Thursday, April 25, 2019
Profiting On Poop
Take Action
from The Alliance for Natural Health http://bit.ly/2GCvWpl via Aloe for Health
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Profiting On Poop
Take Action
from The Alliance for Natural Health http://bit.ly/2GCvWpl via Aloe for Health
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Wednesday, April 10, 2019
Tuesday, April 9, 2019
FDA Is Wrong About CBD
Take Action
from The Alliance for Natural Health http://bit.ly/2ULlyos via Aloe for Health
from http://bit.ly/2KkLxzb
FDA Is Wrong About CBD
Take Action
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Thursday, March 28, 2019
Wednesday, March 27, 2019
FRANKENFISH- The Movie
Take Action
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FRANKENFISH- The Movie
Take Action
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Tuesday, March 19, 2019
Tell the USDA to Ban the Use of Fracking Water on Crops!
Reports have found that some farmers in California are using recycled fracking water to irrigate their crops—sometimes organic crops. In hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” millions of gallons of water, sand, and hundreds of different chemicals are injected, under high pressure, into a well.
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Tell Congress: Protect Bioidentical Hormones
The FDA has accepted nominations to its “Difficult to Compound” (DDC) list, which is supposed to identify drugs that cannot safely be compounded because of their complexity.
from The Alliance for Natural Health https://ift.tt/2TQkBLl via Aloe for Health
from https://ift.tt/2F9dx2I
Tell the USDA to Ban the Use of Fracking Water on Crops!
Reports have found that some farmers in California are using recycled fracking water to irrigate their crops—sometimes organic crops. In hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” millions of gallons of water, sand, and hundreds of different chemicals are injected, under high pressure, into a well.
from The Alliance for Natural Health https://ift.tt/2JpwAvk via Aloe for Health
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2Fqm7vD
Tell Congress: Protect Bioidentical Hormones
The FDA has accepted nominations to its “Difficult to Compound” (DDC) list, which is supposed to identify drugs that cannot safely be compounded because of their complexity.
from The Alliance for Natural Health https://ift.tt/2TQkBLl via Aloe for Health
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FDA: Human Poop Is Not a Drug
The FDA is on the verge of deciding the future of fecal microbiota transplants (FMT), a promising new treatment that harnesses the power of the gut microbiome to fight illness.
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FDA: Human Poop Is Not a Drug
The FDA is on the verge of deciding the future of fecal microbiota transplants (FMT), a promising new treatment that harnesses the power of the gut microbiome to fight illness.
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Monday, March 18, 2019
NYHPVVACCINE
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NJHPVVACCINE
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from https://ift.tt/2FcjQCK
MAHPVVACCINE
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from https://ift.tt/2TIdGo6
ILHPVVACCINE
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from https://ift.tt/2HFTkEU
FLHPVVACCINE
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from https://ift.tt/2HrYJQp
NYHPVVACCINE
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MAHPVVACCINE
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NJHPVVACCINE
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ILHPVVACCINE
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FLHPVVACCINE
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Friday, March 15, 2019
CTHPVVACCINE
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CTHPVVACCINE
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Thursday, March 14, 2019
Wednesday, March 13, 2019
2 Minute Warning- March 14, 2019
Poop: Pharma’s Next Goldmine
Irrigating With Fracking Fluid
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from https://ift.tt/2TyJXOc
Fracking Fluid For Dinner?
Keep your dinner safe from fracking fluid. Taken Action Now!
from The Alliance for Natural Health https://ift.tt/2TzE57j via Aloe for Health
from https://ift.tt/2EZlwiR
2 Minute Warning- March 14, 2019
Poop: Pharma’s Next Goldmine
Irrigating With Fracking Fluid
from The Alliance for Natural Health https://ift.tt/2F1GNIF via Aloe for Health
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2FabN9N
Fracking Fluid For Dinner?
Keep your dinner safe from fracking fluid. Taken Action Now!
from The Alliance for Natural Health https://ift.tt/2TzE57j via Aloe for Health
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2TyfcZU
Thursday, February 28, 2019
Toxic Nursery Rhymes- Volume 3
from The Alliance for Natural Health https://ift.tt/2IIQMIh via Aloe for Health
from https://ift.tt/2Nz2tA3
Toxic Nursery Rhymes- Volume 3
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Diapers and Menstrual Pads Laced with Toxic Chemicals
Presence of endocrine disrupting chemicals in most brands is a major hazard. Action Alert!
A new report highlighted by Environmental Health News demonstrates that most diapers and menstrual pads contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and phthalates, endangering millions of women and babies who may be absorbing these chemicals through the genitalia. Congress and the FDA must take action to protect these populations.
The study came about as a result of an investigation and class action lawsuit in South Korea after thousands of women claimed that new sanitary pads were causing menstrual problems and irregularities. The scientists tested a handful of diaper and menstrual pad brands for the presence of VOCs and phthalates, though they don’t name the brands.
The study’s authors concluded, “The physical location of the exposure site, the high absorption rate of the genitalia for chemicals, and the long-term exposure period demand a thorough investigation on the potential impact of the exposure to VOCs and phthalates.”
All four brands of diapers and all eleven brands of menstrual pads tested positive for at least two phthalates. Two brands of menstrual pads contained VOCs, along with all four diaper brands.
The levels of these chemicals in the different brands varied drastically. There was a 6,000-fold difference in levels of VOCs, and a 130-fold difference in the levels of phthalates found in the various brands. So some brands are clearly better than others—though it’s a shame we don’t know which were the worst offenders.
Exposure to VOCs can cause headaches, dizziness, visual problems, and memory problems in the short term, but long-term impacts include damage to the liver, kidneys, and the central nervous system, asthma, brain impairment, and cancer.
Phthalates—common plasticizers used in toys and other products—come with a similarly long list of risks: they’ve been linked with asthma, ADHD, breast cancer, obesity, type II diabetes, low IQ, neurodevelopmental issues, behavioral issues, and altered reproductive development. A recent study found that children exposed to phthalates before birth and shortly after had reduced lung function at 6 and 12 years old.
Aging adults are also at risk. Sales of adult diapers are skyrocketing as the baby boomer generation ages. In Japan, more adult diapers are sold than baby diapers. Aside from the previously mentioned risks, some scientists think that Alzheimer’s is in part caused by exposure to environmental contaminants, including phthalates.
These results are shocking and outrageous. Women begin using menstrual pads at the start of puberty until menopause—almost four decades—every month. This is prolonged, chronic exposure to these dangerous chemicals at an area of the body that is particularly vulnerable to absorption. Babies wear diapers every day for the first few years of life. Senior citizens may wear adult diapers for years.
