Peace is the happy natural state of man; war is corruption and disgrace.  James Thomson

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Does the Vaccine Matter?
The Atlantic
Shannon Brownlee and Jenna Lenzer
November, 2009

Drive too fast along Red Lion Road, beside Philadelphia’s Northeast Airport, and you will miss the low-rise cement building where the biotech company MedImmune has been quietly pumping out swine flu vaccine at about a million doses a week.  Through the summer and fall, workers wearing protective gear that covered them from head to toe brewed up batches of live, genetically modified flu virus. Robots then injected tiny doses of virus-laden fluid into glass vials, which were mounted into nasal spritzers, labeled, and readied for shipment at the direction of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in Atlanta, which is helping to coordinate the nation’s pandemic-preparedness plan. In the most ambitious vaccination program the nation has mounted since the anti-polio campaign in the 1950s, the federal government has commissioned MedImmune and four other companies to produce enough vaccine to cover the entire U.S. population.

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Yearly Mammograms Unneeded for Women in Their 40s, Report Says
Bloomberg News
David Olmos
November 16, 2009

Annual mammograms are unnecessary for women in their 40s, and those in their 50s should only have them every two years, a panel of U.S. doctors said, drawing opposition from the American Cancer Society.

The U.S. Preventive Service Task Force, a government-backed panel of doctors, said potential harm from annual screening, including false-positive results, cuts the test’s benefits. The panel’s recommendations, which do not cover women who carry a high risk for the disease, also urge that doctors stop showing women how to do self-examinations because there is little evidence it cuts cancer deaths.

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Sweeping Health Care Plan Passes House
The New York Times
Carl Hulse & Robert Pear
November 7, 2009

Handing President Obama a hard-fought victory, the House narrowly approved a sweeping overhaul of the nation’s health care system on Saturday night, advancing legislation that Democrats said could stand as their defining social policy achievement.

After a daylong clash with Republicans over what has been a Democratic goal for decades, lawmakers voted 220 to 215 to approve a plan that would cost $1.1 trillion over 10 years. Democrats said the legislation would provide overdue relief to Americans struggling to buy or hold on to health insurance. 

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Related
House Vote 887 - H.R.3962: On Passage Affordable Health Care for America Act
The New York Times
November 7, 2009

Check interactive map here

The FDA Really Does Hate Diabetics!
The Health Sciences Institute
Michele Cagan

Killer diabetes drug Byetta has once again been linked to severe organ damage and death… and the FDA has once again made them (can you guess?) change the warning label.

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Related:
Byetta (exenatide) - Renal Failure
FDA
November 2, 2009

FDA notified healthcare professionals of revisions to the prescribing information for Byetta (exenatide) to include information on post-marketing reports of altered kidney function, including acute renal failure and insufficiency. Byetta, an incretin-mimetic, is approved as an adjunct to diet and exercise to improve glycemic control in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

From April 2005 through October 2008, FDA received 78 cases of altered kidney function (62 cases of acute renal failure and 16 cases of renal insufficiency), in patients using Byetta.

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Related:
Byetta (exenatide)
FDA
August 18, 2008

Since issuing Information for Healthcare Professionals in October 2007, FDA has received reports of 6 cases of hemorrhagic or necrotizing pancreatitis in patients taking Byetta. Byetta is a medicine given by subcutaneous injection to help treat adults with type 2 diabetes.

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More MRI Scanners Lead to Excess Back Surgeries, Research Finds
Bloomberg News
Nicole Ostrow
October 14, 2009

Patients with low back pain may undergo more unnecessary surgery if they have greater access to magnetic resonance imaging machines, a study of Medicare recipients found.

Those in regions with the highest concentration of MRI scanners were about 20 percent more likely to have back surgery than those who lived in an area with the lowest concentration, research online today in the journal Health Affairs showed. Back surgery isn’t proven or recommended to help patients with nonspecific low back pain, the study authors said.

The number of MRI machines tripled in the U.S. to 26.6 machines per 1 million people in 2005 from 7.6 machines per million people in 2000, according to the article. Medicare, the U.S. government health program for the elderly, pays about $600 for a lower back scan, the researchers said. An increase in the number of scans and surgeries is raising the cost of treating lower back pain, according to the study authors.

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New Agent Orange Policy Will Make Disability Benefits Available to More Vets
News Inferno
October 13, 2009

A new proposal on Agent Orange health claims issued this week by the Department of Veterans Affairs will make it much easier for veterans injured by the toxin to make claims for disability payments and health care services. Under the proposal, three illnesses – B cell leukemias, such as hairy cell leukemia; Parkinson’s disease; and ischemic heart disease – will be added to the growing list of illnesses presumed to have been caused by Agent Orange.

Agent Orange was widely used during the Vietnam War as a defoliant to remove enemy hiding places. According to The New York Times, Agent Orange was the most common herbicide used in the war. It contained one of the most toxic forms of dioxin, which has since been linked to some cancers.

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This is just great...We now have an "Honor Roll" for forcing people to get vaccines!
Honor Roll for Patient Safety
Mandatory Influenza Vaccination Policies for Healthcare Workers

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Firefighters, police draw up plans for H1N1 flu
News and Sentinel.Com
Natalee Seely
September 24, 2009

PARKERSBURG - The local fire department and law enforcement agencies are preparing for the worst as health officials warn that an H1N1 influenza outbreak is possible during the upcoming flu season.

Chief Eric Chichester, with the Parkersburg Fire Department, said he is taking all necessary precautions to protect firefighters and the public from the H1N1 (swine flu) virus. With the department also responding to medical emergency calls, firefighters will be prepared with face masks, disinfectants and gloves.

