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

ECLUB: How art thou?
PD: All the better for your toothless grin, Brian.
ECLUB: Let's change the subject. What's news this month?
PD: Naturally, the stunning defeat of the EU Constitution by France and Holland's referenda. Germany has been denied a referendum by the Schroeder weasel, but still participated in a phone-in vote with newspaper Das Bild, in which over 96% voted to scupper it! It's a great result, although Blair has baulked at ruining his own career backing the constitutional referendum he promised the British in his election manifesto (what a surprise).
ECLUB: What are the implications now?
PD: France and Holland's no vote has mercifully set the cause of 'The United States of Europe' back years, perhaps even permanently. I anticipate some sort of smaller EU clique will form out of the die-hard federalist nations. With regard to the EU Food Supplements and Herbal Directives, the European Court of Justice will give its ruling on the Alliance for Natural Health's challenge by 12th July, so we'll know soon enough whether the bans will proceed w.e.f 1st August. Folks, we need to keep a close eye on Europe now, especially Peter Mandelson, UK's EU commissioner, who seeks as always to usurp our sovereignty in order to re-plumb eastern Europe at the UK's expense. The doubling and tripling of our council tax is not, alas, going to building more playgrounds in Wigan.
ECLUB: Anything people can do for the present?
PD: Yes. Love Europe, loathe and expose the EU. I exhort the French for taking an unequivocal stand and stuffing it to Chirac, now as popular as a poodle on a Paris golf course. In the end, the French apparently want to remain French. Vive La Liberté! I say.
ECLUB: Give us a round-up of the health news.
PD: Scientists are fudging their research to conform with their preconceptions, another surprise. The latest from NZ Health Trust on the Codex menace down under. NZ subscribers, please give David Sloan your best support fighting for your interests in Wellington. He's a pit-bull that one, and he's on our side.
ECLUB: What's with the dog thing?
PD: A piece on canine woes, my gappy friend. Grains are out for dogs and cats, which are carnivores and should be fed real raw meat. Another study just in, conversely, discusses the effects of excess red meat in human diets provoking bowel cancer and other problems. We deal with this in detail in a chapter in Health Wars, 'Meating the Main Problem'. Our diets should comprise mainly unrefined plant dietary (fruits, veggies, pulses, legumes, haricots, etc.), as much as possible eaten raw, with adequate water-intake and exercise. That leaves 20% of our grub to be responsibly spread around the other food groups. Minimising grains for weight loss works very well. Sadly, though, it won't replace teeth, Brian.
ECLUB: Enough already. Vaccines?
PD: The United States leads the world in polluting its young. Dr Tim O'Shea, a Herculean advocate in damning this odious practice, reports on the latest vaccine loads going into quivering arms while admiring parents gaze on. Also, the US government requires schools to spy on their kids to pre-empt all sorts of 'mental illness' and supervise 'enforced treatment' where necessary. Parents' rights, RIP. Welcome to Mr Bush's new US drug-addiction program, sure to provoke further bulging brown envelopes from the hallowed boards of Big Pharma. Drugs drive psychiatry, the most baleful human rights abuse of the 21st century, on a scale that defies belief. It needs to be stopped.
ECLUB: How is your new Attitude Tour proceeding?
PD: It's cranking. Easy steps to a good life. How to disconnect responsibly from the junk and sharpen your performance. High octane baby steps, Brian, one day at a time, bringing back the laughter and playtime. A mission to get your teeth stuck into -
ECLUB: Yes, yes. When are your New Zealand and Australia dates to be published? We've already had calls.
PD: 15th July at the latest the schedule will be up. It's going to be good. Sam and I have got to get away from English hotels and their food.
ECLUB: Bad, eh?
PD: We're at the end of our tether, mate.
ECLUB: Thank you, Phillip.
PD: You're welcome.

EU CONSTITUTION STUNS BUREACRATS: France and Holland's 'NO' in the recent EU constitutional referenda has sent Brussels into a tailspin. Furthermore, 96.9% of Germans voted nein to the EU Constitution in a phone-in poll conducted by mass circulation German newspaper Bild. Nearly 400,000 Germans paid to cast their votes after 95% of the Bundestag voted to ratify the Constitution without consulting the German people.

ECJ JUDGMENT DAY ANNOUNCED: The European Court of Justice judgment on the Alliance for Natural Health (and joined) case against the EU Food Supplements Directive will be handed down on 12 July.

STORE WARS: Further to the popular film of the similar title, Store Wars is the tale of a dark universe and systematic vegetable annihilation. Not for the faint-hearted or for those nervous about violently spilled juices.

White Flour Contains Diabetes-
Causing Contaminant Alloxin

You may want to think twice before eating your next sandwich on white bread. Studies show that alloxan, the chemical that makes white flour look "clean" and "beautiful," destroys the beta cells of the pancreas. That's right; you may be devastating your pancreas and putting yourself at risk for diabetes, all for the sake of eating "beautiful" flour. Is it worth it? Scientists have known of the alloxan-diabetes connection for years; in fact, researchers who are studying diabetes commonly use the chemical to induce the disorder in lab animals. In the research sense, giving alloxan to an animal is similar to injecting that animal with a deadly virus, as both alloxan and the virus are being used specifically to cause illness. Every day, consumers ingest foods made with alloxan-contaminated flour. Would they just as willingly consume foods tainted with a deadly virus? Unless they had a death wish, they probably would not. Unfortunately, most consumers are unaware of alloxan and its potentially fatal link to diabetes because these facts are not well publicized by the food industry.

How does alloxan cause diabetes? According to Dr. Hari Sharma's Freedom from Disease, the uric acid derivative initiates free radical damage to DNA in the beta cells of the pancreas, causing the cells to malfunction and die. When these beta cells fail to operate normally, they no longer produce enough insulin, or in other words, they cause one variety of adult-onset type 2 diabetes. Alloxan's harmful effects on the pancreas are so severe that the Textbook of Natural Medicine calls the chemical "a potent beta-cell toxin." However, even though the toxic effect of alloxan is common scientific knowledge in the research community, the FDA still allows companies to use it when processing foods we ingest.

