Thursday, April 28, 2011

Betrayal of a Nation: Why U.S. health authorities are keeping you vitamin D deficient and who stands to gain Wednesday, April 27, 2011 by: John Cannell MD

 Guest post brought to you by North Idaho Herbal and Wild Mountain Herb Company


 (NaturalNews) Dr. Anne Looker and colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recently made vitamin D legend, Professor Hector DeLuca of University of Wisconsin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hector...), and certain folks at big pharma very happy with her widely-reported analysis of the vitamin D status of Americans. Using definitions of deficiency straight from the November 2010 Food and Nutrition Board (FNB) Vitamin D Report - definitions that no vitamin D scientist I know agrees with, except perhaps Professor DeLuca - Dr. Looker reassured Americans their vitamin D levels were sufficient. Instead of a lower limit of 40, 30, or even 20 ng/ml, Dr. Looker and her CDC colleagues actually said any American with vitamin D levels below 12 ng/ml were "at risk of vitamin D deficiency." That's right, she wouldn't say "deficient" for a person less than 12 ng/ml, all she said is they are "at risk" of being deficient! Why?

Dr. Looker falsely reassured Americans that everything is pretty much OK because around 80% of white Americans have levels higher than 20 ng/ml (although only 30% of African Americans do). I carefully read her entire paper; why didn't I see a "CDC Action Plan for African Americans" for the 70% of Blacks with levels less than 20 ng/ml? Probably for the same reason I didn't see any "FNB action plan for African Americans" in their recent vitamin D report.

Where did Dr. Looker get the idea that 20 ng/ml was OK? From the FNB. Where did the FNB get that idea? Professor Hector DeLuca and the vitamin D analogue scientists, that's where. What I am about to tell you is a failure of a system, not a person. The National Academy is responsible, as scientists to the USA, to see that the processes that occur in its name are fair, above the appearance of impropriety, and free from avoidable conflicts of interest.

I have been to enough vitamin D conferences to know that about half of the scientists who attend these conferences are looking for the new patent that will secure or extend their financial fortune. They do not need America alarmed right now about the fact more than 80% of Americans are actually vitamin D deficient; no, the government might need to do something now, an action that would threaten the value of something that I have just learned about: an imminent river of new vitamin D knockoff commercial patents.

Vitamin D knockoff scientists want the government to say that 20 ng/ml is fine, at least until all the phase 2 and phase 3 FDA trials are finished on their newly patented vitamin D "analogue" drugs. In a few years it won't matter because dozens of knockoff analogues will have been approved for treating vitamin D deficiency, yes prescription-only vitamin D knockoff drugs to treat vitamin D deficiency, instead of vitamin D, I kid you not. After these scientists get their analogues past the FDA, I predict the same scientists will change their tune and start crying for 40 ng/ml as the desirable lower limit, ensuring a vast market for their knockoffs.

The creation of vitamin D knockoff patent prescription-only drugs goes something like this: take the cholecalciferol or 25-hydroxy-cholecalciferol molecule, change its structure enough - without changing its actions - and Ola, you can patent it. It must be structurally different enough from natural cholecalciferol to be a unique drug but it must retain its vitamin D efficacy.

Ergocalciferol (Drisdol) - the only prescription drug available to treat vitamin D deficiency in the USA - is an example of an analogue, although the path to its discovery and its patent was quite different. The patent on ergocalciferol made the University of Wisconsin's Department of Chemistry the richest chemistry department in the world. In some countries, ergocalciferol is still the only vitamin D available. For a detailed discussion of how these patents put the National Academies in a very difficult position, read the following blog: Conflict of Interest at National Academy of Science? (http://pandemicsurvivor.wordpress.c...)

As I write this, I understand additional vitamin D patent applications are being prepared (I actually know of one application by a member of the recent FNB committee member). These analogue scientists need time; the nutrient, vitamin D, needs to take a back seat for a while. Vitamin D was getting too hot, too many good things being said about it, and too many press stories about too many Americans being deficient. The analogue scientists want a big market when they finish with the FDA.

