Opinion by Consumer Advocate Tim Bolen Sunday, February 20th, 2005

I get a lot of e-mails, phone calls, and personal requests to "get involved" in the "Codex" problem. Until today, you haven't heard anything from me on the subject. Why? Because, simply, I haven't yet figured out exactly what's happening with the whole thing. I, myself, have been asking questions of my contacts all over the world. I have a lot of contacts.

From my research, and it has only begun, and the research and observations of others whose opinions I respect, I've reached some tentative conclusions and, using the scientific method, have come up with a working hypothesis, and some possibilities for solution. I'm going to share my thinking, and observations, with you.

(1) The "Codex" issue is NOT about stopping supplements worldwide. It is about Big Pharma TAKING OVER, and completely controlling the supplement industry.

(2) The "Codex" issue is NOT a "by itself" issue. It is simply a symptom, and a manifestation, of a much larger problem. What's happening on Planet Earth is that multinational corporations, now, are so large that they, in their daily business dealings, are much larger, and certainly more powerful than MOST of Earth's nations. Those multinational corporations have set up the World Trade Organization (WTO) as the new world government, completely under their control.

(3) The multinational corporations, through the WTO, have set up the situation where THEY are challenging both the idea of DEMOCRACY (people governing themselves) and the power of governments to control world policy.

(4) The multinational corporations, through the WTO, have set up the situation where THEY are intentionally attempting to destroy the North American economy - and that of ALL of the United States' historical allies.

(5) Big Pharma, knowing it is "going down," because of its murderous avariciousness, is attempting to move its PEOPLE into new positions. One of those places is "the supplement industry.."

(6) Big Pharma, knowing it is "going down," is funding its next attempt at world domination (yes, that's what this is about) in the United States - with its DRUG PRICING SCHEMES, and its control, through huge advertising budgets, of the US media.

US citizens pay five times what everyone else pays for drugs - for no good reason. Big Pharma is doing this, I believe, to destroy American Industry's ability to compete in a world market. What Makes Me Think This Way? I don't believe in coincidence.

I met with the Alliance for Natural Health's (ANH) Executive Director Robert Verkerk a few months ago. ANH, as you probably already know, is leading the legal battle, in Europe, over the Codex issues. They are doing a very good job.

I am, in my business life, a war oriented Crisis Management Consultant. So, one of the first questions I ask of my clients, or prospective clients, is "who is behind this attack on you?" I want very specific answers - for if I take on a project - "the opposition's" Command Post is going to get (figuratively speaking) bombed into dust particles IMMEDIATELY - just to level the playing field.

So I asked Robert VerKerk about Codex. I asked my usual question "who is behind this attack on you?" Simply, I want to know, who exactly is "the opposition." Who, exactly, is setting up, and running, the attack on supplements worldwide?

Robert's answer was one word... "Merck." "Merck?" As in the same "Merck" that heinously murdered 55,000+ Americans with its deadly Vioxx? As in the same "Merck" that heinously spent 500 million dollars with American network television, funneled through its New York ad agency (quackbusters?), AFTER it knew how deadly its product was?

Yes. The very same "Merck."

"Merck," according to VerKerk, controls the manufacturing and distribution of the base ingredients OF THE ONLY SUPPLEMENTS THAT WILL BE AVAILABLE in Europe - and possibly North America.

See why "I don't believe in coincidence?"

So - What Do We Do About This?

(1) Understanding a problem is halfway to solution...

(2) We support the Alliance for Natural Health's (ANH)'s legal campaign.

(3) We target Big Pharma's money stream right here in the US (we are already doing this)

(4) We need to STOP ALL advertising of drugs - period. We need to control our own media - not allow Big Pharma to call the shots.

(5) We must arrest Merck executives in the US, seize their personal property, and stick them in Guantanamo Bay until we're ready to put them on trial...

Think "Merck"... But "Merck" is not alone. Think "Big Pharma."

