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Is the US government good for our health?

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  • Is the US government good for our health?

    We need to discuss things beyond vaccines IMO.


    This appears to be a great list of things you can do to ward of illness including the flu:
    1)Wash your hands frequently.
    2)Stay away from sick people.
    3)Stay warm (getting cold does not cause illness by itself, but it can weaken one's immune system).
    4)Keep the home air adequately humid (the number of germs actually go down the more humid the air is).
    5)Exercise--but not too long!
    6)Take vitamin D
    7)Live well eating, drinking, sleeping, coping with stress.
    (Thank Heather Robson, whose article was re-published in Independent Living.)
    I think the chances are that you won't get seriously sick and vaccination would be counterproductive.

    Note that if people don't get vaccinated and don't follow the list above, then we might expect some degree of sickness greater than we'd find in people who do follow the list. Hence, it's something when the incidence of sickness in people who didn't get the flu vaccine shot is comparable to that of those who did.

    Here's some evidence to support the strategy of optimizing your immune system (see the list above): Goji berries protect against the flu http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/270112.php




    Dee Dee Warren wrote in Facebook, November 17:
    ... I haven't seen any good study showing that vaccines do more harm than good. ...
    I don't know how many vaccines have failed clinical trials so that FDA didn't approve them. Dozens?
    Tens?




    Quality should never be neglected. 5 good studies are worth more than 500 fraudulent or bungled studies. In fact, the value of the latter is worse than zero, unless they can be used as evidence of sleaze or incompetence.



    Placebos should not contain sugar, given how bad it is for people and other mammals. So, what should go into the ideal placebo? It may depend on what is being tested in medical trials.

    Anyway, do note that the contents of most placebos used in trials are not disclosed. Given how sneaky Big Pharma companies have been shown to be, I rather suspect their placebos are engineered in those trials that the companies fund or actually conduct. One trick is to use low doses of the very thing that is to be tested (ha!) ---thanks, Jenny Thompson of HSI.




    Colcrys has been used to treat gout for a very long time, although the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had not approved Colcrys specifically for the treatment of gout prior to 2009. Alternative drugs, such as Allopurinal, are also used to treat gout and related ailments. Until recently, you could treat your own gout using one of these medicines for pennies a day.


    In the summer of 2009, the Food and Drug Administration approved Colcrys as a treatment for gout flare-ups and the Mediterranean fever. The FDA gave pharmaceutical company URL Pharma an exclusive marketing agreement for selling Colcrys in exchange for completing studies on Colcrys and paying the FDA a $45 million application fee. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colchicine#FDA_approval


    That deal effectively created a patented drug with no generic alternative. Therefore it gave the company a monopoly for the duration of the agreement. URL Pharma immediately raised the price from less than a dime to nearly 5 dollars per pill.




    Shares in Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc. dropped 60% in price when reports of serious side effects from its leukemia drug surfaced after FDA approval. http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/...kMI/story.html


    That news may not seem relevant to the issue of vaccine safety and efficacy, but it's more evidence FDA often approves drugs other than vaccines based on inadequate safety trials.




    There are now many papers on a type of human cell called CD8 T cells. High levels of those cells in people appear to prevent flu or mitigate it. scholar.google.com has quite a listing http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=...%2C48&as_vis=1


    High levels of Vitamin D appear to lead to high levels of CD8 T cells as shown in some of this listing of papers http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=...%2C48&as_vis=1




    By now you should be skeptical of Big Pharma working on a "universal" vaccine against the flu. Likely expensive and with a long list of side effects.




    Would you trust anything produced by a company that pays for studies of that thing's safety? This article is cautionary. http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/0...-side-effects/ Also, doctors don't take the time to carefully study those studies, looking for weak spots or outright flaws. This is relevant, we have no reason to think that this sort of negligence and fraud doesn't happen with vaccines.




    This article http://link.springer.com/article/10....3020117#page-1 says that for years silver particles have been used for disinfecting water and infection control.

