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March 31, 2006

Exposing the False Philosophy and Junk Science of Conventional Medicine

Have you ever wondered why pharmaceuticals don't work? By that, I mean that they don't make people healthier. Sure, some pharmaceuticals can modify a measurable chemical marker, but they don't make people healthier. We have 40 percent of the U.S. population on at least one prescription drug, yet our nation shows skyrocketing rates of all sorts of chronic diseases, like cancer, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer's disease and osteoporosis. If pharmaceuticals work to make people healthier, we should be the healthiest nation on the planet. We have people here taking more drugs than any other nation in the world. The older you get in this society, the more drugs you end up taking. Many of our senior citizens are on a dozen prescriptions a day, and half of those are usually prescribed to cover up symptoms and side effects from the first few prescriptions.

Why prescription drugs cannot cause health

So why don't drugs work? It's because they make a promise they can't keep. Prescription drugs make the promise -- and this is reflected in the marketing -- that a person can engage in a lifestyle filled with many factors that lead to chronic disease, but by taking one pill they can break that cause-effect chain and not experience the disease that would normally result. If drug propaganda were true, you could live a lifestyle that promotes heart disease by eating saturated fats while avoiding cardiovascular exercise, and the drug could prevent you from experiencing heart disease. All you have to do is take these drugs, says Big Pharma. But diseases are brought on by causes, not by sheer luck or a deficiency in synthetic chemicals. This is a very simple concept, but it escapes most thinking in conventional medicine. These diseases have many causes, and some are dietary. There are metabolic disruptors in most foods -- hydrogenated oils, sodium nitrite, saturated animal fats and homogenized milk fats. When you consume these disease-causing ingredients, you will experience certain results. Consuming unhealthy foods and avoiding healthy oils, like salmon oil, can lead to heart disease, nervous system dysfunction, birth defects and many other problems.

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Sunscreen makers sued for misleading health claims

A consumer lawsuit filed on Thursday accuses sunscreen makers of exposing millions of people to cancer and other dangers through false and misleading claims about the effectiveness of their products.


The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, consolidates nine previous lawsuits filed by individuals and seeks class action status.

It charges that makers of sunscreen, including brands such as Coppertone, Banana Boat, Hawaiian Tropic, Bullfrog and Neutrogena, inflate claims about their products' qualities, lulling consumers into a false sense of security over prolonged sun exposure.

Ultraviolet radiation from the sun is the leading cause of skin cancer.

The lawsuit, filed by the law firms of Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP and Abraham Fruchter & Twersky LLP, does not make any claims of personal injury.

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March 30, 2006

Statistics

Prescription drugs kill around 100,000 patients in the United States each year. That is a statistic that comes out of conventional medicine published in The Journal of the American Medical Association. (Many in the alternative community believe those numbers are low estimates.)

Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce

When you're grocery shopping, it's easy to find labels and pick foods that help you reduce cholesterol and saturated fat, avoid antibiotics, or steer clear of artificial colors, flavors and sweeteners. But when it comes to pesticides, consumers have been left in the dark. Now there's help.

The Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce lists the 12 popular fresh fruits and vegetables that are consistently the most contaminated with pesticides and those 12 fruits and vegetables that consistently have low levels of pesticides. If you are concerned about pesticides in your diet, the handy wallet card can help you choose produce that lowers exposure to pesticides for you and your family.

For the most contaminated items, we suggest substituting organically grown produce whenever possible. When this is not an option, we still recommend eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables but use this guide to buy those that typically have fewer pesticides.

Highest in Pesticides

These 12 popular fresh fruits and vegetables are consistently the most contaminated with pesticides — buy these organic.

• Apples
• Bell Peppers
• Celery
• Cherries
• Grapes (imported)
• Nectarines
• Peaches
• Pears
• Potatoes
• Red Raspberries
• Spinach
• Strawberries

Lowest in Pesticides

These 12 popular fresh fruits and vegetables consistently have the lowest levels of pesticides.

• Asparagus
• Avocados
• Bananas
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Corn (sweet) - (non- GM)
• Kiwi
• Mangos
• Onions
• Papaya
• Pineapples
• Peas (sweet)

Source

Wallet Guide (pdf)

Safer Shopping

You've heard about the headline-making industrial chemicals we are exposed to daily: flame retardants, mercury, rocket fuel, Teflon chemicals. Most are poorly studied and barely regulated, so there's little way of knowing how this cocktail of chemicals is affecting our health.

This problem will not truly be fixed until our nation's toxic chemical laws are overhauled. But in the meantime, there are some things you can do to reduce your exposure.


Like visiting these websites:

Environmental Working Group

Consumer Reports

March 29, 2006

Wal-Mart's Organic Offensive

Not everyone is pleased by the giant retailer's push into natural foods, starting with some very anxious U.S. farmers

Richard DeWilde has a long history with organic farming. His grandfather, Nick Hoogshagen, adopted the organic approach five decades ago on his farm in South Dakota, well before it became popular with consumers and fueled the popularity of retailers like Whole Foods Market.

Now, DeWilde, 57, is a working farmer himself, carrying on the family tradition of avoiding pesticides and other chemicals that can contaminate food in favor of a more natural approach. He's co-owner of Harmony Valley Farm, which grows Swiss chard, parsnips, turnips, and kale on 100 acres in the southwestern corner of Wisconsin.

So you might think that DeWilde would be overjoyed at the news that Wal-Mart (WMT ) has finally come around to his grandfather's philosophy. The juggernaut retailer said recently that it plans to double its offerings of organic products, including produce, dairy, and dry goods.

But DeWilde isn't thrilled. Instead, he's dismayed at the prospect of Wal-Mart becoming a player in the organic market. He fears that the company will use its market strength to drive down prices and hurt U.S. farmers. "Wal-Mart has the reputation of beating up on its suppliers," says DeWilde. "I certainly don't see 'selling at a lower price' as an opportunity."

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