Friday, October 30, 2009

‘Poisoning attempt’ charges filed against French H1N1 campaign

French, as usual, take the high road and file CHARGES against H1N1 campaign.... lol

‘Poisoning attempt’ charges filed against French H1N1 campaign

24 October, 2009 05:17:00 Michael Cosgrove
http://www.fleshandstone.net/thumbnail.php?file=A_H1N1_virus_scherle.com_734220755.jpg&size=article_small (This is supposed to be H1N1

In what is being seen as the first of many such actions to come, nine individuals have filed formal charges claiming that the H1N1 campaign is a deliberate attempt to poison the French population.

These charges, which were filed yesterday, could not come at a more inopportune moment for the government and health specialists. The vaccination campaign got underway last Tuesday in a climate of national skepticism as to the vaccine’s safety and efficiency, and this news will surely boost the morale of the increasing number of anti-vaccine lobbyists who are beginning to organize their resistance to any attempt to vaccinate the population against H1N1.

Nine inhabitants of the Isére region of France are cited as joint plaintiffs in the case, including a health sector worker, a teacher and a radio talk show host. They met each other at various public meetings held to denounce the vaccine’s alleged health risks.

The charges take the form of a ‘plainte contre X’ which means that the perpetrator of an alleged crime or felony is not known, or is not named, in the charge sheet. This is a commonly used manner of filing complaints in France, particularly where the charges relate to supposed government implication in alleged breaches of the law. In cases where those trials proceed after prior examination of the facts, the specific persons or organizations concerned are designated and charged as the trial proceeds.

Jean-Pierre Joseph, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, describes the vaccination campaign as “A veritable attempt to poison.” He confirmed that the charges were filed at the High Court in Grenoble before the court’s senior examining magistrate. He said other court cases involving other plaintiffs would begin soon

The various charges filed included one of “Attempting to administer substances…of a nature which could result in death.”

“The aim is to put a stop to what we consider to be an act of poisoning,” according to Joseph. “The interest of this action is that people in France now have a means by which to express their concern as citizens by saying publicly “We are aware that the vaccination campaign is a swindle.”

Similar court actions are planned in other areas of the Isére, as well as in Paris, Pau and Nantes, and several hundred vaccine opponents are beginning to organize themselves on the internet with a view to filing class action charges.

The government and health authorities are currently battling to persuade people to get vaccinated against increasingly difficult odds. Opposition to the campaign has been increasing steadily, and various polls taken over the last few days put the figure for those who do not intend to get vaccinated as high as 70 percent.

Their task is being made even more arduous by the fact that while authorities believe on the one hand that vaccination is essential despite negative public reaction, the French have traditionally proved to be very quick to condemn and file charges in cases where not enough was said to be done to prevent other medical mishaps such as the Mad Cow outbreak and an AIDS contamination case, in which several people died and many more became HIV positive after receiving AIDS-contaminated blood transfusions in hospitals.

That signifies that the authorities have very little room to maneuver and are more or less obliged to continue the campaign in order to avoid similar charges should they decide or be forced to abandon the campaign and high numbers of people die as a result of not being vaccinated.



Posted via email from Natural Health News Feed

H1N1 Vaccine product information

Product Information Leaflet Arepanrix™ H1N1 AS03-Adjuvanted H1N1 Pandemic Influenza Vaccine


Wed, Oct 28, 2009 at 7:00 PM



Product Information Leaflet Arepanrix™ H1N1 AS03-Adjuvanted H1N1 Pandemic Influenza Vaccine

This information has been prepared by another organization and is provided as a service to health professionals, consumers and other interested parties.

Version 1 approved October 21, 2009

Health Canada has authorized the sale of Arepanrix™ H1N1 based on limited clinical testing in humans under the provision of an Interim Order (IO) issued on October 13, 2009. The authorization is based on the Health Canada review of the available data on quality, safety and immunogenicity, and given the current pandemic threat and its risk to human health, Health Canada considers that the benefit/risk profile of the Arepanrix™ H1N1 vaccine is favourable for active immunization against the H1N1 2009 influenza strain in an officially declared pandemic situation.

As part of the authorization for sale for Arepanrix™ H1N1, Health Canada has requested the sponsor agree to post-market commitments. Adherence to these commitments, as well as updates to information on quality, non-clinical, and clinical data will be continuously monitored by Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada.

This leaflet will be updated accordingly.

Please consult the Health Canada website for the most up-to-date information for this product.

Recommendations made by the Public Health Agency of Canada should also be taken into consideration.

Table of Contents

1.0 Pharmaceutical Form
2.0 Qualitative and Quantitative Composition
3.0 Clinical Particulars
Indications
Dosage and Administration
Contraindications
Warnings and Precautions
Interactions
Effects on Ability to Drive and Use Machines
Adverse Reactions
Clinical trials
Overdose
4.0 Pharmacological Properties
Pharmacodynamics
Pharmacokinetics
Pre-clinical Safety Data
5.0 Pharmaceutical Particulars
List of Excipients
Incompatibilities
Shelf Life
Special Precautions for Storage
Nature and Contents of Container
Instructions for Use/Handling
Consumer Information
1.0 Pharmaceutical Form

Arepanrix™ H1N1 (AS03-adjuvanted H1N1 pandemic influenza vaccine) is a two-component vaccine consisting of an H1N1 immunizing antigen (as a suspension), and an AS03 adjuvant (as an oil-in-water emulsion).

The H1N1 antigen is a sterile, colorless to slightly opalescent suspension that may sediment slightly in a 10mL vial. The antigen is prepared from virus grown in the allantoic cavity of embryonated hen's eggs. The virus is inactivated with ultraviolet light treatment followed by formaldehyde treatment, purified by centrifugation and disrupted with sodium deoxycholate.

The AS03 adjuvant system is a sterile, homogenized, whitish emulsion composed of DL-α-tocopherol (synthetic vitamin E as an anti-oxidant to prevent the squalene from rancidity), squalene (derived from shark liver oil) and polysorbate 80 in a 3mL vial.

Immediately prior to use, the full contents of the AS03 vial is withdrawn and added to the antigen vial (mix ratio 1:1). The mixed final product for administration is an emulsion, containing enough product for 10 doses.

Top of Page
2.0 Qualitative and Quantitative Composition

After combining and mixing the two components, 0.5mL of the resultant emulsion is withdrawn into a syringe for intramuscular injection. The final composition of each vaccine component per 0.5mL dose is as follows:

Antigen:
Split influenza virus, inactivated, containing antigen* equivalent to:
A/California/7/2009 (H1N1)v-like strain (X-179A) 3.75µg HA** per 0.5mL dose
* isolated from virus propagated in eggs
** HA = haemagglutinin

Preservative content is 5µg Thimerosal (49% mercury) USP per 0.5mL dose or 2.5 micrograms organic mercury (Hg) per 0.5mL dose

Adjuvant:
DL-α-tocopherol 11.86 milligrams/0.5mL dose
Squalene 10.69 milligrams/0.5mL dose, 
Polysorbate 80 4.86 milligrams/0.5mL dose

The suspension and emulsion vials, once mixed, form a multidose vaccine in a vial. See section Nature and Contents of Container for the number of doses per vial.

