FDA Sued over Supplement Rulemaking - NewsGrabs Thursday, 20 August 2009

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FDA Sued over Supplement Rulemaking - NewsGrabs Thursday, 20 August 2009

_http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2009/08/20/fda_sued_over_supplement_ru

lemaking_newsgrabs_thursday_20_august_2009.htm_

(http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2009/08/20/fda_sued_over_supplement_rulema\

king_newsgrabs_thursday_

20_august_2009.htm)

 

 

FDA sued over excessively restrictive rule making on food supplements

The Alliance for Natural Health, together with Durk Pearson and Sandy

Shaw, as well as the Coalition to End FDA and FTC Censorship have sued the FDA

over its excessively restrictive stance on supplements and the information

that may be given about their health benefits. Three distinct actions were

filed within days from each other:

_ANH sues FDA over suppression of free speech on selenium health benefits_

(http://www.anhcampaign.org/news/anh-sues-fda-over-suppression-of-free-speec

h-on-selenium-health-benefits)

The suit seeks declaratory and injunctive relief on the grounds that FDA’s

June 19, 2009 decision to suppress selenium/cancer-risk reduction claims

infringed on the organization’s right to speak freely about truthful health

information.

_ANH’s US arm files suit against FDA over new GMP rule_

(http://www.anhcampaign.org/news/anh’s-us-arm-files-suit-against-fda-over-new-\

gmp-rule)

The suit aims ultimately to reverse the disproportionate burden of the FDA’

s new cGMP (current Good Manufacturing Practice) rule which may otherwise

lead to mass closure of smaller dietary supplement manufacturers, reduced

consumer choice as well as significant price hikes for products remaining on

the market.

_ANH-US files 3rd suit against FDA for suppression of antoxidant claims_

(http://www.anhcampaign.org/news/anh-us-files-3rd-suit-against-fda-for-suppres

sion-of-antoxidant-claims)

The action has been lodged by Jonathan W Emord of Virginia-based law firm,

Emord & Associates and seeks declaratory and injunctive relief on the

grounds that FDA’s June 19, 2009, decision to suppress claims that

antioxidants

reduce the risk of cancer infringes on ANH-US’ right to speak freely about

truthful health information, thereby violating the First Amendment.

 

_Codex Alimentarius: Petition to UK Government_

(http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Vitamins/)

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to oppose the adoption of

the Codex Alimentarius (WHO/UN) proposals for restriction of the presently

freely available herb/vitamin/mineral food supplements. The principle of

self medication with herbal/vitamin/mineral food supplements would be

restricted to 'prescription only' status, if the Codex Alimentarius is applied

in

this country.

Since the NHS priorities are ill health diagnosis and treatment, the good

health preservation that supplements provide will be inaccessible to the

majority of our population and the cost to the NHS will increase, and the

health of the population will decline.

If you are a resident of the UK and are concerned, follow the link to sign

 

_Carnitine supplements reverse glucose intolerance in animals_

(http://www.physorg.com/news169300987.html)

Carnitine is made in the liver and recycled by the kidney, but in some

cases when this is insufficient, dietary carnitine from red meat and other

animal foods can compensate for the shortfall.

After just eight weeks of supplementation with carnitine, the obese rats

restored their cells' fuel- burning capacity (which was shut down by a lack

of natural carnitine) and improved their glucose tolerance, a health

outcome that indicates a lower risk of diabetes.

 

_NAC protects against severe malaria_

(http://www.physorg.com/news169744349.html)

In a study to be published in the next issue of the Proceedings of the

National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), researchers at the Instituto Gulbenkian

de Ciência, in Portugal, show that an anti-oxidant drug [it's actually an

aminoacid, N-Acetyl-Cysteine] can protect against the development of deadly

forms of malaria.

This finding suggests that there might be alternative therapeutic

approaches to treat malaria, which, unlike the current ones would not aim at

killing the parasite directly, but rather at strengthening the health status of

the host, so that the host could kill parasite and survive. This type

therapeutic approach should provide potent protection against severe forms of

malaria and thus save lives without favouring the appearance of resistant

strains of Plasmodium.

'Moreover, one might be able to apply the same strategy to a range of

other infectious diseases and impact on the treatment of not only malaria but a

variety of other infectious diseases, a line of research we are actively

pursuing at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência.'

