Pharma Finding New Ways to Kill Us

It’s no longer just the side effects of their medicines.

A new study found “excessively high” levels of antibiotic and antifungal drugs in water sources near a major drug production center in India where 50% of the country’s drug exports are produced and a fifth of the world’s generic drugs. Unsurprisingly, the researchers also found high levels of microbes that were resistant to those drugs.

It should give us no comfort that this was found in India and not the US. Microbes travel long distances with ease. A drug-resistant pathogen first noticed in parts of China infected its first US patient last year.

Of the twenty-three water samples the researchers took, all but one contained bacteria that were resistant to multiple drugs; all samples contained carbapenemase-producing bacteria, which are known as the “nightmare bacteria” because it is virtually untreatable and kills up to 50% of those who get infected.

Some drugs were found in concentrations hundreds or thousands times higher than recommended safe limits. One water sample contained an antifungal drug in concentrations 950,000 times higher than the safe limit.

Sadly once again, Big Pharma is getting a little help from the FDA. In order to export drugs to the US, foreign drug manufacturers must adhere to good manufacturing processes and are supposed to be inspected periodically by the FDA. Given that the FDA is way behind on its inspections, the manufacturing practices foreign companies must follow do not include anything about contaminating the environment.

And as we have reported before, here in the US people dump drugs into the toilet to dispose of them or they become part of human waste. Municipal treatment plants don’t even test for the presence of these drugs, so treated water or sludge put on farmland may be loaded with them.

As we’ve reported before, antibiotic resistance is a growing catastrophe and expected to kill ten million people a year worldwide by 2050. Even now, these superbugs kill around 700,000 people a year. This public health crisis is fueled by over prescription of antibiotics and overuse of these medicines on CAFOs (concentrated feeding animal lots). Now we can add Big Pharma’s pollution of our waterways to the list. Even if we refuse to take pharmaceutical drugs and rely on natural alternatives to antibiotics, we can still be sickened or even killed by them.

 

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Pharma Finding New Ways to Kill Us

It’s no longer just the side effects of their medicines.

A new study found “excessively high” levels of antibiotic and antifungal drugs in water sources near a major drug production center in India where 50% of the country’s drug exports are produced and a fifth of the world’s generic drugs. Unsurprisingly, the researchers also found high levels of microbes that were resistant to those drugs.

It should give us no comfort that this was found in India and not the US. Microbes travel long distances with ease. A drug-resistant pathogen first noticed in parts of China infected its first US patient last year.

Of the twenty-three water samples the researchers took, all but one contained bacteria that were resistant to multiple drugs; all samples contained carbapenemase-producing bacteria, which are known as the “nightmare bacteria” because it is virtually untreatable and kills up to 50% of those who get infected.

Some drugs were found in concentrations hundreds or thousands times higher than recommended safe limits. One water sample contained an antifungal drug in concentrations 950,000 times higher than the safe limit.

Sadly once again, Big Pharma is getting a little help from the FDA. In order to export drugs to the US, foreign drug manufacturers must adhere to good manufacturing processes and are supposed to be inspected periodically by the FDA. Given that the FDA is way behind on its inspections, the manufacturing practices foreign companies must follow do not include anything about contaminating the environment.

And as we have reported before, here in the US people dump drugs into the toilet to dispose of them or they become part of human waste. Municipal treatment plants don’t even test for the presence of these drugs, so treated water or sludge put on farmland may be loaded with them.

As we’ve reported before, antibiotic resistance is a growing catastrophe and expected to kill ten million people a year worldwide by 2050. Even now, these superbugs kill around 700,000 people a year. This public health crisis is fueled by over prescription of antibiotics and overuse of these medicines on CAFOs (concentrated feeding animal lots). Now we can add Big Pharma’s pollution of our waterways to the list. Even if we refuse to take pharmaceutical drugs and rely on natural alternatives to antibiotics, we can still be sickened or even killed by them.

 

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FDA Standing in the Way of You Starting a Family?

Many families are a natural hormone away from starting a family, if only the FDA would get out of the way. Action Alert!

Nearly one in six couples experience difficulty conceiving, a challenge that leads many hopeful parents to turn to in vitro fertilization (IVF)—when the egg and the sperm are manually combined in a lab and then transferred to the uterus. This process is very expensive: average costs in the US are around $12,000, not including the medications that are needed. It is not uncommon for couples to need more than one treatment to conceive.

Beyond the financial commitment, there are also significant risks, including: ovarian cancer, birth defects, stress, ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, nausea and vomiting, premature delivery and low birth weight, and multiple births. The medications that accompany IVF also have the following complications: headaches, mood swings, abdominal pain, hot flashes, and abdominal bloating.

For those couples for whom IVF is the best option, is it worth it? Absolutely. But what if there were a better way?