This is battle for World Domination - period. Either "we the people" run our governments, AND DECIDE WORLD POLICY, or big multinational corporations will - through the WTO. Choose.

by Dr. Edward F. Group III

Many people are under the impression that they only need to have one bowel movement a week or less. Bowel disease, constipation, colon cancer, and stomach pain are all disorders that are leading to what I call the “Silent Killer in America.” Colon health and colon problems are the most over-looked health problems in today’s society. Due to the poor diet in America, 200 million people suffer from constipation and do not have the required two to four bowel movements daily. The average person, by the time they are 30 years old, in America, has between 10 to 15 pounds of hard compacted fecal matter in their bowel.

The following test is extremely useful in determining if you need to cleanse your digestive tract. For more information about Oxy-Powder go to: www.oxypowder.com

Do you run out of energy in the afternoon?
Do you suffer from occasional headaches?
Are you having less than 2-4 bowel movements daily?
Do you have problems concentrating from time to time?
Do you experience gas or bloating 1 or more times weekly?
Is it hard for you to stay in a good mood?
Do you get irritable from time to time?
Do you have insomnia or difficulty getting a good nights rest?
Do you have muscle aches, low back pain or joint pain?
Do you eat meat, sugar, fried foods and carbohydrates?
Do you drink less than ½ gallon of purified water daily?
Do you have problems controlling your weight?
Do you exercise less than 3x weekly?
Do you suffer from allergies or sinus problems?
Do you have bad breath or body odor?
Are you unhappy with your current health?
Are you currently suffering from any health problems?
Do you have hemorrhoids?
Is your skin broken out or blemished in any way?
Do you have frequent alternating bouts with constipation and diarrhea?

Scoring yourself:
Count your YES answers and see below.
0-2 - Great! Oxy-Powder™ will help you maintain this health.
3-5 - You would definitely benefit from taking Oxy-Powder™
6 or more – Oxy-Powder™ is for you!!

According to medical research, the questions you answered above refer to symptoms of constipation and bowel disease. If you've answered yes on any of them, Oxy-Powder may be beneficial to you.

by Amy Norton

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - An herb long used in traditional Indian medicine appears to control the rise in blood sugar that follows a meal -- suggesting, researchers say, that it could help treat or even prevent type 2 diabetes.

Their study of 39 adults without diabetes found that a beverage made from the herb, known as Salacia oblonga, stemmed participants' normal post-meal rise in blood sugar. There was a similar reduction in blood levels of insulin, which helps shuttle sugar from the blood and into cells to be used for energy.

The herb, according to the study authors, seems to work similarly to oral diabetes drugs known as alpha-glucosidase inhibitors, which impede the body's absorption of carbohydrates.

The study, which was funded by Columbus-based Abbott Laboratories, is published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

The next step is to test S. oblonga's ability to slow post-meal sugar absorption in people with diabetes, study co-author Dr. Steven R. Hertzler told Reuters Health. "We still want to see what this does in people with type 2 diabetes," said Hertzler, an assistant professor of nutrition at Ohio State University in Columbus.

Though S. oblonga has a long tradition of use in Indian ayurvedic medicine, few studies have looked at the herb's effects in humans, Hertzler noted. What research has been done has been conducted largely in Japan, where S. oblonga has been sold as a food supplement for several years.

The plant grows in limited regions of India and Sri Lanka, and it is not yet well known in the U.S., according to Hertzler and his colleagues. For their study, the researchers had 39 healthy adults drink four different liquid meals on four separate days. Three of the beverages had varying doses of S. oblonga, along with generous portions of protein, carbohydrates, fat and fiber; the fourth beverage did not contain the herb. The researchers found that the drink with the largest S. oblonga dose -- 1,000 milligrams -- cut the participants' post-meal blood sugar rise by about one-quarter compared with sugar levels after the herb-free drink. An even larger decline was seen in insulin levels.

Good blood sugar control is vital in diabetes because it reduces the risk of long-term complications such as kidney dysfunction, heart disease, vision loss and nerve damage.

The hope, according to Hertzler, is that S. oblonga can help diabetics maintain healthy blood sugar levels over time, and thereby help prevent complications. He and his colleagues are about to begin a clinical trial that will look at how the herb affects post-meal blood sugar and insulin levels in people with type 2 diabetes.