Nor are these the only feminine products that pose a risk. Tampons have been found to contain dioxin, a toxic chemical used to bleach the products white. Tampons and other feminine care products are often made from cotton, which is typically genetically engineered and soaked in pesticides, or rayon, which is made from wood pulp and then bleached. Again, the highly permeable nature of the vaginal wall means that these toxins are likely getting absorbed with each use over a prolonged period of time.
There are safer alternatives, but these products are expensive because they are made from organic cotton. Consumers should look for products that are chlorine-free and synthetic-free. There are also other products on the market that allow women to avoid tampons altogether if they so choose.
The risks posed to babies and women from these products is unacceptable. Action must be taken to protect these populations. There should be no allowable level of known toxins in diapers and feminine care products.
Action Alert! Tell Congress and the FDA to protect women and infants by disallowing the use of toxic chemicals in diapers and feminine care products. Please send your message immediately.
from The Alliance for Natural Health https://ift.tt/2TrtfPU via Aloe for Health
from https://ift.tt/2H3nzFr
Why That Organic Label Might Not Be Enough
The USDA’s organics program has been taken over by corporate interests; it’s time to fight back. Action Alert!
Consumers looking for clean, healthy food have for years turned to foods with the USDA’s organic seal. This seal is understood to mean that the food has been grown in accordance with organic principles—most importantly, that the farming practices promote healthy soil, which in turn produces healthy food. Unfortunately, corporate influence has infected the USDA’s organic program to such an extent that it can be difficult to trust the organic seal. Until the USDA cleans up its act, consumers may need to start looking to alternatives, such as the Real Organic Project.
Concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) have taken over organic eggs and dairy. According to organic standards, livestock are supposed to have access to the outdoors, fresh air, and sunlight. But these provisions have been interpreted in such a way as to allow CAFOs to confine animals to barns but add “porches”—a roof built over a concrete floor with screens as walls—and still label their livestock as “organic.” This allows CAFOs to continue to raise millions of chickens or livestock on the cheap in cramped, squalid conditions but charge the organic premium.
The USDA estimates that half of all organic eggs come from CAFOs. This is crucial for those seeking healthier options: organic eggs have been found to contain more micronutrients than conventional eggs: organic eggs have three times more omega-3 fatty acids, 40% more vitamin A, and twice as much vitamin E. Buying CAFO-raised organic eggs means consumers are not getting the benefits they think they are.
Organic milk suffers from a similar problem: half of organic milk sold in the US comes from CAFOs, according to the Cornucopia Institute. Recent exposés have detailed how CAFOs try to cheat the system by not pasturing their cows as required by organic standards. Real organic milk from grass-fed cows contains more conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), an unsaturated fat that studies have shown helps protect the heart and help in weight loss. Again, consumers are being duped into thinking they’re buying healthier milk when organic rules are manipulated and broken in these ways.
Another way that organic rules have been undermined is the acceptance of hydroponic produce as “organic.” Hydroponics is a technology for growing plants in water with dissolved fertilizers rather than actual soil. Produce grown hydroponically is often produced in massive warehouses under artificial lighting. Hydroponically-grown food is a betrayal of the organic principle of feeding the soil, not the plant. Plants interact with the microorganisms in the soil in complex and fascinating ways that obviously cannot be reproduced without soil. It is these interactions that account for the high nutrient content in the organic fruits and vegetables we eat. Well-nourished mycorrhizal fungi, for example, can mine minerals out of rocks and deliver them to plants.
This is why truly organic produce delivers 20-40% more antioxidants than their conventional counterparts. Plants make these compounds to protect themselves from insects and disease. Hydroponic crops that are fed a diet of chemical fertilizers do not need to work as hard to grow, and therefore do not produce the beneficial antioxidants that organic plants do. Hydroponic produce may sound good in theory, but it doesn’t deliver the nutrient punch of true organic produce.
The hydroponic market is now exploding, expected to double by 2025. We’ve been told by organic farmers that the majority of organic tomatoes on the market currently are hydroponic, as well as a large number of organic berries. There’s no way for consumers to know if produce has been grown hydroponically—all they’ll see is the USDA organic label. The same is true of “organic” milk and eggs that come from CAFOs.
What can be done to save real organic agriculture? Unfortunately, the USDA doesn’t seem to care. The government’s program has totally been co-opted by industry: it isn’t small, independent organic farmers who want CAFO milk and eggs and hydroponic produce to be organic. We can also see the fingerprints of corporate influence through the ever-growing list of synthetic additives that have been allowed in organic production. More than 250 non-organic substances are currently allowed, up from 77 in 2002. For example, General Mills, Campbell’s Soup, Organic Valley, Earthbound Farms, and Whole Foods Market voted to include ammonium nonanoate, an herbicide, in organic production—a vote which they ultimately lost. The growing consolidation of the industry also gives larger corporations an edge over the dwindling number of independent farmers who do not have powerful lobbyists at their disposal. The USDA also has no mandate to promote organic agriculture, since it would be doing so at the expense of conventional agriculture which is represented by powerful special interests.
Organic farmers are banding together to do something about this fraud. They’ve created the Real Organic Project which provides a certification that lets consumers know that produce was not grown hydroponically and milk and eggs are not from a CAFO. It includes but exceeds the USDA standards for organic agriculture. The group is in the midst of creating a label for foods at the supermarket so consumers can know which farms carry this certification. Stay tuned for more details on the excellent work of this group.
The future of true organic farming is at stake. Small producers who take the spirit of organic farming seriously cannot compete with large producers who either break the law or take advantage of shortcuts. The Real Organic Project will allow us to vote with our dollars to support legitimate organics.
In the meantime, we must pressure the USDA to do its job to ensure the integrity of the organic label.
Action Alert! Write to the USDA and NOSB and tell them it is a perversion of organic standards for hydroponic produce and CAFO milk and eggs to be labeled organic. Please send your message immediately.
from The Alliance for Natural Health https://ift.tt/2IH1WNm via Aloe for Health
from https://ift.tt/2tKdq8O
Do Bright Lights Promote Diabetes?
The level and type of light you are exposed to could affect your weight, your health and even your life. Action Alert!
A new study has found that bright light alters our metabolism. Bright light exposure increased insulin resistance compared to dim light exposure in the morning and evening. Insulin resistance leads to excess blood glucose, more body fat, and a higher risk for diabetes. This remarkable finding deserves more research and should be trumpeted far and wide, given the prevalence of diabetes in the US. Doing so, however, would upset Pharma’s lucrative diabetes drug market, so don’t expect the FDA or federal health authorities to pursue this very far.
Interestingly, bright light in the evening caused higher peak blood sugar levels.
For bright light exposure, the researchers used blue light. Sunlight contains blue light, but it is especially bad in man-made sources of blue light such as fluorescent and LED lighting, flat-screen TVs, as well as the display screens of computers, tablets, smartphones, and other electronic gadgets. This study suggests that increased screen time is playing a real biological role in making us fat and obese; limiting screen time and exposure to bright light, especially in the evening, could be an important preventive measure to protect against the development of diabetes.
These findings are supported by other research. Exposure to light, especially blue light, suppresses the secretion of melatonin, which influences circadian rhythms. A Harvard study found that shifting the timing of the circadian rhythm caused blood sugar levels to increase, putting subjects into a prediabetic state.
American adults spend an average of 11 hours a day interacting with media on screens; children spend six hours or more a day on screens. This research suggests we may want to reconsider our relationship with the devices that have become a staple of modern life.
Special glasses to remove blue lightwill help protect you if you must turn on lights after going to bed. A special nightlight with a red wavelength can make all the difference if you need a nightlight. It’s also important to get regular exposure to daylight for at least 20 minutes daily — the light from the sun enters your eyes and triggers your brain to secrete and then release specific chemicals and hormones like melatonin that are vital to healthy sleep.
Findings like this, along with other suggestions from integrative doctors such as lifestyle and diet alterations to address diabetes, offer hope to diabetic patients and those at risk for diabetes that their conditions can be prevented or reversed without years of expensive and dangerous drugs. But you won’t hear the FDA promoting these strategies because they don’t make money for drug companies. And there’s a lot of money to be made from diabetic patients: the global market for diabetes drugs is expected to reach $58.4 billion in a few years, and $322 billion is spent annually caring for people with diabetes and prediabetes. That’s a strong incentive to keep the status quo intact.
Action Alert! Tell the FDA, with a copy to Congress, to alert the public about the dangers of blue light and to study the connection with diabetes and other illnesses further. Please send your message immediately.
from The Alliance for Natural Health https://ift.tt/2TrtdHM via Aloe for Health
from https://ift.tt/2H7FIBU
Diapers and Menstrual Pads Laced with Toxic Chemicals
Presence of endocrine disrupting chemicals in most brands is a major hazard. Action Alert!
A new report highlighted by Environmental Health News demonstrates that most diapers and menstrual pads contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and phthalates, endangering millions of women and babies who may be absorbing these chemicals through the genitalia. Congress and the FDA must take action to protect these populations.
The study came about as a result of an investigation and class action lawsuit in South Korea after thousands of women claimed that new sanitary pads were causing menstrual problems and irregularities. The scientists tested a handful of diaper and menstrual pad brands for the presence of VOCs and phthalates, though they don’t name the brands.
The study’s authors concluded, “The physical location of the exposure site, the high absorption rate of the genitalia for chemicals, and the long-term exposure period demand a thorough investigation on the potential impact of the exposure to VOCs and phthalates.”
All four brands of diapers and all eleven brands of menstrual pads tested positive for at least two phthalates. Two brands of menstrual pads contained VOCs, along with all four diaper brands.
The levels of these chemicals in the different brands varied drastically. There was a 6,000-fold difference in levels of VOCs, and a 130-fold difference in the levels of phthalates found in the various brands. So some brands are clearly better than others—though it’s a shame we don’t know which were the worst offenders.
Exposure to VOCs can cause headaches, dizziness, visual problems, and memory problems in the short term, but long-term impacts include damage to the liver, kidneys, and the central nervous system, asthma, brain impairment, and cancer.
Phthalates—common plasticizers used in toys and other products—come with a similarly long list of risks: they’ve been linked with asthma, ADHD, breast cancer, obesity, type II diabetes, low IQ, neurodevelopmental issues, behavioral issues, and altered reproductive development. A recent study found that children exposed to phthalates before birth and shortly after had reduced lung function at 6 and 12 years old.
Aging adults are also at risk. Sales of adult diapers are skyrocketing as the baby boomer generation ages. In Japan, more adult diapers are sold than baby diapers. Aside from the previously mentioned risks, some scientists think that Alzheimer’s is in part caused by exposure to environmental contaminants, including phthalates.
These results are shocking and outrageous. Women begin using menstrual pads at the start of puberty until menopause—almost four decades—every month. This is prolonged, chronic exposure to these dangerous chemicals at an area of the body that is particularly vulnerable to absorption. Babies wear diapers every day for the first few years of life. Senior citizens may wear adult diapers for years.
Nor are these the only feminine products that pose a risk. Tampons have been found to contain dioxin, a toxic chemical used to bleach the products white. Tampons and other feminine care products are often made from cotton, which is typically genetically engineered and soaked in pesticides, or rayon, which is made from wood pulp and then bleached. Again, the highly permeable nature of the vaginal wall means that these toxins are likely getting absorbed with each use over a prolonged period of time.
There are safer alternatives, but these products are expensive because they are made from organic cotton. Consumers should look for products that are chlorine-free and synthetic-free. There are also other products on the market that allow women to avoid tampons altogether if they so choose.
The risks posed to babies and women from these products is unacceptable. Action must be taken to protect these populations. There should be no allowable level of known toxins in diapers and feminine care products.
Action Alert! Tell Congress and the FDA to protect women and infants by disallowing the use of toxic chemicals in diapers and feminine care products. Please send your message immediately.
from The Alliance for Natural Health https://ift.tt/2TrtfPU via Aloe for Health
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2IICXJP
Why That Organic Label Might Not Be Enough
The USDA’s organics program has been taken over by corporate interests; it’s time to fight back. Action Alert!
Consumers looking for clean, healthy food have for years turned to foods with the USDA’s organic seal. This seal is understood to mean that the food has been grown in accordance with organic principles—most importantly, that the farming practices promote healthy soil, which in turn produces healthy food. Unfortunately, corporate influence has infected the USDA’s organic program to such an extent that it can be difficult to trust the organic seal. Until the USDA cleans up its act, consumers may need to start looking to alternatives, such as the Real Organic Project.
Concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) have taken over organic eggs and dairy. According to organic standards, livestock are supposed to have access to the outdoors, fresh air, and sunlight. But these provisions have been interpreted in such a way as to allow CAFOs to confine animals to barns but add “porches”—a roof built over a concrete floor with screens as walls—and still label their livestock as “organic.” This allows CAFOs to continue to raise millions of chickens or livestock on the cheap in cramped, squalid conditions but charge the organic premium.
The USDA estimates that half of all organic eggs come from CAFOs. This is crucial for those seeking healthier options: organic eggs have been found to contain more micronutrients than conventional eggs: organic eggs have three times more omega-3 fatty acids, 40% more vitamin A, and twice as much vitamin E. Buying CAFO-raised organic eggs means consumers are not getting the benefits they think they are.
Organic milk suffers from a similar problem: half of organic milk sold in the US comes from CAFOs, according to the Cornucopia Institute. Recent exposés have detailed how CAFOs try to cheat the system by not pasturing their cows as required by organic standards. Real organic milk from grass-fed cows contains more conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), an unsaturated fat that studies have shown helps protect the heart and help in weight loss. Again, consumers are being duped into thinking they’re buying healthier milk when organic rules are manipulated and broken in these ways.
Another way that organic rules have been undermined is the acceptance of hydroponic produce as “organic.” Hydroponics is a technology for growing plants in water with dissolved fertilizers rather than actual soil. Produce grown hydroponically is often produced in massive warehouses under artificial lighting. Hydroponically-grown food is a betrayal of the organic principle of feeding the soil, not the plant. Plants interact with the microorganisms in the soil in complex and fascinating ways that obviously cannot be reproduced without soil. It is these interactions that account for the high nutrient content in the organic fruits and vegetables we eat. Well-nourished mycorrhizal fungi, for example, can mine minerals out of rocks and deliver them to plants.
This is why truly organic produce delivers 20-40% more antioxidants than their conventional counterparts. Plants make these compounds to protect themselves from insects and disease. Hydroponic crops that are fed a diet of chemical fertilizers do not need to work as hard to grow, and therefore do not produce the beneficial antioxidants that organic plants do. Hydroponic produce may sound good in theory, but it doesn’t deliver the nutrient punch of true organic produce.
The hydroponic market is now exploding, expected to double by 2025. We’ve been told by organic farmers that the majority of organic tomatoes on the market currently are hydroponic, as well as a large number of organic berries. There’s no way for consumers to know if produce has been grown hydroponically—all they’ll see is the USDA organic label. The same is true of “organic” milk and eggs that come from CAFOs.
What can be done to save real organic agriculture? Unfortunately, the USDA doesn’t seem to care. The government’s program has totally been co-opted by industry: it isn’t small, independent organic farmers who want CAFO milk and eggs and hydroponic produce to be organic. We can also see the fingerprints of corporate influence through the ever-growing list of synthetic additives that have been allowed in organic production. More than 250 non-organic substances are currently allowed, up from 77 in 2002. For example, General Mills, Campbell’s Soup, Organic Valley, Earthbound Farms, and Whole Foods Market voted to include ammonium nonanoate, an herbicide, in organic production—a vote which they ultimately lost. The growing consolidation of the industry also gives larger corporations an edge over the dwindling number of independent farmers who do not have powerful lobbyists at their disposal. The USDA also has no mandate to promote organic agriculture, since it would be doing so at the expense of conventional agriculture which is represented by powerful special interests.
Organic farmers are banding together to do something about this fraud. They’ve created the Real Organic Project which provides a certification that lets consumers know that produce was not grown hydroponically and milk and eggs are not from a CAFO. It includes but exceeds the USDA standards for organic agriculture. The group is in the midst of creating a label for foods at the supermarket so consumers can know which farms carry this certification. Stay tuned for more details on the excellent work of this group.
The future of true organic farming is at stake. Small producers who take the spirit of organic farming seriously cannot compete with large producers who either break the law or take advantage of shortcuts. The Real Organic Project will allow us to vote with our dollars to support legitimate organics.
In the meantime, we must pressure the USDA to do its job to ensure the integrity of the organic label.
Action Alert! Write to the USDA and NOSB and tell them it is a perversion of organic standards for hydroponic produce and CAFO milk and eggs to be labeled organic. Please send your message immediately.
from The Alliance for Natural Health https://ift.tt/2IH1WNm via Aloe for Health
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2Tpnxy0
Do Bright Lights Promote Diabetes?
The level and type of light you are exposed to could affect your weight, your health and even your life. Action Alert!
A new study has found that bright light alters our metabolism. Bright light exposure increased insulin resistance compared to dim light exposure in the morning and evening. Insulin resistance leads to excess blood glucose, more body fat, and a higher risk for diabetes. This remarkable finding deserves more research and should be trumpeted far and wide, given the prevalence of diabetes in the US. Doing so, however, would upset Pharma’s lucrative diabetes drug market, so don’t expect the FDA or federal health authorities to pursue this very far.
Interestingly, bright light in the evening caused higher peak blood sugar levels.
For bright light exposure, the researchers used blue light. Sunlight contains blue light, but it is especially bad in man-made sources of blue light such as fluorescent and LED lighting, flat-screen TVs, as well as the display screens of computers, tablets, smartphones, and other electronic gadgets. This study suggests that increased screen time is playing a real biological role in making us fat and obese; limiting screen time and exposure to bright light, especially in the evening, could be an important preventive measure to protect against the development of diabetes.
These findings are supported by other research. Exposure to light, especially blue light, suppresses the secretion of melatonin, which influences circadian rhythms. A Harvard study found that shifting the timing of the circadian rhythm caused blood sugar levels to increase, putting subjects into a prediabetic state.
American adults spend an average of 11 hours a day interacting with media on screens; children spend six hours or more a day on screens. This research suggests we may want to reconsider our relationship with the devices that have become a staple of modern life.
Special glasses to remove blue lightwill help protect you if you must turn on lights after going to bed. A special nightlight with a red wavelength can make all the difference if you need a nightlight. It’s also important to get regular exposure to daylight for at least 20 minutes daily — the light from the sun enters your eyes and triggers your brain to secrete and then release specific chemicals and hormones like melatonin that are vital to healthy sleep.
Findings like this, along with other suggestions from integrative doctors such as lifestyle and diet alterations to address diabetes, offer hope to diabetic patients and those at risk for diabetes that their conditions can be prevented or reversed without years of expensive and dangerous drugs. But you won’t hear the FDA promoting these strategies because they don’t make money for drug companies. And there’s a lot of money to be made from diabetic patients: the global market for diabetes drugs is expected to reach $58.4 billion in a few years, and $322 billion is spent annually caring for people with diabetes and prediabetes. That’s a strong incentive to keep the status quo intact.