One such effective, cheaper, and natural path among other options is progesterone. Progesterone during pregnancy helps support the developing embryo. If a woman has low progesterone levels, she may be conceiving but not even know it because her progesterone levels aren’t high enough to sustain the embryo past a few days. For many women, then, using a natural progesterone cream can help them conceive and carry and avoid the expense and side effects of IVF and fertility medications.

Part of the IVF procedure involves three months of progesterone to get women through the first trimester! Why don’t doctors advise taking progesterone before trying IVF? We’ve seen this pattern often in conventional medicine. An invasive, expensive, and risky procedure is favored over a far simpler, far less invasive, and far less expensive natural alternative.

Progesterone can also help after pregnancy. Progesterone levels soar during pregnancy, but plummet right before birth. This radical change can cause some women to experience symptoms of depression that include severe irritability, poor sleep, agitation, and restlessness. Taking progesterone at this stage might help women avoid some of these symptoms.

So what is the FDA doing? It is trying to limit patient access to compounded bioidentical hormones, such as progesterone- which has been nominated to the agency’s Difficult to Compound list. One has to wonder why the FDA continues to show such fidelity to senseless rules that just happen to favor Big Pharma’s monopoly instead of allowing women to explore the best ways to help them conceive.

Look, we understand that these are complex issues, but they are not so complicated that patient and integrative doctor cannot sort them out.

Action Alert! Send a message to the FDA telling them to maintain patient access to bioidentical hormones like progesterone. Please send your message immediately.

 

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Action Alert: Protect Compounding

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FDA Standing in the Way of You Starting a Family?

Many families are a natural hormone away from starting a family, if only the FDA would get out of the way. Action Alert!

Nearly one in six couples experience difficulty conceiving, a challenge that leads many hopeful parents to turn to in vitro fertilization (IVF)—when the egg and the sperm are manually combined in a lab and then transferred to the uterus. This process is very expensive: average costs in the US are around $12,000, not including the medications that are needed. It is not uncommon for couples to need more than one treatment to conceive.

Beyond the financial commitment, there are also significant risks, including: ovarian cancer, birth defects, stress, ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, nausea and vomiting, premature delivery and low birth weight, and multiple births. The medications that accompany IVF also have the following complications: headaches, mood swings, abdominal pain, hot flashes, and abdominal bloating.

For those couples for whom IVF is the best option, is it worth it? Absolutely. But what if there were a better way?

One such effective, cheaper, and natural path among other options is progesterone. Progesterone during pregnancy helps support the developing embryo. If a woman has low progesterone levels, she may be conceiving but not even know it because her progesterone levels aren’t high enough to sustain the embryo past a few days. For many women, then, using a natural progesterone cream can help them conceive and carry and avoid the expense and side effects of IVF and fertility medications.

Part of the IVF procedure involves three months of progesterone to get women through the first trimester! Why don’t doctors advise taking progesterone before trying IVF? We’ve seen this pattern often in conventional medicine. An invasive, expensive, and risky procedure is favored over a far simpler, far less invasive, and far less expensive natural alternative.

Progesterone can also help after pregnancy. Progesterone levels soar during pregnancy, but plummet right before birth. This radical change can cause some women to experience symptoms of depression that include severe irritability, poor sleep, agitation, and restlessness. Taking progesterone at this stage might help women avoid some of these symptoms.

So what is the FDA doing? It is trying to limit patient access to compounded bioidentical hormones, such as progesterone- which has been nominated to the agency’s Difficult to Compound list. One has to wonder why the FDA continues to show such fidelity to senseless rules that just happen to favor Big Pharma’s monopoly instead of allowing women to explore the best ways to help them conceive.

Look, we understand that these are complex issues, but they are not so complicated that patient and integrative doctor cannot sort them out.

Action Alert! Send a message to the FDA telling them to maintain patient access to bioidentical hormones like progesterone. Please send your message immediately.

 

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Action Alert: Protect Compounding

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Diet Soda: Warning Label Needed?

Stroke and dementia too? Yes, you can add those to the health risks of diet soda consumption.

Natural health advocates have known for quite some time that artificial sweeteners like aspartame are dangerous and to be avoided. They’ve been associated with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and leukemia in men. These health effects aren’t all that surprising when we consider that ten percent of aspartame is methanol, which is converted to formaldehyde which, in turn, is converted to formic acid—which is used to strip epoxy!

According to a new study, we can, in fact, add increased risk of stroke and dementia to the list of dangers.

Read the full story here, and check out our previous coverage of how aspartame originally got FDA approval through blatant cronyism here.

 

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Diet Soda: Warning Label Needed?

Stroke and dementia too? Yes, you can add those to the health risks of diet soda consumption.

Natural health advocates have known for quite some time that artificial sweeteners like aspartame are dangerous and to be avoided. They’ve been associated with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and leukemia in men. These health effects aren’t all that surprising when we consider that ten percent of aspartame is methanol, which is converted to formaldehyde which, in turn, is converted to formic acid—which is used to strip epoxy!

According to a new study, we can, in fact, add increased risk of stroke and dementia to the list of dangers.

