Up Close and Personal
The monthly comment from CTM founder, Phillip Day

While the northern hemisphere shivers with winter's bite, chook flu continues its inexorable advance on our back door. Yet another vaccine planned for toddlers too (though now even doctors are warning people off the idea in view of the feared side-effects). Statins have been cleared for mass distribution, potentially a quarter of Britons could be taking the anti-cholesterol drugs even though they won't be sick.

Sigh.

Welcome to another episode in the hospital series, Doctor Knows Best - the global medical soap-opera wherein diet and lifestyle go out of the window, drugs will cure you, and any conflict against the status quo is put down to iconoclastic, veggie-juicing whale-kissers with a treatable case of Oppositional Defiant Disorder.

In my current What's News? tour of the UK/Ireland, I examine such health issues through the eyes of the media, as well as cover the latest on Attitude (part 2), cancer, heart disease, goal-setting, minor complaints, and much more.

Also, my latest DVD nears completion and is entitled, Modern Miracles. Many thanks, by the way, to the dozens who took part and went on camera to recount their amazing recovery experiences. Many in the film had been told their futures were bleak, yet survived to their physicians' surprise to tell of their deliverance. Tom Malley sent us part of the Spanish magazine, Round Town News, which has written up his cancer recovery using - gasp - the Different Approach. In Modern Miracles, you will meet many like Tom who took control of their illness, researched it, and found the answer lay in simple, straight-forward changes to diet and lifestyle, which they do not teach doctors at medical school; changes indeed that are routinely scoffed at by professionals who cannot bring themselves to believe in the awesome logic and mastery of nature.

The live CD of my ABC's of Disease tour, recorded in Australia, also nears completion (unexpected delays too complicated to relate, forgive me). From Acne to Varicose Veins, from Cancer to Arthritis, this talk will provide a veritable well-spring of after-dinner topics sure to wow your boss and his neighbours, or else leave them hatchet-faced, with the usual, uncomprehending stares!

So, to this month's bulletin. The Alliance for Natural Health gives its year-start update on the EU's moves to half-inch our supplements. Dr Robert Verkerk has documented Brussels' timetable of shame and gives us the Alliance's own strategy for 2006. This month, also, two US fluoride victories (the most poisoned nation on Earth), Steve Ransom's excellent piece on cancer misdiagnosis, a psychiatrist on psychiatry, a warning over Viagra, the importance of fish oil and a profile on Alzheimer's.

So, read on, folks, and keep spreading the good news. We get the e-mails. Something is working out there.

Best wishes,

Phillip Day

Phillip Day is currently touring Britain and Ireland with his fascinating new talk, What's News?. To find the venue nearest you, click here.

The Real Story of Galileo
by Christopher Booker

Coverage of the launch in Kazakhstan of a satellite intended to pave the way for the EU's Galileo global positioning system again highlighted one of the media's strangest failures in 2005. Our newspapers and television simply recycled all the familiar claims about how this rival to America's GPS system will help "improve air traffic control", enable ambulances and fire engines to arrive more quickly, and give us all easier access via our mobile phones to vital information about restaurants and cinema programmes.

Yet, as any regular reader of this column will know, such propagandist trivia completely misses the point. The real story about Galileo is much more interesting, and I have only been able to cover it so fully thanks to the tireless researches of my co-author Dr Richard North, who published a learned Bruges Group paper on Galileo in 2004 and reports regularly on later developments on his blog, www.eureferendum.blogspot.com.

As Dr North argued in a review of last week's coverage, one reason for the media's failure to report properly on Galileo has been the inability of our political opposition to grasp its immense political and military implications. Although the EU has not been exactly frank about it, evidence is freely available for those who know where to look, and this shows that the EU needs Galileo essentially for two reasons.

One is to provide it with a lavish source of new revenue. Unlike the GPS system, which is free to all users, the EU hopes through Galileo to impose charges on every aircraft using European air space, and eventually, via tolls and congestion charges, on almost every motorist using the EU's roads.

Galileo's other purpose is to provide the centrepiece for the EU's bid to create its own armed forces, independent of the US - and incidentally to boost its members' arms sales to countries such as China (which already has a fifth share in Galileo), by selling them weapons and vehicles which are Galileo-dependent.

All this raises questions which should put Galileo at the very centre of political debate. Yet the way in which it remains hidden from view means not only that the media are missing one of the most remarkable political stories of our time, but that the public are being very poorly served.

It's Already 30 Miles to Our 'Local' Policeman

Last week, when a mountain bike was stolen from an outhouse at my home in Somerset, I rang our Neighbourhood Watch. I was advised to report the theft to the police. Alas, since we lost our superb village policeman 12 years ago, the relevant "Crimestoppers" officer is now in Yeovil, 30 miles away. It turned out he was on holiday for the week.

December 23, it may be recalled, was the deadline for responses to the plan by Charles Clarke and Hazel Blears to rush through a merger of all the 43 police forces in England and Wales into 12 regional "super-forces". So unpopular has their botched plan become that not a single force met the absurdly short deadline.

If the Home Office gets its way, our local Avon and Somerset forces will be merged with four others to cover the entire "South-West Euro-region", stretching from Cornwall to the Cotswolds: an area so vast that the northern tip of Gloucestershire is nearer to Scotland than it is to Land's End.

Next time we are burgled we may find that our nearest "Crimestopper" is 80 miles away in Exeter - though our system of "neighbourhood policing" has already been so thoroughly destroyed, I doubt that "response times" could be longer than they are now.
The Sunday Telegraph, 1st January 2006

The Seven Basic Myths
by Dr Richard North

Our rebuttal to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's (FCO) series of "myth rebuttals" on its website is now complete.

We have been analysing and deconstructing those rebuttals and, for the convenience of the readers, we now post the links on this single post. We will also provide a link on the sidebar, under FCO "myths", for ease of reference.

The seven basic myths are as follows:

Myth one: Britain would lose control over foreign policy under the constitutional treaty.

Myth two: The Constitutional Treaty will create a European Army.

Myth three: "Primacy" means that the EU controls our laws.

Myth four: The Charter of Fundamental Rights will be used to change Britain's labour laws.

Myth five: The constitution creates a European superstate.

Myth six: Europe will control our economy.

Myth seven: Qualified Majority Voting hands power to Brussels.

Readers might also care to visit the "Vote-No" website which also offers views on the FCO "myths". We will, of course, re-visit the issues raised from time to time.
http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/

Alzheimer's Disease,
Senile Dementia
by Phillip Day

Profile
Mental impairment problems are devastating our cultures today, and yet this has not always been the case. Clearly, toxicity issues are at the fore. As many as a third of all hospital beds in the UK are taken up with geriatric patients suffering a host of disorders, a large proportion of them institutionalised because of senility. The cost to healthcare runs to billions.

With mental impairment problems, the following questions should be asked and the conditions addressed FIRST:

· Is the patient eating organic, whole, non-pesticide-laden foods?
· Is the patient nutritionally deficient?
· Is the patient drinking up to 4 pints of clean, fresh water a day?
· Does the patient have chaotic blood sugar levels?
· Is the patient on any psychiatric medication which might be giving the appearance of senility or slow cognitive ability?
· Does the patient suffer from food allergies?
· Has the patient any evidence of yeast or fungal infections?
· Does the patient live in a toxic environment?
· Does the patient eat junk food and drink sodas?
· Has the patient been mentally unchallenged for a period of time?

Memory problems - potential causes
Several factors influence memory:

· Use it or lose it!
· Impaired blood supply to the brain (atherosclerosis)
· Nutritional intake, especially minerals such as zinc and manganese, vitamins, especially the 'B' group, and essential fatty acids
· Food allergies
· Toxins
· Abnormal blood sugar levels (glucose intolerance)

Use it or lose it!
In my view, retirement is the single most damaging thing for a person, when they are persuaded to end their productivity and bow out of the work ethic until they expire. It is in the nature of humans to produce and be mentally active. Depression, listlessness and despair often set in when brains are put in mothballs and the person vegetates in a chair in front of the TV for the rest of their lives believing nobody wants them.

In Health Wars, we take a look at cultures who routinely live past 100 and remain active. If you are 70-80, start looking around for another career! Think of the skills and knowledge you have amassed that could benefit others. If your brain is busy and well fed, it is a happy brain. And so you will be too.

Blood supply to the brain
One of the most common medical conditions we suffer from over the age of 50 is atherosclerosis, or lipoprotein plaque in the arteries. In Health Wars, we devote two chapters to affairs of the heart and the cardiovascular system, showing that heart disease, in almost all its forms, may be traced back to nutritional deficiencies, including an early form of scurvy.

Scurvy
Scurvy occurs when collagen breaks down in the body. Collagen is a tough, fibrous material the body uses to clad arteries, veins and capillaries, as well as organs and the skin, to give them structure. Collagen is a lot like the steel girders you see when builders are erecting a new skyscraper. Each collagen fibre has been calculated to be far tougher and stronger than an iron wire of comparable width. In the absence of adequate nutrition, specifically CQ-10, vitamins C, E and the amino acids lysine and proline, collagen begins to dissolve. When sailors went off to sea and eschewed their usual diet of fruits and vegetables in favour of the non-perishable foodstuffs used during long voyages, scurvy invariably set in within weeks, the collagen dissolved, and the sailors literally fell apart. The cure was to recommence consumption of living, whole fruits and vegetables rich in the nutrition required to repair collagen and nourish the whole body.

