Colonoscopy Prep Pills Carry Kidney Risk
October 28, 2009
USA Today
By Rita Rubin
Anyone who’s ever had a colonoscopy knows the worst part is preparing for it, not the procedure itself. You have to make sure your colon is as clean as a whistle so your doctor can get an unobstructed interior view.
In the old days — the late 20th century, that is — you had to drink a gallon of a special salty liquid to cleanse your bowels in basically one sitting. So patients cheered when tasteless tablets that would accomplish the same thing became available in 2000.
But last week, the Food and Drug Administration tempered that joy by adding a “black box” warning — the sternest warning possible — to the two prescription bowel cleansers that come in tablet form. The new warning stems from reports of kidney damage in patients who took the pills, which contain sodium phosphate, in preparation for a colonoscopy.
Also, the FDA, which can require warnings only on prescription drugs, said no over-the-counter sodium phosphate products should be used for bowel-cleansing. That led C.B. Fleet Co. to announce a voluntary recall of Phospho-soda, a non-prescription laxative that in larger doses has been used for bowel-cleansing.
The FDA says prescription Visicol, approved in 2000, and its successor, OsmoPrep, approved in 2006, should be used with caution by people over 55; those who are dehydrated; those who suffer from kidney disease, acute colitis or delayed bowel emptying; and people on medicines that affect kidney function. Medicines include diuretics, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers and, maybe, ibuprofen and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
Indiana University gastroenterologist Douglas Rex says he’s been switching older patients to fluid bowel-cleansers that don’t contain sodium phosphate since the first reports of kidney problems came out in 2005. Rex serves as a scientific adviser to Salix Pharmaceuticals, maker of Visicol, OsmoPrep and MoviPrep, one of the fluid products.
No one knows how many people may have suffered damage from the sodium phosphate bowel-cleansers, because even those who’ve lost 75% of their kidney function feel fine, says Columbia University pathologist Glen Markowitz. Markowitz, a Salix consultant, was lead author of a 2005 report on kidney damage in 21 patients who had taken sodium phosphate bowel-cleansers. Even when detected, he says, a connection to the products could be missed.
Dallas gastroenterologist Lawrence Schiller says a patient who had an easy time with the pills wasn’t thrilled to learn of the kidney issue. Schiller left future choice of prep up to her, noting: “There’s a one-in-a-million chance you could end up on dialysis with (the pills).”
Click here for the full report.
Neocon Trying to Oust Ron Paul
October 28, 2009 by JP
Filed under Government
October 28, 2009
InfoWars
By Kurt Nimmo
Tim Graney of Katy, Texas, has announced a bid to unseat Ron Paul in the 14th congressional district of Texas. According to FortBendNow, a news website in Houston, Graney is a small business owner and this is his first political campaign. Graney told FortBendNow the district needs a new voice in Congress, particularly in the area of foreign policy.
Ron Paul adamantly opposes the invasions and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. “I believe our founding fathers had it right when they argued for peace and commerce between nations, and against entangling political and military alliances. In other words, noninterventionism,” Paul wrote in 2007. He believes Congress needs to reassert its authority over foreign policy. The Constitution makes no distinction between domestic and foreign matters, Paul insists. “Policy is policy, and it must be made by the legislature and not the executive.”
“I am a fiscal conservative, but I do not support Ron Paul’s weak foreign policy views, nor do I support his do whatever you want ultra-Libertarian views that conflict with our American values,” Graney said.
In other words, Graney subscribes to the unitary executive doctrine of an imperial presidency. The Constitution makes a distinction between the power of the Congress and that of the president by stating that Congress shall “make all laws” and the president shall “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.”
Graney apparently believes invading small countries and killing large numbers of people — more than a million so far in Iraq — represents “American values.”
Ron Paul is not an “ultra-Libertarian” (ultra-libertarianism would be defined as anarchism). Paul is a mainstream Libertarian. Mainstream Libertarians support free market capitalism by advocating a right to private property, minimal government regulation of property, minimal taxation, and rejection of the welfare state, all within the context of the rule of law.
