I Regrew My Hair!

Health Supreme's NewsGrabs - a selection of contrary and underprivileged news in health and a wide range of (mostly) related sectors. Find what trends you may have missed - watch out for the weekly News Grabs.

Here is this week's selection for you. The controversy over yet another "meta analysis" that allegedly found antioxidants don't prevent people from dying, was in full swing this week. A famous quip comes to mind: "There are lies, there are damned lies and then there are statistics". Apparently, anything can be manipulated using statistical analysis. The outcome of course depends what you put in in the first place. Garbage in, garbage out, it used to be called.

The dangers of selective science
Looking at the details of the new analysis shows us that 67 randomised clinical trials were included, focussing on beta-carotene, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, and selenium supplements versus placebo. But amazingly, 748 trials were excluded for several reasons, including 405 trials that showed no mortality in the study groups. I attempted to contact the lead reviewer for his comments on why they had excluded 405 death-free trials, asking whether such an exclusion would skew results towards increased death statistics… I am still awaiting a reply.

Celebrities join industry experts in speaking out against alarmist vitamin story…
Some of Britain’s most popular celebrities have spoken out against this week’s alarmist and grossly misleading vitamin story, which wrongly questioned the safety of the antioxidant supplements...

Antioxidants and Cancer: Researcher admits she got it wrong
But the researchers, led by Isabelle Bairati from the Quebec Research Centre, who published the 2005 study, have re-analysed their original data, and have discovered they got it wrong. The only people in the study who were seeing their cancer return were smokers who refused to kick the habit while they were receiving radiation therapy or chemotherapy. Strangely, not a single newspaper has run with the story.

Nutrition intervention trials in Linxian, China
Supplementation with specific vitamin/mineral combinations, cancer incidence, and disease-specific mortality in the general population
The findings indicate that vitamin and mineral supplementation of the diet of Linxian adults, particularly with the combination of beta carotene, vitamin E, and selenium, may effect a reduction in cancer risk in this population.

Study shows common vitamin and other micronutrient supplements reduce risks of TB recurrence
Nutritional assessment and support in tuberculosis therapy, once common before the advent of anti-TB drugs, is no longer an integral part of clinical therapy in most low-income countries even though poor nutrition impairs the immune system and leads to risk of further infection and relapse.

Villamor noted, "We found that providing micronutrients to patients with tuberculosis who were undergoing anti-TB treatment appeared to decrease the risk of recurrences. This effect was stronger in patients infected with HIV than in those who were HIV-negative. This could be relevant because TB reactivation is common among HIV-infected persons.”

Vitamin D necessary for proper brain function
“This critical analysis of vitamin D function and the brain is a model of careful thinking about nutrition and behavior”, says Gerald Weissmann, MD, Editor-in-Chief of the FASEB Journal “One wishes that all studies of nutritional supplements or requirements were this thoughtful. Drs. McCann and Ames deftly show that while vitamin D has an important role in the development and function of the brain, its exact effects on behavior remain unclear. Pointing to the need for further study, the authors argue for vitamin D supplementation in groups at risk.”

Vitamin D has long been known to promote healthy bones by regulating calcium levels in the body. Lack of sufficient vitamin D in very young children results in rickets, which can be easily prevented by vitamin D supplements. Only recently the scientific community has become aware of a much broader role for vitamin D. For example, we now know that, in addition to its role in maintaining bone health, vitamin D is involved in differentiation of tissues during development and in proper functioning of the immune system.

Treatment Of Statin Damage
It appears that Statins produce permanent damage and are far more risky. Possibly the only benefit statins provide is some reduction in inflammation but possibly at a irreversible cost. This is particularly sad given that low cost Turmeric may well be a safer if not more effective alternative than statins and aspirin to reduce inflammation. Indeed those who have used Turmeric in lieu of statins in this regard can attest to its striking efficacy....

FDA Set to Approve Ghost-Writing
All the major newspapers that circulate in the nation's capital (the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post) carried stories this morning about a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association that showed about half of articles that appeared in the medical literature touting Vioxx had been ghost-written by employees or contractors working for Merck, the drug's manufacturer.

What none of those stories or the study mentioned was the regulatory context in which this study (and an accompanying one alleging Merck manipulated the data in one of those studies to hide the mortality risk among Alzheimer's patients who used the drug) appears. The Food and Drug Administration wants to give drug manufacturers like Merck a blank check to distribute to physicians nearly any article advocating off-label use of drugs that appears in the medical literature. The only substantive criteria in the proposed guidance is that the article be peer-reviewed and reflect "well-controlled" clinical studies.

Shareholders question Merck about credibility
Karen Clark of Spring Lake, a shareholder and former Merck employee, asked about recent media reports that Merck paid ghostwriters to prepare medical journal articles on withdrawn painkiller Vioxx.

A few shareholders raised other questions about Vioxx. Rennie Krayewsky, an economics professor at Essex County Community College, said the company should have pulled it off the market faster after problems surfaced.

Wyeth Acted In ‘Bad Faith’ In Prempro Case
A Nevada judge has ordered Wyeth to post a $58 million bond and pay $1.6 million in attorney fees for acting in ‘bad faith’ during settlement talks with lawyers for three women who sued the drugmaker over charges the Prempro hormone replacement treatment caused their breast cancer.

This is the same Wyeth that, with a Citizens' petition, induced the FDA to go after bio-identical hormones commonly used as a more natural alternative to their horse-urine based Prempro.

‘Lethal’ drugs given for dementia
The Alzheimer’s Society estimates that antipsychotic drugs are being prescribed to 105,000 elderly people with dementia in Britain, and that in two-thirds of cases the drugs are unnecessary. Studies show they can increase the risk of strokes and have other side effects, such as the disorder suffered by Ramsay.

According to his family, Ramsay was given Olanzapine in October 2001 without their knowledge. When he refused to take the drug his carers allegedly ground the pills into powder to put in his yoghurt.

Eli-Lilly, the manufacturer of Olanzapine, said the side effect suffered by Ramsay was “very rare” and the drug was neither licensed nor promoted in the UK to treat patients with dementia.

Involuntary drugging of US detainees, a crisis for the health professions
A major article in the Washington Post collects the accounts of US detainees who, in large numbers, report that they were the recipients of unknown psychotropic drugs.

While both the military and the Defense Department deny the reports, as the Post carefully notes, these reports are especially plausible as it is known that the CIA conducted a decades-long research program to develop truth serums and pharmacological approaches to manipulating human behavior. And, as discussed below, the CIA in 2003 was actively discussing the use of drugs in interrogations. Further, the recently released Yoo torture memo went out of its way to provide legal cover for the use of drugs in interrogations.

In recent years it has become clear that psychologists have been pivotal actors in the Bush administration interrogation abuses, as they designed, conducted and standardized “enhanced interrogations amounting to torture.

Looks like a good part of the medical profession and the pharma drug providers are being sucked into a black vortex of torture and forceful interrogation. Whatever happened to "first, do no harm"?

Chemotherapy causes delayed severe neural damage
Professor Mark Noble and colleagues of the University of Rochester Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Institute and the Harvard Medical School, Boston discovered that short-term systemic administration of 5-FU to mice caused both acute CNS damage and a syndrome of progressively worsening delayed damage. This damage was not self-repairing, and instead became worse over time.

“Multiple clinical reports have identified neurotoxicity as a complication of treatment regimens in which chemotherapeutic agents such as 5-fluorouracil are components,” says Noble. “As treatments with chemotherapeutic agents will clearly remain the standard of care for cancer patients for many years to come, the need to better understand such damage is great.”

Also: Researchers Detail Chemotherapy's Damage to the Brain
So we have to "understand the damage" of toxic medicine. Why not abandon the toxins and look for biological treatments of cancer, which are many but have all been rejected? Oh - I forgot - there's no money in biological treatment modes while poisons are profit.

Kids Need An EKG Before Taking ADHD Meds
The American Heart Association is recommending that children should be screened for heart problems with an electrocardiogram before getting drugs to treat ADHD, because the meds can increase blood pressure and heart rate. This isn’t a problem for most kids, but the meds - which are stimulants - could make them more vulnerable to sudden cardiac arrest and other heart problems if they already have heart conditions. About 2.5 million American children and 1.5 million adults take ADHD pills, such as Ritalin, Concerta and Adderall...

Why flu vaccine is rarely effective
If you got flu shot and still came down with the flu symptoms like fever, cough and running nose, you should not be alone. A study released last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the effectiveness of this year’s vaccine was estimated at only 44 percent...

International Scientists' Group Calls for New Thinking On Anniversary of HIV 'Discovery'
On April 23, 1984, Dr. Robert Gallo of the U.S. National Institutes of Health announced that he had discovered "the probable cause of AIDS," a new virus later named HIV. The world media and health authorities accepted HIV as the sole cause of AIDS as fact even though no proof was presented, on that day or afterward, that this type of virus can cause or is actually present in AIDS patients.

This mistake has caused unimaginable devastation to real people, says Rethinking AIDS president David Crowe. “What have 24 years and hundreds of billions of research dollars given us?” he asks. “Tests that don't detect the virus, and toxic treatment drugs. Incorrect claims about HIV and AIDS have even included statistical predictions that have proved repeatedly to be wrong.”