For a full list of excipients, see section List of Excipients under 5.0.

Top of Page
3.0 Clinical Particulars

Indications

Arepanrix™ H1N1 Vaccine is indicated for active immunization against H1N1 influenza strain in an officially declared pandemic situation.

(see section 2.0 Qualitative and Quantitative Composition).

Dosage and Administration

There is currently limited clinical experience with Arepanrix™ H1N1, and limited clinical experience with an investigational formulation of another AS03-adjuvanted vaccine containing the same or a slightly higher amount of antigen derived from A/California/7/2009 (H1N1) (see section Pharmacodynamics) in healthy adults aged 18-60 years and no clinical experience yet in the elderly, in children or in adolescents. The decision to use Arepanrix™ H1N1 in each age group defined below should take into account the extent of the clinical data available with a version of the vaccine containing H5N1 antigen and the disease characteristics of the current influenza pandemic.

The dose recommendations are based on:

safety and immunogenicity data available on the administration of AS03-adjuvanted vaccine containing 3.75 µg HA derived from A/Indonesia/5/2005 (H5N1) (Arepanrix™ H5N1) at 0 and 21 days to adults, including the elderly
safety and immunogenicity data available on the administration of the adult dose and half of the adult dose to children aged from 3-9 years with anotherAS03-adjuvanted vaccine containing 3.75 µg HA derived from A/Vietnam/1194/2004 (H5N1) at 0 and 21 days
limited immunogenicity data from 2 studies obtained three weeks after administration of a single dose of an investigational formulation of another AS03-adjuvanted H1N1 vaccine containing either 5.25 µg or 3.75 µg HA derived from A/California/7/2009 (H1N1) (Pandemrix™) to healthy adults aged 18-60 years. See section Pharmacodynamics.
Adults aged 18-60 years:

One dose of 0.5mL at an elected date.

The need for a second dose is currently unknown. However, preliminary immunogenicity data obtained at three weeks after administration of an investigational formulation of another AS03-adjuvanted H1N1 vaccine containing either 5.25 µg or 3.75 µg HA derived from A/California/7/2009 (H1N1) (Pandemrix™) to a limited number of healthy adults aged 18-60 years suggest that a single dose may be sufficient in this age group. See section Pharmacodynamics.

If a second dose is needed, it should be given after an interval of at least three weeks.

Elderly (>60 years): No clinical data are available for Arepanrix™ H1N1 in this age group. One dose of 0.5mL at an elected date may be considered.

The need for a second dose of vaccine is unknown. If a second dose is needed, it should be given after an interval of at least three weeks. See section Pharmacodynamics.

Children and adolescents aged 10-17 years: Flying blind!!!~No clinical data are available for any influenza vaccines with AS03 in this age group. Consideration may be given to dosing in accordance with recommendations for adults.

Vaccine Roulette = Children aged 3-9 years:

Based on limited clinical data available for AS03-adjuvanted H5N1 vaccine containing 3.75 µg HA derived from A/Vietnam/1194/2004 in this age group, 0.25mL of vaccine (i.e. half of the adult dose) at an elected date and a second dose administered at least three weeks later may be considered sufficient. See section Pharmacodynamics.

Children aged from 6-35 months: Flying blind! No clinical data are available for influenza vaccines with AS03 in this age group. Consideration may be given to dosing in accordance with the recommendation in children aged 3-9 years.

Children aged less than 6 months:

Vaccination is not currently recommended in this age group. Why the cut off at 6 months?They don't know!! They're flying blind! 

For further information, see section Pharmacodynamics.

Method of administration:

Immunization should be carried out by intramuscular injection preferably into the deltoid muscle or anterolateral thigh (depending on muscle mass).

Contraindications

History of an anaphylactic reaction (i.e. life-threatening) to any of the constituents or trace residues of this vaccine.

See also section Warnings and Precautions.

Warnings and Precautions

Caution is needed when administering this vaccine to persons with a known hypersensitivity (other than anaphylactic reaction) to the active substance, to any of the excipients and to residues. How will they know on such short notice??? Will they look???Flying blind!!!

As with all injectable vaccines, appropriate medical treatment and supervision should always be readily available in case of a rare anaphylactic event following the administration of the vaccine.

If the pandemic situation allows, immunization shall be postponed in patients with severe febrile illness or acute infection.

Arepanrix™ H1N1 should under no circumstances be administered intravascularly or intradermally.

Antibody response in patients with endogenous or iatrogenic immunosuppression may be insufficient. (iatrogenic??? = physician caused!!!)

A protective immune response may not be elicited in all vaccinees (see section Pharmacodynamics). (Again!!!Flying blind!!!)

Pediatric

There is very limited experience with AS03-adjuvanted H5N1 vaccine in children between 3 and 9 years of age, and no experience in children less than 3 years of age or in children and adolescents between 10 and 17 years of age. See sections Dosage and Administration, Adverse Reactions and Pharmacodynamics.<are the parents informed of this fact???>

Pregnancy and Lactation

No data have been generated in pregnant women with Arepanrix™ H1N1 nor with the prototype AS03 adjuvanted H5N1 vaccine. Data from vaccinations with seasonal trivalent influenza vaccines in pregnant women do not indicate that adverse foetal and maternal outcomes were attributable to the vaccine.

Consideration should be taken of any recommendations made by the Public H ealth Agency of Canada.

Animal studies have not demonstrated harmful effects with respect to fertility, pregnancy, embryonal/foetal development, parturition or post-natal development (see also the section Non-clinical information). (How long were these studies conducted - Or were they cut off just before any adverse reactions cut in???

No data have been generated in breast-feeding women. No Data??? The S.O.B.'s are Flying blind!!!

Interactions

No data are available on the concomitant administration of Arepanrix™ H1N1 with other vaccines, including seasonal trivalent influenza vaccines. Such data are in development, and this document will be amended to include them as soon as available. However, if co-administration with another vaccine is indicated, immunization should be carried out on separate limbs. It should be noted that the adverse reactions may be intensified. The S.O.B.'s are Flying blind!!!

The immunological response may be diminished if the patient is undergoing immunosuppressant treatment. The S.O.B.'s are Flying blind!!!

Following influenza vaccination, false positive serology test results may be obtained by the ELISA method for antibodies to HIV-1, Hepatitis C, and especially HTLV-1. These transient false-positive results may be due to cross-reactive IgM elicited by the vaccine. For this reason, a definitive diagnosis of HIV-1, Hepatitis C, or HTLV-1 infection requires a positive result from a virus-specific confirmatory test (e.g, Western Blot or immunoblot). The S.O.B.'s are Flying blind!!! You could conceivably be falsely diagnosed as HIV + and have to fight that stigmata for the rest of your life!!!

