[SymphonicHealth] Fw: WHY DO AMERICANS HAVE SUCH POOR HEALTH?

[Guest guest]

WHY DO AMERICANS HAVE SUCH POOR HEALTH?

By Dr. Howenstine, MD.

December 16, 2003

NewsWithViews.com

In order to understand the current status of medical care in the U.S., Canada

and Europe it is vital to understand that health care in these 3 regions is

nearly completely under the control of the pharmaceutical industry. All major

pharmaceutical firms have interlocking boards of directors so there is no real

competition among these companies. In the United States the primary function

of the Federal Drug Administration is to ensure the profitability of

pharmaceutical firms, chemical firms and large agricultural conglomerates.

A competent scientist, Dr. Harvey W. Wiley, was the architect of the first

Pure Food and Drug Law in the United States. His intention in 1906 was to

protect the purity of food from additives and refined white flour. The pressures

from the food and pharmaceutical industries caused him to resign[1] in disgust

from the FDA in 1912. (We still have nutritionally worthless white bread 90

years later). It is foolish to think that the FDA is concerned about the health

care of the citizen when their primary allegiance is to the pharmaceutical

industry and allied monopolistic businesses.

All appointments to the FDA are carefully screened to be certain that the

appointee will be controlled by the drug companies. An FDA memo[2] admitted that

they would never permit an independent researcher to come up with a cure for

cancer that it would have to come through a drug company. Many cancer cures

have come and gone since 1906. None has received any publicity in the national

media. Curing cancer is far removed from the plans of the drug companies as the

sale of chemotherapy drugs is so lucrative.

An example of the stranglehold that the FDA has over medicine is provided by

our attempt to sell red yeast. Red yeast is used to prepare Peking duck. This

yeast contains many statins that lower cholesterol. The pharmaceutical

companies have taken advantage of this by isolating single statins from the

yeast

that they are able to patent (Mevacor, Lipitor, Xocor etc.). Red yeast is safer

and much cheaper than the statin drugs. When I called to order red yeast from

Nature's Distributors in Fountain Hills, Arizona the sales person advised me

that they could not sell red yeast to us because the FDA had called them and

told them to stop selling red yeast. The FDA gave them no reason for this action

but it is obvious that red yeast was hurting the statin sales of large drug

companies.

A group of concerned physicians has filed a petition with the FDA to require

pharmaceutical companies to place a package insert advising the buyer that

statin drugs cause depletion of the critical nutrient CoQ 10 from the body. CoQ

10 deficiency appears to cause a rare patient on statins to experience muscle

breakdown, lactic acidosis, kidney failure and death. The lack of CoQ 10 in

heart muscle also probably is responsible for the rising incidence of heart

failure in the U.S. The package insert would recommend that persons taking

statins

should take 100 to 200 mg. of CoQ 10 daily to prevent these problems.

Obviously the drug companies oppose this package insert because it implies that

statin

drugs are not entirely safe which is, of course, the truth.

A major battle over the direction that medicine would travel was fought in

the early 1900s in the United States between the pharmaceutical industry and

homeopathy. This fight ended in complete victory for the pharmaceutical industry

aided by the financial clout of Rockefeller interests. Since that time drug

companies have influenced the curriculums taught in medical schools, controlled

the content of most medical meetings, and have major input into what topics

are not permitted in medical journals (articles about successful use of natural

therapies that could replace drugs usually will not get published). Programs

that will develop large profits for drug and agricultural firms are approved

without serious study and the public suffers (GMO foods, irradiation of foods,

vaccines released without safety testing, placing fluoride in water supplies,

using growth hormone to increase cow milk production, injecting cattle with

hormones, continuing use of mercury amalgams, recycling nuclear wastes, metals

and toxic substances as " fertilizer " [3] etc.)

What Is the Status Of U.S. Medicine?

American physicians are convinced that our medical services are the finest in

the world. I know I was. We do not read the world literature so it comes as a

surprise to learn that German physicians have been administering natural

products for more than 100 years.

The truth is shocking! The United States is 17th of 32 developed nations with

a life expectancy of 75 years. Japan is the highest with a life expectancy of

of 79.1 years. One of the major factors contributing to slightly improved

longevity figures in the U.S. is the improving survival of the 40 % of U.S.

citizens who are using supplements to keep themselves healthy and out of

hospitals.

If these 40 % of U.S. citizens who are using natural products to keep

themselves well were factored out of the statistics the U.S. might rank near the

bottom among all developed nations.

The Unites States spends twice as much money per capita on health care as the

average of the developed nations. We have advanced technology to diagnose and

perform very expensive coronary bypass surgery. Many years ago the eminent

Harvard cardiologist, Dr. Eugene Braunwald, expressed grave concern that

coronary bypass surgery was becoming an established procedure without any solid

evidence that it was effective. This very costly and somewhat dangerous

procedure

(coronary bypass surgery) is no more effective than good medical care which

attacks the causes of arteriosclerosis.