Read the full story here, and check out our previous coverage of how aspartame originally got FDA approval through blatant cronyism here.

 

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Effort to Kill New Vaccine Studies Fails

Despite false claims, the studies have not been retracted, nor their evidence that vaccines can be dangerous.

Recently, we covered two studies that looked at the health differences between vaccinated and unvaccinated homeschooled children. The results were compelling: they found that vaccinated kids were, on the whole, sicker than unvaccinated kids. Vaccinated children were more than three times as likely to have allergies, six times as likely to have pneumonia, about three times as likely to have neurological developmental disorders, and almost twice as likely to have any chronic illness.

Hours after we published our article, we learned that the studies had been taken down by the publishing journal, the Journal of Translational Sciences. This was followed by reports from skeptic blogs that the studies had been retracted.

Was this a rejection of the data as Big Pharma would hope? Absolutely not. The studies have not been retracted and are back up online. In fact, they can be found here and here.

Here’s what happened.

In 2016, Dr. Anthony Mawson (the lead author of both studies) submitted one of the studies for publication to the journal Frontiers for Public Health. The paper was rejected for publication at that time, a routine decision that does not imply inaccuracy of data. Dr. Mawson then submitted the original paper as well as another study to the Journal of Translational Sciences in March of this year.

Skeptic bloggers falsely reported that Frontiers had retracted Dr. Mawson’s study, which would have indicated a finding that the results were questionable. This led the Journal of Translational Sciences to pull the studies pending an inquiry. When the journal saw evidence that the paper had in fact been rejected for publication rather than retracted, it restored both papers.

Having a paper rejected for publication, reworking the material, and resubmitting it to a different publication is a common occurrence in the academic world. We’ll let you decide whether the skeptic bloggers made an honest error or intentionally distorted the facts to try and get the papers pulled because they didn’t like the evidence or the conclusions.

There is an irony here. Skeptics are typically those who value rationality, data, and scientific inquiry. Yet any study daring to hint that vaccinations may not be 100% safe is immediately denounced as quackery. We applaud the Journal of Translational Sciences for their consideration of Dr. Mawson’s data, their search for the truth, and their willingness to publish this material that should be driving significant discussion around the country.

 

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Effort to Kill New Vaccine Studies Fails

Despite false claims, the studies have not been retracted, nor their evidence that vaccines can be dangerous.

Recently, we covered two studies that looked at the health differences between vaccinated and unvaccinated homeschooled children. The results were compelling: they found that vaccinated kids were, on the whole, sicker than unvaccinated kids. Vaccinated children were more than three times as likely to have allergies, six times as likely to have pneumonia, about three times as likely to have neurological developmental disorders, and almost twice as likely to have any chronic illness.

Hours after we published our article, we learned that the studies had been taken down by the publishing journal, the Journal of Translational Sciences. This was followed by reports from skeptic blogs that the studies had been retracted.

Was this a rejection of the data as Big Pharma would hope? Absolutely not. The studies have not been retracted and are back up online. In fact, they can be found here and here.

Here’s what happened.

In 2016, Dr. Anthony Mawson (the lead author of both studies) submitted one of the studies for publication to the journal Frontiers for Public Health. The paper was rejected for publication at that time, a routine decision that does not imply inaccuracy of data. Dr. Mawson then submitted the original paper as well as another study to the Journal of Translational Sciences in March of this year.

Skeptic bloggers falsely reported that Frontiers had retracted Dr. Mawson’s study, which would have indicated a finding that the results were questionable. This led the Journal of Translational Sciences to pull the studies pending an inquiry. When the journal saw evidence that the paper had in fact been rejected for publication rather than retracted, it restored both papers.

Having a paper rejected for publication, reworking the material, and resubmitting it to a different publication is a common occurrence in the academic world. We’ll let you decide whether the skeptic bloggers made an honest error or intentionally distorted the facts to try and get the papers pulled because they didn’t like the evidence or the conclusions.

There is an irony here. Skeptics are typically those who value rationality, data, and scientific inquiry. Yet any study daring to hint that vaccinations may not be 100% safe is immediately denounced as quackery. We applaud the Journal of Translational Sciences for their consideration of Dr. Mawson’s data, their search for the truth, and their willingness to publish this material that should be driving significant discussion around the country.

 

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Sweden Rejects Forced Vaccinations

Our children might be safest in… Sweden, a government bold enough to say “no” to Big Pharma.

The Swedish government recently rejected proposals to both increase the number of vaccinations children receive and to mandate a vaccination schedule. The reasons cited included that mandatory vaccination violated Swedes’ constitutional rights and adverse effects that can occur from vaccinating young children.

This decision sends a powerful signal that could have profound ramifications around the globe.

Many politicians, particularly those who are left-of-center, point to Sweden as a model for the US to emulate. Sweden’s rejection of mandatory vaccinations is an important victory for those who fight for sensible vaccination policy and the freedom to make our own healthcare decisions.