Effects on Ability to Drive and Use Machines???

No studies on the effects on the ability to drive and use machines have been performed. The S.O.B.'s are Flying blind on assumptions!!! 

Adverse Reactions

H1N1 Studies:

Preliminary reactogenicity (solicited local and general adverse events reported within 7 days of vaccination) are provided for 2 studies which evaluated the safety of another AS03-adjuvanted vaccine containing HA derived from A/California/7/2009 (H1N1)v-like (Pandemrix™) in healthy subjects aged 18-60 years. In one study, the vaccine contained a higher amount of antigen (5.25 µg HA). In both studies, a group of subjects received the vaccine without the AS03 adjuvant. Solicited local and general symptoms were generally reported more frequently in the H1N1+AS03 group compared to the H1N1 group. Pain at the injection site was the most frequently reported solicited adverse events (AE). The frequency of ''related' Grade 3 symptoms was low and did not exceed 1.6%.

D-Pan H1N1-021 (Day 0 to Day 6 solicited adverse events following a single dose of 5.25µg HA + AS03 H1N1 vaccine [Pandemrix™] versus a single dose of 21 µg HA unadjuvanted H1N1 vaccine) - Adverse Events with a causal relationship

D-Pan H1N1-021 (Day 0 to Day 6 solicited adverse events following a single dose of 5.25µg HA + AS03 H1N1 vaccine [Pandemrix™] versus a single dose of 21 µg HA unadjuvanted H1N1 vaccine) - Adverse Events with a causal relationship
Adverse reactions H1N1/AS03
N=63 H1N1
N=66
Pain 88.9% 59.1%
Redness 31.7% 4.5%
Swelling 30.2% 1.5%
Fatigue 15.9% 10.6%
Headache 14.3% 7.6%
Arthralgia 14.3% 3.0%
Myalgia 15.9% 4.5%
Shivering 3.2% 4.5%
Sweating 6.3% 4.5%
Fever 0.0% 0.0%
D-Pan H1N1-007 (Day 0 to Day 6 solicited adverse events following a single dose of 3.75 µg HA + AS03 vaccine [Pandemrix™] versus a single dose of 15 µg HA unadjuvanted H1N1 vaccine) - Adverse Events with a causal relationship
Adverse reactions H1N1/AS03
N=62 H1N1
N=62
Pain 90.3% 37.1%
Redness 1.6% 0.0%
Swelling 6.5% 0.0%
Fatigue 32.3% 25.8%
Headache 14.3% 7.6%
Arthralgia 11.3% 4.8%
Myalgia 33.9% 8.1%
Shivering 8.1% 3.2%
Sweating 9.7% 8.1%
Fever 0.0% 0.0%
A total of four serious adverse events (SAEs) have been reported with the H1N1 studies. Three of them were considered by the investigators to be unrelated to the study vaccine (how would they know??) One reported case of hypersensitivity was considered by the investigator to be related to vaccination.

H5N1 Studies:

Clinical trials

Adverse reactions from clinical trials conducted using the mock-up vaccine are listed below.

Adults:

Clinical studies have evaluated the incidence of adverse reactions listed below in approximately 3,500 subjects 18 years old and above who received Influenza Virus Vaccine containing A/Indonesia/05/2005 (Arepanrix™ H5N1) with at least 3.75 µg HA/AS03.

The reactogenicity of vaccination was solicited by collecting adverse events using standardized forms for 7 consecutive days following vaccination with Arepanrix™ H5N1 or placebo (i.e., Day 0 to Day 6). The average frequencies of solicited local and general adverse events reported within 7 days after each vaccination dose are presented below:

Percentage of Doses Followed by Solicited Local or General Adverse Events Within 7 Days of Any Vaccination With Arepanrix™ H5N1 (Total Vaccinated Cohort*)
Local AREPANRIX™ H5N1 Placebo
N=6647 doses N=2209 doses
Pain 73.1 12.0
Swelling 6.7 0.4
Redness 5.25 0.4
General N=6639 doses N=2210 doses
Muscle Aches 33.3 11.8
Headache 23.4 17.6
Fatigue 23.3 14.1
Joint Pain 16.4 7.4
Shivering 9.8 6.0
Sweating 6.3 4.4
Fever, ≥38.0°C 2.4 1.9
* Total Vaccinated Cohort = all subjects who received at least one dose of vaccine and for whom any safety data were available.

Pain at the injection site was the most commonly reported solicited local symptom in both Arepanrix™ H5N1 and placebo groups and was reported at a 6-fold higher frequency (i.e. following 73% of doses) in the Arepanrix™ H5N1 group. Despite the high incidence of injection site pain, the incidence of severe pain was low, with reports occurring after 2.7% of Arepanrix™ H5N1 doses and 0.4% of placebo doses. Overall, severe solicited or unsolicited adverse events of any type occurred in the 7 days after 6.4 to 7.0% of Arepanrix™ H5N1 doses and 3.6% of placebo doses. The most common severe solicited adverse event was local injection site pain; all severe general solicited adverse events occurred after <2% of doses.

Other/Additional adverse reactions reported are listed according to the following frequency classification:

Very common (≥1/10)

Posted via email from Natural Health News Feed

Deceptive Swine Flu Propaganda Blitz

Obama Administration Launches Deceptive Swine Flu Propaganda Blitz
To Counter Growing Criticism from Scientific and Medical Community

by Richard Gale and Dr. Gary Null
Global Research, October 29, 2009

President Obama and his top health officials are engaging in a major public relations effort to divert attention away from whether its swine flu vaccine is effective and safe – to whether there is enough of it to go around. And the media, as always, is cooperating fully. This echoes the way media debate was manipulated during the Vietnam and Iraq Wars. Instead of debating whether we should even be fighting those wars, the media debated only whether we were using the correct military strategy.

Increasing numbers of scientists and doctors are issuing harsh criticisms of the Government’s plan to vaccinate (forcibly if necessary) virtually the entire U.S. population with what they claim is a poorly tested vaccine that is not only ineffective against swine flu, but could cripple and even kill many more people than it helps.

The CDC’s public relations campaign has been running “scare” ads that portray swine flu as a full-blown “pandemic” responsible for snuffing out countless lives, and which, unless stopped by universal vaccination, could kill millions of American citizens. But scientists and health officials throughout the world have called the governments claims unjustified and deliberately misleading.

For example, Dr. Anthony Morris, a distinguished virologist and former Chief Vaccine Office at the U.S. Federal Drug Administration (FDA), states that “There is no evidence that any influenza vaccine thus far developed is effective in preventing or mitigating any attack of influenza” and that “The producers of these vaccines know they are worthless, but they go on selling them anyway.”

