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Post by KNOWTHIS on Apr 12, 2006 10:37:09 GMT -5
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4898488.stm Drug firms 'inventing diseases'Pharmaceutical firms are inventing diseases to sell more drugs, researchers have warned.Disease-mongering promotes non-existent diseases and exaggerates mild problems to boost profits, the Public Library of Science Medicine reported. Researchers at Newcastle University in Australia said firms were putting healthy people at risk by medicalising conditions such as menopause. But the pharmaceutical industry denied it invented diseases. DISEASE-MONGERING Restless legs - Prevalence of rare condition exaggerated Irritable bowel syndrome - Promoted as a serious illness needing therapy, when usually a mild problem Menopause - Too often medicalised as a disorder when really a normal part of life Report authors David Henry and Ray Moynihan criticised attempts to convince the public in the US that 43% of women live with sexual dysfunction. They also said that risk factors like high cholesterol and osteoporosis were being presented as diseases - and rare conditions such as restless leg condition and mild problems of irritable bowel syndrome were exaggerated. The report said: "Disease-mongering is the selling of sickness that widens the boundaries of illness and grows the markets for those who sell and deliver treatments. Campaigns "It is exemplified mostly explicitly by many pharmaceutical industry-funded disease awareness campaigns - more often designed to sell drugs than to illuminate or to inform or educate about the prevention of illness or the maintenance of health." The researchers called on doctors, patients and support groups to be aware of the marketing tactics of the pharmaceutical industry and for more research into the way in which conditions are presented. They added: "The motives of health professionals and health advocacy groups may well be the welfare of patients, rather than any direct self-interested financial benefit, but we believe that too often marketers are able to crudely manipulate those motivations. "Disentangling the different motivations of the different actors in disease-mongering will be a key step towards a better understanding of this phenomenon." But Richard Ley, of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, said the research was centred on the US where the drugs industry had much more freedom to promote their products to the public. "The way you can advertise is much more restricted in the UK so it is wrong to extrapolate it. "Also, it is not right to say the industry invents diseases, we don't. It is up to doctors to decide what treatment to give people, we can't tell them."
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Post by Swamp Gas on Apr 12, 2006 10:43:39 GMT -5
You also hear on local TV and Radio stations more and more advertisements on Cancer and Heart disease. In fact, there are many times more commercials than for health products. Then you have these bogus reports telling how ineffective vitamins and herbs are, but how good drinking is for your heart.
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Post by KNOWTHIS on Apr 12, 2006 11:01:45 GMT -5
Yup, it won't be long before herbs, vitamins and other natural supplements will only be available through prescription, very expensive. There are these phony “journals of medicine” sponsored by big pharma that conduct biased studies against them. They’ll hastily “test” the products and quickly determine that they aren’t effective without even using the proper suggested dosage. Would their medicines work if you only took 1/3 of the required amount? These are the standards they often use to discredit natural cures. In some cases they’re even highly exaggerating the "dangers". If they can find even one example of a person choking on a vitamin A tablet they’ll announce that using it could be potentially fatal. At the same time they’ll suppress the studies that show the ‘REAL & PRESENT’ dangers of their own chemical garbage they promote.
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Post by KNOWTHIS on Apr 12, 2006 11:03:37 GMT -5
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Post by KNOWTHIS on Apr 12, 2006 11:06:39 GMT -5
www.renewalresearch.com/articles.php/74Echinacea Ineffective?A study published in this week's New England Journal of Medicine (2005, vol.353, no.4: 341-348) reported that echinacea--the herbal supplement used by nearly 15 million Americans to prevent or treat colds--is ineffective in preventing colds or helping treat cold-related symptoms. The national headlines spawned by this “research” were frightening, and caused many to feel as if they had been duped into thinking that echinacea, one of the most solid sellers in the herbal armamentarium, really wasn’t effective against colds. The media, armed with just enough information to make itself dangerous, spewed out a proliferation of cutely titled reports: “Echinacea Leaves Cold-Sufferers Sniffling,” “Cold Relief From Echinacea Might Be All in Your Head,” and “New study sneezes at benefits of echinacea.” But hold on! Don’t throw out your echinacea just yet! ................................................................................... This is a perfect example of how the drug industry creates disinformation campaigns that boost sales of their products by discouraging those of the competition. Take a lousy study design involving a competing product (echinacea). Get it published in a major journal. Spin it off to a media less interested in facts than selling newspapers. Voila! You’ve got competitor’s sales plummeting, while consumers turn to the symptom suppressive OTC cold medicines that generate huge sales for drug companies. If they’ve discourage only five or ten percent of the 15 million Americans who spend $155 million a year on the popular herbal remedy echinacea, they’ve done their job. Whether or not this study was a deliberate scam, experts immediately questioned the experiment’s design. The dose was far below the therapeutic threshold for echinacea, and far below doses most people normally use and find effective. Specifically, the dose of echinacea used (0.9 grams) was much smaller (about 333% less) than the 3.0 grams recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) and that which previous researchers have found effective.
