The Plain Truth's: Your Health Today ONLINE: January 2011

UK on alert as wave of super-resistant bugs hits hospitals

Jenny Hope
Daily Mail

The Health Service was put on red alert yesterday after nearly 400 cases of infection by deadly superbugs were identified in hospitals.

At least five deaths have been linked to the strains of bacteria that are resistant to even the most powerful antibiotics.

Some of the infected patients were health tourists who imported the bacteria after surgery in India and Pakistan.

The Health Protection Agency today issued new guidance to infection control specialists and microbiologists about tackling infections resistant to carbapenem antibiotics – widely regarded as all but the last line of defence against bacteria already resistant to standard drugs.

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Doctor Incentives Don't Improve Care

Paying doctors financial rewards to meet targets for improving the care of patients made no discernible difference to the health or treatment of people with high blood pressure, a study has found.

The findings suggest governments and health insurers across the world may be wasting billions of dollars on doctor incentive schemes but getting no improvement in patient care, researchers who conducted the study said.

Researchers from Britain, the United States, and Canada assessed the impact of incentivized targets on quality of care and health outcomes in around 470,000 British patients with hypertension and found that they had no impact on rates of heart attacks, kidney failure, stroke, or death.

Dr Wakefield demands retraction from BMJ after documents prove innocence from allegations of vaccine autism data fraud

Dr. Andrew Wakefield

Mike Adams
Natural News

In light of new evidence that has emerged clearing Dr Wakefield of the allegations that he fabricated study data involving MMR vaccines and symptoms of autism, Dr Wakefield is now publicly demanding a retraction from the British Medical Journal and author Brian Deer. Documents just made public reveal that another medical research team which included a senior pathologist independently documented evidence of a possible MMR vaccine - autism link 14 months before Dr Wakefield's paper first appears in The Lancet -- based on several of the same children appearing in Dr Wakefield's study. (http://www.naturalnews.com/031116_D...)

These documents include detailed clinical notes describing the pathology in seven children following MMR vaccination. These notes include references to "autism" and chronic gastrointestinal inflammation, among others.

EU bans herbal remedies: another victory for corporate interests

When the EU does something truly unpopular, it usually builds in a delay. Eurocrats know that national ministers are likelier to agree to measures which will blow up in the laps of their successors. Thus the restrictions on natural and alternative medicines, which were passed in 2004, will hit herbalists’ shelves in April.

The Independent reports that hundreds of traditional plant remedies are under threat, including Meadowsweet, Cascara Bark and Pau D’Arco. Some products will be proscribed outright; others subjected to a prohibitively expensive licensing regime.

US Says Too Much Fluoride Causing Splotchy Teeth

In a remarkable turnabout, federal health officials say many Americans are now getting too much fluoride because of its presence not just in drinking water but in toothpaste, mouthwash and other products, and it's causing splotches on children's teeth and perhaps more serious problems.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced plans Friday to lower the recommended level of fluoride in drinking water for the first time in nearly 50 years, based on a fresh review of the science. MORE

Wal-Mart to Make, Sell Healthier Foods

WASHINGTON -- Wal-Mart is expected to announce that it will reformulate thousands of products to make them healthier and push its suppliers to do the same.

Two people familiar with the announcement say first lady Michelle Obama is scheduled to join Wal-Mart executives at an event Thursday to begin the effort. The two people spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about it publicly.

The company plans to reduce sodium and sugars in some items, build stores in poor areas that don't already have grocery stores, reduce prices on produce and develop a logo for healthier items.

Several food companies have made similar efforts, but Wal-Mart's reach is significant.

The first lady has urged companies to make foods healthier through her campaign to combat childhood obesity.

How a lawsuit drove the vaccine-autism fraud

Parents who have wondered whether they should vaccinate their children because of fears that the vaccines could cause autism will want to read the latest news on this controversial subject.

The British Medical Journal has reported that the researcher whose work sparked widespread fears among parents that vaccines could give their children autism was fraudulent. On top of this, he was paid by plaintiff lawyers to “manufacture” evidence that would fuel lawsuits against the companies making those vaccines.

Blaylock: Big Pharma Vilified Researcher for Threatening Vaccine Program Read more: Blaylock: Big Pharma Vilified Researcher for Threatening Vaccine

I find it ironic that the media, the British government, and leaders in medical academia jumped on board attacking and destroying Dr. Andrew Wakefield's reputation based on 'fraud' charges related to a study he conducted about the link between the measles vaccine and autism.

It is ironic for a number of reasons. How can the British government, itself drowning in deception at every level, dare accuse anyone of fraud?

Circumcision Cuts Cervical Cancer Risk

Researchers have documented yet another health benefit for circumcision, which can protect men against the AIDS virus, saying it can safeguard their wives and girlfriends from a virus that causes cervical cancer.

Wives and girlfriends of circumcised men had a 28 percent lower rate of infection over two years with the human papilloma virus or HPV, which causes warts and cervical cancer, researchers reported in the Lancet medical journal on Thursday.

"Our findings indicate that male circumcision should now be accepted as an efficacious intervention for reducing the prevalence and incidence of HPV infections in female partners. However, protection is only partial; the promotion of safe sex practices is also important," Dr. Maria Wawer and colleagues at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore wrote.

New charity helps the underinsured pay for expensive meds

What do you do if you have an illness that requires special medicine and you can't afford it despite having insurance? One pharmaceutical executive turned philanthropist has set up a charity to provide co-pay assistance that can make the difference between life and death for some patients.

Edward Hensley launched TheAssistanceFund.org in response to meeting a woman with bone marrow cancer who told him a heartbreaking story.

The Los Angeles Times reports the woman told Hensley that her condition could possibly respond to one drug, but the drug would run her $4,000 each month after insurance. But at that price, the cost would soon bankrupt her family. So she was planning to simply tell her husband that the doctor said there was no hope for her. Hensley later stepped in to help her secure independent financial aid.

After that gesture, Hensley felt compelled to do something more. TheAssistanceFund.org is his initial charitable effort writ large. The non-profit can help you pay for a particular medication by footing a significant amount of the out of pocket when you're in a life or death situation.

Best of all, TheAssistanceFund.org tries to approve people for assistance within 24 hours because they know time is of the essence.

USDA Certified Organic’s Dirty Little Secret: Neotame

By Barbara H. Peterson Farm Wars

Just when we thought that buying “Organic” was safe, we run headlong into the deliberate poisoning of our organic food supply by the FDA in collusion with none other than the folks who brought us Aspartame. NutraSweet, a former Monsanto asset, has developed a new and improved version of this neurotoxin called Neotame. Neotame has similar structure to aspartame — except that, from it’s structure, appears to be even more toxic than aspartame. This potential increase in toxicity will make up for the fact that less will be used in diet drinks. Like aspartame, some of the concerns include gradual neurotoxic and immunotoxic damage from the combination of the formaldehyde metabolite (which is toxic at extremely low doses) and the excitotoxic amino acid. (Holisticmed.com) But surely, this product would be labeled! NOT SO!!! For this little gem, no labeling required. And it is even included in USDA Certified Organic food. The food labeling requirements required for aspartame have now been dropped for Neotame, and no one is clear why this was allowed to happen. Neotame has been ruled acceptable, and without being included on the list of ingredients, for: