(Subjects: Religion/Worship, Lightworkers, Food, Health, Prescription Drugs, Homeopathy, Innate (Body intelligence), New Age movement, Global Unity, ... etc.) - (Text version)

“…… Should I use Doctors and Drugs to Heal Me or Spiritual Methods?

"Dear Kryon, I have heard that you should stay natural and not use the science on the planet for healing. It does not honor God to go to a doctor. After all, don't you say that we can heal with our minds? So why should we ever go to a doctor if we can do it ourselves? Not only that, my doctor isn't enlightened, so he has no idea about my innate or my spiritual body needs. What should I do?"

First, Human Being, why do you wish to put so many things in boxes? You continue to want a yes and no answer for complex situations due to your 3D, linear outlook on almost everything. Learn to think out of the 3D box! Look at the heading of this section [above]. It asks which one should you do. It already assumes you can't do both because they seem dichotomous.

Let's use some spiritual logic: Here is a hypothetical answer, "Don't go to a doctor, for you can heal everything with your mind." So now I will ask: How many of you can do that in this room right now? How many readers can do that with efficiency right now? All of you are old souls, but are you really ready to do that? Do you know how? Do you have really good results with it? Can you rid disease and chemical imbalance with your mind right now?

I'm going to give you a truth, whether you choose to see it or not. You're not ready for that! You are not yet prepared to take on the task of full healing using your spiritual tools. Lemurians could do that, because Pleiadians taught them how! It's one of the promises of God, that there'll come a day when your DNA works that efficiently and you will be able to walk away from drug chemistry and the medical industry forever, for you'll have the creator's energy working at 100 percent, something you saw within the great masters who walked the earth.

This will be possible within the ascended earth that you are looking forward to, dear one. Have you seen the news lately? Look out the window. Is that where you are now? We are telling you that the energy is going in that direction, but you are not there yet.

Let those who feel that they can heal themselves begin the process of learning how. Many will be appreciative of the fact that you have some of the gifts for this now. Let the process begin, but don't think for a moment that you have arrived at a place where every health issue can be healed with your own power. You are students of a grand process that eventually will be yours if you wish to begin the quantum process of talking to your cells. Some will be good at this, and some will just be planting the seeds of it.

Now, I would like to tell you how Spirit works and the potentials of what's going to happen in the next few years. We're going to give the doctors of the planet new inventions and new science. These will be major discoveries about the Human body and of the quantum attributes therein.

Look at what has already happened, for some of this science has already been given to you and you are actually using it. Imagine a science that would allow the heart to be transplanted because the one you have is failing. Of course! It's an operation done many times a month on this planet. That information came from the creator, did you realize that? It didn't drop off the shelf of some dark energy library to be used in evil ways.

So, if you need a new heart, Lightworker, should you go to the doctor or create one with your mind? Until you feel comfortable that you can replace your heart with a new one by yourself, then you might consider using the God-given information that is in the hands of the surgeon. For it will save your life, and create a situation where you stay and continue to send your light to the earth! Do you see what we're saying?

You can also alter that which is medicine [drugs] and begin a process that is spectacular in its design, but not very 3D. I challenge you to begin to use what I would call the homeopathic principle with major drugs. If some of you are taking major drugs in order to alter your chemistry so that you can live better and longer, you might feel you have no choice. "Well, this is keeping me alive," you might say. "I don't yet have the ability to do this with my consciousness, so I take the drugs."

In this new energy, there is something else that you can try if you are in this category. Do the following with safety, intelligence, common sense and logic. Here is the challenge: The principle of homeopathy is that an almost invisible tincture of a substance is ingested and is seen by your innate. Innate "sees" what you are trying to do and then adjusts the body's chemistry in response. Therefore, you might say that you are sending the body a "signal for balance." The actual tincture is not large enough to affect anything chemically - yet it works!

The body [innate] sees what you're trying to do and then cooperates. In a sense, you might say the body is healing itself because you were able to give it instructions through the homeopathic substance of what to do. So, why not do it with a major drug? Start reducing the dosage and start talking to your cells, and see what happens. If you're not successful, then stop the reduction. However, to your own amazement, you may often be successful over time.

You might be able to take the dosage that you're used to and cut it to at least a quarter of what it was. It is the homeopathy principle and it allows you to keep the purpose of the drug, but reduce it to a fraction of a common 3D dosage. You're still taking it internally, but now it's also signaling in addition to working chemically. The signal is sent, the body cooperates, and you reduce the chance of side effects.

