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Alternative Health & Healing Newsletter
April 2002
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Alternative Health & Healing Newsletter
April, 2002
Dr. Group’s Quote of the Month : "Each hurdle in life, consider it a lesson for personal growth. The excuse: "I haven't had time" will cause you to procrastinate mentally, spiritually and physically. Think about your successes in life 100% of the time and your failures in life 0% of the time. If you think about it, there is no such thing as a failure in life, only a lesson learned."
CONTENTS:
Are You Letting Vaccines Damage You and Your Child?
The Verdict Is Still Out On Alternative Medicine
Test Proves Fruitless, Fueling New Debate on Cancer Screening
Digital Devil
Early Puberty Linked To Shampoos
Western Europe, Not the US, Ranks as World's Healthiest Region
Mind Over Medicine
Chicken a la Tumor
Gardening = Organic Produce = Live Enzymes = Healthy Body!
Seminar Schedule
Are You Letting Vaccines Damage You And Your Child?
By: Dr. Edward F. Group III, D.C., Ph.D
Until recently, most vaccines presented antigens according to the same principals as they were 200 years ago - when vaccines consisted of the whole microorganism, alive or killed. The new generation of vaccines contains other defined antigens, called "subunit vaccines". Newly developed genetic technology gives us the means to produce the defined antigen in large enough amounts to generate a low price.
Vaccination may damage children in several ways. Live or attenuated virus vaccination can actually produce the infection that the vaccine is supposed to prevent. For example, live polio should never be administered to a child who comes in contact with an HIV patient, for the attenuated virus can "leap" to the HIV patient and produce polio. Reports exist of normal parents who have developed polio from the viral vaccine given to their children. A second mechanism of damage comes from neurotoxic (nerve damaging substances) materials found sometimes in vaccines.
Thimerosol is the most widely discussed nerve toxin, since it contains mercury.
Probably the most important theory of vaccine damage, relates to allergic reactions and the development of an autoimmune response, stimulated by the vaccine. Vaccines always contain adjuvants, which are substances known to amplify the body's response to the vaccine. These adjuvants are known to sometimes cause allergic and autoimmune responses on their own. "Vaccination is a medical procedure which carries a risk of injury or death. As a parent, it is your responsibility to become educated about the benefits and risks of vaccines in order to make the most informed, responsible vaccination decisions."
There are also possible, but unproven links between MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) vaccine and juvenile diabetes, autism, and OPV and Gulf War syndrome. Time and further research will tell if these proposed relationships are real.
The history of studies on vaccines began in 1922 when a smallpox vaccination program caused an outbreak of encephalitis, with a secondary result of Guillain-Barre Syndrome, an ascending paralysis ending in death. The polio virus produces a breakdown of the nerve sheath, called poliomyelitis, which results in paralysis. Encephalitis, whether caused through disease or as a result of vaccination, can cause permanent damage to the nerves.
General paralysis is rare in regions where no organized vaccination of the population exists. It is impossible to deny a connection between vaccination and the encephalitis, which sometimes follows it. [Reference: Wise RP, Kiminyo KP, Salive ME. Hair loss after routine immunizations. J Am Med Assoc 1997; 278: 1176-8.]
In 1953 it was realized that some children's diseases - measles in particular - showed an increased propensity to attack the central nervous system. This indicated a growing allergic reaction in the population to both the diseases and the vaccinations for the diseases.
A review of medical literature indicates that the characteristics of autism and of mercury poisoning (HgP) are strikingly similar. The parallels between the two diseases are so thorough as to suggest, based on total Hg injected into U.S. children through vaccinations, that many cases of autism are a form of mercury poisoning.
For these children, the exposure route is childhood vaccines, most of which contain thimerosal, a preservative that is 49.6% ethyl mercury by weight. The amount of mercury a typical child under two years receives from vaccinations equates to 237.5 micrograms, or 3.53 x 1017 molecules (353,000,000,000,000,000 molecules). Most such vaccines which contain Hg (Mercury) may not be excreted and instead migrates to the brain.
Importantly, the timings of vaccinal Hg-exposure and its latency period coincide with the emergence of autistic-symptoms in specific children. Moreover, excessive mercury has been detected in urine, hair, and blood samples from autistic children; and parental reports, though limited at this date, indicate significant improvement in symptoms subsequent to heavy-metal chelation therapy.
The following quotes are from distinguished doctors and scientists on the damaging effects of vaccines.
"It is time to wake up and pay attention to what doctors and our government is forcing upon us. Parents need to be aware of what is going into the children of the world. Vaccinations are a toxin to the immune system and nervous system. Children cannot make informed decisions about their health. If they could, they would be crying out to us to prevent being injected by toxic chemicals. Vaccines can cause just as much damage to the parents. The parents usually end up suffering from hospital syndrome, emotional and physical stress which leads to serious health problems in the adult. Are vaccinations a hidden genocide? Vaccinations do not prevent disease, they cause disease!"—Dr. Edward F. Group III, D.C., Ph.D. www.ghchealth.com
Hospital Syndrome - Negative emotions, loss of hope, emotional, mental and physical stress caused by multiple trips to the doctor or hospital without medical relief, proper diagnosis or treatment from an illness or disease. Hospital Syndrome was named by: Edward F. Group III, D.C., Ph.D
"There is no question that HIV was introduced into the U.S. male homosexual population via the gay hepatitis B vaccine experiment that took place between 1978 and 1981. My research clearly supports the outbreak of AIDS cases in Los Angeles and San Francisco shortly after the experiment began in those cities. Not surprisingly, the government has refused to release data on the number of AIDS deaths that have occurred in the large group of gay men who initially volunteered for the vaccine experiment." ---Dr. Alan Cantwel
"The total 24,775 vaccination hepatitis B reports from July 1990 to October 31, 1998 show 439 deaths and 9673 serious reactions involving emergency room visits, hospitalization, disablement or death.........The hep B adverse event cover-up is way bigger then the AHP diet-drug cover up."--Michael Belkin
"Classen's data and other published data indicates the following vaccines are associated with an increased risk of diabetes (increased risk): hepatitis B (50%), hemophilus (25%), tetanus (20%), diphtheria (9%), pertussis (25%), mumps- rubella (23%). These findings are supported by a case control study performed in Europe. The cumulative effect of all these vaccines on diabetes is tremendous."--PRNewswire
"The cot deaths increase occurred THREE MONTHS after the introduction of the nationwide blanket administration of the first Hepatitis B vaccine immediately after birth."—Hilary Butler
"My involvement in the field of vaccine toxicity began in 1979 when I discovered that central nervous system demyelination (Multiple Sclerosis) had been caused, in some individuals, by the swine flu vaccine. My involvement was heightened when I found the same thing occurred after hepatitis B vaccination. These findings have been confirmed by many others and have been extended to include other untoward reaction to hepatitis B vaccine. Reactions include other autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, optic neuritis, postvaccinal encephalomyelitis and possibly juvenile diabetes."--Dr Waisbren
"I have minutes from a CDC Study Group Meeting on the Hepatitis B vaccine held in March, 1997. The minutes of the meeting show that it would take at least a 60 day study to show the onset of MS. Clinical studies done by the two manufacturers were four and five days in length, respectively. It should be noted that the afternoon session of this meeting was chaired by Dr. Robert Sharrar of Merck."-- Betty D. Fluck
"Ebola, the ideal biological weapon that kills nine-out-of-ten humans within three weeks of infection, emerged first in three European vaccine production laboratories virtually simultaneously in 1967. Then named the Marburg virus (after one of the vaccine maker's Marburg, Germany, address), consensus held that this virus arrived in Europe in a shipment of nearly 500 African monkeys. The scientific literature, mainstream media, and Richard Preston, never once disclosed the name of the infamous monkey supplier-Litton Bionetics. Bionetics is cited in the US Congressional Record as a leading biological weapons contractor and nonhuman primate supplier for the US military. "-- Leonard Horowitz DM.D.,M.A.