"We are always extremely careful with every medical call we receive, and it's part of our routine to use disinfectant and gloves," said Chichester. "But if H1N1 does resurface, we will enforce wearing face masks when responding to EMS calls."

Chichester said when the first few cases of H1N1 emerged in Parkersburg earlier in the year, masks and gloves were worn.

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Merck Gives $500 Million of Vaccine to Poorer Nations
Bloomberg
By Shannon Pettypiece
September 23, 2009

Merek & Co.will donate more than $500 million of its Gardasil cervical cancer vaccine to the Clinton Global Initiative as part of an effort to improve women’s health in the developing world.

Started in 2005 by the former president’s Little Rock, Arkansas-based William J Clinton Foundation, the Global Initiative has received $46 billion in funding commitments for causes including education, climate change and health care.

Merck’s donation will provide 1.7 million women the three- shot vaccination that protects against strains of the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus, which cause 70 percent of cervical cancers.  Qiagen NV, based in the Netherlands, will donate tests to screen patients to determine if they have certain strains of the virus.

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Come on now...
Gardasil for Boys Gets OK From FDA Advisory Panel
News Inferno
September 10, 2009

Gardasil, the HPV vaccine currently marketed to young girls and women, may soon be available for boys According to a CNN report, a Food & Drug Administration (FDA) advisory panel has recommended that Gardasil be approved for boys and young men aged 9 to 26 for protection against genital warts caused by HPV.

Gardasil prevents four strains of HPV, two of which cause 70 percent of all cervical cancers. The other two HPV strains are responsible for about 90 percent of genital warts. However, Gardasil has been the subject of controversy ever since it was approved in 2006. Recently, a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that Gardasil has a higher incidence of blood clots reported. Last month CBS News reported that Merck is also looking into cases of ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) reported after vaccination, and is monitoring the number of deaths reported after Gardasil is administered. Right now, that number stands at 32.

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More Health Care Centers adn Hospitals are making the Seasonal Flu Vaccine mandatory for employment
Should Flu Shots be Mandatory for Hospital Employees?
Kansas City InfoZine
September 3, 2009

Even though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention strongly recommends that all healthcare workers receive seasonal flu shots, only about 40 percent do so.

Now some infectious diseases experts and hospitals say flu shots should be mandatory.

For example, Loyola University Health System announced Sept. 2 that annual flu shots will be mandatory for all employees, faculty, medical and nursing students at its main hospital and suburban health centers.

Loyola is among the first medical centers in the country to make flu shots mandatory. The policy will improve the safety of patients, visitors, employees and their families, said Dr. Paul Whelton, president and CEO.

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Emory, Grady make seasonal flu shots mandatory
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Craig Schneider and Shelia M Poole

Emory Healthcare and Grady Memorial Hospital are requiring employees to take the seasonal flu vaccine, officials said Thursday.

In addition, Grady changed its visitation policy Thursday to request that no children or adolescents visit inpatients at the facility. Exceptions will be made in those instances in which the children’s visits are beneficial for the emotional well-being of a patient, hospital officials said.

Emory Healthcare - which includes Emory University Hospital Midtown, Emory University Hospital, Wesley Woods Hospital and the Emory Clinic - will require all staff and physicians to take the seasonal flu vaccine, said Dr. James Steinberg, chief medical officer for Emory University Hospital Midtown and a professor of infectious disease at Emory’s school of medicine.

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Russell Blaylock, MD - What To Do If Force Vaccinated
Rense.Com
By Dr Russell Blaylock, MD
August 16, 2009

Dr Blaylock's List of suggestions on How to Reduce the Toxic Effects of the A/H1N1 Vaccine, is as follows:

Read the list

Take a hint!!!
Medical Workers Leery of Flu Vaccine
The Washington Post
Associated Press
August 26, 2009

New research suggests that half of all health-care workers around the world would refuse the swine flu vaccine, a British scientific journal reported Wednesday.

The conclusion is taken from a study of more than 2,200 health workers this year in Hong Kong, during the height of global H1N1 flu panic in May. Experts said the trend would likely apply worldwide.

Most of those polled said they would pass on the flu shot because they were afraid of side effects and doubted how safe and effective it would be.

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Parents Worry Of Swine Flu Vaccine
Click Orlando
Internet Broadcasting System
August 18, 2009

With children being given top priority when the swine flu vaccine is released later this year, parents will be face with the tough decision of whether to have their child receive it.

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The Appendix: Useful and in Fact Promising
Live Science
By Charles Q Choi
August 24, 2009

The body's appendix has long been thought of as nothing more than a worthless evolutionary artifact, good for nothing save a potentially lethal case of inflammation.

Now researchers suggest the appendix is a lot more than a useless remnant. Not only was it recently proposed to actually possess a critical function, but scientists now find it appears in nature a lot more often than before thought. And it's possible some of this organ's ancient uses could be recruited by physicians to help the human body fight disease more effectively.

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Gardasil article garners strong comments from readers.
St Louis Examiner
By Patricia Walston
August 25, 2009

First read the original article and then you will understand the comments.  Site given below. This is such a very scary situation for all concerned, I felt obligated to share them with all the readers. This article written on August 19, 2009, received so many strong comments - and this issue is so serious - I have listed them below just as the readers published them. For continuity, I reversed the order (dates) in which they were received so you could better connect them. It seems that Ms. Flowers is very passionate about this subject as she wrote a series.

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Gardasil is proven dangerous, yet it is still mandatory for immigrants
American Chronicle
By Christina England
August 24, 2009

This week has shown that a large number of reports stating that Gardasil is proving unsafe. News stations around the world have reported that Gardasil the HPV vaccine has been found to cause adverse reactions. The adverse reactions range from mild, such as headaches, nausea and fainting, to the more severe such as seizures, blood clots, Guillian Barre Syndrome and even death. This information has come to light since the publication of the JAMA Papers on the 19th August 2009, showing the results of the VAERS Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System. The Gardasil data published was collected from June 1, 2006 through December 31, 2008.

