THE NATIONAL HEALTH FEDERATION

A not-for-profit health-freedom organization

 

 ***********************************************************

www.thenhf.com           NEWSLETTER              JULY 2004

***********************************************************

 

Death by decimal, what a catchy little phrase, or should we say, catchy death phrase. These three words are hushed throughout the halls of hospitals and other medical facilities.  All medical personnel know this means injury or death due to misreading the decimal point mark when dispensing medications to patients, thereby under or overdosing patients and causing harm.
 
Medical mistakes occur, to the tune of 98,000 deaths a year, due just to medical error alone.
 
Recently, watchdog organizations have pushed to mandate the development of new hospital procedures to combat these excessive errors.  When it comes to our individual health, we must all be our own protectors.  The NHF strives to keep you informed so that you will have the facts to safeguard your health.
 
This leads us to our first newsletter topic, Advocate Angel.

 

Other topics in this issue:

California Dietary Supplement Users Beware!

Yurko - 6 Years in Prison, Now 41 Days Till Showdown

First Grade Zombies

What Is the FDA Doing Next?

And More.............

 

*****************************************************************

 

NHF HEALTH-FREEDOM UPDATES

 

ADVOCATE ANGELS, YOU MAY NEED THEM

 

With the recent findings showing the American medical system as the leading cause of death and injury in the U.S., a not-for-profit organization was recently formed by Dr. Ed Kribs that can assist you and possibly help save your life if you must seek allopathic care. Dr. Kribs is an NHF member, chiropractor, author and a pioneer in biofeedback and wholistic natural health care.

Advocate Angels is a volunteer group of trained patient advocates who, by request, accompany patients to doctor's offices, hospitals or other facilities, offering protective advice. They are biased on the side of the patient, not the provider, to help minimize the risks inherent in health care. The mission of Advocate Angel is to foster an understanding of the part the public can play in protecting themselves from the inherent risks within the health care scene. Knowing the right questions to ask, in time of stress and fear, is an art seldom practiced by the individual because they do not feel competent enough to accept the responsibility. Much of the contemporary medical risks can be avoided by patient education. Overwhelming evidence shows that going it alone to a health care provider, without clear knowledge of how the system works, can be dangerous. There is no charge for the Advocate Angel service. Individuals and corporations help cover their operating expenses.

Additionally, the advocate will provide an educated shoulder for the patient to lean on. A sample of questions would be:

  • What are the risks?

  • What is the doctor's experience with this procedure/drug?

  • Is the medication being given, what was ordered?

  • Is the dosage correct?

  • Is the food palatable?

  • And, the all-important question--is there any other way? There always is, but you'll never find out unless you ask.

These are some of the services that the trained volunteers can provide to ease the patient's doctors visit or hospital stay.

Advocate Angel trains its volunteers and is looking for volunteers who want to make a difference, be informed and personally rewarded, help others and their loved ones.

Advocate Angels may be contacted at - 516-354-1016 (New Hyde Park, NY)
 

************************

 

YURKO PROJECT - 6 YEARS IN PRISON, NOW 41 DAYS TILL SHOWDOWN

 

Alan is awaiting the Evidentiary Hearing, scheduled for the week of August 23rd, 2004 and is feeling the pressure, yet persevering.

The hearing will be held before Judge Alan Lawson, not a jury. The objective of this hearing is to overturn the conviction. There is limitation as to what issues can be argued, which makes its scope much more narrow than a trial. As of this writing, the following experts will be brought in:

Prof. Joe W. DeRocher, JD (Professor of law, former chief Public Defender, Orange/Osceola Cty. Fl)
Harold E. Buttram, MD FAAEM (Environmental Medicine)
F. Edward Yazbak, MD FAAP (Pediatrician)
Horace B. Gardner, MD JD (Forensic Ophthalmologist)
Stephen J. Nelson, MD (Chairman, Florida Medical Examines Commission-FLMEC)
Jon Throgmartin, MD (FLMEC)
Mohammed A. Al-Bayati, PhD, DABT, DABUT (Toxicologist, Pathologist)
Prof. Jane M. Orient, MD, FACP (Internal Medicine, Executive Director of Association of American Physicians and Surgeons)
Mark Strong, RN (Translife Organ Harvesting Coordinator)
Thomas Miller (Juror)

Thomas Miller is a juror from the trial who has recently asserted that, in light of the new evidence, he believes the verdict should have been Not Guilty. His testimony will not be part of evidence to be considered by Judge Lawson, but will only be proffered to preserve the issue should an appeal be necessary.