 

_Folic acid -- mandatory fortification may be unnecessary_

(http://www.physorg.com/news169756050.html)

Persistently present levels of unmetabolized folic acid found in the

population indicate that introducing mandatory food fortification may result in

an 'overdosing' effect. A study of blood donors, new mothers and babies,

published in the open access journal BMC Public Health, has found that most

already get enough folic acid from voluntarily fortified foods.

 

_Gut Reaction: 'Good' Microbes Under Attack_

(http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204044204574356434070272984.html)

In tests on mice, Vincent Young at the University of Michigan Medical

School found that a certain antibiotic permanently decreased the diversity of

the animals' " microbiota " —the trillions of microscopic bugs that inhabit the

gut and which may be very beneficial.

The study was published in June in the journal Infection and Immunity.

" We may be doing long-term damage to our close friends, " said Dr. Young,

46 years old, referring to the good bugs.

" The gut is an ecosystem, just as much as the rainforests and the oceans, "

he said. " We're finally getting a better understanding of how this

ecosystem assembles and responds to ecologic stress. " Dr. Young said the gut

ecosystem needs to be preserved and that changing the ecosystem through

stresses

such as antibiotics " could irreversibly change the ecosystem, with

deleterious results. "

Great discovery ... and it might well lead to better health and prevention

of many ills. To be fair, this is exactly what natural health advocates

have been saying for decades, but it is good to see a decidedly mainstream

publication like the Wall Street Journal get it right.

 

_Nestle Reports Decline in Bottled Water Sales_

(http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_18839.cfm)

The company's bottled water division, which packages and sells water under

several brands including Arrowhead, Calistoga, Deer Park, Poland Spring,

and Perrier, among others, recorded a 3.7 percent decline in volume.

" Around the world, but especially in the United States, consumers are

recognizing that bottled water is an unnecessary burden on their wallets, the

environment, and the communities from which it is taken and sold at

thousands of times its actual value.

 

_Cell phones and brain tumors: a review including the long-term

epidemiologic data_ (http://omega.twoday.net/stories/5884085/)

The results indicate that using a cell phone for 10 years or more

approximately doubles the risk of being diagnosed with a brain tumor on the

same

( " ipsilateral " ) side of the head as that preferred for cell phone use. The

data achieve statistical significance for glioma and acoustic neuroma but not

for meningioma.

 

_US Department of Agriculture Says Biotech is Compatible with Organic_

(http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_18878.cfm)

A governmental decision to change organic regulations to permit the use of

biotechnology could have far-reaching policy implications for global

agriculture.

Allowing producers to gain organic certification for biotech crops could

encourage the development of a new type of environmentally sustainable

agricultural production with greater benefits for the consumer.

It seems they should be joking, but I fear the campaign to make biotech

(genetic modification) broadly acceptable and to even contaminate organic

agriculture with it is a deadly serious affair...

 

_Monsanto's Roundup More Deadly to Liver Cells than Active Ingredient

Alone_ (http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_18842.cfm)

Very low doses of some types of the herbicide Roundup can disrupt human

liver cell function; the formulations' toxicity may be tied to their

" inactive " ingredients rather than the active weed-killing ingredient

glyphosate.

 

_Fight Cancer with Human Breast Milk?_

(http://xenophilius.wordpress.com/2009/08/16/fight-cancer-with-human-breast-milk\

/)

Svanborg and her group began to analyze breast milk more thoroughly and

eventually discovered that the actual component of breast milk that was

killing cancer cells is a protein called alpha-lactalbumin (sometimes called

alpha-lac). In January 1999, they finally released results demonstrating that

in the acid environment of an infant’s stomach, the normal alpha-lac

protein changed shape and transformed into a killer of cancer cells (or other

potentially harmful cells, such as pneumonococcus bacteria). Her research

group named the altered protein, HAMLET, for Human Alpha-lactalbumin Made

Lethal to Tumor cells.

 

_Rodale Institute: Organic Food Still the Best Nutritional Choice_

(http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_18792.cfm)

" Media spin has largely missed the point of this tightly focused study

using existing data. It is a blip, not a cataclysm, in the ongoing effort to

grasp the complexities of how organic food-from healthy soil and natural

systems-differs from food grown with synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, "

LaSalle explained.

The study, funded by the UK Food Standards Agency, formally acknowledges

data demonstrating significant nutritional advantages for organic. It said

in its analysis, however, that the evidence was insufficient, under its

protocol, to proclaim organic superiority.

 

_Is Aspartame About to Be Banned?_

(http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/21048/)

Aspartame has been passed as fit to consume by more than 100 countries

around the world, but there is evidence that each of aspartame’s chemical

components can have toxic effects. It is curious that studies on the safety of

aspartame funded by the industry invariably find in favor of aspartame, but

independently funded work almost always finds quite the opposite.