"Michigan had made too much DPT in its Lansing laboratory and wanted to sell it to other states. That required FDA testing and approval, as with any other manufacturer. However, the FDA denied approval and returned the vaccine, saying it was 300 percent too potent. State health officials disagreed and decided to test the vaccine on children in Ingham County (Lansing). Despite more adverse reactions than usual, health officials released 400,000 doses of the DPT vaccine for use throughout the state a month later."-- -Fresno Bee DPT report 1984
"They began using MMR in April 1989 and by July doctors were already warning of side-effects, but the government didn’t take any notice because it was not convenient for them. They kept using it for another 3 years, securing the profits for the manufacturers".--- Shunsuke Fuji
"Congress requires records to be kept of the lot numbers of vaccines for which unusually large number of "adverse events" (side effects) are reported. But the information is then simply ignored. The "hot lots," as they are called, are not destroyed, but continue to be injected into infants and children. (no use throwing out expensive vaccines--dollars are worth more than lives, just as in the U.K.) "---Dr Rimland
"SENIOR government advisers said as early as 1989 that vaccines could provide a route by which BSE could be transferred to human beings."-- Media report
"Up to 300 cases relate to this brand of vaccine - Pluserix - which was banned by the Department of Health in 1992 after being linked with meningitis. This was two years after an identical vaccine was banned in Canada."-- Media
"THE Department of Health has told doctors they must use stocks of a mercury-based vaccine for infants even though it is being phased out for safety reasons."-- Media Aug 2001
"The body responds to the vaccine with an immune reaction that attacks its components. Sometimes the immune reaction also attacks a constituent of the body itself, which bears some chemical resemblance to a constituent of the vaccine. Reports of cases in which nerve cells have been attacked have been published for tetanus, influenza and measles vaccines. The "self-attack" is the result of a cascade of biochemical changes which takes at least five days to cause clinically observable disease, and may take at least up to six weeks."-- Marcel Kingsbourne
"This strange name (autoimmune disease) has been given recently to a number of well-known degenerative diseases of unknown origin, such as rheumatoid arthritis, Hashimoto’s disease of the thyroid, and a growing list of others. The feature common to all of them seems to be that certain cells which are not normally in direct contact with the blood stream, become damaged or exposed; they are attacked as strangers by the lymphocytes, plasma cells, etc., antibodies appear in the blood, a vicious circle is set up and the battle continues until the offending cells are destroyed. In fact, it would seem that all who die of "natural causes" or "senile decay" really die of "autoimmune" disease. We very strongly suspect that this new name, completely unintelligible to the layman, has been adopted to obscure the fact that all these troublesome and incurable diseases really ought to be classed as "autogenous vaccinations", but the word "vaccination" has to be kept out of it at all costs."-- Lionel Dole
"I would challenge any colleague, clinician or research scientist to claim that we have a basic understanding of the human newborn immune system. It is well established in studies in animal models that the newborn immune system is very distinct from the adolescent or adult. In fact, the immune system of newborns in animal models can easily be perturbed to ensure that it cannot respond properly later in life." ------This testimony was given verbally to the United States Senate on May 12, 1999 by Dr Bonnie Dunbar, Professor of Immunobiology with specialize work in vaccine development and autoimmunity for over 25 years, the past 17 at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
"The body responds to the vaccine with an immune reaction that attacks its components. Sometimes the immune reaction also attacks a constituent of the body itself, which bears some chemical resemblance to a constituent of the vaccine. Reports of cases in which nerve cells have been attacked have been published for tetanus, influenza and measles vaccines. The "self-attack" is the result of a cascade of biochemical changes which takes at least five days to cause clinically observable disease, and may take at least up to six weeks."-- Marcel Kingsbourne
"Vaccination and sulpha drugs have been recognized as being directly responsible for the production of leukemia in humans."---Dr B. Duperrat of the Saint-Louis Hospital in Paris, writing in the French medical journal Presse Medicale, march 12, 1955.
"All vaccination has the effect of directing the three values of the blood into or toward the zone characteristics of cancer and leukemia...Vaccines do predispose to cancer and leukemia." Professor L. Vincent - founder of Bioelectronics
"Already published reports, as well as our own observations indicate that smallpox vaccination sometimes produces manifestations of leukemia. In children and adults observed in the clinics of Cracow, smallpox vaccination has been followed by violent local and general reactions and by leukemia."---Professors Julian Aleksandrowickz and Boguslave Halileokowski of the Medical Academy of Cracow, Poland wrote as reported in Lancet, May 6, 1967.
"Had my mother and father known that the poliovirus vaccines of the 1950s were heavily contaminated with more than 26 monkey viruses, including the cancer virus SV40, I can say with certainty that they would not have allowed their children and themselves to take those vaccines. Both of my parents might not have developed cancers suspected of being vaccine-related, and might even be alive today."-- Dr Urnovitz
"During the polio epidemics it was found that people who had their tonsils removed were 3-5 times more likely to develop paralysis….There were many at that time that suggested that polio was an iatrogenic disease…..we caused thousands of cases of paralysis. We did not cause the polio, but we converted people who would have recovered from a vial illness into people with a paralytic illness."-- Dr Mark Donohoe MB BS
"Since vaccine development information is considered proprietary [protected by nondisclosure policies] government officials and researchers must shield potential safety issues from public scrutiny. This censorship is rationalized by the all too persuasive argument that vaccines cannot be criticized lest the public become non-compliant in taking them. Finally, this silence is buttressed by the small number of people capable of critically evaluating vaccine manufacturing and safety testing procedures. In essence, health care professionals and the general public know little about the possible dangers of live viral vaccines."-- Dr John Martin
"In speaking with an AMA lobbyist, I understood they "would not want the public to know that their doctors were not in the knowledge loop"......The world and, in particular, its children appear to be at risk for stealth adapted viruses. The contribution of vaccines to the formation and dissemination of these viruses should be an open topic for scientific discussion. This is not occurring with those presently in charge of overseeing the safety of the Nation's immunization program." -- Dr John Martin http://www.ccid.org/safety.htm
"The first rule of medicine is to do no harm. Yet, we know that immunizing children against hepatitis B confers almost no benefit and subjects our children to harm."-- Gregory Tetrault, M. D.