Action Alert! Tell the FDA, with a copy to Congress, to alert the public about the dangers of blue light and to study the connection with diabetes and other illnesses further. Please send your message immediately.
from The Alliance for Natural Health https://ift.tt/2TrtdHM via Aloe for Health
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2IKGc3k
Thursday, February 21, 2019
URGENT: Feds Aim to End Vax Exemptions
Some federal officials think vaccine exemptions are used too widely and could eliminate your right to choose! Action Alert!
In response to several measles outbreaks that have been reported across the US by the CDC, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee is planning to meet on March 5 to discuss vaccine-preventable diseases and efforts to boost vaccination rates and fight vaccine hesitancy. A House subcommittee is holding a similar hearing next week. Ahead of these hearings, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb has warned states offering vaccine exemptions that the federal government may intervene. This attack on exemptions is unprecedented. We must ensure that Congressional members are properly educated about the numerous safety issues that have been demonstrated. We must also respond in force to protect vaccine exemptions from federal interference.
Commissioner Gottlieb made a number of alarming remarks about exemptions. He said that states might “force the hand of the federal health agencies” if they continue to allow vaccine exemptions amid disease outbreaks, and that he was “deeply skeptical” of exemptions that are not for medical reasons. Gottlieb speculated that the federal government “could mandate certain rules about what is and isn’t permissible when it comes to allowing people to have exemptions.”
It is deeply concerning that the head of the FDA appears so willing to trample the rights of individuals and to supersede state authority. Under the Constitution, the US government has the authority to use police power to prevent those with serious communicable diseases from entering the US or transmitting disease across state borders. Established legal precedents dating back to the early 20th century, however, leave vaccine and school admission policies up to the states, so if the federal government tried to interfere there would be strong grounds for a Constitutional challenge. The danger is that the federal government could, perhaps, indirectly influence states to abandon non-medical exemptions through revoking funding for projects or other such means. If we care about states’ rights and individual rights, we must vehemently oppose Gottlieb’s insinuations.
The assumption, of course, is that unvaccinated children contract a disease and spread it to other children who may or may not have been vaccinated. As we’ve pointed out in past instances of measles outbreaks, this is simply false. Experts found in 2015 that one in ten measles-vaccinated individuals were at risk of measles because of the waning effectiveness of the measles vaccine. Because of this health authorities are now suggesting booster shots for measles.
There have even been cases where measles was transmitted in a school with a documented immunization level of 100%. What this tells us is that vaccination is not as effective at preventing disease as the public is often led to believe. Multiple studies have shown that vaccinated kids, especially those recently vaccinated, can spread disease, because the vaccine contains a live virus (vaccines that contain the live virus include chicken pox, measles, rubella, nasal flu, polio, and smallpox).
The same goes for mumps. Unvaccinated kids were similarly blamed for a mumps outbreak in recent years, despite the CDC reporting that most mumps patients said they had received both shots of the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine.
It appears that the same is true in Washington, the center of the most recent measles outbreak. Dr. Brian Hooker of Focus for Health testified before Congress that MMR coverage among 19 to 35 month old children in Washington is about 95%. The fact that measles is still occurring in such a highly vaccinated population speaks to the ineffectiveness of the vaccine rather than any perceived immorality of unvaccinated children.
It is pure propaganda to blame unvaccinated kids for these outbreaks. The goal seems to be the passage of laws that eliminate vaccine exemptions as California has done. The tragedy is that, while states and apparently the federal government work to boost vaccine uptake, important questions about the safety of vaccines are swept under the rug. In fact, federal health authorities exhibit a dogged determination not to investigate the safety of vaccines or work to make them safer.
The 1986 National Childhood Vaccination Injury Act shielded vaccine manufacturers from liability. Children harmed or killed by vaccines cannot sue the manufacturer. This eliminates any incentive vaccine makers have to ensure their products are safe. Instead, the 1986 Act set up a Vaccine Court funded by a tax on each vaccine sold to compensate victims of vaccines—but the process is an uphill battle for most victims that takes years and is often unsuccessful. Additionally, the US Department of Health was, according to the 1986 law, supposed to issue regular reports to Congress about what actions it was taking to make vaccines safer.
As of 2019, HHS has issued exactly ZERO of these reports to Congress. This revelation came about as the result of a Freedom of Information Act request from the Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN). For three decades, HHS has been breaking the law. It is one example among many of how HHS almost exclusively prioritizes its mandate to increase vaccination rates over the goal of vaccine safety.
Another example is the shockingly deficient pre-licensure safety review of vaccines. In drug trials, a group of subjects who take the drug under study is compared to a group of subjects on an inert placebo, like a saline injection or a sugar pill. This way the rate of adverse events for the drug can be more accurately assessed.
Trials to determine a vaccine’s safety, by contrast, almost never use placebos. Without placebo controls, it is impossible to accurately determine a vaccine’s safety profile. Other vaccines are then approved by HHS as long as they have a similar adverse event rate as a previous vaccine, creating a “pyramid scheme” of safety.
HHS defends this absurd policy by arguing that it would be unethical to have inert controls—some kids in the trials would go unvaccinated for the duration of the trial, after all. HHS apparently sees no ethical problem with injecting millions of children with vaccines that have not been properly assessed for safety.
Additionally, most vaccines are approved with inadequate follow-up periods of a few days or weeks; drug trials follow subjects for months or years to better determine the dangers and potential adverse events.
It is irresponsible for Congress and public health authorities to be discussing ways to increase vaccination rates without also taking the idea of vaccine safety seriously; it is unconscionable that Commissioner Gottlieb is calling for the elimination of exemptions given the safety record of vaccines. The government’s Vaccine Court, which adjudicates cases where children have been injured or killed by vaccines, has paid out $4 billion to victims since it was founded. We also know that adverse events from vaccines are underreported by a large margin—some experts say as little as one percent of vaccine adverse events are actually reported. Adjusting for this underreporting, since 2005 FDA-approved vaccines have caused 3,213,700 serious adverse events and 367,000 deaths.
It’s time to stop blaming unvaccinated children for disease outbreaks and for HHS to start doing its job to ensure vaccines are as safe as possible.
Reasonable people can ask reasonable questions about vaccination—indeed, we must ask these questions given the risks that are involved. When the government pays out billions of dollars over the years to families damaged by vaccines, we have a right to call for safer vaccines. Such sentiments are not “anti-vax,” but rather pro-safer vaccination.