Atherosclerosis
With heart disease, the process is much slower, sometimes taking years to develop, since very few in the western world today suffer from vitamin C depletion. Like scurvy, a chronic vitamin C deficiency causes the beginning of a collapse in the arterial walls, necessitating a healing process to commence, in the form of lipoprotein(a) fats which the body attempts to use to bond the thousands of tiny breaches in the arterial walls.

These lipoproteins are Nature's perfect Band-Aid. They are extremely sticky and form the majority of the atherosclerotic deposits associated with advanced forms of heart disease today. Cardiovascular medicine, unaware or willingly ignorant of the underlying nutritional deficiency cause of atherosclerosis, focuses its attention on vilifying the lipoprotein's LDL (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol content as one of the primary causes of heart diseases, when it is in fact the healing (survival response) precursor, brought on by a chronic vitamin C deficiency. Today the drug industry has mobilised a multi-billion-dollar business of anti-cholesterol drugs, which have wrought devastating results in cardiac patients, necessitating a further $20 billion drug program to combat all the side- effects.

Most people have accumulated Lp(a) in their arteries after age 50, bringing on the usual problems with sticky blood, thrombosis, atherosclerosis and high blood pressure. Strokes too are caused when Lp(a) clogs the brain artery, impairing vital blood flow to the brain. And it is here that our interest in memory loss focuses. Impaired blood flow to the brain will cause death or partial paralysis. Patrick Holford writes:

"When cells are starved of oxygen, they switch to a more primitive mode of operation called anaerobic respiration. The cells begin to divide and spread - unless they are nerve cells…. Nerve cells can't regenerate. So what happens to them? They just stop working. The result is senility."

Aluminium and toxic metals
Another common finding in premature senile dementia, known as Alzheimer's disease, is an entanglement of nerve fibres. When these nerve clusters are found in the frontal and temporal regions of the brain, they are frequently saturated with aluminium. Many theories abound on how this aluminium accumulates. Aluminium can be taken into the body through the water supply, cooking utensils, toothpastes (the tube), aluminium foil packaging, soft drinks and antacids. Detoxification regimens, such as those expounded on in this book (also in Food For Thought and Health Wars), will assist the body in ridding itself of unwanted accumulations of heavy metals. Chelators, natural substances that attach themselves to toxic elements and escort them out of the body, are used to remove aluminium.

Excess amounts of the following metals are known memory disruptors and inhibitors:

Lead: leads to hyperactivity and aggression. Taken in from traffic fumes and industrial pollution. Chelated using vitamins C, B1 and zinc.
Aluminium: leads to memory loss and senility. Derived from cooking utensils, water, etc. Chelated using zinc and magnesium.
Cadmium: leads to aggression and confusion. Derived from cigarettes. Chelated with vitamin C and zinc.
Copper: leads to anxiety and phobias. Derived from water piping. Chelated with zinc.
Mercury: leads to headaches and memory loss. Derived from pesticides, some vaccinations and mercury amalgam dental fillings. Chelated with selenium.

Food sensitivities
Those with memory impairment problems may also be suffering from the effects of food sensitivities, as discussed earlier (see Allergies). An allergy test may determine an underlying, treatable food allergy problem, which may be contributing to the patient's condition.

Pellagra
As discussed in the section entitled Schizophrenia, an old nutritional problem named pellagra is haunting us still. Pellagra is a niacin (B3) deficiency which will result in the four 'D's - dizziness, diarrhoea, dementia and death. Vitamin B3 is essential for oxygen utilisation in the body. It is incorporated into the coenzyme NAD (nicotinamide adenosine dinucleotide). Low amounts of B3 will invariably bring on symptoms that can be interpreted as dementia, Alzheimer's, etc.

Boosting the memory
Those suffering memory impairment have a veritable arsenal of nutritional weapons at their disposal, as we shall see. The neurotransmitter acetylcholine is the brain hormone responsible for memory retention. Experiments done at Palo Alto Hospital in California showed that drugs which boost production of acetylcholine produced 'super-memories'. Natural nutrients however can effectively boost acetylcholine production. These are choline, glutamine, DMAE (a nutrient found in fish), and its salt, Deanol. Pyroglutamate is also excellent, and many 'memory' supplements on the market today contain a mix of these nutrients which work better when used synergistically.

Elderly nutritional failures
One US study in 1975 failed to find one geriatric patient with a normal nutritional profile. Alzheimer's and senility in general may be no more than decades of sub-optimal nutritional abuse, combined with a slow toxicity through foods and the environment. Boosting the nutritional intake of the elderly is of course rarely done in care homes and hospitals, where nutritional education among doctors and nurses is sadly lacking. The regimen at the end of this section will be beneficial for all who are suffering from these types of problems.

Self-poisoning through personal
care and household products
Household and personal care products contain chemicals, which, over time, can build systemically in the body, causing mental impairment and other serious health problems. A special section on these is included at the end of this book (see Environmental Toxins). Shampoos, conditioners, make-up, antiperspirants, mouthwash, baby oil, fly spray and a dozen other offenders are used by the population daily with scant regard for the long-term hazards, which are only now becoming known.

Take action
· DIET: COMMENCE THE FOOD FOR THOUGHT LIFESTYLE REGIMEN
· TIP: In the event the patient exhibits yeast or fungal problems, adopt the measures described in the section on Candida and replace THE FOOD FOR THOUGHT LIFESTYLE REGIMEN with THE ANTI-CANDIDA DIETARY REGIMEN (with appropriate anti-fungal supplementation)
· DIET: Eliminate all junk or processed foods, including sugar-based foods and the high-glycaemic food group which breaks down into glucose in the body (bread, pasta, cereals, potatoes, pastries, etc.)
· RESTORE NUTRIENT BALANCE: COMMENCE THE BASIC SUPPLEMENT PROGRAM. This will boost oxygen to the cells and prevent deficiency in any one of over 60 different nutrients. Ensure intakes of:
· Vitamin C (ascorbates plus bioflavonoids), 2 g, twice per day
· Thiamine (B1), 100 mg per day
· L-carnitine (Vitamin BT), 400 mg, three times per day
· Deanol - 100 mg per day
· DMAE - 500 mg per day
· 'Ingenious' complex, containing 'smart' nutrients, such as 5-HTP, pyroglutamate, glutamine, phosphatidylcholine and pantothenic acid (B5)
· Essential fatty acid intake. Omega 6 fat intake should be twice that of Omega 3's. These can be taken in supplement form or by grinding up one measure of sunflower seeds, sesame and pumpkin seeds and two measures of flax seeds, taking two tablespoons of this mixture every morning. Ensure you buy fresh seeds!
· DETOXIFICATION: Magnesium oxide bowel cleanse
· DETOXIFICATION: Change out potentially harmful personal care and household products for safe alternatives
· DETOXIFICATION: Removal of dental amalgams (not all at the same time!)
· TIP: Ensure 4 pints of clean, fresh water per day (2 litres)
· TIP: Stay enjoyably busy and productive until your need for oxygen ceases J

Excerpted with permission from
The ABC's of Disease by Phillip Day
Copyright © 2002

Further Resources

The ABC's of Disease by Phillip Day
The Little Book of Attitude by Phillip Day

Click here to purchase or review any of the above.
Click here for telephone sales around the world.
Click here if you wish to contact Credence for information on treatment options or resources.

An Alternative View for Cancer Sufferers
by Kirsty Tuxford

Part time Costa Blanca resident, Tom Malley, has a vested interest in cancer research; having fought and beaten the disease, he has spent countless hours investigating the myriad of treatments available. Tom has scoured many scientific reports and newspaper articles with a view to finding out what cancer sufferers can do to help themselves. He has come up with some interesting information that he wishes to share. This two- part article will take a glimpse into these findings.

"I'm not telling people what to do," says Tom. "I just want them to read the information I have and make up their own minds."

Naturally anyone affected by cancer will turn to their doctor for help. However, in addition to the expertise that can be provided by those in the medical profession, there are many 'alternative' and more natural ways to help your body beat cancer. Tom's research has led him to uncover countless scientific reports and personal accounts of natural remedies that are believed to have significantly facilitated the recovery from cancer in many people.

"In 1900, cancer rates in Europe were 1 in 80. Today, they are 1 in 3 and with prostate cancer, I became one of those statistics. It is estimated that unless we do something, the rate will become 1 in 2 by the year 2010!" he explains.

Tom goes on to say how the world around us is becoming more polluted as our diet includes more chemicals, and modern farming techniques wipe out many valuable minerals. Add to this the number of chemicals used in the home, and some would say we are living in a 'toxic soup'.

Upon being diagnosed with cancer, Tom recalls, "Being a 'belt and braces' sort of person I had orthodox treatment for which I was very grateful. I also looked at how I could support my body's nutrition, reduce free radical exposure in my home and protect my body against the free radicals that I couldn't avoid. In addition, I cut out meat and dairy products from my diet and sourced organic produce where possible."