The FDA and the white flour industry could counter-argue that, if alloxan were to cause diabetes, a higher proportion of Americans would be diabetic. After all, more consumers consume white flour on a regular basis than are actually diabetic. This point is valid, but it does not disprove the alloxan-diabetes connection. While alloxan is one cause of adult-onset type 2 diabetes, it is of course not the only cause. As the Textbook of Natural Medicine states, "current theory suggests an hereditary beta-cell predisposition to injury coupled with some defect in tissue regeneration capacity" may be a key cause. For alloxan to cause injury to an individual's beta cells, the individual must have the genetic susceptibility to injury. This is similar to the connection between high-cholesterol foods and heart disease. Eating high-cholesterol foods causes heart disease, especially in people who have family histories of heart disease. The link between alloxan and diabetes is as clear and solid as the link between cholesterol and heart disease.

If you've been eating white bread for years and you have a family history of diabetes, all hope is not lost for you. Studies show that you can reverse the effects of alloxan by supplementing your diet with vitamin E. According to Dr. Gary Null's Clinicians Handbook of Natural Healing, vitamin E effectively protected lab rats from the harmful effects of administered alloxan. Now, you're not a lab rat, but you're a mammal and vitamin E is definitely worth adding to your daily regimen of nutritional supplements, especially if you have a history of eating foods made with white flour and are at high risk for diabetes.

Even if you are already diabetic, some simple changes to your diet can help treat your diabetes. First of all, stop eating foods made with white flour. Even though you already have diabetes, vitamin E supplements can still help you, as can many common foods. Garlic, for example, does wonders for diabetes. As Dr. Benjamin Lau states in his book Garlic for Health, "When fed garlic, the rabbits' elevated blood sugar dropped almost as much as it did when they were given the antidiabetic drug tolbutamide. Researchers postulated that garlic may improve the insulin effect."

If you can't handle the taste of natural garlic, you can take it in widely available supplements. Aloe vera is a traditional diabetic remedy in the Arabian Peninsula, and its therapeutic characteristics are now gaining worldwide acceptance in the treatment of diabetes. According to both human and animal research studies, aloe vera lowers blood glucose levels by an unknown mechanism. According to the Clinicians Handbook of Natural Healing, this natural hypoglycemic effect extended over a period of 24 hours. Adding onions to your diet (along with the garlic) can also significantly reduce your blood sugar level. Additionally, as Dr. Michael T. Murray writes in The Healing Power of Herbs, studies show that ginseng controls glucose in both diabetic humans and diabetic laboratory animals.

It all comes down to asking if putting yourself at risk for diabetic coma, blindness, limb amputation and death is worth eating white bread. If you're willing to risk your quality of life and your life itself, then go ahead and eat all the foods made with white flour you want. However, if you want to stop poisoning yourself with alloxan, a known toxic chemical, then make a few simple dietary changes. Eat groceries (see related notebook on groceries) made with whole-grain wheat flour, not processed white flour

Animal experiments have shown that animals which have their Beta cells destroyed by alloxan are able to regenerate Beta cells after a few months when taking GS, a herb grown in India. The Beta cell is the cell that produces insulin. Diabetics needing insulin treatment (Type 1) have been able to decrease their insulin after GS therapy.
A Physicians Guide to Natural Health Products That Work By James Howenstine MD, page 112

In the mid-1980s, however (when herbal remedies again were popular), pata de vaca's continued use as a natural insulin substitute was reiterated in two Brazilian studies. Both studies reported in vivo hypoglycemic actions in various animal and human models. Chilean research in 1999 reported the actions of pata de vaca in diabetic rats. Their study determined that pata de vaca was found to "elicit remarkable hypoglycemic effects," and brought about a "decrease of glycemia in alloxan diabetic rats by 39%." In 2002, two in vivo studies on the blood sugar-lowering effects of pata de vaca were conducted by two separate research groups in Brazil. The first study reported "a significant blood glucose-lowering effect in normal and diabetic rats."…
The Healing Power of Rainforest Herbs by Leslie Taylor, page 382

When beta cells in the pancreas fail to secrete enough insulin, the body loses its ability to metabolize carbohydrates and to reduce glucose levels in the bloodstream. Researchers believe that some people have weak free radical defenses in these beta cells, and that free radical damage to DNA in beta cells, resulting in dysfunction or cell death, helps cause maturity-onset diabetes. It is known, for example, that many chemicals including alloxan, paraquat, and certain chemotherapeutic agents can stimulate excessive production of oxy radicals in the nuclei of beta cells.
Freedom From Disease by Hari Sharma MD, page 94

...nearly two decades later, researchers at RNT Medical College in India induced diabetes in rabbits with intravenous injections of alloxan. When fed garlic, the rabbits' elevated blood sugar dropped almost as much as it did when they were given the antidiabetic drug tolbutamide. Researchers postulated that garlic may improve the insulin effect by either increasing the pancreatic secretion of insulin or by releasing bound insulin.
Garlic for Health by Benjamin Lau MD PhD, page 22

Commercial yeasted breads, even the whole-grain varieties, often have other problems. They typically contain flour bleach, which forms alloxan, a compound known to cause diabetes in animals by destroying the beta cells of the pancreas (Clinical Nutrition Newsletter, Dec. 1982). …
Healing With Whole Foods by Paul Pitchford, page 452

Insulin dependent diabetes mellitus is generally recognized to be due to an insulin deficiency.1 Although the exact cause is unknown, current theory suggests an hereditary beta-cell predisposition to injury coupled with some defect in tissue regeneration capacity. Causes of injury are most likely hydroxyl and other free radicals, viral infection, and autoimmune reactions. alloxan, the uric acid derivative used to induce experimental diabetes in animals, is a potent beta-cell toxin, causing destruction via hydroxyl radical formation.
Textbook of Natural Medicine Volumes 1-2 by Joseph E Pizzorno and Michael T Murray, page 1197

In this study, mice received intraperitoneally melatonin in doses ranging from 100 to 450 mg/kg. Results showed that such treatment proved plasma glucose increase due to alloxan-induced pancreatic toxicity.
The Clinicians Handbook of Natural Healing by Gary Null PhD, page 88

