ANH PRESS RELEASE:
Leading docs retaliate against attack on alternative medicine
(Source: http://www.alliance-natural-health.org/index.cfm?action=news&ID=244)

Discover how leading doctors and scientists in the CAM field, coordinated by the ANH and the British Society for Ecological Medicine, are responding to Professor Baum and colleagues' attack on alternative medicine yesterday.

ANH PRESS RELEASE 24 May 2006
LEADING DOCTORS RETALIATE AGAINST ATTACK ON ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE

Leading doctors and scientists brought together by the Alliance for Natural Health (ANH) and the British Society for Ecological Medicine (BSEM) are coordinating a potent rebuttal to the latest attack against complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) by a high profile faction of the orthodox medical profession.

Professor Michael Baum, Emeritus Professor of Surgery, University College London, and 12 other doctors and scientists published an open letter in The Times newspaper on 23 May which was circulated to all 476 NHS Trusts. The letter amounted to a stinging attack on natural medicine. The authors, including ironically Edzard Ernst, self-styled incorrectly as “the UK’s only professor of complementary medicine”, condemned alternative therapies as "unproven or disproved treatments" and said that their increased adoption by the NHS was displacing patient access to drugs.

The Alliance for Natural Health’s Executive and Scientific Director, Dr Robert Verkerk, said today, “It is unfortunate that Professor Baum and colleagues fail to recognise the wide range of so-called complementary or alternative medicine – or CAM - practices which are clearly scientifically or clinically proven. Judicious adoption of particular therapies into mainstream medicine would help increase the efficiency and safety of medical practice, as well as reduce overall costs. These are inevitably important concerns for the NHS.”

Dr Damien Downing, President of the British Society for Ecological Medicine and ANH’s Medical Director, has drafted a rebuttal to Professor Baum’s letter which has been circulated early this morning to 18 leading professors, doctors and scientists actively engaged with CAM for input and a request for each to act as signatory.

Dr Verkerk appeared on Sky TV News last night to express deep concerns over Professor Baum’s assertions. Responding to him was Professor Mayur Lakhani, Chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners. Professor Lakhani reinforced the fact that CAM was popular with many patients and that some doctors promote and practice it. He argued that it was important to have a balance of benefits between drug-based and complementary therapies and that sometimes life-saving technologies such as pace-makers and cancer drugs could not be supplied to patients in need due to budgetary constraints in the NHS.

During the Sky News interview, Dr Verkerk explained that double-blind, placebo controlled trial designs, regarded in orthodox medicine as the gold standard by which to assess efficacy, were not always applicable to CAM modalities. It is of paramount importance, stressed Dr Verkerk, that the clinical evidence base, which in some cases is thousands of years old, is amply considered.

Verkerk concluded the interview by reminding viewers that orthodox medicine was far from safe and had been shown to be the third leading cause of death in the USA.

END.

CONTACT for further information:
For Dr Damien Downing and Dr Robert Verkerk, please contact:
Meleni AldridgeDevelopment Manager
Alliance for Natural Health
Tel: +44 (0)1306 646 550Mob: +44 (0)7771 750 230
Email: mel@anhcampaign.org

EDITOR’S NOTES

1. Full letter: doctors' campaign against alternative therapies, from Professor Michael Baum and others, Re Use of ‘alternative’ medicine in the NHS:http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2191985,00.html

2. In an interview with the British Medical Journal, Professor Edzard Ernst, signatory to Professor Baum’s letter, said:"Our family doctor in the little village outside Munich where I grew up was a homoeopath. My mother swore by it. As a kid I was treated homoeopathically. So this kind of medicine just came naturally. Even during my studies I pursued other things like massage therapy and acupuncture." The history of non-orthodox medicine in continental Europe is unlike that in the United Kingdom, where the creation of the NHS excluded most of its techniques. In countries like Germany it seems to face much less conflict with science. "As a young doctor I had an appointment in a homoeopathic hospital, and I..."

Source: studentBMJ 2004;12:1-44 February ISSN 0966-6494 (http://www.studentbmj.com/issues/04/01/careers/25.php).

3. The British Society for Ecological Medicine is the professional body for medical doctors, scientists and other healthcare professionals in the areas of allergy, environmental and nutritional medicine. See www.ecomed.org.uk.

4. The Alliance for Natural Health is a key UK-based, international campaign organisation, comprised of doctors, scientists, practitioners, lawyers, innovative companies and consumers, dedicated to protecting and promoting natural healthcare worldwide through the use of ‘good science and good law’. See www.anhcampaign.org.