"Based on what I now know, I would not give my children the combined MMR vaccine. I would consider either using the vaccines singly (not available in this country but possible in mainland Europe) or not vaccinating at all. It may be safer for healthy children to catch these illnesses rather than run the risk of immunization."-- Dr Richard Halvorsen
"The vaccinations are not working, and they are dangerous.. We should be working with nature."-- Lendon Smith MD
"Just a word about vaccines. I tell all my clients not to take the Pneumovax (vaccine for pneumococcal pneumonia), and under no circumstances take the flu vaccine, just don't bother. There's no evidence that these vaccines work in people with AIDS. But there's a lot of evidence that the vaccines are very detrimental. As far as general HIV vaccines go, they're being researched to the tune of a lot of media hype, supposedly to protect us against the AIDS virus. Well, there is some disconcerting evidence and statistics that won't go away, that the AIDS virus may have been introduced into our population by means of a vaccine. And I can tell you no one is ever going to stick an "AIDS vaccine" into my body. I'd rather take my chances with the AIDS virus. At least then I know what I'm dealing with, rather than whatever virus is in the so-called vaccine."--Joan Priestley, M.D. http://www.orthomed.org/links/papers/priest.htm
"Vaccination enables the selection of populations to be decimated. It facilitates targeted genocide. It permits one to kill people of a certain race, a certain group, a certain country. And to leave others untouched. In the name of health and well-being, of course."-- Dr Lanctot MD
"My own view, based upon some years of observation and experience, is quite firm. I supported the use of the vaccine in 1951 and subsequently with very little hesitation until about 1972, and gave pertussis vaccine between 1951 and 1956 to each of my four children. I would not dream of doing so again because it has become clear to me not only that the vaccine is incompletely protective, but also that the side-effects which I thought to be temporary are in fact dangerous, unpredictably so. There is no doubt in my mind that in the UK alone some hundreds, if not thousands, of well infants have suffered irreparable brain damage needlessly and that their lives and those of their parents have been wrecked in consequence."-- Prof Gordon Stewart 1980
"If we look closely, we realize that health for all, according to the WHO, means medicalization and vaccinations for all. That is to say sickness for all."---Guylaine Lanctot, M.D.
"Delay of DPT immunization until 2 years of age in Japan has resulted in a dramatic decline in adverse side effects. In the period of 1970-1974, when DPT vaccination was begun at 3 to 5 months of age, the Japanese national compensation system paid out claims for 57 permanent severe damage vaccine cases, and 37 deaths. During the ensuing six year period 1975-1980, when DPT injections were delayed to 24 months of age, severe reactions from the vaccine were reduced to a total of eight with three deaths. This represents an 85 to 90 percent reduction in severe cases of damage and death. (Ref21)."-- Dr Obomsawin MD
"It is pathetic and ludicrous to say we ever vanquished smallpox with vaccines, when only 10% of the population was ever vaccinated." Dr Glen Dettman.
"There is no evidence that any influenza vaccine thus far developed is effective in preventing or mitigating any attack of influenza. The producers of these vaccines know that they are worthless, but they go on selling them, anyway."------Dr. J. Anthony Morris (formerly Chief Vaccine Control Officer at the FDA)
"There is a great deal of evidence to prove that immunization of children does more harm than good."---Dr Anthony Morris.
"There is insufficient evidence to support routine vaccination of healthy persons of any age." Paul Frame, M.D., Journal of Family Practice
"Many here voice a silent view that the Salk and Sabin Polio Vaccines, being made from monkey kidney tissue, has been directly responsible for the major increase in leukemia in this country." F. Klenner MD
"I always said that private interests were hidden behind official vaccination policy making. I was wrong. It is not hidden, it happens in the open. The powers concerned do not even feel the need to be secret about it. They feel so almighty they can publicize their malicious intentions in ‘official’ reports without any significant opposition to it. The vaccination lobby shamelessly takes all the children of this world as hostages to still their greed for money and power. They relentlessly abuse our compassion for the weaker and our concern about health to promote their giga-business. No matter what. No matter how many more vaccine victims will suffer death or side effects. No matter how many financial resources this strategy devours at the expense of essential social investments like housing and employment. No matter what. Shocking!"-- Kris Gaublomme MD
"It is a pretty bad habit of vaccine researchers to give several vaccines simultaneously where the effect of only one of them has to be studied and evaluated. Obviously this leads to confounding results..........for evaluation of side effects in most studies was restricted to 48 to 72 hours. Needless to say that many serious adverse effects show up long after that time span; by definition they could never be mentioned in those studies. Nevertheless most of these studies pretend to prove the safety of the vaccine."-- Kris Gaublomme MD
Everyday we ask ourselves what did we do that was perceived as so wrong that an entire government, or at least a very strong and controlling faction in our government and military, should mount a continual harassment campaign against our family? In truth, all we wanted to do was help our soldiers, and now their family members and many of our citizens, to overcome a horrific chronic illness that is diagnosable and treatable. We never intended to uncover a massive, illegal Biological Weapons development and testing program, nor was it our intent to embarrass the Defense establishment or certain sectors of the scientific community. Because of our naive faith in our government, we ultimately set ourselves up for a quest that involved betrayals from people with whom we have worked for over two decades and whose very careers and livelihoods were helped significantly by our unswerving loyalty. http://www.immed.org/reports/gulf_war_illness/criene.html
"There were several potential sources of chronic biological agents in the Persian Gulf Theater [9, 23]. First, deployed soldiers were given multiple inoculations, in some cases with experimental vaccines in unproved immunization schemes, such as vaccines that were given all at once instead of using an appropriate schedule of inoculations over months or years. Multiple vaccinations given simultaneously can result in immunosuppression and leave an individual susceptible to opportunistic infections. Some of these experimental vaccines could also have been contaminated with small amounts of slow-growing microorganisms. In fact, some of the vaccine lots to be sent to the Gulf were removed because of "microorganism contamination." Dr Nicolson http://www.immed.org/testimony/gulf_war_illness/ct1198.html
Research material was taken from multiple sources. Including written reports from Lewis Mehl-Madrona, M.D., Ph.D.
April 13, 2002
The Verdict Is Still Out on Alternative Medicine
By LINDA VILLAROSA
In the past, most hospitals and doctors steered clear of many alternative medical treatments. But in recent years, with some studies showing that as many as 43 percent of Americans have used some form of alternative medicine, medical experts are reconsidering.