A forensic pathologist, a neuropathologist, and a pediatric pharmacologist may be acquired before the hearing, if funds, time, and circumstances permit.

The issues that will be argued are the vaccine, iatrogeny, prosecutorial misconduct, and the autopsy mistakes. Other issues could arise depending on the direct examination of each witness.

Alan will be transferred to the Orange County Jail sometime before the hearing. Security issues prevent us from knowing exactly when. His mail will be forwarded and a notice sent out via email and posted on the website with his new address as soon as we know it.

Aside from the expert witnesses, many supporters and others will be flying into Orlando to attend the hearing. Susan E. Kreider, RN, CPC, our Chief Nurse Coordinator, has an opportunity for very affordable lodging via time-share condominiums she has secured. Interested parties should contact her at:  susan.kreider@uphs.upenn.edu.

Unfortunately the lead attorney, Loren Rhoton, has had a very serious and profoundly tragic personal situation beyond his control which will prevent him from continuing his representation in the appeal. He will still serve as an advisor, however, and 2nd chair attorney, Mary Fitzgibbons will be assuming the 1st chair position forthwith. Ms Fitzgibbons is a former Orange City (Orlando) prosecutor now in private practice with her own firm in the Orlando area.

The State has contracted an expert named John Tilelli, MD to testify on their behalf. He is the only doctor they will present who did not testify at the original trial.

 

To assist these two NHF members, Alan and Francine Yurko, in their fight for justice, massive pre-trial expenses, and follow the lead of the NHF Board’s donation: Please send your donation check made out to “The National Health Federation” to P.O. Box 688, Monrovia, CA 91017, and specify that the donation be used for The Yurko Project. Any amount will help and be appreciated. Your donations will be forwarded to The Yurko Project account.

 

The money collected into this NHFaccount for Alan,up until July 1, 2004 was forwarded on to the Yurko Project account on this same date to help defray costs. This account for Alan is still open for any contributions and the collected amount will be sent on to the Yurko Project account just before trial time (August 23, 2004).
 

To read Francine Yurko's account from day one till the present, see " Triumph over Tragedy" by clicking this link: http://www.thenhf.com/vaccinations_16.htm

 

*****************************************************************

 

NHF LEGISLATIVE UPDATES & ARTICLES

 

California Dietary Supplement Users Beware!


The California Adverse Event Reporting bill, S.B.779, has already passed through the Senate and is now being considered by the California Assembly. This bill will hurt manufacturers, retailers and consumers in their pocket book.

All Californians, please click this link for the alert and to take action NOW........

http://www.thenhf.com/government_affairs_state_02.html

 

************************


Another Important California Issue

S.B.1691 - The NHF supports this health freedom access legislation and asks that if
you are a resident of California, you contact your State Representative and
Senator in support of its passage by the California legislature. Please click this link to review:

http://www.thenhf.com/government_affairs_state_01.html

 

************************


Federal Legislation

Anabolic Steroid Control Act 2004 - H.R.3866
Appearing to prohibit only anabolic steroids "near sports facilities", this bill, without scientific basis, also reclassified two dozen other substances (ex. putting testosterone on par with LSD & PCP), maximized penalties and required future reporting of any similar dietary substances for review for the Controlled Substances list. We must stop this chipping away of our health-freedoms and DSHEA protections.

"The Noose Tightens Around DSHEA" - A must read on this H.R.3866 topic. Follow this link to the article:  http://www.thenhf.com/government_affairs_21.htm


Lee Bechtel (NHF's Washington monitor) comments:

"Of utmost importance is the issue of reforming DSHEA and subjecting supplements to drug like FDA approval and market regulation standards. This is a complete reversal of the original intent of DSHEA. For example, the following from Acting FDA Commissioner Lester Crawford speech to the Association of Food and Drug Officials Annual Conference (the State FDA Leaders) on June 21, 2004, regarding FDA activities on dietary supplements:

"Over the next several months, we will be building our enforcement strategy and utilizing every tool available under DSHEA to act against unsafe supplements and false or misleading supplement labeling claims. This includes developing approaches to systematically review the evidence about the safety of individual dietary supplements. FDA expects to evaluate the available pharmacology, published literature (including animal, in vitro, epidemiological and clinical trial data) evidence-based reviews, and adverse event information -- the approach that formed the scientific foundation for FDA's recent rulemaking on ephedra.

