Street Drugs Used to Control Population
December 23, 2009
Freeordie.org
By Moe Bedard
The are many people in the freedom movement who believe an individual’s right to choose. Whether that choice is good or bad, it is up to that person to discern his or her own course in life within the natural laws of our land. That decision to sow a certain seed into what is now officially the New World Order will be something which any individual will have to intelligently consider before partaking in any extra curricular activity on this prison planet.
An individual’s right to use drugs in the police state and New World Order in which we live cannot be taken lightly. These laws are put in place by the commanding elite in order to keep a perpetual flow of forced inmate labor into their internment camps and also population control. Thus enslaving many who find themselves locked up or on parole to a life of 24/7 slavery as opposed to voluntary wage slavery on the streets where one can at least get a 10-12 hour break from your masters. Or if you want to pull the wool over your own eyes, you can all it a paycheck and a boss to deal with reality.
Simple usage of illegal substances in the Western Hemisphere can land you in a concentration camp (which we call prisons) or death by overdose. Those in the know, we understand that part of the NWO plan is to always allow a supply of illegal drugs to circulate on the streets in order for population control methods and also forced inmate labor.
In China, they don’t screw around with drug peddlers. They execute them.
Here in the U.S. and over the pond in the UK, the government uses petty criminals as slaves and now what appears to be evidence in this article of human Guinea Pigs.
If you think about it, the powers at be use cocaine and heroin like a rat catcher uses cheese to entice the confused and beaten down rats to take a bite, thus ensnaring them in their rat traps that we humans know as our legal systems, jails and prisons.
For example, not only can cocaine and heroin lead you to a life in out of a cage with forced labor, these drugs can be very deadly without adding other chemicals into their natural properties. Now it appears that cocaine is not only being released on the streets in larger quantities, it is also being used to carry out soft-kills to the beaten down and trodden sheeple on the streets.
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Solution to Global Warming: Pump Sulphur Into Stratosphere
December 23, 2009
Associated Content
By Mark Whittington
Nathan Myhrvold is a former technology officer for Microsoft who has found his own company, Intellectual Ventures, which is involved in a number of technology development programs, including new forms of energy generation.
Nathan Myhrvold also thinks that he has found a cheap and reliable way to solve global warming, which does not involve upending and perhaps destroying the world’s economy. The global warming solution proposed by Nathan Myhvold involves running a hose up to the stratosphere with balloons and using that hose to pump out enough sulfur particles to dim the sun’s heat just enough to counteract the effects of global warming. The estimated cost would be about two hundred and fifty million dollars.
Nathan Myhrvold suggests that volcanoes and other natural processes already pump out sulfur into the stratosphere and that his scheme, if adopted, would increase that amount by only one percent. Nathan Myhrvold therefore thinks that there would not be any unintended consequences (like starting a new ice age.)
Nathan Myhrvold’s anti global warming scheme is intriguing, even for those people (increasingly most people) who doubt that man caused global warming is actually real. The climate gate scandal involving leaked emails suggests that the data that supports the idea of man caused global warming has been doctored to some extent. Thus there is increasing resistance to the idea of arbitrarily cutting back on carbon emissions before clean energy technology is mature enough to take the place of fossil fuels, thus causing wrenching disruptions in economic growth and personal lifestyles.
One might suggest that Nathan Myhrvold’s anti global warming scheme might be part of a more rational solution to climate change, if it is a problem at all. The idea would be consist of the following.
Drop all ideas of government mandated reductions in carbon emissions.
Fund “clean energy” technology that would include not only the politically correct wind and solar, but nuclear, fusion, and space based solar energy.
Conduct a scientific study of the Earth climate, though this time with everything being above board, with real peer review, and with dissenters being allowed to offer input and criticism.
If there does turn out to be a man made global warming crisis, execute Nathan Myhrvold’s anti global warming scheme while the world more gradually, and more sustainably transfers from a fossil fuel economy to a “clean energy” economy.
There are, of course, several problems, some political, with Nathan Myhrvold’s anti global warming scheme.
First, the environmentalists will react negatively to any attempt to basically terraform the planet we happen to be living on, even if it is for a beneficial purpose and using a process that occurs in nature.
Second, certain politicians will not like it because as benign as Nathan Myhrvold’s anti global warming scheme would be to the world economy, it provides them with less opportunities to expand government control over peoples’ lives.
