Anti-depressants such as Prozac not clinically effective

Next generation antidepressants drugs such as Prozac and Seroxat are barely more effective than placebo, according to a study.

The research pooled results of studies, some unpublished, submitted to the Federal Drugs Authority (FDA) into fluoxetine (Prozac), venlafaxine (Efexor), nefazodone (Serzone) and paroxetine (Seroxat).

Known as selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs), these drugs are widely prescribed for treatment of depression.

The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Hull, looked at the overall improvement in Hamilton Rating Scale of Depression (HRSD) scores from 47 clinical trials.

Results showed that although the mean improvement in patients’ scores of 1.8 was statistically significant, it was below the score of three suggested by NICE as being clinically significant.

Only when trials involved the most depressed patients did results reach clinical significance, the report added.

Authors added: ‘This pattern is due to a decrease in the response to placebo rather than an increase in the response to medication.’

Hawaiian Doctor Kills Anti-Aspartame Bill, Condemning Hawaiian Children to Drink Neurotoxic Sweetener

(NaturalNews) In a move that surprised no one, the bill to consider the banning of aspartame in Hawaii was crushed by Chairman Josh Green, M.D., who deferred the initiative, denying the Hawaiian legislature the ability to vote on the measure (while condemning Hawaiian children to drinking and eating yet more of this toxic substance). That this move came from a medical doctor is no surprise whatsoever, given the ties between conventional medicine and industry and the willingness of doctors to subject consumers to any number of toxic chemicals.

Anti-aspartame champion Dr. Betty Martini covered this development in great detail on a story posted on www.OpEdNews.com, which includes this section about the side effects of aspartame:

Paralysis is one of the 92 disabilities the Food & Drug Administration named in their 1995 list of aspartame reactions which they now deny ever existed. http://www.mpwhi.com/92_aspartame_symptoms.pdf FDA derived these from over 10,000 complaints volunteered by American consumers; more than those reported to FDA for any other additive. FDA slammed the complaint window in 1996 and have ignored all testimony and research, including over 100 damning scientific peer reviewed studies on the devastating consequence of consuming aspartame. Seizures, sexual dysfunction, birth defects, blindness, paranoia, diabetes, migraines, obesity, and its a multi-potential carcinogen concluded an award winning 3-year study on1,800 rats by Dr. M. Soffritti of the Ramazzini Institute. The 2005 study was peer reviewed by 7 world experts. His second study showed it only takes a small amount to cause cancer and if pregnant women use it and their baby survives the offspring can get cancer.
– Dr. Betty Martini, http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera…

You can read more about aspartame at the MPWHI website: http://www.mpwhi.com/main.htm

Protect our children from aspartame

I strongly urge all NaturalNews readers to read Dr. Betty Martini’s work and stay informed about the dangers of aspartame. This is a crucial issue of protecting our children from toxic chemicals that are compromising the health of their brains, eyes and entire nervous systems. Do not be surprised when you see doctors, legislators and corporations doing everything in their power to keep aspartame legal. Doctors are purveyors of death by chemical ingestion, as is quite evident from their chemotherapy chemicals and toxic pharmaceuticals. As I’ve said before, doctors have never met a corporate-sponsored chemical they didn’t like! Aspartame is no exception.

Forget about honest science or genuine compassion for the health of children. American doctors will knowingly destroy any number of lives as long as it protects their power and authority. Of course, in the long run, not only will western doctors lose this fight over aspartame, they will witness the collapse of their entire system of medicine! The news is out: Pharmaceuticals are deadly, aspartame is dangerous, and toxic chemicals have no place in our foods and beverages. The mainstream consumer is finally starting to wake up and wonder why all their family members have cancer and Alzheimer’s disease, and they’re finally figuring out that it’s largely due to the toxic chemicals added to foods, drinks, medicines and personal care products.

In my opinion, aspartame is a deadly neurotoxin, and the people defending it should be arrested and charged with criminal negligence. It is time to take action to protect our children from the evil, chemical-spewing corporations that have poisoned us for generations. If we hope to have any real future for our children, we must put an end to the mass poisoning of our population. That means banning aspartame (and other toxic chemicals used in the food supply).