Is it time to give up the search for an Aids vaccine?
Most scientists involved in Aids research believe that a vaccine against HIV is further away than ever and some have admitted that effective immunisation against the virus may never be possible, according to an unprecedented poll conducted by The Independent.

A mood of deep pessimism has spread among the international community of Aids scientists after the failure of a trial of a promising vaccine at the end of last year. It just was the latest in a series of setbacks in the 25-year struggle to develop an HIV vaccine.

DECONSTRUCTING HIV/AIDS in “SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA” and “THE CARIBBEAN”
This does not look much like the distribution of something infectious or contagious, something supposed to spread primarily via sexual intercourse; particularly not when the purported agent of infection is said to have affected human beings for the first time in West Central Africa early in the 20th century, jumping in some manner from chimpanzees; the highest frequencies of positive tests–by far–are in the extreme south, not around Cameroon.

Handsets pose danger for children
Handsets pose danger for children and teen-agers, state experts of the Russian National Committee on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection having carried out experiments with animals of different age. The oncoming generation is recommended to reduce communication through handsets, as their nerves might be badly injured.

A comment of the friend who forwarded this link: "The Russians have been aware of the dangers posed by EMR for a very long time. Thus, this is why they have some of the strictest regulations on EMR limits in the world. Interestingly, this may also very well explain why East Germans had extremely low rates of allergies while West Germans very high rates of allergies before the unification of the two countries while East Germany was adopting the Russian standards. After unification of the two countries, East German rates of allergies mysteriously rose to be on par with that of West German along with a relaxation of its EMR limits to meet West Germany's standards."

Exposed: the great GM crops myth
The study – carried out over the past three years at the University of Kansas in the US grain belt – has found that GM soya produces about 10 per cent less food than its conventional equivalent, contradicting assertions by advocates of the technology that it increases yields.

Study Based on Farmers’ Experience Exposes Risks of GM Crops
Canada, along with the United States and Argentina were the first countries in the world to commercialise GM crops. But more than a decade later, risk assessment for GM crops is still ignoring farmers’ knowledge and their years of experience in growing GM crops.

India: Farmers march in defence of seed sovereignty
The march was organised by a Delhi-based organisation Navdanya Trust, which has been supporting local farmers to promote organic farming. It also has seed banks in various parts of the country, including in Uttarakhand and Bihar.

The purpose of the march was to spread awareness on the need to protect the seed and food sovereignty of Indian farmers, which is under severe attack from multinational companies (MNCs) like Monsanto and Cargill.

To find out what a local seed bank in India is like, read this article from Arun Shirivastava: Women of Zaheerabad take on Monsanto

India: Manipulation of food prices in 'futures' trading
There is a wrong notion that the farmers are benefiting from the existing futures trading in the country. The farmers get the lowest price for their produce in the season at harvest and, thereafter, the produce passes into the hands of traders and corporate houses that manipulate high prices for commodities in the futures Markets. Farmers have no opportunity to participate in this.

Despite the good production, there is a deliberate manipulation of food prices both at the global and at the domestic levels. At the global level, there are a few corporate players in the food business that buy produce from farmers cheap, hoard the stock and manipulate the prices. The bio-fuel programme in Europe and the US is also a contributing factor to price rise.

Asian Development Bank: Biofuels making food more expensive
"We feel that the developed countries should seriously rethink the whole issue of biofuel, particularly the biofuel subsidies," Nag said. "Giving subsidies for biofuels ... basically acts as an implicit tax on staple foods."

Paying farmers to grow oilseed and other crops to produce biofuels means they grow fewer food crops, resulting in higher prices for such staples as palm oil and corn.

Bucking the CAFO tax: A plea for conscientious objection
Here’s a number to knock you out of that mid-day stupor: every year, taxpayers shell out between $7.1 billion and $8.2 billion to subsidize or clean up after our nation’s 9,900 confined animal feeding operations. That’s the finding of “CAFOs Uncovered,” a new report released earlier today by the Union of Concerned Scientists.

The Disappearing Bees: CCD and Electromagnetic Radiation
by Colin Buchanan
A timeline documenting the disappearance of the bees and Colony Collapse Disorder
No causal agent has been agreed upon so far for the disappearance of large numbers of honey bees. Perhaps politics is coming into this as it would be a heavy blow to a very profitable and in many senses vital communications industry if their use of the airwaves were linked to health effects, even if "only" on the bees. Yes, you can find more virus and parasite infestation. But would that not be entirely consistent with a weakening influence of em radiation leaving the little critters open to secondary trouble?

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More information out there...

There is much I cannot cover but other sources for this kind of information exist and are active.

You can subscribe to the Zeus Newsletterhere. Appears twice monthly. If you would like to see some samples of Louise's collection of informative links, here are the archives.

Dr Mercola's health blog and Mike Adams' Natural News have great health information.

The Alternative Medicine Yahoo Group is a place where you can discuss and exchange information on what is happening in the world of natural health.

For the influence of electromagnetic waves from radio, mobile phones and other radio emitting devices, check out the emfrefugee group on Yahoo.

If you are interested in a different take on the news that isn't health centered but is certainly fun, check out Robin Good TV News.

A few sites to keep up to date with the other side of world affairs, the stuff you won't necessarily find on your tv or in the papers:

http://www.whatreallyhappened.com
http://www.commondreams.org
http://www.globalresearch.ca/
http://rawstory.com/
http://www.truthout.org/

... and remember:

The individual is supreme and finds its way through intuition

On the 24th anniversary of the day a human retrovirus was named in a press conference, called by the Centers for Disease Control as "the probable cause of Aids" an international group of scientists says it is time to re-assess that belief.

Being diagnosed HIV-positive is a traumatic experience - emotionally, mentally and physically -HelpForHIV

In the 70s we had Richard Nixon's and Jimmy Carter's War on Cancer, an all-out well financed research program that sought to establish a viral cause and to find a cure for the Big C. Despite much work and huge amounts of money poured into the program, no such virus was found and - famously - no cure either. Much of this research centered on the so-called lentivirus or retrovirus family - a class of virus that turned out to be a harmless byproduct of the human metabolism, rather than a cause of any disease.

As the cancer research program folded for lack of results, a new focus was needed and a new direction of research. The announcement by Robert Gallo that a new virus, later named HIV or human immunodeficiency virus, was implicated in AIDS, gave that new focus and direction. But now, 24 years later, the hypothesis of HIV as "the probable cause of Aids" as Gallo had called it, shows signs of failure.

Not all patients have the virus. As a matter of fact, no clear and clean isolation of the virus was ever published in a scientific journal. The distribution of Aids does not match what one would expect from an infectious disease, no cure has been found and no vaccine is in sight either.

Scientists are defecting from the HIV=AIDS hypothesis, but there is great momentum in the money that funds research. As was the case with cancer, the only cause being looked into is a viral cause, because the only acceptable remedy is pharmaceutical. Other research has been terminated.

The cracks in the viral Aids paradigm are many and re-examination is needed. Here is the announcement of Rethinking Aids...

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April 23 Is 'Rethinking AIDS Day'
International Scientists' Group Calls for New Thinking
On 24th Anniversary of HIV 'Discovery'

Rethinking AIDS, an international group of more than 2,500 scientists, doctors, journalists, health advocates and others, has established April 23, 2008, as the first Rethinking AIDS Day.

On April 23, 1984, Dr. Robert Gallo of the U.S. National Institutes of Health announced that he had discovered "the probable cause of AIDS," a new virus later named HIV. The world media and health authorities soon accepted HIV as the sole cause of AIDS, even though no proof was presented, either on that day or afterwards, that this type of virus can cause an immune disorder or is even actually present in all AIDS patients.

"This mistake has caused unimaginable devastation to real people", says Rethinking AIDS president David Crowe. "What have 24 years and hundreds of billions of research dollars given us?" he asks. "Tests that don't detect the virus, and toxic treatment drugs. Incorrect claims about HIV and AIDS have even included statistical predictions that have proved repeatedly to be wrong."

Through its events site linked at www.rethinkingaids.com, Rethinking AIDS points out a range of activities that could help people learn the truth about HIV tests and medications, and empower them to ask for honesty and integrity in the medical and health advocacy communities. Questioning is vital to revealing the correct causes and treatments for the diseases collectively called “AIDS.”

Listings on the site include demonstrations and other events, petitions, videos, and requests for the public's own ideas for bringing accountability to AIDS science and reporting. Events posted already include presenting mock awards, handing out HIV testing information, donating educational books and videos, and attending Rethinkers' parties around the world.

Rethinking AIDS Day asks people around the world to consider that:

* Twenty-four years after Dr. Gallo's announcement, no scientific evidence has yet appeared in the medical literature that HIV has been isolated and purified from any AIDS patient.

* The testing protocols used to declare a person HIV positive do not directly measure HIV but instead detect biological markers thought to be associated with a virus.

* A positive result for these markers is assumed, but not proved, to indicate actual infection. No universal standard exists for positive and negative results, and interpretations vary among labs, health agencies and countries.

* Medications prescribed to HIV positives are toxic chemicals, well documented to destroy normal immune functions.