In March, the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy released a report on alternative therapies calling for increased research spending, more coverage by insurance companies and more Medicare coverage of these treatments.
But medical experts remain sharply divided over alternative medicine, and the subject is one of the most touchy and contentious in health care. Though a study of physicians showed that about half believed in the efficacy of five alternative medical practices — acupuncture, chiropractic, herbal medicine, homeopathy and massage — support from the American Medical Association remains tepid at best.
In part, the A.M.A.'s policy states that "there is little evidence to confirm the safety or efficacy of most alternative therapies." (Comment: It seems that the AMA should check THEIR definition of safety and efficacy...their track record lacks considerably in both of these areas!)
Even the White House commission ended up at odds over alternative therapies. Shortly before the report was released last month, two people on the 20-member commission sent a "clarifying" letter to Tommy G. Thompson, secretary of health and human services. Among their concerns were that the commission did not "appropriately acknowledge the limitations of unproven, invalidated" alternative therapies, or examine how to limit their riskiness.
"There is a big difference between therapies that have some kind of scientific base and those that don't work at all, like coffee enemas and ozone therapy, whatever that is," said Dr. Joseph J. Fins, chief of the division of medical ethics at Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York City, one of the authors of the letter. "Many things have yet to be proven safe and effective." (COMMENT: Again, this Dr. is showing just how much he does NOT know. Ozone therapy not safe? I would beg to differ...ask me how I know. )
Studies have shown that acupuncture can help ease nausea, pain, headaches and fibromyalgia, and chiropractic can relieve acute, but not chronic, low back pain. Tai chi helps balance disorders, and massage relieves low back pain, and mind-body techniques like biofeedback and meditation can help alleviate pain and insomnia. Coming studies financed by the National Institutes of Health will look more closely at these and other alternative therapies.
But experts remain skeptical about a number of alternative treatments. Oil drips and aromatherapy have never been studied thoroughly, for example. And many experts are concerned about dietary and herbal supplements. Dr. Stephen E. Straus, director of the National Center on Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Bethesda, Md., said, "My hope is that N.I.H.-funded research findings will arm the public and practitioners so that they can make better decisions as to which practices to accept and which to reject."
We are SO excited to announce that our NEW web site is up and running! Pour yourself a cup of herbal tea, relax and take a look:
www.ghchealth.com
April 9, 2002
Test Proves Fruitless, Fueling New Debate on Cancer Screening
By GINA KOLATA
For years, it was a medical truism that the earlier cancer could be detected, the better. Most cancers would inevitably worsen if left untreated, the theory went. Spontaneous remissions were so rare as to be almost unheard of.
But last week, those assumptions were shattered, at least in the case of a childhood cancer. A screening test that looked as if it would save children from terrible deaths from a cancer of the nervous system utterly failed to fulfill its promise.
Now the story of that screening and questions about tests for adult cancers like mammography and a blood test for prostate cancer are ushering in a broader debate about cancer screening in general, with questions about what is known of the benefits and risks of tests that look for cancers in healthy people with no symptoms.
The questions are pressing, because cancer remains a leading killer. In 1998, the most recent year for which data are available, 541,519 Americans died of cancer. Men have a 43 percent chance of developing cancer in their lifetime and for women the lifetime risk is 38 percent.
And there are no easy answers. The recent mammography debates have led some experts to suggest that women and their doctors study the issues and decide for themselves, a course of action that others say is confusing.
But as the debate over mammography and over other tests, like the one for prostate cancer, burn on, the childhood cancer test is giving some experts pause.
The cancer was neuroblastoma, an attack on the nervous system that is one of the most common, and most lethal, tumors in children. Researchers in Japan had found that a urine test could find signs of the cancers long before symptoms appeared.
A large screening program started in Japan, while studies of the test began in Quebec and Germany. At first, the results looked spectacular. Many more cancers were found, and they were found early. Children underwent surgery, usually of the adrenal gland, where the tumors tend to lodge, and their cancers went away.
But to the investigators' shock, there was no decline in the number of toddlers who developed advanced cancers, and the death rates from the disease stayed unchanged.
"It was an absolutely stone cold negative outcome," said Dr. Steven Goodman, an associate professor of pediatrics and epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, who was not associated with the study. The scientists had to declare that the screening test, seemingly so promising, should be abandoned.
Their finding thrust them into the debate over a growing assortment of screening tests used to search for disease in adults and children.
In an editorial with the neuroblastoma papers in The New England Journal of Medicine last week, Dr. George Cunningham of the California Department of Health Services wrote:
"As these studies illustrate, the decision about whether or not to screen should be driven not by the availability of a laboratory screening test, but by careful analysis of outcomes, including saving the lives of the screened newborns or improving the quality of their lives."
The screening debate is far from settled.
Although he agrees with Dr. Cunningham on the need to evaluate tests, Dr. Larry Norton, a specialist on breast cancer at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and the president of the American Society for Clinical Oncology, said he still strongly believed that early diagnosis made biological sense.
The theory behind early diagnosis, Dr. Norton added, comes from years of work with animals that repeatedly shows that cancers treated early can be cured and that if they are left to grow and spread, cure becomes impossible.
"On the basis of animal models, my predisposition is to believe that early diagnosis is a good thing," Dr. Norton said.
He said he knew of no exceptions in the animal research. There is no reason, he said, to think that humans are inherently different from animals. "Early diagnosis works in animals, and basically mammals are mammals," Dr. Norton added.
The question, he said, is whether the screening tests are detecting cancers. "Early diagnosis makes sense if you are diagnosing a true cancer," he added.
In neuroblastoma, he said, the problem was that the test was not finding true cancers. It was finding tumors that did not need to be treated and was missing those that were deadly.
To everyone's surprise, it turned out that the supposedly rare spontaneous regressions were actually the most common form of neuroblastoma tumors. No one had noticed them before because, without the screening test, very few of those tumors had ever been detected.
The Nature of Cancer
Lazy Cells Upset Traditional Ideas
Dr. William Woods, a neuroblastoma expert at the Aflac Cancer Center of Emory University in Atlanta, cited a powerful lesson: "The theory that one can pick up all cancers early and have the outcome good is not correct," he said. "It certainly is not correct for neuroblastoma."
But some are asking whether the neuroblastoma case is the exception or the rule. That is a conundrum that hinges on an emerging and startling view of the very nature of cancer.
Over the last few years, investigators have found more and more hints that cancer is not what they always thought it was. The traditional view was that cancerous cells looked aberrant under a microscope, grew in an uncontrolled fashion and, in most cases, killed.
Now, though, researchers understand that some cancers are indolent — so indolent, in fact, that they will never grow large enough in the patient's lifetime to cause medical problems. Still others look like cancers under the microscope and have growth patterns in the lab that are typical of deadly tumors but can stop growing on their own and revert to normal tissue.