According to Graney, Paul’s mainstream Libertarianism is not consistent with the beliefs of residents in the district. Mr. Graney apparently believes the residents support undeclared and illegal wars, unchecked federal power over the states, federalized local police, and an astronomical federal debt that threatens to impoverish them and their children.
It is not clear if Mr. Graney’s campaign is supported by defenders of the Federal Reserve and the bankers. In February, Ron Paul introduced HR 1207, a bill to audit the Federal Reserve. If enacted, the bill would enable the Comptroller General of the GAO to audit the Federal Reserve system before the end of 2010. HR 1207 now has 307 sponsors. Committee hearings were held on September 25.
On October 12, the neocon Republican Lindsey Graham, a senator from South Carolina, told a town hall meeting he would not allow Paul to “hijack” the Republican Party. Graham supports a big government climate bill “because it could mean good business,” according to Politico. He told Politico he backs “combining an energy independence bill with one to control carbon dioxide emissions.”
“I am more resolute than ever to help steer our nation back onto the path of common-sense energy initiatives,” said Graney.
Ron Paul has signed the “No Climate Tax Pledge” sponsored by Americans for Prosperity. The pledge opposes “legislation relating to climate change that includes a net increase in government revenue” through taxation.
Click here for the full report.
Top Donors Rewarded with Special White House Perks
October 28, 2009 by JP
Filed under Government
October 28, 2009
The Washington Times
By Matthew Mosk
During his first nine months in office, President Obama has quietly rewarded scores of top Democratic donors with VIP access to the White House, private briefings with administration advisers and invitations to important speeches and town-hall meetings.
High-dollar fundraisers have been promised access to senior White House officials in exchange for pledges to donate $30,400 personally or to bundle $300,000 in contributions ahead of the 2010 midterm elections, according to internal Democratic National Committee documents obtained by The Washington Times.
One top donor described in an interview with The Times being given a birthday visit to the Oval Office. Another was allowed use of a White House-complex bowling alley for his family. Bundlers closest to the president were invited to watch a movie in the red-walled theater in the basement of the presidential mansion.
Mr. Obama invited his top New York bundler, UBS Americas CEO Robert Wolf, to golf with him during the president’s Martha’s Vineyard vacation in August. At least 39 donors and fundraisers also were treated to a lavish White House reception on St. Patrick’s Day, where the fountains on the North and South Lawns were dyed green, photos and video reviewed by The Times and CBS News also show.
Presidential aides said there has been no systematic effort to use the White House complex to aid fundraising, though they acknowledge the DNC has paid for some events at the presidential mansion.
Many guests at the White House not only had fundraising connections, but also have personal friendships with the president, Mr. Obama’s aides said.
“Contributing does not guarantee a ticket to the White House, nor does it prohibit the contributor from visiting,” said Dan Pfeiffer, deputy White House communications director.
“This administration has across the board set the toughest ethics standards in history. As a result, we have reduced special-interest influence over the policymaking process to promote merit-based decision-making,” he added.
But veteran Washington observers say the Obama-era perks still carry shades of the so-called “donor maintenance” programs of past administrations, when Bill Clinton rewarded fundraisers with White House coffees and overnight stays in the Lincoln Bedroom and George W. Bush invited “Pioneers” to Camp David or his Texas ranch.
And the donor access raises questions about the fervor of Mr. Obama’s stated commitment to clean up what he once called the “muddy waters” of Washington, where political cash is exchanged for access, ethics experts said.
“Once you start trading money for access, you set up a situation where donors eventually say, ‘Well, actually I have another favor to ask,’” said Scott Thomas, a former Democratic appointee to the Federal Election Commission.
“It starts setting up that relationship. If you help with the money, we’ll do something nice for you. And that is a slippery slope.”