Third, there might be unintended consequences. For one thing, the energy produced by the sun undergoes fluxuations. That is one reason the Earth has been in a cooling period since 1998. What if the sun cooled unexpectedly while the Nathan Myhrvold’s anti global warming scheme was being executed? Can the amount of sulfur be adjusted accordingly to prevent unexpected drops in temperature?
Still Nathan Myhrvold’s anti global warming scheme is an interesting idea that ought to be added to the debate over climate change.
Click here for the full report.
FBI Leaked Information in Michael Jackson Child Molestation Probes
December 23, 2009
ABC News
By Lee Ferran and Eileen Murphy
A lawyer for the Michael Jackson family said that the now public but heavily redacted FBI file on the late pop superstar shows that “there’s not one scrap of evidence” that Michael Jackson ever harmed a child.
“In all these pages, hundreds of pages, many many hours of investigations … there’s not one scrap of evidence that Michael Jackson ever … did anything wrong, committed any crime,” said Brian Oxman, who represented several members of the Jackson family. “It’s almost a vindication, when you look at this. The FBI looked at all of these matters and said, ‘There’s nothing here.’”
Oxman said the sheer scope of the documents — 333 pages out of the 673-page file were made public — came as a shock to the Jackson family.
“I spoke to Joe Jackson last night. He said that this FBI file was something he never heard of,” Oxman said. “We’re surprised and shocked by what we found.”
Oxman said he knew the file existed but “had no idea” the FBI had investigated Jackson’s home computers in search of child pornography as the documents state.
According to one of the FBI agents involved in the Jackson investigation, the bureau was brought in at the request of local police.
“We have the international and interstate capabilities that local law enforcement and local DAs don’t have,” agent James Clemente told “Good Morning America.”
One major revelation in the more than 300 pages of government documents was that the FBI had assisted Santa Barbara, Calif., officials in their attempt to get cooperation from a person who could have been a key witness in the 2005 child molestation case against Michael Jackson: the boy who accused the pop star of molesting him in 1993.
No criminal charges were ever filed in the 1993 case. Instead, the then 12-year-old boy refused to cooperate with officials and accepted a multi-million dollar settlement from Jackson.
The documents released Tuesday under the Freedom of Information Act show that the FBI and Santa Barbara officials met in 2004 with Jackson’s 1993 accuser but were unsuccessful in getting his cooperation.
Jackson was acquitted of all charges in the 2005 case, which went to trial.
Molestation Accuser Identity Redacted
The heavily redacted FBI documents do not reveal the name of the boy that officials met with.
“Victim indicates that he has no interest in testifying against Jackson,” according to the documents, “and would legally fight any attempt to do so.”
Prior to the FBI’s interview with the accuser, the documents show that the FBI helped Santa Barbara prosecutors with “interview strategies for a victim who alleged that Michael Jackson had abused him in 1993.”
The documents also quote the boy as saying that he “believed that he had done his part,” presumably referring to his initial involvement with law enforcement before agreeing to a civil settlement with Jackson that is believed to be $20 million.
Former FBI Behavioral Unit agent Ken Lanning, who consulted on the 2003 molestation case, told ABCNews.com Tuesday that this kind of coordination is common.
“Child molestation cases are the type of cases that involve multi agencies,” he said. “There were potential federal violations and the FBI has jurisdiction in a couple of areas. What the FBI behavioral analysis unit does is try to work on the approach, help them understand the issues.”
The documents also reveal that Santa Barbara police had concerns about a possible terrorist attack related to the 2003 arrest of Jackson, which led to a request for FBI assistance. The FBI concluded there was no threat.
The 1993 accuser’s mother, June did testify at the trial 2005 and told the court that the ordeal with Jackson in 1993 fractured the boy’s family and cost her the relationship she had with her son.
The accuser’s father Evan killed himself last month. A onetime Beverly Hills dentist, Evan was found in his New Jersey waterfront apartment dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Sources close to the family say his suicide most likely stemmed from his longtime debilitating illness.
During the 2005 trial it was known that the FBI’s behavioral and forensics units had consulted on the case, but the file released Tuesday reveals that various arms of the FBI assisted the Santa Barbara district attorney’s office.
They included the crimes against children unit (CACU), innocent images national initiative against children unit, computer analysis response team (CART), the FBI lab, Los Angeles NCAVC coordinator and the Department of Justice’s child exploitation and obscenity section (CEO’s).
