What's in the News
Absurdity in the News
by Tammera J. Karr, PhD, BCHN, BCIH
Even though I have been enjoying the freedom of a dog’s life of late, I am still stunned by the absurdity of what is going on with government over-stepping, ineptness and corruption.
The recent story of a preschoolers lunch being confiscated by a state agent who was inspecting lunch boxes— which consisted of a turkey and cheese sandwich, a banana, apple juice and potato chips — “the agent stated it did not meet U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines.” The preferred food choice placed in front of the child by the state agent was chicken nuggets. So in the state workers mind, highly processes GMO wheat flour, antibiotic laden ground chicken parts, injected with chemical flavorings and sodium, GMO trans fats and sugar – is a healthier food choice over real food? I’d love to see a lab report on this person, I’m sure it would reflect the benefits of such impressive USDA food guidelines… (and yes I’m being sarcastic.)
Have the Pediatricians Lost Their Minds?
HPV vaccinations for boys – The American Academy of Pediatrics, now says all boys between the ages of 11 and 12 should receive the HPV vaccine—the same one that has harmed so many girls. No other vaccine lists and acknowledges the serious side effects that the HPV vaccine does. One particularly alarming side effect, listed by the manufacturer Merck even in advertisements, is seizure. Of the twelve other vaccines recommended by the CDC for children, only two—the controversial MMR combination vaccine and the HiB vaccine—list “seizure” as a safety concern.
There are 71 deaths reported through September 15 of 2011, associated to the HPV vaccine. The official party line is the adverse events are not peer-reviewed research and therefore may be ignored.
Prevention is so much better
The standard for cervical cancer screening, regular Pap smears, carries no side effects and when performed regularly can easily catch cervical cancer in time without complication. Women who have been vaccinated against HPV must still have regular Pap smears since the vaccine does not protect against all causes of cervical cancer.
Another powerful prevention strategy is to eat cruciferous vegetables or take the supplement DIM (diindolylmethane, a plant compound found in cruciferous vegetables), DIM may also be used therapeutically for those with cervical, breast and prostate cancer or pre-cancer.
The most effective combination prevention strategy both for viruses and for cancer (and certainly for cancer-linked viruses) is to maintain optimal levels of vitamin D. Most Americans are deficient in the vitamin. (Information – action alert from the www.anh-usa.org)
FDA thumbs nose at Senators
The FDA has flatly refused the Senate, rejecting the call of Sens. Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) to withdraw its disastrous New Dietary Ingredient draft guidance and start over. Harkin and Hatch are the original drafters of DSHEA, the law that requires supplement manufacturers to submit notifications whenever an NDI is introduced into the marketplace. The FDA’s job was to articulate how those notifications are to be submitted, but they ignored the original intent of Congress and created a de facto approval system for any supplement or ingredient created or changed over the past eighteen years.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) in a letter to the FDA expressed regret over FDA’s dismissal of Senators Hatch and Harkin’s request and reiterating Congress did not intend to give the FDA pre-market review of new dietary ingredients, nor did it intend to permit the agency to treat dietary ingredients in the same manner as food additives.
The letter goes on to articulate the legal problems with FDA’s proposal, and strongly urges FDA to withdraw its guidance and instead design a fair and workable NDI notification system. It also requests that FDA refrain from taking any enforcement action that is based solely on positions articulated in the draft guidance that are not unequivocally grounded in the law.
Fox in Charge of hen house
In 2009, President Obama appointed Michael Taylor as a senior adviser for the FDA. Consumer groups protested the appointment because Taylor had formerly served as a vice president for Monsanto, the controversial agricultural multinational at the forefront of genetically modified food.
Taylor is the same person who was Food Safety Czar at the FDA when genetically modified organisms were allowed into the U.S. food supply without undergoing a single test to determine their safety or risks.
Taylor’s position, which is currently deputy commissioner for foods at the FDA, includes ensuring that food labels contain clear and accurate information, overseeing strategy for food safety and planning new food safety legislation. He is the first individual to hold the position.
Take Note: In January, Monsanto announced it was giving up plans to sell its insect-resistant maize in France. The move was seen as another major blow for genetically modified food in Europe, where resistance has been fierce, with six EU countries banning the cultivation of genetically modified maize.
There is more to good health than the Status Quo.