Bleached white flour. Not only have the bran and germ been stripped away, but bleached flour also contains a substance from the flour bleach (alloxan) which causes diabetes in animals. Unbleached white flour should also be avoided since it is stripped of essential nutrients.
The Enzyme Cure by Lita Lee with Lisa Turner & Burton Goldberg, page 123

Aloe vera also exhibits a hypoglycemic effect in both normal and alloxan-induced diabetic mice. A small human study shows benefit in diabetics. Five patients with non-insulin dependent diabetes ingested half a teaspoonful of aloe 4 times daily for 14 weeks. Fasting blood sugar in every patient fell from a mean of 273 to 151 mg/dl with no change in body weight. The authors concluded that aloe lowers blood glucose levels by an unknown mechanism….
Textbook of Natural Medicine, volumes 1-2 by Joseph E Pizzorno and Michael T Murray, page 587

Results of this study showed that rats given vitamin E before being administered either streptozotocin or alloxan provided protection against the diabetogenic effects of each. It was also observed that rats with a depleted antioxidant state due to a vitamin E and selenium-deficient diet showed increased diabetogenic susceptibility to normally nondiabetogenic doses of streptozotocin.
The Clinicians Handbook of Natural Healing by Gary Null PhD, page 312

Noting that the dried sap of the aloe plant to be a traditional diabetic remedy in the Arabian peninusla, this study examined its ability to reduce blood glucose levels in 5 non-insulin-dependent diabetics and in Swiss albino mice made diabetic with alloxan. Results showed that the intake of 1/2 teaspoon of aloes daily for 4-14 weeks significantly reduced the fasting serum glucose level fell in all patients. Fasting plasma glucose was significantly reduced in diabetic mice by glibenclamide and aloes after 3 days.
The Clinicians Handbook if Natural Healing by Gary Null PhD, page 369

This study examined the effects of exudate of Aloe barbadensis leaves (oral administration of 500 mg/kg) and its bitter principle (ip administration of 5 mg/kg) on plasma glucose levels of alloxan-diabetic mice. Results showed that the hypoglycemic effect of a single oral dose of aloes on serum glucose level was insignificant in while that of the bitter principle was highly significant and extended over a period of 24 hours.
The Clinicians Handbook of Natural Healing by Gary Null PhD, page 369

Ginseng exerts numerous pharmacological effects in humans and laboratory animals, including … improved glucose control in humans and diabetic (alloxan-induced) rats;
The Healing Power of Herbs by Michael T Murray ND, page 269

Per: Zeus Information Service 4th June 2005
Alternative Views on Health
www.zeusinfoservice.com

Healthy Bread That Could Save Your Life
by Sarah Wescott

Loaf fights cancer and helps heart. The first "superbread" that could help beat cancer and protect the heart hits the shelves today.

The new loaf is enriched with selenium following claims that British consumption of the essential micro-nutrient has fallen to "worryingly" low levels.

Scientists have proved that selenium can reduce breast cancer by up to 80 per cent and regulate blood pressure, yet it is one of the human nutrients in greatest shortage.

Now Waitrose is launching the selenium enriched bread, the latest in a growing bread of pharmaceutical foods to be offered to health-conscious consumers. Britons can already buy Intelligent Eating eggs which contain healthy fatty acid and even crisps containing the natural anti-depressant St John's Wort.

Other "pharma-foods" available in supermarkets are Tropicana orange juice enriched with calcium, pro-biotic drinks which claim to maintain a healthy gut and spreads containing plant substances which inhibit cholesterol.

A Waitrose spokeswoman said: "Selenium is crucial to our diet for the function of a strong immune system but our current consumption is relatively poor due to the lack of it in British soil. Our bread suppliers have worked very closely with farmers to develop a natural way of putting this trace element back into the soil just as Mother Nature intended. As a result, the wheat from this reinvigorated soil is then harvested and used to bake naturally-enriched selenium loaves. British consumption of selenium is at a worryingly low level. However consuming two to four slices of selenium-enriched bread each day would ensure a good intake of this essential micro-nutrient as part of a healthier diet."

The Foods Standards Agency has warned the average dietary intake of selenium has plummeted to half of what it was 20 years ago in the UK due to a steady depletion of the mineral in British soil.

Scientists at the University of Liverpool last year discovered that an increase in selenium intake improves immune function while many studies since the 1970s have shown that there is an inverse relationship between selenium intake and cancer mortality.

Studies have also indicated that selenium can also fight the development of advanced prostate cancer.

A trial in the US found those receiving selenium showed 50 per cent lower cancer mortality and 37 per cent lower total cancer incidence, with 63 per cent fewer cancers of the prostate and 58 per cent fewer cancers of the colon.

Food agency researcher John Arthur said, "The low concentration of selenium in an enriched loaf gives a lot of safety to consumers as toxic consumption of pill supplements could be achieved with just 20 pills, while the equivalent intake could only be achieved by eating 13 loaves a day."
Dail Express 14th February, 2005
Per www.nutrilaw.co.uk

PHILLIP DAY'S COMMENT: I'm not a big fan of inordinate grain consumption, as most know, but if you are going to eat bread, you might as well eat this stuff. Selenium is vital for the body's functions to prevent cancer and other diseases. The mineralisation of our soils only gets worse, rather than better, due to over-intensive farming methods. Perhaps a time will come when we'll decide enough's enough and a comprehensive program to remineralise UK soils can get underway. In the meantime, Waitrose is your man, the Bread Dept., selenium soldiers.

How Red Meat Raises Cancer Risk
by Julian Wheldon

Eating a burger and two sausages a day can raise the risk of bowel cancer by a third, scientists have warned. They say having the equivalent of an 8oz sirloin steak each day doubles the risk of developing the disease, which affects 35,000 people a year.

A study showed those who eat fish every other day are a third less likely to get bowel cancer than those who eat it less than once a week. The scientists are urging consumers to cut their red meat intake and eat more fibre and fish to avoid the disease.

The team from MRC Dunn Human Nutrition Unit in Cambridge considered the effects of beef, lamb, pork, veal, ham, bacon, sausages and tinned meat. Lead researcher, Professor Sheila Bingham, explained: 'If people want to reduce their risk of bowel cancer, the plate should only have a small portion of good quality meat and more vegetables and carbohydrates and people should eat more fish.'