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Do GPs and nurses have a responsibility to get swine flu jabs?
Healthcare Republic (Overseas)
By Neil Durham
August 25, 2009

An exclusive Healthcare Republic poll receiving national coverage today found that many GPs may refuse swine flu jabs.

A poll last week of nurses found that a third would refuse vaccination, while Healthcare Republic reports today unhappiness that pharmacists and receptionists will not be at the front of the queue. Perhaps something becomes more desirable when it is denied?

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MANDATORY VACCINATIONS? TELL FEDS AND STATES TO 'STICK IT'
News With Views
Devvy Kidd
August 24, 2009

"This doesn't appear to be an especially deadly strain" said Deborah Lehman, Director of Pediatric Infectious Disease at Cedars Sinai hospital in Los Angeles. "At this point it looks like the seasonal flu will be responsible for more deaths than swine flu."

The Internet has been burning up for months with this question: Will there be forced vaccinations for the H1N1 'swine flu'? The WHO (World Health Organization) has been making splashy headlines about a "coming pandemic" that will dwarf anything seen in the history of the world! Who gives a tinker's damn what the WHO says? The big shots in the WHO with a banana republic mentality, actually think they have the authority to dissolve sovereign governments over a pandemic! These little Napoleons also label anyone who refuses a vaccine as criminals.

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The Vaccines Are Far More Deadly Than The Swine Flu
Global Research
By Dr Mae-Wan Ho and Prof Joe Cummins
August 21, 2009

A swine flu outbreak occurred in Mexico and the United States in April 2009 and spread rapidly around the world by human-to human transmission. The new type A H1N1 influenza virus is unlike any that had been previously isolated [1, 2], judging from the first data released in May.

It is a messy combination of sequences from bird, human and swine flu virus lineages from North America and Eurasia. A senior virologist based in Canberra, Australia, told the press he thought that the virus could have been created in a laboratory and released by accident [3]. Some analysts even suggest, without corroborating evidence, that it was made intentionally as a bioweapon [4], while others blame the intensive livestock industry and extensive trafficking of love animals over long distances, which provide plenty of opportunity for generating exotic recombinants [5].

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Yawn… marijuana cures cancer and stuff
DrugWarRant
By Pete Guither

Another day, another revelation that marijuana is… yawn… good for you.

Little things like

• A study showing that lifetime marijuana use is associated with a “significantly reduced risk” of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

• This study showing that marijuana has dramatically different effects on lung function than tobacco does, with findings on lung capacity and airway resistance for marijuana users similar to those who did not smoke tobacco.
  
• Another study showing once again that chemicals in cannabis can halt the proliferation of cancer [and now it's many types of cancer].

This is really getting old.

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Obama Is Taking an Active Role in Talks on Health Care Plan
The New York Times
By David Kirkpatrick
August 12, 2009

In pursuing his proposed overhaul of the health care system, President Obama has consistently presented himself as aloof from the legislative fray, merely offering broad principles. Prominent among them is the creation of a strong, government-run insurance plan to compete with private insurers and press for lower costs.

Behind the scenes, however, Mr. Obama and his advisers have been quite active, sometimes negotiating deals with a degree of cold-eyed political realism potentially at odds with the president’s rhetoric.

Early last month, for example, hospital officials were poised to appear at the White House to announce a deal limiting their industry’s share of the costs of the overhaul proposal when a wave of jitters swept through the group. Senator Max Baucus, the Finance Committee chairman and a party to the deal, had abruptly pulled out of the event. Was he backing away from his end of the deal?

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Obamacare failed in Europe
National Health Federation
By By Guillaume Vuillemey & Philip Stevens
August, 2009

President Barack Obama's proposed "public insurance option" for universal health coverage seems logical: A large public insurance fund will provide quality coverage for the uninsured and force competing insurers to lower costs. In practice, though, one needs only look at what decades of government health care have done to ramp up the financial and quality problems endured by Britain and France.

The Obama plan is supposed to make health insurance more competitive. But heavy subsidies will give it a big advantage, pulling an estimated 118.5 million people from private insurers to the public system. This government-subsidized system will eventually dominate the market in a way that would overrule competition.

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A SHORT HISTORY OF US GOVERNMENT RESPECT FOR HUMAN LIFE
WhatReallyHappened.Com

Does our government respect human life the way it claims to do?

Hardly. And being a soldier is no deterrent.

Ignore for a moment the lies surrounding 9-11, TWA 800, the USS Iowa, and the Gulf of Tonkin, and step back into horrid history with me.

PUBLIC LAW 95-79 [P.L. 95-79]
TITLE 50, CHAPTER 32, SECTION 1520 (NOTE:  This section has been repealed and replaced with this)
"CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL WARFARE PROGRAM"

"The use of human subjects will be allowed for the testing of chemical and biological agents by the U.S. Department of Defense, accounting to Congressional committees with respect to the experiments and studies."

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A Chronology of Fluoridation
The Cure Zone
By Val Valerian
From November 1997

"Fluoridation is not a Communist Plot; it is an attempt by industry to camouflage their deadliest pollutant, with government officials and Madison Avenue advertisers beating the drums. The fluoridation empire is like a castle built on quicksand." Gladys Caldwell, author, "Fluoridation and Truth Decay", 1974. 

1855 Smelters in Freiburg, Germany first paid damages to neighbors injured by fluoride emissions. (See 1893) 

1893 The smelters in Freiburg, Germany paid out 80,000 marks in damages for fluorine contamination injuries and 644,000 marks for permanent relief. (See 1855, 1900, 1907). 