Future studies will have to investigate whether there's a long-range benefit, Hertzler said.

It's also possible, he noted, that S. oblonga could prove useful in preventing type 2 diabetes. The disease arises when the body becomes resistant to the activity of insulin, allowing blood sugar levels to soar. Maintaining normal blood sugar and insulin levels through diet, exercise and weight control cuts the risk of developing the disease. So there's the potential, Hertzler said, for S. oblonga to help prevent diabetes in people at high risk, due to factors like family history or obesity.

What's attractive about the herbal extract, he said, is that it can be incorporated into a food or beverage, such as tea, which could help people stick with it. What's not so attractive is the gas and cramping the herb can cause, owing to its effects on carbohydrate absorption.

In this study, the highest S. oblonga dose caused more bouts of gas and stomach distension. However, the same types of problems occur with standard alpha-glucosidase inhibitors, Hertzler said, adding that it's possible that any such side effects would dissipate in a person who used the herb regularly.

SOURCE: Journal of the American Dietetic Association, January 2005.

ImmuneSupport.com

The Institute of Medicine brought experts together recently to explore the question of whether the RDA or recommended daily allowance, of vitamin D has been set too low.

Studies have shown that vitamin D deficiency is common in the U.S. Because the typical symptoms are aching bones and muscle discomfort, vitamin D deficiency is often misdiagnosed as fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome, according to Michael F. Holick, MD, PhD, of the Boston University School of Medicine. Dr. Holick has conducted a review of all vitamin D studies, which was published in the December 2004 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Vitamin D has become the vitamin of the moment, possibly because researchers in this field want to raise the RDA again. And Dr. Holick's review, which was funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, certainly supports the move.

For most Americans, sunlight provides the lion's share of our vitamin D requirements because we eat few foods that naturally contain vitamin D, such as cod liver oil and oily fish (salmon, sardines, and mackerel). But many Americans do not meet the minimum requirement of sun exposure. What's more, vitamin D deficiency is more pronounced among people living at higher latitudes, such as the New England States, especially in winter.

Dr. Holick and colleagues conducted a 2002 study at the Boston Medical Center, which found that, by the end of the winter, 32% of students and doctors, aged 18 to 29 years, were vitamin D deficient. Winter isn't the only problem because, year-round, many people spend a lot of time indoors or slather themselves with sunscreen when they do go outside. So it was not too surprising that another study conducted in Boston found a high degree of D deficiency in white (30%), Hispanic (42%) and black (84%) elderly people at the end of August. Another study found that 38% of nursing home residents were vitamin D deficient.

Much of the sun avoidance and excessive sunscreen use is attributed to public education campaigns by dermatologists warning about skin cancers.

It should be noted, however, that the most deadly form of skin cancer, melanoma, is unrelated to sun exposure, as the disease usually occurs in areas of the body not exposed to the sun.

Obesity is yet another cause of vitamin D deficiency, according to Dr. Holick, who found that even when dietary vitamin D intake and sun exposure are adequate, the vitamin becomes unavailable because it becomes stored in the large amount of body fat. Aging skin requires more sun exposure. A 70-year-old exposed to the same amount of sunlight as a 20-year-old will only make 25% of the vitamin D that the young person can make. Breastfed infants are deficient in vitamin D because human milk is deficient in vitamin D.

Dr. Holick offered this explanation for why deficiencies are widely overlooked: During the standard blood work-up, doctors tend to focus on the blood calcium levels, and if they are normal, doctors incorrectly assume their patients are getting enough D.

Why the seemingly sudden interest in vitamin D when intriguing research goes back over a half century? In 1949, a researcher published his observation that people who live at higher latitudes, such as New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts, had a higher incidence of cancer deaths, compared with people living in southern states, such as Texas, Georgia, and Alabama.

In a telephone interview, Dr. Holick was asked why other researchers didn't pick up on this study and look further. "It was an interesting observation, but people didn't take epidemiology seriously," he answered. "Little attention was paid to it until the 1980s when other researchers reported that colon and breast cancer rates were higher for those living at higher latitudes in the U.S."