At the same time, there are more screening tests, and they are increasingly sensitive, finding cancers at earlier stages. That leaves doctors with a problem. The earlier they detect cells that look cancerous, the less certain they can be of how dangerous they are.
"The whole issue of diagnosis is based on visual criteria," said Dr. Evan R. Farmer, a dermatologist, skin pathologist and the dean of Eastern Virginia Medical School. "But with cancer, you are talking about what happens biologically. If it metastasizes and kills the patient, then you know it's cancer. If it doesn't metastasize, then you don't know if it is or isn't cancer.
"Maybe you didn't wait long enough or maybe you treated it successfully or maybe it had the capacity to metastasize but you removed it or maybe it looked like cancer and you called it cancer. But in fact it didn't have the ability to metastasize."
Medical experts say they are agonizing over the screening questions.
"This is both an intellectual and an emotional debate," said Dr. Isra Levy, a cancer specialist at the Canadian Medical Association, who participated in the study of neuroblastoma screening. "The issues are all legitimate issues, and they are very, very difficult. We are dealing in a world where certainty is desirable, but it isn't there."
Even the names given to some tumors hint at their ambiguous nature. There are "incidentalomas," adrenal gland tumors of unknown significance that began turning up in increasing numbers when people had C.T. scans or M.R.I.'s for other conditions. Medical specialists do not know whether they should be removed or left alone, but they do know that lethal adrenal cancers are far too rare for many of those tiny tumors to be dangerous.
In cervical cancer, the most common abnormality found with Pap tests is called "atypical squamous cells of unknown significance."
"The name tells you how much we know about its natural history," Dr. Barnett Kramer, director of the Office of Disease Prevention at the National Institutes of Health, said. The condition's significance is unclear, but to be safe, doctors remove the abnormal cells.
Experts may not even agree about whether a cell sample looks abnormal, as Dr. Farmer learned a few years ago. He and his colleagues asked expert pathologists to submit what they considered classic slides of skin tumors that were either malignant or not, examples that these specialists thought were so clear that they could be used in a textbook. Dr. Farmer and his team sent the slides of cells from 37 patients to eight leading pathologists. Those experts had agreed to decide whether the tumors were cancerous or normal or whether the category was unclear.
They looked for a disordered growth pattern in the tumor tissue. They examined the individual cells, looking for irregular shapes and enlarged nuclei. In just 11 of the 37 tumors did all the experts come to the same conclusion about what they were seeing. (COMMENT: I don’t know about you, but this is NOT very comforting news to me. Literally, the pathologist is deciding who has cancer and who does not and now the news is that even THEY CANNOT AGREE. I am thinking of all the people who very well may NOT have had cancer and yet have gone through the physical, financial and emotional trauma of a cancer diagnosis! Actually, we have suspected that this might be going on in the cancer industry...can we recognize the stench of greed?)
The Skewed Screenings
'Overdiagnosis': A Growing Problem
Neuroblastoma is the sole cancer in which such clear evidence exists that a screening test did harm without doing good. But some experts say there is reason to believe that other cancer screening tests produce similar effects, but perhaps not as pronounced.
Those experts call the problem overdiagnosis, or finding tumors that are not dangerous but that cannot be distinguished from ones that may become lethal. Those experts see signs of over diagnosis in prostate cancer, where men 50 and older are urged to have a blood test known as the P.S.A. (or prostate specific antigen); in melanoma screening, which looks for the malignant skin cancer; and in lung cancer screening, with a new test, the spiral C.T.
Over diagnosis may also be occurring with screening for breast, cervical and ovarian cancers.
"Over diagnosis exists in virtually every cancer," said Dr. Otis Brawley, a professor of medical oncology and epidemiology at the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University in Atlanta.
Unless it can be proved that a screening test reduces the death rate of a cancer, researchers like Dr. Brawley, Dr. Kramer and others say, it may be better to forgo it and wait for symptoms than to have a test. "It's the iceberg issue," Dr. Kramer said. "If you dip below the waterline to lesions you've never seen before, you can't assume that because they look like tumors we've seen before that they will have the same natural history." (COMMENT: Actually what is being said here is that IF they find cancer too early, they do NOT know how to treat it because all they are allowed to do is drug, cut or burn...if there is no tumor then they have no FDA approved method of dealing with it. There is an extremely sensitive test available now, the AMAS, that can detect cancer cells 16 months IN ADVANCE of the normal tumor marker tests. Why do you think doctors don’t want to use this test? Send me your thoughts Loretta@globalhealingcenter.com and we will discuss this in next month’s newsletter.)
Dr. Kramer cites data from Japan on a new test to find early lung cancers. The test, spiral C.T. scanning, is finding similar numbers of cancers in people who never smoked as in smokers. Yet 10 times as many smokers die from lung cancer. That, Dr. Kramer said, is a hint that the new test, like the older ones, is finding cancers that are not dangerous.
Prostate cancer screening also raises over diagnosis questions, some researchers say. With the widespread use of the P.S.A. test, the incidence soared, from 143.3 cases per 100,000 in 1990, hitting a peak at 195.6 in 1992 and declining to 155.3 per 100,000 in 1998. By 1998, so many men had already been tested that fewer new cancers were being found. But the death rate from prostate cancer, which fell from 38.6 per 100,000 in 1990 to 32.3 per 100,000 in 1998, did not fall nearly so fast and at least part of the decline is due to improved treatment.
"I'm very very worried," Dr. Brawley said.
Some experts, like Dr. Ian M. Thompson Jr., a urologist at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, say that although some over diagnosis of prostate cancer undoubtedly occurs the test is doing what it is supposed to do, finding cancers early and saving lives. He is heartened by the fact that the death rate is lower and says he sees more men with cancer that can be treated.
Dr. Thompson has the P.S.A. test himself.
Dr. Eric J. Feuer, a statistician at the National Cancer Institute, cautioned that it could be difficult to interpret national cancer data because many factors influenced the figures. In breast cancer, the incidence has risen consistently and steadily, independent of mammography, about 1 percent a year.
In fact, Dr. Feuer said, the increase apparently began in the 1940's, long before mammography was introduced. But it complicates attempts to interpret trends in incidence rates.
Attempts to interpret mortality rates are complicated by the fact that cancer treatment has been changing and improving over the years.
Dr. Norton said it would be a mistake to write off cancer screening in general because of fears of over diagnosis. For now, he said, early diagnosis may be the only way to cure some cancers.
Dr. Norton said that with mammography, at least, the test was finding tumors so early that the combination of early diagnosis and improved treatment had led to a 10 percent drop in the death rate since the early 90's.
"The package of screening and treatment is having an impact on mortality," he said. While over diagnosis may occur, Dr. Norton said, it may be balanced by better outcomes for women whose cancers are found at a stage when the treatment is more effective and less disfiguring and debilitating.