The eradication of dairy products from the diet has been documented by cancer sufferer Jane Plant in her book 'Your Life in Your Hands'. Having developed breast cancer five times, Jane, who is a scientist, began to research what could be causing its recurrence. In her book she says, "The first clue to understanding what was promoting my breast cancer came when my husband Peter, who was also a scientist, arrived back from working in China." After some discussion about life in China, it came to Jane's attention that the women in China don't suffer from breast cancer in the vast numbers that women in Europe do. Jane says, "The disease was virtually non-existent throughout the whole country. Only 1 in 10,000 women in China will die from it."

Jane's research painstakingly eradicated all the extraneous variables that could be casual factors in the different rates of cancer between the European and Chinese cultures. Her breakthrough came when she realised, 'the Chinese don't eat dairy produce!'

Throughout the world statistics show that 70% of the population are unable to digest the sugar in milk. This is diagnosed as 'lactose intolerance' and viewed as a deficiency in the body. The Chinese population on the whole are 'intolerant' leading them to dismiss dairy as a non-viable food source. Perhaps the body that cannot tolerate dairy is trying to tell us something? Jane eradicated dairy, and within six weeks her cancerous lump (that had stubbornly remained the same size throughout chemotherapy) - had completely disappeared.

During my chat with Tom, he offered me some apricot kernels; the small almond-like parts that are found inside the stone of an apricot. As I began to chew, I remarked upon the bitter taste.

"That'll be the cyanide!" said Tom. To say I was horrified would be an understatement.

However, I am still here and suffered no adverse effects. Why? To explain briefly, there are several reports by scientists that show apricot kernels (and other foods) to contain vitamin B17. Part of its make-up is cyanide, although in a small enough quantity not to be deadly - thank Goodness. B17, in combination with other vitamins and minerals is thought to be an excellent way to break down cancerous cells in the body. If taken and there are no cancerous cells present it simply flushes through the system. Dr Harold Manner and Ernst T Krebs are among the many scientists who believed in the curative powers of B17. Tom Malley himself swears by the kernels, and buys them in from a remote Himalayan village where they are grown organically. Indeed, further studies show that the tribes who live in the mountains not only live to a ripe old age but also that they have no history of cancer.
Round Town News, 15th December 2005

Further Resources
Want to find out what Tom knows?
Cancer: Why We're Still Dying to Know the Truth by Phillip Day
B-17 Metabolic Therapy compiled by Phillip Day
Great News on Cancer in the 21st Century by Steven Ransom

Click here to purchase or review any of the above.
Click here for telephone sales around the world.
Click here if you wish to contact Credence for information on treatment options or resources.

Alliance For Natural Health
New Year Update

The executives, staff and volunteers of the ANH would like to extend our best wishes in the New Year to each of our friends and supporters.

In this eBlast we will focus on the key challenges to health freedom addressed by the ANH campaign in 2005, along with our campaign responses. We also want to take a few moments to look forward at where we are headed in 2006. Finally, in an effort to reinforce our resources and increase our effectiveness in accomplishing our objectives this year, we have included a 'Call to Action' at the end of this communication with an outline of the help that we will need from you, our supporters.

2005 Highlights
As you know, 2005 was a very significant year for health freedom and particularly in Europe where the ramifications continue to be felt and defined worldwide. The European legislative framework is fast becoming the most draconian in the world, also forming the template for international Codex Alimentarius guidelines on food and dietary supplements; it should remain one of the most important focuses for health freedom work internationally. The main highlights are as follows:

12th January. The Nutrient Risk Assessment report was issued by the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), demonstrating that if existing methods of risk assessment are used, once the Food Supplements Directive requirements for establishing maximum levels (under Article 5) are taken into account, extremely low maximum permitted levels will result. This system would effectively lock out all therapeutic dosages of vitamins and minerals, and could readily be used in the international Codex guidelines, therefore having international as well as regional (European Union) impact. ANH was the first to communicate this problem worldwide.

25th January. The Oral hearing of the legal challenge to the Food Supplements Directive by the Alliance for Natural Health and Nutrilink Ltd, in conjunction with the Health Food Manufacturers Association UK (HFMA) and the National Association of Health Stores UK (NAHS) at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. Advocate General Geelhoed referred to the positive list application process as "transparent as a black box".

13-14th March. Natural Trade Show, Brighton, UK. Keynote ANH speakers providing oral presentations to hundreds of companies, practitioners and consumers.

5th April. The Opinion on the legal challenge released by Advocate General Geelhoed on 5 April, making the recommendation, on the basis of the ANH's and co-claimants' legal challenge, that the Directive should be invalidated by the European Court of Justice.

17-18th April. Natural Products Expo, London. Oral presentations to a large number companies, practitioners and consumers.

21st-23rd April. Health freedom workshop on Codex Alimentarius guidelines affecting natural products, convened in Washington by the American Association for Health Freedom, with US and European health freedom organisations, initiating the development of new global coalition to be launched in 2006.

24-28th May. The Institute for Functional Medicine 12th International Symposium in Palm Springs, CA. "The Immune System under Siege: Clinical Approaches to Immunological Imbalances in the 21st Century." Presentation on key health freedom issues made by Dr Robert Verkerk. Scientists/doctors petition on risk assessment launched.

27th June. HAN Foundation (Netherlands) project commissioned, by the ANH to evaluate approaches to risk and benefit assessment of nutrients within the EU regulatory framework and propose scientifically and legally rational ways forward. Findings to be released in or shortly after Spring 2006.

4th July. Codex guidelines on vitamins and minerals finalised in Rome, although methods of determining upper safe levels and nutrient reference values still undecided.

12th July. Ruling of the European Court of Justice in relation to ANH legal challenge on Food Supplements Directive which, while it did not invalidate the Directive, effectively narrowed its scope and significantly clarified key aspects of it, making it considerably simpler for innovators to access the positive list. The ANH demonstrates the 'silver lining' in the judgment, against negative reports in the media and by trade associations.

18-19th September. Natural Trade Show, Harrogate, UK. Oral presentations to companies, practitioners and consumers. New Information Sheets released.

10th October. ANH submission of Paul Lasok QC's interpretation of the ECJ Ruling to Patricia Hewitt, UK Secretary of State.

29-30th October. Your Health Show in Dublin, hosted by the Irish Association of Health Stores. Presentations by Meleni Aldridge and Dr Robert Verkerk.

4th November. ANH Avian Flu Expert Committee formed. This Committee of expert scientists and doctors is assembling data on the limitations associated with conventional medical approaches to treatment in a pandemic, as well as assembling the evidence-base for use of natural products for mitigation of effects of H5N1.

17th November. CancerACTIVE Cancer Prevention conference, London. Presentations by Dr Robert Verkerk, ANH Executive & Scientific Director and Dr Damien Downing, ANH Medical Director.

21st-25th November. Codex Alimentarius committee meeting (Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses), Bonn, Germany. Dr Robert Verkerk attends scientific advisor to the National Health Federation delegation. See press release and full report by Paul Taylor.

If you would like summaries of the key health freedom issues, listen to a 17 minute online presentation by Dr Robert Verkerk (via fast internet connections only). This is also an ideal way to introduce others to the campaign, so please forward the link as far and wide as you can.

2006 - Key Strategic Areas
In 2006 the ANH will be focusing on 5 main areas:
Global regulatory guidelines: Codex Alimentarius
Addressing via inputs to Electronic Working Groups through Dr Robert verkerk's role as scientific advisor to the National Health Federation (INGO status at Codex) and expanded communications programmes

National/regional legislation: European Union, US, other
We will continue to look at optimum pathways through the current legislative threats. Attempt to positively shape legislation under development and aim to undertake strategic legal challenge to EU pharmaceutical law to prevent medicalisation of foods, functional foods and food/dietary supplements

Scientific Projects
We will be expanding our collaboration with scientific institutes and independent scientists and continuing to challenge current risk assessment models. Follow through on HAN Foundation project findings

Communications and Public Awareness
We will be expanding our communications and public awareness campaigns and bringing on additional resources and experts to facilitate these

Strategic Alliance Building
Expanding our partnerships with natural health, organic and environmental groups and associations. During the course of the year we will be providing additional information concerning individual projects within these areas and how they can significantly influence legislation, regulators, the media, the natural products trade, health providers and consumers.

Critical to this work is the development of much stronger international strategic alliances between health freedom organisations, as well as those with shared interests, including environmental and organic food groups. For example, we are presently building a close linkage with three US-based organisations, the American Association for Health Freedom, the National Health Federation, the World Institute of Natural Health Sciences and the Organic Consumers Association.

The professionalism of the health freedom movement will be further advanced by bringing together some of the best minds in relevant fields of science and law. This is crucial to getting results in our shared vision and campaigns. There is no getting away from the fact that the forces working to legislate and reduce the role of natural products in healthcare are huge: we are amidst a real David and Goliath battle. This interface of science and law has been the cornerstone of all of ANH's work since its inception in 2002, and it continues to play centre-stage in our campaign.

ANH on the move
29th January - 12th February. Rob Verkerk and Meleni Aldridge are travelling to the US for a series of meetings and conferences with key individuals, groups and companies in order to outline our 2006 goals and establish stronger strategic partnerships. We will be covering 12 cities over 6 States. (More on this in the February eBlast.)

A call to ACTION from you, our Supporters DONATE NOW
As you know, the ANH is a non-profit corporation. We operate entirely on donations. Without you and your continued financial support well, the bottom line is - we would cease to function.

In light of the current legislative threats and the onslaught of additional legislation and guidelines on the horizon, this battle is going to be a long one. We need to operate effectively throughout the duration and continue to be heard and have our presence and influence felt.

2006 will be a big year for ANH expansion onto the international arena, with its roots in the EU. To make this work possible we also need to step up many of our activities, empower and involve more people at the front lines of the campaign and so be able to deploy and utilise more resources. As you know we are also in a concerted drive to raise funds for a new legal challenge against European pharmaceutical law which currently has the power to arbitrarily bring any food or dietary supplement sold in the EU under its remit.

Please help in any way you can.
We give our sincere thanks to those of you who continue to donate on a regular basis and would ask those of you that don't as yet, to please consider making a monthly contribution to us, of whatever amount you can afford. Any support that you can give us makes a difference.

Please also forward this eBlast on to friends and contacts that are concerned about continuing health freedom and who might be interested in contributing to our work. As always, your comments are always appreciated and noted and we'd be interested in any feedback or suggestions.

In health,
Meleni Aldridge
Meleni Aldridge
Operations & Communications Manager
ALLIANCE FOR NATURAL HEALTH
The Atrium, Curtis Road
Dorking, Surrey RH4 1XA
tel +44 (0)1252 371275
dir +44 (0)1306 646550
fax +44 (0)1306 646552
Mob +44 (0)7771 750230
email mela@alliance-natural-health.org
web www.alliance-natural-health.org

Another Jab? No Wonder Parents Get The Jitters
by Alice Thomson

Now that we have all these immunisation injections for children, Alice Thomson is beginning to wonder whether they are worth it.

Every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon you can hear the pitiful cries. Mothers enter the doctor's surgery ashen-faced to queue up for the next round of injections. They leave half an hour later, cramming chocolate into their babies' mouths to stop their sobbing. When my husband took our five-year-old for his 20th injection since he was born, the doctor missed and jabbed my husband's leg instead. Parents watched in horror as he limped out of the surgery.

It starts the day they are born. Just as you are getting used to your tiny baby, they jab a needle in its foot. "Vitamin K", the nurse says cheerily. Before they even leave hospital they get their BCG (anti-tuberculosis) jab. Over the first few years your child will become a needle junkie, shooting up about 27 times. They will learn how to roll up their sleeves and bite their lips before they can speak.

Parents can't complain. No more smallpox, whooping cough, diphtheria, polio or tetanus. The Victorians would have willingly turned their children into pin cushions if it meant eradicating so many diseases. Before the introduction of the diphtheria vaccine in 1940, one child caught the disease every 15 minutes and one died every five hours. Polio killed 270 people a year. Measles killed 250,000 children in the last century. We no longer have to worry about whether our children will succumb to tuberculosis, just whether they are dyslexic, dyspraxic or asthmatic.

So parents should relax. The jabs are all free. They have never had it so good. But mothers and fathers are conditioned to worry. Now that we have all these injections, we're beginning to wonder whether they are worth it.

The first jab that became contentious was the whooping cough vaccination. In the Eighties, parents began to worry that it caused brain damage. Their mistrust in the jab caused an epidemic that killed 80 babies. Now it is considered safe but some parents would prefer to nurse a child through measles than risk the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) jab. Tony Blair's refusal to say whether Leo has been inoculated fuelled concern. Soon measles epidemics were breaking out in the smartest postcodes. No one has been able to link the jab to autism, but something has to be causing the rise in children with behavioural problems. Autism and Asperger's are often diagnosed within months of the jab, so it is easy to feel nervous.

The next scare was the new five-in-one jab (diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, Haemophilus influenza B and polio). Parents were convinced only when told that it is safer because it doesn't include mercury.

This week it's the flu jab. Reports over the weekend suggested that babies are now going to be inoculated to stop their grandparents dying from the common flu bug. Grandchildren are supposed to be making the sacrifice to save the elderly, who can easily be infected by germs from snotty babes. Only 49 children have died as a direct result of flu over the past 10 years, but thousands of pensioners perish annually. "Yet another jab for babies," said the tabloids. "Flu vaccine could cause overload."

Wait a minute. After the MMR debacle, government health advisers can't be that keen to force another needle into these baby porcupines. Vaccines always carry a minuscule risk, either of a child being allergic to the serum or, as happened to one of my sons, of them picking up a bacterial infection after being injected. His arm soon resembled a mouldy sausage. He was on antibiotics for a fortnight. When I asked the nurse why she hadn't swabbed him, she explained that it is no longer NHS policy because infections are so uncommon.

As a result, I am not too keen on giving my son an unnecessary vaccine. I talked to our doctor about the flu jab. "You can have one so you can nurse your children when they're sick," he said. "But babies should catch a few bugs."

I rang the Department of Health. The official explained that the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation had discussed the flu jab at its November meeting, after being given evidence that vaccinating babies would benefit adults. The members had come to the conclusion that the benefits for the under-twos were not sufficient to merit another inoculation.

So no immunisation programme. Panic over. Now all parents have to worry about is whether to buy that anti-bird flu kit. The £493 "ultimate family pack" includes hooded chemical and biological boiler suits, matching protective goggles, latex gloves and filtered air packs. Let's hope they have found a vaccine for bird flu before it hits Britain.
The Daily Telegraph, 25th January 2006

PHILLIP DAY'S COMMENT: The above article is typical of the confusion besetting families worldwide. Can the cure be worse than the disease? For all those finding themselves in the vaccine quandary, why not do the very thing that is never discussed, namely build strong and healthy immunity so opportunistic problems do not find the opportunity. Click here to discover the problems as well as the simple steps to ensure you stay clear of the boiler suits and protective goggles. As Evel Knievel doubtless muttered before his abortive leap across the Grand Canyon: 'There must be an easier way.'

Cancer Misdiagnosis
by Steven Ransom

"In summoning even the wisest of physicians to
our aid, it is probable that he is relying upon a
scientific 'truth', the error of which will become
obvious in just a few years' time." Marcel Proust

20% rate of misdiagnosis by doctors - One out of every five patients who died in the medical intensive care unit at one of the nation's best hospitals were misdiagnosed by their doctors - a rate that mirrors the rates found in ICU's [intensive care units] nationwide, new research shows. Researchers assert in a report in the journal Chest that half of the misdiagnosed patients should have been treated differently, though it's hard to know whether that could have saved any lives.

Hearing those dreaded words, "You have cancer", and then submitting to the orthodox regime can be a devastating enough experience in itself. But what if you went through this experience, only to discover that it was all completely unnecessary?

You have cancer. Oh, hang on a minute…
While the above story from USA Today applies to misdiagnosis of disease in general, an Internet search on 'cancer misdiagnosis' reveals a very high number of lawyers advertising their services. The level of lawyer interest in any given litigious angle is usually a good indicator of that angle's ability to pay off. In the case of cancer, lawyers have gathered thick and fast around what has been found to be a lucrative and stable source of income. The science of cancer diagnosis apparently is by no means exact.

Smartlight Mammographics is a major manufacturer of radiography and mammography equipment. The organisation admits that radiographic testing procedures are inaccurate. Amazingly, this organisation has posted links that proffer the following information: "We expected error rates to be around 30%, but the wide range of results (10%-90%) was an eye-opener." and: "Radiologists can differ substantially in their mammographic recommendations."

There are unfortunately a great number of examples where misdiagnosis has occurred in a variety of ways, with predictably disastrous consequences.

Valerie Sahar was fortunate. She was told by her doctor that a biopsy had shown she had breast cancer. It was decided to have the breast removed as well as a portion of her underarm tissue, to be followed by radiation and chemotherapy. She headed for the examining room so the doctor could check her other breast. Ten minutes later her doctor said she didn't have cancer at all and that her test results had been mixed up with those of another patient. What if this mix-up had not been noticed? The woman would have lost one breast - possibly two - and would have been subjected to radiation and chemotherapy. If she had survived the treatment, she would then have been told she was cured.

Nancy Seeger, aged 56, was not so fortunate. She was only 14 years old when her mother died of breast cancer. Within five years, her mother's sister was dead of the same disease. Then, researchers developed a DNA test for the gene defect that supposedly predisposes a woman to both breast and ovarian cancer. Seeger opted for this test. When the results came back, the doctor solemnly handed her a letter which included the words "a lifetime risk of breast cancer as high as 85 percent… risk for ovarian cancer 50 percent over one's lifetime." The results, said the letter, had been confirmed independently.

No ovaries, but a refund
Even though she was healthy, Seeger opted for surgery to remove her ovaries. She was on the mend and already considering the removal of both her breasts too when she received yet another call from her doctor that she did not have the mutation after all. A second set of scientists had detected the error after she had donated a blood sample for research. The original lab apologised for any anxiety or stress this situation may have caused and refunded her $350 fee. But Seeger could not have children.

In October 1999, she filed a lawsuit against the lab, Oncormed, and the company that later acquired it, Gene Logic. A spokesman for Gene Logic stated the company no longer performs that test.

Dr James Elwood
In the UK, a report was released concerning the case of an elderly pathologist who misdiagnosed more than 200 cancer patients. The report was ordered after it emerged that 79-year-old Dr James Elwood, a consultant pathologist, had wrongly diagnosed more than 200 cancer patients at the Princess Margaret Hospital in Swindon. Dr Elwood had worked as a locum pathologist in three other Trusts - the Royal United Hospital Bath Trust, the Mid-Sussex Trust and Frimley Park Hospitals Trust - between 1995 and 1999.