Anyway, after you have your new vitamin D molecule and your patent, you approach the FDA, who will require that you do randomized controlled trials, pitting your new vitamin D analogue drug against . . . what? Vitamin D, right? No: placebo. That's right, placebo. As I understand the process, and I hope I am wrong, the vitamin D knockoffs only have to prove they are better than placebo, which, if they keep their efficacy, will be a cinch.

I even know of a patent application for a drug to treat vitamin D deficiency by inhibiting the 24-hydroxylase (the enzyme that gets rid of vitamin D in the body). If you inhibit the 24-hydroxylase, you will raise 25(OH)D levels and thus treat vitamin D deficiency; this is what big pharma is up to (I kid you not). Can you imagine taking a drug that interferes with a natural enzyme that metabolizes vitamin D in order to increase the amount of vitamin D in your blood, instead of just taking vitamin D? Is this the best that American medicine can do?

Very few people seem to know that the recent FNB committee had an unusual guest, an overseer, an official vitamin D advisor, Professor Hector DeLuca (http://host.madison.com/news/articl...), one of the true giants in the field of vitamin D, both academically and financially. Talk about mother-load analogue patents, he wrote the book. He has created so many activated vitamin D knockoffs that he named one after himself, "Hectorol."

Another fact often gets lost; Dr. DeLuca is the only member of the vitamin D community who is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, an extremely difficult membership to achieve, a shadowy process requiring inside advocates and secret votes. I'm told, but could not confirm by calling the National Academies, that blackballing is still used; if so, one negative vote and, "I'm sorry Dr. Holick," "I'm sorry Dr. Heaney," and "I'm sorry Dr. Norman."

Anyway, Professor DeLuca and his Department of Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin are experts in making knockoff analogue vitamin D drugs. To be fair, his analogues of activated vitamin D have saved thousands of lives, mainly patients with kidney failure, although activated vitamin D itself works in kidney failure. If the new analogues of cholecalciferol and 25-hydroxy-vitamin D effectively treat vitamin D deficiency, they too will save millions of lives. However, there is just a much easier and cost effective way of treating vitamin D deficiency: plain old, cheap old, nutrient old, vitamin D.

As far as the recent FNB report on vitamin D, can you visualize all the scientists on the FNB hard at work, under the watchful eye of their "Special Advisor," National Academy of Sciences member, Professor Hector DeLuca. I would venture a guess that more than one member of the FNB vitamin D panel dreamt about being in the National Academy himself or herself one day. Then they pondered which lower limit to vote for, the 40 ng/ml opined by most vitamin D scientists or the 20 ng/ml opined by "Special Advisor" DeLuca. Let us see, what will get me into the National Academy of Sciences the quickest?

I can't really complain. First, this is America and I suspect the quickest way to treat the massive vitamin D deficiency pandemic is going to be through private industry, like it or not. Second, it is possible one of the vitamin D knockoff drugs will actually work better than vitamin D; "possible" I said. Third, I get royalties on my own brand of vitamin D so I have my own conflicts of interest. Fourth, before you get too high on your horse about Dr. DeLuca, ask yourself how many lives have you saved in your lifetime? He discovered activated vitamin D, trained dozens of the top vitamin D researchers, and saved thousands of lives.

Also, I have no way of knowing how exceptional was the FNB's decision to make secret the critiques of the 12 top vitamin D experts, experts who were asked to review the FNB's work. Does the FNB invoke such secrecy frequently? When did it do so last? Did the final FNB report change, based on the opinions of the 12 vitamin D experts, or did the FNB Board (most who admit to not being vitamin D experts) simply comply with Professor DeLuca's judgment?