The Evaluations
Should Every Test Be Questioned?
Mammography, which is being subjected to vigorous debate, is one of the only screening tests that has been evaluated in clinical trials.
The debate hinges on the quality of the studies that show regular screening mammograms reduce the death rate from breast cancer. Some critics say that the benefit is small, that it takes tens of thousands of women being screened for years to find a savings of a few lives and that with such a small benefit uncertainties about the study's data make them question whether the results are solid. Other experts say the studies show that mammograms can prevent deaths from breast cancer.
But even some who defend the mammography trials say the screening questions have to be raised anew with each test.
"You want to apply the question to every cancer screen," said Dr. Robert A. Smith, director of the division of cancer screening at the American Cancer Society. "You want to be sure that whatever promise it appears early diagnosis holds, you haven't been completely blindsided."
Dr. David Freedman, a statistician at the University of California at Berkeley, said he was also satisfied that the benefits of mammography were demonstrated, but agreed that every screening test had to be evaluated. "You cannot say a priori by pure reasoning that screening helps for other diseases," Dr. Freedman said.
Dr. Bradley Efron, a professor of statistics and health research and policy at Stanford, faults experts who have oversimplified the case.
"The people who say, `We're saving lives,' are undoubtedly right," Dr. Efron said. "They probably are saving lives. But the question is, What's the cost? We could save even more lives if all men had their prostates removed at age 50 and if all women had their breasts removed at age 50."
If the number of lives saved is minuscule compared with the number of people who are harmed by over diagnosis, by unnecessary treatments, by treatments that could have been delayed with no ill effects, then the value of the test has to be in question, he said.
"It's quite a sophisticated point," Dr. Efron said. "I don't think you can blame the public. I blame the medical researchers who say, 'We're saving lives.' "
The questions are pressing because screening is different from any other medical program, said Dr. Goodman of Johns Hopkins. "We bring it to healthy people, and those who test positive become sick people, the subjects of medical intervention," he explained. "We need to be awfully careful."
DIGITAL DEVIL
Matthew Cossolotto, head of public relations for Applied Digital Solutions - manufacturer and marketer of the controversial implantable chips VeriChip and Digital Angel - has been emailing WND this week asking repeatedly that we make it clear that the sophisticated "Digital Angel" electronic tracking device is currently marketed only in a "wearable" version (in a wristwatch).
Wearers of Digital Angel can be tracked anywhere in the world via global position system satellites. (Meanwhile, the grain-of-rice-sized VeriChip -- an indentification biochip -- is currently being implanted in humans, and was just approved this week by the FDA.)
Here's the rest of the story, and a prediction: After WND widely publicized the Digital Angel early on -- at a time when the company openly crowed about the virtues of widespread human implantation -- criticism of the Big Brother implications of universal tracking led the company to hastily throw implantation out the back window. The company deleted implantation from its website and talked as if it had never existed.
For now, therefore, Digital Angel is sold only in a wearable form. But make no mistake; the company is chomping at the bit to go the implantation route.
Here's a prediction: Watch for Applied Digital Solutions to claim that foreign leaders and diplomats are begging for an implantable version of Digital Angel to protect themselves and their families in kidnap-rich zones like South America. After all, if you're kidnapped and wearing an external Digital Angel watch, the watch will be gone in no time flat. So, the company will say, we've got to produce an implantable version; our customers demand it.
Early Puberty Linked To Shampoos – from New Scientist
Unbeknown to many parents, a few hair products - especially some marketed to black people - contain small amounts of hormones that could cause premature sexual development in girls.
The evidence that hair products containing oestrogens cause premature puberty is largely circumstantial, and the case is still unproven. But Ella Toombs, acting director for the Office of Cosmetics and Colors at the US Food and Drug Administration, told New Scientist: "No amount [of oestrogen] is considered safe and can be included in an over-the-counter product."
Under FDA regulations, over-the-counter products containing hormones are drugs, and thus require specific approval. However, there appears to be a grey area regarding products marketed before 1994. The FDA failed to respond to a request to clarify the position. At least five companies are still making hormone-containing hair products, a source within the industry - who preferred not to be named - told New Scientist.
Throughout the West, girls are tending to reach puberty earlier. This has been blamed on everything from improved diet to environmental contaminants. But African-American girls are developing even earlier than their white counterparts. About half of black girls in the US begin developing breasts or pubic hair by age eight, compared with just 15 per cent of white girls, one study has found. In Africa, girls enter puberty much later, regardless of their socioeconomic status.
"Placenta, hormones or estrogen"
That big discrepancy may be explained, at least in part, by the more frequent use of hormone-containing hair products among African Americans, says Chandra Tiwary, former chief of paediatric endocrinology at Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas. "I believe that the frequency of sexual precocity can be reduced simply if children do not use those hair products," he says.
The products are sold as shampoos or treatments to deep-condition dry, brittle hair. The labels usually state that they contain placenta, hormones or "estrogen", although not all products that make such claims contain active hormones. While New Scientist's inquiries suggest such products are no longer sold in Europe, many are still available worldwide over the Internet.
Western Europe, Not the US, Ranks as World's Healthiest Region
Western Europe is the healthiest region in the world, new rankings of health systems show. But the survey, which places the US and UK relatively low, suggests that spending a lot of money is not enough to guarantee high standards of health.
The survey of the health status of people in 175 countries, released on Monday, ranked nine Western European countries in its top 10, with Belgium heading the list followed by Iceland, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, Italy and Norway.
Australia is the highest placed non-Western European country in the list, in joint tenth place with Germany and Denmark. The United States was ranked 17th, just behind Israel, while the UK came in 23rd place, after Greece.
The index measured the health status of individuals by looking at the amount each country spent on its people's health and at health indicators including life expectancy, infant immunization rates and death rates of mothers and babies. It was developed by World Markets Research Center, a company that analyses businesses.
But devoting a large proportion of gross domestic product (GDP) to healthcare does not guarantee a nation's health, according to the researchers.
"The main reason for this is that they tend to adopt a 'we can buy the cure' attitude, as opposed to concentrating on preventing the ailment in the first instance. The prime example of this is the US, where the vast amounts of cash injected into the latest drug developments and pharmaceutical technology fail to be reflected in the overall health of the nation.
The US spends 13.1% of its GDP -- or $4,180 annually per capita -- on health, compared to Belgium's 8.9% ($2,172), the figures show. The UK's National Health Service spends 7% of GDP, or $1,532 per capita, on health.