Democratic Party officials told The Times that there is “absolutely no correlation” between fundraising and attendance at White House events.
“I don’t think it’s surprising that people that support the president do go to functions at the White House and have other access, but there are many, many more Americans who attend events and town halls and other things at the White House every single day,” DNC spokesman Brad Woodhouse said.
Only select members of the public, however, were provided access to a series of invite-only briefings by senior administration officials organized by the DNC.
Over the summer, for instance, one of Mr. Obama’s deputy chiefs of staff, Jim Messina, flew to Los Angeles and San Francisco to provide in-person briefings to a small collection of top donors to explain the administration’s plan for tackling health care legislation and counter the rising tide of opposition at town-hall meetings. In another, a group was briefed by one of Mr. Obama’s top economic advisers, Austan Goolsbee.
And festive events at the White House, such as parties thrown to celebrate Cinco de Mayo and July Fourth, were underwritten in part or in full by the DNC. Guests lists for those functions have not been made public.
Menu for access
The DNC has presented a menu of exclusive access opportunities to top givers, according to internal DNC documents provided to potential donors and obtained by The Times.
Top-tier donors gain membership to the DNC’s National Finance Committee or to the ultra-exclusive National Advisory Board, both of which meet four times a year, including this week at the Mandarin Hotel in Washington.
“They have an opportunity to meet senior members of the Obama Administration and senior members of Congress, and to hear from political analysts and policy experts,” according to the internal DNC documents.
Mark Gilbert, a Florida businessman who raised more than $500,000 for Mr. Obama, said he gets regular e-mails from the White House on topics that interest him — in his case, economic policy — and he occasionally joins special conference calls for Mr. Obama’s political supporters. The calls are frequently timed to follow up on a major news development out of the White House.
“Any time something major takes place, they follow it up with a conference call with someone who was involved with the policy decision,” Mr. Gilbert said. “Anything that has to do with the Treasury, I get an e-mail.”
Mr. Gilbert said the same practice was routine during the presidential campaign, and it helped Mr. Obama’s supporters feel like partners.
“I think they’re doing a very good job keeping people up to date, trying to keep people well-informed,” Mr. Gilbert said.
A senior party official involved in devising the DNC program, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press, said the party took pains to design it so access to senior officials would be tightly controlled. Supporters would have the chance to meet party leaders. But the DNC wanted to rule out requests to pair donors with officials on specific issues. The paramount objective, the official said, was to avoid putting party leaders in the position of being asked to deliver on a specific request.
Rewards for those who supported the president’s 2008 campaign have been doled out in less formal ways. Two top bundlers, for instance, described invitations to bring their families to the private bowling alley at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, adjacent to the White House. Both spoke on the condition they not be named because they did not want to damage their relationship with the White House.
The White House said such invitations could have come through any of scores of staff members, and could have occurred without any input from the president or his senior aides.
In interviews, top Obama donors described different methods for arranging such perks. Some said they contacted Reggie Love, the president’s personal assistant, to request appointments or White House access. Others said they arranged meetings through regional finance directors at the DNC.
“Many people know Reggie because they met him on the trail over the two years he traveled with the president, which is why they reach out to him, but that is not exclusive to donors,” a White House official said. The courtship of top donors is overseen by Rufus Gifford at the DNC in consultation with White House political director Patrick Gaspard, party officials confirmed. Their activities are not new to presidential politics. But they offer a contrast to the public face of the president’s fundraising operation, which has always focused on its efforts to reach out to grass-roots supporters who send small-dollar donations through the Internet.
To continue reading this report, click here.
And the Health Care Debate Continues…
October 28, 2009 by JP
Filed under Government
October 28, 2009
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar (AP)
Democrats are still struggling to find a strategy that will let them push a health care overhaul through the Senate and fulfill President Barack Obama’s goal of signing a bill this year.