If the final FNB report did change, what did the report look like before the vitamin D experts' opinions were weighed? I understand at least one vitamin D expert charged the FNB with racism for its failure to consider the vitamin D plight of African Americans. Is that true? Most members of the Vitamin D Council would like to read all 12 critiques by the 12 top vitamin D experts in the world but - unlike Professor DeLuca or the vitamin D-knockoff pharmaceutical companies - we don't have the money to legally fight the FNB's proclamation that the 12 expert critiques by the top vitamin D experts in the world are - and will remain - secret, beyond the reach of Federal Freedom of Information Laws.



John Cannell MD is founder and Executive Director of the Vitamin D Council
 
Sources for this article include:

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databr...
http://pandemicsurvivor.wordpress.c...
http://host.madison.com/news/articl...

Sunday, January 2, 2011

2010: The Year in Review for Natural Health News

           2010 in review: Here’s what happened in the world of natural health and health freedom

  •   The Alex Jones Channel Alex Jones Show podcast Prison Planet TV Infowars.com Twitter Alex Jones' Facebook Infowars store

Mike Adams
Natural News
Jan 2, 2011
With 2010 officially over, here’s a look at the trends and top stories of the year in the world of natural health and health freedom.Throughout 2010, we learned about all sorts of interesting chemicals being used in the conventional food supply. We learned that window cleaning chemicals are injected into fast food hamburger meat (http://www.naturalnews.com/027872_a…), and we learned that soy protein is extracted using a highly explosive chemical called hexane (http://www.naturalnews.com/026315_M…).
Water fluoridation surfaced as a big issue of 2010, and NaturalNews published an article describing the criminality of fluoridation (http://www.naturalnews.com/028913_f…).
The American Chemistry Council, predictably, insisted that BPA was safe for everyone (http://www.naturalnews.com/027975_A…), even as new evidence emerged that BPA was actually quite dangerous and might promote cancer. Food packaging companies scrambled to release BPA-free products, but the chemical is still found throughout canned soups and many other products.
In travel news, a Carnival Cruise Lines ship was stranded in November due to an engine fire. Left with no food, bathrooms, water or electricity, the cruise passengers were rescued by the U.S. Navy who brought — get this — Spam and Pop-Tarts! (http://www.naturalnews.com/030354_C…)

The truth comes out

The AIDS / HIV documentary House of Numbers came out in 2010, rocking the AIDS industry with intelligent questions that blew holes in conventional AIDS mythology (http://www.naturalnews.com/027890_A…).Vitamin D was huge news in 2010 as a steady stream of new evidence emerged, showing how vitamin D can prevent breast cancer (http://www.naturalnews.com/028119_v…) and other degenerative diseases. In 2010, the world came to realize that vitamin D deficiency is now at pandemic proportions (http://www.naturalnews.com/028357_v…).
We also learned more about the dangers of High Fructose Corn Syrup and how it promotes diabetes (http://www.naturalnews.com/028340_d…). The news about HFCS got so bad that the corn syrup industry announced it was changing the name of the ingredient to “corn sugar” in an effort to fool consumers.
There was some good news on the health freedom front in 2010, as the FDA was defeated in the courts over its attempted censorship of a nutritional supplement (http://www.naturalnews.com/028929_F…).
On the intellectual property side of things, the US Patent Office actually took steps to invalidate corporate patents on human genes (http://www.naturalnews.com/030256_g…). This isn’t a done deal yet, but it’s a hopeful step in the right direction toward ending ridiculous gene patents.
In the “weird news” category, we learned about the giant spinning hexagon on the planet ******, as photographed by NASA spacecraft (http://www.naturalnews.com/028797_S…).
The supply of Rare Earth Elements began to be in trouble in 2010 as we learned that many of the key components in electronics and solar panels are actually derived from filthy mines in China where many of these metals are about to be in critically short supply (http://www.naturalnews.com/028028_r…).
On the superfood news side, 2010 saw the introduction of the Boku Super Food Bar (http://www.naturalnews.com/030340_B…), which is the first superfood bar created by the People (using survey results from NaturalNews readers).