You can't put things in boxes of yes or no when it comes to the grand system of Spirit. You can instead use spiritual logic and see the things that God has given you on the planet within the inventions and processes. Have an operation, save your life, and stand and say, "Thank you, God, for this and for my being born where these things are possible." It's a complicated subject, is it not? Each of you is so different! You'll know what to do, dear one. Never stress over that decision, because your innate will tell you what is appropriate for you if you're willing to listen. ….”

Monsanto / GMO - Global Health


(Subjects: Big pharma [the drug companies of America] are going to have to change very soon or collapse. When you have an industry that keeps people sick for money, it cannot survive in the new consciousness., Global Unity, ... etc.) - (Text version)
"Recalibration of Free Choice"– Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Lose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth, 4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Pedal wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical) 8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)
"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)
"THE BRIDGE OF SWORDS" – Sep 29, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: ... I'm in Canada and I know it, but I will tell those listening and reading in the American audience the following: Get ready! Because there are some institutions that are yet to fall, ones that don't have integrity and that could never be helped with a bail out. Again, we tell you the biggest one is big pharma, and we told you that before. It's inevitable. If not now, then in a decade. It's inevitable and they will fight to stay alive and they will not be crossing the bridge. For on the other side of the bridge is a new way, not just for medicine but for care. ....) - (Text Version)

Pharmaceutical Fraud / Corruption cases

Health Care

Health Care
Happy birthday to Percy Julian, a pioneer in plant-drug synthesis. His research produced steroids like cortisone. (11 April 2014)

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Toxic cough syrup kills 24 in Pakistan

Google – AFP, 29 December 2012 

Patients who consumed toxic cough syrup receive treatment in a hospital
in Gujranwala on December 29, 2012 (AFP, Arif Ali)

LAHORE, Pakistan — At least 24 people, mostly drug addicts seeking a fix, have died after drinking toxic cough syrup in an eastern Pakistani city, officials said on Saturday.

The deaths started occurring Wednesday in the industrial city of Gujranwala, some 70 kilometres (43 miles) north of Lahore, with most of the victims drug addicts who took the syrup for intoxication, police and doctors said.

"At least 24 people have died after taking an unknown cough syrup," local health department official doctor Mah Jabeen told AFP.

"Seventeen people died at hospital, while seven others were brought dead," she said, adding that only five affected by syrup were now under treatment at hospital.

Local hospital chief doctor Anwar Aman said some 54 patients were earlier brought to hospital who said their condition deteriorated after taking cough syrups.

A man who consumed toxic cough syrup receives treatment in a hospital
in Gujranwala on December 29, 2012 (AFP, Arif Ali)

The victims were between 20 and 40 years old and a majority had a history of drug addiction, Aman said, adding that so far the culprit syrup has not been identified.

Senior police official Azam Mehr confirmed the toll and said samples of cough syrups available at local pharmacies have been collected and sent to laboratories.

"Police and health department have started inquiries and investigations into the deaths," he added.

Last month at least 19 people were killed in Lahore after drinking toxic cough syrup.

In January around 100 heart patients died in Lahore, Pakistan's second largest city, after taking locally-made tainted medicine.

Philippines contraception law signed by Benigno Aquino

BBC News, 29 December 2012

Related Stories

The Catholic Church campaigned
against the bill
Philippines President Benigno Aquino has signed into law a bill providing for free access to contraception and family planning.

Supporters say the law, which took 14 years to pass, will reduce poverty and maternal mortality in a country with the highest birth rate in the region.

The Roman Catholic Church repeatedly tried to block the bill.

Parliament failed to pass the measure several times before approving a final version on 19 December.

The law is due to take effect in mid-January, said presidential spokeswoman Abigail Valte.

"The passage into law of the Responsible Parenthood Act closes a highly divisive chapter of our history - a chapter borne of the convictions of those who argued for, or against this act," she said.

"At the same time, it opens the possibility of co-operation and reconciliation... engagement and dialogue characterised not by animosity, but by our collective desire to better the welfare of the Filipino people."

The BBC's Kate McGeown reports from the capital, Manila, that even now the bill has become law, the Church and its political allies could still derail it.

Several bishops have already threatened to contest the bill's legality in the Supreme Court.

More than 80% of the population in the Philippines is Catholic, and the Church has had the support of many politicians, media commentators, and businessmen.

Condoms are widely sold in the Philippines, but at a price that many people cannot afford.

Many maternity hospitals are struggling to cope with the number of births, and the UN appealed to the Philippines earlier this year to pass the family planning bill.

A government health survey in 2011 found that the maternal mortality rate had risen by 36% between 2006 and 2010.