The FBI examined Jackson’s motor vehicle records to see if he “transported a minor across state lines for immoral purposes.” The agency went to London and Manila to investigate other accusations that Jackson had engaged in improper behavior with boys.
The agency also investigated another allegation from a woman and her husband who worked in child services in Toronto, Canada. The couple had taken the same train as Jackson from Chicago to the Grand Canyon and said Jackson had a minor boy with him whom he identified as a “cousin.” The couple reported that Jackson was possessive of the boy and that they heard questionable noises. The woman was concerned enough to notify a conductor.
Before the 2005 trial, the FBI and DA also met to discuss “&the collection of sexually explicit images in magazine and books” and a VHS videotape that the FBI analyzed as part of a child pornography investigation.
Also within the documents is a lot of material pertaining to threats made by Frank Paul Jones, who was convicted in 1993 of stalking Janet Jackson and threatening to commit mass murder at a Michael Jackson concert.
This was all reported at the time, but it’s not clear if Jones’ letters were ever released.
In one letter, dated 5/21/1992, Jones threatened to kill Michael Jackson if “I don’t get my money.”
Jones copied the FBI and the late mob boss John Gotti on the letter. He also threatened to kill President George H.W. Bush.
On July 16, 1992 Jones threatened in another letter to “commit mass murder” at a Michael Jackson concert, if necessary, in an attempt to kill Jackson.
Click here for the full report.
FDA Hits Nestle For Misleading Health Claims
December 23, 2009
Reuters
Swiss food giant Nestle made misleading claims about the health benefits of some children’s beverages, U.S. regulators said in letters released on Tuesday.
The Food and Drug Administration, in a December 4 letter, said Nestle made unauthorized nutrient content claims about Juicy Juice Brain Development Fruit Juice Beverage (Apple), Juicy Juice All-Natural 100% Juice Orange Tangerine and Juicy Juice All-Natural 100% Juice Grape.
The FDA said the company, for example, used the statement “no sugar added” on the brain development drink. That type of claim is not permitted for foods intended for children under age 2, the agency’s letter said.
Pam Krebs, a spokeswoman for Nestle Beverage, confirmed the company had received the letter on the Juicy Juice products. “We are intending to fully cooperate with the FDA in bringing this matter to a conclusion,” she said.
In a separate December 3 letter, the FDA said Nestle’s Boost Kid Essentials Nutritionally Complete Drink, in vanilla, chocolate and strawberry flavors, was promoted as a “medical food” but did not meet requirements for that type of claim.
A representative for Nestle Healthcare Nutrition, the division that markets the Boost products, could not immediately be reached for comment.
The FDA posted the letters on its website here#recent.
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60 Million Americans Have Fallen Victim to the Swine Flu Vaccine
December 23, 2009
WebMD
By Cathryn Meurer
At least 60 million people in the U.S. have rolled up their sleeves or taken the nasal spray version of the H1N1 swine flu vaccine, according a briefing at the CDC today.
Twice as many doses have gone to children than adults, but only about 2 million children had received the second dose of the swine flu vaccine, according to a CDC telephone survey ending Dec. 12.
“There are a lot of children in need of second doses in the weeks ahead,” Anne Schuchat, MD, director of the National Center of Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said at the briefing.
Schuchat dismissed a recent Australian study that suggested that a single dose of vaccine could be enough for children under 10. “We strongly believe that two doses are needed in children.”
The CDC recommends that children under age 10 get the two doses at least four weeks apart — though a longer gap of five to six weeks is fine.
Half of Americans Want H1N1 Vaccine
The CDC’s telephone survey indicates that about half of Americans have gotten or would like to get the H1N1 vaccine. And with 111 million doses now available, it should be widely available in doctors’ offices, public health departments, drug stores, and even shopping malls.
Swine flu cases have fallen off, with only 11 states reporting widespread disease activity. Schuchat urged Americans not to become complacent and skip the vaccine — particularly those with chronic health conditions who often do not realize that they fall in a group at high risk for developing complications from influenza. “The time is now for adults with chronic health conditions to look for vaccines … people with lung disease like emphysema, diabetes, cancer, and heart disease,” Schuchat said.
