a disease."

Water is used by the body for digestion, detoxifying cells, watering the lungs, lubricating joints, keeping the body alkalised and a host of cleaning duties. Many warning signals ('symptoms') arise out of the body's inability to neutralise or rid itself of acid, a common enough complaint given the number of antacids sold around the world each day. And the common and dangerous misconception that fuels it?

'I drink coffee, tea, diet sodas, beer and a host of other liquids. They contain water, don't they?'

Many of today's designer drinks are diuretic in their effect (water-expelling) because their mostly acidic compositions require the body to give up water and alkalising minerals to eliminate their harmful residues. Diet sodas especially are harmful in that they require large amounts of body-water to neutralise the phosphoric acid component (2.8 pH). Cells that started off healthy and 'plum-like' shrivel to prunes as water, the stuff of life, is progressively denied them. The sick in our hospitals are fed the sodas, tea and coffee they ask for in woeful ignorance of the damage wrought to the micro cell-world within them.

Your body and dehydration
Batmanghelidj's extraordinary work should rightly be considered by a mainstream medical community ever fixated on the drug cure:

• Brain function: The brain comprises 2% of the body's total weight, yet receives 15-20% of the blood supply, mostly comprised of water. Dehydration will affect cognitive ability drastically, and, through histamine's action, can create depressive states (many anti-depressant medications are anti-histamines).
  
• Bone function: Bones require plentiful supplies of water. 75% of the weight of the upper body, for instance, is supported by the water core contained within the fifth lumbar disc, the remaining 25% by muscle fibres around the spine.
  
• Nerve function: Microstreams exist along the length of nerves which transport nutrients and conduct energy along microtubules to the synapses to transmit messages. Dehydration disrupts proper nerve function, resulting in the sensation of pain.
  
• Hydrolysis: Water, far from being an inert solvent, is intricately involved in the body's water-dependent chemical reactions. Lack of water means incomplete or faulty metabolic processes, with obvious implications for continued health and well-being. Proteins and enzymes, for instance, do not function as well in acidic solutions of higher viscosity (stickiness) where the body is dehydrated.
  
• Cellular energy: As water is drawn through the cell membrane, its osmotic flow generates a voltage gradient which can be used in the manufacture of ATP and GTP energy. Dehydration will obviously affect the proper functioning of cells and even kill them.
  
• Histamine: This neurotransmitter plays a major role in activating systems which encourage water intake when dehydration is detected. Functions in the body which consume large quantities of water are cut back, namely the bronchial tubes constricted to cut down on water use in the lungs; increased peristalsis in the bowels to wring more water out of faecal material, and so on. Other signs of histamine's activity, namely allergies, asthma, depression and chronic pains, are interpreted by the physician as 'disease' and treated with anti-histamines, pain-killers (analgesics), etc. Thus the signals of thirst are turned off and the dehydration state continues unabated.
  
• Dyspepsia (heartburn/reflux): Over time, this can lead to ulceration and even cancer. Dr Batmanghelidj recommends that these conditions - also gastritis and duodenitis - be treated with water alone as they are one of the body's major thirst signals. Arrested in his native Iran by the Revolutionary Council during the troubles of the late 1970's, Dr B was confined to Evin prison, Tehran, during which time he successfully treated with water alone over three thousand people complaining of dyspeptic pain and associated symptoms.
  
• Digestion: Requires plentiful supplies of water. The stomach relies on mucus lining the walls to shield it from the effects of the stomach's hydrochloric acid. A bicarbonate solution is produced from the cells in the lining which neutralises any acid attempting to break through the mucus. Water is needed to maintain this effective defence system. Too little water, and the mucus barrier is ineffectual, the acid will penetrate and will lead to pain. Ideally, water should be consumed half an hour before a meal, in time to anticipate the production of digestive acid from glands in the stomach wall.
  
• Ulcers: Often located at the valve between the stomach and duodenum. Said to be caused by curved bacteria known as helicobacters. Yet many people have helicobacters in their small intestine, yet not all of them suffer from ulcers. Histamine-producing nerves are located at this site, which monitor the through-put of acidic food chyme from the stomach into the intestine. Histamine has growth-hormone effects on these micro-organisms, resulting in small intestine bacterial overgrowths (SIBOs). Once again, an adequate regime of water intake will allow all the functions relating to digestion to normalise. Prolonged water intake should therefore be considered before more drastic drug treatments are entered into.

Further Resources

Water and Salt, Your Healers from Within
Dr F Batmanghelidj

It needs no prescription. It is freely available. It costs nothing. It has no dangerous side-effects. It is the medication your body cries for when it is stressed. It is good old plain, natural water… The world-famous expert on water, Dr F Batmanghelidj, draws together nearly 25 years of research on the amazing healing properties of water, as well as exploding the modern health myth that salt is bad for us. He applies his findings to a wide range of ailments, including heart disease, allergies, asthma, osteoporosis, sleep disorders, depression, addiction, infection, diabetes, menopausal problems, arthritis, auto-immune diseases and obesity. Don't miss this!

Water and Salt, Your Healers From Within
(194 pages) Tagman, 2003
Available from www.credence.org
(If not available through your national Credence store, use the Rest of the World store to order).

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