A day after Majority Leader Harry Reid announced that the Democratic bill would include the option of a government insurance plan, moderates in his own party lost no time Tuesday in voicing their displeasure. Reid, D-Nev., needs every Democrat to break the filibusters Republicans are vowing to mount. But some of the moderates refuse to say whether they’ll stick with their leader on procedural votes, let alone those on the merits of the bill.
“We are a long way from reaching conclusion,” said Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi is in a similar position in the House. Efforts to draft a consensus health care bill for a vote have been stalled for more than two weeks because of disagreements among Democrats.
There are nine weeks left in the year to deliver a bill to Obama’s desk.
Intense days and nights lie ahead, said Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla. Senators who don’t like the bill will find themselves the focus of a “prayer session,” said Nelson. “They will pray that the retribution of God doesn’t come down on them,” he joked.
Nonetheless, moderate Democratic senators who control the balance of power on health care were holding their ground. Republican opposition stiffened, and party leaders announced they would attempt to strangle the bill before formal debate begins.
Despite the obstacles, senior Democrats cast Reid’s draft legislation as a turning point. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said there is now a “sense of inevitability … that, yes, we’re going to pass health care reform.”
The government insurance option long ago emerged as the biggest flashpoint in both the House and Senate as Democrats try to pass legislation that extends coverage, bans insurance practices such as denial of coverage because of pre-existing medical conditions and slows the growth of health care spending nationally.
But before any substantive issue can be joined on the Senate floor, Reid’s first challenge is to gain 60 votes — the number needed to overcome a filibuster by Republicans — just to bring the bill up, a parliamentary maneuver so routine that a vote is rarely required.
But Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, announced that in this case, even procedural votes will count. That’s because, in his view, the underlying bill would “cut Medicare, raise taxes and increase health insurance premiums.” He suggested Democrats could expect campaign commercials next year on the basis of the vote and recalled that Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., was ridiculed in his 2004 presidential campaign for having once said he voted for a bill before he voted against it.
Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., said he may seek changes on the Senate floor, a move likely to be welcomed by moderates. He backs a government role in states where one or two insurers control the market and premiums are high, along the same lines as a plan supported by Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine.
That general approach, in which a lack of competition in an individual’s state would trigger a government insurance option, “is still alive,” said Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D.
While Reid is expected to eventually secure all 60 Democratic votes on the critical first test to bring the bill to the Senate floor, Sens. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Evan Bayh of Indiana and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas all declined to say on Tuesday howthey would vote.
In an indication of the pressure Reid faces, Bayh said the majority leader had agreed to cut an earlier proposal for a $40 billion tax on medical device makers.
“He significantly modified that proposal in a way that I understand will not impact thousands of good-paying jobs,” said Bayh, whose state is home to Guidant Corp., a maker of cardiovascular devices, among other major industry players. Numerous officials said Reid had agreed to reduce the new tax to $20 billion over a decade. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because no announcement had been made.
In the House, the principal stumbling block is disagreement among Democrats over how to set fees for doctors, hospitals and other health care providers participating in the public insurance plan.
Liberals want the government to set the rate unilaterally, pegged to the charges the government pays Medicare beneficiaries. Moderates want the government to negotiate with the providers in setting fees.
Pelosi favors the approach liberals want, but officials say she has all but concluded she cannot gain the necessary majority of 218 votes for it.
House Democrats also must resolve internal disagreements relating to abortion services and health care for immigrants before they can send the bill to the House floor for a vote.
Click here for the full report.
More than One in Ten People are in DNA Database
October 28, 2009
Telegraph.co.uk
By Tom Whitehead
Police forces in England and Wales have taken the profiles of 5.5 million people, meaning the proportion of the population on the system has passed a tenth for the first time.
Overall, when profiles taken in Scotland and Northern Ireland are included, almost six million people have now been stored on what is the largest DNA database in the world.
The landmark came as a poll showed eight in 10 people believe a Big Brother state in the UK has eroded freedoms and that the Government cannot be trusted with personal information.