The CDC also confirmed that it has received reports of H1N1 swine flu in some household pets, saying that the “human-animal interface” is an important scientific aspect of this influenza virus. But it’s so rare, the CDC says there’s no reason for owners of cats and dogs to be concerned.
Click here for the full report.
Congressman Switches Sides Over Health Care & Policy
December 23, 2009 by Andrew
Filed under Government
December 23, 2009
ABC News
By Jay Reeves
A U.S. House Democrat who opposes the health care overhaul announced Tuesday he is defecting to the GOP, another blow to Democrats ahead of the midterm elections.
U.S. Rep. Parker Griffith spoke to reporters at his home in northern Alabama, a region that relies heavily on defense and aerospace jobs.
“I believe our nation is at a crossroads and I can no longer align myself with a party that continues to pursue legislation that is bad for our country, hurts our economy, and drives us further and further into debt,” Griffith said as his wife Virginia stood by his side.
The 67-year-old radiation oncologist was narrowly elected last year in a district that includes Huntsville and Decatur. President Barack Obama lost badly there to Republican John McCain.
Griffith also slammed the health care overhaul making its way through Congress. He was one of 39 House Democrats to vote against a version of the bill that narrowly passed.
“I want to make it perfectly clear that this bill is bad for our doctors,” he said. “It’s bad for our patients. It’s bad for the young men and women who are considering going into the health care field.”
He said after the press conference that his defection had nothing to do with concerns about whether he could win re-election as a Democrat. He also said he had not talked to any fellow Democrats about switching parties along with him.
“If they do, I hope it’s on conviction and not politics,” he said.
Alabama Democrats defended Griffith against GOP claims that he was soft on terrorism during the 2008 election, and the head of the state party said he is disappointed by Griffith’s defection now.
“Democrats of every stripe and philosophy sweated and bled for this man,” said Joe Turnham, chairman of the state party. “He narrowly became a congressman through the hard work, votes and financial contributions of thousands of Democrats. Today, they feel betrayed.”
Turnham said Griffith should return money to Democratic donors — something the congressman said he would be happy to do.
Griffith had accumulated one of the most conservative voting records of any House Democrat. He was one of seven Democrats to oppose Obama’s economic stimulus measure early this year and also voted against an anti-global warming bill pushed strongly by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
Democrats will hold 257 House seats to the GOP’s 178 after Griffith’s switch.
Several veteran House moderates have announced their retirements next year, giving Republicans hopes of picking up a significant number of seats in the November elections.
Jim Spearman, executive director of the Alabama Democratic Party, said the switch “shouldn’t come as a surprise” with the way Griffith voted.
“We will be working strongly to put a Democrat in there,” Spearman said.
Click here for the full report.
Feds Mull Regulating Drugs in Water
December 23, 2009 by Andrew
Filed under Government
December 23, 2009
AP News
By Jeff Donn
Federal regulators under President Barack Obama have sharply shifted course on long-standing policy toward pharmaceutical residues in the nation’s drinking water, taking a critical first step toward regulating some of the contaminants while acknowledging they could threaten human health.
A burst of significant announcements in recent weeks reflects an expanded government effort to deal with pharmaceuticals as environmental pollutants:
- For the first time, the Environmental Protection Agency has listed some pharmaceuticals as candidates for regulation in drinking water. The agency also has launched a survey to check for scores of drugs at water treatment plants across the nation.
- The Food and Drug Administration has updated its list of waste drugs that should be flushed down the toilet, but the agency has also declared a goal of working toward the return of all unused medicines.
- The National Toxicology Program is conducting research to clarify how human health may be harmed by drugs at low environmental levels.
The Associated Press reported last year that the drinking water of at least 51 million Americans contains minute concentrations of a multitude of drugs. Water utilities, replying to an AP questionnaire, acknowledged the presence of antibiotics, sedatives, sex hormones and dozens of other drugs in their supplies.
The news reports stirred congressional hearings and legislation, more water testing and more disclosure of test results. For example, an Illinois law goes into effect Jan. 1 banning health care institutions from flushing unused medicine into wastewater systems.
The EPA’s new study will look for 200 chemical and microbial contaminants at 50 plants that treat drinking water. The list includes 125 pharmaceuticals or related chemicals. This research will help federal water officials decide if regulations are needed.