1900 The existence of the smelting industry in Germany and Great Britain is threatened by successful lawsuits for fluorine damage and by burdensome laws and regulations. 

1907 The smelters in Freiburg, Germany (see 1893) are identified as the cause of crippled cattle in the area since 1877, and fluorides are identified as the culprit. 

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Durbin Says August Recess Will Help Democrats Sell Health Bill
Bloomberg News
By James Rowely
August 7, 2009

President Barack Obama will “own the pulpit” during the August congressional recess, giving Democrats a chance to sell a health-care overhaul to American voters, the U.S. Senate’s No. 2 Democrat said.

Dick Durbin, of Illinois, urged lawmakers to be flexible on the details so Congress can seize a “once-in-a-political- lifetime opportunity” to revamp the nation’s medical-care system. He predicted the Senate Finance Committee would approve a bipartisan measure when Congress returns in September.

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Be sure to take a look at the interactive map!
FDA: Swine flu vaccine an issue for U.S. makers
USA Today
Reuters and The Associated Press
July 23, 2009

This means makers may end up with fewer doses than expected of vaccine against the pandemic strain.

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View Interactive Map

Health officials expect 125,000 doses to fight flu
Toledo Blade (OH)
July 31, 2009

The Toledo-Lucas County Health Department anticipates receiving swine flu vaccine doses for 125,000 people.

The vaccine for the H1N1 flu is expected to be available in October at the earliest, said Larry Vasko, deputy health commissioner.

The vaccine would first be administered to health care and emergency personnel and pregnant women.

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Vaccine required for Pitt County sixth-graders
The Daily Reflector (NC)
By Brock Letchworth
July 29, 2009

Pitt County Schools and Pitt County Memorial Hospital officials are spreading the word to parents of rising sixth-graders in the area about a mandatory vaccine their children must get for the upcoming school year.

Children who haven't received a booster dose of tetanus-diphtheria-pertussis, or Tdap, may face a suspension if they haven't complied by the 30th day of the school year, according to state law.

Charla Holbrook, coordinator of school health services for Pitt County Memorial Hospital and Pitt County Schools, said proof of immunization must be provided for approximately 1,750 students entering sixth grade prior to the deadline.

“Last year, because it was the first year, it took us a little longer to make sure that everybody was compliant,” Holbrook said. “But we do feel like that because this is the second year we are moving forward with the state recommendation that students be suspended if they are not compliant with the law.”

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Lilly Sold Drug for Dementia Knowing It Didn’t Help, Files Show
Bloomberg News
By Margaret Cronin Fisk, Elizabeth Lopatto and Jef Feeley
June 12, 2009

Eli Lilly & Co. urged doctors to prescribe Zyprexa for elderly patients with dementia, an unapproved use for the antipsychotic, even though the drugmaker had evidence the medicine didn’t work for such patients, according to unsealed internal company documents.

In 1999, four years after Lilly sent study results to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration showing Zyprexa didn’t alleviate dementia symptoms in older patients, it began marketing the drug to those very people, according to documents unsealed in insurer suits against the company for overpayment.

Regulators required Lilly and other antipsychotic drug- makers in April 2005 to warn that the products posed an increased risk to elderly patients with dementia.

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Legal immunity set for swine flu vaccine makers
MSNBC
Associated Press
July 20, 2009

The last time the government embarked on a major vaccine campaign against a new swine flu, thousands filed claims contending they suffered side effects from the shots. This time, the government has already taken steps to head that off.

Vaccine makers and federal officials will be immune from lawsuits that result from any new swine flu vaccine, under a document signed by Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, government health officials said Friday.

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Brace yourselves for it!
First Trials of Swine Flu Vaccine Begin in Australia
Bloomberg News
By Simeon Bennett
July 22, 2009

Nurse Luiza Duszynski flicks her syringe, squeezes a few drops of clear liquid from the needle and pushes it into Tara Seaton’s arm. With that, she became one of the world’s first recipients of a vaccine for swine flu.

Seaton is among the 240 healthy adult volunteers in Australia who CSI, Ltd. began injecting today with its experimental vaccine against H1N1, the new virus strain that sparked the first influenza pandemic in 41 years.

“It was fine, I didn’t even feel it,” Seaton, a 28-year- old post-office assistant, said from the Royal Adelaide Hospital, where she received the shot.

CSL is testing the vaccine over the next seven weeks as it prepares to fill orders from Australia, the U.S. and Singapore. The World Health Organization and Melbourne-based CSL’s larger rivals such as Sanofi-Aventis SA  will be watching the test to help determine whether one or two shots are needed to protect people and how many doses can be produced.

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How to Make Health-Care Reform Bipartisan
Wall Street Journal 
By Bobby Jindal
July 22, 2009

In Washington, it seems history always repeats itself. That’s what’s happening now with health-care reform. This is an unfortunate turn of events for Americans who are legitimately concerned about the skyrocketing cost of a basic human need.

In 1993 and 1994, Hillary Clinton’s health-care reform proposal failed because it was concocted in secret without the guiding hand of public consensus-building, and because it was a philosophical over-reach. Today President Barack Obama is repeating these mistakes.

The reason is plain: The left in Washington has concluded that honesty will not yield its desired policy result. So it resorts to a fundamentally dishonest approach to reform. I say this because the marketing of the Democrats’ plans as presented in the House of Representatives and endorsed heartily by President Obama rests on three falsehoods.

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Can you say conflict of interest!?!
White House declines to disclose visits by health industry executives
LA Times
By Peter Nicolas
July 22, 2009

Reporting from Washington -- Invoking an argument used by President George W. Bush, the Obama administration has turned down a request from a watchdog group for a list of health industry executives who have visited the White House to discuss the massive healthcare overhaul.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington sent a letter to the Secret Service asking about visits from 18 executives representing health insurers, drug makers, doctors and other players in the debate. The group wants the material in order to gauge the influence of those executives in crafting a new healthcare policy.