Stay informed. Stay vigilant. There will be yet more opportunities to end the aspartame madness and reclaim our health. Stevia is making headway and may actually be FDA approved within two years, since Cargill and Coca-Cola are now on board. Once these corporations realize they can no longer hide behind the scientific truth about aspartame, they will abandon the chemical and switch to stevia. At that point, banning aspartame will be much easier, because fewer dollars will be at stake. So getting stevia approved should be our first step towards getting aspartame banned.

The only reason aspartame remains protected today is because there is an economic incentive for corporations to protect it (it has absolutely nothing to do with safety). Once the economics are no longer in place, banning aspartame on a scientific basis will be more easily accomplished.

Aspartame’s days are numbered. But unfortunately, due to the actions of ignorant doctors (who probably should have retired long ago), aspartame looks to remain legal for a while longer. The number of children poisoned by aspartame must now be in the hundreds of millions, worldwide. That aspartame remains legal today is a sad statement about the stupidity of humanity and the foolishness of allowing corporations to influence the legislature.

dreamhealer

Big Pharma Drugs Linked To Killings

America seems shocked that, yet again, a young male would pick up an assault rifle and murder his fellow citizens, then take his own life. This is what happened last night in Omaha, Nebraska, where the 19-year-old (Robert) Hawkins killed himself and eight other people with an assault rifle. Those lacking keen observation skills are quick to blame guns for this tragedy, but others who are familiar with the history of such violent acts by young males instantly recognize a more sinister connection: A history of treatment with psychiatric drugs for depression and ADHD.  Read More….

Link Between Prozac, Ritalin, Luvox, Zoloft, and Paxil to School Shootings

The Journal of the American Medical Association released a study that shows that there is a tremendous increase in prescribing anti-depressants to preschoolers aged 2 to 4 years old! The “Terrible Twos” are just that! If you start throwing these drugs at preschoolers, what are we going to do for them when they hit their teens?   There has been a connection between school shootings and the shooters having been on these drugs!Gun violence in schools has actually gone down since 1992, while violence in general has gone up in schools!    If a majority of the school shooters were on (or had abruptly stopped taking) anti-depressants then it stands to reason that most of the other violence in schools may be related to these drugs as well!    I have read a lot about the Oregon shootings and how Kip Kinkle had been on prozac. I had heard that, but now a Vermont Outdoors writer has said that “Just about every massacre that occurred anywhere in the U.S. and Canada over the last decade has involved an individual using a prescription drug called Prozac or one of its relatives.”

We went through this in the Eighties for crying out loud! I thought doctors had learned how to use this stuff and monitor patients since we know that problems occur when they stop taking it!

We are locking up guns, limiting ammo, doing background checks, and in some states mandatory waiting periods but these doctors (and Parents) are putting kids on these anti-depressants without keeping a close eye on them afterwards!

These anti-depressants known as Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) have been known to help, but the problem arises when a patient stops taking the drug. We have known this since Prozac got it’s reputation in the Eighties when “everyone” was depressed. That gave us the “Going Postal” and the “Prozac Moment” sayings and these sayings have truth to them.  

When one of these events happen, people,like our President, point at the guns, gun owners, and gun companies for being responsible!   Why do they point at the tool and not the PERSON using the tool!  

Automobiles kill more people than guns, but you don’t hear anyone calling for a ban on cars!  

If there is any truth to the connection between these drugs and the shootings then these Doctors (and parents) are putting these kids on these drugs and not following up on them as necessary then maybe we should start looking a little closer at this situation!   If there is any logic (and I don’t see it) to suing gun companies, then there is definitely logic in going after these Doctors (and parents) for putting these SSRI drugs into these children without following up and making sure that they don’t stop taking it.  

From “Time-Outs” to not keeping score in sports, children today are being over protected from loss and failure. When a child seems stressed then they go for these drugs because “it is so much harder growing up these days”– BULONEY!  