And in November 2007, the UK newspaper The Scotsman, made public warnings by the inventor of the “flu jab,” Dr. Graeme Laver. Dr. Laver was a major Australian scientist involved in the invention of a flu vaccine, in addition to playing a leading scientific role in the discovery of anti-flu drugs. He went on record as saying the vaccine he helped to create was ineffective and [that] natural infection with the flu was safer. “I have never been impressed with its efficacy,” said Dr. Laver.

We hear the assumption being made by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) that the number of deaths from the H1N1 virus is at pandemic levels and now a “national emergency.” One would assume that with all of its resources, the New York Times’ October 26 front page story on the CDC’s statistics would be accurate: 20,000 hospitalizations and 1,000 deaths due to the swine flu. However, this is all fiction. And it is a fiction solely based upon the CDC’s own contradictory statements and actions.

Our independent investigations into the clinical trials and statistical studies of influenza vaccines reveal glaring discrepancies. Let us not forget that it is this same New York Times, with its “star” reporter Judith Miller, who led America into believing that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction, tried to purchase yellow cake uranium from Niger, and had dealings with al-Qaeda. And let us also remember that it is the same CDC and health officials in Washington, including President Ford and his top health advisor Joseph Califano, who pushed through and propagandized an untested vaccine during the 1976 swine flu scare, which resulted in thousands of severely neurologically damaged Americans and about 500 reported deaths. Aside from permanent paralysis, many of these vaccine victims also underwent torturous processes for many years to get the government to recognize their illnesses and help cover their costs. Not only was the CDC’s prediction and vaccination campaign for the 1976 flu season a total disaster, it also turned into a deadly scandal, witnessed across the United States on 60 Minutes when Dr. David Sencer, then head of the CDC, confirmed that the vaccine was never field tested, that there were only several reported incidents of H1N1 infection and none of these had been officially confirmed, and then lied about the CDC having no prior evidence that the swine flu vaccine could cause severe and permanent neurological damage. The end result from the 1976 debacle cost the government $3.5 billion in damages, two-thirds were for severe neurological injury and death directly due to the CDC’s vaccination campaign.

Therefore, being anti-vaccine or pro-vaccine is not the most urgent issue. What is critical is whether or not there is legitimate, sound science to support either position; in this regard, the vaccine manufacturers and our federal health agencies have failed in the past, and continue to fail today. And they fail dismally. There is absolutely no evidence for sound-scientific protocol or anything resembling a gold-standard behind the swine flu infection statistics and vaccine efficacy and safety clinical trials to support Obama’s and his health advisors’ claims. Instead, the reports on hospitalizations and deaths due to the H1N1 virus are grossly distorted. What we are really witnessing is “official” science and statistics that are little more than propaganda.

One unfortunate development over the years is the notion that there is such a thing as a “flu season.” The truth is that we move annually into periods where there are dramatic increases in flu-like causing pathogens, however, the majority of these are unrelated to any strain of influenza virus. There can between 150 and 200 different infectious pathogens—adenovirus, rhinovirus, parainfluenza, the very common coronavirus and, of course, pneumonia—that produce flu-like symptoms, and worse, during a “flu season.” For example, how many people have heard of bocavirus, which is responsible for bronchitis and pneumonia in young children, or metapneumovirus, responsible for more than 5 percent of all flu-related illnesses? This is true during every flu season and this year is no different. Furthermore, all flu vaccinations, including the swine flu, are useless for protecting people from these many prevalent infectious organisms.

If we take the combined figure of flu and pneumonia deaths for the period of 2001, and add a bit of spin to the figures, we are left believing that 62,034 people died from influenza. The actual figures determined by Peter Doshi, then at Harvard University, are 61,777 died from pneumonia and only 257 from flu. Even more amazing, among those 257 cases only 18 were confirmed positive for influenza. A separate study conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics for the flu periods between 1979 through 2002 revealed the true range of flu deaths were between 257 and 3006, for an average of 1,348 per year.

The recent CBS Investigative Report, published on October 21, is one example. After the CDC refused to honor CBS’s Freedom of Information request to receive flu infection data for each individual state, the network performed independent outreach to all fifty states to get their statistics. Their report contradicts dramatically the CDC’s public relations blitz. For example, in California, among the approximate 13,000 flu-like cases, 86 percent tested negative for any flu strain. In Florida, out of 8,853 cases, 83 percent were negative. In Georgia and Alaska, only 2.4 percent and 1 percent respectively tested positive for flu virus among all reported flu-like cases. If the infectious-rate ratios obtained by CBS are accurate, the CDC’s figures are significantly reduced and agree with earlier predictions that the H1N1 virus will be simply an unwelcomed annoyance. So we are in the midst of an enormous medical hoax, a design and purpose that has yet to unfold completely, that will nevertheless reap huge revenues for the vaccine industrial complex.

Another example is a recent alarmist report issuing from Georgetown University, also usurped by federal health officials and their multimedia comrades to fuel a campaign of fear and panic. The report announced that over 250 students were infected by swine flu when in fact none of these students were tested for H1N1 infection. The university’s figure was based solely on a count of student visits to the health clinic and calls into an H1N1 hotline.

This is not the first time the CDC’s predictions for influenza strains have been overstated and miscalculated. In an interview on Swedish television, Dr. Tom Jefferson, head of vaccine studies at the prestigious international Cochrane Database Collaboration, after reviewing hundreds of influenza studies and statistical analyses, has said the WHO’s and CDC’s “performance is not very good.” And in an ITN News interview last month, Jefferson called the swine flu pandemic a “juggernaut they [the WHO, government agencies and vaccine makers] created.” For the 1992-1993 season, the prediction was off by 84 percent. For the 1994-1995 season, it was off 43 percent for the primary strain and off 87 percent and 76 percent for two other strains. The Laboratory Center for Disease Control’s study comparing vaccine strains with the strains appearing during the 1997-1998 season found the match was off by 84 percent. Again Dr. Jefferson in a Der Spiegel interview remarked,

“there are some people who make predictions year after year, and they get worse and worse. None of them so far have come about, and these people are still there making these predictions. For example, what happened with the bird flu, which was supposed to kill us all?.... Swine flu could have even stayed unnoticed if it had been caused by some unknown virus rather than an influenza virus… An influenza vaccine is not working for the majority of influenza-like illnesses because it is only designed to combat influenza viruses. For that reason, the vaccine changes nothing when it comes to the heightened mortality rate during the winter months.”

Our review of all clinical trial studies conducted by the H1N1 vaccine makers for pre-licensing in the American market—CSL, Novartis, Sanofi-Pasteur, Medimmune and now GlaxoSmithKline—reveals they were poorly designed and feebly executed. Any professor in molecular biology or virology would fail a graduate student who presented a paper relying on research conducted in the manner of the studies the vaccine corporations submit to the FDA. Nevertheless, it is this lack of sound randomized, double-blind controlled placebo studies, particularly for inactivated virus vaccines, that our government is declaring definitive and is using to justify mass vaccination of our population.

Last week, Switzerland’s health authorities rejected Novartis’ new swine flu vaccine, Celtura, being targeted for women and children, because the company’s studies were insufficient to guarantee its safety. In addition, the new Novartis vaccine, which uses a cell base from dogs, was found to be contaminated with canine-specific bacteria. The Swiss newspaper, Tagesanzeiger, also noted there remains some suspicion that Novartis’ new vaccine may be a repackaging of an earlier 2008 vaccine responsible for killing almost two dozen homeless people during an illegal clinical trial in Poland. This is the same Novartis whose Fluvirin H1N1 vaccine being distributed in the US relied only on a hasty clinical efficacy and safety trial enrolling only a small number of health adults. Novartis likely remains unperturbed. The Swiss pharmaceutical giant has reported a $6.1 billion profit so far this year and expects to boost sales for the final quarter with is swine flu vaccine.

In July, the CDC announced it would cease testing and counting H1N1 virus infections. Their public reason was simply that they are convinced there is a pandemic and, therefore, accurate monitoring was unnecessary. On August 30, the CDC declared the states should report influenza and pneumonia-associated hospitalizations and deaths together, not singling out actual cases of H1N1 infection if there happen to be any actually confirmed from a laboratory. This has always been the CDC’s policy, and the 36,000 figure of annual flu deaths repeated ad nausea on their website and spewed from the media’s health pulpits for several years straight, does not distinguish between pneumonia, influenza and other flu-like pathogenic deaths. Perhaps it would make very little difference because the current rapid diagnostic tests for the H1N1 virus can range in only 10-50 percent accuracy.

Elsewhere in the world, particularly in Europe, civilians are increasingly rejecting the H1N1 vaccine. Recent polls in Germany and Austria show only 13 and 18 percent respectively willing to take the shot. In Sweden, four vaccine related deaths have been announced and almost 200 healthcare workers have reported becoming more seriously ill from the vaccination than they might have from a flu infection. In the US, anywhere from 90-99 percent of adverse events go unreported.

If people would simply shut off the CDC’s supported propaganda noise being blasted across the airwaves and newspapers— the spectacle of newscasters being inoculated, interviews with government health officials or private doctors and academics receiving consultation fees from drug makers, and the drivel of the New York Times—and simply do their homework, Americans would wake up and realize the hoax behind the swine flu pandemic. All of the information is before us. Nothing is hidden. All the contradictions and hypocrisies are contained within the massive vaccine industrial complex—including the government health agencies and professional medical associations. The lie is too large for them to not expose themselves if we simply look.

Richard Gale is the Executive Producer of the Progressive Radio Network and a former Senior Research Analyst in the biotechnology and genomic industries. 

Dr. Gary Null is the host of the nation’s longest running public radio program on nutrition and natural health and a multi-award-winning director of progressive documentary films, including Vaccine Nation and Autism: Made in the USA. Dr. Null is also the plaintiff on a law suit against the FDA to prevent the launch of the swine flu vaccine until safety studies have been thoroughly conducted.

Posted via email from Natural Health News Feed

Monday, October 26, 2009

Press Release: Truehope Challenges Health Canada in Federal Court

Truehope Challenges Health Canada in Federal Courts Claiming Constitutional Breach


Calgary, AB
A small Alberta vitamin and mineral company called Truehope will finally have its day in court beginning Monday, November 2 when the Federal Court in Calgary will determine the legality and constitutionality of Health Canada’s 2003 seizure of a vitamin and mineral combination (EMPowerplus) being used by thousands of Canadians for the prevention of bipolar symptoms.
 
Years of court battles over the seizure that left hundreds of desperate Canadians caught in the middle of a regulatory battle have, thus far, amounted to nothing but a huge waste of tax payer dollars. In 2006 Health Canada charged Truehope owners with the illegal sale of a drug, but the courts found them innocent of all wrong doing and demanded the Truehope vitamin and mineral supplements continue to be made available to Canadians.  Furthermore, in his final judgment, Judge G.M. Meagher concluded that even as Health Canada agents were denying access to the supplement they were fully aware that their actions would result in harm or danger to those who depended on the product for their health.[1] 
 
Truehope co-founder Anthony Stephan claims that if the constitutional challenge is successful Health Canada will no longer be able to remove a product from the market without first proving in court that the removal will not harm Canadians who use it for their health. “Canadians are harmed when viable natural treatments or preventions are taken away. Drugs should not be the only option for Canadians who choose health. The judgment will extend protection to all Canadians and to all natural health products.”
 
Current Health Canada regulations allow bureaucrats to remove natural products at will without any accountability to Canadians for their actions.[2]  “We think this kind of unconstitutional free-for-all opens the door for corruption and for big pharma lobby, and closes the door on individual freedom and choice in personal health care,” says Stephan.
 
The Federal Court Review is open to the public daily from 9:30 – 4:30 and commencing November 2-20 at the Calgary Federal Court 635 8th Ave. S.W. Calgary, AB. 

-30-

 For full court documents or further comments please contact:
Anthony Stephan, (403) 634-8772



[1]  Citation: R. v. Synergy Group of Canada, Inc. , 2006 ABPC 196, pg 11-12 [45]

[2]  Food and Drugs Act, sect. 23 (1)(d) and 26 
 

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Saturday, October 24, 2009

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Seasonal Flu Shot Damage

If the usual flu shot can do this - what can the "kept press" expect from an untested H1N1flu vaccine containing two brain central system irritants - squalene and Thimersol (49% mercury) while the public health shills are telling the public the mercury is as innocent as eating a tuna fish sandwich. Why do they tell pregnant moms not to eat tuna fish. -- Croft Woodruff


October 22, 2009

Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey Reach Out to Disabled Redskin's Cheerleader

Click 

HERE to read the full story and how you can help at Fox 5.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - There are new developments in the story FOX 5 first brought you about a Redskins cheerleader left disabled by a seasonal flu shot.   Now, Desiree Jennings is adding a boost of star power to her cause.

An organization founded by actors (Generation Rescue*) Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey is so touched by Desiree's story that they have reached out to offer not only words of encouragement, but the organization's support.

Desiree Jennings' struggle is getting worldwide attention.

"It's been unreal," Jennings told FOX 5. "I didn't think anyone would even care about my story. People are sitting there crying and I can't understand why..."

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Listen to Croft Woodruff on CBC Radio

Croft Woodruff on CBC Radio


Croft Woodruff was in studio on CBC’s Early Edition to debate the soon to be released H1N1 Swine Flu Vaccine.

Croft pointed out that the vaccine contains mercury and an adjuvant called squalene which is thought to be an excito-toxin and brain irritant. He also asked to see the peer reviewed literature demonstrating that the H1N1 Vaccine is safe and effective.

