Hidden Health Science

Posts Tagged ‘United States’

Across the United States, debates about medical marijuana fester in many communities and states. Currently, fourteen states of the fifty in the Union plus Washington, D.C. have legalized marijuana for medical use. Yet in those states, and many others who are considering similar measures, the argument rages on.

What is most often ignored in these discussions is the science behind the use of cannabis as a medicine. Yet there is ample scientific evidence proving the efficacy of this natural herb in treating some medical conditions. Just as there is evidence of side effects.

First, the Science

The University of California Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research has done several studies into the efficacy of marijuana for neuropathic use – especially in pain reduction. They have been done using FDA standardized clinical trials with randomized, placebo-controlled procedures. These studies have clearly shown the positive effects of using marijuana as a pain reliever and medicine for patients with such chronic conditions as HIV, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, spinal cord injury, and sleep disorders.¹

A recent review in Germany showed that since 2005, there have been 37 controlled studies assessing the safety and efficacy of marijuana (and its compounds). These involved far more subjects than the average study seeking FDA approval for a prescription drug.²

These are just a few, as over 2,500 papers were published on the subject of cannabis in 2009 alone.

Next, the Baseless Debates

Many opponents of medical marijuana claim that there is “little evidence” and call for “more research, more science.” These are the more reasonable of the detractors for the medicinal use of marijuana, of course. Yet these reasonable arguments against marijuana as a medicine are pretty hollow given the vast amount of research that’s already been done with much more on the way.

Proponents of medical marijuana often ignore the research as well. Despite the common claims to the contrary, there is evidence that marijuana also has negative side effects. Most of these center on the physical effects of smoking it as well as proven cognitive negatives. Admittedly, the effects are no worse (and generally better) than the side effects associated with many prescription drugs and accepted non-prescription drugs such as alcohol or tobacco.³

Most of the arguments for or against the use of medical marijuana seem to center on social rather than science-based concerns. Rightly so, in some cases, as there are deep social issues involved with marijuana’s use (or prohibition). Many communities have benefited from the introduction of medical marijuana, however.⁴ The negative impacts of marijuana, socially, are nearly always associated with its prohibition rather than its allowance.

When All Is Said and Done

Marijuana is continually being proven to have medical uses. It’s prohibition is becoming less and less tenable as negative societal impacts are proving to be more psychologically-based than they are scientific. With 14 of 50 states in the U.S. having medical marijuana laws and with several considering full legalization of it (as is Mexico and as have some European countries), the real motivations behind those who condemn marijuana as a “hard drug” akin to synthetic street drugs such as cocaine are hard to understand.

The truth is, however, until Americans are willing to be completely honest about the issues surrounding marijuana and its use as a medicine, these senseless arguments are likely to continue indefinitely. Both sides of the argument need to concede that the other may have some points. All involved must realize that medical marijuana has enough science-based proof behind it to be considered legitimate and at the same time acknowledge that there are negatives to the use of marijuana as well.

Resources:
1 – Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research studies list

2 – Review on clinical studies with cannabis and cannabinoids 2005-2009 by Arno Hzekamp, Franjo Grotenhermen, Institute Biology Leiden, Leiden University, The Netherlands

3 – Special Marijuana Issue New Scientist Magazine, 21 February 1998

4 – Medical Marijuana Has Lawmakers Seeing Green by Aaron Turpen, CannaCentral.com

After giving the appearance that it would (thankfully) disappear, the dreaded FDA Food Safety and Modernization Act (S 510)¹ has gone on to the full calendar of the United States Senate and will likely be debated on the Senate floor this year or early next. The bill is being touted as a “safety measure” to keep things like poisoned foods and food allergies from hurting children in schools and keeping the public safe from serious food-related illnesses due to bad processing, manufacture, or distribution methods.

The bill will also mean the end of small, local farms, whole foods from anyone but Big Agra, and may even have the ability to affect your own backyard garden or self-sustaining farming.