In the first move toward possible drinking-water standards, the EPA has put 13 pharmaceuticals on what it calls the Contaminant Candidate List. They are mostly sex hormones, but include the antibiotic erythromycin and three chemicals used as drugs but better known for other uses.
They join a list of 104 chemical and 12 microbial contaminants that the EPA is considering as candidates for regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act. No pharmaceutical has ever reached the list in its 12-year history, but medicines now make up 13 percent of the target chemicals on the latest list “based on their potential adverse health effects and potential for occurrence in public water systems,” the EPA said.
They take a place beside such better-known contaminants as the metal cobalt, formaldehyde, the rocket fuel ingredient perchlorate, and the disease germ E. coli.
“I think this does signal a change in the regulatory and research approaches,” said Conrad Volz, a University of Pittsburgh scientist whose research raises questions about the risk of eating fish from waters contaminated with sex hormones. “What’s happening is pretty amazing.”
Several scientists within and outside government tied the stronger focus on human health to the Obama administration and the president’s appointment of Lisa Jackson, a highly regarded former head of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, to run the EPA.
“I think we are trying to be as aggressive as we can. We understand it’s a major national issue. We understand it’s a major public concern,” said Peter Silva, the new water administrator at the EPA.
However, making the candidate list provides no assurance that a chemical will reach full-blown regulation. In fact, no chemical on the list has ever been made subject to a national water quality standard, EPA officials acknowledge. They intend to make preliminary decisions on some of the latest contaminants by mid-2012.
“They’ve made a lot of good first steps, so now were waiting to see those carried through,” said Nneka Leiba, a researcher at the Environmental Working Group in Washington.
Water utilities and drug makers are wary of the federal moves. Difficult scientific questions remain over the possible threat posed to humans by minuscule concentrations in drinking water, where drugs are typically found in parts per billion or trillion. That’s way below medical doses.
However, some researchers fear that very small daily amounts of unwanted drugs in water could do cumulative harm to people over decades, possibly in combination with other drugs or in sensitive populations like children or pregnant women.
Alan Goldhammer, a vice president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said such trace amounts “really do not pose a human health issue.”
“We do get concerned if we think that somebody is going to require that the consumers spend money and not get any health benefit,” added Tom Curtis, a lobbyist for the Denver-based American Water Works Association.
The U.S. Geological Survey first began taking notice of pharmaceutical contamination several years ago. But until now the federal government has focused on the presence of pharmaceuticals in rivers and streams.
A recently released EPA study found more than 40 pharmaceuticals – everything from antibiotics to heart medicine to antidepressants – at nine publicly owned wastewater treatment plants. The drugs appeared in concentrations measured in parts per billion and trillion. Many passed right through the plants.
Linda Birnbaum, who is director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and also oversees the National Toxicology Program, said some program research is focusing on how much environmental pharmaceuticals can reach animal blood and tissues and how that might compare with humans.
Waste pharmaceuticals reach the environment when people take medicine and excrete the unmetabolized portion. Millions of pounds of waste drugs also escape into waterways from hospitals, drug plants and other factories, farms and the drains of American homes, the AP has reported.
On its new list, the FDA, which regulates medicines, says only 10 active ingredients in controlled-substance drugs need to be flushed to keep them away from children, abusers and pets.
At the same time, the agency announced it is working with partners to develop programs to return unused drugs instead of flushing them down the drain. The agency wants “to encourage their development and future use for all drugs,” declared Dr. Douglas Throckmorton, deputy director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. Returned drugs are usually incinerated, which destroys most active ingredients. Community drug takeback programs have increased considerably since the AP’s PharmaWater reports.
The recent announcements have been striking in their speed and breadth. Just last year, Ben Grumbles, Silva’s predecessor at the EPA Office of Water under President George W. Bush, said only one pharmaceutical was under consideration for the list of candidates for water standards. And it was the heart medicine nitroglycerin, better known as an explosive.
Yet some environmentalists say the government should take even bolder action. “Identifying the nature and scope of the problem is not the same thing as addressing the causes of the problem,” said George Mannina, an environmental lawyer in Washington.
He said the EPA should do more to keep drugs out of the nation’s water supplies and not rely on expensive filtering systems at water treatment plants.
Jon Holder, a vice president at Vestara, a seller of equipment to manage waste drugs, said the EPA should be more aggressive about enforcing hazardous waste laws that already apply to some drugs used by hospitals.