Every generation has it’s struggles and this generation is no different. Earlier generations had to struggle to survive and when you struggle with nature you have to keep score because if you lose, you die!  

Before we fly off the handle, like our President has (more than once), maybe we should stop attacking and restricting law abiding citizens  and take a closer look at the families of these children and the doctors that prescribed these drugs in the first place!  

I would like the US Congress and the NH Legislature to read this article and check into this information so that maybe we can address the cause of the problem, which appears to be these SSRI Drugs and NOT GUNS!    

Here are the last major school shooters and the link under each name is a reputable news source that connects them all with SSRI’s (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) like Prozac, Ritalin, Zoloft, Luvox, Paxil, and others:  

1) May 20 1999: T.J. Solomon, a 15-year-old wounds six at Heritage High School in Conyers, Ga.. http://add.about.com/health/add/library/weekly/aa052599.htm CNN Reports That T.J. Solomon was on Ritalin.  

2) April 16 1999: Shawn Cooper, a 15-year-old sophomore wounds one at Notus Junior-Senior High School in Notus, Idaho. http://www.boiseweekly.com/archive/v7i42/cope/cope_col.html Reports that Cooper was abused and medicated.  

3) April 20 1999: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold kill thirteen and wound twenty three at Columbine High School. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/april99/antisocial04299.htm Eric Harris, The apparent leader of the attack had been on Luvox.  

4) May 21, 1998: Kip Kinkel, a 15-year-old kills four and wounds twenty three at Thurston High School in Springfield, Ore.. http://www.drugawareness.org/washtimes.html  Kinkle Had been taking Prozac.  

5) March 24, 1998: Mitchell Johnson, 13, and Andrew Golden, 11, opened fire on their classmates and killed five and wounded eleven at Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Ark..  

Arkansas Online  http://www.ardemgaz.com/prev/jonesboro/brygolden24.html Andrew Golden’s Medical Records released to Courts but not open to the public!  

From Jon Rappaport of the Truthseeker foundation: http://www.nfgcc.org/schoolviolence.htm A Doctor from Georgetown University commented on Network television that one of the boys had previously been treated for violent behavior. (Treated with what?)  

AND According to Arianna Huffington the following events are linked to Anti-Depressants as well:  

6) Julie Marie Meade from Maryland who was shot to death by the police when they found her waving a gun at them. http://www.ariannaonline.com/columns/files/070998.html  

7) Ben Garris, a 16-year-old in Baltimore who stabbed his counselor to death.  http://www.ariannaonline.com/columns/files/070998.html  

8) Kristina Fetters, a 14-year-old from Des Moines, Iowa, who stabbed her favorite great aunt in a rage that landed her a life sentence. http://www.ariannaonline.com/columns/files/070998.html    

9) Pfizer, The Manufacturer of Zoloft is being sued by a Kansas family for the Suicide of their 14 year old son on Zoloft. http://www.ariannaonline.com/columns/files/061099.html  

10) The estate of Brynn Hartman, Wife of the Saturday Night Live Comedian, Phil Hartman, is also suing Pfizer, since Mrs. Hartman had been on Zoloft when she killed her husband and herself! http://www.ariannaonline.com/columns/files/061099.html  

These drugs cause side effects like insomnia, anxiety, and agitation. (From The New York Hospital Cornell Medical Center), and sometimes suicidal tendencies especially with fluoxetine (Prozac). These results have been found in adults and some young people, but the best course for prescribing SSRI’s to the young seems to be extreme caution.  

How could so many of these legally drugged up kids have been left with out supervision?  

After an hour or so of research I found this to be quite obvious!    The main problem with getting information out is the fact that these are young people who’s records are sealed and cannot be accessed with out permission.    Three weeks after the Columbine shootings the President held a conference on youth violence and declared “the best ideas from people who can really make a difference: parents and young people, teachers and religious leaders, law enforcement, gun manufacturers, representatives of the entertainment industry and those of us here in government.”   