Related Articles:

Top Australian Cleric Apologizes for Abuse

Dutch anger over pope's gay marriage condemnation



“… No person shall be forced into marriage against his or her will. No woman shall be forced to bear or not bear children, against her will. No person shall be forced to hold or not hold views or worship in a manner contrary to his or her choice. Nothing vital to existence shall be withheld from another if it is within the community’s power to give. …”


"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) SoulsMidpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) (Text version)

“…  3 - Longer Life is Going to Happen, But…

Here is one that is a review. We keep bringing it up because Humans don't believe it. If you're going to start living longer, there are those who are frightened that there will be overpopulation. You've seen the way it is so far, and the geometric progression of mathematics is absolute and you cannot change it. So if you look at the population of the earth and how much it has shifted in the last two decades, it's frightening to you. What would change that progression?

The answer is simple, but requires a change in thinking. The answer is a civilization on the planet who understands a new survival scenario. Instead of a basic population who has been told to have a lot of children to enhance the race [old survival], they begin to understand the logic of a new scenario. The Akashic wisdom of the ages will start to creep in with a basic survival scenario shift. Not every single woman will look at herself and say, "The clock is ticking," but instead can say, "I have been a mother 14 times in a row. I'm going to sit this one out." It's a woman who understands that there is no loss or guilt in this, and actually feels that the new survival attribute is to keep the family small or not at all! Also, as we have said before, even those who are currently ignorant of population control will figure out what is causing babies to be born [Kryon joke].

Part of the new Africa will be education and healing, and eventually a zero population growth, just like some of the first-world nations currently have. Those who are currently tied to a spiritual doctrine will actually have that doctrine changed (watch for it) regarding Human birth. Then they will be able to make free choice that is appropriate even within the establishment of organized religion. You see, things are going to change where common sense will say, "Perhaps it would help the planet if I didn't have children or perhaps just one child." Then the obvious, "Perhaps I can exist economically better and be wiser with just one. It will help the one!" Watch for these changes. For those of you who are steeped in the tradition of the doctrines and would say that sounds outrageously impossible, I give you the new coming pope [Kryon smile]. For those of you who feel that uncontrolled procreation is inevitable, I encourage you to see statistics you haven't seen or didn't care to look at yet about what first-world countries have already accomplished on their own, without any mandates. It's already happening. That was number three.….”

Friday, December 28, 2012

Pharma firms tested drugs on East Germans: report

The Daily Star, AFP, December 28, 2012

FILE photo inside a pharmacy in Beirut. (The Daily Star/Hasan Shaaban)
                              
BERLIN: Major Western pharmaceutical companies carried out tests of medications in the 1980s on patients in communist East Germany, in some cases without the subjects' knowledge, a media report said Friday.

"We have documents showing there were contracts between Western drug companies and East German institutions for medical tests," a staff member at the German national archive told AFP, partially confirming a report in the daily Der Tagesspiegel.

The newspaper, which examined the documents, reported that more than 50 Western firms had contracts with East Germany's Health Ministry to carry out a total of 165 medical tests between 1983 and 1989.

In exchange, the communist authorities were paid up to 860,000 deutschmarks (around 430,000 euros today or $567,000), according to the report, at a time when East Germany was desperate for hard currency.

Der Tagesspiegel said the companies involved included Bayer, Schering, Hoechst (now Sanofi), Boehringer Ingelheim and Goedecke (today owned by Pfizer).

It said the test subjects often were not informed, citing seven specific cases in which patients said later they had been unaware they were involved in testing. The national archive said it could not confirm this.

Regional public broadcaster MDR, which also reported on the issue, cited the case of a 60-year-old patient, Gerhard Lehrer, who was recovering from a heart attack in a Dresden hospital in 1989.

After receiving "special" medications "that were not on the market" prescribed by a doctor at the clinic, his condition deteriorated further.

Lehrer's wife secretly pocketed some of the pills. When MDR had them tested at her request, it learned they were placebos that it said were part of a study commissioned by Hoechst.

Swedish furniture giant Ikea admitted in November that some of its suppliers used forced labour in communist East Germany and expressed "deep regret" that its controls were less strict at the time.

According to media reports, mail-order companies Neckermann and Quelle also employed East German prisoners against their will.

Related Article:


'Instant chicken' scandal: McDonald's admits Liuhe was supplier

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2012-12-27

A McDonald's outlet in Beijing. (Photo/CNS)

McDonald's has finally admitted that the company at the center of China's "instant chicken" scandal was one of its suppliers, the state newswire Xinhua reports.

The global fast food chain had initially denied it did business with the Shandong-based Liuhe Group, a major supplier to rival KFC, which was discovered to have used excessive antibiotics and illegal hormones and chemicals to speed up the growth of its broiler chickens.