Based on the results of an unvalidated test, people around the world are consuming AIDS drugs that can cause many of the signs of AIDS, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy of disease and death. For example, Audrey Serrano, a 45-year-old Massachusetts woman, successfully sued her doctors and hospital for $3.7 million (including interest) after records showed that she never was HIV positive. Serrano nevertheless developed “AIDS” symptoms after taking prescribed AIDS drugs.

“Parents are being forced to poison their children or lose them, and the sexuality of people testing 'HIV positive' is being criminalized," says Crowe, noting that several people have recently been sentenced to long jail terms for having consensual sex.

A reappraisal of Gallo's HIV AIDS hypothesis is long overdue. The first Rethinking AIDS Day—April 23, 2008—is a public opening of this reappraisal. Rethinking AIDS invites concerned citizens around the world to join it in asking the questions about HIV and AIDS that have not been addressed by the scientists.

See also:

A video on youtube to spread the message

Koch's postulates and retroviruses
InTime TV Network's television talk show, "On the Edge" #10: Talk show Host, Dr. Jonas Moses interviews Dr. Andrew Maniotis about infectious disease, viruses and retroviruses, beginning with a review of Koch's Postulates.

HANDS NOT SO BLOODY
CELIA Farber, the maverick journalist vilified by the AIDS establishment for her controversial reporting, will be honored by the Semmelweis Society on May 13 in Washington, DC, with its Clean Hands Award - "which is an amazing irony, considering I am always accused of having blood on my hands..."

There are strange things afoot! (Well, perhaps not "strange," and certainly not just at the Circle K.) In the coming weeks, upon visiting www.feedburner.com, selected publishers will have the opportunity to sign in using their Google Account and experience FeedBurner, now as part of the Google.

If you are among these merry few who migrate early you won't see many changes at first. In fact, you might find yourself saying, "my, it's awfully quiet in here. Almost…too quiet." (But it may look a bit Googlier around the edges.) Your feeds should continue to hum along as they did before, and all of your settings will be yours to manage through your new or existing Google account. This is the same shiny Google account you use to sign into other services at Google.

Following on the footsteps of this account migration, FeedBurner will start to look and feel more like a set of Google services, and we will be completing much tighter integration into other Google services such as Google AdSense. (If you are a feed advertiser, don't worry: we have some happy surprises coming for you as well, and if you are an advertiser who is not yet a feed advertiser, you too shall be blessed with good fortune.)

As part of this Google Account migration, we will need to make a few process changes for our API partners. Effective immediately, the FeedBurner Management API will only be available for existing FeedBurner partners and those Google partners who currently have access to other Google AdSense APIs. The Awareness API will continue to work exactly as it did before, noting that once you migrate to a Google account, you will have to use your Google account credentials IF you use the authenticated API.

If, going forward, you do not want to sign in with a Google account, you can always take your feeds with you by redirecting your subscribers back to your source. Migration will ultimately be here for everybody, including all you MyBrand folks who are master of your domain.

Health Supreme's NewsGrabs - a selection of contrary and underprivileged news in health and a wide range of (mostly) related sectors. Find what trends you may have missed - watch out for the weekly News Grabs.

Here is this week's selection for you:

UN calls for farming revolution
The Unesco study recommends better safeguards to protect resources and more sustainable farming practices, such as producing food locally. More natural and ecological farming techniques should be used, it says.

Unesco says wheat prices have risen 130% percent since March 2007 while soy prices have jumped 87%. "The status quo is no longer an option," Guilhem Calvo, a Unesco expert, told a news conference in Paris. "We must develop agriculture less dependent on fossil fuels, that favours the use of locally available resources."

Finally a step in the right direction! Check out Permaculture's low input high yield model of sustainably growing the foods we eat. Grow food local and grow it in a sustainable way, where soil fertility increases with the years.

See also the following article...

Change in farming can feed the world
The report - the first significant attempt to involve governments, NGOs and industries from rich and poor countries - took 400 scientists four years to complete. The present system of food production and the way food is traded around the world, the authors concluded, has led to a highly unequal distribution of benefits and serious adverse ecological effects and was now contributing to climate change.

The authors say science and technology should be targeted towards raising yields but also protecting soils, water and forests. "Investment in agricultural science has decreased yet we urgently need sustainable ways to produce food. Incentives for science to address the issues that matter to the poor are weak," said Watson.

The scientists said they saw little role for GM, as it is currently practised, in feeding the poor on a large scale . "Assessment of the technology lags behind its development, information is anecdotal and contradictory, and uncertainty about possible benefits and damage is unavoidable," said the report.

Are anti-oxidants REALLY harmful to you??
In this review, which is a rehash of their paper published last year in the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA), they first excluded over 400 trials, that had no deaths. They then decided which trials they liked (low risk bias) and did not like (high risk bias), a factor that has received criticism in mainstream medical journals.

Not surprisingly, the selection process in today's review excluded many of the most positive studies. For example, quoting the review itself, 'In secondary prevention trials (meaning people with disease) with high-bias risk, mortality was significantly reduced by supplements.' In those they called 'low-bias risk' there was no significant change in mortality.

Vitamin E increases life span of Alzheimer’s patients
“Vitamin E has previously been shown to delay the progression of moderately severe Alzheimers disease. Now, we’ve been able to show that vitamin E appears to increase the survival time of Alzheimer’s patients as well,” Pavlik said. This is particularly important because recent studies in heart disease patients have questioned whether vitamin E is beneficial for survival.

Pine bark extract's osteoarthritis potential expanded
Supplements of French maritime pine bark extracts may reduce the pain associated with arthritis of the knee. The randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial involving 156 patients with osteoarthritis and using the pine bark extract, Pycnogenol, indicated an improvement in all osteoarthritis symptoms by 56 per cent, according to data published in the journal Phytotherapy Research.

UK Food Safety Authority issues health claims guidance
The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) has issued a detailed 81-page document advising companies on how to negotiate the various European Commission processes involved in health claims submission, approval and application.

The document explains all aspects of the regulation, defines the various claim options and details what is expected in scientific dossiers and how to go about submitting them to the relevant authority.

Endless red tape is being put in front of anyone providing healthy natural products. Don't say they can prevent or cure anything, is the first commandment. And then for what you CAN say, there is a multitude of hoops to jump through before you may do so.

New Zealand: Get diet drinks out of our schools!
"Following agreement with Government, beverage manufacturers are taking sugar sweetened fizzy drinks out of secondary schools, but unfortunately the manufacturers are replacing them with the more dangerous aspartame-containing drinks," said Soil & Health Association spokesperson Steffan Browning. "The isolated phenylalanine in aspartame has been shown to deplete serotonin levels and lower the seizure threshold. This can trigger mood swings, suicidal tendencies and behavioural problems – exactly the sort of problems we want to lessen in our young people, not increase."

Sweetener poses serious health risks
An article issued by the Food and Drug Administration revealed that when the temperature of aspartame exceeds 86 degrees Fahrenheit, the wood alcohol in aspartame converts to formaldehyde and then to formic acid. Formaldehyde is grouped in the same class of drugs as cyanide and arsenic, two deadly poisons. All day long, the troops drank their diet sodas which had converted themselves into poisons.

"Consumers for World Trade" - Fake Grassroots Corporate Front Group Bites the Dust
Consumers for World Trade (CWT), which describes itself as being a "network of consumers," is enthusiastic about everything from the right of the U.S. President to negotiate free trade agreements, slashing import duties and quotas on items such as footwear and apparel and opposing mandatory country-of-origin labeling. You'd be right in thinking this doesn't sound like a normal consumer group, but exactly who they are is not immediately obvious. A little digging though, reveals that CWT is just another front group trying to wrap a self-serving corporate message in a public interest name.

GM Crops a Disastrous Failure World Wide
BT cotton has revealed itself toxic in India, GM corn in the US promotes pest expansion and superweeds, GM rice illegally entered the food chain, GM canola is an economic hazard and consumers in the US are refusing to drink milk from cattle treated with Monsanto's genetically modified growth hormone. Not a pretty picture for the GM agro-industry camp.

Corrupt to the Core - Memoirs of a Health Canada Scientist - Bill 517: GE Labeling
"The experiences of the few honest whistleblowers and valiant fighters for truth within Health Canada - like Dr. Chopra, who saved Canadians from Monsanto's Bovine Growth Hormone - shows how rotten-to-the-core this agency has become - serving as the handmaiden of, and implementer for, an extremely corrupt industry."

Pharma Companies Mislead With Ads For Psychiatric Medications
"Roughly half of the adverts featured citations to primary research papers to support their claims. Yet when the team checked, they found that over a third (35 per cent) of the claims were not supported by their cited sources.

"'The sources are provided by the companies themselves, so it's pretty easy to cherry pick one study that backs up their claim,' Spielmans told Chemistry World. 'Despite that, many of the cited sources did not support the advertising claims.'"

Glaxo And Novartis Face Alabama Fraud Lawsuit
The Alabama Supreme Court has ruled that Glaxo and Novartis won’t get separate trials in a lawsuit claiming they inflated prices paid by the state Medicaid program. The state’s lawsuit says the drugmakers overstated the average wholesale price used to calculate state Medicaid reimbursement rates to pharmacies. Alabama has sued 70 companies over similar allegations...

Pharmaceutical Companies Oppose Patent Reform
A version of the bill passed the House last September but the White House opposes the damages portion of the House version and a similar measure in is stalled in the Senate amid vocal opposition from Lilly and Monsanto, as well as smaller tech companies that fear lower damages would leave them vulnerable to infringers.