The President seemed to miss a very important factor in that conference and that was the mental health industry. Any mental health worker involved may have been able to add important information like the connection between these SSRI’s and many of these acts of violence.   Everything about these SSRI drugs suggests that close monitoring would be very important due to the fact that the drug must be taken regularly and to stop taking these drugs can cause psychotic reactions.  

Instead of spending time and money on the vehicle of violence, the gun, we should be investigating the cause of the violence, which very well may be the prescribing of these psychotropic drugs such as Ritalin, Luvox, Zoloft, Paxil, and Prozac to the young people of this country!    

Glass of red wine or one drink may help heart health, more may do harm: study

TORONTO – Red wine has been touted as beneficial for cardiovascular health, but new research suggests that while one glass of that favourite Merlot or Shiraz may indeed be heart healthy, two or more could actually do more harm than good over time.

Furthermore, those good and bad effects on the heart and blood vessels aren’t restricted just to red wine, but also apply to any kind of alcoholic drink, says principal investigator Dr. John Floras, director of cardiology research at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre in Toronto.

Several large population studies have suggested light or moderate alcohol drinking has a protective effect on the heart; red wine, which contains antioxidant polyphenols, is thought to have particular benefits.

These studies found lower rates of heart disease, despite high-fat diets, among some European populations that regularly consume red wine. Widely known as the “French paradox,” the phenomenon has created huge interest in how the libation might stave off cardiovascular disease.

In the Toronto study, Floras said tests on volunteers showed that drinking a single glass of red wine or an amount of ethanol (pure alcohol) equal to that found in a beer or a serving of spirits did indeed have potentially helpful effects on the heart and blood vessels.

“One standard drink of both the red wine and the alcohol causes the blood vessels to dilate (widen), which could be considered a good thing,” he said. “It would make it easier for blood to flow through the vessels and reduce the work of the heart.”

“But what happened after two drinks is the nervous system got turned on. And when the nervous system got turned on, that led to an increase in the impulses going to the blood vessels, which acted as a brake on further blood vessel dilation.”

Floras said after two drinks, subjects’ heart rates rose and their hearts began pumping more blood than necessary.

“So it suggests that there may be a physiological underpinning to this relationship in populations where one drink a day seems to be more beneficial than two drinks a day. And it may be that over time, revving up the nervous system, increasing the heart rate, increasing the pumping action of the heart may be part of the reason heavy drinking has been shown to have adverse effects.”

Dr. George Fodor, head of research for the University of Ottawa Heart Institute’s Minto Prevention and Rehabilitation Centre, said the findings provide a solid challenge to “the nonsensical statement that the French have low levels of heart disease because they drink red wine.”

“The bottom line is if there is any benefit in alcohol, the range is very narrow,” Fodor said Tuesday from Ottawa, commenting on the research. “So this study, I think, is a warning against trying to justify the drinking of alcohol for alleged health benefits.”

Toronto cardiologist Beth Abramson, a spokeswoman for the Heart and Stroke Foundation, said that although the study looked at only a small number of subjects, it is important because it gives insights into how the heart, blood vessels and body react when exposed to alcohol.

“This is another piece of evidence – and it’s done very elegantly – that suggests that just because a small amount of alcohol may be beneficial, more of it can actually be harmful,” said Abramson, who was not involved in the study.

“Although it is enticing to think that alcohol would be a quick fix … it actually isn’t.”

To conduct the study, published in the February issue of the American Journal of Physiology: Heart and Circulatory Physiology, researchers enrolled 13 healthy, non-smoking adults who were not heavy drinkers or total abstainers.

Participants attended three separate morning sessions, two weeks apart, during which “standard” drinks of red wine, ethanol or water were randomly administered. A 120-millilitre glass of wine and a 44-millilitre shot of spirits is considered a standard drink. The study used a moderately priced pinot noir with a high polyphenol content.

While agreeing the study is small, Floras said it is unique because it compares three different drinks – water, ethanol and red wine – in the same individuals on separate occasions, looking at different doses.