Following continued public and media scrutiny, however, McDonald's now says that Liuhe was in fact one of its "second-tier" or "downstream" suppliers, although it has stopped buying chicken from the company since Dec. 18 and samples of McDonald's products have subsequently been tested by the Shanghai Food and Drug Administration.

McDonald's had been reluctant to comment after the scandal first came to light, only previously publishing a notice on its official Chinese microblog claiming that all its chicken products had passed stringent quality controls and met government standards after independent third-party laboratory testing.

A McDonald's China spokesperson said that the restaurant chain was not directly stocked by Liuhe and that quality controls of its second-tier suppliers are carried out by its first-tier suppliers.

According to Xinhua, second-tier suppliers provide the basic raw materials, while first-tier suppliers process the raw materials into chicken products. McDonald's does not deal directly with second-tier suppliers and relies on its first-tier suppliers to enforce quality controls, the spokesperson added.

The world's largest fast food chain added that it also conducts quality checks on every batch of its chicken products but has so far not found excessive antibiotic levels in Liuhe's chicken, while hormone levels are not tested as part of the checks.

A spokesperson from China's Ministry of Agriculture said on Tuesday morning that the scandal is still under investigation but all suspect chicken farms and processing plants have been shut down.


IKEA furniture found to contain formaldehyde in Guangzhou

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2012-12-27

A wooden table at an auction in Beijing. (Photo/CNS)

Guangzhou authorities have found batches of wooden furniture of various brands containing excessive amounts of formaldehyde among other defects, a local newspaper reported on Dec. 26.

The newspaper named Swedish furniture chain IKEA among the brands implicated.

Authorities tested 66 batches of furniture from 51 companies, the newspaper said, and found that 24 released levels of the toxic chemical considered excessive. Some did not have complete user instructions, and others were simply not strong enough.

Chinese standards for interior materials stipulate that wooden furniture must not release formaldehyde lets of should be under 1.5mg/l.

Thursday, December 27, 2012

“Time to Say Goodbye” - Sarah Brightman & Andrea Bocelli


"TIME TO SAY GOOD-BYE" - The Last 18 years – Dec 8, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll)New

(Subjects: Who is Kryon, God, Love, Great Central Sun, (Old) Soul, Benevolent Design, 1987 - Harmonic Convergence (11:11), 36 years galactic window (Precession), 26.000 years cycle, Mayan Calendar, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, TIME TO SAY GOOD-BYE song – Composer, Human Consciousness, Conceptional Thinking, Old and New energy, Middle East, Protest against the new leader in Egypt because he is of an old energy, Syria is a Nightmare, Libya, People of Iran, Israel, Higher Self, You did it !, Change of Paradigm, 2012,  US/Russia, Global Unity, ... etc.)

"THE NEXT 18 YEARS"–  Dec 2, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - New

(Subjects: You are looking  at a Quantum event, clearing a filter - Portal pineal , Higher self to step forward and communicate to You, Still remains in 3D but exposure to multi dimensions, Evolution of humanity, Intent, Mayan Calendar, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, 26.000 Years, Milky Way, Nostradamus, 1987, Beginning to a New Time, Channellers/Teachers, Center of Galaxy – Black hole, Bridge of Swords, Pleiadians, Children, Inventions – The discoveries (e.g. : Airplanes - Medicines – Radio .. ): These new Discoveries were given all over the planet when Human consciousness was ready for it. New Inventions are coming, the timing depends on how the middle East problems are solved, Biology reaction of quantum energy; new radio of the future, seeing quantum energy, when it is revealed all science books will have to be rewritten, This will be an AHA moment – be possible to communicate with the rest of Galaxy, NASA, Church/religion will be effected the most by these discoveries, The quantum discovery will see the grid, life, gardens and will redefine life, DNA (3 billion pieces) evolving piece DNA are chancing, Gaia/Humanity are linked, new instruments will start to reveal the DNA variance, Evolution revealed: Autistic children have born with the removal of their 3D structure in the brain, Gaia/Spirit are testing these quantum beings  (Evolved DNA), Universe central clock = Rifs,  Globally there will be only 5 currencies, Wars on earth will be declared barbaric, Middle East, Global Unity, .. etc.) 

"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) 

(Subjects: (Old) SoulsMidpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) (Text version)

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Transparent pills will make the best medicine

Ben Goldacre's 'Bad Pharma' proposes transparency as the cure for the shocking ailments of the pharmaceutical industry

guardian.co.uk, Stephen Curry, 24 December 2012

Please read instructions carefully

Ben Goldacre's new book, Bad Pharma, is awful. Dreadful. Stunning. You should read it.

If you think that's too melodramatic an opening for a book review, that's probably because you haven't read the book yet.