To listen to the segment click on the link below:


http://www.foodsarenotdrugs.com/natural-health-news-feed/croft-woodruff-on-cbc-radio.php


You can hear more from Croft Woodruff by listening to Health Empowerment News. Croft and co-host, Andrew McGivern, discuss topics such as: vaccines, alternative medicine, chelation therapy, nutrition, health freedom and the politics of health.

New episodes are available every week at foodsarenotdrugs.com!

Or you can subscribe in i-Tunes, Zune or with an RSS Reader.

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Reversing Diabetes Naturally

RAW for 30 Days DVD - Reversing Diabetes Natuarally!!!


Click Here to Read About "There is a Cure for Diabetes" by Gabriel Cousens

So what happens when you bring together 53 experts
from the raw food world in support of The Movement
to Reverse Diabetes Naturally?

YOU get a lot of cool stuff!

Raw For 30 Days

These 53 experts are giving away a TON of goodies
in support of Reversing Diabetes Action Day and the
film "Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days."
There are 11 E-books, hours of audios, hundreds of
recipes, an entire magazine, valuable coupons and
more!

This film is a must see for diabetics AND non-diabetics.
If you haven't yet seen this film NOW is the time!
Just click on this link to learn more about the film
and all of these goodies:

Raw For 30 Days

If you have picked up a copy already then get another
copy of the film for a friend, neighbor or your local
library so that you can get all of these bonuses for
yourself! :)

This film is SO powerful in opening up people, both
diabetics and non-diabetics, to the importance of
raw and living foods and we need to get it out to
more people!

Raw For 30 Days Documentary DVD

You don't want to miss these bonuses! Check it out right
away and make sure to support The Movement to Reverse
Diabetes Naturally. It is doing some important and
powerful work!


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Monday, October 19, 2009

Croft Woodruff may be on CBC Vancouver tomorrow morning at 6:20am

For those interested in listening to Croft Woodruff, PhD, MH discuss the Swine Flu Fiasco on CBC Radio remember to set your alarm clock to catch the show at 6:20 AM on CBC Vancouver 690 AM or 88.1 FM. Or listen online at the link below:\


audioListen live to CBC Radio 690 AM/ 88.1 FM Vancouver
 
For the benefit of those who live within the listening range of CBC RADIO VANCOUVER over
690 AM or 88.1 FM -  I am, so far, scheduled to be an on air guest on  CBC Radio's 'Early Edition' at 6;20 AM or later on Wednesday morning, the 21st of October,  to discuss the Swine Flu vaccine fiasco - then & now. 

Croft

Best Regards,

Andrew McGivern
604.816.0356

Contact Me LinkedinFacebookFriendfeedTwitterNetvibesBlog RSSBlog RSSPlaxoPlurkFriendfeed

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Suzan Somers - "Knockout"

http://bolenreport.com/feature_articles/feature_article080.htm

Will Suzanne Somers New Book on Alternative Cancer Therapies Start the Cancer Revolt?...

Opinion by Consumer Advocate Tim Bolen

Monday, October 19th, 2009

Watch Larry King tonight.  He's interviewing Suzanne Somers about her new book "Knockout," which talks about REAL treatments, ones that actually work, for cancer.  9:00PM EST

The longest running war conducted by the United States is not the war in Iraq, nor the war in .Afghanistan.  It is the "War on Cancer" started, with great fanfare, in 1972, thirty-seven years ago, by President Richard Nixon. It is a complete failure.  The enemy, cancer, continues to gain ground. 

In truth, the only people who benefit from this war are those in the huge, for profit, cancer industry - certainly not cancer victims or their families.  The accepted therapies, those claimed to be "proven," are, in actuality, worthless.  The statistics generated, even though the industry massages them, clearly show that 97.9% people who go the chemotherapy therapy route are dead five years later.  That's correct - chemotherapy only has a 2.1% success rate over five years.  Put in a 2.5% "margin of error" and you've got a big fat zero.

More, the government apparatus we've created to help with this war is no more than a huge "welfare for scientists" program with absolutely nothing to show for their thirty-seven years of existence except higher percentages of cancer deaths.

The mechanism created by the plan, amounts to the biggest rip-off ever conducted against the American people. The people running the "War on Cancer", had this been a US military operation, would long ago been fired for incompetence.  US casualties of this war are shocking.  More Americans have died in this war, during this period (thirty-seven years), than during the total of ALL of the wars ever fought by the people of the US.  Cancer now tops the charts in the US as the largest annual health problem - ahead of heart disease.

President Obama, and his people, want to reform US health care.  This is the place to start - for it is here that every problem, every wrong thing in the US healthcare system is exemplified.

Suzanne Somers's new book "Knockout," an examination of cutting-edge Alternative Cancer treatments, will be on the stands October 20th, 2009.  Larry King interviewed her about the book yesterday October 13th, 2009 in his Los Angeles studio.  The show will Air at 9:00 PM EST on October 19th, 2009 on CNN. The interview is about the book not the problem of the "War on Cancer."

I haven't seen Suzanne's book yet, but I've heard from someone who has read it that it is terrific.  Featured in it is the work of some of the  finest cutting-edge scientist/cancer therapists in the US:  Nicholas Gonzalez MD, Stanislaw Burzynski MD PhD, James Forsythe MD, and more.

The US has lost the "War on Cancer" started by President Richard Nixon, in 1972.  Hundreds of billions of dollars has been spent, in essence,  developing a cancer industry that has never intended to do anything about cancer - in fact, they do the opposite.  It also created a huge, bloated bureaucracy of "cancer scientists" who, simply, get all dressed up, go to a meeting in a city far away, stay overnight in a five-star hotel, drive a Mercedes Benz - and accomplish absolutely nothing.  Never have, never will.

Stay tuned...

Tim Bolen - Consumer Advocate

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Friday, October 16, 2009

Simply Raw

SIMPLY RAW: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days

DVD Chronicles Six Diabetics Taking the Raw Food Challenge
For Reversing Diabetes Naturally & Documents Remarkable Results

Gabriel Cousens M.D, Anthony Robbins, Woody Harrelson, Rev. Michael Beckwith, Morgan Spurlock, David Wolfe & More Discuss the Healing Power of Raw Foods in New Film

BETHEL, CT (January 27, 2009)-A fascinating, independent film follows the remarkable journeys of six diabetics (Type 1 and 2) for 30 days as they take the “Raw Challenge” to reverse their disease naturally without prescription drugs by eating only organic, vegan, uncooked, ‘raw foods’ despite the American Medical Association’s claim that “Diabetes is a chronic disease that has no cure.” Their physiological and emotional transformations are featured in a new DVD entitled Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days (March 2009).

Set at The Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center in Arizona founded by Gabriel Cousens, M.D., the film follows the participants as they are challenged to give up their traditional, American diets consisting of meat, dairy, sugar, processed foods, and cooked foods, as well alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine, as they continue to reduce their dosages of insulin and prescription medications. The results are astounding.

“One of the most potent, pandemic diseases is Type 2 diabetes affecting 246 million people worldwide. We need to wake up to the possibility that simply changing our diet can significantly reverse and even cure this disease. The results of the participants in this documentary offer evidence of that,” states Dr. Cousens.   The author of There’s a Cure for Diabetes and founder of The Tree of Life, Gabriel Cousens, MD is a well-known holistic medical doctor for 35 years and published authority on alternative healing and raw living food nutritional therapies. He has helped thousands heal myriad diseases through the power of raw foods.

A diet consisting of plant-source only, raw foods is rapidly gaining worldwide recognition for its power to heal and rejuvenate, as well as maintain health at a high energy level. The raw diet mostly consists of fruits, vegetables, grains, sprouts, nuts and seeds. It is a vegan diet (no meat, cheese, eggs or milk), but with one caveat: It is prepared at temperatures less than between 118 degrees Fahrenheit to preserved the natural enzymes, nutrients and the food’s life-force energy from the sun. When food is cooked, 50 percent of the protein is lost, 70-80 percent of the vitamins and minerals are lost, and close to 100 percent of the phytonutrients are destroyed.

Simply Raw chronicles the transformation of six “real life” participants - with no prior knowledge of a plant-source only, raw food way of life - all struggling with diabetes. Their inspiring transformations are documented over 30 days. Upon arrival at the Tree of Life, the group receives physical exams and medical tests under the care of Dr. Cousens and his staff.  Daily medical discussions and support group meetings teach the participants about food selection and preparation as well as exercise, meditation and yoga. Throughout the film, we witness moments of struggle, support, and hope.  Remarkably nearly all of the participants were able to attain normal blood sugar levels and eliminate their insulin and prescription drug intake they depended on for decades.

The Simply Raw film has inspired a movement www.rdnmovement.com, to bring together people from around the world to reverse diabetes naturally through the spreading of educational resources on nutrition such as the Simply Raw film and “The Ultimate Encyclopedia of the Raw Food Lifestyle”. An RDN Action Day is slated for April 25, 2009.

The Simply Raw DVD is available for purchase at simplyrawmovie.com or at amazon.com.  Running time:  88 minutes.

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Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for Diabetic Leg Wounds

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy- Article from the Globe & Mail, March 26, 2005

Diabetics are losing legs unnecessarily

by Christie BlatchFord


Most of the physicians interviewed by The Globe say the demand for HBOT is primarily patient-driven.  "Why isn’t there more usage?" the OMA’s Dr. Sosiak asked rhetorically.  "Physician ignorance, no training [in HBOT] in our universities; patient ignorance; a culture of antagonism."
 

Canadian diabetics are losing feet and legs at an alarming rate every year despite a growing body of scientific evidence which shows that a treatment already available can potentially prevent amputation in about 70 per cent of cases.

In Ontario alone, conservative estimates are that 2,100 diabetics suffer below- or above-the-knee amputations every year due to foot ulcers, with some doctors quietly putting the number at twice that and a recent British study finding that amputation rates themselves are often unreliable and underestimated.

Statistically, every year about 2.5 per cent of the more than two million Canadians with diabetes develop foot ulcers - the disease often causes poor circulation and nerve damage in the extremities, with the result that such minor problems as calluses and cuts can quickly become infected before the patient realizes it - with about a quarter of those eventually going on to amputation.

Most are older people, if not elderly, their bodies worn down after decades of the disease's insidious effects.

Yet though the treatment called hyperbaric oxygen therapy, or HBOT - is, on paper, available in most major Canadian cities, its controversial history of overblown claims, combined with ignorance about its legitimate efficacy in more than a dozen conditions and a pharmaceutical-driven medical establishment, has resulted in the therapy being relegated to the sidelines.

"It's got no champion," Dr. Wayne Evans, chair of the Ontario Medical Association’s hyperbaric medicine division, said sadly of HBOT.

"It gets lost in the shuffle. It's not glamorous.  The profession sees it as boring stuff involving yechy wounds mostly in old, smelly people."

Calgary hyperbaric physician Ross Harrison says the lack of information and widespread reluctance of doctors to refer their diabetic patients for HBOT is tantamount to a conspiracy of silence.

 "That's definitely true," he told The Globe and Mail in a telephone interview from his office at HBOT Clinics Inc., a private facility that treated 12 diabetics last year.

"Diabetics are losing legs unnecessarily," Dr. Harrison said.  "There's no question.  We run into a great deal of resistance, from several different quarters," and mentioned one local health authority that flatly refuses to approve the treatment.

HBOT is long-established as a remedy for divers suffering from decompression illness and fire-fighters with carbon monoxide poisoning.

But since 1976, when the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society first formed a committee to review research and clinical data, other therapeutic uses for HBOT have been added, with the recommended "indications" now refined to 13, including delayed radiation injuries (which may show up years after cancer treatment) and so called problem wounds, the broad category into which diabetic foot ulcers fall.

Whether for treatment of "the bends" or a foot ulcer, patients enter a treatment chamber where they breathe 100-per-cent oxygen at a pressure typically 21/2 to three times that of sea level.  With diabetic wounds, what this hyper oxygenation does is kick start a number of healing processes, chief among them the growth of new blood vessels.

Since 2001, there have been four randomized, controlled clinical trials of HBOT on diabetic ulcers the gold standard in evidence based medicine - though the patient numbers were small, ranging from 30 to 70.

All the studies found either markedly fewer amputations with patients who received HBOT compared to those who didn't, or enormously improved healing.

Yet the Canadian Diabetes Association, which defines one of its functions as "effective advocacy for diabetics, makes not a single mention of the therapy on its website.  Indeed only last month did the CDA announce it will soon begin an independent technical review of the HBOT literature, with recommend-ations expected this summer.

The agency was responding to a letter from Bill Roman, president of the Canadian Council on Clinical Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, urging the group to "take a leadership role and provide this information to patients, physicians and the [Ontario] minister of health and flatly describing the loss of limbs in Ontario as "a carnage."

Diabetes in Ontario, published in 2003 by the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences and considered a top-level "practice atlas," devotes an entire chapter to peripheral vascular disease (the underlying problem that causes nerve damage and leads to amputation) without any reference to HBOT.

'All of them deserve the right to have a say in it, and to know that there are options.'
                                                                                                     Dr Michael Garey

 Federally, Health Canada devotes two pages on its website to HBOT and lists 11 recognized uses of the therapy - but none for problem wounds like foot ulcers.

Indeed, Health Canada’s "A-Z" on-line information guide has four listings about dengue fever, hardly the equal of the health crisis posed by diabetes, which experts universally estimate to be increasing by about 10 per cent a year due to the aging baby boomer generation and what is euphemistically called “over-nutrition."