Reuters London March 25, 2002
The US currently spends about 1.5 trillion dollars for healthcare, and the projections are that it will double in less than ten years or nearly $5,000 for every man woman and child in the US . Retail pharmacies filled 3 billion prescriptions in 2000. What do we get for all this money and drugs use? We wind up 17th in health in the world. Dr. J. Mercola
Mind Over Medicine
It has long been suspected that your head could help your health. Now the scientists agree
Phew. In a Sydney clinic, a 30-year-old woman has just heard the good news - surgery has successfully wiped out the abnormal cells that a Pap test detected in her cervix. And there's some not-so-good news, too. The wart virus that causes these potentially cancerous cells doesn't bow out so easily. It stays in the body for good, potentially generating more dodgy cells later on. But the real point of this story is what the doctor recommends to help keep the virus quiet - not drugs, but yoga. Stress, he explains, is one of the factors that inflames the virus, and yoga can ease stress.
Not so long ago the idea that something going on in your head could seriously affect your bowels or your bones had about as much medical credibility as crystal therapy.
But mind-body medicine is now a respected area of research, with growing evidence to suggest that the way we think has a real impact on health: children in burns units who treat their injuries as no big deal and don't dwell too deeply on the implications of their burns recover faster than others; a study of people with melanoma at the University of Sydney and Sydney melanoma unit found that the optimists who thought their treatment would cure them or give them an extra year of life lived twice as long as those who believed they only had a few months to live; and when Canadian researchers trialled a new drug to help boost dopamine production in Parkinson's patients, the brains of those given a placebo released as much dopamine as those given the new drug.
One reason doctors take the effects of our thoughts on health more seriously is that science now has the technology to demystify stress and explain its impact on the body in medical terms. One effect is a rush of the hormone cortisol, which can suppress the immune system, sabotaging your ability to fight infection. It helps explain why a cold sore erupts on your lip the day before a job interview, or why you develop flu when you're frazzled. One risk factor for thinning bones (and therefore osteoporosis) is prolonged use of medication containing cortisone, which has a similar effect to cortisol. Research from Melbourne's Swinburne University of Technology also suggests that long-term stress may increase the risk of bowel cancer.
"Short bursts of stress aren't a big problem," explains Dr Vicki Kotsirilos, a Melbourne GP and member of the Australasian Integrative Medicine Association. "It's the physiological toll caused by chronic stress that does so much harm." She adds that diabetes - now so common in industrialized countries it's almost an epidemic - happens when your body can no longer control your blood sugar levels properly, and one effect of stress, says Kotsirilos, is to destabilize blood sugar.
As health practitioners learn more about the mind's role in causing illness, they're also acknowledging its part in the healing process. Around 80 per cent of GPs are now referring patients to alternative therapies, such as hypnotherapy and meditation. At the Royal Hospital for Women in Randwick, Sydney, a program to see if meditation can improve attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) is looking good. Of 16 children with ADHD, four are now off their medication.
At the Pain Management Centre at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney, patients with back problems and arthritis are using a form of Buddhist meditation to manage their chronic pain. When clinical psychologist Lynne Bousfield first introduced the technique 10 years ago, she admits she was so wary of being labeled New Age; she called it "relaxation" instead. It works, she explains, not by banishing pain, but by making people more aware that their thinking exacerbates the experience of pain.
"Fear, anxiety and depression make pain worse," she explains. "But meditation helps people learn to cope better, and often deal with pain without drugs."
What we really want to hear, of course, is that we can think cancer away. But although some research suggests optimism can increase survival (and that depression can shorten it), many experts say - regretfully - that the evidence is still inconsistent. So why did the optimistic melanoma patients in the University of Sydney's study survive longer? Professor Stewart Dunn of the Royal North Shore Hospital's department of psychological medicine wishes he knew.
"One possible explanation is that because patients feel better, they look after aspects of their life that promote health," he says. "They might exercise, follow a healthier diet, or have extra treatments, for instance. Or is it because something else intervenes and impacts on their immune system? At this stage we just don't know. Although a lot of studies show a link between stress and immunity and disease outcome, with cancer the link isn't so clear."
"As for the idea that bottling up your feelings makes you cancer-prone, the research isn't convincing," says Sarah Edelman of the health psychology unit at the University of Technology, Sydney.
"It was a theory in the 1980s when research suggested there was a 'cancer personality', but studies since then have been inconsistent," Edelman says. Without more solid evidence, she thinks it's dangerous ground - people may blame their disease on themselves or someone else, and end up feeling worse.
"But although it's hard to be conclusive about the role of the mind in developing or surviving cancer, the evidence is much stronger for heart disease," she adds.
"There's very clear evidence that depression can contribute to heart disease," Edelman says. "It may not rate as highly as smoking and obesity, but it's up there as a major risk factor, and there's strong evidence that anger and hostility are risk factors, too."
The message from all this is that when it comes to staying healthy, cleaning up your head is almost as important as cleaning out your arteries. It's not that we haven't been urged to de-stress and think positive before - what's new is there's a strong scientific basis for doing it.
Five ways to think yourself healthy
* Write off your anger "Vent your feelings on paper," suggests Professor Avni Sali of the Graduate School of Integrative Medicine at Swinburne University. "But throw the paper away as soon as you've written it."
* Put your mind into neutral "The list of health benefits chalked up to meditation is impressive, but it doesn't grab everyone," says Dr Vicki Kotsirilos. Good alternatives are Tai Chi, Qigong, yoga, walking or jogging.
* Laughter releases endorphins (the body's natural pain-killers) and may boost your immune system, too.
* If you're depressed, get help Depression is a major factor in poor health. Meditating when you recover from depression can prevent a relapse.
* Make more friends Loneliness ups the risk of mental illness, heart disease, high blood pressure and arthritis.
The power of love
* Dr Vicki Kotsirilos recalls a female patient who complained of fatigue, joint pain and digestion problems. She was in a bad relationship and unhappy. "Blood tests showed a list of things that were out of kilter, including her liver function, immunity and thyroid gland. I prescribed thyroid medication and a multivitamin. She improved a bit at first, but two months later there was quite a sudden improvement. There was only one thing that had changed in her life: she'd fallen in love."
Can faith heal?
* Churchgoers have healthier blood pressure readings and half the risk of dying from coronary heart disease than non-churchgoers. Research has found many positive links between religion and good health, but the connection is not clear. Perhaps churchgoers live more sober lives, or it may be because they have more social support. Another theory is that prayer calms the mind in a similar way to meditation.
Chicken a la Tumor
Commentary
By Nicholas Regush
Meat lovers rejoice! Coming soon to your local restaurant or frozen food section in your supermarket may be menu selections such as "Arthritic Chicken" "Abscess Beef," and "Pork Tumor Casserole."
Home chefs can also strut their stuff for eager guests by preparing inspired dishes such as "Turkey au Pus," or "Glandular Swellings Surprise."
Not since the widespread culinary embrace of thymus meat — "sweetbreads" — as being synonymous with "savoir-faire" has there been such gastronomic excitement.
USDA Approved Diseased Meat?
Let us therefore give thanks to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), our benefactor. The agency is toying around with the notion that meat from diseased animals be approved for daily consumption. Animal carcasses with tumors, sores and arthritis, and plagued with diseases caused by intestinal worms, may henceforth pass the "wholesome food" test.
