FDA Quietly Removing Access to Natural Health

Right under our noses the FDA is restricting our right to medical freedom and choice. Mistletoe products—used in Europe for almost one hundred years to treat cancer and other diseases—can no longer be purchased in the U.S or Canada.

In the National Cancer Institute information about Mistletoe there is irony and contradiction with glaring contradictions such as in bullet number 3 (see below). In the same breath NCI is acknowledging Mistletoe's long, wide and successful use, but nevertheless the FDA is not allowing it to be used in this country.

Our ability to choose what types of healthcare we want to use for ourselves and our families is being hijacked by government agencies, medical associations like the American Medical Association (AMA) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the pharmaceutical industry.

It is time for this medical monopoly to stop. Please contact your Congressman and let them know you want the discrimination against medical orientation to end NOW.

Overview

• Mistletoe is a semiparasitic plant that grows on several types of common trees such as apple, oak, pine, and elm. Mistletoe extract has been used since ancient times to treat many ailments (see Question 1).
• Mistletoe is one of the most widely studied complementary and alternative medicine therapies in people with cancer. In certain European countries, preparations made from European mistletoe are among the most prescribed drugs for patients with cancer (see Question 1).
• Mistletoe extract has been shown to kill cancer cells in the laboratory and to affect the immune system. However, there is limited evidence that mistletoe's effects on the immune system help the body fight cancer (see Question 2 and Question 3).
• Mistletoe extracts are usually given by injection under the skin or, less often, into a vein, into the pleural cavity, or into the tumor. (see Question 4).
• Animal studies have suggested that mistletoe may be useful in decreasing the side effects of standard anticancer therapy, such as chemotherapy and radiation (see Question 5).
• Several human studies using mistletoe to treat cancer have been done since the early 1960s, but major weaknesses in many of these have raised doubts about their findings (see Question 6).
• Very few harmful side effects have been reported from the use of mistletoe extract (see Question 7).
• The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved mistletoe as a treatment for cancer or any other medical condition (see Question 8).
• The FDA does not allow injectable mistletoe to be imported, sold, or used except for clinical research (see Question 8).

Legislative Review 2013 Session

"Human rights don't assert themselves. Freedom doesn't preserve itself all alone and democracy doesn't succeed by itself"—German Chancellor Angela Merkel 1/30/13 commenting on the 80th anniversary of Hitler’s rise to power


The Vermont 2013 legislative session is under way. Practitioners and consumers who practice and utilize holistic and natural health care may be interested in the following proposed bills.

The following are in the House Health Care Committee. Listed below are the bill number, the purpose of the bill directly quoted, a link where you can download the “original version” to read the entire language (click on the bill number), and recommendations for actions.

Emails, letters and/or phone calls all make an impact. For those who need to find their representatives and senators and their contact information, you can search on the Vermont Legislature Web site.


H.12
This bill proposes to require health insurance plans, including Medicaid, to provide coverage for all health care services, including complementary and alternative treatments, if at least two studies published in peer-reviewed scientific journals find such services to be safe, to be directly related to statistically significant improvements in individuals’ health status, and to reduce associated medical costs.

Support in theory. But urge the removal of or revision of the qualifier: “if at least two studies published in peer-reviewed scientific journals.”  For instance the case can be made that acupuncture, used for 5000 years, is safe and effective regardless of whether two peer reviewed articles claim it to be so.

H.114
This bill proposes to remove the religious and philosophical exemptions for immunization against pertussis and to require an adult working in a school or child care facility to keep his or her immunization against pertussis current.

Oppose.This bill and H.138 below are more restrictive versions of the bill last session which unsuccessfully tried to remove the philosophical exemption for school children. Last year’s bill was dramatically altered, resulting in an almost unanimous vote to maintain the philosophical exemption. Both H.114 and H.138 want to limit choice not just to parents but also to ALL people working in schools, whether paid or volunteer, stripping them of their right to informed consent. H.114 is focused on the pertussis vaccine—a vaccine that has failed. The State Health Department statistics show that 90-100% of those who contracted pertussis were vaccinated. The Health Department is not in favor of this bill after last’s years battle.

H.138
This bill proposes to suspend the philosophical and religious exemptions for a specific required vaccine if the immunization rate at a school for that vaccine falls below a 90 percent threshold.