Last week, ministers were forced in to a last minute climb-down over plans to hold on to the DNA of innocent people for 12 years when it dropped plans to include the proposal in an amendment to legislation currently passing through Parliament.
Home Office figures show a total of 5,910,172 profiles are on the national DNA database.
Of those, some 5,532,847 were stored by police forces in England and Wales – the equivalent of more than one in 10 of the population of the two home nations of 54,440,000.
It comes as the row over keeping the profiles of innocents on the database deepens.
The Home Office had proposed a 12 year limit for retaining DNA profiles of those not convicted of offences after a blanket policy to hold on to them indefinitely was ruled unlawful by the European Court of Human Rights.
However, the new policy, contained in an amendment to the Policing and Crime Bill, was dropped last week at the final moment in the face of growing criticism.
A new Bill containing a further set of proposals will now be included in the Queen’s Speech next month.
The move represented an about-turn by the Home Office and campaigners hope it will lead to a significant watering down of the proposals.
Damian Green, the shadow immigration minister, demanded that his details be erased after no charges were brought against him following his arrest over Whitehall leaks last year.
It also emerged last week that the number of crimes solved with a DNA match has fallen by a fifth despite more than a million new profiles having been added over the past two years.
James Brokenshire, the shadow home office minister, said: “The Government has been obsessed with growing the DNA database for the sake of it regardless of guilt or innocence.
“Despite being told that their approach is unlawful they have been dragging their feet about doing anything about it. Just how many more DNA profiles of the innocent have to be added before the Government is prepared to act?”
A Home Office spokesman said: “The DNA database is a vital crime fighting tool, identifying 390,000 crimes with DNA matches between April 1998 and September 2008 and providing the police with a lead on the possible identity of the offender. Last year a total of 17,614 crimes, including 83 homicides and 184 rapes, were detected in which a DNA match was available.
“We have now completed a public consultation on proposals to ensure the right people are on the database as well as considering when people should come off. Those proposals were grounded in the research and allowed us to respond to the judgement of the European Court of Human Rights both swiftly and effectively.”
A separate poll for campaign group Big Brother Watch found 79 per cent of the public believe freedoms are being eroded by a Big Brother state while 86 per cent said the Government cannot be trusted to keep personal data safe.
Alex Deane, director of Big Brother Watch, said: “We are the victims of ever more intrusive policies, pushing more and more into the details of our lives.
“The Government doesn’t seem to care that Big Brother Britain has been rejected by the vast majority of people who live here.
“They continue to pursue expensive and invasive surveillance methods that serve only to create criminals out of otherwise law-abiding citizens.”
Click here for the full report.
Chicago to Pay Whistle Blowers Who Turn In Tax Cheats
October 28, 2009
Chicago-Sun Times
By Fran Spielman
Would you be willing to rat out a business that’s cheating Chicago on taxes in exchange for a share of back taxes recovered?
City Hall is counting on it.
Mayor Daley’s tough-times, 2010 budget includes a first-ever “Tax Whistleblower Program” expected to include cash bounties for informants who deliver the goods on unpaid business taxes.
The cash reward would be a percentage of the amount recovered, but specifics are still being worked out. The dreaded employee head tax and lease tax are just two of the most frequent targets for tax cheats.
“It’s just another way of bringing people into compliance,” said Revenue Department spokesman Ed Walsh.
“It would probably be … a business knowing that a competitor is not remitting a tax. An employee [of the tax-dodging business] could know that, too. Typically, you need to provide some type of incentive.”
The whistleblower program isn’t the only new revenue initiative in 2010.
The Revenue Department is also mapping plans to start sending e-mails to motorists whenever vehicles they own get parking or red-light tickets.
They could choose to pay their fines immediately — either the old-fashioned way or by issuing electronic checks. And, in the case of a red-light ticket, the city could be spared the cost of mailing notices.