Unfortunately, many state legislatures haven’t gotten the memo. There are bills in a number of states that would limit your freedom to choose whether or not to vaccinate. Check below to see if your state is among them, and click the link to take action.

State-based Action Alerts! Check for your state below, and send a message to your state lawmakers telling them not to force injections of toxic substances upon our children or health workers. Please send your message immediately.

Connecticut

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kentucky

Missouri

New Jersey

New York

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

Texas

 

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Sweden Rejects Forced Vaccinations

Our children might be safest in… Sweden, a government bold enough to say “no” to Big Pharma.

The Swedish government recently rejected proposals to both increase the number of vaccinations children receive and to mandate a vaccination schedule. The reasons cited included that mandatory vaccination violated Swedes’ constitutional rights and adverse effects that can occur from vaccinating young children.

This decision sends a powerful signal that could have profound ramifications around the globe.

Many politicians, particularly those who are left-of-center, point to Sweden as a model for the US to emulate. Sweden’s rejection of mandatory vaccinations is an important victory for those who fight for sensible vaccination policy and the freedom to make our own healthcare decisions.

Unfortunately, many state legislatures haven’t gotten the memo. There are bills in a number of states that would limit your freedom to choose whether or not to vaccinate. Check below to see if your state is among them, and click the link to take action.

State-based Action Alerts! Check for your state below, and send a message to your state lawmakers telling them not to force injections of toxic substances upon our children or health workers. Please send your message immediately.

Connecticut

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kentucky

Missouri

New Jersey

New York

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

Texas

 

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USDA Don’t Reward Monsanto’s Criminal Activities

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USDA Don’t Reward Monsanto’s Criminal Activities

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NOPE Brexit Q&A: Rob Verkerk PhD

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NOPE Brexit Q&A: Rob Verkerk PhD

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Why Other Countries Don’t Want American Food

Sign Petition!

Read Full Story

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Why Other Countries Don’t Want American Food

Sign Petition!

Read Full Story

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Are You Buying Rotten Beef?

Without country of origin labeling, the meat you buy may be from a nation where meat packers are under indictment. Action alert!

Recently, federal authorities in Brazil revealed an investigation into widespread corruption in the country’s meat packing industry involving payments to government officials to forego safety inspections and cover up health violations.

The scandal involves some of the country’s largest meat-packers—including the world’s largest red meat producer—that have allegedly been selling rotten meat and poultry for years. Acid and carcinogenic chemicals were reportedly used to make the meat look fresh, while cardboard, potato, and water was mixed in with poultry products to increase profits.

The investigation has already resulted in the suspension of thirty-three government officials and the indictment of sixty-three individuals.

The scandal has prompted some lawmakers to call for blocking shipments of Brazilian meat into the US. However, many are worried that banning Brazilian meat would open the US up to trade retaliation.

With potentially rotten Brazilian beef still flowing into our grocery stores, the only hope consumers have is information. Sadly, we now cannot know whether we are purchasing beef that is unsafe to feed to our family.

Before it was repealed, country of origin labeling (COOL) for beef let consumers know where the meat they were buying came from—information that would be especially useful right now. Despite its usefulness, Congress repealed COOL for beef in December 2015 after the World Trade Organization ruled that labeling requirements unfairly discriminated against Canadian and Mexican meat, entitling those countries to hit US goods with $1 billion in tariffs.

This means, in most cases, you won’t know whether the steak you’re buying came from American ranches or from Brazil’s tainted meatpacking plants!

To be clear, we are not touting our industrialized food system as a paragon of safety. Consider the following:

• The use of ractopamine has been banned or restricted in 160 countries because of safety concerns, but US pork producers feed this drug to about 80% of American pigs to boost growth rates.
• The European Union and Russia have banned the use of chlorine baths as an anti-microbial treatment for poultry, which is still commonly used in the US.
• American beef products are commonly treated with growth hormones to make the animals grow faster, which are also banned in Europe.
• Potassium bromate, a possible carcinogen, is used in American bread products to make bread whiter and fluffier. It is banned in the EU and other countries.
• Brominated vegetable oil is found in some sugary, citrus-flavored soft drinks. Drinking a lot of this stuff has been known to cause skin and nerve problems. It has been banned in the EU and Japan, but not in the US.
• Artificial dyes like yellow #6 and red #40 break down into carcinogenic compounds when eaten. Occupational exposure to these chemicals is thought to cause around 25% of bladder cancers. For these reasons these chemicals are banned in the EU but—you guessed it—not in the US.
• American milk producers commonly add recombinant bovine growth hormone (rGBH) to dairy cows to increase milk production—a practice that has been banned in the EU, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. RGBH is a genetically engineered artificial hormone made by Monsanto. The individual most associated with rGBH has moved back and forth between high level jobs at the FDA and Monsanto over the years.

Consumers should have access to health and safety information about their food so they can make informed choices about what to feed their families. Congress should reinstate COOL and not allow the WTO eliminate laws made in the public interest.