Pharma, whose drugs often have just one or two patents, says it needs the threat of high damages to protect their intellectual property.

On the other side, Boldrin & Levine, in their book "Against Intellectual Monopoly" argue that pharmaceutical patents (Chapter 9) are neither essential for providing just compensation to pharma for their research expenditures, nor are they even promoting the development of new drugs.

FDA looks at link between medications, depression
As symptoms of depression go, there is none much clearer than having thoughts of suicide. In this year alone, federal regulators have warned that a surprising array of drugs could play a role in spurring thoughts of self-destruction. Medicines that treat epilepsy, asthma and influenza are now under suspicion, as is one that helps smokers kick the tobacco habit.

Antipsychotic Drugs Increase Risk Of Developing Pneumonia In Elderly
“The risk of developing pneumonia is not associated with long-term use, but is the highest shortly after starting the drug,” say Drs. Rob van Marum and Wilma Knol, authors of the study. They caution that “all antipsychotic drugs may be associated with pneumonia in elderly patients.”

In nursing homes, up to 40 percent of residents may be prescribed antipsychotics, according to the study.

Impugning the Integrity of Medical Science
The Journal of the American Medical Association has an editorial that questions - of all things - the integrity of medicine.

"The profession of medicine, in every aspect—clinical, education, and research—has been inundated with profound influence from the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. This has occurred because physicians have allowed it to happen, and it is time to stop."

Here's the same story in USA Today: Data on Vioxx was misused

3,000 children were given unlicensed anti-psychotic drugs despite safety fears
The increase in the use of the drugs has come at a time when Prozac and other similar drugs used to treat depression have gone out of patent.

“There is a real question over whether the drugs can kill, for a number of reasons,” he told The Guardian. “One is that all anti-psychotics act on dopamine.” Professor Healy said that dopamine was known to have a role in cardiovascular regulation.

How Florida Fell In Love With Antipsychotics
Because most experts have ties to drugmakers, Tandon explains, conflicts of interest are inevitable. “There are clear conflicts of interest,” he says. “Everyone is biased. For someone to say, ‘I’m not biased,’ they are not truthful or they are not introspective.”

“Were the benefits of atypical medications exaggerated? Absolutely. And was it the pharmaceutical companies doing that? Absolutely…"

Suicide and Cymbalta
Twice the expected number of suicide attempts among middle aged women were seen with the drug-- 400 per 100,000 person-years versus a baseline of 160 per 100,000 person-years--said the FDA on its Web site in June, 2005, leading Lilly to precipitously withdraw its application to sell Yentreve in the US.

Safety data for duloxetine (Cymbalta and Yentreve) obtained by reporter Jeanne Lenzer under a Freedom of Information request for a Independent on Sunday article disclosed 41 deaths and 13 suicides which did not include Johnson's or the four cited by Hayes, says Lenzer.

"Unlikely" that key genes cause schizophrenia
"We did not detect a significant association of schizophrenia with SNPs in 14 candidate genes that have been of great interest to the field," wrote the authors.

"Our results suggest that, taken together, common DNA variants in these 14 genes are unlikely to explain a large proportion of the genetic risk for schizophrenia in populations of European ancestry."

Many Ads For Psych Meds Unsubstantiated
Half of the claims made in ads provided no attainable source that could be used to check the veracity of the claim, according to the study, which was published in the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. When sources were verified, they supported the cited claims only 65 percent of the time. And claims regarding efficacy were only supported by obtained cited sources 53 percent of the time.

1 in 15 Hospitalized US Children Harmed by Drug Overdose or Adverse Reaction
CONCLUSIONS. Adverse drug event rates in hospitalized children are substantially higher than previously described. Most adverse drug events resulted in temporary harm, and 22% were classified as preventable. Only 3.7% were identified by using traditional voluntary reporting methods.

Increase in severe pneumonia in children may be caused by vaccine
Cases of a life-threatening form of pneumonia that affects the young are rising rapidly in Britain. It now affects around 1,000 children a year. The cause of the increase is unknown but experts fear a vaccine in the immunisation programme could be contributing.

This severe pneumonia infects the lining of the lungs called the pleura, making it hard to breathe. It requires hospital admission to drain the chest cavity.

Child health specialists say cases of the pneumonia, known as serotype 1, have risen tenfold in a decade. They warn that a vaccine against pneumococcal disease called Prevenar, introduced in 2006, could be fuelling the rise.

Vaccine blamed for worst flu season in years
Based on adult deaths from flu and pneumonia, this season is the worst since 2003-2004 — another time when the vaccine did not include the exact flu strain responsible for most illnesses.

Each year, health officials — making essentially an educated guess — formulate a vaccine against three viruses they think will be circulating. They guess well most of the time, and the vaccine is often between 70 and 90% effective. But this year, two of the three strains were not good matches and the vaccine was only 44% effective, according to a study done in Marshfield, Wis.

Flu vaccines are essentially a lottery. The decision on how to make the vaccine must be made months before the start of the "flu season". But then - wouldn't a supplement of vitamin D be much more effective in strengthening the immune system than an injection of a viral solution combined with poisons such as aluminium and mercury?

HOW TO PREVENT VACCINE INJURY
The government’s primary goal appears to be to prevent parents, en masse, from refusing to vaccinate their children. To prevent such a “run on the public health bank” all caution is being recklessly thrown to the wind.

It should not be of any great comfort to parents that scientists hardly understand how the immune system works. The simplistic idea that vaccines offer protection against disease has an element of truth and a significant element of risk. This article explores the risk in greater depth. I will first explain what is known about the nature of the risk and follow with some natural options that can really help out.

BABIES INFECT MOTHERS; CRAZY THEORY RUINS LIVES
The tragedies here are not only the wrongly diagnosed babies and mothers. What about the doctors and other medical personnel who are being charged with negligence, when they did nothing to bring about this situation?

HIV: A RACE-DISCRIMINATING SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED VIRUS!
HIV is unique not only as an infection that discriminates by race; it’s unique as a sexually transmitted infection that discriminates by race. Chlamydia, gonorrhea, herpes, syphilis seem equally able to infect humans of all racial types. No venereal disease—other than HIV/AIDS—targets primarily one racial group. This is so incredible, and the matter is so centrally important, that no amount of supporting evidence could be redundant.

“HIV” discriminates by race just as though it were capable of recognizing the DNA sequences in the human genome. The tendency to test “HIV”-positive, for a given state of health, is determined primarily by race and significantly by age and sex. This is not how a sexually transmitted infection behaves.

Aids research: A billion here, a billion there . . . .
Senator Everett Dirksen is credited with the remark, about Congress’s habitual tendency to spend taxpayers’ money on all sorts of projects, that “A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon it adds up to real money”. One wonders what he would have said about HIV/AIDS, which gobbles up far more for research per patient death ($180,000) than cancer ($10,000) or cardiovascular disease ($2600).

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt has announced grants of more than $1.1 billion to provide primary care, medications and services for low-income and underinsured people living with HIV/AIDS.

Of course, you will find that only those who "take their (toxic) meds" as prescribed will get any of that help. Nothing for real research or helping those who have ideas different from the medical mainstream.

High mobile use puts us at risk of brain tumours
Australian neurosurgeon Dr Vini Khurana’s study predicts that the fallout of heavy mobile phone use would be visible soon as the nation’s love affair with mobile phone climbs to dizzying heights.

In his research, Khurana says heavy usage of cell phones for a period of 10 years or more doubles the chances of brain tumour. It also, he adds, has larger public health ramification than asbestos and smoking.

Reducing Electromagnetic Frequency Exposure May Improve Your Health
Ask those who have become "electrically sensitive" (ES), people who now experience a wide range of symptoms upon exposure to even low levels of EMF radiation and have a most difficult time finding a place to live safely in our wireless age. Symptoms can range from the uncomfortable (headaches, burning sensations, tingling) and debilitating (severe "brain fog," heart arrhythmias, migraines, severe depression, chronic insomnia) to even life threatening (seizures, heart attacks). Many of today’s ES started out as healthy working citizens and through chronic and acute exposures to electric radiation (some worked directly with electronics and computers, others worked in standard school and business/office settings), they became electrically sensitive with little warning.

"Major Disaster" for Bees May Jeopardize Washington State's Crops
"It's a major disaster in Western Washington. We are into a huge emergency situation," said Yakima beekeeper Eric Olson, who runs the state's largest commercial pollination business.

While his hives in Central and Eastern Washington have survived, Olson said he has lost 80 percent of his Western Washington hives - more than 4,000 in all - to the new pathogen. Other commercial pollinators with bees in Western Washington were just as hard hit. "I'm scared, and I don't mind saying so," Olson said.

- - -

More information out there...

There is much I cannot cover but other sources for this kind of information exist and are active.

You can subscribe to the Zeus Newsletterhere. Appears twice monthly. If you would like to see some samples of Louise's collection of informative links, here are the archives.

Dr Mercola's health blog and Mike Adams' Natural News have great health information.

The Alternative Medicine Yahoo Group is a place where you can discuss and exchange information on what is happening in the world of natural health.

For the influence of electromagnetic waves from radio, mobile phones and other radio emitting devices, check out the emfrefugee group on Yahoo.