Why are we so lucky? Because a lot of diseased meat is really only an aesthetic problem, opines the USDA. It’s perfectly safe. Diseased animal meat contains "defects that rarely or never present a direct public health risk," agency scientists allege.
This rather obvious opportunity to become hyper-creative in the kitchen comes at a time when Americans are reeling from ever increasing reports of food poisoning. Last year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, contaminated food caused at least 76 million cases of gastrointestinal illness. More than 300,000 people were hospitalized. About 5,000 died.
For example, as many as 40,000 people become ill each year from E. coli 0157:H7 bacteria alone. Outbreaks of infection are often linked to meat.
No wonder there have been signs that some Americans (egged on by food purists, those revolutionary pens of nasty vegetarians and gaggles of animal rightists) are casting more of a jaundiced eye on burgers and breasts of chicken.
Part of a Productivity, Safety Effort
But now the USDA’s good news of an era of safe and wholesome diseased meat will surely encourage new trust in government protection.
The impetus for this is a push to improve productivity in the meat and poultry processing industry while maintaining safety of the product. Currently 7,000 inspectors handle 88 billion pounds of meat each year; each inspector individually tries to examine each slab of beef and plucky chicken.
To speed up the process, the USDA is testing having industry representatives at plants sort out the choice vs. the possibly diseased meat with a roving inspector nearby, but not necessarily performing an individualized inspection. Since not every animal will be carefully scrutinized by an inspector, carcasses with tumors or sores could ultimately become the ingredients for our kebobs and barbecues.
New Inspection Procedures
A pilot project testing the mobile inspector concept began at 30 poultry and swine plants last fall. The big idea here is that federally monitoring a meat plant’s self-monitoring will lead to more scrutiny of possible food contamination.
The USDA believes this new system at test sites is already cutting down on fecal contamination of poultry which, if left unchecked, can result in more risk of salmonella infection.
But critics — which include members of the Senate Agriculture Committee and consumer groups such as Public Citizen and the Government Accountability Project — are not at all impressed by claims that the new inspection system will lead to better overall safety of the meat supply. Quite the reverse. The two consumer groups argue that because under the new system federal inspectors will actually examine only a tiny sampling of animal carcasses, bad meat will likely steadily flow into the market.
Who can possibly trust plant employees to act responsibly, without fear of plant reprisals? Isn’t this like giving the fox the key to the chicken coop?
Dangers Unknown
And given that so little is known about which animal diseases can be transmitted to humans, bad meat may spell bad health over the long term.
Ah humbug! What a bunch of spoiled sports!
It’s not clear how long it might take for the USDA (should they have the intestinal fortitude) to introduce these inspection procedures to the rest of the processing industry. In the meantime, I am working on creating the ultimate dish — one loaded with every safe animal disease you can imagine.
I shall call it "Putrifica Exotica."
My Attitude
I Promise Myself—To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear and too happy to permit the pressure of trouble.
Gardening = Organic Produce = Live Enzymes = Healthy Body!
By: Loretta Lanphier, C.C.N.
One of the comments that I often hear on the phone or at our seminars is "Organic produce is just too expensive...I can’t afford to eat healthy!" Well, to be quite honest, when I first started on my path to health I probably could have said the same thing and I know I was "thinking" it. Some how coming out of the health food store with 3 bags of groceries at the cost of $175 did not please me.
A very good answer to this dilemma is to learn how to plant a garden. One of the best books that I have found, especially for people who do not have much room, is "Square Foot Gardening" by Mel Bartholomew. It can be adapted to fit all kinds of gardening situations. Whether you want to grow all your own food or just enough for a few salads each day, whether you live alone or have a large family, whether you live in the city or the country, with a lot of land or a little, you will be able to adapt the principles of square foot gardening to meet your needs. He assumes that the reader does not know much about gardening...which in the beginning was exactly what I needed.
Another recommendation is "container gardening." Some of the best tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, etc. that I have tasted have come from container gardening. Most of us have forgotten what a "fresh" homegrown tomato tastes like...we are too used to the "cardboard", GMO variety that comes from the grocery store...absolutely tasteless and probably nutritionally worthless. Please remember that when container gardening, watering frequently is extremely important…you must be diligent in this area. Also, try to get organic seeds (non-GMO)...look for these at your local health food store or by mail order catalogue. What about garden pests?…a mixture of garlic, mineral oil and soap...remember that this will also affect the "beneficial" bugs so be selective as to where you spray. Fungus?...milk (at last something that milk is actually good for)...mix 1 part milk to 9 parts water and apply every 6 days for 3 applications.
I just am not able to say enough good about fresh produce! I love a good raw salad with at least 5 or 6 colorful veggies and for breakfast each morning several pieces of cold, juicy fruit satisfy me greatly. This is where we get the all-important enzymes that our body needs to work properly. We are a living organism and therefore we need "live" food to keep our body healthy. Unfortunately, even some of our organic produce is lacking because of growing conditions and soil depletion. Because of this I also supplement with a great enzyme formula and encourage everyone to do the same. ( www.ghchealth.com)
Not sure "how" to take the first step? Get the book, study it and then just do it! This is not rocket science. Before you know it you will have an abundance of fresh produce and your body will thank you for providing all these live enzymes for nourishment. Sometimes we just have to put in a little more effort to get the best...because I KNOW, from experience, the end results of how important eating healthy is, I am willing to work a little harder...hope you are, too!
Thanks for reading this "longer than normal" newsletter! We had so much info to share with you this month and we always want to send you as much cutting-edge, up-to-date education as possible. As always we welcome your questions and comments.
I hope all of you are having a wonderful Spring…take some extra time to get outdoors for some fresh air, sunshine and to clear the mind. Take Care & Be Well, Loretta
SEMINAR SCHEDULE:
"The Cause, Prevention & Elimination of Degenerative Disease"
An Evening
with
Dr. Edward F. Group III, D.C., Ph.D
April 18, 2002 (Thursday: 7:30 – 9:30 p.m.)
CenterPoint
1920 Hollister Road
Houston, TX 77080 713-476-0015 (reserve your seat early as seating is limited)
May 2, 2002 & May 30, 2002 (Thursday: 7:30 – 9:30 p.m.)
CenterPoint
1920 Hollister Road
Houston, TX 77080 713-476-0015 (reserve your seat early as seating is limited)
For those of you in the Houston area, we personally invite you to attend these up-coming seminars. Please come by and introduce yourself, we would love to meet you!
PLEASE PASS THIS NEWSLETTER ON TO OTHER POTENTIAL SUBSCRIBERS.
Editor: Dr. Edward F. Group, III, D.C., Ph.D
Assistant Editor: Loretta Lanphier, C.C.N.
Published monthly by: Global Healing Center
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