Yet there is only one reference, currently unavailable, on the Ottawa website for hyperbaric oxygen therapy.

As Michael Garey, a hyperbaric doctor at Lakeview Hospital near Salt Lake City, Utah, says: "For some people, amputation is the best way to go. It’s a good surgery. But a lot of people, we can save.  And all of them deserve the right to have a say in it, and to know that there are options."

It was more than two years ago that the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency that administers the Medicare plan and helps states administer Medicaid, issued a “national coverage decision” expanding approved use of HBOT to specifically include coverage for "diabetic wounds of the lower extremities."

Starting in April of 2003, U.S. diabetics with serious ulcers failed to heal within a month using standard treatment were eligible for HBOT as an "adjunctive therapy," a decision described OMA’s Dr. Evans as "a very logical but gutsy move."

Dr. Evans, a hyperbaric doctor of 14 years at Toronto General's small unit and a University of Toronto assistant professor, noted that "the U.S. decision isn’t the only piece of information. There’s tonnes of scientific material that supports it [HBOT}.  Admittedly, a large body of the older work is lower-quality evidence," he said, “but the recent work is pretty substantial evidence.  It just doesn’t get headlines that a study of 5,000 patients gets.  A huge study may be required to show a slight difference but a smaller one can still show a statistically significant difference.

 As Dr. Ted Sosiak, secret the OMA’s committee on hyperbaric medicine, told The Globe,  because "there's no patent [to be had] on oxygen and no financial incentive, there's no one coming in to do research with $20-million.

Yet Dr. Sosiak says, "the evidence is there" - not only that HBOT works "about 75 per cent of the time," but also that it's cost effective.  "Amputation in Canada using the CDA’s own figures, costs about $74,000," he said, while an average course of HBOT treatment- 30 or 40 are usually needed to fully heal a diabetic ulcer - costs between $8,000 and $12,000.

The situation in this country is complicated by provincial health insurance plans, which cover HBOT.  But some, like Ontario's, pay only for physician consultation, using archaic codes that were developed in 1968 when hyperbaric oxygen was used primarily with divers.  In other plans, such as Alberta, clinics are also compensated with a “facility fee” which is billed to the local health region.

Because the Ontario style of funding pays no facility or technical fee, it means there's little incentive for hospital-based HBOT clinics, such as the one at Toronto General Hospital - the only hospital clinic serving the country's largest city - to treat elective patients such as diabetics, or to expand.  The TGH's so-called "standalone" budget is but $285,000, hospital spokeswoman Gillian Howard said, emphasizing that the clinic is meant to function as "an emergency service."

Ms. Howard said that in a given year, the clinic treats between 100 and 125 cases; there are about four elective patients a day, only two of whom, The Globe has learned from other sources, are diabetics.  These sources say this has translated to a waiting list of about a year at TGH, and about eight months at the province's other hospital clinics, located in Ottawa and Hamilton.

With TGH treating only about 15 diabetics a year, and the other hospitals together averaging about 35 annually, it means, Dr. Sosiak said, that not more than 50 of the thousands of Ontarians with deteriorating leg ulcers are able to take advantage of HBOT.

According to the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society, there are 23 HBOT clinics - a mix of hospital, private and military facilities - across Canada.  And diabetics who resist amputation and learn about the therapy will dig into their own pockets if necessary and travel to get the treatment.

Mary Svitek, a 64-year-old from Windsor, guesses she spent about $ 1 0,000 for travel and accommodation while getting HBOT from a private Toronto clinic more than two years ago.

"Within two months," she told The Globe, the ulcer on her right foot healed, and even grew new skin.  "That's still fine." But in early 2003, she developed three new sores on the bottom of the foot, and had to return for more treatment.  "Two of them healed," Mrs. Svitek said, "but one is still open."

Yet she continues to walk, and remain active.  "To me, it would be very, very difficult to lose my leg.  I'm a very active person."

Mrs. Svitek learned about HBOT on the Internet, where, as the OMA’s Dr. Evans said, "You have to be a very good Googler, and have an obsessive-compulsive" persistence to unearth information.

"None of the doctors in Windsor seemed to be aware of it," Mrs. Svitek said.  When she asked her family physician for a referral, she said his attitude was, "'Well, you can go ahead but I don't know if it's going to work.' He was very impressed when he saw how it healed."

"It's made a believer out of me," Toronto private investigator Jack Hunter said.  "I'd never heard of it, but it worked wonders."

At 66, Mr. Hunter's journey through surgery is typical of the slippery slope that for many diabetics begins with a minor amputation and, several agonizing procedures later, ends in death.

First, the big toe on his right foot became discolored, then went black with gangrene; he had it amputated; then the adjacent toes went the same way, and on March 1 1, last year, the leg was amputated below the knee, and he walked out of hospital five weeks later on a brand-new prosthesis.

But three months later, informed enough now to be panic-stricken, Mr. Hunter noticed "a little black spot" between the toes on his left foot, and ultimately lost two toes and a piece of the sole.  He credits HBOT, which he received at Toronto General Hospital from Dr. Evans, with saving his leg.  "At the end of eight weeks, it's really doing well.  It's almost healed.  It's just amazing," he said.

Dr. Ted Sosiak, secretary of the Ontario Medical
Association’s committee on hyperbaric medicine,
says the therapy is not only effective, it’s also more
cost-effective than resorting to amputation.

Most of the physicians interviewed by The Globe say the demand for HBOT is primarily patient-driven.  "Why isn’t there more usage?" the OMA’s Dr. Sosiak asked rhetorically.  "Physician ignorance, no training [in HBOT] in our universities; patient ignorance; a culture of antagonism."

       I'd never heard of it, but it worked wonders.
                                                                 JackHunter

As Dr. Garey of Utah’s Lakeview Hospital said sadly, "Part of it is politics; part of it is that doctors are not exposed to it in residency and what they're not exposed to, they're leery of. I run into that when I lecture at the university ... I always reply, 'How many of the 39,000 articles have you read?' "

He said that in his six years of hyperbaric medicine, he has treated "dozens of people who were told they need amputation, and we were able to save their limbs." Given that most diabetics facing amputation are older, Dr. Garey said, saving their legs "is a tremendous quality-of-life issue.  Rehabilitation is not a fast thing, not any faster than wound care.  Prostheses are much better now, true, but most of the elderly can never successfully use them.  Almost 50 per cent [of those who undergo amputation] die within months."

Dr. Garey said hyperbaric doctors often make the black joke that only when they develop a "scratch ‘n’ sniff panel for our pictures" will HBOT get the recognition it deserves.

In June, he will present a paper at the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society conference in Las Vegas. The title of his paper?  "Limb salvage." Who would have thought that in 2005, such a discussion would be necessary.

                            cblatchford@globeandmail.ca

 

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