In other words, SB510 gives the FDA (under a special new “Czar” and office) the ability to completely take over our food supply, top to bottom, and eliminate all non-approved sources for food.

This is not conspiracy, it’s real. Read on.

The much-respected “food advocate” Eric Schlosser, who wrote the book Fast Food Nation and co-produced the film Food, Inc. defended SB510 in the New York Times.² Those familiar with Schlosser’s work, however, will recognize the one glaring problem with it: he never points to governmental wrongdoing or involvement, instead focusing all of his ire on Big Agra. He overlooks, whether purposefully or not, the fact that Big Agra could not get away with their nefarious activities without government complicity.

Schlosser goes so far as to admit that the bill has more than a safety bill and that, as written, it gives vast, unchecked powers to a new agency of the Food and Drug Administration. Powers that trump what little is left of local and state level laws protecting local agriculture. This bill, for instance, would basically nullify Wyoming’s excellent Food Freedom Act³ because that is written entirely on a state level and has no provision for controlling federal agents in that regard (unlike another controversial Wyoming law, the Wyoming Firearms Freedom Act which specifically allows federal agents to be arrested and tried for violating Wyoming law).

Even a cursory reading by anyone with an open mind will show that SB510 is all about federalizing authority over food, taking what little ability the small producers and local farmers have to be self-sustaining and organic and hand it over to the Agra-Governmental Complex. All using the false flag of “food safety” as their means towards their evil ends.

Like the so-called Genetically Engineered Food Right to Know Act⁴ in the House of Representatives, they are misleading the public on what the intent of this act is. Unlike the GMO Food Right to Know act, however, the Senate has final say in whether a false food safety act will happen because the House has already passed their version of this bill, which is equally onerous.

Once again, this writer is forced to ask you, the reader, “Will you join us?” Will you join in and demand, without surrender or compromise, your natural right to health? Will you tell them “no, it is my body, my life, my choice to decide what I will eat, what I will drink, and what I will do to make myself healthy?”

Or will you pretend that this somehow isn’t your problem and won’t affect you? I suspect that as a NaturalNews reader, you will not shirk this responsibility and will stand up for you and your family’s right to decide what you will and will not eat.

Resources:
1 – S 510: FDA Food Safety Modernization Act on Govtrack

2 – Unsafe at Any Meal by Eric Schlosser, New York Times opinion

3 – Wyoming Food Freedom Act Wyoming legislature, became law in 2010.

4 – Glaring Loophole Exists in the GMO Food Right to Know Act by Aaron Turpen, NaturalNews

See also: Senate Bill S510 Makes it illegal to Grow, Share, Trade or Sell Homegrown Food by The World’s Prophecy

Many whole foods and organics proponents have been excited to see the introduction of H.R.5577, The Genetically Engineered Food Right to Know Act in the House of Representatives.¹ Going by the title and the public words given by sponsors such as Rep. Dennis Kucinich, the Act will set the record straight and require labeling for all genetically modified foods and organisms (GMO) in the U.S. Or will it?

Glaring loopholes exist, especially for the so-called “Organics” industry (as defined by the United States Department of Agriculture, USDA). These allow GMO foods to be used in ingredients or processing without requiring a “contains GMO” label. The bill includes an exemption allowing anything on the “Allowed List” from the Organic Foods Production Act to be considered non-GMO for labeling purposes.

Back in 2007 and 2008, NaturalNews covered this long list of allowed (and definitely non-organic) substances.² It includes such things as corn starch (most corn in the U.S. is GMO) and flavorings. This, sad bow to Big Agra that it is, doesn’t compare to the next hole in the hull of this Titanic monster of a lie.

The Genetically Engineered Food Right to Know Act also allows other foods to be exempted from the GMO label requirement purely by bureaucratic caveat. In an obvious nod to Big Ag and its de facto ownership of the USDA and FDA, the Act allows GMO foods to ignore labeling requirements if they do not have testing regulations from the Secretary of Agriculture for that particular food.