She said a red pigment in the meat might be triggering a chain reaction in the intestine, resulting in cancer. Diet, smoking, lack of exercise and obesity are all known to increase the risk of bowel cancer, now the third most common cancer in men and the second in women.

The results of the study - funded by the medical research Council, Cancer Research UK and the International Agency for Research on Cancer, were published yesterday in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

The scientists took almost 500,000 men and women from ten European countries and looked at their diet and how many cases of bowel cancer occurred over five years.
Daily Mail, 15th June 2005

and…

Red Meat Linked to Increased Risk of Bowel Cancer
by Celia Hall

Regularly eating red meat and processed meat such as bacon, sausages, ham and burgers increases the risk of developing bowel cancer, researchers said yesterday.

A European study involving nearly half a million adults showed that those who eat more than two portions of red or processed meat a day increase their risk by a third compared with those who eat very little.

People who eat fish every other day reduce their risk by nearly a third compared with people who eat fish less than once a week. People who eat poultry regularly are neither at an advantage or disadvantage.

The European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (Epic) says that those who eat red or processed meat regularly but with little fibre - from vegetables and whole grains - increase their risk even more.

Doctors increasingly believe that two thirds of bowel cancers could be prevented by changes in diet and lifestyle. The results confirm what they have been saying for some time, but much of the evidence has been circumstantial.

For the purposes of the study, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, red meat included beef, pork, lamb and veal. The increased risk of a third is for those who eat 160g (5.6oz) or more of red meat a day compared with people who eat less than 20g a week.

Prof Sheila Bingham, from the Medical Research Council Dunn Nutrition Unit, Cambridge, a lead investigator in the study, said the overall picture was "very consistent for red and processed meat and fibre across Europe". She said that the incidence of bowel cancer among Japanese had risen sharply since they began to adopt a western diet.

In the study, 478,040 men and women in 10 European countries, including Britain, were enrolled between 1992 and 1998 and followed for an average of five years. In that time 1,329 colon or rectal cancers bowel were diagnosed.

Factors such as smoking, obesity and heavy drinking, which also affect the incidence of bowel cancer, were taken into account.

Prof Tim Key, the deputy director of the epidemiology unit at Cancer Research UK, which also took part in the study, said it strengthened the evidence that the risk of bowel cancer could be cut by increasing fibre in the diet and reducing the amount of red meat eaten.

"Around 35,000 cases of bowel cancer are diagnosed each year in the UK. We estimate that more than two thirds of those - 25,000 cases - could be avoided by changes in lifestyle," he said.

John Bullock, the spokesman for the Meat and Livestock Commission, said: "Consumption of 160g a day is high. Average consumption in Britain is 93g. Our view has always been that we should aim for balance in what we eat. Typically, we eat meat with vegetables and potatoes, providing the fibre that has a protective effect against bowel cancer."

The Food Standards Agency said red meat was recommended as part of a healthy diet as it was a "good source of iron and other minerals and vitamins", but due to the saturated fat content it should be eaten in moderation.
The Daily Telegraph, 15th June 2005

Structural Joint Problems in Dogs
by Beth Taylor and Steve Brown

Conditions caused by poor joint structure, like hip dysplasia, may be inherited. They may also be strongly influenced by diet and other environmental factors, both before and after birth. If cartilage deteriorates, and bone begins to rub on bone, surgery, drugs or both may be recommended. Sometimes surgery is recommended for young dogs to avoid the development of arthritis later.

A fresh food diet, a good exercise program, chiropractic and other supportive treatments won't eliminate a poorly structured hip, knee, or elbow, but they may eliminate the symptoms and the need for surgery.

We've seen great results from the strategies detailed below, and hope you'll try them before resorting to surgery.

Why Does Your Dog Hurt?
Joints float in soft tissue, which acts as a shock absorber. The stability of joints is determined by the integrity of the muscles and tendons that cross the joint. The brain gets information from every cell of the body. If all is well, the joints send information to the brain and the brain sends back information via the nervous system to tell all parts of the muscular structure what to do. If all the muscles are functioning well, the dog's hip moves as it should.

A poorly formed joint, however, is more likely to malfunction or be injured. If inflammation is present from injury, diet or disease, joint function is affected. Injuries change communication between the brain and the joint too.

When this happens, the information loop with the brain is impaired, and it deteriorates further as incorrect information is circulated. Over time, the muscles no longer support the joint properly. Your dog begins to limp. Cartilage deteriorates. Soon, bone is rubbing against bone, and your dog is in serious pain.

A veterinarian may X-ray the painful area. If a problem is seen, surgery is often recommended, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) or steroids are often prescribed to reduce pain and inflammation.

Surgery as well as NSAIDs and steroids can be just as life-threatening to your pet, as they are to you. Eventually, the relief to be gained may outweigh the risks involved, but these are choices to consider only after diet, exercise and non-invasive medical supports have been explored.

A broader view of treatment focuses on healing. The goal is to improve the function of the entire body, allowing the problem area to heal. If the nervous system works properly, stability is restored to the joint. If dietary and functional causes of inflammation are removed, pain may be eliminated. The steps below will help you optimize the function of imperfect joints, and help your dog feel the very best he can.

Diet: The Major Influence on Inflammation
Feed your dog real food! Real food gives the body the raw materials to balance inflammatory and anti-inflammatory chemicals naturally and to produce the fluids that cushion joints.

Dogs who have joint problems are often eating dry food. Dry food has more grain than any other ingredient, even if the first ingredient listed is meat. Dogs are physiologically designed to thrive on a meat-based diet. Even enhanced with glucosamine or omega-3 fatty acids, dry foods promote the production of inflammatory chemicals because the main ingredient is grain.

Inflammation and improper immune function are involved in all of these conditions:

· Irritable bowel syndrome
· Irritable bowel disease
· Leaky gut syndrome
· Arthritis
· Other immune-related conditions

Dogs with these conditions are more at risk for joint inflammation because they already have high levels of inflammatory chemicals circulating in their bodies. Radical improvement is often seen when these dogs are switched to a grain- free, fresh food diet.