Action Alert! Write to Congress, the FDA, and CDC, telling them to stop discussing mandates and that HHS must comply with the law by issuing reports detailing what is being done to make vaccines safer. Please send your message immediately.
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URGENT: Feds Aim to End Vax Exemptions
Some federal officials think vaccine exemptions are used too widely and could eliminate your right to choose! Action Alert!
In response to several measles outbreaks that have been reported across the US by the CDC, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee is planning to meet on March 5 to discuss vaccine-preventable diseases and efforts to boost vaccination rates and fight vaccine hesitancy. A House subcommittee is holding a similar hearing next week. Ahead of these hearings, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb has warned states offering vaccine exemptions that the federal government may intervene. This attack on exemptions is unprecedented. We must ensure that Congressional members are properly educated about the numerous safety issues that have been demonstrated. We must also respond in force to protect vaccine exemptions from federal interference.
Commissioner Gottlieb made a number of alarming remarks about exemptions. He said that states might “force the hand of the federal health agencies” if they continue to allow vaccine exemptions amid disease outbreaks, and that he was “deeply skeptical” of exemptions that are not for medical reasons. Gottlieb speculated that the federal government “could mandate certain rules about what is and isn’t permissible when it comes to allowing people to have exemptions.”
It is deeply concerning that the head of the FDA appears so willing to trample the rights of individuals and to supersede state authority. Under the Constitution, the US government has the authority to use police power to prevent those with serious communicable diseases from entering the US or transmitting disease across state borders. Established legal precedents dating back to the early 20th century, however, leave vaccine and school admission policies up to the states, so if the federal government tried to interfere there would be strong grounds for a Constitutional challenge. The danger is that the federal government could, perhaps, indirectly influence states to abandon non-medical exemptions through revoking funding for projects or other such means. If we care about states’ rights and individual rights, we must vehemently oppose Gottlieb’s insinuations.
The assumption, of course, is that unvaccinated children contract a disease and spread it to other children who may or may not have been vaccinated. As we’ve pointed out in past instances of measles outbreaks, this is simply false. Experts found in 2015 that one in ten measles-vaccinated individuals were at risk of measles because of the waning effectiveness of the measles vaccine. Because of this health authorities are now suggesting booster shots for measles.
There have even been cases where measles was transmitted in a school with a documented immunization level of 100%. What this tells us is that vaccination is not as effective at preventing disease as the public is often led to believe. Multiple studies have shown that vaccinated kids, especially those recently vaccinated, can spread disease, because the vaccine contains a live virus (vaccines that contain the live virus include chicken pox, measles, rubella, nasal flu, polio, and smallpox).
The same goes for mumps. Unvaccinated kids were similarly blamed for a mumps outbreak in recent years, despite the CDC reporting that most mumps patients said they had received both shots of the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine.
It appears that the same is true in Washington, the center of the most recent measles outbreak. Dr. Brian Hooker of Focus for Health testified before Congress that MMR coverage among 19 to 35 month old children in Washington is about 95%. The fact that measles is still occurring in such a highly vaccinated population speaks to the ineffectiveness of the vaccine rather than any perceived immorality of unvaccinated children.
It is pure propaganda to blame unvaccinated kids for these outbreaks. The goal seems to be the passage of laws that eliminate vaccine exemptions as California has done. The tragedy is that, while states and apparently the federal government work to boost vaccine uptake, important questions about the safety of vaccines are swept under the rug. In fact, federal health authorities exhibit a dogged determination not to investigate the safety of vaccines or work to make them safer.
The 1986 National Childhood Vaccination Injury Act shielded vaccine manufacturers from liability. Children harmed or killed by vaccines cannot sue the manufacturer. This eliminates any incentive vaccine makers have to ensure their products are safe. Instead, the 1986 Act set up a Vaccine Court funded by a tax on each vaccine sold to compensate victims of vaccines—but the process is an uphill battle for most victims that takes years and is often unsuccessful. Additionally, the US Department of Health was, according to the 1986 law, supposed to issue regular reports to Congress about what actions it was taking to make vaccines safer.
As of 2019, HHS has issued exactly ZERO of these reports to Congress. This revelation came about as the result of a Freedom of Information Act request from the Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN). For three decades, HHS has been breaking the law. It is one example among many of how HHS almost exclusively prioritizes its mandate to increase vaccination rates over the goal of vaccine safety.
Another example is the shockingly deficient pre-licensure safety review of vaccines. In drug trials, a group of subjects who take the drug under study is compared to a group of subjects on an inert placebo, like a saline injection or a sugar pill. This way the rate of adverse events for the drug can be more accurately assessed.
Trials to determine a vaccine’s safety, by contrast, almost never use placebos. Without placebo controls, it is impossible to accurately determine a vaccine’s safety profile. Other vaccines are then approved by HHS as long as they have a similar adverse event rate as a previous vaccine, creating a “pyramid scheme” of safety.
HHS defends this absurd policy by arguing that it would be unethical to have inert controls—some kids in the trials would go unvaccinated for the duration of the trial, after all. HHS apparently sees no ethical problem with injecting millions of children with vaccines that have not been properly assessed for safety.
Additionally, most vaccines are approved with inadequate follow-up periods of a few days or weeks; drug trials follow subjects for months or years to better determine the dangers and potential adverse events.
It is irresponsible for Congress and public health authorities to be discussing ways to increase vaccination rates without also taking the idea of vaccine safety seriously; it is unconscionable that Commissioner Gottlieb is calling for the elimination of exemptions given the safety record of vaccines. The government’s Vaccine Court, which adjudicates cases where children have been injured or killed by vaccines, has paid out $4 billion to victims since it was founded. We also know that adverse events from vaccines are underreported by a large margin—some experts say as little as one percent of vaccine adverse events are actually reported. Adjusting for this underreporting, since 2005 FDA-approved vaccines have caused 3,213,700 serious adverse events and 367,000 deaths.
It’s time to stop blaming unvaccinated children for disease outbreaks and for HHS to start doing its job to ensure vaccines are as safe as possible.
Reasonable people can ask reasonable questions about vaccination—indeed, we must ask these questions given the risks that are involved. When the government pays out billions of dollars over the years to families damaged by vaccines, we have a right to call for safer vaccines. Such sentiments are not “anti-vax,” but rather pro-safer vaccination.
Action Alert! Write to Congress, the FDA, and CDC, telling them to stop discussing mandates and that HHS must comply with the law by issuing reports detailing what is being done to make vaccines safer. Please send your message immediately.
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Friday, February 15, 2019
Cancer Rate Ad
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CBD Ad
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Cancer Rate Ad
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Thursday, February 14, 2019
Is This the Beginning of the End for Quality Supplements?
A new announcement from the head of the FDA gives reason for concern. Action Alert!
Just a few days ago, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb released a wide-ranging statement about the FDA’s regulatory approach to dietary supplements. The statement was short on details, and without more explanation we see some potential causes for concern. Consumers who care about supplement access must be on alert and stay engaged in this process, given the agency’s demonstrated hostility towards the natural products industry.
Commissioner Gottlieb starts out by saying that he has personally benefitted from supplements, and as a physician recognizes the benefit of supplements for patients. So far, so good: we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he means what he says.
Commissioner Gottlieb goes on to discuss the prospect of “modernizing” the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA). Since the FDA cannot unilaterally change legislation, presumably he means working with Congress to change DSHEA. DSHEA set up the current framework for the regulation of supplements. Importantly, it said that supplements are food and would be regulated as such—not like drugs. This is crucial. If supplements were regulated like drugs, we would lose widespread access: supplements, being natural products, generally cannot be patented the same way drugs can and therefore, without that protection, they cannot afford to go through the expensive FDA approval. We’ve also been telling you about the back-channel at the FDA that allows Big Pharma to turn nutrients into drugs.
Could the FDA be preparing to work with Congress to make changes to DSHEA that further undermine supplement access and/or result in Big Pharma turning more of our valued nutrients into drugs? It is a possibility.
Especially concerning is a passing reference to amending DSHEA to allow for “supplement exclusivity.” No further explanation is offered, so it’s impossible to know precisely what Gottlieb means. ANH-USA met with FDA staff last year and discussed a number of issues that hamper innovation in the supplement industry and consumer access to important supplements, including how the FDA allows Big Pharma to turn nutrients into drugs. If “supplement exclusivity” means that the FDA took our concerns to heart and will protect supplements from being turned into monopoly drugs by Big Pharma, keeping them exclusively in the supplement realm, then this would be a major win for consumers of natural medicine.
If, on the other hand, what Gottlieb means by “supplement exclusivity” is a similar “pay-to-play” scheme for supplements as there currently is for drugs, where a company could bring a supplement through an FDA approval process and be granted market exclusivity, this could be disastrous. We know from history that the FDA is focused single-mindedly on one thing: pre-approval of supplements based on randomized controlled trials (RCTs)—federal regulators even demand RCTs to back up health claims on food and supplements. Conducting the studies required for FDA drug approval is incredibly expensive: estimates range from $1 billion to almost $3 billion. If a “supplement exclusivity” system costs even one-tenth of the price of drug approval, it would still be too expensive for most supplement companies. Such an exclusivity system would likely be an option only for synthetic supplements owned by Big Pharma, the only entities capable of footing this considerable bill.
If the FDA creates a supplement exclusivity option that promotes a level playing field for big and small companies, natural and synthetic supplements, that doesn’t negatively impact consumer access to the quality supplements they need—then great. We simply do not know what Gottlieb has in mind, so given the FDA’s history, we have to remain on alert.
Furthermore, natural supplements cannot be patented the same way drugs can; a company may be able to patent a process, a proprietary method for producing a natural supplement, but they cannot patent a naturally-occurring vitamin and prevent other companies from making it. But if a company creates a synthetic version of a vitamin, they may be able to patent their proprietary formula and method. If that company then wins “supplement exclusivity” from the FDA, does that mean that similar natural forms of the vitamin will no longer be available? This is our major concern, and until we know more we cannot rule out this possibility.
Gottlieb also mentions the possibility of creating a mandatory listing requirement for the supplement industry—that is, requiring each supplement manufacturer to register all the products it makes, including all the ingredients of those products, with the FDA. The stated purpose for such a policy is to improve the FDA’s ability to “manage emerging risks” and to root out bad actors who sell dangerous products. These are undeniably laudable goals, but the FDA already has the authority to go after companies who break the law, as discussed further below.
The mandatory list is also a concern given the current state of the FDA’s “new supplement” guidance. This guidance, as we’ve discussed previously, seeks to impose drug-like pre-approval requirements on all “new supplements” that came to the market after 1994. In classic fashion, the FDA’s proposed definition of what it considers a “new supplement” is extremely broad and could encompass most of the products currently on the market. A mandatory list could then be used to target and eliminate supplements that have not yet complied with the FDA’s over-reaching policy.
To be clear, there isn’t anything inherently wrong with a mandatory list. The problem is with how the FDA will use it. Given the agency’s track record, we are forced to view the creation of such a list with a heavy dose of skepticism.
Other initiatives mentioned by Gottlieb are also worrisome. To ensure that the FDA is utilizing its resources “as efficiently and effectively as possible,” he mentions the creation of a Dietary Supplement Working Group at the FDA, which is tasked with “taking a close look at [FDA’s] organizational structures, processes, procedures and practices in order to identify opportunities to modernize our oversight of dietary supplements.” The FDA has also created the Botanical Safety Consortium which will “promote scientific advances in evaluating the safety of botanical ingredients and mixtures in dietary supplements.” The purpose of this consortium, according to Gottlieb, is to keep up with innovations in the supplement industry and to ensure the FDA can evaluate the safety of botanical ingredients.
There is nothing wrong with protecting consumers by evaluating the safety of ingredients—in theory. But, as we’ve seen with the FDA’s review process determining which dietary ingredients can be compounded, in which many objectively safe ingredients have been denied, the FDA doesn’t seem equipped to make good decisions about what is safe and what isn’t. Again, given the FDA’s deference to Big Pharma (pharmaceutical companies support the FDA through drug user fees) and the agency’s hostility towards supplements, we’re skeptical of the agency’s goals.
As a side note, much of this is reminiscent of Sen. Dick Durbin’s (D-IL) bill that we defeated in 2013. Sen. Durbin’s bill aimed to create a supplement registration (like the master list) so that the FDA, along with the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), could create a list of supplements that might lead to adverse events. At the time we said that this was a power-grab having very little to do with safety, and that the FDA’s bias against supplements and the NAM’s skewed, anti-science recommendations regarding supplements were reason enough to oppose such a measure. Recall that the NAM (then called the Institute of Medicine) once said that people up to age 70 don’t need more than 600 IU of vitamin D per day and that more than 4,000 IU is dangerous. Gottlieb is proposing the creation of a master list, a Botanical Safety Consortium, and an FDA Working Group on supplements. Will he take us down a similar path that Sen. Durbin tried to lead us down, and attempt to restrict therapeutic doses of supplements? We don’t know yet, but the danger is present.