In other words, the Secretary and his non-elected bureaucrats (whose history is replete with nothing but honest behavior..³) will be the ones who come up with these “regulations.”

Of course, the primary concern any American should have with H.R.5577 is not the aforementioned loopholes and obvious allowances for Industrial Agriculture and Agribusiness. No, it’s the utter dependence the People seem to have on corrupt organizations within government to decide who does and doesn’t get to use a specific label, who does or doesn’t get to market a certain product, and deciding what is and isn’t considered “healthy” or even “natural.”

Most Americans seem content to blindly stuff anything that tastes good into their mouths and happily believe the propaganda given to them promoting poisons, untested derivatives, and worse. As Americans rush to find more affordable health care to take care of their continually declining health, they turn a blind eye to the real causes behind their chronic woes.

Those few of us who see what is happening and the cattle chute through which most are being driven to the slaughterhouse – fed by the slop of marketing given to them as “news”- are fighting for the right to choose our own destinies, our own food sources and types, and for our very lives and the lives of our families.

Are you fighting with us? Will you join in and demand, without surrender or compromise, your natural right to health? Will you tell them “no, it is my body, my life, my choice to decide what I will eat, what I will drink, and what I will do to make myself healthy?”

Or will you stand by the wayside and hope it all works out in the end? The choice you make now will either haunt your nightmares or give you something to be proud of. Which will it be?

Resources:
1 – H.R.5577, Genetically Engineered Food Right to Know Act introduced to the House of Representatives by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (OH), Library of Congress

See also H.R.5577 at OpenCongress.org

2 – Cornucopia Institute reveals agribusiness conspiracy to mislead consumers over almonds by Mike Adams, Natural News and USDA Renews Approval of 46 Non-Organic Ingredients in “Organic” Foods by David Gutierrez, NaturalNews

3 – Corruption: USDA Looks Out Only for Self Interests by Aaron Turpen, NaturalNews

Several of the latest items in the news are all pointing towards a new surge in the rapid implementation of Codex Alimentarius. John McCain’s Dietary Suplement Safety Act of 2010 (S.3002), Canada’s recent approval of genetically modified pigs, and the huge proliferation of genetically modified foods at market are all spelling total food control, coming fast.

McCain’s bill requires all dietary supplement manufacturers (vitamins, herbs, minerals, etc.) to come under FDA control and registration. Further, everyone in the supplement supply chain, from manufacturers to retail stores, must be registered so they can be monitored.¹

Meanwhile, the Canadian government is on the brink of approving genetically modified pigs (called “enviropigs”) for use in the food supply. This is the first step towards pigs that have been crossed with mice being on the dinner plates of Canadians throughout the provinces.²

At the same time, a Canadian regulatory authority has told pharmacies to remove supplements from their shelves unless they have met with Health Canada standards – standards which have a five year backlog, currently.³

The biggest threat to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Codex Alimentarius implementation is the health supplement market and the well-educated people who tend to purchase those products for their own use. For instance, despite health supplements no longer being able to list their health benefits on their packaging in America, supplements are one of the fastest-growing markets in the health industry overall.

The enemy of Codex Alimentarius, therefore, is people like you, reading NaturalNews, and the companies who provide you with the supplements and whole foods you rely on for your own health.

Health Canada, for its part, is good friends with the Codex Alimentarius.⁴ The United States isn’t far behind, with the USDA having a special task force within the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) for the Codex.⁵ That’s not all, the primary force behind the World Health Organization’s Codex Alimentarius agenda is.. the United States.⁶

This, of course, is done on behalf of the multi-national pharmaceutical (aka Big Pharma) companies, conglomerate agribusiness, and (as always) the banks that back them. So far, the WHO’s Codex group has been instrumental in insuring the adoption of GMO and GM food crops around the world, especially in many of the world’s major food producers in the second and third worlds.