“It might be advantageous to parents who loan the car to their kids. That way, they’d be made aware of the ticket sooner,” Walsh said.
Yet another plan would let booted motorists settle their debts online.
Click here for the full report.
Emergency Antiviral for H1N1 – Untested, Yet Approved
October 28, 2009
The Wall Street Journal
By Dow Jones
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is allowing the use of an experimental antiviral drug to treat severe cases of H1N1 or swine flu.
The drug, peramivir, is currently being developed by BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (BCRX) and is undergoing testing required for regular FDA approval.
The FDA issued a so-called emergency use authorization late Friday that allows doctors to use peramivir, which is delivered intravenously, in certain hospitalized adult and pediatric patients with confirmed or suspected H1N1 influenza.
A handful of doctors have already treated patients with severe cases …
Court Doccuments Reveal Psych Drugs Misused on Children
October 28, 2009
Natural News
By David Gutierrez
Internal documents acquired as part of a series of lawsuits show that pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca planned as early as 2001 to market its antipsychotic drug Seroquel for uses not approved by the FDA.
Under U.S. law, drug makers are prohibited for marketing their drug for any use not approved by the FDA. Doctors are still permitted to prescribe drugs, however, for any use they wish.
Seroquel (generic name quetiapine) was approved for the treatment of psychotic disorders in adults in 1997. In 2001, the FDA extended this approval to cover schizophrenia. In 2004, it was approved for use of bipolar mania, and in 2006 it was approved for bipolar disorder.
Yet AstraZeneca is now the defendant in thousands of lawsuits claiming, among other allegations, that the company actively marketed the drug for use in children and adolescents, and also sought to market it as a treatment for dementia in the elderly.
In some of the retrieved documents, AstraZeneca employees and employees of a consulting firm hired by the company reference plans to “broaden Seroquel use on- and off-label,” specifically mentioning adolescents and people suffering from Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease. Areas where the company could promote this use are listed, including sales calls and meetings with medical professionals or patient advocacy groups.
In a 2001 public relations plan, the company says that it seeks to “encourage and support [Seroquel] use outside schizophrenia into a broad range of other patient populations including bipolar disorder and the elderly.” The document calls for “aggressive market penetration” of the drug in the demographics of adolescents, the elderly and bipolar patients.
This came five years before the drug’s approval as a treatment for bipolar disorder. To date, the drug has never been approved for use in children, adolescents or patients with dementia or Parkinson’s disease.
AstraZeneca has applied for FDA approval to use Seroquel as a treatment for adolescent schizophrenia and acute bipolar mania in children and adolescents. No antipsychotic drugs have yet been approved for use in children, as there is nearly no evidence on their safety or effectiveness in that population.
The Seroquel lawsuits are only one of a number of recent scandals in which pharmaceutical giants have been accused of illegally promoting off-label drug use. Eli Lilly recently agreed to pay a $1.42 billion settlement to end charges that it promoted its antipsychotic Zyprexa (olanzapine) off-label.
Eliminate Candida Using Probiotics
October 28, 2009
Natural News
By Mike Adams
Probiotics are good for much more than simply enhancing intestinal health and improving digestion; they’re also very effective at preventing candida albicans (as you’ll see below).
Here you’ll find a healthy collection of explanations, supporting quotes and testimonials about the use of probiotics to help prevent or reverse candida. These are compiled from some of the top health authors in the world. Enjoy this knowledge and feel free to share this link with others who may benefit from this information.
Eliminating Candida with probiotics
Everyone’s body is host to Candida (Candida albicans). Candida is a type of yeast. Candida is normally kept under control by good health and probiotics. However, Candida overgrowth can occur when the system is challenged or altered. The use of antibiotics can reduce the ability of probiotics to keep Candida at bay. Also, the overconsumption of yeast-feeding foods such as simple carbohydrates, sugars, peanuts, alcohol and milk products can encourage Candida growth.