You should read it because behind the anodyne cover lurks a tale of horrific fascination that affects us all. Bad Pharma is the story of the ways in which the pharmaceutical industry, with the help of regulators, doctors and academics, seeks to pervert and obfuscate the research done to test new medicines. It may be rather technical in content, but from more or less page one Goldacre is clear about who are the primary victims in his sorry story: all of us. Happily, we might also be part of the solution.

It seems hard to credit that the situation could be so bad. The scale of the problem is rendered starkly in the preface:

"Drugs are tested by the people who manufacture them, in poorly designed trials, on hopelessly small numbers of weird, unrepresentative patients, and analysed using techniques which are flawed by design, in such a way that they exaggerate the benefits of treatments. Unsurprisingly, these trials tend to produce results that favour the manufacturer. When trials produce results that companies don't like, they are perfectly entitled to hide them from doctors and patients, so we only ever see a distorted picture of any drug's true effects."

These claims may be startling to some but they have not been made airily. Many of the problems that Goldacre describes have been researched and identified by others, and he proceeds to take a full 373 pages to lay out the evidence for his case, in chapters that explain how trials are designed to maximise the apparent benefits of new drugs, how negative results are hidden, how regulators collude with the industry in hiding data on efficacy and safety from doctors and how the industry bankrolls doctors, academics and medical journals to ensure the most favourable presentation of its products.

The book touches on several issues that Goldacre has raised in his Guardian column over the years but the whole is so much greater than the sum of these earlier parts. While his trademark conversational style makes it a relatively easy read, there's no doubting this is a heavier, denser book than his previous offering, Bad Science. The emphasis on research into the conduct and reporting of clinical trials may cost the book some anecdotal colour, but I think this was the right editorial choice given the seriousness and complexity of the subject matter.

David Colquhoun, Richard Smith (former British Medical Journal Editor), Alice Bell (for the New Left Project), and Michael Rawlins of NICE, among others, have already reviewed the book in some depth. While some interesting points of criticism were raised, all generally applauded the forensic attention that Goldacre has brought to the drugs business. The accuracy of his aim is underscored by the weakness of the riposte from Stephen Whitehead, CEO of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry.

I don't propose to do a comprehensive assessment here — please take a look at the reviews mentioned above to get a good idea of its structure and content. It's not all bad of course, as Goldacre takes some trouble to point out. There are plenty of good people in the pharmaceutical industry who are working hard on difficult problems — I should note, for example, that I am only able to write this piece because my 'flu symptoms are being held in check by paracetamol and ibuprofen — but it's impossible to walk away from Bad Pharma without the stink of sickness in your nostrils.

Rather, I want to focus on the fact that Goldacre's diagnosis of the ailments of the drugs business is accompanied by specific suggestions of how to its problems might be cured. In almost every case transparency — or access to information — is the key.

Bad Pharma's most important message is that full disclosure is needed to prevent us being duped. We need to know the results of all clinical trials so that evidence of efficacy is not distorted; we need to know how much drug reps are spending on doctors in promoting their products (often in the guise of continuing medical education); we need to know the origin and total value of all the benefits each doctor receives from Pharma; we need to know when academics have been induced to add a veneer of credibility to research papers written by unnamed industry workers by adding their names as co-authors.

The solutions are mechanistically simple but will likely encounter resistance from many sides. I suspect there is a culture of dependency that the medical and academic establishments will have to overcome. No-one is saying it's going to be easy but until the problems are fixed, patients are suffering needlessly.

The book may be shocking but I retain a sense of optimism. Goldacre's message on complete transparency resonates with the new enthusiasm for openness that seems to be pervading government and academia, driven by the ready access to information made possible by the world-wide web. Indeed it already seems to be making waves in parliament.

Goldacre, ever the nerd, is at his most persuasive on the power of the internet to facilitate simple trials on existing, similar drugs which have not yet been properly compared when used in the real world. These could be run directly from GP consultation rooms and as such have the potential to engage many more people in clinical trials and, just as importantly, in conversations about how the drugs prescribed for their ailments are developed and tested. This is my favourite paragraph of the whole book (p236):

"I think we need a cultural shift in the way we all, as patients, view our reciprocal relationship with research in medicine. We only know what works because of trials, and we all profit from the participation of patients before us in these trials; but many of us seem to have forgotten this. By remembering, we could create a social contract whereby everyone expects their health service to be constantly conducting trials, simple A/B tests, comparing treatments against each other to see which is the best, or even the cheapest, if they're both equally effective. A doctor failing to take part in such tests could be regarded as an oddity who is harming future patients. It could be obvious to all patients than participating in these files is a normal reflection of the need to produce better evidence to improve medical treatments, for themselves in the future, and for the others in the community with whom they share their medical system."