Also see [PRINCE CHARLES speaking at WHO Conference in Geneva]
Charles defends holistic medicine (Filed: 23/05/2006) : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/05/23/ucharles.xml

FDA Ban on Product Derived from Rice Yeast Signals Massive New Attack Over Intended Use of Dietary Supplements

ASSISTANCE URGENTLY NEEDED TO AWAKEN PUBLIC!

Supplement Consumers World Wide: PLEASE pay VERY close attention to the US FDA's BAN on Cholestin, a dietary supplement derived from Chinese red rice yeast which effectively lowers cholesterol.

Cholestin is manufactured by a company called Pharmanex. Pharmaceutical Giant MERCK has lobbied the FDA arguing that the product is a "drug" because it contains a naturally occurring substance that is similar to, but distinct from the drug lovastatin (which is marketed by Merck as "Mevacor.") (In addition to the substance which is similar to lovastatin, the red rice yeast also contains nine other active ingredients which undoubtedly make it synergistically much SAFER than Mevacor.)

Long time foe of the dietary supplement industry Bruce Silverglade of so called "Center for Science in the Public Interest" (an inside the beltway shill group for pharmaceutical interests) was quoted in the May 21st Washington Post as saying "What this case stands for is the proposition that just because a substance occurs naturally in the food supply doesn't necessarily make it a dietary supplement." "The distinction is important" says Silverglade. "Products like lovastatin treat dangerous conditions that should be monitored by medical professionals" says Silverglade. (When Silverglade makes THIS kind of statement, we had BETTER be ON GUARD! This guy has a LONG history of attacking dietary supplements as a stooge for the FDA, and he is ALWAYS widely quoted by the mass media. I've been battling Silverglade and so called "Center for Science in the Public Interest" since 1989, and have always thought they had a particularly Orwellian name.)

Bill McGlashon, president of Pharmanex told the Washington Times that the FDA is doing the bidding of the pharmaceutical industry, and in particular lovastatin maker Merck, which has been asking the FDA to take action. "The reason this whole thing began is because of Merck. Its REAL CLEAR what this is about," McGlashan said.

Pharmanex, makers of Cholestin is contesting FDA's action, and a hearing is scheduled for sometime this month (June) in Utah. I will be monitoring this VERY closely, and need YOUR help to do so.

FDA isn't requiring Pharmanex to remove the product from store shelves, but they have banned ADVERTISING for the product and are currently BARRING FUTURE IMPORTS OF THE CHINESE RED RICE YEAST EXTRACT because it competes with the sale of MEVACOR. Not even the FDA disputes the fact that Cholestin is safe, or that it effectively reduces cholesterol (!!) FDA's action against Cholestin occurred on May 20, and was announced the next day in the Washington Post, New York Times, and other papers. FDA is using cholestin as a test case in a campaign to attack ALL dietary supplements based on intended use!! If they beat Pharmanex in court, what will be NEXT???

Read full post: http://www.iahf.com/usa/fda.html

Great On-Line Book

The Vitamin Foundation
Free E-Book

The Healing Factor
Vitamin C Against Disease

By Irwin Stone

An exerpt from Chapter 22

"A criticism that has been leveled against supplying to humans the daily amounts of ascorbic acid which are normally produced in other mammals is that its acidifying effect on the urine might increase the incidence of stone formation. The formation of stones in the urinary tract is a very complex subject and intensive and large-scale research should be conducted to resolve this important question.

Abundant archaeological evidence indicates that the stone formation is among the oldest afflictions of man. It is common today in all parts of the world and in some areas of the world the incidence is so high that they are known as "stone belts." In the 1964 pater, containing a bibliography of 104 references, Gershoff (3) states, "Urinary calculi vary so much in form, occurrence, and composition that it is unlikely that a single mechanism is responsible for their production." The composition depends on whether it is a kidney stone or a bladder stone and in what part of the world the individual lives."

http://vitamincfoundation.org/stone/

Ascorbic Acid Picture Source

A minicar for future urbanites

Last modified: April 25, 2006, 12:08 PM PDT

By Michael Kanellos Staff Writer, CNET News.com

A three-wheeled vehicle produced by a group of European universities seeks to combine some of the best elements of a Mini Cooper, a motorcycle and a camp stove.

The Clever (compact low-emission vehicle for urban transport) is a three-wheeler designed for city driving. Like a micro-car, it is small--measuring only a meter wide, or close to 3 feet, narrower than regular cars--so it can fit into tight parking spots. Ultimately, the car may allow city designers to build narrower roads or better disperse traffic congestion.

Despite the small size, the designers have tried not to sacrifice that car feel, something the researchers said other similar prototype cars lacked. The roof provides about the same level of headroom as a standard car, and the frame has been strengthened to give more protection against accidents. It can carry two passengers and go from zero to 40 miles per hour in about seven seconds.

Read More HERE