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County prepares for swine flu in fall
Taunton Daily Gazette
By Robin Casella
July 22, 2009

In advance of the upcoming flu season — one that some expect to bring another wave of swine flu — area health officials are making preparations now.

The Bristol County Medical Reserve Corps hosted a conference Wednesday emphasizing the importance of preparedness in the case of emergencies, especially during the impending flu season. The organization is actively seeking volunteers.

Cheryl Bushnell, Director of the Bristol County Medical Reserve Corps, stressed the importance of volunteers signing up now before a disaster occurs.

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A bit of interesting news I just happened upon...
Major banks continue march into the healthcare industry
Healthcare Finance News
November 9, 2006

Major banks continue to see healthcare as a growing business opportunity.

In mid-August, Mellon Working Capital Solutions introduced its automated revenue cycle management solution for healthcare providers. And in mid-September Bank of America announced its acquisition of HealthLogic Systems Corp. (Emphasis is mine!)

The Mellon WCS product is intended to improve efficiency by determining patient eligibility, collecting payments at the point of service, generating accurate claims, managing refunds and collections, posting cash to patient accounts and investing working capital.

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Related:
Bank on It UnitedHealth Group set up its own bank to administer members’ HSAs. Will more plans follow suit?
Best's Review, June 2008

When the leading U.S. seller of consumer-driven health plans wanted a central place to manage its health savings accounts, it went where no other health plan has gone before.

In 2003, UnitedHealth Group chartered its own bank to help manage its more than 400,000 HSAs.

Since then, a few other health plans considered following UnitedHealth's lead. But most have opted to instead partner with well-known commercial banks to administer their accounts.

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Mandatory Flu Vaccines for Hospital Workers Moving as Emergency Rule
Healthcare Association of New York State
July 17, 2009

A regulation that would require influenza vaccinations for all hospital workers is moving through the regulatory process and is expected to be in place for this fall’s influenza season.

The proposal, available on the HANYS Web site, is on the agenda for next week’s meeting of the Codes Committee of the State Hospital Review and Planning Council (SHRPC). A separate mandate for nursing home employees, requiring a statutory change, is under consideration in the State Legislature.

If approved, the regulation would apply to all personnel working in hospitals, diagnostic and treatment centers, certified home health agencies, long-term home health care programs, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome home care programs, licensed home care services agencies, and hospices. Under the proposal, hospitals and other covered health care facilities would have to provide or arrange for the flu vaccinations at no cost to their employees. The only exemption is in cases where the vaccine is medically contraindicated.

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Healthcare Is "Not a Right" and Obama's Plan Will Cost Way Beyond $1T, Ron Paul Says
Tech Ticker
By Peter Gorenstein
July 16, 2009

Healthcare legislation is quickly picking up momentum in Washington.  Three separate committees in the House of Representatives are hard at work hammering out details of a bill.  Votes are planned today in the Education and Labor and Ways and Means committees on a plan that majority House Democrats presented this week.  The legislation seeks to provide coverage to nearly all Americans by subsidizing the poor and penalizing individuals and employers who don't purchase health insurance.

Meanwhile, the Senate Health committee on Wednesday approved its own version of a bill.  Their plan sets up a government-run insurance system to compete with private insurers, and like the House, requires many employers to provide insurance for their workers or face penalties and requires individuals to purchase their own insurance.

Each proposal carries an estimated price tag of about $1 Trillion over the next decade. And that figure will probably balloon says Rep. Ron Paul. "They've never been right on projections of medical programs," referring to his colleagues in Congress, "they're always off by 100%, 200%. It always costs a lot more."

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Statins Given to Prevent Pneumonia in Elderly Actually Increase Pneumonia Risk by 61 Percent
Natural News
By S L Baker
July 14, 2009

Published reports say that between 11 million to 30 million Americans are taking the supposedly wonder drugs called statins. These cholesterol lowering medications brought in over $34 billion in sales last year and have raked in a quarter of a trillion dollars since they were introduced two decades ago, according to a report published by Forbes last fall. But this market is apparently not big enough to satisfy Big Pharma. The drugs, which are sold under familiar names like Lipitor, Vitorin, Zocor, Zetia, Crestor and others, are beginning to be pushed for reasons other than lowering cholesterol -- including the alleged prevention of pneumonia.

If this use of the drug doesn't seem to make sense to you, you aren't alone. In fact, giving statins to elderly people to prevent pneumonia increases the risk they will get the disease.

That's the new finding from a study of more than 3,000 Group Health patients recently published in the British Medical Journal.

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H1N1 Swine Flu Appears Similar to 1918 Pandemic Virus; WHO Recommends Vaccines Use Live (Attenuated) Influenza
Natural News
By Mike Adams
July 14, 2009

Two shocking bits of news about the H1N1 swine flu virus emerged this week. The first is that the widely-circulating swine flu virus may be a lot more dangerous than people have so far been told: It appears to resemble the 1918 pandemic virus in the fact that it is capable of embedding itself deep in lung tissue and causing deadly infections. This is very different from the more common "seasonal flu" which does not replicate in the lungs.

Explaining this concept, lead researcher Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the University of Wisconsin wrote in the journal Nature: "When we conducted the experiments in ferrets and monkeys, the seasonal virus did not replicate in the lungs... The H1N1 virus replicates significantly better in the lungs."

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Students 1st in Line For Flu Vaccine
Washington Post
By David Brown and Spencer S Hsu
July 10, 2009

School-age children will be a key target population for a pandemic flu vaccine in the fall, and they may be vaccinated at school in a mass campaign not seen since the polio epidemics of the 1950s.