Keeping tabs on the cattle

The TSA took center stage in 2010 for reaching down our pants and making us walk through radiation-emitting microwave body scanners. Esteemed scientists warned that the devices could promote cancer and sperm mutations (http://www.naturalnews.com/030607_n…). In response to the TSA’s outrageous behavior against a now-famous guy who refused to be molested, I released a song called Don’t Touch My Junk which went super-viral across the ‘net (http://www.naturalnews.com/030450_D…).
The psychology of TSA agents was compared to Nazi war criminals (http://www.naturalnews.com/030563_T…).
Sheriffs, meanwhile, announced they wanted a national database of prescription drug users (http://www.naturalnews.com/029736_s…) so they could track people who buy (and presumably sell) too many medications.
Big Sis Janet Napolitano announced that Wal-Mart customers should all spy on each other and report anything “suspicious.” (http://www.naturalnews.com/030648_W…) We launched a suspicious looking Wal-Mart video in response, featuring all the bizarre photos of the “People of Wal-Mart.” (http://www.naturalnews.tv/v.asp?v=5…)

Vaccines

Autism rates continued to climb in 2010, even as mainstream medical authorities insist it isn’t caused by anything. Especially not vaccines. (http://www.naturalnews.com/028310_a…)
Speaking of vaccines, in 2010 we learned that vaccines are causing convulsions and seizures in children (http://www.naturalnews.com/028773_v…). One of the first batches made available in the year caused seizures in children (http://www.naturalnews.com/029334_f…). At one point in the year, the FDA admitted that vaccines had been contaminated with a pig virus, but announced they were still safe (http://www.naturalnews.com/028832_r…). Walgreens announced its flu shot gift card (http://www.naturalnews.com/029511_W…) and began running nationwide propaganda campaigns to promote flu shots which, by the way, automatically contained the swine flu vaccine from last year, too.
Not too long after Walgreens issues its flu shot gift card, Australia banned flu vaccines in children (for that batch, anyway) after they were found to cause vomiting, fevers and seizures, sending numerous children to the hospital (http://www.naturalnews.com/029586_A…). Finland soon banned H1N1 vaccines after finding they caused narcolepsy (http://www.naturalnews.com/029596_v…). Right after this, I released my Vaccine Zombie song (http://www.naturalnews.com/029607_V…) which actually didn’t do too well, as it was released during the vaccination off season when people weren’t paying that much attention to vaccines yet in North America.
In September, we published a story demolishing the quack science behind flu vaccines (http://www.naturalnews.com/029641_v…). The vaccine industry was having a lousy Fall season in 2010, so they tried everything ramp up vaccinations, including opening booths in airports, grocery stores and even offering free vaccine shots at strip clubs! (http://www.naturalnews.com/029962_f…)
The Lancet retracted Dr Wakefield’s famous paper linking vaccines to autism, thereby rewriting medical history in much the same way as the lead character in George Orwell’s 1984 book, where history was always reconstructed to match the political illusions of the current power holders. (http://www.naturalnews.com/028101_T…)
To expose the fraud of the H1N1 swine flu vaccine scheme, I offered a $10,000 reward for proof that the vaccine was safe and effective (http://www.naturalnews.com/027985_H…), but no one took me up on the offer, of course, since such evidence does not exist. (That’s because they never adequately test these vaccines before they start injecting people.)
Ultimately, it turned out that vitamin D worked far better at preventing flu infections than vaccines anyway (http://www.naturalnews.com/029760_v…).
There was a lot of money floating around in the vaccine industry, of course, especially as we learned that World Health Organization advisors were on the take, receiving kickbacks from vaccine manufacturers (http://www.naturalnews.com/028936_W…). In July, Dr Gary Null published a powerful story exposing the quackery and lies of the vaccine industry (http://www.naturalnews.com/029124_f…).