And because his lab contains a variety of testing methods, the researchers were able to simultaneously measure heart rate, blood pressure, blood vessel diameter and electrical impulses sent from the brain to the heart and the rest of the circulatory system.

“It would appear that following two or more drinks, the alcohol seems to turn on systems that do stress the circulation,” he said.

“And our concern is if these stressful actions are repeated on a daily basis in individuals who have high alcohol consumption, they ultimately may be at higher risk of a heart attack or stroke or high blood pressure because of this potential mechanism.”

Why Vaccines Aren’t Safe

Do you really know what’s in a vaccine? Does your doctor? And are they truly safe? These are just a few of the questions addressed in this well-researched and presented video.

You’ll learn revealing truths, such as the fact that most pro-vaccine studies are supported by money from the pharmaceutical companies, and hear a medical doctor discuss how a vaccine he gave his own child resulted in autism. Once he uncovered the truth, he vowed never to vaccinate himself or his family ever again.

Now you, too, can hear the truth behind the lies you have been told about vaccine safety.  View Video

Hazardous Levels of Mercury in Sushi

Mercola

Recent laboratory tests in New York found so much mercury in tuna sushi that two or three pieces a week at some restaurants could be a health hazard.

Eight out of the 44 pieces of sushi purchased by the New York Times for testing had mercury levels so high that the FDA could take legal action to remove the fish from the market.

Although all the samples were obtained in New York City, experts believe similar results would also be observed elsewhere.

While the FDA and EPA have warned children and pregnant women against consumption of canned tuna, fresh tuna was not included in the advisory. However, the tuna sushi in The New York Times sample contained far more mercury than is typically found in canned tuna.

The scientists who performed the analysis said they were “frankly surprised” by the results, and that they had run the tests several times to make sure there was no mistake.

I Was Right About the Bird Flu Hoax

Mercola

Last year, the number of human cases of avian flu dropped rather than rose for the first time — from a paltry 115 in 2006 to an even more insignificant 86 in 2007. Frightening headlines warning of a pandemic that could kill 150 million people have all but vanished.

Although some “experts” still argue that preparations against bird flu must continue, many are finally beginning to realize what I said all along — that this overhyped, oversold “pandemic” was never a threat in the first place. According to Dr. Paul A. Offit, a vaccine specialist at Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia, “H5 viruses have been around for 100 years and never caused a pandemic and probably never will.”

Still, according to this New York Times article, scientists and governments are congratulating themselves for averting a threat that never was by stockpiling worthless vaccines, pointlessly culling hundreds of millions of birds, and pouring money into preparation efforts.

I can only imagine that the flu vaccine manufacturers are laughing all the way to the bank.

Attorney General Alleges Fraud By Health Insurers

Albany, New York (WSYR-TV) – If you’ve got health insurance that covers so-called “out of plan” or, “out of network” doctors, you may be paying far too much out of pocket.  And the Attorney General is trying to get you a refund.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo Wednesday said he will sue one health insurance company and subpoena several others, in a widespread fraud investigation.
Read More….

Doctors go to Prison

By Ryan Thompson
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
OCEAN PARKWAY — Suspecting millions of dollars lost in medical fraud, it began with an investigation several years ago into the Omni Medical School Clinic on Ocean Parkway. More than 20 people were ultimately charged, and on Monday, two of the doctors connected to the massive scheme were sentenced to time in prison.

Dr. Victor Basbus, a 63-year-old neurologist, and Dr. Gerardo Yanayaco, a 52-year-old internist, were both convicted in November in Manhattan Supreme Court of insurance fraud, grand larceny and scheme to defraud charges. Yanayaco was sentenced to 10 months in jail, while Basbus, who was also convicted of enterprise corruption, was sentenced to two-to-six years in prison.

Both doctors were arrested in 2005 during a massive takedown entitled “Operation Old School” by the NYPD. In the end, the investigation, which used undercover officers posing as patients, yielded the arrests of 21 people affiliated with several medical clinics in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Read More….