“We applaud the light that’s being shined on it, but we also recognize that the simple enforcement of existing law would go a long way,” he said.
Click here for the full report.
Senate to Vote on U.S. Debt Limit on Christmas Eve
December 23, 2009 by Andrew
Filed under Government
December 23, 2009
Reuters
By Thomas Ferraro
The U.S. Senate on Tuesday set a Christmas Eve vote on final congressional approval of a bill to provide a two-month increase in the federal debt limit.
The measure, passed last week by the House of Representatives, would increase the debt limit, now at $12.1 trillion, by $290 billion.
Senate Democrats may approve the measure largely by themselves because most, if not all, Republicans are expected to vote against it, Republican aides said. Democrats control the Senate, 60-40.
Republicans have objected to raising the debt limit, accusing Democrats of reckless spending. Democrats counter by noting that the debt exploded during the administration of Republican President George W. Bush, which ended in January.
Democratic President Barack Obama is expected to promptly sign the debt-limit measure into law after Senate approval.
The Treasury Department has warned that it would likely reach the current debt limit by December 31, potentially putting the United States at risk of default.
U.S. lawmakers want to avoid default but have refused to provide a long-term increase amid mounting concern about the debt limit.
Democratic leaders had hoped to raise the limit by at least $1.8 trillion, enough to ensure they would not have to revisit the issue before the November 2010 congressional elections. But they were unable to agree on measures that lawmakers had hoped to attach to the legislation to control the debt. The two-month hike provides more time to reach a deal.
The government posted a record $1.4 trillion deficit in the fiscal year ended September 30 and is on track this year to spend at least $1 trillion more than it collects.
The debt has more than doubled since 2001, due to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, tax cuts and the worst recession since the 1930s, one that has caused tax revenues to plunge and spending on federal safety-net programs to rise.
Senate leaders set the debt-limit vote for Thursday, Christmas Eve, just before lawmakers go home for the holidays.
The vote is to occur after anticipated Senate passage of a bill to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system, a measure that has tied up the chamber for weeks, delaying departure.
Click here for the full report.
Overfishing, Pollution Pushing Oceans into Ecological Collapse
December 23, 2009
Natural News
By E. Huff
Many experts believe that the world’s oceans are at a crucial tipping point in which major ecological collapse is imminent. Overfishing, pollution, and general destruction of sea life is putting the oceanic system and its delicate ecosystems in dire straits.
Brian Skerry, an undersea photojournalist interviewed by a journalist from The Boston Phoenix, elaborated on what he was witnessing in the oceanic system. Decaying coral reefs, endangered species, and the massive reduction in population of certain sea creatures are among the devastating realities that has caused this diver to avoid eating seafood.
Every year, over 100 million sharks are killed. The North Atlantic right whale population, which was once a highly populous species in the region, is down to about 400. Atlantic cod is said to be about 10 percent of what it once was. Most commercial fish populations have been reduced by 90 percent or more. The Atlantic Ocean is becoming highly acidic and the Pacific Ocean is becoming a giant garbage dump. And all of these things have occurred in about 50 years.
Some scientists believe that if things don’t change and current practices continue as they are, the ocean will be barren of all sea life by 2048. Others believe this notion is drastic and unrealistic, but the point remains that the careless treatment of the world’s oceans is likely to have catastrophic results if not curtailed.
Overfishing in certain areas has led to increases in coral reef decay and death. Catching shrimp, for instance, involves dragging a net along the bottom of the ocean floor which catches all sorts of other ocean wildlife. Only a small portion of the catch is actually shrimp, leading to the dumping of the rest of the then-dead by-catch back into the ocean.
Some of the ocean damage has also been inflicted by severe hurricanes and tsunamis which are outside of man’s control. Yet there is no denying that ruthless ocean harvesting practices are causing problems that would otherwise not occur if proper ocean stewardship practices were followed.
While some suggest that international regulations should be mandated, the consequences of giving control over natural resources to an international global government would likely prove disastrous for American sovereignty. Many current regulations are actually harming the waters more than they are helping them. Incentives that encourage proper stewardship are one possible option that would preserve freedom and liberty while avoiding totalitarian restrictions over the waters.
Click here for the full report.
Women Weighing Breast Cancer Screening Benefits/Risks
December 23, 2009
DailyMail.co.uk
By Nigel Hawkes
Here’s a little test. Breast cancer screening reduces deaths by 25 per cent. If we assume that 1,000 women dutifully turn up to all their screening appointments, how many lives will be saved?