"Key wording here is "clinical trial data". If the standards for clinical trail data are the same as for drugs, then there would be 3 phases, and years of expense for supplement manufacturers. Second, keep in mind that supplements are now, under DSHEA, defined as foods.

"Regarding the Senate Judiciary Committee, Biden is in the minority, Sen. Hatch is the Chairman. Hatch, in fact, is a dietary supplement supporter. So, it is possible that the issue gets shelved for the rest of this Congressional session. However, the prospects are leaning more for passage than against passage, in my view.

I will not even pontificate on what could happen if Democrats take control of the House or Senate, and what that would mean for supplement consumers, regardless of whether Bush or Kerry win."

************************

 

Protect yourself by reading - "What Is the FDA Doing Next?"

by Lee Bechtel, (NHF Advocate).

Please click the following link to read about the FDA's 168 A-list activities plan for 2004 and what we are up against. As Lee warns, we all need to stay actively involved in responding to FDA regulatory and public policy initiatives either to the Congress or when FDA regulations are issued.

 

http://www.thenhf.com/fda_10.htm

 

 

*****************************************************************

 

 FIRST-GRADE ZOMBIES
 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 10 million children have taken prescription medication for three months or longer in 2002, and preschoolers are now the fastest-growing market for antidepressants.

Newsday recently reported that "the use of anti-depressants in children increased about 10 percent a year between 1998 and 2002 [...] And while medication of preschool children remains limited to less than one-half of 1 percent, the percentage of girls age 5 and under on antidepressants doubled from 1998 to 2002, while use among preschool boys increased 64 percent."

Dr. Lawrence Diller, behavioral development pediatrician and author of Should I Medicate My Child?, states: "The use of Ritalin made it acceptable for parents to give children drugs." Often, when Ritalin fails to have the desired results, he says, doctors add an antidepressant to the mix, and then a third drug if that doesn't work.

Ritalin--often praised as a wonder drug for Attention Deficit Disorder--has a long list of possible side effects, ranging from mild symptoms like nausea, dry mouth, and constipation to severe afflictions such as zombie-like, robotic behavior, obsessive-compulsive behavior, Tourette's Syndrome, heart palpitations, and cardiac arrest.

Peter R. Breggin, M.D., Director of the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology and author of Talking back to Ritalin (1998), sharply criticizes the customary use of stimulants such as methylphenidate--better known as Ritalin--and amphetamines like Dexedrine and Adderall on children. "Doctors who prescribe stimulant drugs," so Breggin, "often seem oblivious to the fact that they can cause psychoses, including manic-like and schizophrenic disorders." A 1999 Canadian study on 192 children with ADHD showed that of the 98 children placed on stimulants, more than 9% developed psychotic symptoms, such as hallucinations and paranoia. No psychotic symptoms were found among the children not on drugs.

These symptoms, according to Breggin, can trigger a vicious cycle of doping. When children develop signs of depression, delusion, hallucinations, etc. as an effect of taking stimulants, doctors often misinterpret those as pre-existent clinical depression, schizophrenia, or bipolar disorder... and prescribe additional drugs, such as antidepressants, mood stabilizers, and neuroleptics.

"The drugging of children has gotten so out of hand," Breggin says, "that America is waking up to this. This is a national catastrophe. I'm seeing children who are normal who are on five psychiatric drugs."

The drug treatment usually begins when children start having trouble with their parents or at school. It seems that schools play a major role in the medication of children, coercing parents to "get medical help" (read: drugs) for their maladjusted offspring. In some cases, school officials threatened to alert Child Protective Services with allegations of parental negligence if the child weren't subdued.

What is so wrong with our children nowadays that they need all these drugs? Let's look at some of the symptoms that substantiate the diagnosis ADHD, from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders:

  • Often fails to give close attention to details or makes careless mistakes in schoolwork, work, or other activities

  • Often does not seem to listen when spoken to directly

  • Often avoids, dislikes, or is reluctant to engage in tasks that require sustained mental effort

  • Is often easily distracted by extraneous stimuli

  • Often fidgets with hands or feet or squirms in seat

  • Often runs about or climbs excessively in situations in which it is inappropriate

  • Often has difficulty playing or engaging in leisure activities quietly

  • Often talks excessively

  • Often blurts out answers before questions have been completed

  • Often has difficulty awaiting turn

We don't know about you, but in our time that kind of behavior was not called a mental disorder. It was called being a child... maybe an unruly or spirited one, maybe one with emotional problems, but it wouldn't have justified drugging us into compliance.