If you are interested in a different take on the news that isn't health centered but is certainly fun, check out Robin Good TV News.

A few sites to keep up to date with the other side of world affairs, the stuff you won't necessarily find on your tv or in the papers:

http://www.whatreallyhappened.com
http://www.commondreams.org
http://www.globalresearch.ca/
http://rawstory.com/
http://www.truthout.org/

... and remember:

The individual is supreme and finds its way through intuition

The HIV-Aids Titanic hits its own iceberg

Rethinking AIDS Day is the 23rd of April. Just one day after Earth Day, celebrated on 22 April to promote the need for reexamining our relationship with the environment, Rethinking AIDS Day prompts us to critically examine the widely held idea that the immune weakness we see in AIDS is caused by an infective virus.

According to HEAL, "Rethinking AIDS Day (RAD) is April 23rd to remember (not celebrate) the anniversary of the infamous Gallo/Heckler news conference announcing the 'probable' cause of AIDS had been discovered. By the time the science was published and found wanting, it was too late."

RethinkingAIDS goes into some more detail about that botched announcement of "the cause" of AIDS:

April 23rd is a day to rethink our understanding of AIDS and HIV, to remember the fraud that was perpetrated on this day in 1984 when Margaret Heckler announced that Robert Gallo had discovered the probable cause of AIDS at a press conference, after a blood test had been patented, but before any of the science was published.

It turned out later that the papers contained information that did not establish anything, but they did eventually trigger several investigations into the scientific misconduct of Robert Gallo, including a congressional investigation. Robert Gallo had powerful friends and good luck, some investigations were dropped when the definition of scientific fraud or misconduct was changed, and the congressional investigation was terminated as a side effect of the takeover of the US Congress by the Republicans.

But it was too late, the military machine that we call modern medicine had already handed down the orders that HIV caused AIDS and that AIDS was always fatal...

Anyone with a computer, an internet connection and some basic skills of finding information can confirm for themselves that the theory that tells us that HIV=AIDS=ILLNESS AND DEATH is full of holes. A number of articles on this site point out such holes, among them:

HIV-Aids: A Tragic Error

Why I Quit HIV - Is AIDS Myth Falling Apart?

Alternatives to AZT in Aids Patients

World AIDS Day 2004 - What happened to Koch's Postulates?

HIV Test Bogus - Based on Circular Reasoning

Seeing a great number of holes in the official theory, the question arises: What really does cause AIDS? Dr Harold Foster answers that question from the viewpoint of epidemiological geology, saying that those with certain mineral deficiencies - especially of selenium - are at risk. The book What Really Causes AIDS? is a free download from his site.

There is more information on nutrient deficiencies and aberrated biochemical pathways as a possible cause of AIDS in Glutathione Peroxidase - Selenium, Aminoacids Overcome AIDS.

Beldeu Singh, a Malaysian researcher and writer, argues that AIDS is really a consequence of our lifestyle. Nothing to do with a virus, as much as the medical establishment wishes to promote that cause. The dogma that HIV causes Aids which in turn causes death is like the Titanic and it going to sink just like the ship after it hit the iceberg.

The real culprit, says Singh, is our infatuation with drugs, medical and non, but especially those based on the benzene molecule. Our use of chemicals to treat both emotional and physical problems is to blame. Unfortunately, this use of chemicals is sustained and promoted by a multi-billion dollar industry that has the ear of health authorities world wide. In his article, Singh illustrates the mechanism that is behind this common immune weakness.

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HIV-AIDS TITANIC HITS ITS OWN ITS OWN ICEBERG
by Beldeu Singh
editing by Sepp

By 1984, the proponents of HIV-causes-AIDS claimed that they had "isolated" a new virus called the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). It was said to be a retrovirus with an enzyme, reverse transcriptase [RT]. It is also said to be an enveloped virus although no one has seen its "budding process" under the electron microscope. It was stated to be the "probable cause of AIDS" but soon came to be accepted as the causative agent of AIDS (Gallo RC, Montagnier L. The discovery of HIV as the cause of AIDS, New Engl J Med 2003;349:2283–5). It was made out to be a virulent pathogen that attacked the immune system (ie its white blood cells) and impaired it and later destroyed it, leading to the establishment of opportunistic infections.

The spread of the "virus", as an epidemic, however defies this possibility altogether.

This point is well put forth by Dr. Robert Root-Bernstein. Female prostitutes often have 200-300 sexual partners per year and are therefore assumed to have much higher rates of exposure to HIV and AIDS than the vast majority of heterosexuals. Many AIDS researchers assumed that female prostitutes would be the vectors (or means of transmission) of HIV and AIDS to the heterosexual community based on the fact that a single HIV-infected intravenous drug user or bisexual man could infect one female prostitute, who in turn could infect dozens or perhaps even hundreds of non-drug using heterosexual men. These men could, in turn, infect their other sexual partners, and an explosion of HIV and AIDS could occur among people without any obvious risk for AIDS. Paradoxically, no heterosexual epidemic has occurred and no evidence of female prostitutes transmitting HIV or AIDS into the heterosexual community exists for any Western nation.

Transmission almost always seems to be drug related. In fact, sexual acquisition of HIV and AIDS among female prostitutes themselves is almost unknown in the absence of concomitant intravenous drug use. Cell-free viral particles have never been found directly in semen. In ‘American Journal of Epidemiology’ (Vol. 146, No.4), Nancy S. Padian et al reported: “We estimate that HIV infectivity for male-to-female transmission is low, approximately 0.0009 per contact, and that infectivity for female-to-male transmission is even lower.”

The HIV-causes-AIDS hypothesis was devised to explain observations and to make predictions. Its predictions on how it would spread failed that hypothesis. The first problem of researchers was due to the fact that they decided that they had indeed found an new virus in their supernatant solutions instead of isolating it through the process of reinfection of healthy cells and purifying it. Secondly, they decided that the particles in their supernatant were highly infective, that they targeted and killed T4 cells of the blood immune system.

Let's look at the other claims of the HIV hypothesis that were proposed to explain the following three observations:
1. A decrease in a specific cell type, T4 lymphocytes

2. Opportunistic infections (OI), and

3. The high frequency of a malignancy, Kaposi's sarcoma (KS).

What defied the pathogenic cause of AIDS is that no other infectious agent causes such a diverse number of diseases.

It was further hypothesized that HIV causes the syndrome indirectly ... and then the titanic hit its iceberg. What is this indirect cause mechanism? The original idea was that HIV as a causative agent kills the T4 cells and consequently a decrease in T4 cells (immune deficiency) leads to the appearance of the actual diseases which constitute the clinical syndrome. The decrease in T4 cells was stated to be the key factor of impairment of the immune system caused by the "HIV infection" and the diagnosis of AIDS, a theory which proved unfounded.

But AIDS studies run into other serious problems. Most researchers who use the HIV test kits do not read the disclaimer on these test kits - that they cannot be used to diagnose AIDS. At one time it was said that these kits tested for HIV antibodies and at other times they said that the tests were for viral-specific proteins! Researchers generally fail to realize that many of these studies are flawed because the so-called HIV was never isolated in accordance with the established steps in virology that require its purification and ability to reinfect healthy cells and to recover the virus from these infected cells.

What Gallo has obtained and uses in his patented HIV test, is only a supernatant that he has used to infect T4 cells which however do not die upon his infecting them! Finally, he talks about a p24 protein in his supernatant that has never been purified and never proven to be a HIV-specific protein. So, naturally, to make matters worse, many non-AIDS people test positive on these test kits giving a very large number of false positives.

Virus-like particles

So far, only "virus particles" or "virus-like particles" have been noted or demonstrated. The presence of budding virus-like particles in human lymphoid cells used for HIV cultivation (VIIth International Conference on AIDS; 1991; Florence: O'Hara CJ, Groopman JE, Federman M, The ultrastructural and immunohistochemical demonstration of viral particles in lymph nodes from human immunodeficiency virus-related and non-human immunodeficiency virus-related lymphadenopathy syndromes, Hum Pathol 1988;19:545–9) is said to support the possibility of AIDS as a latency disease associated with and triggered by oxidative stress (see: THE EPSTEIN-BARR VIRUS IN AIDS) but so far no one has observed the budding process under electron microscopy.

Later, they also claim that other cells act as HIV reservoirs, harboring intact viruses that may remain undetected by the immune system while they “target” the cells of the immune system. There is no explanation on how an infected cell remains normal and remains undetected as an abnormal cell by NK cells or activated macrophages after HIV has incorporated its genetic material into the chromosomes of the cell.

Such a virus, with such a capability, having a sufficiently sophisticated enzyme system to incorporate its genetic material into the cells' chromosomes and activate it later on into replicating itself cannot be so small and illusive that it avoids isolation and replication by other virologists. It must have a large amount of genetic material to be able to do all of those things - but retroviruses such as the fictitious Gallo-HIV are “gifted” with too little genetic material. AIDS proponents observe only virus particles and may switch their hypothesis yet again - claiming that AIDS is probably caused by virus particles or virus-like particles.