 

_Cancer Prevention Coalition Calls on FDA to Ban Aspartame_

(http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_18887.cfm)

Under the explicit provisions of the 1958 Delaney Law, which requires an

automatic ban on carcinogenic food additives, the Coalition is calling on

Dr. Margaret Hamburg, the newly appointed Commissioner of the U.S. Food and

Drug Administration and public health advocate, to promptly ban the

continued use of aspartame.

 

 

Perhaps the real question that should be asked here is: Has Aspartame

Outlived its Usefulness? With both Coca Cola and Pepsi getting in gear with a

stevia-based sweetener, are the wheels now being set in motion to 'allow'

aspartame to be banned ... to make way in the market for the newly patented

replacement sweeteners?

 

_Asda wins 'nasty aspartame' case_

(http://www.foodanddrinkdigital.com/MarketSector/Food-Manufacturing/Asda-wins-as\

partame-case_29324.aspx)

On Wednesday Asda won its court battle with Japanese food company

Ajinomoto, who sued the supermarket chain for calling the artificial sweetener

aspartame ‘nasty’.

 

_Nanotechnology and the Enclosure of the Chemical Elements_

(http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/pat-mooney-on-nanotechnology-and-the-enclosure-of\

-the-chemic

al-elements/2009/08/16)

So, if you go down in size, if you get small enough, you don’ t even know,

that the nanoparticle is there. You put it on your skin (suncream), they

can sink into your skin and evolve through your body and companies cannot

even measure the size, actually. There is no international standard yet for

how to measure the size. There is three different ways you can do it….

The governments start to think about how to regulate this. In South Africa

next year, there will be a meeting of major governments trying to make

some progress on nanotech-regulation. We have been told by the US- government,

that they think, that they will need till 2017 before coming to a global

agreement on basic standards. But in 2015 there will be plenty of things on

the market…

 

_Alternative to antibiotics under development_

(http://xenophilius.wordpress.com/2009/08/14/alternative-to-antibiotics-under-de\

velopment/)

Published in the journal Molecular Cell, the study shows that disrupting ‘

quorum sensing’ – or the way bacteria communicate collective information,

such as population density, can stop bacteria from killing a host organism.

 

_Glaxo Had Ghostwriting Program To Promote Paxil_

(http://www.furiousseasons.com/archives/2009/08/glaxo_had_ghostwriting_program_t\

o_promote_paxil.html)

 

" An internal company memo instructs salespeople to approach physicians and

offer to help them write and publish articles about their positive

experiences prescribing the drug.

Known as the CASPPER program, the paper explains how the company can help

physicians with everything from 'developing a topic,' to 'submitting the

manuscript for publication.' "

 

_The Medical Paradigm Is Fatally Flawed_

(http://gaia-health.com/articles51/000076-Medical-Paradigm-Fatal-Flaw.shtml)

Once a product or service has been corporatized, every aspect of it is

addressed for its ability to exact profits. Medicine is no different. By

joining the corporate paradigm, medicine has ceased to be primarily a force for

wellbeing. Any flaw found, such as a drug's side effects, is turned into

yet another profit center.

 

_Anti-Depressants Double Suicide Risk In Young Adults_

(http://www.furiousseasons.com/archives/2009/08/antidepressants_double_suicide_r\

isk_in_young_adu

lts.html)

It's of course old news at this point that anti-depressants can induce

both suicidality and suicidal ideation--hence the FDA-mandated black box

warnings on anti-depressants--but this study does address mounting attempts,

most recently in June, by some researchers to cast doubt on the warnings,

especially for young adults aged 18 to 25.

 

_Another woman survives antiretroviral drugs_

(http://hivskeptic.wordpress.com/2009/08/09/another-woman-survives-antiretrovira\

l-drugs/)

Onnie Mary Phuthe is a young Botswana woman who realized the harm that

antiretroviral drugs were doing her, stopped taking them, and has regained her

health.

 

_Polio surge in Nigeria after vaccine virus mutates_

(http://www.physorg.com/news169465879.html)

Polio, the dreaded paralyzing disease stamped out in the industrialized

world, is spreading in Nigeria. And health officials say in some cases, it's

caused by the vaccine used to fight it.

In July, the World Health Organization issued a warning that this

vaccine-spread virus might extend beyond Africa. So far, 124 Nigerian children

have

been paralyzed this year - about twice those afflicted in 2008.