Of course, the results of any such trial should be published in an open access journal to ensure that they are available to all possible trial participants. By which I mean: everybody.

It may be too late to buy a copy of Bad Pharma in time for Christmas, but it could be just the thing for a new year's revolution.


Full Disclosure: Ben Goldacre, whom I know slightly, kindly arranged for his publisher to send me a free copy of Bad Pharma.

Stephen Curry is a Professor of Structural Biology. Follow him on Twitter as @Stephen_Curry.

Monday, December 24, 2012

Revealed: secrets of ancient Chinese medicinal herb

Google - AFP, 23 December 2012

A vendor packs dried herbs at her shop in the traditional Chinese
herb market in Taipei on March 19, 2010 (AFP/File, Sam Yeh)

PARIS — Scientists in the United States on Sunday offered a molecular-level explanation for how a Chinese herbal medicine used for more than 2,000 years tackles fever and eases malaria.

The herb is an extract of the root of a flowering plant called blue evergreen hydrangea, known in Chinese as chang shan and in Latin as Dichroa febrifuga Lour.

Chang shan's use dates back to the Han dynasty of 206 BC to 220 AD, according to ancient documents recording Chinese oral traditions.

In 2009, researchers made insights into its active ingredient, febrifuginone, which can be pharmaceutically made as a molecule called halofuginone.

They found that halofuginone prevented production of rogue Th17 immune cells which attack healthy cells, causing inflammation that leads to fever.

A study published in the journal Nature on Sunday found halofuginone works by hampering production of proteins for making "bad" Th17 cells, but not the "good" ones.

Specifically, it blocks molecules called transfer RNA (tRNA), whose job is to assemble a protein bit by bit, in line with the DNA code written in the gene.

As for malaria, halofuginone appears to interfere with the same protein-assembly process that enables malaria parasites to live in the blood, the study said.

"Our new results solved a mystery that has puzzled people about the mechanism that has been used to treat fever from a malaria infection going back probably 2,000 years or more," said Paul Schimmel, who headed the team at the Scripps Research Institute in California.

Halofuginone has been tested in small-scale human trials to treat cancer and muscular dystrophy. Drug engineers also eye it as a potential tool for combatting inflammatory bowel disease and rheumatoid arthritis, which are also autoimmune diseases.

Thursday, December 20, 2012

CCTV exposes drugged chickens at KFC and McDonald's supplier

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2012-12-20

A KFC outlet in Shanghai. (Photo/Xinhua)

In yet another fast-food safety scandal in China, state broadcaster CCTV has reported that a key supplier to McDonald's and KFC in the country illegally adds up to 18 kinds of antibiotics to its poultry feed, according to the Shanghai-based First Financial Daily.

The Dec. 18 report alleged that the Shandong-based Liuhe Group uses banned chemicals including dexamethasone, an anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressant steroid, to accelerate livestock growth, and has been able to get away with it due to the lack of testing conducted by Yum! Brands, the parent company of KFC.

Both McDonald's and KFC issued a statement in response to the CCTV report, saying that they have strict control over their supply chains, the newspaper said.

KFC further said that it had already stopped buying poultry from Liuhe, while McDonald's was unable to confirm whether the Shandong-based group was still one of its suppliers.

Meanwhile, local regulators have reportedly ordered a Liuhe branch in the Shandong city of Pingdu, which was allegedly involved in the violations reported by CCTV, to suspend all operations for inspection.

Two officials at the branch admitted that the drugs used on the poultry were not supervised and no testing of banned drugs was performed on the premises.

The two fast food chains are already in the thick of what has been termed "Chickengate" after similar attempts to swiftly fatten up their poultry were exposed at another major supplier, Tengzhou-based Wintop Food, the newspaper said.

Tan Changchun, a marketing expert with China Stone Management Consulting Group, said the rapid expansion of KFC in China might have led to the chain overlooking the dubious quality control standards of its suppliers.

In the last two years, KFC has seen the number of its restaurants in China rise from 3,000 to 4,000. It took the chain 17 years to open its first 1,000 stores in China, and another six to top the 3,000 mark.

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Canada getting out of medical marijuana business

Google - AFP, 17 december 2012

A medical marijuana plant grows at Perennial Holistic Wellness Center
 in Los Angeles on September 7, 2012 (Getty Images/AFP/File, David Mcnew)

OTTAWA — Canada's Conservative government will soon stop producing and distributing medical marijuana, leaving it up to the private sector in a policy change that angered critics on Monday.

Canada's Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq made the announcement on Sunday, claiming current regulations "have left the system open to abuse."