"If these all too common symptoms are markers for ADD, maybe we ought to be putting Ritalin right into the water supply," criticizes Salon in an 1997 article, calling the routine prescription of drugs "a pharmaceutical assault on inefficient personality types-Ritalin for the hyperactive, Prozac for the introverts." And Vassar psychology professor Ken Livingston stated sarcastically, "when it is difficult or inconvenient to change the environment, we don't think twice about changing the brain of the person who has to live in it."

There is hope of a societal backlash against drugging children: Paxil recently has been taken off the recommended list by the FDA, since it turned out that its intake poses a danger of increased suicide among children. In Britain, all antidepressants except Prozac have been banned for use in children as of last year.

What's wrong with our children? We think the question should be instead: What is wrong with the adults?

This article was provided by “What We Now Know”, a free weekly newsletter by Casey Research, featuring investment tips, geopolitics, tech trends, health issues, and much more.

 

*****************************************************************

 

 

Food, Not Fluoride, Reduces Cavities

(CONTACT LETTER TO YOUR OFFICIALS INCLUDED)

From New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation

July 2004

  • Cavities occur in 66% of U.S. preschool children, and more often in the poorly nourished, according to the January 2004 Journal of the American Dental Association.
     

  • Those skipping breakfast and fruits and vegetables have more cavities, according to researchers, Dye et al.
     

  • Over sixty years ago, dental researcher Weston Price examined various countries' inhabitants and their diets and reported that bad teeth and health are linked to poor diet.
     

  • "In their zeal to promote fluoride, dentistry, ignoring diet, may have helped create a billion-dollar toothpaste industry while enabling an appalling tooth decay national epidemic to fester and grow like the unfilled cavities in Medicaid patients who are often refused dental treatment," says lawyer Paul Beeber, President, New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation (NYSCOF).
     

  • Federal statistics back up the poor health/more tooth loss association, regardless of fluoridation levels.
     

  • For example, 87% of West Virginians drink fluoridated water; yet, they are the most toothless in the country. West Virginia is also one of the least healthy states for heart disease and diabetes, two diet-related diseases.
     

  • Conversely, in Utah, where only 2.8% of water supplies are fluoridated, residents lose the fewest teeth in the country due to decay and gum disease. Utah ranks as one of the best in state health rankings by United Health Foundation and are least likely to develop heart disease - a measure of obesity, hypertension and sedentary lifestyle. Utah is also one of four states with the lowest diabetes rate.
     

  • The Centers for Disease Control asserts that fluoridated water saves from $7 to $42 in dental care for every fluoridation dollar spent. However, after decades of water fluoridation, virtually all Americans consume a fluoridated food and/or water supply. Yet, "dental spending outpaces economic growth, continuing a trend," reports the American Dental Association.
     

  • New York State is 70% fluoridated but two very populous counties, Nassau and Suffolk (Long Island) are totally fluoridation free. In New York State 18.3%, lost 6 or more teeth due to decay or gum disease while only 16.2% of Long Islanders did.
     

  • New York City is 100% fluoridated, yet 20.9% of Brooklyn and 19.9% of Queens residents lost six or more teeth, more than non-fluoridated Long Island and partially fluoridated New York State.
     

  • Past news releases show that New York City poor children have more tooth decay than the national average.
     

  • Actually, dental crises appear in many fluoridated cities.

Speak to your city and state officials concerning fluoridation in your area. Click here for contact letter.

 

If you are unfamiliar with your local, state or federal officials, contact names, addresses and phone numbers may be obtained from various sources. Suggested sources for contact information would be your local Election Board, library or League of Women Voters organization.

   

*****************************************************************

 

NEWSLETTER BOOK REVIEW

 

"ASCORBATE - THE SCIENCE OF VITAMIN C"

 

by Steve Hickey PhD & Hilary Roberts PhD
 

The relationship between vitamin C and health is controversial. Double Nobel Prize winner, Linus Pauling, argued that ascorbate could prevent or cure heart disease, stroke, cancer and infections. Conventional experts disagreed, disparaging supplements in favor of fruits and vegetables.

This book presents a new model, describing the action of vitamin C in health and disease. It demonstrates conclusively that the establishment has misinterpreted the evidence, potentially resulting in epidemic levels of avoidable disease. The dynamic flow model explains the current results and points the way for future experiments.

Vitamin C supplementation could eradicate many diseases. In pharmacological doses, it could cure the major killers of the industrialized world. Failure to test these ideas may condemn countless people to chronic illness and premature death.