The retrovirus-like particles that have been seen in many non-infected cell lines used for "HIV isolation" including cord blood lymphocytes cannot be proven to be so by merely looking at their density 1.16 g/ml density in a sucrose gradient unless they were proven to be infective. So, even if they did have an 'infective character' in malnourished people and/or in people with chronic oxidative stress, it would only be evidence of a condition typical of oxidative stress and not a disease caused by virus infection as it was made out to be by the proponents of HIV-causes-AIDS.

HIV not isolated

No particle of ‘HIV’ has ever been obtained pure, free of contaminants; nor has a complete piece of ‘HIV’ RNA (or the transcribed DNA) ever been proved to exist. Moreover, Dr David Ho admits that 99.8 per cent of putative ‘HIV particles’ are non-infectious; the remaining 0.2 per cent of ‘viral particles’, being defective, are not capable of replication. As a transmittable entity, ‘HIV’ could not survive in nature. This indicates that what we are calling ‘HIV’ is a misinterpreted, non-transmissible, endogenous epiphenomenon (a normal, non-infective body process) that should never have been classed as a virus. If particles are all that they observe, these particles may well come from a common virus such as the Epstein-Barr virus.

Some researchers claim that HIV infection is sustained by a dynamic process involving continuous rounds of new viral infection and the destruction and replacement of over 1 billion CD4+ T cells per day (Wei et al., 1995; Ho et al., 1995). The biggest problem in medical science now is to show evidence of killing of T4 cells in AIDS patients by the HIV virus while Gallo has actually been replicating the supposedly ‘virulent HIV’ in an immortalized lines of T4 cells for 22 years!

We know that suppression of the immune system or impairing its function by low intake of natural antioxidants increases the risk of infections called opportunistic infections. Chronic oxidative stress and malnutrition are also factors, both singly and jointly, that lead to immune suppression and lowering of white blood cell counts or even anemia.

T4 Cells and Immune Suppression

There are studies that show decreases in T4 cells in drug users. If that condition persists, it leads to the development of AIDS. So, immune suppression precedes a positive antibody test (“HIV infection”) and not vice versa, which means that immune suppression is the cause of opportunistic infections and thus is the cause of the AIDS condition. This point is well brought out by one study in drug users by Des Jarlias et al on “The relative risk for seroconversion among subjects with one or more CD4 count of less than 500 cells/ll compared with HIV-negative subjects with all counts of more than 500 cells/ll was 4.53” (Des Jarlais et al, CD4 lymphocytopenia among injecting drug users in New York City, J Acquir Immun Defic Syndr 1993;6:820–2).

Naturally, those with suppressed immune systems as indicated by relatively low T4 cell counts would be at a higher risk of infections. In another study, “low number of T4 cells was the highest risk factor for HIV infection” (Nicolosi et al, Incidence and risk factors of HIV infection: a prospective study of seronegative drug users from Milan and Northern Italy, 1987–1989. Epidemiology 1990;1:453–9).

It appears that the fact that immune suppression leads to the development and progression of AIDS and that immunosuppression appears prior to an "HIV infection" was recognized by Montagnier as long ago as 1985. Depression in cell mediated immunity leads to AIDS. That is for sure but unfortunately, it is treated with drugs that further depress the immune system and can impair it to such an extent that they can actually cause the symptoms of AIDS! (see: ALTERNATIVES TO AZT IN AIDS PATIENTS).

In the Journal Of Infectious Diseases, Montagnier wrote that oxidative stress induces HIV replication! Since drugs cause oxidative stress, it would mean that these drugs are inducing HIV replication in “HIV-infected” patients. That is a paradox in treatment in modern medicine. If oxidative stress precedes HIV replication, then this can only mean that there is sufficient oxidative stress to depress the immune system before the progression of AIDS. Their titanic is struck in the side.

If it is indeed true that the HIV replication is induced by oxidative stress, then HIV replication is induced in people with chronic malnutrition and the answers in treatment and prevention strategies fall into the area of natural antioxidants in the diet – not toxic drugs that generate free radicals in the body and cause more oxidative stress.

AZT is a cytotoxic poison

Originally developed for chemotherapy, it was never approved for use in humans because of its toxicity. It kills healthy cells by terminating the DNA synthesis in cells. Its mDNA depletion activity explains muscular fatigue and muscular atrophy later on in its long term use. AZT is confirmed to be carcinogenic in mice. In humans, AZT increases the risk of lymphomas 50 times. AZT decreases white blood cells by killing young CD4 lymphocytes. It causes anemia, vomiting, lactic acidosis, fatigue, muscles wasting and lymphocytopenia and it stimulates leukemia – all of these are classic symptoms of AIDS! It was labeled toxic by inhalation until a rushed trial turned it into ‘medicine’ to become a cornerstone in a multi-billion dollar industry. That medicine decreases T4 cells by killing them just as HIV was supposed to be doing!

A study on cardiovascular toxicology reports “AZT treatment increases superoxide (free radical) production” and “the effects of AZT on endothelium-dependent relaxation are eliminated by pretreatment with a free radical scavenger” (anti-oxidant) which means that natural antioxidants must be integrated into toxic therapies.

Benzene poisoning

Chronic benzene poisoning results in great individual variation in signs and symptoms which include lymphomas, myeloid leukemia, Hodgkin's disease etc., much like in AIDS and mutagenesis due to severe free-radical damage. The cumulative effect of benzene and its derivatives takes a few to several years to develop and manifest, in most cases up to 10-12 years. Many drugs are benzene derivatives.

Free-radical damage reactions in cells produce toxic chemicals, destroy enzymes and kill cells. They also start chain reactions that are harmful to health. Long term exposure to free-radicals can lead to chronic illness, chronic fatigue, cancers or early symptoms of aging. Benzene "burns out" the endocrine system and speeds up the aging process 100 fold, so in some of the early AIDS cases the patients left a lasting impression: People who "died horrible deaths and looked like shriveled old men" due to immune system destruction caused by anemia and leukocytopenia (see: AIDS, NON-HIV AIDS AND PRESCRIPTION AIDS).

Mitochondria and energy

Excess free radicals always accelerate the aging process and they often interfere with healthy biochemical processes in the mitochondria.

Mitochondria are tiny structures within cells that convert the energy from food into a form that cells can use. Mitochondria also have a small amount of their own DNA. This genetic material is known as mitochondrial DNA or mDNA. Mitochondrial DNA contains 37 genes. All of them are essential for normal mitochondrial function.

Thirteen of these genes provide instructions for making enzymes involved in oxidative phosphorylation. Oxidative phosphorylation is a process that uses oxygen and simple sugars to create adenosine triphosphate (ATP). ATP is the cell's main energy molecule to generate cellular energy that is used in the healthy biochemical pathways.

The remaining genes carry instructions for making molecules called transfer RNAs (tRNAs) and ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs), which are chemical cousins of DNA. These types of RNA help assemble protein building blocks (amino acids) into functioning proteins. Hence, a block in the formation of ATP and of proteins leads to fatigue and muscle wasting respectively.

Free radical damage inflicted by reactive oxygen species (ROS) and especially the hydroxyl radical on the genetic material in mDNA can lead to the development of cancers.

The matrix of mitochondria carries most of the respiratory enzymes of the citric acid cycle that are involved in the breakdown of sugars, proteins and fats for the production of ATP to generate cellular energy. Cells that require the most energy have high mitochondrial density. The cells of the brain, the skeletal muscles, the heart muscle and the eye contain the highest number of mitochondria (as many as 9,000 to 10,000 per cell) while the skin cells, which do not require much energy, contain only a few hundred of them.

The heart cells produce very high amounts of coenzyme Q10 which is an antioxidant enzyme effective in cell membrane repair and is important in ATP utilization to release energy for its continuous pumping activity. Coenzyme Q10 helps to maintain cell membrane integrity. If cell membrane integrity is compromised by the suppression or blocking of the pathway that yields coenzyme Q10, there could be loss of minerals, including magnesium from heart cells, which could lead to arrhythmia and heart attack.

Mitochondrial disorders can be acquired while under drug treatment. AZT treatment in AIDS patients has been shown to cause mDNA depletion which in turn causes myopathic changes that are reversible upon termination of treatment. Chemotherapy agents such as fosfamide have been reported to decrease mitochondrial function.

For mitochondria to reproduce themselves, a specific enzyme called gamma-DNA-polymerase or “pol-gamma” is required. Many drug medications have been found to interrupt pol gamma. Studies suggest that virtually all the nucleoside analog reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NARTIs) including AZT interrupt pol gamma to some extent. One study has already demonstrated that people given AZT had significant depletion of mitochondrial DNA in muscle tissue. So, free radical damage to mitochondria, whether by benzene and its derivatives or by AZT or other toxic chemicals can cause the “chronic fatigue” and weight loss symptoms diagnosed in the early AIDS patients.

Mitochondrial damage can possibly be a primary cause for low platelet count (thrombocytopenia), anemia and low neutrophil count, regardless of HIV serostatus see: AIDS, NON-HIV AIDS AND PRESCRIPTION AIDS).

Mitochondrial damage means oxidative stress that impairs the cytochrome system in the mitochondria and free radical damage to its membranes as well as impairment of the MT protein system that binds the hydroxyl radical and transports it out of the mitochondria thus preventing oxidative damage within the mitochondria including oxidative damage to "pol-gamma" enzymes and mDNA, whereby there is depletion of mitochondria in cells leading to fatigue and chronic fatigue. It excludes oxidative stress that merely lowers its ATP output.