Keep your dog lean! A 14-year study by Nestle Purina conclusively proved lean dogs have much less arthritis, live longer and maintain muscle mass longer into old age. (1) Those muscles will help to keep your dog moving well as he ages. If there is a joint problem, removing the stress on joints caused by excess weight is essential.
(See the list of articles at the foot of this column for other articles on food, and read our book, [http://www.mercola.com/forms/see_spot_live_longer.htm] See Spot Live Longer, for more information.)

Exercise Improves Everything
Rebuilding and maintaining muscle supports joints and builds a strong nervous system to help all body systems work at their best.

Swimming is an excellent non-weight bearing exercise to build the muscles that support joints without stressing them. Free swimming gets things moving beautifully, and can quickly make a radical change in how a dog feels. When pain doesn't interfere with movement in the supportive environment of the water, the body can move normally. Dogs feel better immediately. Gradually, the communication between brain and joints improves, and muscle starts to rebuild.

When your dog feels better, he'll be ready for more weight-bearing exercise. On land, walking and trotting, use the body in natural ways. Varied terrain (mild inclines, grass in addition to pavement) provides exercise for different muscle groups. As your dog becomes more fit, alternate short bursts of sprinting until he is out of breath with walking slower until he's ready to go again.

· Always remember to build slowly and watch for signs of stress. If your dog isn't keeping up, it's not because he is lazy!
· Panting with a big tongue means, stop for a while.
· Don't exercise in hot weather unless the dog is swimming (dogs don't have efficient cooling methods).
· Support your dog hopping in and especially out of vehicles.
· Avoid overdoing exercise.
· Frequent short sessions are more effective than longer ones.
· It is necessary to push the system a bit to make progress, but if you go too far, muscles are damaged and progress is delayed. It's easy for an old guy with a little too much enthusiasm to hurt himself.
· These are just a few of many ways to improve canine fitness. Even short walks oxygenate the blood, helping the body get rid of the waste products that contribute to a dog feeling sluggish, tired and achy.

Supportive Medical Treatment
Despite the misconception by many that it's only good for moving "stuck" bones, chiropractic treatments can restore function to the nervous system, which drives all movement. When proper communication is restored, joints will be better supported by the muscles and tendons.

Most dogs respond very well to chiropractic, tending to heal and rebuild muscle quickly. Often a few visits make a radical difference in how your dog feels. Visits may be frequent at first, then scheduled further apart. A young, fit dog with a joint problem may do well on quarterly maintenance. Old dogs that have severe, long-term problems may be seen monthly for maintenance, once major issues have been resolved.

Acupuncture is very effective for pain relief, and helps to remove energetic blockages to good health in all areas.

To find a practitioner, visit the sites of the American Veterinary Chiropractic Association and the American Holistic Veterinary Association. Personal recommendations may help you locate the most effective practitioner in your area.

Acupressure, Massage and Touch
Although these techniques are practiced by professionals, you can learn to use them yourself. For example, range-of-motion exercises taught in most books are of great benefit for dogs with restricted movement. Books, classes and videos provide a wide range of effective tools.

You don't have to be a medical professional to learn enough to help your animal considerably. The additional benefit is a deeper relationship with your dog!

Help Your Dog Live Longer!
We believe taking these steps may save your dog from surgery. If surgery is needed, they will help to support the fullest possible recovery. Good diet, exercise, chiropractic and acupuncture used as part of an ongoing health care program will enhance the health of any living being.
Follow the guidelines in our book, See Spot Live Longer,
[http://www.mercola.com/forms/see_spot_live_longer.htm] and reduce the chance that a dog in your care will have joint problems!

References
Kealy Richard et al. "Effects of diet restriction on life span and age-related changes in dogs," Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, Vol. 220, No. 9, May 1, 2002. 1315-1320.
Feel free to contact Steve or Beth for more information at bat31@earthlink.net.

DR. MERCOLA'S COMMENT: There is indeed a special relationship that exists between pets and their owners that goes far beyond the sharing of a home together. Our happy-go-lucky, four-legged friends also provide us with constant unconditional love, devotion, friendship and something else that might not be at the forefront of most people's minds -- health benefits.

If you have a dog, I highly recommend you read their excellent book, See Spot Live Longer. Using philosophies similar to my own regarding the importance of nutrition, See Spot Live Longer presents solid evidence that a good diet is just as important for dogs as it is for us. When fed a proper raw diet appropriate for their body, hundreds of people, including veterinarians, have witnessed vast health improvements in their dogs.

Authors Steve Brown and Beth Taylor, both pet health and nutrition experts, provide an all-inclusive argument for feeding your dog a naturally balanced raw meat, bone and vegetable-based diet that provides much higher quality nutrition than any dry or canned dog or cat food. By convincingly covering all the bases, readers will:

· Review case studies of dogs and cats with chronic illness that improved after fed a healthy diet of fresh food.
· Dispel the myths that are sabotaging your dog's health.
· Learn how the ancestral dog's diet compares to the modern diet dogs eat today.
· Realize the canine anatomical digest process to better understand why and when our animals are at risk from different types of food and potential toxins.
· Find out why dry and canned dog foods may be harming your dog.
· Find out what real fresh foods will protect your dog from cancer and other disease.
· Discover the importance of exercise and how keeping your dog fit will add years to its life.
· Learn practical, cost-effective solutions to feeding your dog better for a longer and healthier life.
Healthy News You Can Use 26th May, 2005
www.mercola.com
Related Articles:

Why Do Your Pets Need Vitamin E?
Exercise, Healthy Eating Helps Your Dog Live Longer
Help Your Pets Fight Heartworm Safely
Real Food Treats Improve Your Pet's Health

Leukaemia Risk 70pc Higher for
Children Close to Power Lines
by Nic Fleming

Children born close to high-voltage overhead power lines are more likely to be diagnosed with leukaemia, according to the results of a major government-funded study published today.

Researchers find that those whose childhood homes are within 200 metres of a power line have an almost 70 per cent greater risk of being diagnosed with leukaemia.

However, they stress that they have not established the cause of the increased risk and that it could be due to other factors, such as differences in wealth between those who live near power lines and those who do not.