So the great push to " eradicate polio " actually ends up spreading a mutant

virus increasing the polio death toll. So much for the loudly touted

vaccine campaigns pushed by the WHO.

 

_Swine flu likely to be just as mild in autumn judging from pandemic

history, say experts_

(http://birdflu666.wordpress.com/2009/08/12/swine-flu-might-be-just-as-mild-in-a\

utumn-say-experts/)

US experts have admitted the swine flu is harmless and is likely to stay

harmless, making the necessity for forced mass vaccinations on WHO’s

instructions look even more questionable.

There is evidence the deadly “second wave†of the Spanish Flu of 1918 was

caused by vaccinations and not by a virus mutation...

 

_Could Catching Swine Flu Be Good For You?_

(http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_18803.cfm)

Some doctors say that catching swine flu now, while it is mild, could

prevent a more serious infection later by building immunity in those sickened

by the new flu virus.

" In the U.K. and Europe and America, it is spreading so fast that it is

very likely that most people will be exposed to or get swine flu, and this

will help them develop immunity before the second wave, " said Dr. Raymond Ng,

a doctor with OT and P, a family practice in Hong Kong. That second wave

could be a mutated, more lethal flu. " Having some immunity gives us some

protection against this virus, " Dr. Ng said.

 

_Doctors in Mexico City Cured 2009 Swine Flu with Homeopathy_

(http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_18885.cfm)

These doctors included historically documented observations regarding the

1918 flu pandemic. For historical references they used " ... the thesis

written by Dr. Manuel Mazari to obtain his qualification at the Escuela Libre

de Homeopata de Mexico: " Short Study of the Last Influenza Epidemic in

Mexico City (1918) " , as well as reports published by the Ministry of Health,

news published in the media in general, and some clinical cases mentioned by

homeopathic physicians " .

" In homeopathy there are no specific medicines for a particular

nosological picture (for which the most common symptoms are taken into

account). But

in epidemics, due to the common causative agent, susceptibility of the

population in this particular moment, and the repetition of symptoms, a group

of the most useful remedies can be deduced. The remedies determined in this

way are called the Genius Epidemicus. They consist of a group of medicines

with symptoms most similar to those presented by most patients suffering

this flu. "

 

_Live Attenuated Swine Influenza Vaccine for Children Safety in Question_

(http://www.i-sis.org.uk/LASIVCSQ.php)

AstraZeneca will produce a genetically engineered live attenuated vaccine

through its global biologics unit, MedImmune, using cell culture or eggs.

The MedImmune vaccine will be used primarily for children, to be delivered

as a nasal spray. The nasal spray vaccine against pandemic H1N1 influenza

has been fast tracked for global distribution.

The live-attenuated vaccine appears more effective than the inactivated

virus vaccine, but it resulted in significantly higher rates of severe

adverse events. Furthermore, there is evidence that the live vaccine is highly

genetically unstable in warm body cells and that has not been thoroughly

evaluated in the children vaccinated .

 

_Swine flu jab linked to killer nerve disease: Leaked letter reveals

concern of neurologists over 25 deaths in America_

(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12

06807/Swine-flu-jab-link-killer-nerve-disease-Leaked-letter-reveals-concern-neur\

ologists-25-deaths-America.html)

The letter from the Health Protection Agency, the official body that

oversees public health, has been leaked to The Mail on Sunday, leading to

demands to know why the information has not been given to the public before the

vaccination of millions of people, including children, begins.

It tells the neurologists that they must be alert for an increase in a

brain disorder called Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), which could be triggered

by the vaccine.

 

_Ten Things You're Not Supposed To Know About The Swine Flu Vaccine_

(http://www.rense.com/general86/10things.htm)

Let's not beat around the bush on this issue: The swine flu vaccines now

being prepared for mass injection into infants, children, teens and adults

have never been tested and won't be tested before the injections begin. In

Europe, where flu vaccines are typically tested on hundreds (or thousands) of

people before being unleashed on the masses, the European Medicines Agency

is allowing companies to skip the testing process entirely.

 

_Swine flu pandemic is already over, declares Swiss immunoloigst_

(http://www.theflucase.com/index.php?option=com_content & view=article & id=365:swin\

e-flu

-pandemic-is-already-over-declares-swiss-immunoloigst & catid=41:top-headlines

& lang=en)

Professor Stadler said in an interview widely printed in the Swiss media

last week: " The dangerous pandemic virus has mutated to a normal summer

flu. "

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