Action alert! Write to Congress and tell your representatives that you want COOL for beef reinstated. Please send your message immediately.

Other articles in this week’s Pulse of Natural Health:

Are You Buying Rotten Beef?

Obamacare Repealed?

ANH Founder: Food IS Medicine

What is Medicine?

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from http://ift.tt/2qcHUwI

Are You Buying Rotten Beef?

Without country of origin labeling, the meat you buy may be from a nation where meat packers are under indictment. Action alert!

Recently, federal authorities in Brazil revealed an investigation into widespread corruption in the country’s meat packing industry involving payments to government officials to forego safety inspections and cover up health violations.

The scandal involves some of the country’s largest meat-packers—including the world’s largest red meat producer—that have allegedly been selling rotten meat and poultry for years. Acid and carcinogenic chemicals were reportedly used to make the meat look fresh, while cardboard, potato, and water was mixed in with poultry products to increase profits.

The investigation has already resulted in the suspension of thirty-three government officials and the indictment of sixty-three individuals.

The scandal has prompted some lawmakers to call for blocking shipments of Brazilian meat into the US. However, many are worried that banning Brazilian meat would open the US up to trade retaliation.

With potentially rotten Brazilian beef still flowing into our grocery stores, the only hope consumers have is information. Sadly, we now cannot know whether we are purchasing beef that is unsafe to feed to our family.

Before it was repealed, country of origin labeling (COOL) for beef let consumers know where the meat they were buying came from—information that would be especially useful right now. Despite its usefulness, Congress repealed COOL for beef in December 2015 after the World Trade Organization ruled that labeling requirements unfairly discriminated against Canadian and Mexican meat, entitling those countries to hit US goods with $1 billion in tariffs.

This means, in most cases, you won’t know whether the steak you’re buying came from American ranches or from Brazil’s tainted meatpacking plants!

To be clear, we are not touting our industrialized food system as a paragon of safety. Consider the following:

• The use of ractopamine has been banned or restricted in 160 countries because of safety concerns, but US pork producers feed this drug to about 80% of American pigs to boost growth rates.
• The European Union and Russia have banned the use of chlorine baths as an anti-microbial treatment for poultry, which is still commonly used in the US.
• American beef products are commonly treated with growth hormones to make the animals grow faster, which are also banned in Europe.
• Potassium bromate, a possible carcinogen, is used in American bread products to make bread whiter and fluffier. It is banned in the EU and other countries.
• Brominated vegetable oil is found in some sugary, citrus-flavored soft drinks. Drinking a lot of this stuff has been known to cause skin and nerve problems. It has been banned in the EU and Japan, but not in the US.
• Artificial dyes like yellow #6 and red #40 break down into carcinogenic compounds when eaten. Occupational exposure to these chemicals is thought to cause around 25% of bladder cancers. For these reasons these chemicals are banned in the EU but—you guessed it—not in the US.
• American milk producers commonly add recombinant bovine growth hormone (rGBH) to dairy cows to increase milk production—a practice that has been banned in the EU, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. RGBH is a genetically engineered artificial hormone made by Monsanto. The individual most associated with rGBH has moved back and forth between high level jobs at the FDA and Monsanto over the years.

Consumers should have access to health and safety information about their food so they can make informed choices about what to feed their families. Congress should reinstate COOL and not allow the WTO eliminate laws made in the public interest.

Action alert! Write to Congress and tell your representatives that you want COOL for beef reinstated. Please send your message immediately.

Other articles in this week’s Pulse of Natural Health:

Are You Buying Rotten Beef?

Obamacare Repealed?

ANH Founder: Food IS Medicine

What is Medicine?

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Action Alert: Reinstate COOL!

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Action Alert: Reinstate COOL!

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What is Medicine?

Well, yes, if it “works” they call it medicine, but only after paying the government cronies billions for permission to do so! And you had better read the fine print on side effects.

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What is Medicine?

Well, yes, if it “works” they call it medicine, but only after paying the government cronies billions for permission to do so! And you had better read the fine print on side effects.

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Action Alert: Tell HHS to Revoke Approval for the HPV Vaccine

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Action Alert: Tell HHS to Revoke Approval for the HPV Vaccine

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Action Alert: Reform the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program

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Action Alert: Reform the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program

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ANH Founder: Food IS Medicine

The founder of the Alliance for Natural Health, Dr. Robert Verkerk, spoke this past weekend at the Natural and Organic Products Europe conference in London during what is clearly an important time for big ideas, given the changes occurring there.

The potential impact of “Brexit” (the United Kingdom’s “divorce” from the European Union passed by referendum in June 2016) was a focus of the panel discussion. Dr. Verkerk made this all-important point :

One of the biggest problems we have is the intersection of food and medicine law. The reason we have a roadblock, with products being taken off the market, is because medicinal law imposes itself far too often on food law….We’ve now got a very different scientific environment to the one that this regulation grew up in. We now know that food is medicine, we know that exercise ismedicine, and therefore we need to re-frame the way that foods can be used for therapeutic benefit, and I think that will yield a fundamental change. I believe we need to review the whole of medicinal law in relation to the use of therapeutic foods. And that could create a possibility of a third route.