Remember that the FDA already has the power to take products with illegal ingredients off the market, and it exercises this power—as it should. What’s being obscured in Gottlieb’s statement, and routinely throughout the media, is that the overwhelming evidence is that supplements are safe. Consider the following:
- A recent report using data from two supplement manufacturers found that less than 1% of adverse events related to supplements are serious.
- Our colleagues at ANH-International found that UK residents were about as likely to get struck by lightning as to die from taking supplements.
- The American Association of Poison Control Center’s National Poison Data System (NPDS) releases an annual report that tracks deaths and serious adverse events as a result of poisoning from a wide variety of substances, including drugs and supplements. The most recent report found a total of 3 deaths related to dietary supplements in 2016.
- Contrast that with the estimates that properly prescribed FDA-approved drugs cause an estimated 1.9 million hospitalizations and 128,000 deaths each year.
What these facts tell us is that supplement safety isn’t really an issue. If it’s not an issue, why does the FDA feel the need to revamp and “modernize” supplement regulation? If the FDA is working on implementing the reforms we brought forward, great. But our fear is that it’s nothing more than a power-grab to extend the agency’s control over the supplement industry, allowing the agency to further tip the scales in favor of dangerous and expensive drugs and, if our fears about “supplement exclusivity” are correct, low-quality, synthetic supplements Big Pharma is known for. To provide just a few examples, Pfizer owns the Centrum brand, which uses low doses of synthetic vitamins like E and C (ascorbic acid)—some variations of Centrum contain as little as 35 IU vitamin E. NatureMade is owned by Otsuka Pharmaceutical, which also uses synthetic E and C in its products. The same goes for Bayer’s One A Day line of multivitamins.
Low doses of cheap, synthetic versions of nutrients seems to be the industry standard for Big Pharma. Will these be the only products left when the FDA is done “modernizing” DSHEA? It is imperative that we defend quality, natural ingredients as well as therapeutic doses of those vitamins. We’ve highlighted these points in previous articles, but suffice it to say that high dose supplements impart benefits that are not possible at lower doses, such as high-dose vitamin C having heart-protective benefits and improved ability to fight off colds. Without high-dose vitamins, we lose these benefits.
This isn’t to say that the regulation of dietary supplements cannot be improved; there are a number of much-needed reforms, including fixing the disastrous new supplement (NDI) guidance, protecting and promoting free speech about supplement benefits, and preventing drug companies from turning supplements into expensive drugs, as they have with CBD oil and l-glutamine. All of these reforms and more are included in a legislative proposal we are currently drafting.
We will follow these developments closely and keep you updated. In the meantime, we must tell the FDA that we are watching, and they must not do anything to restrict consumer access to high-dose, quality supplements.
Action Alert! Write to the FDA and Congress, telling the agency not to make changes to existing supplement regulations that will result in a loss of access to quality dietary supplements. Please send your message immediately.
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Common Vitamin Could Offer Autism Key
A new study shows the promise of natural medicine for treating autism, underscoring the need both for further study and greater access to practitioners who can administer these treatments. State-based Action Alerts!
A new study found that giving vitamin D supplements to mice during pregnancy prevented autistic traits in their offspring. This is exciting news that federal health authorities should aggressively pursue with more investigations. They should, but they won’t, since vitamin D isn’t patentable the same way drugs and other novel products are and can’t make money for the drug companies. To make matters even worse, health authorities also limit our access to practitioners who are best positioned to implement scientifically proven methods of treating patients with natural medicine.
There is other promising research on autism that the natural health community is bringing to light. Many children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience gastrointestinal problems. They have significantly different gut flora compared to those that do not have ASD. Researchers suspect that the ASD child’s gut microbiome—and its trillions of bacteria that are integral to human health—becomes compromised early in life. This disruption, combined with environmental exposures and genetic factors, creates the “perfect storm” for ASD to develop. It is also worth remembering that children delivered by surgery do not pick up their mother’s friendly vaginal bacteria which can also have significant negative consequences. (Integrative and other natural health practitioners were among the first to recognize and integrate the importance of the gut microbiome for human health).
Research has also linked Tylenol use and antidepressant use during pregnancy with autism.
Further, recently-published evidence sheds more light on aluminum’s role in autism. Aluminum is a common adjuvant in vaccines. Researchers found that the brains of autistic children had up to ten times the amount of aluminum in their brains than what is considered safe in adults. These results should be followed up with further study, but the federal government is committed to the orthodoxy that vaccines, in no way, shape, or form, cause autism.
We need practitioners who do not scoff at this research, but rather integrate it into their recommendations and treatments. Sadly, conventional doctors are behind the ball. The medical establishment is notorious for continuing practices that have long been proven ineffective or harmful. The prevalence of autism has increased steadily in recent years; the CDC now estimates that 1 in 59 children have autism. Some estimates predict that by 2025, half of all children will be autistic. Conventional doctors seem totally lost about how to tackle this epidemic.
So who will give us the best advice? Integrative doctors are a great option, along with other practitioners skilled in the science of natural medicine such as naturopathic doctors (NDs). Unfortunately, many states do not allow NDs to practice to the level of their skill and training, or they don’t allow them to communicate their skill and training to consumers. This prevents consumers making informed choices about the practitioner they want, and in many cases prevents consumers from accessing practitioners other than doctors who practice a conventional approach to medicine.
We’ve included a list of bills in various states that seek to either expand what NDs can do, or create a licensure program for NDs who have been educated at accredited, four-year naturopathic medical schools, which would allow them to practice to the level of their education and training. ANH-USA also firmly believes that traditional naturopaths – those educated at non-accredited institutions or via apprenticeships—must be allowed to practice to the extent of their training, too. This allows consumers to decide for themselves what kind of practitioner best fits their needs. For this reason, we are asking that where licensure is created or expanded for NDs, traditional naturopaths are permitted to retain a separate title that communicates their separate area of practice.
Check if your state is below to take action on these important bills.
Additionally, take action below to call on the FDA to study the role of vitamin D in preventing autism—without a control group, since it would be unethical not give the treatment to some mothers. Swift action must be taken to curb the steep rise of autism.
Action Alert! Tell the FDA, with a copy to Congress, telling the agency to study the role of vitamin D in preventing autism. Please send your message immediately.
State-based action alerts! Check to see if your state is below, and click the link to take action to support naturopathic licensure in your state! Please send your message immediately.
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