Using Pharmaceuticals as Weapons
March 1, 2010
Natural News
By Mike Adams
Most people are familiar with traditional weapons of mass destruction such biological weapons, nuclear weapons and chemical weapons. The point of all such weapons of mass destruction is to inflict a large number of casualties on civilian populations as a way to cripple a nation into political or military submission.
When it comes to actually deploying weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) against civilian populations, no country has murdered more innocent civilians than the United States of America through its bombing of two Japanese cities during World War II. (This isn’t rhetoric, it’s an historical fact.)
Atomic bombs were very visible WMDs deployed in World War II as a way to force the empire of Japan to surrender to western forces. Since that time, full-scale nuclear weapons have never again been used directly on civilian targets, meaning the United States of America maintains the distinction of being the only nation in the history of human civilization to have dropped atomic weapons on civilian populations.
It begs the question: If national leaders believe dropping atomic weapons on civilian populations is justified, what other weapons might they feel justified in unleashing upon civilian populations?
Weapons of Mass Prescription
What if a nation wanted to reduce its own civilian population but do it covertly? One way to accomplish that would be to slowly poison the civilian population through exposure to toxic chemicals, heavy metals, hormone-disrupting molecules and nerve toxins.
And as any terrorist can tell you, the most covert way to accomplish that would be to inject such chemicals into the everyday products that people routinely consume: Water, food, personal care products and medicines. I even published a cartoon with this theme a couple of years ago.
Here’s another interesting fact: If you examine what’s in the water, food, products and medicines sold across North America, you’ll discover a dangerous assortment of chemicals that, taken together, could quite reasonably be considered weapons of mass destruction.
Interestingly, the fluoride dumped into public water supplies was originally an offshoot of the enrichment processing facilities for uranium to be used in nuclear weapons. These days, however, fluoride is usually just the toxic waste from fertilizer manufacturing factories or the waste from smokestack scrubbers of coal-fired power plants. Either way, it’s not good for your teeth: The entire fluoride agenda largely a convenient, low-cost way to dispose of industrial waste chemicals while calling it a public health program.
Antibacterial soaps derive their antibacterial properties from chemicals that are molecularly quite similar to the infamous Agent Orange used in the Vietnam War. And yet these products are openly marketed for use by children.
Similarly, children and adults continue to be poisoned by heavy metals like mercury thanks to the highly toxic practices of modern dentistry — an industry which astoundingly has still failed to admit to the obvious toxicity of a heavy metal its practitioners continue to install in people’s mouths as “silver fillings” (which actually contain more mercury than silver).
There are hormone-disrupting chemicals in most of the plastics used in the processed food industry — especially canned soups which are often highly toxic for a variety of other reasons. MSG and other nervous system destroyers are used throughout the food supply in soups, snack foods, salad dressings, flavorings and dips.
These are all chemical assaults of one kind or another, but the greatest assault on the minds and bodies of western consumers comes in the form of pharmaceutical chemicals. That’s why I call them ‘Weapons of Mass Prescription.’
Destroy any nation by destroying the health of its citizens
If you want to destroy any nation, simply unleash Big Pharma into its medical system. Within just two generations, its people will suffer widespread organ damage, sharp decline in cognitive function and rampant degenerative disease brought on by the side effects of everyday pharmaceuticals.
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Vitamin D Produces Less Falls in Elderly
Febraury 22, 2010
Natural News
By David Gutierrez
Seniors who take a large daily dose of vitamin D may be significantly less likely to suffer from falls, according to a study conducted by researchers from the Center on Aging and Mobility at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, and published in the British Medical Journal.
“Falls are important events to prevent,” said researcher Heike A. Bischoff-Ferrari, “and 700 to 1000 IU of vitamin D per day is safe and inexpensive.”
Approximately one-third of all adults over the age of 64 and 50 percent of those over the age of 49 fall at least once per year. In 9 percent of these cases, a visit to the emergency room is required. In 6 percent of cases, a fracture results. Falls are often one of the primary events resulting in admission to a nursing home.
Researchers analyzed the results of eight different studies on a total of 2,400 people over the age of 64. All the studies looked at whether vitamin D supplementation could reduce the risk of falls in the elderly.
The researchers found that at doses below 700 IU per day, there was no reduction in the risk of falls. Above this level, however, the risk of falls was reduced by as much as one in four.
“It takes 700 to 1000 international units (IU) of vitamin D per day and nothing less will work,” Bischoff-Ferrari said. “At the higher dose of 700 to 1000 IU vitamin D, the benefit on fall prevention is significant — at least 19 percent, 26 percent with vitamin D3.”
Although vitamin D2 is the form most commonly found in supplements, the body absorbs vitamin D3 more effectively.
The researchers found no difference in effectiveness between supplements marketed as “active” and those that were simply unmodified D2. “Active” supplements, however, are significantly more likely to lead to high calcium levels, which may cause hormone problems and cancer.
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Another Drug for Socializing of Autistic Children
February 15th, 2010
ABC News
By John Gever
Social function improved in autism-spectrum patients treated with the hormone oxytocin, according to a small study.
Following oxytocin inhalation, adults with Asperger’s syndrome or high-functioning autism were more inclined to play with the most socially responsive partner in a video ball game, reported Angela Sirigu of the CNRS lab in Bron, France, and colleagues.
Also, when participants were shown pictures of human faces, they were more likely to focus attention on the eyes, an important marker of social interaction, the researchers found.
These behaviors are important markers of social function, Sirigu and colleagues explained in their report, published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study compared the effects of oxytocin in 13 individuals with autism-spectrum symptoms. Another 13 age- and sex-matched normal controls also played the video ball game without oxytocin.
“Under oxytocin, patients respond more strongly to others and exhibit more appropriate social behavior and affect, suggesting a therapeutic potential of oxytocin through its action on a core dimension,” the researchers asserted.
Oxytocin is best known for its actions in prompting childbirth and lactation, but it is also produced throughout life. Previous research has suggested roles for the hormone in emotional regulation and social behaviors. One study found that inhaled oxytocin made adults more trusting of others in a game situation.
Some investigators have also found that oxytocin levels are depressed in autistic individuals. One of the hallmark symptoms of autism is social withdrawal and impaired responsiveness to other people, marked by such behaviors as greatly diminished eye contact.
Participants in the study were 17 to 39 years old, with an average age of 26. Ten had received clinical diagnoses of Asperger’s syndrome, and three were considered to have high-functioning autism.
Patients received either a nasal spray containing oxytocin or an ineffective dummy nasal spray and participated in behavioral experiments 50 minutes later. In the video ball game, participants played a game of toss-and-catch with three cartoon characters whose interaction with the player could vary. Initially, each character sent the ball to the player 33 percent of the time, passing it between themselves the rest of the time. After awhile, the percentages changed such that one character would send the player the ball 70 percent of the time, the second sent 30 percent of balls to the player, and the third sent just 10 percent of balls to the player. The player was promised a payment for each ball he or she received.
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HRT and Asthma Linked
February 12, 2010
Guardian
By BMJ Group
Taking oestrogen-only HRT might increase women’s short-term risk of developing asthma for the first time, especially for women with allergies, according to a big new study from France.
What do we know already?
Previous studies have suggested that the hormone oestrogen plays a part in making women susceptible to asthma. Although we tend to think of asthma as a disease that starts in childhood, quite a lot of people first get asthma as an adult.
Asthma is more common in girls once they’ve started their periods, and it tends to become less common after women go through the menopause.
However, asthma has become more common in all age groups in recent years. So, doctors are interested to know whether hormonal treatments – like the contraceptive pill and HRT– have an effect.
The new study looked at a group of more than 57,000 French women who were around menopausal age, none of whom had been diagnosed with asthma at the start of the study. Researchers followed the women for an average 10 years, recording what medicines they took during that time and whether they were diagnosed with asthma.
What does the new study say?
Women who took oestrogen-only HRT were more likely to get asthma during the study. Women who took combined HRT, which includes oestrogen plus another hormone called progestogen, didn’t have an increased risk.
During the study, tabout one woman in 1,000 was diagnosed with asthma each year. Of these women, 56 percent had taken HRT within the past two years, and 36 percent had never taken HRT. When the researchers looked at all the factors affecting the women’s health, they found women who’d taken oestrogen-only HRT had about a 67 percent increased risk of getting asthma, compared with women who never used HRT.
Looking at other factors, the researchers said that having had an allergic disease before (for example, hay fever or eczema) increased the risk when combined with HRT. Never having smoked also increased the risk when combined with HRT, but this could be because it was hard to untangle the increased risk of asthma from smoking, from the effects of HRT.
The increased risk from HRT seemed to wear off a couple of years after women had stopped taking it.
How reliable are the findings?
This is a big, well-conducted study with interesting results. However, this type of study can never prove that one thing (HRT) caused another (asthma). It can only show that there’s an association, which might have been caused by something else. For example, women taking long-term medication like HRT need to visit their GP for prescriptions, so might be more likely to mention problems with their breathing and be diagnosed with asthma. We can’t be sure that HRT itself caused the asthma.