Of course, Dr. Verkerk is alluding to the fact that, by law, only government-approved drugs (in the US, only FDA-approved drugs) can claim to diagnose, cure, mitigate, treat, or prevent diseases, even if there are mountains of evidence to show that a natural vitamin or mineral can help with a disease. And because such approval commonly costs billions, only patentable, new-to-nature molecules fit the system. Food, food supplements, and exercise are totally excluded, even though we now know that they are often the most powerful medicine we have.

Check out a short video of Dr. Verkerk’s remarks here.

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ANH Founder: Food IS Medicine

The founder of the Alliance for Natural Health, Dr. Robert Verkerk, spoke this past weekend at the Natural and Organic Products Europe conference in London during what is clearly an important time for big ideas, given the changes occurring there.

The potential impact of “Brexit” (the United Kingdom’s “divorce” from the European Union passed by referendum in June 2016) was a focus of the panel discussion. Dr. Verkerk made this all-important point :

One of the biggest problems we have is the intersection of food and medicine law. The reason we have a roadblock, with products being taken off the market, is because medicinal law imposes itself far too often on food law….We’ve now got a very different scientific environment to the one that this regulation grew up in. We now know that food is medicine, we know that exercise ismedicine, and therefore we need to re-frame the way that foods can be used for therapeutic benefit, and I think that will yield a fundamental change. I believe we need to review the whole of medicinal law in relation to the use of therapeutic foods. And that could create a possibility of a third route.

Of course, Dr. Verkerk is alluding to the fact that, by law, only government-approved drugs (in the US, only FDA-approved drugs) can claim to diagnose, cure, mitigate, treat, or prevent diseases, even if there are mountains of evidence to show that a natural vitamin or mineral can help with a disease. And because such approval commonly costs billions, only patentable, new-to-nature molecules fit the system. Food, food supplements, and exercise are totally excluded, even though we now know that they are often the most powerful medicine we have.

Check out a short video of Dr. Verkerk’s remarks here.

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Obamacare Repealed?

Like it or not, Obamacare would not be repealed by the House bill. Action Alert!

Here is just some of what is wrong with it.

The House of Representatives recently passed their version of the American Health Care Act (AHCA), a.k.a. Trumpcare—the bill meant to fulfill the Republicans’ promise to repeal and replace Obamacare. It now moves to the Senate, which will likely create it own bill, which would then be “reconciled” with House bill in a joint committee and voted on again.

Much ink has been spilled about what the AHCA does and doesn’t do, but something has been conspicuously absent from the debate.

As we wrote previously, our main concern with Obamacare is that it allows the federal government to define what health is and what health insurance is. Obamacare mandates severely restricted the market for health insurance. For instance, it is illegal in most cases to sell health insurance in the US that doesn’t cover a wide array of conditions and treatments (deemed “essential health benefits”)—including drug rehab and pregnancy services—which many of us will never want or use.

Under the House-passed AHCA, states can apply to the federal government for waivers that would exempt them from Obamacare mandates. This would include mandated “essential health benefits,” provided it can be shown that the exemption would lower premiums, increase enrollment, etc.

This is hardly repealing and replacing Obamacare with a system that gives Americans the freedom to choose the healthcare they want. What if your state doesn’t apply for any waiver? What if a state’s application is denied?

Even if a waiver application is approved, it has a shelf life of only ten years before having to be reapproved. What if a future president revokes a waiver that was previously granted, or refuses to grant any more waivers? All it would take is another Democrat in the White House and Obamacare would be right back.

Have the Republicans lost their mind? Or did they not really mean it when they promised to repeal the Obamacare policy mandates? If House Republicans think that the voters will view this waiver system as a repeal of Obamacare mandates, they must have a very low opinion of the voters.

Note also that it is these mandates that are driving up the cost of health insurance higher and higher, with most of the cost loaded onto young people, not the older people who actually use the health insurance.

Many people who believe in natural health and integrated medicine must already pay out of pocket for their healthcare. Given the choice, they would buy a catastrophic policy only with a high deductible. Under Obamacare, they must pay sky high rates for services they will never use, and even then face a huge deductible and very narrow choice in doctors, and a constantly changing choice in doctors.

As we pointed out in our earlier article, it doesn’t matter whether Obamacare is repealed and replaced. Let those who like that system use it. But Congress does need to remove the monopoly features of the Obamacare system, so that a consumer-led and -driven system can exist side by side with it.

Action Alert! Write to your members of Congress and senators and point out to them that waivers, which last only ten years and need not be granted, do not repeal Obamacare policy mandates. Please send your message immediately.

 

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Action Alert: Tell Congress the AHCA Doesn’t Repeal Obamacare

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Obamacare Repealed?

Like it or not, Obamacare would not be repealed by the House bill. Action Alert!