    In addition, please look at this article also http://www.sciencedirect.com/science...66093411003788 And this article says nothing about nasty side effects from using colloidal silver; discusses it as though it's safe http://spiritfoods.net/health-benefi...loidal-silver/




    Naifs would think that the CDC and the FDA are bulwarks against hordes of diseases. The evidence presented in this article says otherwise.
    http://www.thedailysheeple.com/the-g...cluster_102012 It is relevant because the CDC and the FDA have been pushing vaccines on us with great seeming urgency.




    Dr. Mark Stengler asserted in his October 6 email periodical that a new study shows that flu shots in fact do cause flu. What's more the symptoms are more severe to the point of death. Unfortunately, he does not give a reference to the study and I have no idea how to search for it. Perhaps one of you know the study, I hope.


    Dr Mark Stengler decried cholesterol meds, pointing out several things that are wrong with them:
    * Most people who take them don't need them.
    * The meds cause horrible side effects including death. Muscle pain, memory loss, risk of diabetes, too.
    * there's a natural and cheap alternative that works like a charm.


    Red yeast rice.


    As you can imagine, Big Pharma hate it. It's natural, so not patentable. Can't be sold for huge markups. Guess what tactic they are using to keep it out of stores? FDA is accusing red yeast rice of being adulterated with monacolin K, which happens to be chemically identical to the drug lovastatin. But monacolin K is naturally in the rice all along.




    What's your verdict? Did Merck lie about its mumps vaccine? http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/06/27/47851.htm
    Please read this, I will ask questions about your knowledge afterwards http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_priz...009/press.html


    If you already knew about telomeres and telomerase let me know, by either posting here or sending me a PM. Why I ask: A doctor is saying that news of those telo thingys are being covered up so that Big Medicine could continue to maintain its patients in a zombie state to maintain big streams of $$$.




    This is about the effect financial incentives have on mainstream doctors. http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article....icleid=1737044 What the results of that study suggest to me is that many mainstream doctors are lazy (more than 35%). They are in medical practice only for the money. Probably many doctors don't bother to investigate whether flu shots are worthwhile.




    Alternative to mainstream anti-flu measures. Tamiflu, supposed to be good against the flu, costs $100 per dose or so. Garlic, maybe less than $1 per day. If garlic could do more than Tamiflu without major nasty side effects (Tamiflu does cause those), what would your choice be? And note in the article linked just below, Joseph Mercola claims "no shortage of research showing that herbs and spices are among the healthiest [ways to maintain and restore health]." Note his citations of a Medical News article and Green Med Info's list.
    http://articles.mercola.com/sites/ar...-benefits.aspx




    You recall RBerman claimed that alternative medicine especially natural remedies need to be scientifically tested just as new drug candidates do. I suggested that he start a thread himself to air his concerns about alternative medicine. You might be interested, then, that curcumin was compared with fluoxetine (commonly known as Prozac). You just have 1 guess which came off best. In terms of positive ("good") response it was a draw. But curcumin has no known nasty side effects while fluoxetine does.




    People should maintain their immune systems the best they can, whether they get vaccine shots or not. One technique, click this
    http://www.lewrockwell.com/2013/12/m...t-get-the-flu/




    Seniors given the flu shots in the past generally don't get the flu about 98% or higher of the time. That's still true for the high-dose shot, according to Dr Mark Stengler. The regular shot attained only 98.17% not sick, according to a recent study, while the high-dose shot did better, attaining 98.57% not sick. Only a slight improvement, but, hey, more than 98% didn't get sick, right?

    The study didn't gather statistics from any placebo group or group of unvaccinated people, however. How did they fare? Generally speaking, those people did not get sick better than 97% of the time.

    Those vaccines do work--perhaps for people who don't try to keep their immune systems in tip-top shape.
    The greater number of laws . . . , the more thieves . . . there will be. ---- Lao-Tzu

    [T]he truth I’m after and the truth never harmed anyone. What harms us is to persist in self-deceit and ignorance -— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

  • #2
    Sound like First World problems when dealing with Third World populations that throw off the statistics or respond differently to different drugs, mostly. The US government is a democracy in outcome if not always in practice, so the question isn't so much "Is the US government good for our health" as "am I in the demographic group that the US government as a whole is interested in keeping healthy." If you're in the statistical center of the vaccination target, all well and good. If not, take proper precautions and educate yourself about your own family history of reactions to certain vaccines.