Chemotherapy

One of the more fascinating bits of news from 2010 was the revelation that pharmacists are getting cancer from handling chemotherapy drugs! (http://www.naturalnews.com/029191_s…) Yet they still sell them to others. Interesting, huh?
As part of the chemotherapy push, the LA Times published a story that actually recommended what can only be the most moronic health advice of the year: “Preventive chemotherapy” for those who don’t yet have cancer. (http://www.naturalnews.com/030181_L…)
Chemotherapy was the drug of choice for Michael Douglas, of course (http://www.naturalnews.com/029685_M…). He decided to use it to “treat” his cancer, following in the footsteps of Farrah Fawcett who died from chemotherapy last year. Celebrities just can’t seem to get enough of chemo, and sadly we have to keep reporting on their deaths each year. Former lead singer of the band LFO, Rich Cronin, also passed away from chemo this year (http://www.naturalnews.com/029699_c…).

Disinfo

The Institute of Medicine released new recommendation on vitamin D. It turns out they were designed to keep everybody vitamin D deficient while warning people not to take too much (http://www.naturalnews.com/030598_v…).
Continuing with nutritional disinfo, a nutrition professor claims he lost weight eating Twinkies (http://www.naturalnews.com/030616_j…) but the media stories neglected to mention you can lose weight on chemotherapy, too.
Sesame Street played a big role in the disinfo efforts of the year, introducing new “superfood” muppets. One of them is a block of cheese, and another is a hamburger bun. (http://www.naturalnews.com/030626_m…)
On the psychiatric stage, 2010 saw the industry label healthy eating a “mental disorder” that they dubbed orthorexia nervosa (http://www.naturalnews.com/029098_o…). That’s on top of the similarly concocted Oppositional Defiance Disorder (ODD) which is diagnosed in anyone who questions authority or refuses to get vaccinated.
As part of the Big Pharma push, doctors began urging fast food restaurants to hand out statin drugs like ketchup packets (http://www.naturalnews.com/029467_s…). We posted a video documenting this news, and it received over a quarter million views: http://www.naturalnews.tv/v.asp?v=D…
We also exposed the top health care lies still driving conventional medicine (http://www.naturalnews.com/028623_h…), and we revealed the ridiculous pinkwashing fraud with Komen’s promotion of Kentucky Fried Chicken (http://www.naturalnews.com/028631_K…).
The Food Safety debate was a big deal during the end of 2010 (http://www.naturalnews.com/030461_S…). The bill ultimately passed. It contains language that asks to FDA to “harmonize” the U.S. food supply with Codex Alimentarius (http://www.naturalnews.com/030863_f…). Is also has the FDA setting up food safety enforcement offices in foreign nations.

Big Pharma fraud

Dr. Scott Reuben, an esteemed Big Pharma researcher, was caught faking dozens of studies upon which the medical industry relied to push popular prescription drugs (http://www.naturalnews.com/028194_S…). To this day, Dr Reuben’s research is still quoted in books and medical journals, even though we now know he simply invented all the clinical trial data.
But Dr Reuben wasn’t the end of the pharmaceutical fraud news in 2010. We also learned that virtually all placebo-controlled trials throughout the industry were fraudulent to begin with because there are zero standards for the composition of the placebo pills, and what they’re made of is almost never reported in clinical trials (http://www.naturalnews.com/030209_p…).
We also got news that a doctor recognized by the AMA, published in medical journals and tapped to teach Continuing Medical Education credits was a total fraud, having fooled the medical system for 20 years (http://www.naturalnews.com/030729_W…).
Johnson & Johnson took center stage throughout 2010 with a seeming never-ending stream of product recalls due to all sorts of chemicals and even metal fragments being found in their medicines. They were also caught in a drug profit kickback scheme and were sued by the Justice Department (http://www.naturalnews.com/027994_J…).

Famous people

In 2010, we interviewed Jesse Ventura (http://www.naturalnews.com/028546_J…), Daniel Vitalis (http://www.naturalnews.com/028568_D…), Suzy Cohen (http://www.naturalnews.com/028614_S…), David Wolfe (http://www.naturalnews.com/028839_c…) and many other well-known people.
Former President Bill Clinton announced he was following the “Heart Attack Proof” diet based on juicing and plant-based foods (http://www.naturalnews.com/029816_B…).