Even then, the finding was not taken seriously until researchers understood the mechanism for how the breast, colon, and prostate activate vitamin D and use it to regulate cell growth, which Dr. Holick explained as a process that is, "keeping cell growth in check and possibly preventing the cell from becoming autonomous and developing into an unregulated cancer cell."

After the paper explaining the mechanism was published in the British journal The Lancet, much more research attention began to be paid to vitamin D. And after 1999, many more observational studies were published showing a link between vitamin D deficiency and several chronic diseases.

For example, there are higher rates of multiple sclerosis in people who live at higher latitudes; and another study showed vitamin D intake is inversely associated with rheumatoid arthritis.

In a 2001 study published in The Lancet, children treated with 2,000 IU daily of vitamin D from their first birthday onward had an 80% decreased risk of developing type 1 diabetes throughout the next 20 years. And in the last few years, several studies have been published indicating a link between schizophrenia and decreased exposure to sunlight.

Dr. Holick's review states that animal studies have successfully shown that type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and multiple sclerosis can be prevented using mice prone to these diseases.

To Dr. Holick, who is an endocrinologist, it is clear from studies like these (and many more that go unmentioned in this article for lack of space) that vitamin D should no longer be thought of only as the nutrient necessary for the prevention of rickets in young children.

He said that his work has been instrumental in the vitamin D fortification of several common foods, including milk products, bread, and orange juice.

In the telephone interview, Dr. Holick was asked whether an increase in the RDA for vitamin D was imminent, given the fact that the Institute of Medicine, a division of the National Academy of Science, recently held a meeting on the topic. "No, it usually takes 10 to 15 years to change an RDA," he answered. "A huge bureaucratic system is involved." In the meantime, he and other vitamin D researchers recommend a minimum of 1,000 IU vitamin D daily. This increase, he explained, will maximize the absorption of calcium.

As for the risk of overdose, Dr Holick said, "You'd have to take 10,000 to 20,000 IU daily to approach toxicity." Is the type of vitamin D important? "Multivitamins usually have D2 which comes from yeast, but it's probably only 20-40% as effective as D3," which, he believes is better and longer lasting.

Then there's the question of what constitutes an adequate amount of sunlight: "Five to ten minutes of exposure of the arms and legs or the hands, arms and face two or three times a week," stated Dr. Holick, adding a way of determining the right timing, "25% of the time that it would take to cause a light pinkness to the skin."

For More Information: Read Dr. Holick's book, co-authored with Mark Jenkins and written for the general public, The UV Advantage (New York: Simon & Schuster/ ibooks, 2003).

by Rob Stein Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, February 12, 2005

Government scientists, concerned that two prescription creams used widely for a common skin condition may increase the risk of certain cancers, especially among children, will propose adding strong new warnings to the product labels.

A handful of cases of cancer have been reported among adults and children using the creams, sold under brand names Elidel and Protopic, and animal and laboratory studies suggest the drugs could be to blame, according to a new Food and Drug Administration analysis.

"The evidence raises serious safety concerns in children regarding the potential for carcinogenicity in humans treated with these agents," wrote Jean Temeck of the FDA's division of pediatric drug development in a recommendation posted late yesterday on the agency's Web site. The document was one of several posted in preparation for a meeting of an expert panel next week to assess the safety of the creams and recommend what action the agency should take.

Protopic and Elidel were approved in 2000 and 2001, respectively, to treat eczema, a common, chronic skin condition that causes redness and itching. Before the new creams, the only treatment had been steroid creams and ointments, which can be used only for short periods and can have a variety of side effects.

The new creams, which were seen as effective and much safer, immediately became popular. At least 5 million prescriptions have been written for the creams. The creams were approved for short-term or intermittent use by adults and children age 2 and older, but Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. has marketed Elidel aggressively, and both creams are believed to be widely used for longer periods and among babies.

"These products are being widely used to treat . . . a non-life-threatening disease, and heavily advertised for use in young children without appreciation . . . regarding the potential for carcinogenic risk," Temeck wrote.

Both Novartis and Fujisawa Healthcare Inc., which makes Protopic, defended the safety of their products to the FDA. "Elidel is an effective, steroid-free treatment for mild to moderate eczema and has a well-established safety profile," Novartis spokesman Tom Jones added in an e-mail.

Because the drugs work by suppressing the immune system, scientists had been concerned that they could increase the risk of cancer. As a result, when the FDA approved the creams the agency required both companies to monitor whether any cancers were reported among users.

In 2003, the agency convened an expert panel to examine the evidence to date, but at that time only seven possible cases had been reported, so the agency decided to continue to monitor the situation. Since then, however, a study involving monkeys has suggested the creams might cause lymphoma, a cancer of the immune system, and reports of a variety of cancers in humans using the creams have continued to rise.

At least seven cases of lymphoma have been reported, as well as at least seven cases of skin cancer and a handful of others, Temeck wrote. Several children reported infections, including an 8-month-old boy whose infection was so severe he suffered a heart attack after Protopic was applied "over his entire body for six months," she wrote.

While it remains far from proven that the creams are causing the complications, "there is a need for a stronger approach to the communication and minimization of the potential risk of cancer," Dianne Murphy, director of the FDA's office of pediatric therapeutics, wrote in another document. "We believe regulatory action is needed at this time since a definitive answer to the carcinogenic risk of these products will not be known for years," Temeck wrote.

The addition of a possible "black box" warning to the label is one of several recommendations that the committee will consider, an agency spokesman said.

The concern comes as the FDA has come under intense criticism for failing to protect the public from potentially dangerous drugs.

The blockbuster painkiller Vioxx was recently pulled from the market because of concerns that it and similar agents may increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

The advisory committee will focus on children because exposure to a potential cancer-causing agent poses a greater risk to the young, but its recommendations would apply to adults as well, the spokesman said.

Although the FDA is not bound to follow the recommendations of its advisory panels, it usually does.

by ANDRÉ PICARD Tuesday, February 15, 2005 - From Tuesday's Globe and Mail

Those dust bunnies lurking under the bed may not be as innocuous as you think.

New Canadian research shows that household dust is the principal source of exposure to flame retardants, a class of chemicals that has sparked a heated debate among scientists, some of whom believe regular exposure may lead to serious learning and developmental problems.

Toddlers in particular are ingesting significant amounts of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), according to a study to be published in a forthcoming edition of the journal Environmental Science and Technology.

"Dust is the greatest route of exposure to brominated flame retardants," said Miriam Diamond, a professor in the department of geography at the University of Toronto. "It makes a lot of sense. Toddlers are close to the ground, which is where many of those flame retardants are — in carpets, in furniture. The chemicals accumulate in the dust."

In her paper, Dr. Diamond estimates that the average urban Canadian ingests 155 to 1,965 nanograms daily of PBDEs, with the highest levels found in babies but decreasing as people age. (A nanogram is one-billionth of a gram.)

But breast-feeding infants have much higher exposures, from 24 to 28,680 nanograms daily. Earlier research found that flame retardants are commonplace in the breast milk of Canadians but concluded that despite high levels, women should continue to breastfeed because the known benefits outweigh the known risks.

Dr. Diamond said she wondered how pregnant women accumulated these chemicals in their bodies. She found that household dust is the principal source of exposure for adults, followed by food. (Research commissioned by The Globe and Mail and CTV News found PBDEs in almost all common foods tested.)

Flame retardants are used in the manufacture of a broad range of materials, including foams, textiles and plastics. As a result, most household products, including sofas, carpets, hair dryers, televisions and computers, give off PBDEs. These invisible chemicals turn into dust that sticks to windows, gathers in small balls under the bed and snuggles in with the lint in the dryer.

A study published last month found PBDEs in the dust of every home tested. The research, done in the Washington area, found concentrations of 780 to 30,100 nanograms of PBDEs per gram of dust.