    In any case, while the US government poses some risks to our health, it doesn't pose anywhere near the risk of, say, the Indian government and the sociopathic billionaires it tolerates and protects:

    People like to imagine conspiracies as well-oiled organizational machines, but this one was comprised merely of incompetence, carelessness, greed, bad temper, and a whole lot of people assuming that things can't be as bad as they look.

    ...to pass tests of their proposed generic drug's accuracy, Ranbaxy smuggled in suitcases full of name brand drugs and then tested the name brand drugs against ... the name brand drugs themselves, not Ranbaxy's proposed generic version. Voila -- a perfect match! Sensational quality control.

    You win in the generic drug business less by producing a better product at a cheaper price and more by filing your paperwork of your self-tests with the regulators first. After that, eh ...

    Go through your medicine cabinet and look for any pills with "RANBAXY" as the "Labeler." Take them back to your pharmacist and get real medicine.

    Last year, while driving my wife and father on Mulholland on top of the Hollywood Hills, I was suddenly overcome with vertigo. Before I could plummet off Mulholland Drive, like the bad guy at the end of a 1971 episode of Mannix, I switched places with my wife and she drove me to the UCLA emergency room. After five hours of insanely expensive brain scans, a very nice doctor said they couldn't see anything wrong with me.

    I was still feeling wobbly a few days later when I remembered that a week before, I had picked up my regular prescription at Rite-Aid for a generic drug. Instead of being small, white, and oblong, the pills were suddenly large, red, and round. I had assumed that the drug process couldn't go wrong, so I had accepted it.

    When I remembered that I was taking a screwy looking drug (why is it now twice the volume of what I'd been taking since 1998?), I immediately stopped taking it and the vertigo permanently disappeared the next day. I went back to Rite-Aid and said this didn't look like my regular drug. They said, yes, it is. I said, give me some of the small, white, oblong ones. A month ago they tried to give me some of the vertigo-inducing generics again. I complained and got the good ones.

    We have no idea how much illness is caused by bad drugs. Nor is it a good thing to have to worry about. Paranoia about poisoning can be debilitating. In my experience, people of German backgrounds tend to be particularly prone to worry about poisoning.

    Also, take a look through your stock portfolio.

    This story raises troubling questions about globalization and the current cult of cheapness.

    This also ought to be a wake-up call for India that it's high-end culture has severe problems, but I doubt if the message will get through. Nor will I expect this story to do any damage to India's image in America. The president and Tom Friedman keep telling us that the geniuses in China and India are going to eat our lunch, so what's a vivid case story when it conflicts with The Narrative?[/b]
    The main dangers that the US government poses for your health is less in statistical outliers on vaccines than in not living up to its only real responsibility as a government-protecting its people from the depredations of foreigners who have little to no connection to the people they're selling to, and will say anything in order to make a quick buck. I suspect that it's currently preparing for single-payer, completely government-run health care as the "necessary interim solution" for Obamacare, and will thus be more, not less, easily tempted by "We promise the best generic drugs cheap!" 'Stick it to Big Pharma!" "No one should have to pay for pain relief!" Etc.

    Drugs, their discovery, and their proper manufacture are expensive for a reason. If you're getting them cheaply as 'generics', it's either because someone cares about you a great deal or absolutely not at all. If you have no way of finding out, either pay the good money to reputable manufacturers, or reduce your reliance on them as much as possible.

    Otherwise, you end up on the bad end of this picture:

    23inter2.jpg

    ...with Other People's Health, apparently.
    Last edited by Epoetker; 01-19-2014, 10:20 PM.

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    • #3
      Do heart bypass operations work? Dr Julian Whitaker, MD, said only two really scientific studies of that question were made in the USA. The conclusion: the operations made no difference to long-term mortality.


      WHO is planning to certify that India is polio-free. I do not have details and I am prepared to concede that at least in this case some vaccines do work. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/in..._133059891.htm
      Last edited by Truthseeker; 01-20-2014, 06:38 PM.
      The greater number of laws . . . , the more thieves . . . there will be. ---- Lao-Tzu

      [T]he truth I’m after and the truth never harmed anyone. What harms us is to persist in self-deceit and ignorance -— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

      Comment


      • #4
        Betsy McCaughey, Ph.D., in her bestselling book Beating Obamacare, says that American Medical Association supports Obamacare, even though the group beside seniors that is most opposed to Obamacare is doctors.