They say that if the 275 kilovolt (kV) and 400kV national grid lines investigated in the study are indeed the cause of the rise, they would be responsible for approximately one per cent of leukaemia cases in England and Wales, or around five cases per year. Campaigners claim that lower voltage regional power lines, which operate at 132kV, might have the same effect, in which case the number of leukaemia cases linked to electricity transmission could be 10 times higher.

The study, the largest of its kind to date, is published today in the British Medical Journal. It analyses 29,081 people from England and Wales who were diagnosed with cancer aged under 15 between 1962 and 1995. They are compared with the same number of healthy individuals, matched for sex and year and area of birth.

Researchers calculated the distance from each person's home at birth and the nearest high-voltage overhead line.

For those born within 200 metres of a power line, the risk of leukaemia is 69 per cent greater than for those born more than 600 metres away. Those between 200 metres and 600 metres from a power line are 23 per cent more likely to have been diagnosed with leukaemia than those whose homes were more than 600 metres away. No increased risks are found for other types of childhood cancer. Dr Gerald Draper, of the Oxford Childhood Cancer Research Group, led the research. He says: "The increased risk of leukaemia up to 600 metres from the high voltage power was surprising in the view of the very low level of magnetic fields at these distances. There is no accepted biological mechanism to explain these results. It could be down to confounding factors such as socio-economic factors. People should not panic. More research must be carried out to find the mechanism."

Dr John Swanson, a scientific adviser to National Grid Transco and one of the study's co-authors, says: "The study strengthens the evidence that childhood leukaemia rates are slightly higher near power lines, but leaves the question of what causes this more confused than before."

One theory is that "corona ions", small charged particles given off by power lines, attach themselves to air pollution particles. It is argued that those who live nearby are therefore more at risk from inhaled pollution.

Around 400 to 420 new leukaemia cases are diagnosed in England and Wales each year. Scientists have suggested a range of causes including genetic susceptibility, ionising radiation, unusual patterns of exposure to infection and electromagnetic fields.

Two major studies published in 2000 by Swedish and American researchers concluded that there was a doubling of the risk of childhood leukaemia associated with the level of magnetic field exposure received around 100 metres from a power line.

Alasdair Phillips, of the consumer group Powerwatch, said: "The Government should bring in a ban on new building within 250 metres of high voltage power lines. Nurseries and schools, or the adjacent power lines, should be relocated so that they are further away than 500 metres from high voltage overhead power
lines."
The Daily Telegraph, 3rd June 2005

Codex - New Zealand's Great Vitamin Snatch
by David Sloan (NZ Health Trust)

Many people have been asking us about Codex - what impact it will have on us in NZ and how the Codex situation may be affected by the Joint Australian Therapeutic Goods Agency (TGA) proposal. The fact is Codex is providing another very real example of how the TGA proposal would mean a worrying loss of control, particularly to NZ but also to Australia.

This is an area we have been spending more time looking into and we will continue to come to terms with it in the next few weeks. Here's a brief overview to help us understand what Codex is all about and how it only serves to highlight our concern about the future for the Natural Health Industry.

The Codex Alimentarius Commission is an international group formed as an offshoot of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Committee of the United Nations (FAO) and is designed to provide international standards for food products. Although the focus is food, this has been taken to include nutritional supplements and in July of this year Codex will meet in Rome to ratify the international standards they have developed for nutritional supplements. These standards include limiting allowable ingredients and setting maximum permitted levels for remaining ingredients. As currently drafted the standards are predicted to seriously reduce the effectiveness and availability of natural products.

The standards, if ratified, will not automatically bind the member countries like Australia and NZ, and in the usual course it would be for the individual governments to decide whether or not to adopt them as law. That doesn't sound too bad, but consider two vital points:

· Once these standards are set as international best practise it becomes almost impossible for governments in a practical sense not to follow them. They take refuge in the wisdom of supposedly greater minds and hide behind those decisions whereas to decide not to adopt them, forces them to make decisions for themselves and be held accountable for it and few politicians or regulators have that sort of courage. Furthermore, our obligations under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) oblige us to follow and adopt international standards wherever possible. In practical terms then, the Codex standards will bind us even if they do not do so technically. Codex can pass the buck to local regulators saying "it is their decision whether or not to adopt the standards" and regulators say "we are obliged to follow international standards" - once again no one is accountable and the net result is that the consumer suffers.

· The second matter concerns the TGA proposal. It is true to say that Codex relates to foods and the TGA covers medicines. As the recent fact sheet put out by the TGA says, the TGA will not be bound by any standards published by Codex. We do not necessarily disagree, our concern is what we see as a very real likelihood that once international standards are published determining supposedly "safe" ingredients or "safe" levels of various ingredients, it is highly likely that a medicines regulator, charged with controlling dietary supplements will, although not formally adopting those standards, closely reflect them.

If the Joint Trans Tasman agency were to proceed, that would be the body making decisions about types of ingredients and safe levels of ingredients. It then would be the body that decides how closely its own permitted levels would reflect the "international standards" for the same ingredients put out by Codex. New Zealand wouldn't be able to make this decision for itself. To the NZ Health Trust it seems almost certain that we would find the TGA permitted levels would in practise mirror those announced by Codex. So immediately we begin to see the practical effect of giving away control of therapeutic products to this Australian agency.

Rather than NZ having the final say about what ingredients and levels are safe, the TGA would make this decision for us, whether we like it or not! When we finally get rid of the threat of the Joint Agency, New Zealand may still have to deal with the Codex standards but at least that is a decision we as New Zealanders can have some influence over.

Overall, the way the Codex standards are shaping up makes it look to be just another angle from which the independent natural health industry is being attacked worldwide and forced to be assessed against a toxicology standard rather than a nutritional and effects based standard. Unless the general public becomes extremely vigilant and requires accountability from our politicians, the natural health industry will be the innocent victim and consumer's health will be the poorer for it.

The NZHT is continuing to consider this issue in depth and will keep you advised. All this just shows how important it is to be heard. This is why we are continuing to work so hard to raise public awareness and why we want to get as much support as possible using our "Urgent Support" forms on the web site.

If you are concerned about these continued international attempts to decimate the natural health industry, you need to fill out the form linked below and then send this message to your friends.

An Urgent Call for Your Support

"URGENT SUPPORT"
If you want to have your say without going to Wellington yourself to tell the MPs of your concerns and wishes, click this link to add your Support to NZ Health Trust.
http://www.nzhealthtrust.co.nz/urgent_support.php
Many thanks to those of you who have already done so.
It is vital for MPs to understand just how many people do not want this Australian based Joint Agency making decisions for New Zealand.
Click here http://nzhealthtrust.co.nz/support_forms.html
to Order pre printed Forms in bulk - Order forms for distribution on mass to friends, colleagues, customers or clients.
31st May, 2005

Dave Sloan
NZ Health Trust
A: PO Box 34-057 Christchurch, New Zealand
P: +64 3 3519807
F: +64 3 3517993
E: info@nzht.co.nz
W: www.nzht.co.nz
If you have been forwarded this newsletter by a friend and wish to subscribe to this newsletter visit
http://www.nzhealthtrust.co.nz/newsletter.html

Study Charts Science's Ethical Swamplands
One-third in survey veered into grey areas

by Keay Davidson

Up to a third of scientists have engaged in ethically questionable practices over the last three years, according to a survey published in today's issue of the British science journal, Nature.

The surveyed behaviors range from extremely serious acts such as fraud and plagiarism -- which were committed by only a fraction of a percent to 1. 4 percent, respectively -- to acts that are ethically far more ambiguous, such as ignoring data that contradict one's theory.

The survey does not necessarily mean that one-third of all the biomedical scientists surveyed are guilty of misconduct, as many of their acts are subject to varying interpretations, cautions the study's lead author, sociologist Brian C. Martinson of Health Partners Research Foundation in Minneapolis, which sponsors research on health-related issues.

Still, the study, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health, suggests that science is becoming so competitive and so dominated by big business that many scientists repeatedly find themselves faced by uncomfortable ethical choices -- and the decisions they make may not always be the wisest, Martinson said in a phone interview.

He said he rejects "people who want to sensationalize (this finding) and say 'all scientists are corrupt", which isn't his belief. Rather, he hopes to start a serious national discussion of the moral dilemmas generated for scientists by the high-pressure, big-bucks atmosphere of modern science.

Historically, scientists have defined misconduct as publication of false, fabricated or plagiarized data. But that's far too narrow a definition of scientific misconduct, Martinson said, and he and two colleagues, Melissa S. Anderson and Raymond de Vries, both of the University of Minnesota, try to go far beyond it in their study.

The anonymous surveys were mailed to almost 8,000 NIH-funded biomedical researchers. Of the seven most-frequently reported instances of possible misconduct in scientific publication, the biggest sound pretty harmless to laypeople: "inadequate record-keeping related to research projects," which was admitted by 27.5 percent of the 3,247 respondents. The others were

"Changing the design, methodology or results of a study in response to pressure from a funding source," reported by 15.5 percent.

"Dropping observations or data points from analyses based on a gut feeling that they were inaccurate," admitted by 15.3 percent.

"Inappropriately assigning authorship credit"… that is, not fairly identifying the researchers, admitted by 10 percent.

"Using inadequate or inappropriate research designs," acknowledged by 13.5 percent.

"Overlooking others' use of flawed data or questionable interpretation of data," reported by 12.5 percent.

"Withholding details of methodology or results in papers or (research) proposals," cited by 10.8 percent.

"Inappropriately assigning authorship credit" -- that is, not fairly identifying the researchers, admitted by 10 percent.

"Withholding details of methodology or results in papers or (research) proposals," cited by 10.8 percent.

The Martinson paper is a "very interesting article," said Lisa Bero, a professor of clinical pharmacy and health policy at UCSF who has a long- standing interest in the problem of scientific misconduct. "It's absolutely critical that we collect information on the behavior of scientists."

Martinson, 41, had trouble getting the article published -- it was rejected by two prominent American journals, Science and the Journal of the American Medical Association, before Nature accepted it in the form of a "commentary." In Nature, a commentary is an article that contains a fair amount of personal opinion but must still go through peer review by outside experts before it is accepted for publication.

David Magnus, director of the Center for Biomedical Ethics at Stanford, questioned the meaningfulness of at least two of the Martinson survey's questions -- question 9, about overlooking other scientists' use of flawed data, and question 10, about changing a study in response to a funding source's pressure -- which, he said, "are difficult to interpret and are open to interpretation."

In an interview, Martinson readily acknowledged the study's flaws.

"If I could do that over again, I would break (question 10) into four parts (and ask) did that pressure come from an industry source or from NIH? And also, did you change the results before or after the pressure? That would have made that question more clear."

Regardless, the study's findings suggest all is not well with American science.

"Competition and privatization are the great American way," Martinson told The Chronicle, "but we've not stopped to ask ourselves whether we may have engendered a level of competition in science that has some dysfunctional consequences" -- for example, cases where scientists feel pressured by a drug company to change findings that reflect badly on the performance of an experimental drug.

The issue of scientific misconduct has haunted the scientific community for decades. That's partly because historians of science have uncovered cases of questionable conduct by some of the most famous scientists. Albert Einstein, for example, might have come out poorly on the survey because early in his career he initially ignored an experiment that contradicted his theory of relativity.

Another famous example is the great California physicist Robert Millikan. In the 1970s, the Harvard science historian-physicist Gerald Holton examined Millikan's original lab notebooks and discovered that in the 1910s, while trying to measure the electrical charge on electrons, Millikan discarded some measurements for puzzling reasons -- possibly because they didn't fit his hypothesis that electrons have a fixed or "quantized" charge.

Nonetheless, Millikan's published measurement of the electrical charge on the electron proved to be correct. He later served as president of Caltech -- and won the Nobel Prize

Still, such stories are no excuse for today's would-be scientific scofflaws: "Selective use of (scientific) data clearly is unacceptable," says Norriss Hetherington, a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley's history of science division. "Logic tells us so, and historical examples tell us that that is how previous people judged it."
San Francisco Chronicle, 9th June 2005

*** CTM US ACTION ALERT ***

US Mental Health Screening Signals
End of Parental Rights
by Nancy Levant

In the 2005-2006 school year, all parents will receive written notice of new policies from your children's schools. Many schools will ask you to sign permission slips, allowing school counselors or "advocates" to have conversations with your children. You will be told how your local schools are now involved in vision and dental screenings, learning disabilities and speech impediment screenings, and other acts of kindness, but watch for the small print or the extra little blurb, which states that your children will also be evaluated for emotional wellness. Watch for wording like "happiness indicators" or "family participation."