"In order for mitochondria to reproduce themselves, a specific enzyme called gamma-DNA-polymerase, or "pol gamma" is required. Many medications have been found to interrupt pol gamma. Studies suggest that virtually all the nucleoside analog reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NARTIs) - such as AZT, 3TC, ddI, ddC, d4T, and abacavir - interrupt pol gamma to some extent. This disruption prevents the transport of long-chain fatty acids from being transported across the membrane wall into the mitochondria, where they are used as primary fuel and energy sources. As a result, fatty acids are dysfunctionally deposited and accumulated in muscle tissue. Without the cell's main source of energy, the number of newly formed mitochondria drops, and therefore, cell function decreases and possibly even cells die (or apoptosis). Symptoms developed by an individual would depend upon the type of cell affected. However, the most common symptom is generalized, overall fatigue" (Brad S. Lichtenstein, Mitochondrial Damage, 2002, The Body, The Complete HIV/AIDs Resource).

Toxic medication

Toxic medication has gained widespread use over the last 30 – 40 years and its prolonged use in patients is fast becoming an issue in public health. For instance, the use of drugs in patients with heart disease that also inhibit the formation of coenzyme Q10 will increase the risk of heart attacks and that becomes an issue in public health. Statin drugs can lower coenzyme Q10 in heart cells (Watts GF et al - Plasma coenzyme Ql0 (ubiquinone) concentrations in patients treated with sinvastatins Jnl of Clinical Pathology 1993;46; 1055-1057; and Bliznakov EG and Williams DJ Biochemical and clinical consequences of inhibiting coenzyme Ql0 biosynthesis by lipid-lowering HMG CoA reductase inhibitors (statins); a critical overview; Advances in therapy, 1998, 15; 218-228, etc) and increase the risk to the heart over time.

US researchers say that “popular painkillers such as aspirin, ibuprofen and acetaminophen can raise blood pressure and thus raise the risk of heart disease among men” (Archives of Internal Medicine, 2002). This is another example of drugs that cause concern in public health. These researchers reported that men who took such drugs for most days of the week were about one-third more likely to be diagnosed with high blood pressure than men not taking them and men who took paracetamol six or seven days a week were 34% more likely to be diagnosed with high blood pressure than men who did not take analgesics.

In the near future, more evidence is expected to come from studies to show that drugs cause certain disease states to develop or otherwise increase the risk of developing disease conditions. Among them is expected the elevation of blood pressure in cardiovascular patients, especially in geriatric patients, and the elevation of blood glucose levels in diabetic patients when given antibiotics. These drugs interfere in mitochondrial processes and possibly in the formation of coenzyme Q10. They also promote mineral loss.

The only logical hypothesis is that toxic chemicals, whether or not they are approved for medication, if they generate free radicals in the body that decrease white blood cell count or kill T4 cells or damage the cell walls of cells of the immune system or the endocrine system, they will promote the development of the AIDS condition. The results are immune deficiencies or immune disorders or damage to the genetic material in mitochondria. This explains the variation of the symptoms of AIDS. It also means there will be no such thing as an AIDS vaccine as predicted much earlier.

Drugs promote 'infection'

Remicade and Enbrel are drugs that possibly fall in this category as indicated by the contraction of tuberculosis (TB) in 12 patients in California and its risk in causing blood cancer. They provide a good example that, like AZT, they weaken or impair the immune system sufficiently to allow drug-induced opportunistic infections (DIOIs) to interfere with the genetic material in cells, which may result in cancers. The world wide rise of TB may in fact be DIOI-TB while HIV-linked TB is attributable to the ravaging effects of AZT and other immunosuppressive drugs on the immune system.

There is a world wide rise of infectious diseases like TB that can be explained by impairment of cell mediated immunity or immunesuppression. "It dawns on me why tuberculosis -1.7 billion infected worldwide, 600 million cases annually, 2 million deaths, of which 95% are in developing countries; in Western countries less than 0.05% of the population is affected by the disease, of which more than 95% are homeless, alcoholics, IV-drug users, asylum seekers - 'is an AIDS-defining illness' " (The Lancet editorial, July 6,1996).

The study of modern illnesses must consider the other point of disease states caused by oxidative stress that are similar to those caused by pathogens. Bacterial pneumonias and non-bacterial pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) is one such case. "Indeed, in the general population in Germany, for example, less than 1% of the population is affected by bacterial pneumonias. IV-drug users suffered more frequently from bacterial pneumonias long before AIDS came along for reasons well known to the venerable Virchow - unsatisfactory hygiene, malnutrition, bad housing etc., etc. The really important point, however, is that: IV-drug users classified as "HIV-infected" suffered from bacterial pneumonias, as a comprehensive study in Berlin has shown, whereas, non-bacterial pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) the most frequent "HIV associated respiratory disease" (and the most frequent "HIV associated disease" or "AIDS-defining illness" altogether in the West) does not, to all intents and purposes, feature at all in IV-drug users who are not homosexual." (Heinrich Kremer, Acquired Iatrogenic Death Syndrome (AIDS), Heinrich Kremer, Pneumonias & Lung Diseases, Dec 1996).

Homosexuals tend to use toxic synthetic lubricants that absorb about 8 times faster through the anus than through the dermis and generate oxidative stress that can deplete natural vitamin C in lung tissue and in white blood cells. This decline in vitamin C levels compromises the function and role of the immune system. Vitamin C is not produced in the human body. Humans lost the glucoronic pathway about 18 million years ago during the course of evolution.

Antibiotics

An antibiotic compounded the problem for this group of patients who became easily infected with a wide spectrum of microbes. Co-trimoxazole was brought into clinical use in the early 1970s. Individually, sulphamethoxazole and trimethoprim inhibited the growth of certain pathogens only, whereas both together as co-trimoxazole killed off a wide range of microbes. This was of great significance in the treatment of multiple infections of a minority of homosexuals in the large Western metropols. The purpose of treatment in most cases was simply to suppress as quickly as possible the wide spectrum of microbial growth encountered in this group. Co-trimoxazole quickly became the wonder drug with specialist doctors and their homosexual patients in Western metropols. But it produced a tragedy.

Co-trimoxazole is a double-action folic acid inhibitor and it was used not only to treat but to prevent microbial infections (incredibly, often by self-administration), especially against the often refractory urinary tract and intestinal infections, and atypical pneumonias in this group of patients (see: Study Group AIDS Therapy, The role of antibiotics in the emergence of AIDS, 2001).

"Chemical antibiotics (e.g. sulphonamides, TMPSMX and Co-trimoxazole), that have been repeatedly administrated from 1970 on in any kind of infections, cause immunosuppression, and toxic effects like skin rash, nausea and vomiting, leukopenia, pancreatitis, hyperkalemia, thrombo-cytopenia, toxic metabolites, elevated levels of liver enzymes and methhaemoglobinemia. They have helped create resistant bacterial strains.

By destroying bacteria in the gut, antibiotics inhibit the production of immunoglobulins, needed for the body's inner defenses, and lay the body open to all sorts of bacterial, fungal and viral infections, including those associated with AIDS. By their strong oxidative effects they lead to a deficiency of glutathione molecules in cells, that is characteristic for the development of AIDS defining illnesses (Study Group AIDS Therapy, The role of antibiotics in the emergence of AIDS, 2001). Gut bacteria also produce butyric acid that has anti-cancer properties.

Anti-virals pose a similar problem

Vancouver researchers found that tenofovir users were about three times more likely than abacavir users to develop higher-than-normal levels of creatinine in their blood. Another factor linked to having this problem was low CD4+ counts, roughly fewer than 150 cells. All in all, about 7 percent of tenofovir users in the Vancouver study developed some degree of kidney damage over an average of six months. A total of six patients had to stop taking tenofovir because of injured kidneys. Tenofovir may cause kidney damage by injuring the energy-producing parts of kidney tubules, called mitochondria, as does the nucleotide analogue adefovir. (Harris M et al, Nephrotoxicity of tenofovir DF. 12th Annual Canadian Conference on HIV/AIDS Research, April 10-13, Halifax. Abstract 168). This drug not only depresses white blood cell count but may also depress the mitochondrial density in cells and with ATP output falling below a critical level it disrupts the healthy biochemical pathways in kidney cells, promoting the loss of minerals.

Tenofovir belongs to a group of drugs called nucleotide analogues, that also include adefovir (Hepsera) and cidofovir (Vistide). All three drugs are used to treat different viral infections. Other drugs that can cause kidney damage and dysfunction may include the following:

• Antifungals - amphotericin B (Fungizone) and related formulations of this drug.

• Antivirals - acyclovir (Zovirax), adefovir (Hepsera), cidofovir (Vistide), foscarnet (Foscavir), indinavir (Crixivan), Valtrex (valacyclovir).

• Antiparasitic drugs - intravenous pentamidine.

• NSAIDS (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents) - acetaminophen (Tylenol), ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin), indomethacin (Indocid), naproxen (Naprosyn).

• Aminoglycoside antibiotics - amikacin (Amikin), gentamicin, paromomycin (Humatin), streptomycin, tobramycin.

• Other antibiotics - Septra (Bactrim, co-trimoxazole, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole).