The federal government should get about 100 million doses of vaccine by mid-October, if the current production by five companies goes as planned. But enough vaccine for wide use by the 120 million people especially vulnerable to the newly emerged strain of H1N1 influenza virus will not be available until later in the fall.

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Border Agents to Dump Agent Orange-Like Chemical to Kill All Plant Life Among U.S.-Mexico Border
Natural News
By David Gutierrez
July 3, 2009

The Border Patrol has temporarily postponed -- but refused to cancel -- plans to use helicopters to spray herbicide along the banks of the Rio Grande between the cities of Laredo, Texas and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, in order to kill a fast-growing river cane that provides cover for undocumented migrants, smugglers and other border crossers.

The controversial plan has drawn fire for its similarities to the U.S. government's defoliation strategy during the Vietnam War, in which the government sprayed more than 21 million gallons of "Agent Orange" and other herbicides in order to eliminate hiding places for Vietnamese guerillas. An estimated 4.8 million Vietnamese citizens and thousands of U.S. soldiers were exposed to the dioxin-based chemical, resulting in more than 500,000 birth defects and 400,000 deaths and disabilities among adults.

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Common Chemo Drug Kills Women
Natural News
By Sherry Baker
July 2, 2009

Chemotherapy drugs used in standard cancer treatments are associated with a huge list of side effects, from hair loss and nausea to nerve pain, sexual problems and mouth sores. Now a new study from the Research on Adverse Drug Events and Reports (RADAR) pharmacovigilance program at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine has identified another side effect caused by a commonly used chemotherapy drug -- death.

A startling number of women have died from a severe allergic reaction after being injected with Cremophor-based paclitaxel, a solvent-administered taxane chemotherapy. What makes this extra tragic is that the researchers found some of the dead women had already been treated for early stage breast cancer and could well have been cured -- if the chemo prescribed to prevent a theoretical recurrence of cancer in the future had not killed them.

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The Health Care Chamber of Horrors: Choose Your Bureaucrat!
The Public Record
By William Fisher

With their principles firmly focused on the 2010 elections, and  juicy campaign contributions from the so-called health care industry, Republicans and some potentially endangered Democrats are furiously fulminating about “socialized medicine” and government bureaucrats who will “ration your health care” and “get between you and your doctor.”
 
Can Harry and Louise be far behind?
 
Well, government is not the only place where bureaucrats work. They are ubiquitous in those wonderful companies we pay to bring us our health insurance policies.

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Gardasil Fainting Warning Upgraded
News Inferno
June 11, 2008

The labeling for Gardasil has been updated to include more prominent warnings about fainting that can occur following administration of the vaccine. According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), some Gardasil fainting victims have suffered from tonic-clonic (jerking) movements and seizure-like activity, and some have fallen resulting in traumatic injuries.

Gardasil was approved by the FDA in June 2006, at which time Merck & Co. said clinical trials had shown the drug to be between 90-100 percent effective in preventing the transmission of some strains of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) that cause cervical cancer. Shortly thereafter, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a recommendation that all young girls age of 11 and 12 receive the Gardasil vaccine. Gardasil is approved for females age nine to 26.

Gardasil has been controversial because of attempts by Merck & Co. to make it mandatory, and because of continuing questions about its safety. In January, we reported that there had been 9,749 adverse reactions and 21 reported deaths since 2006 in young girls following Gardasil vaccination with side effects that included 10 miscarriages, 78 severe outbreaks of genital warts, and six cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome, an autoimmune disorder that can result in paralysis. Side effects were reported to the FDA and CDC via the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).

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Obama Open to a Mandate on Health Insurance
The New York Times
By Robert Pear
June 3, 2009

President Obama said Wednesday that he was receptive to Congressional proposals that would require Americans to have health insurance and oblige employers to share in the cost. But he said there should be exemptions for people who cannot afford insurance and for small businesses in general.

Mr. Obama set forth his views in a letter to the chairmen of the two Senate committees writing health care legislation, Max Baucus of Montana and Edward M Kennedy of Massachusetts, both Democrats.

The president said he was open to proposals for “shared responsibility — making every American responsible for having health insurance coverage, and asking that employers share in the cost.”

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5 Cancer-Fighting Spices
Care 2 Make A Difference
Veronica Peterson
May 4, 2009

They’re pretty, delicious and drumroll please…they’re good for you! Yes, I’m talking about the secret our forefathers knew way back in the day. Spices have untapped health benefits and have recently been stealing the scene as powerful cancer preventatives and fighters. Below are five you might want to consider adding to your diet.

Turmeric, Ginger, Cinnamon, Cayenne Pepper, and Garlic!

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In The Interest of Research...
Actual Cost of Making These Prescription Drugs
From Judicial Reform Investigations
Submitted by Dr Betty Martini
November 8, 2003

Did you ever wonder how much it costs a drug company for the Active ingredient in prescription medications? Some people think it must cost a lot, since many drugs sell for more than $2.00 per tablet. We did a search of offshore chemical synthesizers that supply the active ingredients found in drugs approved by the FDA. As we have revealed in past issues of Life Extension, a significant percentage of drugs sold in the United States contain active ingredients made in other countries.

In our independent investigation of how much profit drug companies really make, we obtained the actual price of active ingredients used in some of the most popular drugs sold in America. The chart below speaks for itself.

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Wilson: Universal health care not likely to be pretty
The Times Record News Online
By Mark Wilson
April 30, 2009

It’s safe to say there’s no easy answer for solving our nation’s health-care problems.

If it had been, well, pain free, we would have already fixed the problem and moved on to the next one.

An April 23 story on Yahoo! News online written by David Rogers and Patrick O’Connor stated: “Prodded by the White House, Democrats stepped up their efforts to put a budget plan in place by April 29 so as to give President Barack Obama another victory within his first 100 days — and a better shot at winning health-care reform later this year.”