        Let me add that AMA is part of Big Medicine.
        The greater number of laws . . . , the more thieves . . . there will be. ---- Lao-Tzu

        [T]he truth I’m after and the truth never harmed anyone. What harms us is to persist in self-deceit and ignorance -— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by Truthseeker View Post
          Betsy McCaughey, Ph.D., in her bestselling book Beating Obamacare, says that American Medical Association supports Obamacare, even though the group beside seniors that is most opposed to Obamacare is doctors.

          Let me add that AMA is part of Big Medicine.
          Well, I'm sure the doctors whose jobs at the American Medical Association depend on staying in the current political fashion would support it. Far more serious is the corruption of the American College of Physicians:

          Originally posted by DrRich
          So classically, doctors were obligated to do whatever they must to assure that their individual patients were fully informed about all their medical options, and to act to assure that their individual patients got the care they needed (as long as, fully informed, they agreed to it).

          By the late 1990s, however, the Millennialists – quite correctly as it turns out – detected a severe problem with this classic medical ethics. Namely, modern physicians were, to a very large extent, unable to comport with it. Quite simply, this is because under a system of covert healthcare rationing (such as was in full bloom even by that time), doctors cannot follow these two precepts. It is not possible for doctors to ration healthcare covertly, at the bedside, and at the same time fully honor their patient’s welfare and autonomy.

          The problem was explicitly recognized as early as 1998, in an article by Hall and Berenson in the Annals of Internal Medicine (volume 128, p 395) which stated: “It is untenable for the medical profession to continue asserting an idealistic ethic that is contradicted so openly in clinical practice. . .We propose that devotion to the best medical interests of each individual patient be replaced with an ethic of devotion to the best medical interests of the group. . .

          This influential article, among other things, led to the formation of a commission to study the issue (the issue being, apparently, that if it becomes difficult to follow ethical precepts, then one ought to go ahead and change them). And this commission led to the Millennialists and their New Ethics.

          The innovation of the Millennialists was to proclaim a third ethical precept: the precept of Social Justice. The precept of Social Justice charges physicians with effecting “the fair distribution of healthcare resources.” That is, it directs doctors to decide which patients ought to get those limited resources, and which ought not to get them. It specifically and directly justifies bedside rationing by doctors.

          The reason this third ethical precept was deemed necessary is explicitly because doctors cannot any longer adhere to the other two. (”It is untenable. . .to continue asserting an idealistic ethic,” according to Hall and Berenson. “Indeed, the medical profession must contend with complicated political, legal, and market forces,” [emphasis DrRich’s] according to the Millennialists.)
          As is the pattern for leftist regimes, the new crop of physicians they're training may look like doctors, but won't actually be doctors in the narrow traditional sense. Like Thamsanqa Jantjie at Nelson Mandela's funeral, if they have to have a doctor or a sign-language guy at the hospitals to keep up appearances for their new health care propaganda drive they'll do it, but the leftists currently in vogue are not particularly concerned about abstract thingies like professional qualification, personal autonomy, and a man's honor, and won't be until it's their lives on the line.

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by Truthseeker View Post
            Do heart bypass operations work? Dr Julian Whitaker, MD, said only two really scientific studies of that question were made in the USA. The conclusion: the operations made no difference to long-term mortality.
            If you are suffering with blood circulation problems that are gradually killing you, the point of view might change.
            Micah 6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

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            • #7
              Originally posted by Jedidiah View Post
              If you are suffering with blood circulation problems that are gradually killing you, the point of view might change.
              I don't think I understand. Possibly you meant, "your point of view."
              The greater number of laws . . . , the more thieves . . . there will be. ---- Lao-Tzu

              [T]he truth I’m after and the truth never harmed anyone. What harms us is to persist in self-deceit and ignorance -— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by Truthseeker View Post
                I don't think I understand. Possibly you meant, "your point of view."
                Yeah, when you are dying a bypass might look better than no bypass.
                Micah 6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