The " war " on cancer has been lost as chemotherapy and radiation are no more

successful now than they were 25 years ago. Fortunately a few people have heard

about natural approaches to malignancies and are recovering without the

terrible side effects of conventional cancer therapy. When the general public

learns that most oncologists would refuse to undergo chemotherapy in the event

they

developed cancer more persons will look for far safer natural treatments of

malignancy which provide better results.

Immense amounts of money are expended on pharmaceutical drugs that are

heavily publicized but have no ability to cure a disease. A good example of this

is

the use of expensive toxic anti-retroviral drugs for HIV when the simple

repletion[4] of selenium, niacin, tryptophane and glutamine appears to be very

successful in stopping this nutrient consuming illness from progressing.

Conventional medicine has no good therapy for the common lung disease emphysema.

The

effective alternative therapies for emphysema of intravenous glutathione,

intravenous hydrogen peroxide, and cetyl myristolate remain unknown to most

practitioners.

Pharmaceutical firms are spending large sums of money to develop new drugs

that will correct the blood sugar in type 2 diabetes when an electronic

engineer, , has pointed the way to eliminating[5] this problem by

dietary

measures.

Multiple sclerosis is being stabilized or improved by hyperbaric oxygen in

most English patients whereas the United States does not authorize this therapy.

The true status of U.S. medicine is dismal. Does this reflect arrogance and

chauvinism? My suspicion is that it is all about money. We are spending large

amounts of money and getting poor health. Patients that get treated with drugs

and do not get cured are enormously profitable for pharmaceutical firms,

physicians, hospitals, pharmacists and medical laboratories.

Why Is The Medical Profession Resisting Natural Therapies?

In 1902 Sir Osler stated " The greater the ignorance the greater the

dogmatism " . At this time approximately 40% of U.S. citizens have taken the

responsibility for their health care into their own hands and are taking

vitamins

and supplements that they feel will preserve their health and help them avoid

illness. The significant fall in death rates from heart disease (585 to 268

per 100,000) and strokes (181 to 62) almost certainly reflects the benefits of

these supplements. There are no pharmaceutical drugs that reverse the causes

for this disease (arteriosclerosis) [free radical damage, atrocious diets, and

exposure to a multitude of very toxic substances mercury, xenoestrogens,

fluoride, chlorine, pesticides, herbicides, aluminum, etc.]

There are many good reasons why physicians have not started to use natural

therapies:

Physicians receive no education in medical school about the merits of natural

treatments. Medical meetings and medical journals are heavily subsidized by

the pharmaceutical industry so no information about the virtues of natural

treatments will be brought forth in these arenas. Review articles about diseases

will either omit information about natural therapies or the material about

natural treatments will be presented in such a biased[6] or negative way that no

physician would want to use it.

Most physicians believe that the only valid therapies are pharmaceutical and

everything else is a scam. I was in this camp for more than 30 years.

Powerful governmental agencies exist to protect the earnings of the

pharmaceutical industry and are not very interested in the health status of the

general

populace. Money wins out so dangerous therapies are released on the public

without any attempt to prove safety (genetically modified foods, irradiation of

food, fluoridation of water, vaccines etc.).

Supposed tax free foundations concerned about public health set up research

studies to disprove the value of natural therapies which is easy to do by using

impotent products, stopping the study before sufficient time has elapsed, and

using statistics to skew the results. Unfortunately some research scientists

are just like accountants and lawyers and their services can be bought. When

these unfavorable results come forth they are widely disseminated on television

and other media by skilled public relations experts to convince the public

there is no value in the substances they are using. The key to unraveling the

truth about these sordid pieces of research lies in discovering whose funds set

up the foundation (aluminum, tobacco, agribusiness etc.).

Physicians who decide to try natural substances are forced to learn new

skills which is not easy.

Inertia can be a strong influence. When things are going well for physicians

why would they want to rock the boat. Human nature tends to oppose change so

medical advances often take 50 or more years until they are implemented.

Several alternative medical practitioners have been badly harassed by

governmental authorities (Dr.Stanislaw Burzynski, Dr. Max Gerson, Dr. Carl

Reich, Dr.

Royal Rife etc.) forcing them to leave the country or defend themselves in

expensive lawsuits to avoid losing their licenses. A leader in natural health,

Dr. , had his office ransacked by Gestapo-like federal agents

who seized all his patient records.

There is a legal concept that is widely appreciated by physicians as a way to

avoid lawsuits. This concept is you are at risk if you are using treatments

that your colleagues are not using. Naturally this impedes change!

In the light of all the negative influences mentioned above it is not

surprising that so few M.D.s and other practitioners have embraced natural

therapies.

However, truth always dispels darkness and lies. When the general public

learns that most oncologists would refuse to take chemotherapy if they developed

cancer fewer persons will consent to this dangerous therapy.

My guess is that fewer than one infectious disease specialist in a hundred

has ever heard of Sulfoxime and Dioxychlor. These two remarkable antimicrobial

substances are very effective in eliminating systemic fungal infections,

mycoplasma, yeast and anerobic infections without side effects and at minimal

cost.