Oppose. This bill and H.114 above are more restrictive versions of the bill last session which unsuccessfully tried to remove the philosophical exemption for school children. Last year’s bill was dramatically altered, resulting in an almost unanimous vote to maintain the philosophical exemption. Both H.114 and H.138 want to limit choice not just to parents but also to ALL people working in schools, whether paid or volunteer, stripping them of their right to informed consent. H.138 proposes a 90% “trigger” which limits the right to informed consent to medical procedures only to the first 10% who exercise it. As a constitutional lawyer will tell you, rights can not be qualified—you either have the right, or don’t. For example, the right to Freedom of Speech is not extended to only a certain percentage of the population, but to everyone.The “trigger” was attempted in last years bill to remove the philosophical exemption and it was rejected by the House.

H.224
This bill proposes to require the Green Mountain Care Board to include acupuncture as a covered service in Green Mountain Care.

Support. FABULOUS! hope that additional modalities are covered as well!

Health and Wellness Experts Recommend Vitamin C For Onset of Flu Season

Fall foliage season has just passed, but health advocates say it's already time for you to start taking Vitamin C. The National Institutes of Health notes that Vitamin C "helps the immune system work properly to protect the body from disease." NIH suggests that the safe upper limits of Vitamin C for those from twelve months old to adults ranges from 400 to 2000 mg/day.

According to the CDC, the seasonal flu has not yet hit Vermont, but Vermont Wellness Advocate Charlotte Gilruth says it's not too early to prevent it. Gilruth recommends eating lots of fruits and vegetables, and foods rich in Vitamin C as well as Vitamin D, while restricting intake of sugar and other refined foods.  She urges everyone to take full advantage of "Nature's doctors”: pure drinking water, fresh air, and daily exposure to sunshine.

Gilruth encourages hygienic practices like hand washing and covering coughs and sneezes. The international not-for-profit Cochrane Collaboration has found that, “Respiratory virus spread can be reduced by hygienic measures (such as hand washing), especially around younger children. Frequent hand washing can also reduce transmission from children to other household members.” The U.S. CDC makes it clear that, “Keeping hands clean through improved hand hygiene is one of the most important steps we can take to avoid getting sick and spreading germs to others.”

Gilruth adds, "If you do get sick, stay home to avoid infecting others and consult your health practitioner to learn which foods, herbs, and remedies will limit the duration of the flu." Stress, including negative emotions like fear and anger, directly suppresses the immune system, so Gilruth says that, in addition to getting ample rest, incorporating lifestyle changes such as regular meditation and exercise can help prevent illness.

Flu shots have now been found to be only 50 to 60 percent effective in preventing the disease rather than the 80 to 90 percent originally estimated. Studies in Canada have found that in some cases the flu shots increase the incidence of flu and make the symptoms worse. The Cochrane Collaboration found that, “In children under the age of two, the efficacy of inactivated vaccine was similar to placebo.”

A new study released two weeks ago by the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota finds similar lack of effectiveness, “trivalent inactivated flu vaccines (TIV) yield about 59% protection in adults aged 18 through 64, but consistent evidence of protection is lacking for children aged 2 to 17 and people 65 and older.”

"I think there's a very big concern among the public and wellness community that if we've got something that is at best 50 to 60 percent effective, we really need to be looking at alternatives," Gilruth says. In addition to the ineffectiveness of the flu vaccine, there are people that should not get the flu shot— such as those with egg allergies and those who do not want to ingest mercury in their bodies since all four brands of multi-dose flu vaccines—Fluzone, Fluvirin, FluLaval and Afluria—contain thimerosal with mercury levels at 25ug per dose.

Preserve Vermont's Freedom to Refuse Pharma Products

Here are a series of flyers to raise attention about the assault on Vermonter's freedom to refuse pharmaceutical products. If you support the right to choose your medical paradigm and health-care please write your Vermont senator and representative and ask them to preserve Vermont's 32-year-old philosophical exemption to vaccinations so those that choose to opt out of chicken pox or other vaccines can do so without persecution.

While those pushing to eliminate the exemption would have the public believe that all vaccines are completely safe and that there is a burgeoning public health threat, neither is true. In the coming weeks The Alternative Health Guides will be running a series of articles highlighting information about pharmaceutical industry products and a 21st century approach to disease.

Please feel free to share any of the flyers below.