Antibiotics kill microbial cells by inhibition of the synthesis of cell wall, inhibition of protein synthesis, injury to plasma membranes, inhibition in the synthesis of nucleic acids and inhibition in the synthesis of essential metabolites.

The degree of selective toxicity is expressed in terms of :
1. therapeutic dose, which is the amount of antibiotic needed for clinical treatment of an infection

2. toxic dose, the level at which the drug is toxic for the host.

The problem with antibiotics in the human biological system is that when these molecules enter the cells they are metabolized yielding hydrogen peroxide which must be converted into water and oxygen by the glutathione-catalase system. This additional biochemical activity can deplete the natural antioxidants in the body and a chronic decline in the levels of these enzymes can disrupt the healthy functioning of the tissues. Excess antibiotics will lead to a decline in output of the Krebs cycle leading to lower ATP output while it promotes mineral loss through the urine.

Anti-cancer drugs are more toxic and can have even more deleterious side-effects

Dr. Penefsky and his collaborators have been researching to determine the effect of anticancer drugs on oxygen consumption by normal and cancerous cells. They concluded that mitochondria are a common target for many anticancer drugs and that these effects on mitochondria are related to frequently observed adverse clinical responses (Harvey Penefsky, Ph.D., In collaboration with Abdul-Kader Souid, Karen A. Galvan and Kirk A. Tacka, Department of Pediatrics, State University of New York, Upstate Medical Center, Syracuse, New York) including fatigue.

While the purpose of administering anticancer drugs to patients is to kill the cancer cells, it is well known that many anticancer drugs in use today damage normal cells as well, especially young healthy cells. Much of the damage results from interaction of the drugs with cell mDNA, resulting in inhibition of protein synthesis and consequent cell death.

Recently however, it was found that anticancer drugs can inhibit cellular oxygen consumption both directly and indirectly (Souid AK, Tacka KA, Galvan KA, Penefsky HS, 2003, Immediate effects of anticancer drugs on mitochondrial oxygen consumption, Biochem Pharmacol. 2003 Sep 15;66(6):977-87,PMID: 12963484). They have found that cisplatin, a much-used anticancer agent containing platinum, indirectly inhibits mitochondrial oxidations by promoting the release from mitochondria of a critical component, cytochrome c. The effect of cisplatin on mitochondrial oxidations is delayed until significant amounts of cytochrome c are released.

On the other hand, cyclophosphamide and anthracycline antibiotics, two other frequently-used anticancer agents, directly and immediately inhibit oxygen consumption in a dose-dependent manner (Tacka KA, Dabrowiak JC, Goodisman J, Penefsky HS, Souid AK, 2004, Effects of Cisplatin on Mitochondrial Function in Jurkat Cells, Chem Res Toxicol, 2004 Aug 16;17(8):1102-1111,PMID: 15310242).

Antibiotics and chemotherapy also deplete minerals in the body

These minerals are also critical in the catalytic function in the glutathione-catalase system that converts the hydrogen peroxide formed during metabolism of toxic drugs into water and oxygen. Such mineral loss exacerbates the health problems of cancer patients. Depletion of selenium leads to a drop in the production of glutathione. A critical drop in glutathione in cells itself can lead to apoptosis. A sharp decline in antioxidant enzyme levels in brain cells can lead to breathing difficulties and death. This problem in drug therapies points to the preference of natural biomolecules that have antibiotic and anti-cancer properties especially those that also have antioxidant properties as well as proper integration of natural antioxidants and bioavailable minerals after the administration of the drug.

It is well known that most antitumor agents induce apoptosis in cancer cells. Triggering of apoptosis by antitumor agents involves simultaneous or subsequent activation of death receptor systems, perturbation of mitochondrial function, and proteolytic processing of caspases, the death effector molecules of apoptosis. Recent advances have led to a widely accepted model that a conserved family of cysteine proteases (caspases) plays important roles in apoptosis (Nicholson et al, Identification and inhibition of the ICE/CED-3 protease necessary for mammalian apoptosis, Nature (Lond.), 376: 37-43, 1995).

Anti-cancer drugs such as MT-21 can induce the release of cytochrome c from the mitochondria that is necessary to activate caspase-9, and after this release has occurred there is a change in the membrane potential (Masahiko et al, MT-21 Is a Synthetic Apoptosis Inducer That Directly Induces Cytochrome c Release from Mitochondria, Cancer Research 60, 5214-5222, September 15, 2000). This is an important piece of information that explains the change in the membrane potential due to cytochrome c release from the mitochondria as all cancer cells develop a very high cell membrane potential (CMP). And it points to the possible use of natural antioxidant molecules with rapid free radical scavenging activity as possible interventions to remove the CMP and to aid in the restoration of the cytochrome c levels in the mitochondria that can eventually improve blood cell counts.

Research at the Broad Institute at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute also suggests that drugs like statins may interfere with processes in the mitochondria and lower ATP output (Nature Biotechnology, cf:NST p 44, March 2, 2008) producing strong decreases in cellular ATP. Statins are also known to interfere in the pathway that leads to the formation of coenzyme Q10. Any strong decreases of this enzyme in heart cells can pose a cardio-risk.

An analysis of the diabetes drug, Avandia, in the New England Journal of Medicine reveals that it increases the risk of heart attacks. The FDA will require tougher warnings on diabetes drugs such as Avandia and Actos to strenghten knowledge about a condition in which the heart does not adequately pump blood (cf: NST p18, June 8, 2007).

Oxidative damage from adverse drug reactions

Most of the adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are due to rapid increases of free radical activity that the natural antioxidant defense mechanism cannot cope with, leading to massive oxidative damage to the natural antioxidant enzymes in cells, hormone and protein molecules, oxidative injury to the mDNA, cell membranes, mitochondrial membranes and its cytochrome system and the MT protein system. Much of the fatigue and chronic fatigue symptoms are related to a depression in the production of the ATP and enzyme molecules and a suppression of the Krebs cycle in the mitochondria while oxidative damage to pol gamma enzymes and the genetic material in the mitochondria lead to cancer formation.

Drug interference in mitochondrial functions and suppression of the production of ATP and coenzyme Q10 are factors in the development of AIDS symptoms while further oxidative damage to the cytochrome system and genes in the mitochondria precipitate the classic "AIDS-defining-illnesses". AIDS is more of a "prescription disease" created by modern medical science (see: AIDS, NON-HIV AIDS AND PRESCRIPTION AIDS) that is attributable to the widespread use of toxic drugs especially the benzene derivatives and other drugs that interfere with folic acid and antioxidants in the body and in the mitochondria. Malnourished and geriatric patients are more susceptible to the side effects of drugs.

At the cellular and biomolecular levels, the adverse effects of drugs can be stated as follows:

1. Suppression of the immune system directly and depletion of L-ascorbic acid.

2. Inhibition of cellular consumption of oxygen due to oxidative damage to the haeme molecule (methhaemoglobinemia).

3. Inhibition of phosphorylation and oxidative phosphorylation which is a metabolic pathway that uses energy released by the oxidation of nutrients to produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP). In general, excess free radicals generated by drugs interfere with the electron transfer processes essential in healthy biochemical pathways and can depress the formation of antioxidant enzymes as well.

4. Oxidative damage to cell membranes and mitochondrial membranes and loss of minerals.

5. Oxidative damage that leads to the release of cytochrome c from the mitochondria and oxidative injury to the protonation process in its cytochrome system.

6. Oxidative damage to the MT protein system.

7. Oxidative injury to the mDNA leading to lowering of ATP production and mutative damage leading to cancers.

The number of deaths from adverse drug reactions has been growing steadily over the years, as more and more toxic drugs get approval. These new drugs may not be better than previous ones but may be more toxic. The number of such deaths has more than doubled since 1997. The annual cost of treating ADRs in the UK alone now stands at Pounds Sterling 466 million! This does not include the cost of treating AIDs patients whose condition was induced by long term use of drugs, excessive use of pharmaceutical drugs or drug-induced AIDS.

Modern medicine has entered its vicious cycle of treatment where it treats a condition or infection with toxic drugs that interfere with the processes in the mitochondria and/or suppress immune function, producing new symptoms which are then treated with other toxic drugs.

This problem is here to stay because health regulators periodically warn doctors about prescribing health supplements made from edible substances for health benefits. They insist that doctors must only use pharmaceutical products to deliver any health benefit. That seems to be the new function of Health Ministries in modern societies.

There is some research on the administration of L-ascorbic acid in massive doses that can markedly augment the effects of antibiotics and greatly broaden their spectrum. Presumably, lower doses of antibiotics are then needed to eliminate the infection. It is an interesting area for further research.

L-ascorbic acid also prevents most, if not all, allergic reactions attributable to antibiotics and certainly manages these side-effects of toxic drugs by neutralizing the massive amounts of free radicals generated in the infected tissues when mitochondria are damaged. Natural vitamin C exhibits anti-histamine effects. Fruit juices with mandarin orange and carrots and red spinach will therefore become important in integrative medicine in the near future and as a therapeutic intervention in the field of biomolecular medicine but rapid free radical scavenging activity by extracts obtained in the nano form from fruits, flowers and vegetables (ediceuticals) appears to be the best option to treat ADRs.

See also:

AIDS and Alternative Medicine by Dr. Leo Rebello