Posts Tagged ‘cancer’

‘Medical Industrial Complex’ (the book) asks why doctors downplay the cancer-diet connection

Posted: November 22, 2016 in Medical Industrial Complex
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The link between diet and health is well proven and, more importantly, widely acknowledged by doctors, for ailments such as diabetes and heart disease, but are roundly ignored by them in treating other human conditions – cancer being one of those. We address this in our book Medical Industrial Complex, and we ask why mainstream (Western) medicine seems to go out of its way to discourage cancer patients from making too much of the cancer-diet connection.

 

Image result for cancer diets

 

Further to our blog of October 28, here’s another excerpt from Medical Industrial Complex:

The good health site HoneyColony.com  neatly addresses this in an article quoting Dr. Carolyn Dean, a medical advisory board member of the nonprofit Nutritional Magnesium Association. She says, “There are many reasons why diet is not stressed in cancer treatment” and “Most of them stem from the fact that medicine does not put any emphasis on nutrition in medical school…In about 3,500 hours of typical medical school training, maybe one, two, or three hours’ worth of classes are devoted to basic nutrition”.

So now it’s only three hours of basic nutrition at most…in a five-year course! Lordy.

The cancer-diet connection is also examined by the BBC online in an article dated May 19, 2013. Presenter Sheila Dillon, herself a cancer patient, observes, “Thousands of scientific papers have been published on the link between diet and the treatment and prevention of cancer, but in practice food is still considered a marginal aspect of cancer care”.

Ms Dillon continues, “Research confirmed that in most cancer centres in the UK, diet is still seen as almost meaningless in cancer treatment and aftercare. Yet there is good science available on the subject, though not a lot of it is what medics call ‘gold standard’ science.

“There are almost no double-blinded, large scale, studies done on people because they are expensive, very hard to do and there is no financial incentive. Who would make serious profit out of the discovery that mushrooms kill cancer cells?

“Most of the research has been done on cancer cells in the laboratory or on animals. What the best of it shows is interesting implications in a range of foods.

“One of the best-researched foods (in the US and Ireland) is the spice turmeric. Curcumin is a chemical compound found in the root of turmeric, which has a general anti-inflammatory effect and quite specific effects on several forms of cancer, including mine,” she says.

“Research has also been conducted on berries containing ellagic acid, which seems to curb cancer cells’ ability to grow their own blood supply, mushrooms (the polysaccharides), green tea, as well as the cabbage and onion families.

Ms Dillon concludes, “From my experience as a cancer patient I think many people fear that they are being ungrateful for the medical care they have had by bringing up issues such as diet”.

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“First the doctor told me the good news: I was going to have a disease named after me.” –Steve Martin

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Still in the UK, if a report published by the British Psychological Society is correct, “too many people with eating disorders are being dismissed by doctors as simply having peculiar habits with food”.

The report, dated February 25, 2014, is based on the findings of Cosmopolitan UK  magazine and the charity Beat which warned that “around 1.6 million people currently have an eating disorder in Britain, half of whom have being diagnosed with an EDNOS (eating disorder not otherwise specified) that is separate from anorexia or bulimia”.

The article continues, “However, many of these patients could be left waiting up to two years for treatment in the form of cognitive behavioural therapy because GPs do not view their symptoms as sufficiently serious to warrant urgent investigation”.

By now it should be clear there’s a serious disconnect between (most) doctors and the role of nutrition in their patients’ health. Whether you blame those who set the already crowded curricula at medical schools or whether you blame the tunnel vision mainstream medicine has regarding diet, the fact remains there’s a problem. And in many independent medical researchers’ eyes it’s a big problemo.

TBC

 

MEDICAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX: The $ickness Industry, Big Pharma and Suppressed Cures  is Book #3 in The Underground Knowledge Series  and is available exclusively via Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/MEDICAL-INDUSTRIAL-COMPLEX-Suppressed-Underground-ebook/dp/B00Y8Y3TUM/

 

MEDICAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX: The $ickness Industry, Big Pharma and Suppressed Cures (The Underground Knowledge Series Book 3)

 

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Cancer remains the big killer, but what’s being done about it? (Part 4)

Posted: December 13, 2015 in Medical Industrial Complex
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In MEDICAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX: The $ickness Industry, Big Pharma and Suppressed Cures, we highlight alternative cancer treatments, but we also warn readers that the natural health sector has attracted its share of quacks, too, so all claims of cures should be treated with a degree of skepticism until proven.

 

 

Following on from our recent (November 27) post on this subject, here’s another excerpt from a chapter titled “Finding (hiding) a cure for cancer” lifted from Medical Industrial Complex:

However, automatically riding roughshod over claims of natural cures, especially where those claims are supported by glowing and apparently bona-fide testimonials, is no more the answer than gullibly believing them all.

There are those who may argue that Big Pharma could also make money out of cures for cancer and that it would be a lot easier than suppressing cures. To counter that, many independent medical researchers say long-term or ongoing cancer treatments, like chemotherapy, would be far more profitable than delivering single-visit cures. It has been estimated that the average cancer patient spends tens of thousands of dollars on standard treatments with some even spending hundreds of thousands.

To quote the natural health website Mercola.com once more, “There is so much you can do to lower your risk for cancer”.

The site lists its “12 top cancer prevention strategies”. These include:

  • Food preparation – “Eat at least one-third of your food raw.”
  • Carbohydrates and sugar – “Reduce or eliminate processed foods, sugar/fructose and grain-based foods.”
  • Protein and fat – “Consider reducing your protein levels to one gram per kilogram of lean body weight.”
  • GMOs – “Avoid genetically engineered foods.”
  • Animal-based Omega-3 fats – “Normalize your ratio of Omega-3 to Omega-6 fats by taking a high-quality krill oil.”
  • Natural probiotics – “Optimize your gut flora…add naturally fermented food to your diet.”
  • Exercise – “Make regular exercise a priority…lowers insulin levels.”
  • Vitamin D – “Decrease your risk of cancer by more than half simply by optimizing your vitamin D levels with appropriate sun exposure.”
  • Sleep – “Make sure you are getting enough restorative sleep.”
  • Exposure to toxins – “Reduce your exposure to environmental toxins.”
  • Exposure to radiation – “Limit your exposure and protect yourself from radiation produced by cell phones, towers, base stations, and Wi-Fi stations.”
  • Stress management – “Stress from all causes is a major contributor to disease.”

If you have cancer or know anyone who has been diagnosed with the disease, Massimo Mazzucco’s 2010 documentary film Cancer: The Forbidden Cures is a good starting place for those searching for natural cures.

Of course, always consult with your doctor first. (And in case you’re wondering, this is a disclaimer we had to include for legal reasons).

Again, Big Pharma’s repeat customers are sick people. From a financial perspective, cured people are of little use.

As the cancer industry alone is a multi-trillion dollar industry for Big Pharma, it seems believable that if any cure was to be suppressed for financial gain it would be a cancer cure.

 

Medical Industrial Complex  is available exclusively on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/MEDICAL-INDUSTRIAL-COMPLEX-Suppressed-Underground-ebook/dp/B00Y8Y3TUM/

 

MEDICAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX: The $ickness Industry, Big Pharma and Suppressed Cures (The Underground Knowledge Series Book 3)

 

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Cancer remains the big killer, but what’s being done about it? (Part 3)

Posted: November 27, 2015 in Medical Industrial Complex
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In MEDICAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX: The $ickness Industry, Big Pharma and Suppressed Cures, we focus on alternative methods for treating cancer – natural healing methods which do not involve mainstream medicine’s patented (and highly profitable) chemo and radiation therapies.

 

 

Following on from our recent (November 15) post on this subject, here’s another excerpt from a chapter titled “Finding (hiding) a cure for cancer” lifted from Medical Industrial Complex:

One who believes olive leaf extract can fight or even prevent cancer is a UK gentleman who is a member of our ‘Underground Knowledge’ discussion group on Goodreads.com. He speaks from some experience as he claims he battled back to full fitness after being hospitalized for four months with a rare condition. He’s convinced his recovery was down to olive leaf extract, which he took in conjunction with hemp oil and Vitamin D.

Our own investigation into the merits of using olive leaf extract to combat cancer proved productive. Among the many papers published on the subject, a report by health writer Danica Collins on the UndergroundHealthReporter.com site claims that “The phytochemical known as oleuropein found in olive leaf extract has been shown to eliminate cancer tumors in 9 to 12 days”.

Collins says, “It’s no wonder that people who live in the Mediterranean area — who consume 20 times more olive oil than Americans — have half the incidences of cancer than the U.S. Both the olive leaf and olive fruit have active polyphenol properties, but in the processing of the fruit and oil, many are removed.

“Even so, olive oil contains enough polyphenols that deliver many healthful benefits. It is the olive leaf, however, that is prized for its anti-tumor, anti-microbial and anti-viral properties. And it’s not just cancer that olive leaf extract has been shown to treat successfully”.

She concludes, “Clinical tests conducted by the New York University School of Medicine showed that olive leaf extract is able to change the pathways of HIV-type infections as well, and may even reverse these conditions”.

Collins also refers to a book titled Olive Leaf Extract, by Dr. Morton Walker who, she says, recommends using olive leaf extract for its miraculous effects on more than 125 infectious and chronic diseases. (We couldn’t obtain a copy of this book before our own book went to press, but it sounds interesting).

The health benefits of olive leaf extract are also extoled in an article published by Fox News on January 23, 2013. It confirms that “Olive leaf is an especially good source of the anti-cancer compounds apigenin and luteolin, and is a source of the anti-malarial agent cinchonine. And oleuropein has also shown protective capabilities against breast cancer”.

The article continues, “Olive leaf extract also acts as an anti-inflammatory. Like oxidation, inflammation is a key factor in chronic and degenerative diseases. Animal studies additionally suggest that olive leaf extract may protect against nerve damage, and may be of value in cases of stroke”.

The popular science-based natural health advocacy organization Natural News, led by activist-turned-scientist Mike Adams, lists on its website “The top seven natural cures for cancer that got buried by the FDA, AMA, CDC.” Detailed case studies supporting each “cure” are included in an article dated October 24, 2013 on the organization’s NaturalNews.com site.

One of the above-mentioned case studies in particular is worth highlighting. It involves the alleged payoff of a cancer researcher to cease work on natural cures and retire in Mexico.

According to the article, the researcher, one Raymond Rife, “discovered the most promising cure for curing ‘hopeless’ cancer cases.” He also designed and developed cutting edge microscopes and helium plasma lamps to support his research.

No surprises Rife was resented by Big Pharma and Western medicine elitists in the medical community.

The article outlines a timeline showing Rife’s demise as follows:

“The AMA (American Medical Association) visits all doctors involved with Rife warning them: ‘Those who don’t stop using the Frequency Instruments lose their medical license.’ Doctors immediately turn in their Rife Machines for fear of indictment”. And (the following year) “the AMA pays (Rife’s associate Dr. Arthur) Kendall over $200,000 to stop working on cancer cures and retire in Mexico”.

Dr. Kendall, incidentally, reportedly died of “unknown causes” five years later, and two years after that, according to the same article, Rife “turns to alcohol, eventually needing rehabilitation”.

The list of other supposed cancer cures said to have been suppressed is long enough to fill a whole book. These range from Cannabidiol, the little-known medical compound found in Marijuana, to a treatment that involves ingesting nothing other than regular household baking soda.

In 2009 Hollywood celebrity and cancer survivor Suzanne Somers wrote about natural cancer cures in her book Knockout: Interviews with Doctors Who Are Curing Cancer and How To Prevent Getting it in the First Place.

The synopsis for the book mentions that “Somers interviews doctors who are successfully using the most innovative cancer treatments—treatments that build up the body rather than tear it down.”

Knockout also outlines an array of effective, alternative treatment options from doctors all over the United States. Treatments that do not involve chemotherapy or radiation and which primarily focus on building up the immune system.

The book’s synopsis also mentions the “stunning testimonials from inspirational survivors using alternative treatments”.

In a 2010 interview she gave on News Max TV, Somers spoke about her personal experience beating cancer and the wider research she conducted on alternative cures while writing Knockout.

“I would talk to these (alternative) doctors, interview them, and I would say to each of them ‘it’s all well and good for you to tell me this, but I need to talk to your patients’. They opened up their patients to me. I talked to Stage Four lung cancer, liver cancer, ovarian cancer, cervical cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, brain tumors – all these people living these normal, healthy lives having not been degraded by harsh chemicals. And I realized that there is another way that none of us know about.”

The other way, of course, includes alternative, natural healing methods which do not involve the Medical Industrial Complex’s patented (and highly profitable) chemo and radiation therapies.

TBC

 

Medical Industrial Complex  is available exclusively on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/MEDICAL-INDUSTRIAL-COMPLEX-Suppressed-Underground-ebook/dp/B00Y8Y3TUM/

 

MEDICAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX: The $ickness Industry, Big Pharma and Suppressed Cures (The Underground Knowledge Series Book 3)

 

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Cancer remains the big killer, but what’s being done about it? (Part 2)

Posted: November 15, 2015 in Medical Industrial Complex
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In our book MEDICAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX: The $ickness Industry, Big Pharma and Suppressed Cures, we emphasise that mainstream medicine should not be so quick to dismiss claims of alternative treatments and cures for cancer.

Following on from our recent (November 4) post on this emotional subject, here’s another excerpt from a chapter titled “Finding (hiding) a cure for cancer” lifted from Medical Industrial Complex:

The American Cancer Society is even more conservative in its stance on alternative cancer treatments. AMC’s website states that complementary or alternative cancer therapies are harder to evaluate than mainstream treatment.

Image result for american cancer society logo

AMC states, “One big concern is that, with alternative treatments, the delay in mainstream treatment can allow the cancer to grow and spread to other parts of the body. Another is that some complementary and alternative therapies have been reported to cause serious problems or even deaths. Even so, most of these problems are not reported to the FDA by the patient or family, so no one else hears about them.

“We do know that certain vitamins and minerals can increase the risk of cancer or other illnesses, especially if too much is taken. But when it happens to one person, it is very easy to miss any link between the illness and the supplement. Large groups of people must be studied to find out about a small increase in risk”.

The AMC report continues, “There are those who think that treatments derived from folk remedies that have been used for thousands of years must work…just because a treatment method has been used a long time does not mean that it works…

“When scientific studies are not done, it is hard to tell what is caused by the illness and what is caused by the treatment. Herbal treatments that are given for illnesses that go away on their own may be given credit for curing the person. Or the treatment might make the person feel better for a short time but have no effect in the long run”.

All good points, but it doesn’t remotely change the cold, hard fact that cancer patients working within the mainstream medical system continue to succumb to the deadly disease in frightening and ever-increasing numbers. Or that no cure for cancer appears to be on the horizon within mainstream Western medicine.

What follows is a sample of alternative cancer cure theories we’ve unearthed as a result of conducting our own research.

In the 1920’s, Canadian nurse Rene Caisse developed a natural concoction of herbs called Essiac. Nurse Caisse claimed it could cure cancer and she garnered many testimonials from satisfied patients said to be cancer-free after taking the product. Laboratory tests did not confirm Essiac offered any benefits whatsoever, but conspiracy theorists argue the lab tests were rigged and that Big Pharma flexed its muscle to shut Caisse down.

Rene Caisse

Nurse Rene Caisse…shut down.

In the 1940’s, German-born American physician Max Gerson (1881-1959) developed a nutrition-based cancer treatment called Gerson Therapy.

After repeatedly claiming his therapy cured cancer, Doctor Gerson had his medical license suspended and he died while still under suspension. Although now a maligned and mostly forgotten cancer treatment in America, it remains popular in Mexico where there are Gerson clinics in operation, treating local and foreign cancer patients.

In the 1950’s, American coal miner Harry Hoxsey promoted his family’s century-old herbal recipe, which he touted as a cancer cure. He set up clinics in 17 states around America before all were closed down by the FDA. Hoxsey made a rare documentary film in 1957 called You Don’t Have to Die, which detailed his cure and covered the patients he treated with it. There’s a more recent documentary titled Hoxsey: How Healing Becomes a Crime, which chronicles his battles with what the docomakers refer to as organized medicine.

In the 1980’s, Italian medical doctor, chemist and pharmacologist Luigi di Bella (1912-2003) claimed to have developed a cure for cancer known as Di Bella Therapy. The formula was a combination of vitamins, drugs and hormones.

Luigi di Bella at work.

The American Cancer Society says on its website that numerous studies showed Di Bella Therapy “may have had a negative effect compared to the outcome for similar patients receiving standard treatment”. However, there are some alternative medical researchers who believe Di Bella therapy was a legitimate cancer cure that was permanently quashed by the medical establishment.

Despite the extremely negative press garnered in Italy and the rest of the world there are, or were, cancer patients who swore by Di Bella Therapy and gave testimonials. For example, on the website BeatingCancerCenter.org  is the following statement: “For about three years, the patient has been following the Di Bella therapy without side effects, improving the quality of life and going back to work.”

Luigi di Bella himself consistently stated that pharmaceutical companies were conspiring against him.

T.B.C.

Medical Industrial Complex  is available exclusively on Amazon. To check it out go to: http://www.amazon.com/MEDICAL-INDUSTRIAL-COMPLEX-Suppressed-Underground-ebook/dp/B00Y8Y3TUM/

MEDICAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX: The $ickness Industry, Big Pharma and Suppressed Cures (The Underground Knowledge Series Book 3)

 

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Cancer remains the big killer, but what’s being done about it? (Part 1)

Posted: November 4, 2015 in Medical Industrial Complex
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It’s common knowledge that cancer, along with cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and chronic lung diseases, is one of the biggest natural killers. Nearly two million Americans are diagnosed with cancer annually, according to some estimates, and as many as 20,000 cancer patients are reportedly dying worldwide every day.

In a chapter titled “Finding (hiding) a cure for cancer,” we address this killer disease in our book MEDICAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX: The $ickness Industry, Big Pharma and Suppressed Cures, and we look at what mainstream medicine is doing about it and, more importantly, what alternative treatments are available.

An excerpt from the book follows:

According to Mercola.com, which promotes itself as the world’s No.1 natural health site, “One person out of three will be hit with a cancer diagnosis at some time in their lives.” Subscribers are urged to understand that cancer is big business.

In an article dated August 3, 2013, Mercola.com states, “The cancer industry is spending virtually nothing of its multi-billion dollar resources on effective prevention strategies, such as dietary guidelines, exercise and obesity education. Instead, it pours its money into treating cancer, not preventing or curing it. Why would they shoot their cash cow? If they can keep the well-oiled Cancer Machine running, they will continue to make massive profits on chemotherapy drugs, radiotherapy, diagnostic procedures and surgeries.

“The typical cancer patient spends $50,000 fighting the disease. Chemotherapy drugs are among the most expensive of all treatments, many ranging from $3,000 to $7,000 for a one-month supply”.

The article concludes, “In spite of the enormous amounts of money funneled into cancer research today, two out of three cancer patients will be dead within five years after receiving all or part of the standard cancer treatment trinity—surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy.”

There’s no doubt, in the last few decades hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent internationally on cancer research. In the US alone, since President Nixon launched his ‘War on Cancer’ program in 1971, tens of billions in government funding have been granted to cancer researchers.

And when a cancer cure is finally found it will save millions of lives and will be the medical discovery of the era.

However, there are theories out there which suggest there has already been a cure, or many cures, discovered for cancer. These popular theories suggest the Medical Industrial Complex have a huge financial incentive to suppress cures so they can continue to provide their own costly treatments for cancer patients.

If true, that would be a callous and unforgiveable business model, unnecessarily costing countless lives.

Of course, many if not most known (proclaimed) alternative cancer treatments are noticeably lacking in suitable testing methodology and well conducted clinical trials, and test results often haven’t demonstrated significant efficacy; nor have results been published, or published in appropriate publications at least.

According to Wikipedia, “A 2006 systematic review of 214 articles covering 198 clinical trials of alternative cancer treatments concluded that almost none conducted dose-ranging studies, which are necessary to ensure that the patients are being given a useful amount of the treatment. These kinds of treatments appear and vanish frequently, and have throughout history”.

The medical establishment has identified and branded as ineffective numerous alternative therapies to treat and prevent cancer. These include: homeopathy, naturopathy, herbalism, holistic medicine and aromatherapy.

Similarly, many other treatments have been put down by the establishment. To name but a few, these include light therapy and other energy-based treatments, fasting and other diet-based treatments, cannabis and other plant-based treatments, colon cleansing and other physical procedures, and faith healing and other such spiritual measures.

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“The cancer industry world wide is estimated at a 200 billion dollar a year industry. There are many in various associated positions within that industry who would be without a job if that cash flow dried up suddenly with the news that there are cheaper, less harmful, and more efficacious remedies available. Big Pharmacy would virtually vanish.” –Paul Fassa. Article excerpt from Natural News, September 24, 2009.

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There’s no disputing that the alternative (cancer treatment) route is littered with examples of pseudo-science, snake oil salesmen, bogus cures and failures; nor is there any disputing that in recent decades medical science has made major inroads into treating and removing cancers. You only need to look at the advances made in chemotherapy and radiation therapy, and the refinement of surgical techniques, to understand that.

However, officially at least, a cure for cancer still eludes Mankind and cancer sufferers continue to die by the millions every year.

For that reason alone, mainstream medicine should not be so quick to dismiss claims of alternative treatments and cures. After all, there are many case studies that support the theory that there has already been a cure, or many cures, discovered for cancer.

Even that respected American non-profit medical practice and research group the Mayo Clinic pays lip service at least to alternative cancer treatments. On its website, beneath the warning “Many alternative cancer treatments are unproved and some may even be dangerous,” the clinic lists “10 alternative cancer treatments that are generally safe” and “have shown some promise in helping people with cancer”.

Those alternative treatments (with the Mayo Clinic’s abbreviated comments added) include:

  • Acupuncture – “May be helpful in relieving nausea caused by chemotherapy.”
  • Aromatherapy – “May be helpful in relieving nausea, pain and stress.”
  • Exercise – “May help people with cancer live longer and improve…quality of life.”
  • Hypnotherapy – “May be helpful for people…who are experiencing anxiety, pain and stress.”
  • Massage – “Can be helpful in relieving pain.”
  • Meditation – “May help…by relieving anxiety and stress.”
  • Music therapy – “May help relieve pain and control nausea and vomiting.”
  • Relaxation techniques – “May be helpful in relieving anxiety and fatigue.”
  • Tai chi – “May help relieve stress.”
  • Yoga – “May provide some stress relief…improve sleep and reduce fatigue.”

Hardly earth-shattering stuff. However, it’s a concession at least that there is a place within mainstream medicine – no matter how small – for alternative treatments in combating cancer.

TBC…

 

Medical Industrial Complex  is available exclusively on Amazon. To check it out go to: http://www.amazon.com/MEDICAL-INDUSTRIAL-COMPLEX-Suppressed-Underground-ebook/dp/B00Y8Y3TUM/

MEDICAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX: The $ickness Industry, Big Pharma and Suppressed Cures (The Underground Knowledge Series Book 3)

 

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Natural medicine versus the synthesized, patented alternatives peddled by Big Pharma

Posted: October 8, 2015 in Medical Industrial Complex
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How many plants are being unnecessarily synthesized and sold over the counter as wonder drugs to an unsuspecting public? We ask that question in our book MEDICAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX: The $ickness Industry, Big Pharma and Suppressed Cures.

MEDICAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX: The $ickness Industry, Big Pharma and Suppressed Cures (The Underground Knowledge Series Book 3)

The basis of many a drug or medicine, of course, is a plant or plants. These plants range from herbs, flowers, roots and leaves to common and uncommon weeds.

According to one (unconfirmed) source, there are 120 or more important drugs currently in use that have been sourced from plants. These drugs include the likes of morphine, camphor, papain, hesperidin, quinine, codein, ephedrine, strychnine and thymol.

The plant chemical quinine is another example of a plant that has been synthesized by lab technicians; the resulting chemical drug is used to treat malaria – just as the natural extract from the bark of the tree it originally came from was once used.

The following excerpt from Medical Industrial Complex addresses this very issue:

Remember, the pharmaceutical companies cannot patent anything that occurs organically in nature. So there’s no incentive for them to harvest, develop and sell herbs, leaves or any other plants. Far more profitable to synthesize or copy those plants, patent the resulting drugs and medicines, and then sell them.

What if those patented drugs and medicines are less effective in the treatment of diseases and illnesses than the actual plants they are derived from? Think of the cost-savings – not to mention the health benefits to be gained by ingesting or applying natural substances as opposed to toxic chemicals.

Has that occurred to anyone else?

It occurred to us during our research for this book when someone very close to us – let’s call him Mr X – sought treatment for the very common solar keratosis, or sunspots, at a local skin clinic. Mr X was attracted by the clinic’s advertised use of a new drug, Picato, which is an extract of milkweed – also known as radium weed and cancer weed.

Said to work considerably faster than other topical medications, dosing is completed in just two to three days (compared to two to four weeks for competitive products). As you can imagine, the skin’s reaction to such a powerful medication is quite dramatic. Users suffer drastic reddening of the skin and often painful blisters.

Turns out the Picato treatment is very expensive – and quite toxic. Like the better known and more widely used Efudex treatment (for sunspots), Picato is potentially harmful to the liver and therefore the recommended dosage per treatment is wisely limited.

The logic put forward by the skin specialists concerned is the alternative (to Picato or Efudex) could be fatal. They refer of course to deadly melanoma or skin cancer.

That logic’s hard to argue with. But Mr X wondered why he couldn’t simply use milkweed to treat his sunspots. So he did some research.

Turns out milkweed in its natural form is very effective for treating sunspots and potential skin cancers. Users simply break the stem of the plant and apply the milky sap to the skin.

Of course, plants can be toxic, too, and milkweed’s no exception – depending on the variety. For starters, like Picato and Efudex, it must not come into contact with the eyes.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) warns that “Milkweed may be toxic when taken internally.” On its website, USDA reports that Native Americans used milkweed as a food source, and several tribes used the sap to remove warts, for ringworm, and for bee stings.

However, it was a Daily Mail article that clinched it for Mr X. Dated January 26, 2011, the article quotes scientists who claimed that the sap from milkweed “can ‘kill’ certain types of cancer cells” and that “it works on non-melanoma skin cancers”.

The article states, “For the first time a team of scientists in Australia has carried out a clinical study of sap from Euphorbia peplus (milkweed), which is related to Euphorbia plants grown in gardens in the UK…The study of 36 patients with a total of 48 non-melanoma lesions” found that “After only one month 41 of 48 cancers had completely gone”.

Mr X now treats his sunspots with milkweed, which he grows in his garden. Last we heard he’s still alive and well!

That said, the Mr X case study was hardly scientific and therefore should not be used as a blueprint for managing the treatment of sunspots should you have any. As always, our advice must be: Consult your doctor first.

However, it does illustrate the point we were trying to make – that we suspect there are plants, vitamins (à la Vitamin C) and minerals out there that are safer, more effective and a whole heap cheaper than the toxic, synthesized alternatives being developed and marketed by the pharmaceutical companies.

If we are even half right then we’d suggest that would mean natural medicine and alternative treatments are worth exploring, right?

 

You have been reading an excerpt from Medical Industrial Complex. The book is available via Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/MEDICAL-INDUSTRIAL-COMPLEX-Suppressed-Underground-ebook/dp/B00Y8Y3TUM/

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Taking on Big C with Vitamin C

Posted: September 28, 2015 in Medical Industrial Complex
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It seems mainstream medicine won’t accept that high doses of Vitamin C may be an effective anticancer agent – this despite the fact that there have been some incredible success stories of late. We explore this in our book MEDICAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX: The $ickness Industry, Big Pharma and Suppressed Cures.

MEDICAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX: The $ickness Industry, Big Pharma and Suppressed Cures (The Underground Knowledge Series Book 3)

The following excerpt from Medical Industrial Complex  includes a couple of examples, which, to our eyes at least, warrant the medical authorities taking a closer look at the use of Vitamin C to combat cancer:

On October 12, 2014, Television New Zealand’s ‘Sunday’ current affairs program advised viewers that ground breaking research at Otago University had revealed Vitamin C may be a useful tool in cancer treatment.

The report states, “Professor Margreet Vissers has told the Sunday Programme Vitamin C is unlikely to provide a miracle cure. However it could be used alongside other therapies. ‘We think Vitamin C is potentially another tool in the toolbox of anti-cancer treatments.’

“Lab tests at Otago showed tumours with higher levels of Vitamin C were less aggressive and slower to grow than ones with lower levels of the vitamin. A number of doctors around the country have been running centres which offer the treatment to patients as an alternative or a complement to chemotherapy and radio therapy. They are using high level doses of Vitamin C by intravenous infusion to attack the tumours”.

Vissers also says, “What we want to find out…is if we increase the amount of Vitamin C is that going to slow the tumour growth as well? We suspect it will”.

On May 6, 2014, under the heading ‘Taking on Big C with Vitamin C,’ the New Zealand newspaper The Northern Advocate reported on the incredible case of policeman Anton Kuraia, a family man and cancer patient “who was given only weeks to live” after unsuccessful chemotherapy.

The article reads, “The medical experts described it as ‘wall to wall’ cancer and after two months of intensive chemotherapy there was little improvement. Anton Kuraia was sent home from hospital with weeks to live and told he would slip into a coma and die.

“The 43-year-old Whangarei policeman and father of three was left shattered and broken. ‘I remember asking my oncology doctor if there was anything I could do, anything at all. But it was made clear that there were no other options and that certain death would be upon me’.”

The article continues, “Anton got on the internet and googled vitamin C”.

Anton is quoted as saying, “I naturally looked into high dose vitamin C, therapies and supplements on the other side of the pharmaceutical fence. Why is it that we call everything that isn’t conventional medicine ‘alternative’? When you reflect on the simple methodology of alternatives you soon discover that the term ‘naturals’ is a clearer description. Naturals support, detoxify and gently encourage the body to create an environment in which cancer struggles to survive.”

Apparently, Anton’s diet was given a major overhaul, with sugar being a definite no-go food.

“Fresh vegetable and fruit smoothies became the order of the day as he followed a blood type diet. The high dose liquid form of vitamin C is 90g of clear liquid taken intravenously to bypass the gut…The sessions cost $200 each.

“After 10 weeks of healthy eating and infusions – two weeks longer than experts had predicted he would live – Anton was feeling better and agreed to have a bone marrow biopsy. The results revealed the cancer had dwindled to less than one per cent. The cancer was in complete remission”.

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“Each patient carries his own doctor inside him.” –Norman Cousins, Author of Anatomy of an Illness

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It’s abundantly clear not everyone agrees that Vitamin C may be an effective anticancer agent. On its website, the American Cancer Society states, “Clinical trials of high doses vitamin C as a treatment for cancer have not shown any benefit.” And it warns, “High doses of vitamin C can cause side effects in some people”.

To be fair, high doses of anything can cause side effects – even death – if consumers overdo it. (Try eating a truckload of apples and see how you feel).

However, the American Cancer Society’s point is taken: high doses of Vitamin C can cause side effects and, it seems, the jury’s still out on the effectiveness, or otherwise, of this vitamin as an anticancer agent.

The society does acknowledge that “Some claim that the vitamin can prevent a variety of cancers from developing, including lung, prostate, bladder, breast, cervical, intestinal, esophageal, stomach, pancreatic, and salivary gland cancers, as well as leukemia and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Vitamin C is also said to prevent tumors from spreading, help the body heal after cancer surgery, enhance the effects of certain anti-cancer drugs, and reduce the toxic effects of other drugs used in chemotherapy”.

And while the society acknowledges that “people with higher blood levels of vitamin C tend to have a lesser risk of developing cancer than do people with lower levels,” it categorically states, “Studies that observed large groups or people and clinical trials of vitamin C supplements have not shown the same strong protective effects against cancer”.

The American Cancer Society also quotes a 2000 National Academy of Sciences report as saying, “There is not enough evidence to support claims that taking high doses of antioxidants (such as vitamins C and E, selenium, and beta carotene) can prevent chronic diseases”.

Certainly, some doctors recommend high doses of vitamin C supplements to protect patients against, and to treat, the common cold. However, it does seem that few doctors are prepared to accept that high doses of Vitamin C may be an effective anticancer agent.

TBC…

You have been reading an excerpt from Medical Industrial Complex. This top rating book is available on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/MEDICAL-INDUSTRIAL-COMPLEX-Suppressed-Underground-ebook/dp/B00Y8Y3TUM/

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Here’s a question for Big Pharma: How much is too much?

Posted: July 9, 2015 in Medical Industrial Complex
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We are openly critical of the big pharmaceutical companies in our new release book MEDICAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX: The $ickness Industry, Big Pharma and Suppressed Cures. Our criticism is tempered by the fact that – as we acknowledge more than once in our book – products developed, manufactured and marketed by Big Pharma save lives. (Some would argue they cost lives, too, but that’s another story).

MEDICAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX: The $ickness Industry, Big Pharma and Suppressed Cures (The Underground Knowledge Series Book 3)

However, we keep coming back to the questions that crop up whenever the pharmaceutical companies and their modus operandi are analyzed. Questions like: Why is so little money ploughed back into research? Why the continuing emphasis on treatments ahead of cures? And, regarding revenues and profits, how much is too much?

BBC News addresses this very issue in a report aired on November 6, 2014 under the title ‘Pharmaceutical industry gets high on fat profits.’ The report asks people to imagine an industry that generates higher profit margins than any other and is no stranger to multi-billion dollar fines for malpractice.

“Throw in widespread accusations of collusion and over-charging, and banking no doubt springs to mind. In fact, the industry described above is responsible for the development of medicines to save lives and alleviate suffering, not the generation of profit for its own sake”.

The BBC News report reminds us that pharmaceutical companies have, by far, developed  most medicines known to Man, but have profited big-time in the process – “and not always by legitimate means”.

It continues, “Last year, US giant Pfizer, the world’s largest drug company by pharmaceutical revenue, made an eye-watering 42% profit margin… five pharmaceutical companies made a profit margin of 20% or more…With some drugs costing upwards of $100,000 for a full course, and with the cost of manufacturing just a tiny fraction of this, it’s not hard to see why…

“Drug companies justify the high prices they charge by arguing that their research and development (R&D) costs are huge. On average, only three in 10 drugs launched are profitable, with one of those going on to be a blockbuster with $1bn-plus revenues a year…

“But … drug companies spend far more on marketing drugs – in some cases twice as much – than on developing them. And besides, profit margins take into account R&D costs”.

The report concludes that the industry also argues that the wider value of the drug needs to be considered. However, it (BBC News) rightly points out that just because you can charge a high price for something does not necessarily mean you should. Especially when you factor in the lives at stake in the healthcare field.

The problem with that is – as we see it – the pharmaceutical companies and the shareholders they answer to would quickly dismiss such a rationale. They’re solely focused on the bottom line: profit.

Profit is not necessarily a dirty word when it comes to healthcare. We happen to believe capitalism, if managed properly, can actually work well in medicine. Profit incentives can spark imaginations in pharmacists and healthcare entrepreneurs and doctors as there’s the reward aspect in capitalism which motivates people to find medical cures.

Otherwise, as evidenced in the past in places like Eastern Europe, when things go to the other extreme and there’s too much government interference it can be just as crippling and corrupting for essential services such as healthcare. With little to no financial rewards on offer under communism, or even under some forms of socialism, most workers are less motivated – medical and healthcare workers included.

Somehow there needs to be a balance between governments and non-profit review committees to ensure mainstream medicine has a social conscience whilst still allowing the free market to work its magic.

…In the pharmaceutical industry’s haste to get drugs to market, critics say safety usually comes a distance second to profits. Little wonder then that mistakes occur and the line between legitimate and spurious business practices is oftentimes blurred.

We explore this untenable situation in the next chapter.

You have been reading an excerpt from Medical Industrial Complex.

The book is available via Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/MEDICAL-INDUSTRIAL-COMPLEX-Suppressed-Underground-ebook/dp/B00Y8Y3TUM/

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Controversial new book asks: Do drug companies make drugs or money?

Posted: July 3, 2015 in Medical Industrial Complex
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No-one can object to the pharmaceutical companies making profits. Surely that’s the aim of all companies – to make profits. But how much is too much? We ask that very question in our new release book MEDICAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX: The $ickness Industry, Big Pharma and Suppressed Cures.

MEDICAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX: The $ickness Industry, Big Pharma and Suppressed Cures (The Underground Knowledge Series Book 3)

Excerpts from Medical Industrial Complex  follow:

Many people are alive today because of prescription drugs, and many more are enjoying a better quality of life because of prescription drugs. Let us be clear and unequivocal about that. And unsubstantiated criticism of the pharmaceutical industry, or any industry for that matter, does no-one any good.

We kept all that front of mind when conducting our research for this book.

Unfortunately, the inescapable fact is that much of the good Big Pharma does is undone by mistakes, dubious business practices, (reported/confirmed cases of) fraud and, quite simply, by greed.

Much has been written about Big Pharma in recent years. One of the most informative books on the industry is The Truth About Drug Companies, by Marcia Angell, M.D., former editor of the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine.

The book’s blurb reads (abridged):

“Currently Americans spend a staggering $200 billion each year on prescription drugs. As Dr. Angell powerfully demonstrates, claims that high drug prices are necessary to fund research and development are unfounded: The truth is that drug companies funnel the bulk of their resources into the marketing of products of dubious benefit. Meanwhile, as profits soar, the companies brazenly use their wealth and power to push their agenda through Congress, the FDA, and academic medical centers.

“Zeroing in on hugely successful drugs like AZT (the first drug to treat HIV/AIDS), Taxol (the best-selling cancer drug in history), and the blockbuster allergy drug Claritin, Dr. Angell demonstrates exactly how new products are brought to market. Drug companies, she shows, routinely rely on publicly funded institutions for their basic research; they rig clinical trials to make their products look better than they are; and they use their legions of lawyers to stretch out government-granted exclusive marketing rights for years. They also flood the market with copycat drugs that cost a lot more than the drugs they mimic but are no more effective.

“The Truth About the Drug Companies is a searing indictment of an industry that has spun out of control”.

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Within the book itself, Dr. Angell describes the unethical and at times inhumane pharmaceutical industry she witnessed in her 21 years spent as the first female editor-in-chief of The New England Journal of Medicine. She also gives numerous examples to prove beyond dispute that the world’s biggest drug companies have grown so powerful they are now able to pull the strings and call many of the shots in medical academia, health research and even the way doctors and nurses go about their work. Meanwhile, the public, including more and more of the poor, invalid and elderly, are unable to meet the cost of rapidly increasing prescription drug prices.

For an insight into the profitability of the major pharmaceutical companies, take a gander at the top performers on the latest Fortune 500 list. (Fortune 500 being Fortune Magazine’s annual list of the top 500 US companies – publicly and privately listed – according to their gross revenues).

Fortune 500

At the time of writing, the 2014 Fortune 500 list was the latest available. One of the best summaries of the pharmaceutical companies (drug wholesalers, chain pharmacies, pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), and pharmaceutical manufacturers) we could find is on the very professional DrugChannels.net site. Compiled by Dr. Adam J. Fein, CEO of Drug Channels Institute, it’s an eye-opener for the uninformed.

As Dr. Fein informs the public, his data “will help you ‘follow the dollar’ and understand how drug channel intermediaries make money.”

The good doctor compares the fortunes of the eight listed drug channels companies (AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, CVS Caremark, Express Scripts, McKesson, Omnicare, Rite Aid, and Walgreens) with Fortune 500’s 12 pharmaceutical manufacturers and a separate survey of independent pharmacies.

Dr. Fein reports “The 2013, median revenues for the eight drug channel companies were $95.1 billion, up 1.4% vs. 2012. Median revenues for the manufacturer group were $17.5 billion… The revenues of the 12 largest pharmaceutical manufacturers on the Fortune 500 list range from $67.2 billion (Pfizer) to $5.5 billion (Celgene)”.

In the report he quotes 2012 data supplied by the National Community Pharmacists Association’s 2013 NCPA Digest, which shows that independent pharmacies had higher profitability than the eight largest drug channels companies, including PBMs.

Dr. Fein also observes that, “In 2013…investment returns reflected last year’s strong stock market performance”.

The median Total Return to Investors in 2013 as reported from Fortune’s list is detailed as follows: 8 Drug Channels companies: +65.8% (range: +30.1% to +272.1%); 12 Drug Manufacturers: +34.8% (range: +7.3% to +115.3%).

Starting to get the picture? Big Pharma is mighty profitable and becoming more so each and every year.

You have been reading an excerpt from Medical Industrial Complex.

The book is available via Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/MEDICAL-INDUSTRIAL-COMPLEX-Suppressed-Underground-ebook/dp/B00Y8Y3TUM/

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‘Medical Industrial Complex’ examines the political impatience that kills patients

Posted: June 24, 2015 in Medical Industrial Complex
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The role politics and politicians play in a country’s health is worthy of scrutiny and is one that has possibly been overlooked by many other independent critiques and critics of the medical establishment. We raise this point in our new release book MEDICAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX: The $ickness Industry, Big Pharma and Suppressed Cures.

MEDICAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX: The $ickness Industry, Big Pharma and Suppressed Cures (The Underground Knowledge Series Book 3)

We devote one entire chapter to the issue of politics and health in Medical Industrial Complex. An excerpt follows:

Serious questions need to be asked about a health ‘system’ in which politicians are often reluctant to invest money in long-term, preventative measures that can take years to show a return on investment.

A politician’s future is very much at the whim of voters who are notoriously fickle. Little wonder then that many tend to focus on short-term policies and initiatives instead of long-term ones. Those who don’t are very quickly brought into line by their party – be it on the Left or Right of the political spectrum – whose modus operandi, invariably and almost without exception, is to do whatever’s needed to win the next election and to stay in power.

That’s politics, folks.

In the process…short-term tangible things like spending more money to reduce waiting surgical waiting lists (to win votes) instead of dealing with the long term underlying causes are given priority.

If the wellbeing of constituents, as well as minors and other non-voters – aka human beings – wasn’t at stake, we’d say this is rather naughty of our elected representatives. As people’s health and, indeed, their very lives are at stake, we’d say this practice or policy, call it what you will, is downright deplorable.

When politics is thrown into the medical melting pot and stirred up with those other essential ingredients – namely Big Pharma, hospitals, the medical academic establishment, hospital supply and equipment companies, and other key players in the Medical Industrial Complex – the practice can only be described as seriously corrupt.

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“The medical profession is unconsciously irritated by lay knowledge.” –John Steinbeck, East of Eden

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Making short-term medical policies, in the case of vote-hungry, power-mad politicians, and pandering to those same policies, in the case of greedy elements within the medical establishment, when lives and health are on the line is unforgivable.

How refreshing it would be if the government of the day announced it was replacing its “ambulance at the bottom of the cliff” health policy with a 10 or 15-year, or, better still, a 20-year vision for the country’s health. A vision that requires investment in long-term preventative measures and that encourages a holistic approach.

Alas, the nature of politics and politicians is that no such change will likely occur. Equally, the current system – a system in which cures for diseases and other ailments come a distant second to just treating symptoms – suits the big pharmaceutical companies and their kind just fine. So no change can be expected any time soon from that quarter either.

At the end of the day, we, the common people, have two choices: we can force the politicians to listen or, better still, we can take responsibility for our own health. The obvious advantage in the latter choice is that it’s actionable immediately and doesn’t rely on a change of government and/or a new type of political leader to emerge.

Be warned, taking responsibility for your own health is not without its challenges. It requires research and no small amount of courage. And…Some health professionals do not take too kindly to patients who want to be involved in decisions about their treatment.

So, be prepared for some battles with your doctor. We know from personal experience they don’t always welcome questions about the (inevitable) side-effects of prescription drugs or suggestions that natural medicine or a health supplement may be a better alternative than a ‘quick-fix’ pill for certain ailments.

 

Medical Industrial Complex is available via Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/MEDICAL-INDUSTRIAL-COMPLEX-Suppressed-Underground-ebook/dp/B00Y8Y3TUM/

 

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