                Comment


                • #9
                  When there's an important new warning about a drug, you'd think that the manufacturer would want to ensure that every healthcare professional get the warning. The most common used means of communication for such warnings is . . . guess what . . . a form letter delivered by the postman that looks like junk mail. So the result is that only 13% percent of healthcare professionals "can recall even seeing such letters", according to the FDA.(Thanks, Jenny Thompson of HSI)
                  The greater number of laws . . . , the more thieves . . . there will be. ---- Lao-Tzu

                  [T]he truth I’m after and the truth never harmed anyone. What harms us is to persist in self-deceit and ignorance -— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    A few readers of the pre-crash thread on a topic similar to that of this thread did not like Dr. Joseph Mercola, whom I often cited. They often claimed he was a quack. But there's a development that I suspect will shock them. He's to appear on the Dr Oz show February 10 or so. If you want to clap your disbelieving eyes upon the show segment involving Mercola, you can go to doctoroz.com and look for "Watch Oz"; then you should be able to figure out what time the show runs in your area by entering your zip code.

                    If you'd rather read Mercola's discussion of that segment topic, here's the link http://articles.mercola.com/sites/ar...ty-issues.aspx
                    The greater number of laws . . . , the more thieves . . . there will be. ---- Lao-Tzu

                    [T]he truth I’m after and the truth never harmed anyone. What harms us is to persist in self-deceit and ignorance -— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      This webpage
                      http://articles.mercola.com/sites/ar...ty-issues.aspx
                      offers examples of prompt action taken by the FDA and the FTC against businesses that did not meet government regulations (Search the webpage for "FDA Takes Action"). So, you can see why the news about acetaminophen (the principal ingredient in Tylenol) is all the more upsetting. The Big A is thought to be responsible for at least 56,000 ER visits every year; 26,000 hospitalizations; hundreds of deaths. That's what Dr Allan Spreen wrote. Such mayhem has gone on for more than a decade already. So, what's the FDA doing about that? Spreen says "absolutely nothing." He exaggerated, but indeed the actions he says that the FDA has taken to date are just pathetic.
                      The greater number of laws . . . , the more thieves . . . there will be. ---- Lao-Tzu

                      [T]he truth I’m after and the truth never harmed anyone. What harms us is to persist in self-deceit and ignorance -— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        May I be allowed to add this about acetaminophen (see last post), please? Dr Mark Stengler said that the FDA is setting a limit of 325mg on doses of acetaminophen. But wait till you know what the loophole is. The limit is for prescription drugs only. It does NOT apply to over-the-counter drugs including Extra-strength Tylenol (500mg!) Those make up more than 90% of the drug's sales. It would make sense to set the limit on the OTC drugs and none on prescriptions, if we are to have discriminatory limits. But the FDA is either stupid or evil. My bet's on the latter.
                        The greater number of laws . . . , the more thieves . . . there will be. ---- Lao-Tzu

                        [T]he truth I’m after and the truth never harmed anyone. What harms us is to persist in self-deceit and ignorance -— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Or both.
                          Micah 6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            I have yet to figure out Mercola. I can't tell if he's a quack or not.
                            No Silicon Heaven? Preposterous! Where would all the calculators go?

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Remember Sally Field's commercials for Boniva? It's supposed to strength your bones. At least, keep them strong. But researchers found out years ago that bisphosphonates, in the same class as Boniva, increases the risk of bone death in the jaw. Now news is out that the class increases risk of esophagus cancer as well. Maybe Big Pharma will have to find a replacement for Sally. Who wants a jawless cancer victim in commercials?



                              The Obamacare website will be offline the upcoming weekend. That also happens to be the last time people are supposed to be able to sign up for coverage starting March 1.



                              What is the most dangerous vaccine? http://thecrux.com/new-report-says-t...the-U-s-today/ The flu vaccines!



                              Dr. David Eifrig says vaccines are more dangerous than you're told. He offers odds . . . well, he's not making any bets, you do, especially if you don't know the evidence on which the odds are based. http://thecrux.com/dr-eifrig-vaccine...re-being-told/
                              The greater number of laws . . . , the more thieves . . . there will be. ---- Lao-Tzu

                              [T]he truth I’m after and the truth never harmed anyone. What harms us is to persist in self-deceit and ignorance -— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

                              Comment

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