Not only was the dose inadequate, but the researchers failed to use an effective echinacea formulation. Whether out of ignorance or deception, they failed to include all three chemical compounds (polysaccharides, alkylamides, and cichoric acid) proven essential to enhance immunity and ensure echinacea’s effectiveness. None of the extracts used on participants contained all three.
Next, the researchers gave (their low dose, inappropriately formulated version of) this immune building herb to a population of college students who already had strong immune systems! Talk about programmed failure!
Finally, as if they hadn’t ensured failure already, they tested their “echinacea” against only one of the hundreds of cold and flu viruses out there. Just one. .......................................................... A host of studies have proven the effectiveness of echinacea beyond any reasonable doubt. It is recommended without qualification for colds by trusted groups like the World Health Organization and the German herbal Komission E. Population studies have shown that it works. And the scientific explanations for its mechanisms of action--totally ignored in this recent media feeding frenzy--have been extensively explored. Echinacea rapidly and effectively enhances antiviral immune cell activity--and that’s why it is far superior to OTC cold remedies. Echinacea is a thoroughly researched herb with a powerful array of scientifically documented properties. It is a powerful immune system stimulant with antiviral and antibacterial actions. The immune-stimulating polysaccharides in echinacea bind to T-lymphocytes, activating them and increasing interferon production. The result is increased natural killer cell activity (natural killer cells target viruses) and increased macrophage activity (macrophages phagocytize, or eat, foreign invaders like bacteria and toxins). Taken at the earliest stages of a cold, flu, or other infection, echinacea can either abort the infection or decrease its severity and duration. Prophylactic use of echinacea is not recommended. The best any cold drug can do is to suppress symptoms; it won’t heal anything. Echinacea, on the other hand, strengthens your immune system so it can fend off cold and flu viruses. The drug makers don’t want you to know about that. For more information about how to prevent and treat colds, click here. And next time some “research” “disproves” the value of a supplement you have come to rely on, remember this echinacea study. The truth is fragile and terribly vulnerable.
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Post by KNOWTHIS on Apr 12, 2006 12:28:59 GMT -5
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Post by KNOWTHIS on Apr 12, 2006 12:31:37 GMT -5
Look at the shit you have to go through just to explore alternative treatments. www.newstarget.com/z016387.htmlState-sponsored medical terrorism: Texas authorities arrest parents, kidnap their teenage daughter, and force her through chemotherapy against her willwww.kristv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4012857
Judge allows Katie Wernecke to seek alternative cancer treatmentDistrict Judge Jack Hunter, who has taken over the case, held an emergency hearing Friday to decide if Katie should continue her chemotherapy. He ruled that Katie would undergo chemotherapy treatment Friday.However, he made a very controversial decision. Against the wishes of the state, Katie will be allowed to seek alternative medicine treatment. |
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Post by chickenlittle on Apr 19, 2006 21:30:29 GMT -5
You know they just recently came out with a finding that glucosomine doesn't really work for arthithis suffering patients either.My sister swears by it.
I swear by the cherry concentrate/I have degenerative bone disease, worsened by an bad thyroid,I do take medication for bone spurs on my spine, and my doctor whom I have gone to him for years , he really waited before putting me on heavy meds, because I will now have to be on them probably for the rest of my life. I finally got him to x-ray my spine and found out that my spine is like an 80 yr. olds.
But this is my point: I think that certain things work for certain people and yes, I agree they will try to own all treatments.I knew we were in trouble when pharmacies began carrying so many vitamen treatments on the shelves.
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Post by Swamp Gas on Apr 19, 2006 22:19:33 GMT -5
Glucosamine is a big hype, and besides it is made of crushed bones , sinews, and guts of dead animals. It actually causes a rise in cholesterol, dangerously so. A much better way of dealing with arthritis is horsetail extract, Flax and Hemp Oil, Boswella, and silica. It cured me of trigger finger from years of piano playing. The "experts" were trying to get me to have an operation that could have destroyed my nerve. www.health-care-beauty.com/Bottlebrush-3764941_1.htm |
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Post by chickenlittle on Apr 19, 2006 22:34:01 GMT -5
Well personally I cant take the glucosomine I didn't think it did anything but constipate and my sister keeps bringing it up,but I didn't like it .Have you tried the concentrated cherry?,I get it at the local health food store you can get capsules or use the juice and I did notice a difference with it.Funny,the music connection, one of the first reasons, years ago that I complained was because my rib cage hurt really bad and I noticed it while I was singing,I have arthritis in my ribs and while I would use my diaphram while singing I could really feel the pain in my ribs.
chicky
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Post by Swamp Gas on Apr 19, 2006 22:56:11 GMT -5
I did try tart cherry juice, an inflammation stopper in the family of plant hormones called anthocyanins, of which cocoa is also high in. Perhaps that would partially explain the occasional euphoric feeling from chocolate. The problem with trigger finger is there is an underlying cause, like arthritis , is a lack of lubricant, as well as degeneration. Aspirin also has anthocyanins. The inflammation is caused by friction between degenerating bones, tendons and muscles. So, as good as Cherry Juice works as an inflammatory, it doesn't increase lubrication and re-generation.