Despite concerns being raised about his performance as early as 1995, investigations didn't start until 1999.

In a statement to the press, the Swindon and Community Health Council said the report was "a damning indictment of a system that has failed to protect patients from poorly performing locum consultants."

Jennifer Rufer
The story of 22-year-old Jennifer Rufer made headlines across the US. Jennifer was treated for a cancer she never had because of 'false positive' readings from a blood test made by Abbott Labs. She was awarded $16 million in June 2001, due in part to her continuous campaign over her 'diagnosis' of cancer through blood tests manufactured by Abbott Labs. Jennifer endured chemotherapy, a hysterectomy and lung surgery as a result of Abbot's errant predictive test.

Abbott Laboratories has so far refused to make the papers on these tests public knowledge and declines to acknowledge responsibility for this and other cases of cancer misdiagnosis. Abbot Laboratories also argues that there are acceptable levels of error, and cites doctors as the guilty party for not taking these factors into account.

"No matter how hard you try to educate doctors," says Abbott attorney Brad Keller, "there are still going to be a small handful of them who are not paying attention."
Rufer's attorneys say they have as many as 15 more women who may sue Abbott Labs. As a result of her experiences, Jennifer Rufer is unable to have children.

Back here in the UK:

Cervical Cancer Misdiagnosis Shakes UK Public Confidence In Screening: British health officials are emphasising to a worried public that the number of misdiagnoses in cervical smear slides found at Leicester Royal Infirmary is in line with national and international test levels. False-negative cervical smear slide readings led to the deaths of 14 women and unneeded radical treatment in another 64 women in the county of Leicestershire, a seven-year audit has shown. There is speculation that perhaps one third of British women who now have a diagnosis of cervical cancer could have received wrong or misleading smear results.

Prostate, thyroid and pancreatic cancer:
always seek a second opinion!
I was in a UK chainstore recently where leaflets were being distributed on prostate cancer - 'the silent killer in our midst'. The leaflets contained a great deal of scare-mongering sound-bytes, the whole thrust of the message being that men should go and get themselves tested for prostate cancer as soon as possible. To the more discerning eye, it was immediately apparent that these leaflets contained no accurate or important information whatsoever.

Firstly, there was no mention of the gravely inaccurate nature of the prostate cancer test, which measures levels of a protein called prostate-specific antigen (PSA). Medically qualified opponents of the PSA test prostate have long been stating that prostate tumours, when they occur, are slow-growing and that most men die with prostate cancer, not of it. Furthermore, the tests are costly, often inaccurate and emotionally trying for the patient.

According to a study carried out at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in Seattle and published in The Journal of the National Cancer Institute, about a third of over-65s screened with the prostate-specific antigen blood test are being overdiagnosed and receiving unnecessary treatment. The study also found the PSA test inaccurate due to the fact that the PSA protein in the blood is also found in men without cancer. The level rises as men age, and also when they have a benign prostate enlargement, or various infections. The study stated that about 35% of men tested would never experience any symptoms of the disease. One is forced to consider how many men are undergoing unnecessary treatment for prostate cancer today.

Testing, testing, 1-2-3:
dying 'with' and not 'of' cancer.
On the matter of 'dying with cancer and not of it', the following excerpt is taken from a book by Linus Pauling and Dr Ewan Cameron entitled Cancer and Vitamin C. Linus Pauling PhD is considered the father of Vitamin C research and Ewan Cameron is an oncologist with some thirty years experience in treating cancer patients conventionally.

"In many European hospitals, meticulous autopsies are performed without regard to cause of death, and these autopsies reveal a remarkably high incidence of cancers that were never suspected in life. Autopsy cancer of the prostate increases steadily with increasing age until after aged 75 it is found in every second male, yet only 2% of males die of prostate cancer."

The authors also noted that in those autopsies, cancer of the thyroid and pancreas is thirty to forty times as common than is presented in doctors' surgeries. Thirty to forty times as common! Unbeknown, people were living with these cancers and were not in the least troubled by them. Again, we must consider the possibility that it is only when the trusting patient submits to the various 'tests' for these cancers that trouble begins.

Firstly, the inaccurate nature of the test itself, then the fear factor as the diagnosis is delivered, and then the toxic drugs, surgery and other harmful, completely unnecessary treatments that follow diagnosis. We certainly live in an age where 'the test' rules the day. A reasonable scenario is where we find ourselves telling the doctor we feel perfectly well, in fact tip-top, and the doctor replies, "Nonsense! You just haven't had the right test yet." Pauling and Cameron go on to state:

"Cancer is therefore far more common than we usually realise and is not such a vicious disease as is commonly thought, except when it gets out of control. The great majority of cancers are held in check by the body; they grow for a while, then regress and disappear, and it is only an occasional one that escapes from control and forms a progressive cancer."

Part two of Great News on Cancer looks at the vital role of the immune system in the fight against cancer, how cell degeneration can occur and how cell REGENERATION can occur by natural means.

Test yourself at home
There are tests available now that allow the patient to screen themselves for cancer in the privacy of their own home. Anytestkits.com states on its website:

"The incidence of prostate cancer is one of the most worrying cancers for men, yet when diagnosed and treated in time, can be less invasive than when only found at an advanced stage. Although medical opinion varies when men should start doing this test annually, we would recommend that all men over 35 should have their prostate checked annually - and with this screening test, all it takes is a prick of your finger, a drop of blood, and you will have an indication if your prostate needs further medical investigation. $14.00, all costs included. To order, please go to the bottom of the page."

I for one will not be adding this particular test to my shopping cart. The danger to us males is that the media-driven prostate scare stories are forcing us along to the clinics, where we are then given scans that detect often benign abnormalities, and are then frightened into destructive conventional treatments, and worse still, complete prostate removal - a surgical intervention that strips us of our sex life. Furthermore, the drugs given to men deemed prostate cancer positive enlarge the breasts and cause other feminisation changes to the body.

Because testosterone has been linked to prostate tumour growth rates, estrogen is given to inhibit testosterone levels and prevent the hormone from acting on the prostate. Zoladex, a common prostate cancer hormone drug, causes weight gain, muscle bulk loss, breast enlargement, impotence, bone pain and general nausea. In the main, prostate cancer treatment is 'state medicine gone mad'. As we shall see in later chapters, and as per the Pauling quote, our bodies - if we look after them properly - can and do repel many cancers wholly unaided by conventional intervention.

The thyroid test
In 1997, a medical journal disarmingly announced the following:
"Researchers have developed a simple blood test that can identify postoperative thyroid cancer patients at risk for metastatic disease. The test involves a technique called reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) that allows for isolation of minute amounts of genetic material (messenger RNA)… [blah, blah, blah] the RT-PCR test is simple, inexpensive, and accurate. Further research on the test is in progress."

And yet, in that 'same old, same old' vein, a leading thyroid cancer voice in the US, The American Thyroid Clinic, states that most thyroid cancer detection tests are a waste of time and money and contribute nothing to the diagnosis. "We will often see a patient in the office with thousands of dollars worth of tests that were simply unnecessary. Probably the best test for a thyroid tumor is the experienced fingers of a thyroid surgeon."

Sheila Roy lost her marriage and two years of her life as a result of misdiagnosis and unwarranted medical intervention. In 1997, she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given one year to live. She underwent aggressive treatment that included surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. She received 40 days of radiation and was given high doses of the chemotherapy drug 5FU (sometimes referred to by doctors as '5 feet under' because of its deleterious effects). Two years after the initial diagnosis, it was discovered that the pathologist had made a mistake in interpreting test results. Medical authorities admitted the young woman had never had cancer. It is now hoped she will not develop secondary cancer as a result of the radiation and chemotherapy to which she was needlessly and carelessly subjected.

The pancreatic cancer test
The American Cancer Society reports on the latest pancreatic cancer test involving genetic exploration of the family tree. Patients are strongly advised to read the section on genetics and cancer in this book before submitting to such tests.

Personally speaking, I see the explosive growth of tests as outward confirmnation that we are continuing to hand over responsibility for personal health to our modern-day shamens, the medical 'experts'. If the above examples serve any purpose, it is to demonstrate that seeking a second opinion, outside of the conventional cancer circle, is a wise move. Whilst the remit of this book does not spread to the full coverage of doctor-induced injury and death, it is worth bringing to attention the fact that over a million patients are injured in US hospitals each year, and approximately 280,000 die annually as a result of these injuries. This means that the death rate of iatrogenesis (doctor-induced events) dwarfs the annual automobile accident mortality rate of 45,000 and accounts for more deaths than all other accidents combined. As John Moelaert, author of The Cancer Conspiracy, states:

"Medicine is not an exact science like mathematics. There is an inordinate degree of guesswork involved in the diagnosis and treatment of disease, and as a result countless mistakes are made, some fatal."

And further on down the line, at the doctor's surgery, Phillip Bates, the author of Health Revolution, suggests the following:

"Your doctor isn't an idiot, or even a bad guy - he's just the victim of his extensive and expensive education, and he believes the [American Medical Association] dogma. He reads medical journals to keep up, naturally. There's no reason for him to disbelieve the articles that appear in his journals about vitamin C not being effective. He must reason that if any such therapy were good, it would be reported in such journals. The individual doctor is probably not even aware that the medical journals he reads are literally controlled by the drug advertising. Don't blame your doctor for his lack of knowledge. Blame the system."

The narrow view
Credence is always careful to stress that undergoing conventional medical training does not automatically mean signing up to some vast conspiracy intentionally killing people. But these accusations are still leveled at us from time to time by certain conventional medical professionals who should know better. The fact that qualified people actually hold this view is well illustrated in the following letter sent to me by one irate doctor:
"I have yet to see a single shred of evidence that supports the conspiracy theories that abound on the web. It doesn't matter whether it's cancer treatment, aspartame, or even soybeans. Consider this: would any company seek to sell products that kill the customer? It doesn't make any sense. The scientist who discovered cisplatin was a professor of mine in university. I knew his mind and his heart. He wanted to find a cure because it had devastated someone in his family. While all chemotherapies are poisons, by extension of your logic he was creating a product that he knew would kill his family members. Does that even make sense to you?"

And further:
"But consider this: if even one person takes your recommendations not to use chemotherapy and dies anyway, you're as guilty of murder as Jack the Ripper. But more than that, you'll have failed at what you're probably trying to do: help people. Live with that. P.S. I've forgotten more than you will ever know."

Quite depressingly, prior to writing the above letter, this doctor had already been made aware of the information in chapter 2 on cisplatin - the drug that chemotherapy experts would most want to avoid. Yet because the professor is a colleague of his and is a well-intentioned individual, this somehow makes it all acceptable. Never mind the fact that cisplatin is a corrosive carcinogen. Furthermore, anyone who questions these honourable intentions is immediately labelled a conspiracy theorist and perhaps 'Jack the Ripper'. (And conversely, by an extension of the above doctor's logic, if cisplatin, or chemotherapy in general, were to kill just one person, then the doctor advising it would also be guilty of murder.)

In his book, Hidden Persuaders, advertising and media critic Vance Packard stated that in order for one party subtly to gain superiority over another party, that party must employ certain tactics. "…one must pre-empt the vocabulary in order to gain the moral/political high ground."

Through emotive semantics, this doctor has unsuccessfully attempted to claim the moral high ground.

The ladder of knowledge
Nicholas Murray Butler was chief spokesman for the huge conglomerate J P Morgan and Co. Butler once stated:

"The world is divided into three classes of people: a very small group that makes things happen, a somewhat larger group that watches things happen, and the great multitude which never knows what is really happening."

Lower down the ladder of conventional cancer knowledge, these poisonous products are being manufactured and administered by multitudes who are proud to be associated with medicines 'designed to save lives'.

Working under such tremendous pressures every single day, doctors, nurses and physicians just do not have the time to step off the conventional treadmill and take time to catch up on contrary research. And so, most conventional doctors fall into the category of Butler's 'great multitude'. It is far simpler and more expedient to dismiss all contrary information as fringe lunacy and conspiracy theory until such times as it appears either in a recognised conventional medical journal or as a product warning from the drug manufacturers. Then, and only then, is the information considered seriously. And even at this point, some doctors struggle to alter their prescribing habits.

Excerpted with permission from
Great News on Cancer in the 21st century by Steven Ransom
Copyright © Steven Ransom 2003

Further Resources
Want to know the good news about cancer? Click on the Internet tours below and get busy today!

Cancer: Why We're Still Dying to Know the Truth by Phillip Day
Great News on Cancer in the 21st Century by Steven Ransom
B-17 Metabolic Therapy compiled by Phillip Day

Click here to purchase or review any of the above.
Click here for telephone sales around the world.
Click here if you wish to contact Credence for information on treatment options or resources.

The Fluoride Action Network
The First Victories of 2006

Dear All,
Back from China - more on that later. Here I am excited to report the first victory of 2006. On January 13 a local newspaper in Rockford, Iowa announced the Council's decision to halt fluoridation after practicing it for 20 years (see article below).

What makes this telling from our perspective is that it had no direct influence from us. Because of our and other efforts over the last few years - as well as growing media attention - more and more local, health and water officials are realizing there is something wrong about the practice of fluoridation and given the opportunity - like having to spend money to update failing equipment - they are deciding to stop fluoridation.

It is going to be difficult for proponents to stop this tide, largely because they have no robust answers to the serious scientific concerns being raised. Once people open their eyes and read what is out there in the peer-reviewed and published literature there will be no turning back. It would be ironic if confronted with this turning tide the proponents find themselves asking for a debate!

Do please congratulate the decision makers in Rockford, Iowa via the newspaper at kristin.buehner@globegazette.com

Paul Connett: http://www.fluorideACTION.net

20th January 2006, FAN Bulletin #454:

Rockford to Discontinue Fluoride Water Treatment
by Kristin Buehner

ROCKFORD: The Rockford City Council on Thursday voted to discontinue putting fluoride into its drinking water.

"We needed to put new equipment in for it and (the city public works director) didn't really recommend doing it," Mayor Harry White said today.

Adding fluoride to the drinking water is not required by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, he said.

"As far as I know, there's never been any complaints about having it or not having it."

City public works director Randy Schweizer said he recommended discontinuing the practice because he believes the value of fluoridation is questionable.

"There's a wave (of opinion) against fluoride," he said. "Kids get fluoride treatment in schools and they get it from their dentists. Maybe we're getting too much fluoride in these kids."

The community had been fluoridating its drinking water since 1985, Schweizer said.

The fluoridation was discontinued two months ago because the equipment was not working properly and would have to have been replaced, he said.

"It was a constant battle trying to get the correct amount in."

Both White and Schweizer said the city will save money by discontinuing the fluoridation, but that the exact amount has not been calculated.
The Globe Gazette 13th January 2006
kristin.buehner@globegazette.com.

Yarmouth Says No to Fluoridation
by Craig Salter

In a Jan. 10 letter to selectmen, the board outlined its exploration of the issue and made note of a public informational meeting April 24 last year as well as public hearings June 20 and July 18.

While noting that many people spoke in favor of fluoridation at the meetings and that no meeting had more than 50 people present, the board said the tone of the meetings was decidedly anti-fluoridation.

"At all three public meetings, the clear sentiment of the majority of the public present was that the town should not add fluoride to the drinking water," reads the letter.

The letter ends with the following statement: "The Board of Health does not recommend fluoridation of the drinking water in our community at this time."
The Register

Why What We Eat Has Led to Rise in Mental Problems
by Nic Fleming

Changes in western diets and farming methods over the last 50 years have played a major role in significant rises in mental health problems, according to a report to be published today.

Researchers say less nutritious and imbalanced diets have led to growing rates of depression, schizophrenia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and Alzheimer's.

Industrialised farming has introduced pesticides and altered the body fat composition of animals farmed for meat. This and other factors have led to large reductions in key nutrients such as essential fats, vitamins and minerals being consumed by large parts of the population.

Especially important has been the drop in intake by most people of omega-3 fatty acids and an increase in the eating of foods containing omega-6 fatty acids.

According to the research by the charities the Mental Health Foundation and Sustain, this has resulted in increases in depression, as well as concentration and memory problems. The study reveals, for example, that only 29 per cent of 15- to 24-year-olds reported eating a meal made from scratch every day, compared to 50 per cent of those aged over 65.

Dr Andrew McCulloch, of the Mental Health Foundation, said: "The Government cannot ignore the growing burden of mental ill health and must look to nutrition as an option in helping people to manage their mental health problems."

The financial cost of mental ill health to Britain has been calculated at around £100 billion a year.

Evidence linking the impact of diet on mood and behaviour has been growing. Complex carbohydrates as well as certain food components such as folic acid, omega-3 fatty acids, selenium and tryptophan are thought to decrease depression symptoms.

Some studies have found correlations between low fish intake in populations and high levels of depression. There is also evidence that a factor behind the growth of Alzheimer's is the increase in diets high in saturated fat and low in vitamins and minerals.

According to the report there has been a 34 per cent decline in vegetable consumption and a 59 per cent drop in the amount of fish eaten in the last 60 years. Only 13 per cent of men and 15 per cent of women now eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day.

A diet containing adequate amounts of complex carbohydrates, essential fats, amino acids, vitamins and minerals and water has been shown to promote balanced moods and feelings of well being. A lack of amino acids, from which neuro-transmitters in the brain are made, can lead to feelings of depression and apathy.

Courtney Van de Weyer, of Sustain, said: "The good news is that the diet for a healthy mind is the same as the diet for a health body.

"The bad news is that, unless there is a radical overhaul of food and farming policies - particularly on fish - there won't be healthy and nutritious foods available in the future for people to eat."
Daily Telegraph, 16th January 2006

Further Resources

The Mind Game by Phillip Day
The ABC's of Disease by Phillip Day

Click here to purchase or review any of the above.
Click here for telephone sales around the world.
Click here if you wish to contact Credence for information on treatment options or resources.

Anti-Dairy Advert Attacks Milk's 'Natural' Image

A controversial new billboard featuring a well-dressed businessman drinking milk straight from a cow began a seven-city tour of Britain this week.

Bearing the slogan 'Cut Out the Middle-Man. Milk - Still Think it's Natural?', the ad deliberately sets out to "turn stomachs as well as heads," says Viva! the vegetarian group behind it.

Viva! wants to highlight what it calls the "bizarre reality of milk consumption". The new ad - which will visit London, Coventry, Manchester, Leeds, Exeter, Cardiff and Bristol - is part of a wider anti-dairy campaign, which includes a shocking new report and video called The Darker Side of Dairy. The report highlights the physical stress and disease that many of Britain's two million dairy cows suffer. It also reveals "the gruesome fate" of unwanted male calves - every year, says Viva!, up to 200,000 are shot just hours after birth.

"Drinking milk isn't just cruel, it's unnatural," says Viva!'s senior campaigner, Toni Vernelli. "Cows produce milk to feed their babies, just like human mothers do. Our bizarre habit of drinking milk from different species not only deprives calves of their rightful food, but also leads to a myriad of human illnesses. Drinking cows' milk is no more natural than drinking badgers' or cats' milk."
Natural Products, October 2005

Related Article
MILK, ARE YOU PREPARED TO LOSE YOUR BOTTLE? Big Milk has wooed us with its impressive campaigns of creamy moustaches and "Got Milk?" and "Milk - It Does a Body Good". There is one thing conspicuously missing in the logic of all this, however, rarely if ever mentioned. Milk is actually for baby cows.

Psychiatrist Speaks Out Against Psychiatry....

Psychiatry's Sick Compulsion:
Turning Weaknesses into Diseases
by Irwin Savodnik,
Irwin Savodnik is a psychiatrist and philosopher who teaches at UCLA.

IT'S JAN. 1. Past time to get your inoculation against seasonal affective disorder, or SAD - at least according to the American Psychiatric Assn (APA). As Americans rush to return Christmas junk, bumping into each other in Macy's and Best Buy, the Psychiatric Association ponders its latest iteration of feeling bad for the holidays. And what is the Association selling? Mental illness. With its panoply of major depression, dysthymic disorder, bipolar disorder and generalized anxiety disorder, the Association is waving its Calvinist flag to remind everyone that amid all the celebration, all the festivities, all the exuberance, many people will "come down with" or "contract" or "develop" some variation of depressive illness.

The Association specializes in turning ordinary human frailty into disease. In the last year, ads have been appearing in psychiatric journals about possible treatments for shyness, a "syndrome" not yet officially recognized as a disease. You can bet it will be in the next edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM-V, published by the Association. As it turns out, the Association has been inventing mental illnesses for the last 50 years or so. The original diagnostic manual appeared in 1952 and contained 107 diagnoses and 132 pages, by my count. The second edition burst forth in 1968 with 180 diagnoses and 119 pages. In 1980, the association produced a 494-page tome with 226 conditions. Then, in 1994, the manual exploded to 886 pages and 365 conditions, representing a 340% increase in the number of diseases over 42 years.

Nowhere in the rest of medicine has such a proliferation of categories occurred. The reason for this difference between psychiatry and other medical specialties has more to do with ideology than science. A brief peek at both areas makes this point clear. All medicine rests on the premise that disease is a manifestation of diseased tissue. Hepatitis comes down to an inflamed liver, while lung tissue infiltrated with pneumococcus causes pneumonia. Every medical student learns this principle. Where, though, is the diseased tissue in psychopathological conditions?

Unlike the rest of medicine, psychiatry diagnoses behavior that society doesn't like. Yesterday it was homosexuality. Tomorrow it will be homophobia. Someone who declares himself the messiah, who insists that fluorescent lights talk to him or declares that she's the Virgin Mary, is an example of such behavior. Such people are deemed - labeled, really - sick by psychiatrists, and often they are taken off to hospitals against their will. The "diagnosis" of such "pathological behavior" is based on social, political or aesthetic values.

This is confusing. Behavior cannot be pathological (or healthy, for that matter). It can simply comport with, or not comport with, our nonmedical expectations of how people should behave. Analogously, brains that produce weird or obnoxious behaviors are not diseased. They are brains that produce atypical behaviors (which could include such eccentricities as dyed hair or multiple piercings or tattoos that nobody in their right mind could find attractive).

It's a natural step from using social and political standards to create a psychiatric diagnosis to using them to influence public policy. Historically, that influence has appeared most dramatically in the insanity defense. Remember Dan White, the man who murdered San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk in 1978? Or John Hinckley, who shot President Reagan in 1981? Or Mark David Chapman, who killed John Lennon? White, whose psychiatrist came up with the "Twinkie defense" - the high sugar content of White's favorite junk food may have fueled his murderous impulses - was convicted and paroled after serving five years, only to commit suicide a year later.

The erosion of personal responsibility is, arguably, the most pernicious effect of the expansive role psychiatry has come to play in American life. It has successfully replaced huge chunks of individual accountability with diagnoses, clinical histories and what turn out to be pseudoscientific explanations for deviant behavior.

Pathology has replaced morality
Treatment has supplanted punishment. Imprisonment is now hospitalization. From the moral self-castigation we find in the writings of John Adams, we have been drawn to Woody Allen-style neuroses. Were the psychiatric association to scrutinize itself more deeply and reconsider its expansionist diagnostic programs, it would, hopefully, make a positive contribution to our culture by not turning the good and bad into the healthy and the sick.

The last thing the United States needs is more self-indulgent, pseudo-insightful, overly self-conscious babble about people who can't help themselves. Better, as Voltaire would put it, to cultivate our gardens and be accountable for who and what we are.
Los Angeles Times, 1st January 2006

Further Resources

The Mind Game by Phillip Day
The Little Book of Attitude by Phillip Day

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Click here if you wish to contact Credence for information on treatment options or resources.

Drug That Can Prevent Heart Disease
Made Available to Millions More
by Celia Hall

Millions more people at risk of heart disease will be able to receive drugs that lower cholesterol following a ruling to be published today.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice), the body that vets NHS treatments, has decided that statins should be prescribed to anyone whose risk of developing heart disease in the following 10 years is at least 20 per cent.

This will mean that a further 3.3 million people will become eligible in England and Wales in addition to the two million already taking the drugs.

It is estimated that statins already save between 6,000 and 7,000 lives a year in Britain. Nice estimates that the net cost to the NHS of increasing provision of the drugs will be about £8.5 million.

Prof David Barnett, the chairman of the committee that developed the new guidance to doctors, said: "These recommendations offer clear guidance about which patients should be started on treatment with a statin and how doctors should go about it."

Statins help to lower harmful levels of "bad" cholesterol in blood by slowing its production in the liver. They also increase the liver's ability to remove this type of cholesterol in the bloodstream.

Cholesterol is implicated in atherosclerosis - the build-up of hard, fibrous deposits in the arteries which constrict blood flow. High blood cholesterol can lead to clotting, and heart attacks and strokes may result. An estimated 238,000 deaths were attributed to cardiovascular disease in 2002, making it the single biggest killer in Britain.

Prof Peter Weissberg, the medical director of the British Heart Foundation, said: "The guidelines mean that when people at risk are identified, they can be treated."
The Daily Telegraph, 25th January 2006

PHILLIP DAY'S COMMENT: Here we go again. There are serious problems with statins that are not common knowledge. If you or anyone you know is involved with these drugs, click the three-part advisory below and find out what your doctor and the media aren't telling you.

Part I, Part II, Part III

The Truth About Fish Oil
by Dave Woynarowski MD

Truth is, when I first began doing research on fish oil several years ago I was literally overwhelmed with the incredible benefits - all of which have been substantiated in scientific studies. In my office, for example, I have a 58-page file that summarizes much of my research. Each of these 58 pages contains abstracts from at least 9 scientific studies, done over the course of one year. That's how much information there is on the subject.

Add up the pages and the years. What do you have? You have 58 years worth of studies on the subject of fish oil. We're talking thousands of articles I have reviewed on the subject. And so, I would venture to say you could fill up a small room in my house with the research from all of these scientific publications.

At any rate, here is a SHORT LIST of the things I found:
· Fish oil prevents second heart attacks better than any drug it was tested against!
Fish oil is probably the best "medicine" available to prevent sudden cardiac death!
· Fish oil makes aspirin's "blood thinning" benefits look like a joke. Not only that, those who cannot tolerate aspirin will have no problem with the taste of pharmaceutical grade fish oil (not to be confused with normal grade fish oil bought in stores - which does leave a bad after-taste).
· Fish oil has been used effectively in the treatment of Alzheimer's Disease.
Fish oil improves memory, IQ and helps obliterate age-related memory lapses.
Fish oil helps people with multiple sclerosis.
· Fish oil plays a key role in brain development. In a Scottish study conducted with young children, fish oil improved cognitive and visual skills - making them smarter than kids who did not use it!
· Fish oil lowers blood pressure. I know this for a fact as several years back when I went on this longevity quest (after being diagnosed with high blood pressure) I used it successfully on myself. Then I gave it to my mother and it helped her, too. Then I gave it to my patients with the same result.
· Fish oil reduces the incidence of stroke caused by clotting of brain blood vessels.
· Fish oil lowers triglycerides and raises good HDL cholesterol, reducing the risk of heart disease.
· Fish oil is a very potent antioxidant and one of the few that cross the blood-brain barrier. I call it the ultimate antioxidant and, in many cases, the only one you may need!
· Fish oil improves personality, mood, and mental disorders.
· Fish oil is a potent natural anti-depressant.
· Fish oil improves the health of cartilage and joints.
· Fish oil improves the ratio of testosterone to its metabolite, DHT, and in studies was shown to be useful in treating prostate, breast and colon cancers.

Because fish oil simultaneously improves hormone levels and improves the health of your joints, this makes it the perfect anti-aging supplement as well as a superb supplement for athletes, speeding recovery time from hard workouts.
· Fish oil balances hormonal levels in the body, which has many benefits - one of which is a much sounder, deeper sleep, so that you wake up in the morning feeling totally refreshed and invigorated.
· Fish oil reduces inflammation in the lungs and can be used to treat allergies, asthma and eczema.

Warning Over Viagra and Damage to Sight
by Celia Hall

Men who take drugs for impotency such as Viagra or Cialis and who have previously had a heart attack may have a 10-fold increased risk of damaging their eyesight, an American study claims today.

It warns that increasing use of the drugs could produce an increase in a rare condition that can cause irreversible loss of vision.

While doctors are advised to prescribe the drug with caution to men with cardiovascular disease, thousands buy it online. Many of the websites ask no questions about health or other medications that are being taken.

A small study from America claims that men who had had a heart attack were 10 times more likely to have damage to the optic nerve if they had taken Viagra or Cialis before the eye diagnosis, compared with male eye patients who had not used the drugs.

There was also a small increased risk in those who had had a stroke.

The condition, called non-arteritic anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy, or naion, brings loss of vision caused by damage to the optic nerve, often suddenly in one eye. The damage cannot be repaired. Naion is rare but still the commonest cause of optic nerve damage in older men. It is sometimes described as "a stroke in the eye".

Dr Gerald McGwin of the department of ophthalmology at Alabama University, says men who use the drugs and have a "sudden severe loss of vision" should tell their GP. Doctors should warn patients of the potential risk, he says in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.

There was no increased risk for men taking Viagra or Cialis but who had no history of heart attacks. "Though naion is a rare condition the large number of men using Viagra or Cialis suggests that - should an association truly exist - the incidence of naion could rise dramatically," says Dr McGwin.

America's Food and Drugs Administration began an inquiry last year about possible links having identified 50 men who had heart diseases and diabetes, had lost vision and had taken Viagra.

More than 23 million men are estimated to have taken Viagra since its launch in 1998.

Pfizer, which makes the drug, said there was no evidence of naoin caused by taking it. "A review of 103 Viagra clinical trials involving 13,000 patients found no reports of naion," said a statement. "There is no evidence showing naion occurred more often in men taking Viagra than men of similar age and health who did not."

The company said naion was the most common acute optic nerve disease in adults over 50 and shared a number of common risk factors with erectile dysfunction: age over 50, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes. "Most of the reported cases in which naion has occurred in men taking Viagra have involved patients with underlying anatomic or vascular risk factors associated with the development of naion."

A spokesman said labels had been changed last year to give more information.
The Daily Telegraph, 17th January 2006

One Day at a Time
by Phillip Day

I am a big fan of imagining each day as a life. Mine. It has a beginning, a middle and an end. I do the following for each new day:

I wake up (always a good idea)
I lie in bed and contemplate my day ahead
I ask: What do I wish to accomplish by bed-time tonight?
How will I feel if I succeed?
Are some of these things what I personally want?
Does the day I am planning impress the heck out of me?

Today, I will not worry about the G8 summit, a Martian invasion, suicide bombs in Baghdad, Third World hunger, an asteroid striking the earth, or what David Beckham wore to the Met Bar last night (all nocebos). Today I will leave the TV off, the newspaper in the corner store, the radio silent, and clean up my input. I can be the architect of this new day which has been given to me. I intend to raise my standards and live it well.

The Possibilities Are Endless
I will write the first page of my new book. Just one page
I will speak to one person who thinks I've forgotten them
I will practise what I am good at
I will dominate my day and carefully steer it
I will simplify, simplify, simplify
I will guard what comes out of my mouth
I will do no harm to myself or others
I will eat food that will nourish me
I will relish freedom unchained from negative input

Repetition in a state of emotion forms the attitude pattern. Every day I do this makes the following day easier. Six days of accomplishment means a whole week I lived well. So much done in one week! Negative input was out. All the positives in. I ate simple, fresh, nutritious food. I drank clean water. I breathed. I did not watch the Simpsons.

Hmmm. Breathe.

Feels good to breathe.

On the seventh day, I rest.

Play.

I break the cycle.

Every day, I agree to enjoy at least one overwhelming, optimistic experience (placebo). Each day is planned around this event. If all else fails and the Martians invade, I am still determined to enjoy this event. Today, Samantha and I will take Rosie for a walk in the forest. The dog's tail drums in anticipation. I know things about Labradors. They are not worried about their bank manager or a Sarin gas attack on the Bakerloo Line. It's about rabbits chased, sticks cracked in jaws, the swim in the pond and aroma plethora. Sheer pleasure derived from endeavour. And the dinner. The dinner. Oh, the dinner -

Where You Live
Furnish your home environment to reflect peace and optimism (placebo). Agree to make good choices. Hang pictures you adore. Play music that soothes. Have just one clock in the house.

Invite plants and flowers to participate. If you have a garden, grow things there. If I walk out and stand in ours, I gain a better perspective of my own existence. Bees bumble. Birds warble. Plants grow, live and die, and that is apparently all right with them too.

Cleve Backster, CIA scientist and inventor of the polygraph (lie-detector), spent years recording plants' reactions to humans. No fruitcake Cleve, though some of his peers were unhappy with the proof plants bond with humans, even our pain, Mr Clinton. Welcome to the fascinating world of the Unknowable. How does it work? Haven't a clue. Every day, though, a further secret is revealed if I trouble to search for it. One day I'll know. One day.

Thinks at Sunset
Did my surroundings today reflect optimism and peace? Yes.
Did I succeed in planning my day and accomplishing it? Yes!
I commanded my day and carefully steered it
I wrote the first page of my new book
I spoke to one person who believed I had forgotten them
My goals guided my actions
I practised what I was good at
I did no harm to myself or another
I had an overwhelming, optimistic experience
This was the day that was given to me, which I lived well
And the dinner. The dinner. Oh, the dinner -

Excerpted with permission from
The Little Book of Attitude by Phillip Day
Copyright © Phillip Day 2005

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From the Mailbag
Some comments from our new subscribers

"I saw Phillip recently in Perth (the Attitude Tour). I was absolutely blown away. Please don't stop what you're doing." - Bernie B, WA, Australia

"Loved the seminar. Very informative and a great and funny speaker." - Barry B.

"Absolutely awesome reading and listening to your material. Take care and expect the best." - Johann V S, NSW, Australia

"Keep up the good work. The seminar on Attitude was most rewarding!" - Mervyn H, WA, Australia

"Very informative! Thanks for getting out there and sharing the message - especially for my generation (I am 20 years old), so we know the truth from the beginning. Great tools!! " - Angela B, QLD, Australia

"Fantastic! Enjoying the truth!" - Sharon B, QLD, Australia

"I am so glad I came. Just hope others will believe me. I will refer a lot of people to the website!" - Camille B, NSW, Australia

"Pleased to hear comments about effects of belief in evolution. Fantastic, interesting seminar. However, life management skills should NOT be the role of schools." - Heather W, QLD, Australia

"Keep up the good work on ALL our behalf! It is our responsibility to pass it on and become 'activists' not 'pacifists' in helping to change the future for our children." - Lynne S, MA, USA

"The video I watched WAS the real face of the European Union!" - Mark R, Nottinghamshire, UK

" I am interested to join you to learn what you and your associates are doing for the welfare of humanity." - Thind S, Singapore

"I am a breast cancer 'survivor' of 8 years. I went through surgery, radiation and chemo. I insisted I stop taking Tamoxifen before my 5 years requirement and I insisted on MRIs instead of mammograms. I distrust conventional medicine." - Jeanie G, Texas, USA

"I am pleased that someone cares about the people on this planet. Too long have big businesses poisoned and controlled us. It's such a shame that so many people don't understand what's going on." - Margaret D-S, East Sussex, UK

"The best site on alternative cancer views I've ever come across. Everything else is 'spot on' as well. Keep up the life saving work. Your books are incredible."- Dee G, BC, Canada

"Not fantastic. Plain truth!" - Milan M, QLD, Australia

"Great seminar and books. Hope to have them in French soon! Thank you." - Maryse M, QLD, Australia

"Many thanks for fascinating information. Have a great tour and a safe journey home." - Leonie M, QLD, Australia

"Fantastic information - love the humour." - Dawn N, QLD, Australia

"Great presentation - best $20 investment we ever made!" - Brian & Nancy A, NSW, Australia

"Thank you for bringing your light to this seemingly dark world!" - Shauna K, QLD, Australia

"Most interested and impressed with the down-to-earth truths explained by Phillip Day, which show the vast amount of research he does to benefit us all." - Shirley S, QLD, Australia

"Thanks for all your efforts to the people world-wide and what you do to influence governments on our behalf!" - Robin P, VIC, Australia

"Fantastic talk! Next year I'll bring some of the not yet converted (if they're still with us!)." - Yvonne D, VIC, Australia

"Tour was inspiring, eye-opening and totally necessary for everyone to hear." - Erica G, VIC, Australia

"Thanks for a wonderful seminar!" - Chris M, VIC, Australia

"Brilliant again!" - Lesley M, VIC, Australia

"First time hearing you. Enjoyed every moment. Thank you." - Dawn V, VIC, Australia