Comments:

"In their book "Ascorbate - The Science of Vitamin C", Steve Hickey PhD and Hilary Roberts PhD point out that deficiency of vitamin C is far more widespread than is generally acknowledged by medical doctors and dieticians today. The two scientists, specialized in medical biophysics and nutrition, have challenged the scientific basis of the recommended daily amounts for this vitamin with medical authorities including the NIH - the National Institutes of Health, the IOM - Institute of Medicine and its Food and Nutrition Board charging that the amounts recommended are inadequate and that the science that forms the basis of the recommendations is seriously flawed.

"While vitamin C is a vital nutrient that plays a role in preventing many disease states, some of the major "diseases of civilization" including heart disease and stroke, infectious disease and "the big C" - Cancer - according to the researchers are directly attributable to having too little of it circulating in our veins or saturating our tissues.

"Human bodies are unable to synthesize vitamin C internally and must therefore rely completely on absorbing what comes with foods - not much in this world of fast food and refined, overcooked meals most of us are used to eating. Even supplementation is not very effective if it is not repeated several times during the day, say Hickey and Roberts, because vitamin C has a very short half-life. The amount absorbed is used up quickly, decreasing by 50 per cent every 30 minutes. Along with other factors, it is this short half-life that confounded the scientific studies done to determine the "recommended" dose."

Sepp (Josef) Hasslberger


************************


"...Millions of people could have delayed or avoided health problems such as cataracts, cancer, blood vessel disease, aneurysms, gall stones and more had NIH researchers properly conducted tests to determine the human need for vitamin C....

"....Despite recently published data that stands in stark contrast to the RDA and the claim that mega-dose vitamin C supplementation is of no benefit, public health authorities are not forthcoming about their past mistakes....

"Think time has come to take the medical authorities to task and charge them with negligence. Given that these facts have been known for years yet they continue to use mostly ineffective, toxic and expensive drugs."

Chris Gupta

 

************************


"One widely acclaimed study published in 1992 indicated that vitamin C, in oral doses exceeding 750 milligrams per day, increased the lifespan of males by about 6 years.

"For optimal health, what is overlooked is the half life of vitamin C and the importance of divided doses that Drs. Hickey and Roberts now emphasize in order to achieve steady blood levels. Health minded consumers owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. Hickey and Roberts for breaking ranks among scientists who appear to be frozen in their tracks. Despite recently published data that stands in stark contrast to the RDA and the claim that mega-dose vitamin C supplementation is of no benefit, public health authorities are not forthcoming about their past mistakes. The RDA for vitamin C must be re-evaluated. Mega-dose vitamin C supplementation should no longer be demeaned. Hickey and Roberts have confronted the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institutes of Medicine directly, with little success. Now they are taking the issue to the public in their newly released book. Only the public’s demand for reform is likely to overcome inaction by health authorities. Everyone needs to read Hickey and Roberts’ book."

Bill Sardi

 

************************

"Ascorbate - The Science of Vitamin C" may be ordered by this link:

http://www.thenhf.com/overview_ascorbate_science_of_vitamin_c.htm

 

*****************************************************************


 

 JOIN US NOW

 

If you believe in freedom, particularly health-freedom,

align yourself with dedicated individuals, joined in force,

working to ensure that you have and keep these basic rights.
 

http://www.thenhf.com/join_the_nhf.html

 

************************

 

NATIONAL HEALTH FEDERATION

 

P.O. Box 688


Monrovia, CA 91017

 

************************

 

Main phone:  1-(626) 357-2181

 

Fax:  1-(626) 303-0642

 

e-mail:  contact-us@thenhf.com

 

website:  www.thenhf.com


 

*****************************************************************

 

Cheri Tips - Newsletter Editor

 

Scott Vincent Adams - Webmaster/Layout

 

Maureen Kennedy Salaman

NHF President

 

*****************************************************************

 

 

 Click here to subscribe to this newsletter.

 

Click here to unsubscribe.

 

Please forward this letter to a friend.

  

*****************************************************************

 

  

The NHF respects the privacy of its members/readers and therefore does not trade, share, sell or give away its e-mail list to anyone.

 

 

*****************************************************************

 

NHF newsletter may only be reproduced/copied in its entirety, with appropriate credit given to the National Health Federation, and may not be posted on commercial sites without written permission.

 

Disclaimer: The National Health Federation does not endorse or recommend any commercial products, processes, services, or medical treatments.  The views and opinions expressed in articles do not necessarily state or reflect those of the NHF, and may not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes.

 

Copyright © 2004 National Health Federation.  All Rights Reserved.