Remarkably, the answer is one. Not 250, or 100, or even 25 - the figures picked by a substantial proportion of gynaecologists who were asked this question.
As a recent study showed, if 1,000 women began screening at the age of 50, and had a mammogram every year, only one would have her life saved through early detection and treatment of cancer by the time screening stops at the age of 70.
Without screening, four women would have died from breast cancer. With it, three would have done so.
But in the same group, between two and ten women would also be treated needlessly - possibly with surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
And between 100 and 500 would have a false alarm, suffer worry, and need further tests before getting the all-clear. About half would undergo an unnecessary biopsy.
Here’s another example. The drug giant Pfizer claims, on the basis of a clinical trial, that its statin drug Lipitor reduces the risk of heart attacks in people with multiple risk factors - high blood pressure, high cholesterol or angina - by 36 per cent.
Assume 100 people take Lipitor for three-and-a-half years. How many heart attacks will be prevented?
The answer, once again, is one.
Without Lipitor, there would have been three heart attacks. With it, there were two.
More…
* Thousands of women still waiting months for breast cancer diagnosis despite Labour pledge
This is, indeed, close to the 36 per cent reduction claimed: Pfizer is not lying. But the bottom line is that 100 high-risk people had to take Lipitor for more than three years to prevent one of them having a heart attack. The other 99 got no benefit.
Benefits are easy to exaggerate when they are expressed in this way - and medicine is riddled with examples of inflated benefits and understated risks, misleading the unwell into unrealistic expectations and causing healthy people to worry needlessly.
The problem is called mismatched framing. Benefits are framed in one way; side-effects in another.
Expressing benefits as a relative risk - 25 per cent fewer breast cancer deaths, 36 per cent fewer heart attacks - produces a nice big number that looks impressive. But unless we know what the real underlying risk is, a percentage reduction is meaningless.
Let’s suppose that the risk to women of dangerous blood clots from a contraceptive pill is one in 7,000. A new pill is introduced and the risk doubles. Letters are sent to GPs across the country saying that the risks of the new pill are 100 per cent greater, and panic ensues.
Women give up the new pill in droves, abortions rise, and so does the risk of blood clots, since pregnancy carries a greater risk of thrombosis than the new pill.
This, of course, actually happened in 1995. If women had been told not that the risk had doubled, but it had increased by one in 7,000, would the same panic have occurred? Almost certainly not. One in 7,000 is an absolute risk increase; 100 per cent is a relative risk increase.
In medical journals, it is commonplace for benefits to be expressed in relative terms, while side-effects are given in absolute terms.
One recent study of the BMJ, the Journal of the American Medical Association and The Lancet found that a third of papers that included both benefits and harms failed to express them in the same metric.
The Academy of Medical Sciences has postponed a report on the issue until later in 2010.
In February, misleading leaflets urging women to get screened for breast cancer were withdrawn by the NHS because they failed to mention risks - false positives, invasive tests, misleading results, unnecessary operations and anxiety - and did not express benefits straightforwardly.
Public health specialists are in a bind over this. Their job is to get as many participants as possible screened, or vaccinated against flu, or whatever the latest wheeze is. So they focus on big numbers in order to make <em>not </em>participating seem like a dereliction of duty.
But what matters to the individual making a decision about whether to participate is not how it affects national statistics, but what it means to him or her.
The best way to express that is as a ‘number needed to treat’ (NNT) - that is, how many people have to take the treatment to save one event. In the case of the statin trial, the NNT would be 100. With breast cancer screening, it is 1,000.
So the chances that an individual will personally benefit are quite small: one in 100 for statins, one in 1,000 for mammography.
Some doctors argue that any treatment with an NNT of over 50 is no better than buying a lottery ticket. If women were told this, some would decide to get screened anyway. Others may prefer to opt out.
Screening is not worthless, but nor is it quite as wonderful as women have been led to believe.
Can public health doctors afford to be honest about risks and benefits? I wouldn’t bet on it. If drug companies, journals, public health campaigners and journalists are allowed to exaggerate without actually lying, who’s to stop them?
Meanwhile, the public struggle to understand what’s really best for them. Much greater transparency is needed, and fast.
Click here for the full report.