Where does the study come from?
The study was done by researchers from France and Mexico. It was published in Thorax, a medical journal that is part of the BMJ Group. It was funded by grants from three French research institutions.
What does this mean for me?
If you’re considering taking HRT for menopausal symptoms, there are a lot of pros and cons to take on board. HRT has previously been linked to a slightly increased risk of heart disease, stroke, breast cancer, and blood clots. This is one more factor to take account of when deciding whether to take HRT to relieve the symptoms of menopause.
What should I do now?
If you have concerns about the medicine you are taking, make an appointment to speak to your GP.
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Sunbathing Boosting Testosterone in Men
February 5, 2010
BBC News
The bulk of this essential nutrient is made by the skin on exposure to sunlight. The rest comes from the diet.
A study in Clinical Endocrinology journal of 2,299 men found those with enough of the vitamin had more of the male sex hormone than those with less.
Blood levels of both dipped in the winter and peaked in the summer.
Low testosterone levels can impact on a man’s libido as well as zap energy levels.
It also performs essential functions in both men and women such as maintaining muscle strength and bone density.The researchers from the Medical University of Graz, Austria, found men with at least 30 nanograms of vitamin D per millilitre of blood had much more testosterone circulating than those lacking in vitamin D.
Across the 2,299 men studied, testosterone and vitamin D levels appeared to peak in the month of August, and drop off in the winter, hitting their lowest levels in March.
Professor Winfried Marz and colleagues, who ran the study, said scientists should now look at whether vitamin D supplements would have the same effect on testosterone.
Ad Brand of the Sunlight Research Forum in The Netherlands, a non-profit organisation set up to inform the general public on latest medical research on sun and health, said: “Men who ensure that their body is at least sufficiently supplied with vitamin D are doing good for their testosterone levels and their libido among other things.”
Cancer experts warn that too much sun exposure is damaging for the health.
Allan Pacey, senior lecturer in Andrology at the University of Sheffield, said: “We know that medically we can increase the libido and general well-being of men who have low levels of testosterone by giving them testosterone replacement therapy.
“However, this is for a defined set of medical circumstances where testosterone production is low.
“Whether healthy men notice a significant changes throughout the year is less clear and I would urge men to be sensible about using sunbeds in the winter months given the known risks of using them excessively.”
Jessica Harris of Cancer Research UK said: “Enjoying the sun safely while taking care not to burn should help people strike a balance between making enough vitamin D and avoiding a higher risk of skin cancer.
“People can also top up their levels of vitamin D by eating more foods like oily fish such as salmon, trout or mackerel.”
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Non-Stick Pans Linked to Thyroid Disease
January 22, 2010
Reuters
By Tim Pearce
A study by British researchers found that people with high levels of the chemical perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) in their blood have higher rates of thyroid diseases — conditions which affect the body’s metabolism.
PFOA is a common chemical, used in industrial and consumer products including non-stick cooking pans, stain-proof carpet coatings and waterproofing for fabrics.
The study, published in the Environmental Health Perspectives journal, did not establish whether PFOA was causing higher levels of thyroid disease.
The researchers said the link might be complex and indirect, and added that their work highlighted a need for further studies of the human health effects of low-level exposures to chemicals like PFOA.
“We need to know what they (these chemicals) are doing,” said Tamara Galloway, a professor of ecotoxicology at Exeter University, who led the research.
Previous studies of people living near sites where PFOA is manufactured have not found an association between exposure to these chemicals and thyroid function, and some other scientists advised caution about drawing conclusions from the study.
INDIRECT LINK?
“Studies like this cannot tell us that the two things are definitely linked,” said Ashley Grossman, professor of neuroendocrinology at Queen Mary, University of London.
“We also don’t know whether this chemical is directly affecting the thyroid. Thyroid disease is often caused by the body’s own immune system attacking the thyroid gland so perhaps this chemical is having some effect on the immune system, rather than directly on the thyroid.”
The thyroid, located in the neck, is a kind of master gland, secreting hormones affecting metabolism. People with low thyroid function may lose hair, gain weight and feel sluggish, while those with overactive thyroids may lose weight and feel their hearts race. Both conditions can be treated.
The British researchers looked at 3966 American adults aged 20 and above whose blood serum was sampled between 1999 and 2006 for PFOA. They found that those with the highest PFOA concentrations (above 5.7 nanograms per milliliter) were more than twice as likely to report current thyroid disease than individuals with the lowest levels (below 4.0ng/ml).