Here is just some of what is wrong with it.

The House of Representatives recently passed their version of the American Health Care Act (AHCA), a.k.a. Trumpcare—the bill meant to fulfill the Republicans’ promise to repeal and replace Obamacare. It now moves to the Senate, which will likely create it own bill, which would then be “reconciled” with House bill in a joint committee and voted on again.

Much ink has been spilled about what the AHCA does and doesn’t do, but something has been conspicuously absent from the debate.

As we wrote previously, our main concern with Obamacare is that it allows the federal government to define what health is and what health insurance is. Obamacare mandates severely restricted the market for health insurance. For instance, it is illegal in most cases to sell health insurance in the US that doesn’t cover a wide array of conditions and treatments (deemed “essential health benefits”)—including drug rehab and pregnancy services—which many of us will never want or use.

Under the House-passed AHCA, states can apply to the federal government for waivers that would exempt them from Obamacare mandates. This would include mandated “essential health benefits,” provided it can be shown that the exemption would lower premiums, increase enrollment, etc.

This is hardly repealing and replacing Obamacare with a system that gives Americans the freedom to choose the healthcare they want. What if your state doesn’t apply for any waiver? What if a state’s application is denied?

Even if a waiver application is approved, it has a shelf life of only ten years before having to be reapproved. What if a future president revokes a waiver that was previously granted, or refuses to grant any more waivers? All it would take is another Democrat in the White House and Obamacare would be right back.

Have the Republicans lost their mind? Or did they not really mean it when they promised to repeal the Obamacare policy mandates? If House Republicans think that the voters will view this waiver system as a repeal of Obamacare mandates, they must have a very low opinion of the voters.

Note also that it is these mandates that are driving up the cost of health insurance higher and higher, with most of the cost loaded onto young people, not the older people who actually use the health insurance.

Many people who believe in natural health and integrated medicine must already pay out of pocket for their healthcare. Given the choice, they would buy a catastrophic policy only with a high deductible. Under Obamacare, they must pay sky high rates for services they will never use, and even then face a huge deductible and very narrow choice in doctors, and a constantly changing choice in doctors.

As we pointed out in our earlier article, it doesn’t matter whether Obamacare is repealed and replaced. Let those who like that system use it. But Congress does need to remove the monopoly features of the Obamacare system, so that a consumer-led and -driven system can exist side by side with it.

Action Alert! Write to your members of Congress and senators and point out to them that waivers, which last only ten years and need not be granted, do not repeal Obamacare policy mandates. Please send your message immediately.

 

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Action Alert: Tell Congress the AHCA Doesn’t Repeal Obamacare

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Hold Monsanto Accountable

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Hold Monsanto Accountable

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Congress to FDA: Cut It Out!

Congress sends a clear message to the FDA. Will the agency listen? Action Alert!

Earlier this month, President Trump signed an appropriations (spending) bill that included very important language on the FDA’s war on customized, natural medicines made at compounding pharmacies.

Since the passage of the Drug Quality and Security Act in 2013 (DQSA), the FDA has been issuing rules and guidance documents to implement the law. Unfortunately, the agency has been going far beyond what Congress intended. We believe that the FDA is working at the behest of pharmaceutical companies to eliminate the compounding industry, which competes with Big Pharma’s drugs.

The FDA hasn’t been doing this in one fell swoop; rather it’s been “death by a thousand cuts”: the agency has limited interstate commerce, restricted “office use” by doctors of compounded medicine, and slashed the menu of substances from which pharmacies could make medicines, to name a few.

Congress has now pushed back against these abuses by specifically directing the FDA to follow congressional intent regarding permitted customers and office-use compounding.

Memorandum of Understanding

The pushback is directed at restrictions the FDA placed on shipping customized, natural medicines interstate. The agency has said that unless states enter into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the FDA, traditional compounding pharmacies could only send 5% of their sales per month out-of-state. If states signed the MOU, that number jumped to 30%, but states then assumed responsibility for regulating the pharmacies. This was a kind of “poison pill,” because the assumption was that states would not agree to do this.

In releasing the draft MOU, the FDA attempted to extend its jurisdiction over compounding by broadening the definition of “distribution” to include “dispensing.” Congress gave the FDA authority to place a limit on the interstate “distribution” of compounded products. It did not give the FDA the authority to limit the interstate “dispensing” of compounded products, where “dispensing” refers to a compounded medication provided to an individual patient, pursuant to a prescription or a doctor’s order.

In its spending bill, Congress clearly states, “The MOU should not address dispensing of compounded drugs to a patient over state lines if all other requirements of 503A are met.

Office Use

“Office use” is when a physician, in his or her office or other treatment area, administers a compounded medicinal preparation directly to a patient for the immediate treatment of a problem. In these instances, a doctor would need to have a reserve supply of the compounded drugs on hand.

This enables doctors to provide immediate relief to patients who come into their office, or to have a ready supply for patients whom they have a long history of treating. It also reduces the cost of the treatment since the medication can be ordered in bulk.

Upon the passage of DQSA, the FDA immediately indicated it would apply the law in a way that eliminated office use. In doing so, the agency simply ignored letters from a number of senators who told the FDA in no uncertain terms that this was not the intent of the law.

The language in the budget bill clearly directs the FDA to issue a guidance document on how compounding pharmacists can continue to engage in office use.

We applaud Congress for clarifying its intent on these matters and emphasizing the importance of continued patient access to important medicines. More than that, we are pleased that our representatives are beginning to see the systemic problem of FDA overreach.

But this also isn’t the first time that lawmakers have sent the FDA a warning about these very same issues, and we have yet to see the agency correct itself.

It is the FDA’s job to implement the laws passed by Congress—the representatives of the American people. It is not their job to unilaterally create policy as they see fit, yet that is exactly what is happening. It is time for them to walk back these abusive, arbitrary regulations.

Action Alert! Send a message to the FDA telling them that Congress has spoken, and they must fix their rules regarding compounding pharmacies. Please send your message immediately

Other articles in this week’s Pulse of Natural Health:

Trump Weakens School Lunch Rules—While Maintaining the Current Crony System

Antidepressants in Pregnancy Tied to Autism

Wonder Why the Price of Some Generics Are So High?

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Congress to FDA: Cut It Out!

Congress sends a clear message to the FDA. Will the agency listen? Action Alert!

Earlier this month, President Trump signed an appropriations (spending) bill that included very important language on the FDA’s war on customized, natural medicines made at compounding pharmacies.

Since the passage of the Drug Quality and Security Act in 2013 (DQSA), the FDA has been issuing rules and guidance documents to implement the law. Unfortunately, the agency has been going far beyond what Congress intended. We believe that the FDA is working at the behest of pharmaceutical companies to eliminate the compounding industry, which competes with Big Pharma’s drugs.

The FDA hasn’t been doing this in one fell swoop; rather it’s been “death by a thousand cuts”: the agency has limited interstate commerce, restricted “office use” by doctors of compounded medicine, and slashed the menu of substances from which pharmacies could make medicines, to name a few.

Congress has now pushed back against these abuses by specifically directing the FDA to follow congressional intent regarding permitted customers and office-use compounding.

Memorandum of Understanding

The pushback is directed at restrictions the FDA placed on shipping customized, natural medicines interstate. The agency has said that unless states enter into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the FDA, traditional compounding pharmacies could only send 5% of their sales per month out-of-state. If states signed the MOU, that number jumped to 30%, but states then assumed responsibility for regulating the pharmacies. This was a kind of “poison pill,” because the assumption was that states would not agree to do this.

In releasing the draft MOU, the FDA attempted to extend its jurisdiction over compounding by broadening the definition of “distribution” to include “dispensing.” Congress gave the FDA authority to place a limit on the interstate “distribution” of compounded products. It did not give the FDA the authority to limit the interstate “dispensing” of compounded products, where “dispensing” refers to a compounded medication provided to an individual patient, pursuant to a prescription or a doctor’s order.

In its spending bill, Congress clearly states, “The MOU should not address dispensing of compounded drugs to a patient over state lines if all other requirements of 503A are met.

Office Use

“Office use” is when a physician, in his or her office or other treatment area, administers a compounded medicinal preparation directly to a patient for the immediate treatment of a problem. In these instances, a doctor would need to have a reserve supply of the compounded drugs on hand.

This enables doctors to provide immediate relief to patients who come into their office, or to have a ready supply for patients whom they have a long history of treating. It also reduces the cost of the treatment since the medication can be ordered in bulk.

Upon the passage of DQSA, the FDA immediately indicated it would apply the law in a way that eliminated office use. In doing so, the agency simply ignored letters from a number of senators who told the FDA in no uncertain terms that this was not the intent of the law.

The language in the budget bill clearly directs the FDA to issue a guidance document on how compounding pharmacists can continue to engage in office use.

We applaud Congress for clarifying its intent on these matters and emphasizing the importance of continued patient access to important medicines. More than that, we are pleased that our representatives are beginning to see the systemic problem of FDA overreach.

But this also isn’t the first time that lawmakers have sent the FDA a warning about these very same issues, and we have yet to see the agency correct itself.

It is the FDA’s job to implement the laws passed by Congress—the representatives of the American people. It is not their job to unilaterally create policy as they see fit, yet that is exactly what is happening. It is time for them to walk back these abusive, arbitrary regulations.

Action Alert! Send a message to the FDA telling them that Congress has spoken, and they must fix their rules regarding compounding pharmacies. Please send your message immediately

Other articles in this week’s Pulse of Natural Health:

Trump Weakens School Lunch Rules—While Maintaining the Current Crony System

Antidepressants in Pregnancy Tied to Autism

Wonder Why the Price of Some Generics Are So High?

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Action Alert: Tell the FDA to Follow the Law!

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