"We have heard real concerns from law enforcement, fire officials, and municipalities about how people are hiding behind these rules to conduct illegal activity, and putting health and safety of Canadians at risk," the minister said.

"These changes will make it far more difficult for people to game the system."

Aglukkaq said Ottawa would no longer produce and distribute marijuana for medical purposes. Instead, companies will be licenced to grow and sell the product at market rates.

Patients with a prescription from a doctor starting in March 2013 will be allowed to purchase a variety of strains of marijuana from licensed producers, who will set prices.

Also individuals will no longer be permitted to grow marijuana in their homes for their own personal use, said Aglukkaq.

Police and fire officials claimed that home grow operations are at "risk of abuse and exploitation by criminal elements" and one in 22 catch fire, and so they applauded the move.

Doctors however complained that they are being asked to write prescriptions for a substance that has not been clinically tested. Some risks such as lung disease from smoking it or pyschosis are known, while the benefits are only anecdotal, including relief from nausea and pain.

And they said they are now being asked to be the sole gatekeepers of the program, accusing the government of abdicating its responsibility.

"It's the equivalent of asking doctors to prescribe while blindfolded," Canadian Medical Association president Anna Reid told the daily Globe and Mail.

Marijuana activists and opposition MPs meanwhile stepped up calls for both medical and recreational use of marijuana to be decriminalized, after two US states last month voted to legalize pot.

The Medical Cannabis Access Society, a Montreal-based medical marijuana dispensary, commented that "creating a commercial marketplace is ostensibly progressive."

"We are witnessing the convergence of a flowering social justice movement with an emergent commercial sector. It's going to be a bumpy ride," it said in a statement.

However the group added, "For many patients who grow their own, this is one step forward and two steps back."

Some 26,000 Canadians are authorized to use marijuana for medical purposes, up from 500 a decade ago, according to government figures.

As many as one million Canadians are believed to smoke it regularly for recreation, say polls.

Canada's health department currently sells marijuana for Can$5 per gram, which it says is heavily subsidized by taxpayers. The street value can be as many as three times more.

Some patients have said the government stash is weak and so turned to growing it themselves.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Never a dull moment (Message from Aisha North)

Aisha North, December 16, 2012

Aisha North
Dear friends! These last few days have been beyond intense, and I am so grateful for the way you continue to connect, share and encourage each other here in this space. I do not think this process could be bearable if I had to go through all of this alone, and in addition to a few very close friends who are also lightworkers it helps me so much to be able to connect with all of you here. Reading your comments certainly makes it clear to me that many of you are experiencing much of the same as me, and I would like to add some of my own stories here as that can maybe be of help to others as well.

The energies that started to come in a day or two before 12.12.12 were so intense, but they have only gotten stronger and stronger as the days go by. And to me, they are a clear confirmation that something huge is underway now. In addition to the messages that are part of The manuscript, I am also being given daily ”updates” for me personally on the work I am doing. For it has intensified as well. Starting about a week ago, I am woken up 2-3 times every night, guided to pick up one or two of the crystals I have by my bedside and then instructed to open up for the energies coming in. As I said, they started out very intense, but night after night they have become even more so. They ”feel” different every time, sometimes it is like the very distinct feeling I had in my hands during a very strong healing session, except now it is in the whole body. Other times, some of the muscles in my body starts to twitch or even cramp up, other times it feels like I am dissolving completely, my breathing suddenly changes pace or intensity, and my body temperature fluctuates wildly. Some of these downloads are also accompanied by information, either in the form of geometric shapes moving in set patterns, words or even images. The images are just so beautiful, a world filled with bliss and love, and I have a huge smile on my face even if my body is less than pleased by what is happening. What I have been given to understand is that these downloads are not for me, but that I am a part of a group responsible for literally helping to build the new Earth by being channels for these energies coming in and down into the very core of our Earth. I have met up with this group several times already during some of these sessions, and I think that some of you are reading this blog :–).

I also know that some are frustrated because they feel that they are left out somehow, they cannot ”feel” anything or do not have any clear image of what their part in all of this really is. Let me just say that no one on this planet today is here by accident, we are all equally important. For some, the task is a very visible one, for others, they are either doing something ”behind the veil” that they are just not conscious of, or have a task waiting ahead. But never forget, the communal effort we take part in by the personal journey we are undertaking is the main reason for all of us to be here in the first place. And what we are doing now, in these short but intense days between 12.12.12 and 12.21.12 is probably the most important work we will ever do.