- Probiotic Rescue: How You can use Probiotics to Fight Cholesterol, Cancer, Superbugs, Digestive Complaints and More by Allison Tannis
In other words, probiotic bacteria are effective in controlling Candida in the mouth, a problem of particular concern for the elderly. The exact mechanism by which probiotics inhibit Candida growth is not fully understood to date. Some suggest the ability of probiotics to produce hydrogen peroxide plays a role; however, in vivo studies suggest that probiotics might prevent Candida growth through multiple mechanisms.
- Probiotic Rescue: How You can use Probiotics to Fight Cholesterol, Cancer, Superbugs, Digestive Complaints and More by Allison Tannis
There are few women who have never had a yeast infection, which is an overgrowth of a bacteria called Candida albicans that is found in the mouth, the intestines, and the vagina. A Candida overgrowth causes vaginal itching, redness, white cottage-cheese-like vaginal discharge, and may cause painful intercourse. Normal beneficial bacteria in the gut and vagina (also called probiotics) inhibit Candida. A Candida over-growth is primarily caused by taking antibiotics that kill both beneficial and harmful bacteria and by pH imbalances in the vagina.
- Probiotic Rescue: How You can use Probiotics to Fight Cholesterol, Cancer, Superbugs, Digestive Complaints and More by Allison Tannis
It is often simply not possible to heal kids with 4-A disorders without first healing bowel dysbiosis, which is the root cause of so many of their problems, including Candida overgrowth, leaky gut syndrome, chronic diarrhea and constipation, chronic gut infection, and malabsorption of nutrients. Probiotics are healthy bacteria that promote good digestion, and help control dysbiotic gut flora, such as Candida. Probiotics are abundant in yogurt, but much greater amounts are present in supplements. Probiotics are of special importance for any child who has recently taken antibiotics.
Peak of Swine Flu Before Vaccine Arrives
October 28, 2009
Natural News
By Mike Adams
Swine flu infections have peaked out in the USA, even before drug companies could get their vaccines injected into everyone. According to CDC findings announced recently in Atlanta, one in five U.S. children have already experienced the flu this month, and most of those were likely H1N1 swine flu cases, the CDC says.
This comes from a survey of over 10,000 U.S. households conducted by the CDC.
Meanwhile, flu vaccine shipments are way behind schedule. There have been supply problems from the start, and as of right now, relatively few Americans have yet been injected with the swine flu vaccine. (Many have stood in line for hours trying to be injected, but were told to go home with the vaccine ran out.)
Out of nearly 14,000 suspected flu cases tested during the week ending on October 10, 2009, 99.6% of those were influenza A, and the vast majority of those were H1N1 swine flu infections. This is a very strong indication that swine flu infections have peaked during October, 2009.
Further supporting that notion, researchers from Purdue University just published a paper in the October 15 issue of Eurosurveillance (a science journal about communicable disease) in which researchers stated that the H1N1 swine flu epidemic would peak during “week 42″ (the end of October). Week 42 just passed. It’s over.
The AJC is also reporting this week that swine flu is “retreating” in Georgia, where hospital visits from the flu are markedly down and fewer illnesses are being reported in schools, too.
Even the WHO is reporting a downward trend in many areas, saying, “In tropical areas of the world, rates of illness are generally declining, with a few exceptions. …In tropical Asia, of the countries that are reporting this week, all report decreases in respiratory disease activity.”
Meanwhile, even as the swine flu infection peaks out, the shortage of swine flu vaccines means few people have yet been vaccinated. The shortage is causing “chaos” in clinics across the country, news reports say, and flu vaccination events have been cancelled due to the non-arrival of expected vaccines.
And what, exactly, is causing this shortage of vaccines? According to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, they’re being caused by “production failures” at the drug manufacturing facilities.
Too little, too late
Is she serious? People are lining up to be injected with chemicals made by companies that are suffering “production failures?” If these companies can’t meet the production targets they already promised, how can we expect them to meet the safety targets they promised?