Their developer, Dr. W. Bradford, will probably never be invited to

speak at an infectious disease seminar as dissemination of news about Sulfoxime

and Dioxychlor would have an adverse effect on antibiotic sales.

There may not be a single chest physician in the United States who knows that

umckaloabo is a highly effective safe herbal therapy for advanced

tuberculosis.

Veternarians in the United States have learned that treating animals prior to

conception with vitamins, minerals and nutrients nearly completely eliminates

congenital anomalies. This biologic concept would almost certainly work in

humans but may never be introduced because it would eliminate too many

profitable diseases.

The future for natural products appears to lie with the continuing education

of the general public about the virtue of natural approaches to health

problems. Word of mouth about successful results can be a powerful factor

promoting

change. As this proceeds the revenue of drug companies will fall. Many

pharmaceutical firms are already positioning themselves for these changes by

buying

natural health product companies. Unfortunately this certain progress in

medicine will, of necessity, come without benefit of the medical profession and

medical schools who will probably be unable to shed their strong bondage to the

pharmceutical industry. The pharmaceutical approach to medicine, with the

exception of antibiotics, does not prevent or cure diseases.

What Is The Status Of U.S. Medical Research?

The status of research in the U.S. is just as grim as the health status of

the U.S. population. Enormous amounts of money are expended on research projects

by the U.S. Government and large corporations. Projects that look for

evidence in support of new ideas do not get funded. Projects that funded efforts

to

find new information could endanger the earlier research by members of the

committees deciding who gets the grants. In this manner the system perpetuates

itself with mediocrity. Most research ends up being aimed at getting an income

rather than seriously trying to uncover new knowledge. Considerable time is

wasted trying to find grant money. The creative innovative thinker could be a

risk

to established researchers and does not get funded. Dr. Goodwin,

chairman of psychiatry at the University of Kansas remarked " If it's trivial

you

can probably study it. If it's important, you probably can't. "

This huge influx of grant money has led to incorrect thinking that the best

teacher was the best researcher and the one who got the largest research grants

was the best teacher which is obviously silly. The end result of this process

was the conversion of medical schools into a kennel of researchers who

secondarily teach medical students. To survive in this academic millieu one must

" publish or perish. " Naturally the quality of most of these publications are

mediocre or worse and much fraudulent research is yet to be uncovered.

Many researchers are receiving money from pharmaceutical firms. This, of

course, colors their results. Even the highly respected New England Journal Of

Medicine has become contaminated. They have established a policy that they will

only accept papers from authors who are receiving less than $10,000 annually

from a pharmaceutical firm. Naturally, a researcher getting only $9,999 would

not be tempted to alter his research to please the drug firm. Incidentally, I am

as guilty of taking money from drug companies as anyone having attended

wonderful meals, golf tournaments, received medical bags etc. at the expense of

pharmaceutical companies.

What Public Health Measures Need To Be Instituted?

Serious efforts to improve public health must begin with stopping the sale of

disease-causing margarine and transfats, removing fluoride and chlorine from

drinking water, ending the use of mercury for dental amalgams, encouraging

grazing of cattle instead of feedlots, banning irradiated and genetically

modified foods, ending hormone injections into cows and cattle, and massive

education

campaigns to warn the public about the danger of sugar excesses, aluminum,

and processed foods. All these steps will be vigorously resisted by powerful

entrenched special interest groups. Physicians who offer the public alternative

health therapies need to be protected from harassment by governmental agencies.

Footnotes:

1 Casper Modern Foods: The Sabotage of Earth's Food Supply Center Point

Press, 12463 Rancho Bernardo Road, San Diego, Cal 92128

2 Spotlight October 30, 2000 pg. 11

3 Duff Fateful Harvest: The Story of a Small Town, A Global Industry,

and a Toxic Secret Harper 212-207-7520 ISBN 0060193697

4 Harold D. What Really Causes AIDS? Trafford Publishing, 2333

Government St., , B.C. V8T 4P4, Canada Toll-free 1-888-232-4444 (Canada

&

U.S.)

5 Insulin: Our Silent Killer P.O. Box 7685, Loveland, Co 80537,

970-669-9176

6 Gaby Alan R. The New England Journal Of Drugs (Editorial) August-September

Townsend Letter for Doctors & Patients pg.152

© 2003 Dr. Howenstine -

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Dr. A. Howenstine is a board certified specialist in internal medicine

who spent 34 years caring for office and hospital patients. Curiosity sparked

a 4 year study of natural health products when 5 of his patients with severe

rheumatoid arthritis were able to discontinue the use of methotrexate

(chemotherapy agent) after trying an extract of New Zealand mussels for the

therapy of

severe rheumatoid arthritis.

Dr. Howenstine is convinced that natural products are safer, more effective

and less expensive than pharmaceutical drugs. This research led to the

publication of his book 'A Physicians Guide To Natural Health Products That

Work'.

This book and the recommended health products are available from

www.naturalhealthteam.com and by calling 1-800-416-2806 U.S.A.  

E-Mail: jimhow@...