The next day, a column by New Republic Senior Editor Jonathan Cohn said, “The final budget resolution will include a ‘reconciliation instruction’ for health care. That means the Democrats can pass health care reform with just 50 votes, instead of the 60 it takes to break a filibuster.”

I get sick enough to need a doctor just from witnessing this political labeling of health care. One side is worried more about winning an edge in the next election and the other side is seemingly blind to people who have no health-care coverage and can’t afford it.

Everyone has to protect their own interests, don’t they?

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U.S. Declares Public Health Emergency Over Swine Flu
New York Times
By Jack Healy and Sheryl Gay Stolberg
April 26, 2009

American health officials on Sunday declared a public health emergency over increasing cases of swine flu, saying that they had confirmed 20 cases of the disease in the United States and expected to see more as investigators track down the path of the outbreak.

“We are seeing more cases of swine flu,” Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control, said in a news conference in Washington. “We expect to see more cases of swine flu. As we continue to look for cases, I expect we’re going to find them.”

“This is moving fast,” Dr. Besser said, “but we want you to understand that we view this more as a marathon.”

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AP IMPACT: Tons of released drugs taint US water
The Associated Press, Washington Post
By Jeff Donn, Martha Mendoza and Justin Prichard
April 20, 2009

U.S. manufacturers, including major drugmakers, have legally released at least 271 million pounds of pharmaceuticals into waterways that often provide drinking water _ contamination the federal government has consistently overlooked, according to an Associated Press investigation.

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Injuries, Deaths Caused by Medications Skyrocket 38 Percent
Natural News 
By David Gutierrrez
April 20, 2009

The number of serious injuries and deaths linked to the use of prescription medications reached a new high in the first quarter of 2008, according to a report issued by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices.

Researchers found mention of 4,825 deaths and approximately 21,000 serious injuries among voluntary adverse event reports submitted by doctors to the FDA between January and March. These numbers were 38 percent higher than the quarterly average for 2007 and a striking 200 percent higher than the first quarter of 2007.

The researchers estimate that because adverse event reports are voluntary, the numbers represent less than one-tenth of the actual prescription drug-related injuries and deaths taking place.

Together, 10 drugs were responsible for killing more than 100 people each, thereby accounting for more than 20 percent of all deaths. This contrasted with prior quarters studied, in which only one to three drugs killed that many people.

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Read the Institute for Safe Medication Practices October 2008 Quarterly Report

How Color Affects Your Appetite
Care 2 Make A Difference/Healthy and Green Living Section
By Melissa Breyer
April 17, 2009

Think about the color of the food you eat on a daily basis. There’s probably a lot of leafy green, some nice fruity reds and oranges, cereal browns and dairy whites. But how about blue? Okay, maybe blueberries qualify, or if you have an exuberant potato vendor at your farmers market you may be getting some blue-ish potatoes–but in general blue isn’t the favorite child in nature’s scheme of food hues. Consequently, we haven’t evolved an automatic appetite response to blue–in fact, our primal instinct seems to tell us to step away from the blue food. According to color professor J.L. Morton, when our earliest ancestors were foraging for food, blue, purple and black were “color warning signs” of potentially lethal food. Food researchers agree–when humans searched for food, they learned to avoid toxic or spoiled objects, which were often blue, black, or purple.

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Like Planting Veggies In a Barrel
Washington Post
By Barbara Damrosch
April 16, 2009

For those who garden in small spaces, whiskey barrels are the best thing since whiskey. A barrel sawn in half at its waistline makes a sturdy planter about two feet in diameter and 16 to 18 inches tall. There are plenty of pots and planters on the market, elegant enough for the choicest lily, but this homey container never seems to lose its appeal. Its depth makes it ideal for a mini-vegetable garden, with plenty of room for roots. Six half barrels on a terrace provide more growing space than a 3-by-6-foot bed.

Adverse Health and Environmental Effects of Depleted Uranium Weapons Continues Requiring Immediate Action by President Obama, Prime Minister Brown, and Prime Minister Olmert
Dr. Doug Rokke, Ph.D.
Former Director, U.S. Army Depleted Uranium Project
February 14, 2009

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Three Part Series on Milk Safety 
By Jeffery Smith

What a surprise!  Monsanto is trying to keep you from knowing what is in your milk...AND our new nominee for Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius (Just one more nominee who owes back taxes!), COULD do something about it.  Call Governor Sebelius' office!

Governor Sebelius Must Veto Kansas Bill That Endangers Milk Safety
Part One

FDA Promotes Unsafe Milk Due to Industry Pressures
Part Two

Monsanto Forced Fox TV to Censor Coverage of Dangerous Milk Drug
Part Three

Losing Weight Is Easy. Losing Bad Habits Is Something Else
Washington Post
By The Misfits
April 14, 2008

I've been thinking a lot about mind-sets. We keep hearing that the AIG executives didn't realize there was anything amiss about accepting bonuses because of their mind-set, that Rick Wagoner didn't have the right mind-set to fix GM, that, ahem, newspaper folks need to get away from a print mind-set.

A mind-set isn't just a convenient buzzword, says Norman Doidge, a psychiatric researcher at the University of Toronto and Columbia University. Doidge is also a principal in the Boswell Group, which offers psychoanalytic consulting on business practices to CEOs, and he's the author of "The Brain That Changes Itself."

"Brain" explores the research into neuroplasticity: how changes in skills and behaviors are linked to physical, measurable changes in how the brain works and how we go about changing our mind-sets.

"Plasticity is like snow on a hill in winter. Because it is pliable, we can take many paths if we choose to ski down that hill," Doidge says. "But because it is pliable, if we keep taking the same path, we develop tracks, and then ruts, and get stuck in them."