A combination of Cherry Juice, Feverfew, Boswella, Horsetail, Hawthorne, and Silica can keep the bones strong for a very long time. Also, take Calcium OROTATE, rather than Milk or Citrate version. 90% of Orotate is absorbed, as opposed to less than 50% of other forms. In fact, the 25% protein content of milk causes malabsorption of calcium, which is why so many woman who drank milk their whole lives have osteoporosis.
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Post by KNOWTHIS on Apr 22, 2006 1:02:33 GMT -5
Speaking of such, this is just nasty! Yet another reason that we shouldn't be doing business with the Chinese. www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,7369,1568622,00.html A Chinese cosmetics company is using skin harvested from the corpses of executed convicts to develop beauty products for sale in Europe, an investigation by the Guardian has discovered.
Agents for the firm have told would-be customers it is developing collagen for lip and wrinkle treatments from skin taken from prisoners after they have been shot. The agents say some of the company's products have been exported to the UK, and that the use of skin from condemned convicts is "traditional" and nothing to "make such a big fuss about". |
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Post by gumsoaker-snell on Apr 23, 2006 11:47:21 GMT -5
Ten years ago I had arthritis in my feet so bad that I could barely walk when I first got up in the morning. A friend suggested trying a trace minerals supplement in colloidal form. I did and that was the end of my arthritis. I have always had a healthy diet of fresh fruits and vegetables, and nuts and whole grains, which I'm sure helps too.
Many people, particularly those with arthritis, have reported improved health after beginning to take colloidal trace minerals. I wonder how long till I have to buy them with a doctor's prescription.
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Post by Swamp Gas on Apr 23, 2006 12:36:08 GMT -5
Welcome to Gastronamus debunker,
Yes, Colloidal Minerals have an accelerated transport system, and silver has been known for thousands of years as an anti-bacterial. They used to put silver coins in water to sterilize it.
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Post by DannyRock on Apr 23, 2006 16:29:04 GMT -5
Glucosamine is a big hype, and besides it is made of crushed bones , sinews, and guts of dead animals. It actually causes a rise in cholesterol, dangerously so. I wasn't aware of that Swamp... I tried Glucosamine a while ago and it didn't really agree with me for some reaon... I switched over to hyaluronic acid and it actually seems to be working for me... Last September, my wrists were so bad that I could barely change two guitar strings on my friend's guitar during a gig. After a few days of taking the hyaluronic acid, after switching from the glucosamine, I no longer had to wear my wrist braces and now I just get an occasional twinge if I'm doing any type of delicate work. I still get an occasional attack but not as bad as I used to get... I'll have to look onto those things... |
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Post by KNOWTHIS on May 4, 2006 11:10:44 GMT -5
society.guardian.co.uk/health/story/0,,1766642,00.html
Journals 'regularly publish fraudulent research'
Fraudulent research regularly appears in the 30,000 scientific journals published worldwide, a former editor of the British Medical Journal (BMJ) said today.
Even when journals discover that published research is fabricated or falsified they rarely retract the findings, according to Richard Smith, who was also chief executive of the BMJ publishing group.
When journals decide not to publish studies because they suspect misconduct, they often fail to alert the researchers' employers or medical authorities, such as the Department of Health and the General Medical Council, he added.
Writing in the latest edition of the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, Dr Smith called on editors to blow the whistle on bad research and to use their clout to pressure universities into taking action against dodgy researchers.
"In many ways editors are privileged 'whistleblowers' with the power to publish and expose institutions who fail to investigate alleged research misconduct," he said.
But the former BMJ editor said it was likely that research fraud was "equally common" in the 30,000 plus scientific journals across the globe but was "invariably covered up".
His call for action comes in the wake of several high profile cases of fraudulent research, including the Korean scientist Hwang Woo-suk who fabricated stem cell research that it was claimed would open up new ways to treat diseases like Parkinson's.
Dr Smith criticised the failure of scientific institutions, including universities, to discipline dodgy researchers even when alerted to problems by journals.
"Few countries have measures in place to ensure research is carried out ethically," he said.
"Most cases are not publicised. They are simply not recognised, covered up altogether or the guilty researcher is urged to retrain, move to another institution or retire from research."
Dr Smith called for the UK Research Integrity Office, launched last month to develop a code of practice for researchers, to be given stronger powers to investigate allegation of fraudulent or unethical work.
The Committee on Publication Ethics, which advises scientific journals, estimates that there are about 50 cases of seriously fraudulent research in major institutions in Britain a year.
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