And, yes, it IS hard work, and it seems that we have more in store. As the CCs said in a message to me today after I woke up sick as a dog 5.55 last night: ”You see, the physical body is more than hard pressed at the moment, and this will only intensify as this week gathers momentum. You are all being compressed and squeezed into something that is infinitesimally small, yet huge beyond comparison, and therefore, your physical limits will be more than tested in the days ahead. So try to stay calm and centered, no matter what happens in the time ahead. And yes, we will keep repeating this message as the days fly by and you feel the ever growing pressure both on the outside and on the inside. So, let us leave it at that, and leave you to take care of that sore and somewhat confused body of yours. Give it much love, after all, it is what is making this whole process possible, and as such, it is the real hero in all of this.”

So let us all keep encouraging each other – and ourselves – to keep going! What we do is certainly impossible to describe, the only thing that is possible to describe are the physical symptoms that range from feeling literally as light as a feather and stronger than anything I have ever experienced before, to suddenly feeling like gravity has increased about 400% and I have a hard time just turning my head without feeling faint.



Dementia patients in Dutch village given 'alternative reality'

BBC News, 16 December 2012

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A dementia care home in the Netherlands is experimenting with a new way of treating patients by offering them an "alternative reality".

Hogeway is being compared to the film the Truman Show but could other countries learn lessons from how the Dutch are dealing with the disease?

Director of Innovation and co-founder Yvonne van Amerongen showed Anna Holligan around their virtual village near Amsterdam.

Video journalist: Suraj Patel
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Question: Why are so many new humans developing autism at this time?  Is there a purpose? Is there something we can do to assist them?  And then in addition to that, is there a correlation between autism and Alzheimer's?

Goddess: Autism is very much on people's mind at this time upon the earth.  It is a term that has been given to many children.  It is a definition that people give to a child as a means of trying to understand their behavior or how they think or how they are within their life.  Autism as you know it right now is but a fraction of what it truly is going to indicate in the future.  Many of the individuals that are being termed autistic are not necessarily autistic.  Autism in and of itself is a disconnection within.  Or you could say it's that these people have a different way of being able to communicate from others around them.  So when we say disconnect, it's not that they have fully disconnected with the other individuals; it's just that they are vibrating and living and experiencing life on a different level or a different plane.

Many have said that those who are autistic have their feet in two different dimensions or in multiple dimensions; yes, that is true.  Many have said that those children who are autistic have a short in their wiring as if there are aspects that are not working in this individual and this I would like to disagree with.  What's happening is, you are getting children especially who are of very high vibrations that are incorporating more of the crystalline vibration and less of the dense energies that have been upon the earth for the last several thousand years.

Therefore the electrical impulses that move through a crystal as opposed to the electrical impulses that move through a regular individual we shall just say or someone with regular wiring, there's going to be much less resistance, therefore their whole metabolism, everything about them is functioning on a completely different basis.

This journey tonight was to assist each one of you in recognizing just how much you are moving between dimensions.  These children that come in with these special gifts are used to moving (between dimensions) and they do it unconsciously.  To them, their sense of awareness, their sense of reality is very different from your own.  They may live in other realities while their physical body is here upon the earth.  Provide them with the structure that they may need to be able to function in society but also recognize that these are highly evolved individuals and respect that about them.

There may be crystals, there may be colors, there may be vibrations, things that emanate a vibration that assist the children in feeling more comfortable in their skin, in their reality.  If you are one of the individuals that would like to work with them or you find yourself perhaps having a child with these symptoms, go and open your senses and communicate from that of an expanded consciousness from the fifth, sixth or even seventh dimension.  Communicate from your heart, communicate without words, communicate through feelings and energies and you will find there's a great deal of information they are sharing with you.  These children are extremely sensitive so be aware of that and what is in their environment.

When it comes to Alzheimer's, there are some parallel pathways that one could point out.  Alzheimer's is a means of an individual beginning to cross over, beginning that journey back to this side of the veil but they have not yet fully chosen to return so they move at their own pace, experiencing whatever it is that they seek to experience.  And that is one reason why Alzheimer's seems to affect people for years at a time.  So while there are some similarities, that's as far as that goes.  Alzheimer's is a time to love and nurture an individual and again accept that this is their choice and this is their path.

Towards the end they are spending more and more of their reality in this other dimension.  For some it's a means of allowing them to feel comfortable with where they are going before they transition.  What you can do with them is also communicate from the heart, communicate without words. Assist them in being comfortable in other vibrations and assist them in being comfortable with the light and they will transition when the time is right for them.

I knew that this was something that was affecting many, many people and that is why I chose to give it a little bit more time and connection, and I thank you all for your patience.  I am open to receive questions that you may have.  If you press the *7 upon your telephone you may come back within the conference room and I will be glad to answer your questions.