What does this have to do with fitness? Well, over the course of three years in my early 20s, I lost 100 pounds. When the subject comes up, inevitably people ask how I did it, and they always seem a little disappointed when I say, "I ran, and I ate more carefully."

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Conventional Cancer Treatments Bankrupting Patients, Families
Natural News
By David Gutierrrez
April 14, 2009

The costs of cancer treatments impose a major financial burden even on patients with private health insurance, leading in many cases to bankruptcy, according to a new report issued by the American Cancer Society and the Kaiser Family Foundation.

"A cancer diagnosis can threaten anyone with bankruptcy and financial ruin, no matter what your earning power is," said Peggy McGuire of the Women's Cancer Resource Center. "There are many paths you take, but they lead to the same destination: loss of all resources."

The researchers reviewed the types of financial problems regularly reported to the American Cancer Society's Health Insurance Assistance Center, then used their report to profile 20 patients whose cases they considered representative. Among the problems commonly reported are caps or lifetime maximums on the costs covered by insurers; high cost-sharing or out-of-pocket expenses; and delays in treatment.

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Overseer of Medical Trials, Under F.D.A. Pressure, Agrees to Suspension
NY Times
By Barry Meier
April 14, 2009

A Colorado company that approved a make-believe clinical trial run by doctors who did not exist got a dose of reality on Tuesday.

Under pressure from the Food and Drug Administration, the company agreed to temporarily suspend approving federally regulated medical studies or enrolling new patients in ones currently under way.

The agreement by the company, Coast Independent Review Board of Colorado Springs, could have an impact on its future operations. It may also affect some of 300 active studies involving human patients that Coast currently oversees on behalf of makers of drugs or medical devices.

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Alternative Therapies Safely Help Kids
Natural News
By Sherry Baker
April 12, 2009

Alternative and complementary therapies are no longer written off as useless quackery or unproven folklore by a growing number of mainstream physicians. A case in point: Dolores Mendelow, M.D., clinical assistant professor of pediatrics and communicable diseases at the University of Michigan Medical School (UMHS), says these approaches can be successful against many illnesses in youngsters, including the common cold or skin rashes. In fact, they can work quicker and more safely than many typical over-the-counter medications.

In a statement to the media, Dr. Mendelow explained that recent studies show approximately 30 percent of healthy children and up to 50 percent of children with chronic disease are using various kinds of alternative therapies. "In terms of complementary medicine, we're using acupuncture, dietary supplementation and herbal or botanical therapies," she stated.

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Gardasil -- The Three Faces of the HPV Vaccine...Fear, Facts, and Profits
By Catherine Morgan

Something very disturbing has been happening. Pharmaceutical companies are manipulating us with fear. It was bad enough when these companies began advertising prescription drugs on television. But now they have taken this tactic a step further; and began using fear for the life of our children, to persuade us that we need to get the HPV Vaccine for our daughters. This is the most sinister of abuse...using the love parents have for a child, to manipulate them through fear...for profit.

I will not be trying to convince anyone to get or not to get the Merck HPV Vaccine (Gardasil). What I will try to do with this post is address the facts surrounding the controversy, so all parents can make an informed decision about whether or not to get this vaccine for their child. I'll begin with my personal opinion...Never make a major decision for yourself or your child out of fear.

How Burdened is Your Body?
Natural Healing Today
By Ryan N. Harrison, MA, HHP, NC, EFT-ADV

“Detoxification” has become a nice buzz word lately.  It sounds good, rolls off the tongue easily.  And, depending on where you live and your lifestyle, if you happen to mention it to your friends or coworkers, it’s likely to make you seem “in the know” about natural healing and health.  But do you know what detoxification really is and why is it so important?

The human body is an amazing thing. In its healthiest state it has the ability to keep itself clean and relatively poison-free. In this sense, detoxification is the body’s natural process of eliminating or neutralizing toxins. This happens via the liver, kidneys, and lungs, as well as in urine, feces, and through sweat. Yet, your body can become so overloaded that its natural detoxification system can’t keep up, and when this happens the toxins build up and can affect virtually all of the systems of the body, head to toe.

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Medical Uses of Marijuana
Consumer Affairs
By Fred Cicetti

Q. I heard that marijuana helps glaucoma.  I'd like to try it, but won't I get in trouble?

A. Marijuana can help your glaucoma and it could definitely get you in trouble because it’s illegal.

Marijuana refers to the parts of the Cannabis sativa plant, which has been used for medicinal purposes for more than 4,800 years. Doctors in ancient China, Greece and Persia used it as a pain reliever and for gastrointestinal disorders and insomnia.

Cannabis as a medicine was common throughout most of the world in the 1800s. It was used as the primary pain reliever until the invention of aspirin.

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Mandatory Flu Vaccines In New Jersey

A New Jersey couple speaks about having no choice in the vaccination of their child.  If we are all in this together, this fight is yours, too...you better fight for your rights while you still can!

Watch This!

Stroke Survivors Improve Balance With Tai Chi
Science Daily
Mach 24, 2009

Stroke can impair balance, heightening the risk of a debilitating fall. But a University of Illinois at Chicago researcher has found that stroke survivors can improve their balance by practicing the Chinese martial art of tai chi.

Christina Hui-Chan, professor and head of physical therapy at UIC, has studied and used tai chi as a way to improve balance and minimize falls among healthy elderly subjects. Now she and a colleague have seen similar results in a group of stroke survivors.

The study used 136 subjects in Hong Kong who had suffered a stroke more than six months earlier. Participants were randomly assigned to a tai chi group or a control group that practiced breathing, stretching and other exercises that involved sitting, walking, memorizing and reasoning.

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