Scientists estimate that as a result, toddlers in these homes ingest 120 to 6,000 nanograms daily. Erin McAllister, a Vancouver mother of a toddler, heard of PBDEs when she participated in a study of breast milk. Now she has just learned that daughter Jessica, 17 months, probably ingests flame retardants in household dust, as well. "That's just lovely. Yuck, yuck," she said in disgust. "I feel kind of helpless. I don't want these poisons in my body, but I'm breathing it every day and my children are breathing it and eating it every day."

Barbara Thorpe of Clean Production Action, a Montreal-based consumer group, said that if Canadians were more informed about the levels of PBDEs in their home environments — from dust to food — they would be angry.The problem is, nobody knows the impact on human health.

All the research on PBDEs has been conducted on laboratory animals. When animals are exposed to high levels of PBDEs, they develop memory problems and disruptions to the thyroid hormone. Some scientists believe that in humans, that could translate into learning disabilities and stunted growth. Some postulate that the stunning rise in attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder is due, in part, to children's exposure to flame retardants.

Linda Birnbaum, associate director for the National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said the concerns are justified, even if it is hard to nail down the impact of PBDEs on health. "These are not chemicals you are going to get a dose of and immediately die. They are chemicals that are present in very low levels in our bodies . . . but they build up. And part of the concern is, they will continue to build up to a level that they will cause problems."

Dr. Birnbaum said the EPA is trying to develop standards for safe levels of exposure to PBDEs, but establishing a cut-off is not easy.

For scientists and environmentalists, however, the solution is to aim for the lowest exposure possible by finding alternative forms of flame retardants and making consumers aware of these chemicals' origins and where they accumulate.

Although individuals must wait for governments to regulate PBDEs, they can take a few simple steps to reduce their exposure, beginning with improving ventilation in their homes, getting rid of carpets and vacuuming a little more often.

by: Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS, January 7, 2005, abstracted from “Reving Up Your Child’s Immune System” from the December 27, 2004 issue of Daily Health News

For many parents, ear infections and strep throat seem to be common childhood occurrences. While antibiotics seems to help for a while, they are over-prescribed. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that nearly half of the 235 million antibiotic prescriptions given each year are unnecessary. The truth is that you can cheaply and easily boost children's resistance to disease. Although germ-proofing them is impossible, you can kick their immunity into high gear, an especially smart move during cold and flu season. Some ways to do this include:

CUT DOWN ON SUGAR. Although it’s the brain’s first choice of energy, too much sugar can decrease the strength of the immune system. The key is to give your children complex carbohydrates instead of the simple sugars found in so many processed foods that have become staples of many children’s diets. Some suggestions include using brown rice instead of white rice and eating plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables instead of preservative-laden fruit and vegetable juices.

GIVE YOUR KIDS A MULTIVITAMIN. This is one of the best ways to make sure your children are getting the vitamins, minerals and antioxidants they need to keep their immune systems at their strongest. If you’re looking for extra protection, herbal extracts are also a great idea. One such extract is elderberry and its ability to reduce the length of colds and flu. A 2003 study in the Journal of International Medical Research found that, in 54 people ages 18 to 54, patients taking elderberry extract recovered from the flu in more than half the time (3.1 days) compared with over a week with placebo.

HELP OFFSET THE EFFECTS OF ANTIBIOTICS. Although antibiotics kill the bad bacteria that are infecting us, but antibiotics also kill the good bacteria in our digestive tract that protect us. You can minimize the damage of antibiotics by giving your child probiotics , supplements that replace the natural, beneficial bacteria in the intestinal tract that can prevent bad bacteria from taking hold. A naturopathic physician will know which preparation is best.

CREATE A LOVING ENVIRONMENT FOR YOUR CHILDREN. Perhaps better than all of the supplements and antibiotics that are available to your children is the power of providing a healthy environment for them in the form of love and support. One of the best immune-boosters for kids is simply love and attention. Children who know they are loved by their parents have tremendous positive effects on their health. Emotional stress and unhappiness take a toll on the immune system and predispose children to infection and illness. A happy mind leads to a healthy body.