The ultimate goal of the Codex, once you look past it’s feel-good mission statement, is to remove the real health movement and its supplements and foods, so that they can be replaced with the “well regulated” foods of the huge corporate conglomerates that mass-produce garbage and poison and call it “food.”

We are well on the way towards full implementation of the Codex Alimentarius. Will you stand by and watch it happen?

Resources:
1 – McCain’s Dietary Supplement Bill by Brandon Turbeville, Black Listed News

2 – Canada to approve GM ‘enviropigs’ UPI

3 – Natural Remedies and Supplements Take Blow in Canada, Brace for One in U.S. by Aaron Turpen, NaturalNews

4 – Health Canada Codex Alimentarius page

5 – USDA FSIS Codex Alimentarius page

6 – Codex Alimentarius: Population Control Under the Guise of Consumer Protection by Dr. Gregory Diamato, PhD, NaturalNews

On the National Network for Immunization Information (NNII) website is a page For Parents which touts “Vaccine Effectiveness.” It asks the question Do Vaccines Work? and gives an unequivocal yes along with several supposed proofs of this assertion. Let’s consider the so-called proof that the NNII offers and then look at the truth, most of which is unwittingly told by the NNII and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) themselves, in their own data.

Hib
According to the NNII, Haemophilus Influenzae type b (Hib) caused 20,000 infections in children each year before 1985 and then was miraculously was nearly eradicated by 1995 thanks to a vaccine. The reality is quite different. The study which the NNII references as being proof of this miracle of modern medical science doesn’t refer to the numbers of Hib cases, but instead claims to get its numbers from another study which only talks about the “cost-effectiveness” of the new vaccine.¹ In fact, there are no records of Hib infection rates before 1980 because the NNII themselves admit that they can only make a guess. Why? Because Hib was most often diagnosed as meningitis or pneumonia, not influenza.

Rubella
Next up is rubella (aka the German measles). The NNII says that in the epidemic of 1964-65 there were 12.5 million cases of rubella and then claims that by 2009, rubella had been almost defeated with only 9 cases left thanks to heavy vaccination for the sickness. The reality?

The European-North Amerian epidemic of rubella in 1962-1965 was indeed a massive outbreak of the disease. However, except in cases where pregnant women catch it, it is not a debilitating or even serious disease and usually doesn’t even require hospitalization.² In short, it’s a flu-like sickness that doesn’t last long and has no long-term effect.

Rubella is a relatively new disease (to science), having only been discovered in 1938 and not lab cultured until 1962. Many cases of rubella were diagnosed as being the measles before it could be cultured and tested for.

Measles
Of course, then the NNII brings up measles, saying that before 1963, there were 500 deaths a year from this disease. Supposedly, with their glorious vaccine, measles was down to 44 cases a year by 2004. They leave out something very important. From 1912-1963, measles rates dropped by 98.6% and 500 deaths per year, while horrible, was less than 1 of every 100,000 people in the U.S. Statistically non-existent.³

It’s well-established, thanks to the CDC’s own record keeping, that the measles were well on their way out of our lives long before the vaccine for them appeared. Again, by 1963 when the vaccine was introduced, measles rates had already dropped by more than 98% and the decline after the vaccine’s introduction was no faster than it was before.⁴

In our next segment, we’ll continue looking at the NNII’s claims.

Resources:
1 – Haemophilus influenzae Invasive Disease in the United States, 1994–1995: Near Disappearance of a Vaccine-Preventable Childhood Disease by Karistine M. Bisgard, et al which references for Hib numbers Immunization of US children with Hemophilus influenzae type b polysaccharide vaccine. A cost-effectiveness model of strategy assessment. by SL Cochi, et al.

2 – Rubella – Wikipedia

3 – The Vaccine War: a Forgotten History by Roman Bystrianyk

4 – Vaccines and Disease: An Investigative Report by Roman Bystrianyk

Published on NaturalNews 08/04/10: http://www.naturalnews.com/029357_vaccinations_parents.html