Saving the planet from modern “science”

Of course, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill was a significant story in 2010 (http://www.naturalnews.com/028693_G…), and in terms of the pollution of waterways, Big Pharma also emerged in 2010 as a major global polluter (http://www.naturalnews.com/029314_w…).
The GMO stories of 2010 were simply amazing. We learned that the USA was pressuring European countries to stop any GMO labeling of foods (http://www.naturalnews.com/028716_G…), and then later we learned through Wikileaks cables that the United States actually conspired with GMO corporations to push GMOs across Europe while creating a “retaliatory target list” of any who opposed it (http://www.naturalnews.com/030828_G…).
We also learned that the FDA looked eager to approve GMO salmon (http://www.naturalnews.com/029770_s…), but thankfully this decision was slowed by tremendous public outcry.
I launched my “Just Say No to GMO” song in October as part of the GMO Awareness Month activities (http://www.naturalnews.com/030044_N…). The song went super-viral and eventually racked up more than half a million views spanning four languages. Jeffrey Smith from the IRT continues to kick butt exposing the truth about GMOs. In a successful fundraising effort, NaturalNews and its readers raised over $30,000 to help fund the IRT (http://www.naturalnews.com/030407_G…).
The world food supply took major hits during 2010 as freakish weather events caused droughts, floods and freezes that drastically reduced food supply in key areas (http://www.naturalnews.com/027924_f…).

Censorship and Big Government

2010 was a big year of censorship. YouTube censored our interview with Jeffrey Smith about GMOs (http://www.naturalnews.com/028718_Y…) and then later turned the video back on. Alex Jones saw his site removed from the Google News search engine, and YouTube also announced it would drop his entire video channel.
The FTC took part in the censorship, too, going after the POM Wonderful company for telling the truth about the health benefits of its pomegranate juice products (http://www.naturalnews.com/029901_p…).
The Department of Homeland Security began seizing websites in 2010 (http://www.naturalnews.com/030542_c…), claiming (illegal) authority over them. Thanks to Wikileaks, the push is now on for government to try to control the internet.
The raw milk wars were a big news item in 2010, as the FDA and state authorities took aggressive action to criminalize and arrest raw milk producers (http://www.naturalnews.com/028757_r…). Criminal elements of the law enforcement community conducted an armed raid on a raw food co-op in California (http://www.naturalnews.com/030136_R…) called Rawesome Foods. Their crime? They were selling raw milk.
Partly to protect our own video freedom from censorship, we launched NaturalNews.TV which has now grown to the largest natural health video site in the world, with over 10,000 members now uploading videos (and growing daily). Soon popular video stars such as AZ Mike (http://naturalnews.tv/Browse.asp?me…) and Magnus Mulliner (http://naturalnews.tv/Browse.asp?me…) emerged on the site.

Evil experiments

We saw Bill Gates emerge as a global population control zealot, even funding new technology to destroy sperm (http://www.naturalnews.com/028853_u…) and another project to vaccinate people without their knowledge, using covert technology (http://www.naturalnews.com/028887_v…). Later in the year, Gates was actually caught on video calling for a reduction in world population through the use of vaccines (http://www.naturalnews.com/029911_v…).
Meanwhile, the United States was caught red-handed in conducting medical experiments on Guatemalan prisoners (http://www.naturalnews.com/029924_m…). Obama actually had to pick up the phone and apologize for this embarrassing bit of history that shows how governments always use innocents as guinea pigs to test their drugs.

What a year, huh?

In addition to everything mentioned above, 2010 also saw the release of a huge number of studies supporting the healing use of herbs and natural remedies.
Still, 2010 was mostly a year of expanded censorship, attacks on health freedom and expansions of government tyranny.
Fortunately for us all, 2011 – 2012 look to be far more positive in terms of people waking up and contributing to global changes in consciousness that will ultimately end this era of censorship and ignorance (see my upcoming article on 2011 predictions for details).