WDDTY e-News Broadcast - 07 October 2004

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> WDDTY e-News Broadcast - 07 October 2004

> Fri, 8 Oct 2004 17:55:32 +0100

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WHAT DOCTORS DON#8217;T TELL YOU - E-NEWS BROADCAST

No. 101 - 07 October 2004

Please feel free to email this broadcast to any

friends you feel would appreciate receiving it.

 

 

CONTENTS

 

News Section

 

 

Health scares: It's measles, it's the flu

Homeopathy: Scientists prove that it works

Herbal medicine: Scientists prove that it works,

too

Drug regulators: How they fail us

 

 

 

HEALTH SCARES: It's measles, it's the flu, something

nasty out there is trying to get you

 

The first chill winds of autumn have brought in the

traditional round of health scares, courtesy of the

various government agencies. First to come rolling in

is the fear that Britain - and especially London - now

faces a measles epidemic because the take-up of the

MMR vaccine has reached dangerously low levels.

 

The UK's public health 'watchdog', the Health

Protection Agency, said that London is 'at imminent

risk of a severe measles outbreak'. This will be

followed within two years by a national outbreak. Up

to 12 per cent of the nation's children, and 20 per

cent of adults, will end up in hospital with the

disease.

 

This is odd, because the same government's Department

of Health said that they were unaware of any imminent

epidemic. Indeed, cases of measles have been down on

the previous year even though vaccination levels among

two-year-olds has dropped to just 80 per cent, the

lowest level since 1995 when up to 92 per cent were

vaccinated.

 

This was around the time when a similar agency, the

Public Health Laboratory Service, was forecasting a

similar epidemic, and was urging parents to give their

children a measles booster vaccine.

 

The earlier scare raised a number of issues. First,

it suggests that the vaccine does not offer the

protection that its advocates claim - and, indeed,

this is the case because most children who get measles

are vaccinated. Second, how did the agency know there

was going to be an epidemic?

 

When their figures were reanalyzed, it was discovered

that there had been a serious miscalculation. Less

generous critics said it was a deliberate ploy to

hoodwink the public, a claim that was never refuted.

 

So are we being hoodwinked again in order to fall in

line? We're confident that a government with a track

record of always telling the truth would never do such

a thing.

 

Scare number two is as predictable as Christmas lights

in October - step forward the annual flu epidemic.

Again, government health agencies are wringing their

hands after a major manufacturer of flu vaccines had

its licence withdrawn when it revealed stocks had been

contaminated. The manufacturer supplies half of all

flu vaccines made available in the USA, while in the

UK vaccines will be made available only to the most

vulnerable. The shortage could result in a 'public

health nightmare', one American commentator said.

 

This sudden frenzy assumes one major fact: that the

vaccines actually offer protection. Sadly there is

little evidence that they do, and no wonder when

nobody yet knows the strain of flu that may, or may

not, attack the UK and the USA this winter.

 

Of course health officials could be telling people how

to improve their nutritional status to ward off the

worst effects of any flu bug, but far better to offer

the 'magic bullet' approach, we assume.

 

* The full story of the MMR vaccine, and ways to

improve your immune system against that and the flu,

are explained in the Special MMR Update Report and The

Vaccination Bible. To order these, click on this

link:

http://www.wddty.co.uk/shop/details.asp?product=335

 

 

 

PROOF POSITIVE: Homeopathy works, but Dr Jacques

isn't around to hear his work vindicated

 

It is tragic that it has taken 16 years to vindicate

the controversial discoveries of Dr Jacques Benveniste

- and in the very week that he has died.

 

Dr Benveniste scientifically proved the basis of

homeopathy in a series of experiments with water,

which were published in Nature in 1988. Thereafter

the medical establishment pilloried him, research

funding was taken away, and his very promising career

in science was ended. Television magician James Randi

visited Benveniste's laboratories but, not

surprisingly perhaps, was unable to verify his

discovery.

 

But scientists, rather than celebrities, have finally

proved his findings. Four independent laboratories,

in Ireland, Italy, France and the Netherlands, have

discovered that effects can occur below the level at

which any molecule of the substance is present.

 

Sadly, their findings were published in the week that

Dr Benveniste died following heart surgery.

 

(Source: Inflammation Research, 2004; 53: 181-8).

 

* The work of Dr Jacques Benveniste, and his struggle

against the prevailing establishment, is outlined in

Lynne McTaggart's inspiring book The Field. To order

your copy, :

http://www.wddty.co.uk/thefield/about_book.asp

 

 

 

MORE PROOF POSITIVE: Scientists show that herbal

medicine works, too

 

It was also a good week for herbal medicine after

researchers found that it offered 'real benefits'.

Scientists at King's College London tested a variety

of herbal remedies, and found that they could help

treat conditions such as diabetes and cancer.

 

The curry leaf tree (Murraya koenigii) was singled out

for special mention as an effective treatment for

diabetes. It seems to restrict the action of the

digestive enzyme pancreatic alpha-amylase, which helps

break down dietary starch to glucose.

 

A diabetic does not produce enough insulin to deal

with rapid rises in blood glucose levels, so slowing

the rate of starch breakdown can help establish a more

even release of glucose.

 

The findings are not particularly startling,

especially as many pharmaceutical drugs are based on

herbal remedies, and herbal medicine follows a similar

paradigm to allopathic medicine.

 

It is all the more surprising, therefore, that Edzard

Ernst, professor of complementary medicine at Exeter

University, should give the findings no more than the

most cautious of welcomes. Oddly, Prof Ernst does not

seem to be much of an advocate for the medicine he

represents, but we're sure it's just a matter of time.

 

 

 

WATCHDOGS AT THE GATE: How our regulators let us down

(and why you knew about this ages ago)

 

If you've been a regular reader of E-news for any

length of time, you've probably got into the swing of

things. Shocking announcements that are 'news' to a

nation are just ho-hum humdrum stuff to you.

 

For example, the UK has been shocked into a whisper by

a news programme last weekend that revealed the

regulatory shortcomings of one of the drug agencies

that monitor the safety of prescribed pharmaceuticals.

 

 

The BBC programme, Panorama, discovered that the

anti-depressant Seroxat could cause self-harm,

aggression and even suicide, a claim that the

regulator has constantly denied. However, the

programme's reporters say that the regulator has been

sitting on the data for 13 years, and has never issued

a warning to the public.

 

What Doctors Don't Tell You first alerted its readers

to the dangers of Seroxat seven years ago, and pointed

out at the time that the drug regulator had received

information on 54 serious adverse reactions.

 

And, last week, the arthritis drug Vioxx was finally

pulled by its manufacturer - five years after WDDTY

alerted its readers to the drug's shortcomings.

 

* All of which means that smart people to

What Doctors Don't Tell You. Subscriptions start from

just UK£2.33 a month, and not only do you get the

world's best newsletter delivered to your door every

month, you get a stack of free books and reports, and

you can claim 20 per cent discounts off your vitamins

and supplements, organic foods, and chemical-free

toiletries. What a steal! To sign up, click on this

link:

http://www.wddty.co.uk/shop/details.asp?product=330