Thyroid diseases are much more common in women than men, but in terms of the link between PFOA and thyroid disease, the researchers found no difference between the sexes.
Galloway and colleagues stressed the need for more work but said their study suggested it is “plausible that the compounds could disrupt binding of thyroid hormones in the blood or alter their metabolism in the liver.”
“This new evidence does not rule out the possibility that having thyroid disease changes the way the body handles PFOA,” they added, and its presence “might also prove to be simply a marker for some other factor associated with thyroid disease.”
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Studies Show Special Blueberry Drink May Fight Diabetes, Obesity
January 18, 2010
Natural News
By David Gutierrez
A special blueberry drink fortified by processing it with bacteria that naturally occur on the fruit’s skin proved effective at preventing the development of obesity and diabetes in mice predisposed to the conditions, in a study conducted by researchers from the University of Montreal, the Institut Armand-Frappier and the Université de Moncton, and published in the International Journal of Obesity.
Researchers “biotransformed” juice from the North American lowbush blueberry by fermenting it with Serratia vaccinii, a bacteria naturally found on the berry’s skin. They then fed mice either the biotransformed juice or unmodified blueberry juice for three days. All the mice had been bred for resistance to the hormone leptin, thus predisposing them to obesity, insulin resistance, diabetes and high blood pressure
“Consumption of fermented blueberry juice gradually and significantly reduced high blood glucose levels in diabetic mice,” lead author Tri Vuong said. “After three days, our mice subjects reduced their glycemia levels by 35 percent.”
The mice drinking the biotransformed juice also ate less and gained less weight than the mice in the control group.
“Results of this study clearly show that biotransformed blueberry juice has strong anti-obesity and anti-diabetic potential,” senior author Pierre S. Haddad said. “Biotransformed blueberry juice may represent a novel therapeutic agent.”
The researchers are unsure why the biotransformed juice proves so much more effective, but they believe that the fermentation process enhances the effectiveness of the fruit’s naturally occurring antioxidants. The researchers suggested that these antioxidants might assist the activity of the hormone adiponectin, which is associated with a lower risk of obesity.
The anthocyanins found in blueberries have also previously been linked to a reduced risk of retinopathy, an eye disorder, in diabetics.
“The identification of the active compounds in biotransformed blueberry juice may result in the discovery of promising new anti-obesity and anti-diabetic molecules,” Haddad said.
An estimated 24 million people in the United States suffer from diabetes, and another 57 million are considered pre-diabetic.
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Pomegranates Said to Prevent Breast Cancer
January 15, 2010
Natural News
By Mike Adams
Many breast cancers are estrogen-dependent. So a class of drugs called aromatase inhibitors (AI) that block the synthesis of estrogen are used by mainstream medical doctors to attempt to slow the growth of estrogen sensitive breast tumors. Unfortunately, as the Mayo Clinic web site points out, AI drugs — which include anastrozole (Arimidex), letrozole (Femara) and exemestane (Aromasin) — come loaded with side effects including hot flashes, severe joint pain, muscle aches, headache, fatigue, bone fractures and a potential risk of heart disease.
But now comes good news: there appears to be a natural alternative to AIs. Researchers say they’ve found a substance that could prevent the development of hormone-dependent breast cancer and halt the growth of estrogen-driven tumors — pomegranate fruit.
Pomegranates contain phytochemicals known as ellagitannins that work much like aromatase inhibitors, according to results of a study just published in the January issue of Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. And there’s little reason to think any cancer treatment derived from pomegranates would have harmful side effects because the fruit has long been safely consumed as a food.
Shiuan Chen, Ph.D., director of the Division of Tumor Cell Biology and co-leader of the Breast Cancer Research Program at City of Hope in Duarte, California, worked with Lynn Adams, Ph.D., a research fellow at Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope, and other scientists to investigate whether phytochemicals in pomegranates can suppress aromatase and thereby inhibit cancer growth. They screened and analyzed 10 ellagitannin-derived compounds in pomegranates. The results? The research team discovered these natural phytochemicals have the potential to prevent estrogen-dependent breast cancers. One particular substance found in pomegranates dubbed Urolithin B significantly inhibited the growth of cultured breast cancer cells in the lab.
“Phytochemicals suppress estrogen production and that prevents the proliferation of breast cancer cells and the growth of estrogen-responsive tumors,” said Dr. Chen, the principal investigator, in a statement to the media.
Gary Stoner, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at Ohio State University, commented in a statement to the media that additional studies are needed in animals and humans to confirm the ability of Urolithin B to stop hormone-dependent breast cancer. Dr. Stoner, who was not part of the study research team, also recommended additional studies to test pomegranate juice for its effect on estrogen levels, menopausal symptoms and breast density (dense breast tissue is a risk for breast cancer) and to see if it is a cancer preventive agent.
Until then, Stoner said people “might consider consuming more pomegranates to protect against cancer development in the breast and perhaps in other tissues and organs.”
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Pomegranate Helping Prevent Breast Cancer
January 13, 2010
Reuters
By Xavier Briand
An acid found in pomegranates appears to block aromatase, an enzyme that converts androgen to estrogen, a hormone that plays a role in the development of breast cancer, the researchers wrote in the journal Cancer Prevention Research.
“We identified some of these chemicals in pomegranates that actually have properties that can suppress aromatase,” researcher Shiuan Chen, of the City of Hope cancer research and treatment center in Duarte, California, said in a telephone interview.
Many women who have had breast cancer take medicines called aromatase inhibitors — such as Pfizer’s Aromasin, Novartis’ Femara and AstraZeneca Plc’s Arimidex — to keep estrogen from feeding tumors.
Chen and colleagues studied whether compounds, or phytochemicals, in pomegranates can suppress aromatase and ultimately block cancer growth. They found that 10 natural compounds in the fruit may potentially prevent estrogen-related breast cancer.
Chen said the compounds would not be a replacement for aromatase inhibitors.
“We do not recommend people start taking this as a replacement for the AI’s,” Chen said. “They (pomegranate compounds) are not as potent as the real drugs so we think that the interest probably is more on the prevention end rather than in a therapeutic purpose.”
Other researchers not associated with the study told the journal that the results are promising, and suggested more studies involving animals and humans were needed to confirm the findings.
“It’s not clear that these levels could be achieved in animals or in humans because the (compounds) are not well absorbed into blood when provided in the diet,” said Gary Stoner of Ohio State University.
Dr. Powel Brown, an oncologist at the University of Texas, said in a statement that future studies should focus on testing pomegranate juice for its effect on estrogen levels, menopausal symptoms, breast density or even as a cancer preventive agent.
More than 400,000 women die from breast cancer globally every year. About 75 percent of breast cancers are estrogen-receptor positive, meaning they are fed by estrogen.
Previous research has shown that pomegranate juice is rich in antioxidants — vitamins and other substances — that may help prevent diseases such as cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer’s disease.
Pomegranate Reduces Risks of Breast Cancer
January 8, 2010
Reuters
By Xavier Briand
An acid found in pomegranates appears to block aromatase, an enzyme that converts androgen to estrogen, a hormone that plays a role in the development of breast cancer, the researchers wrote in the journal Cancer Prevention Research.
“We identified some of these chemicals in pomegranates that actually have properties that can suppress aromatase,” researcher Shiuan Chen, of the City of Hope cancer research and treatment center in Duarte, California, said in a telephone interview.
Many women who have had breast cancer take medicines called aromatase inhibitors — such as Pfizer’s Aromasin, Novartis’ Femara and AstraZeneca Plc’s Arimidex — to keep estrogen from feeding tumors.
Chen and colleagues studied whether compounds, or phytochemicals, in pomegranates can suppress aromatase and ultimately block cancer growth. They found that 10 natural compounds in the fruit may potentially prevent estrogen-related breast cancer.
Chen said the compounds would not be a replacement for aromatase inhibitors.
“We do not recommend people start taking this as a replacement for the AI’s,” Chen said. “They (pomegranate compounds) are not as potent as the real drugs so we think that the interest probably is more on the prevention end rather than in a therapeutic purpose.”
Other researchers not associated with the study told the journal that the results are promising, and suggested more studies involving animals and humans were needed to confirm the findings.
“It’s not clear that these levels could be achieved in animals or in humans because the (compounds) are not well absorbed into blood when provided in the diet,” said Gary Stoner of Ohio State University.
Dr. Powel Brown, an oncologist at the University of Texas, said in a statement that future studies should focus on testing pomegranate juice for its effect on estrogen levels, menopausal symptoms, breast density or even as a cancer preventive agent.
More than 400,000 women die from breast cancer globally every year. About 75 percent of breast cancers are estrogen-receptor positive, meaning they are fed by estrogen.
Previous research has shown that pomegranate juice is rich in antioxidants — vitamins and other substances — that may help prevent diseases such as cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer’s disease.
Click here for the full report