The fact is that our president has mandated that every American child, age 3 through 18, is federally ordered to be evaluated for mental health issues and to receive "enforced" treatment. Welcome to President Bush's New Freedom Initiative and New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. Welcome to life-long profiling and drug addictions, New Freedom-style.

52 million students and six million adults working in schools, according to this commission, will be tested and should flush out at least 6 million people, or shall we say new customers, who will then be mandated to receive "treatment." What treatment does our president's commission have in mind? The newest drugs in the pharmaceutical pipelines, of course. The commission recommends "specific medications for specific conditions."

One of the state-of-the-art treatments, and most expensive, is an implanted capsule yes, that's right, implanted. The capsule delivers medication into a child's body without the child having to swallow a pill or the need for parental permission for dispensation.

The New Freedom Commission named the Texas Medication Algorithm Project (TMAP) a model treatment plan. Medical algorithms are a flowchart-style treatment indicator. If you have A symptom and B symptom, take C medication. TMAP began with the University of Texas, big pharma, and the mental health and corrections system in Texas. The American Psychiatric Association concurs that TMAP is brilliant.

However, the New Freedom Initiative and Commission is a political-big pharma marriage. Many companies who supported TMAP were also major contributors to Bush's re-election funds. For example, Eli Lilly manufactures olanzapine - one of the drugs recommended in the New Freedom plan, and furthermore, George Herbert Walker Bush was once a member of Lilly's board of directors. Our current President Bush appointed Lilly's chief executive officer, Sidney Taurel, as a member of the Homeland Security Council. Eighty-two percent of Lilly's $1.6 million in political contributions in 2000 went to Bush and the Republican Party. Do tell...

Texas Algorithm grossed over 4 billion dollars in 2003 and olanzapine is Eli Lilly's top-selling drug. A 2003 New York Times article by Gardiner Harris claims that 70 percent of olanzapine sales are paid for by government agencies, such as Medicare and Medicaid. And lo and behold, guess who is now able to bill Medicaid for health services? Public schools, of course, as they are now under the big pharma-political profits/pay-back umbrella once they adopt screening policies. Public schools can now be paid to screen and drug your kids.

Now, if you ever wonder, ever again, if public-private partnerships care about people, then you need a brain transplant. Your children are now the legislated guinea pigs and lab rats for the pharmaceutical companies who bought and paid for our president's campaign. Favors are now returned to those companies in the form of enforced juvenile customers, their health, and their future drug addictions.

But wait, there is more. The New Freedom Commission also calls for enforced treatment. That means that parents have no rights to refuse the treatment recommenced by TMAP and other drug dispensing corporate-bureaucratic apparatuses. And as the mental health bureaucracy is also involved in this financial game of insidious cruelty, parents and families are also to be investigated via the result of their children's screenings in schools. In other words, schools are now the across-the-board, or shall I say -nation, diagnostic tool for big pharma and child control.

And there's more. The U.N. Agenda 21 has also called for total intrusion into schools and children's lives. No more religion, no more individuality, no more real education, no more real grades, no more real teaching, no more teacher respect for parents, and no more truth from teachers or principals. This sounds very familiar and very political to me. And I've said it before, and I will say it again: if you are of a religious ilk and you refuse to allow your children to be abused by our "educational" system, the stage is being set for you to lose physical custody of your children. I suggest that you read this: 'Rethinking Orphanages for the 21st Century' by Richard McKenzie.


Websites for Wisdoms:
www.newswithviews.com/Devvy/kidd64.htm
www.newswithviews.com/Eakman/beverly26.htm

http://www.sierratimes.com/05/05/16/24_209_102_203_25370.htm
http://www.rense.com

forwarded by

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Alternative Views on Health
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Number of US Vaccines Now Highest in History

If you were a kid in the 60s, you probably received less than 10 vaccines before you were 18. For the past decade, the total number has hovered at 40. On 7 Feb 05, with no media whatsoever, the CDC suddenly jacked up the total number of vaccines mandated to an American child before age 18 to a whopping 58! This makes our children not only the most vaccinated kids in the world, but the most vaccinated kids in the history of the world. No other country on earth pursues such an aggressive posture towards vaccination.

Back in Jan 2002, again without a peep of media, a new niche was tacked onto the Mandated Schedule: the High Risk category. Hard on the heels of 9/11, CDC said that vaccines in this new category would be for those with a propensity for colds and flu or for anyone else wishing to obtain immunity for the proscribed diseases. They opened with 2 vaccines: influenza and Hepatitis A.

By serendipitous synchronicity, the medical journal Pediatrics that same month carried an article written by an FDA Advisory Board member, Paul Offit: Do Vaccines Overwhelm the Immune System? The article had a strange non-professional persuasive essay tone to it, almost as though it were written for parents rather than for the usual readers of a scientific journal. And it told us, yes, yes we know that it must seem like kids are getting a lot of vaccines these days. In this article we will estimate the total number of vaccines to which a child could respond to at any one time. The study's conclusion: each infant would have the theoretical capacity to respond to about 10,000 vaccines at any one time. This was not Mad magazine, nor a script for Saturday Night Live. This was a peer-reviewed medical journal.

The timing was obvious: 4 months post 9/11. This was the beginning of that year and a half when we were daily terrorized with the threat of being forced to submit to mass smallpox vaccination, remember? Amazing that after spending $3 billion of your money stockpiling enough smallpox vaccines for every American, it was then discovered that the vaccine was too dangerous, and the program was scrapped by Oct 2003. A little research here shows that the program was never about anything other than the $3 billion.
Excerpted from The Sanctity of Human Blood: Vaccination is Not Immunization by Tim O'Shea
www.thedoctorwithin.com