[SymphonicHealth] Conventional Medicine is now the #1 Cause of Death (fwd)

[Guest guest]

Subject: [symphonicHealth] Conventional Medicine is now the #1 Cause of Death

Posted as received. -The Webmaster

From: Lou & Dr. Bob Wynman at Lake Tahoe

Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2004

Subject: 3 Leading Causes of Death?

Do you care about someone who still somehow believes the medical system works

for anything but trauma cases ... and yet you still feel that person might have

a chance of recognizing truth if it were presented in a very professional

format?

This might be a great tool to help you help them. Just received this morning.

Enjoy:

According an extremely comprehensive and well-documented report (30 pages,

including about 160 documented references with three MD's & 2 Ph researchers as

authors) March, 2004 Life Extension Magazine, Conventional Medicine is now the

#1 cause of death, followed by heart disease & cancer (stroke must be #4 now?).

I've only attempted to copy sections 1 & 2 of the six-section article below for

you--read the whole thing at the Life Extension Foundation site, www.lef.org &

perhaps print a copy for any of your health professional friends who still deny

that drugs kill their patients 'cause there's no documentation to support the

statement.

Given that all the drugs & medicines we " licensed health professionals " write

prescriptions for are toxic poisons to living things, I'd suspect that the

783,936 deaths per year number cited below is short of the real number ... and

2.2 million reports of disability and chronic suffering due to those toxins is

also likely far sort of reality.

The report does state:

" Our estimated 10-year total of 7.8 million iatrogenic* deaths is more than

all the casualties from all the wars fought by the US throughout its entire

history. and ... an estimated 164 million people-more than half of the total US

population-receive unneeded medical treatment over the course of a decade. "

*What's iatrogenesis? from the Greek roots iatros = doctor & genesis =

caused:

" DRUG IATROGENESIS -- Prescription drugs constitute the major treatment

modality of scientific medicine. With the discovery of the " germ theory, "

medical scientists convinced the public that infectious organisms were the cause

of illness. Finding the " cure " for these infections proved much harder than

anyone imagined. From the beginning, chemical drugs promised much more than they

delivered. But far beyond not working, the drugs also caused incalculable side

effects. The drugs themselves, even when properly prescribed, have side effects

that can be fatal, as Lazarou's study(1) showed. But human error can make the

situation even worse. "

Nikken, encompassing all five Pillars of Health, is providing answers to any

humans willing to act to attain and maintain optimum health ... in all those

Five Pillars. I see Natural Hygiene as the nutrition part of those five pillars

(a minority opinion, of course!).

We ARE in the right place at the right time!

Life Extension Magazine March 2004

Death by Medicine

Something is wrong when regulatory agencies pretend that vitamins are

dangerous, yet ignore published statistics showing that government-sanctioned

medicine is the real hazard.

Until now, Life Extension could cite only isolated statistics to make

its case about the dangers of conventional medicine. No one had ever analyzed

and combined ALL of the published literature dealing with injuries and deaths

caused by government-protected medicine. That has now changed.

A group of researchers meticulously reviewed the statistical evidence

and their findings are absolutely shocking.4 These researchers have authored a

paper titled " Death by Medicine " that presents compelling evidence that today's

system frequently causes more harm than good.

This fully referenced report shows the number of people having

in-hospital, adverse reactions to prescribed drugs to be 2.2 million per year.

The number of unnecessary antibiotics prescribed annually for viral infections

is 20 million per year. The number of unnecessary medical and surgical

procedures performed annually is 7.5 million per year. The number of people

exposed to unnecessary hospitalization annually is 8.9 million per year.

The most stunning statistic, however, is that the total number of

deaths caused by conventional medicine is an astounding 783,936 per year. It is

now evident that the American medical system is the leading cause of death and

injury in the US. (By contrast, the number of deaths attributable to heart

disease in 2001 was 699,697, while the number of deaths attributable to cancer

was 553,251.5)

We had intended to publish the entire text of " Death By Medicine " in

this month's issue. The article uncovered so many problems with conventional

medicine however, that it became too long to fit within these pages. We have

instead put it on our website ( www.lef.org ).

We placed this article on our website to memorialize the failure of the

American medical system. By exposing these gruesome statistics in painstaking

detail, we provide a basis for competent and compassionate medical professionals

to recognize the inadequacies of today's system and at least attempt to

institute meaningful reforms.

Death by Medicine

By Null, PhD;

Carolyn Dean MD, ND;

Feldman, MD;

Debora Rasio, MD; and

Dorothy , PhD

Natural medicine is under siege, as pharmaceutical company

lobbyists urge lawmakers to deprive Americans of the benefits of dietary

supplements. Drug-company front groups have launched slanderous media campaigns

to discredit the value of healthy lifestyles. The FDA continues to interfere

with those who offer natural products that compete with prescription drugs.

These attacks against natural medicine obscure a lethal problem

that until now was buried in thousands of pages of scientific text. In response

to these baseless challenges to natural medicine, the Nutrition Institute of

America commissioned an independent review of the quality of

" government-approved " medicine. The startling findings from this meticulous

study indicate that conventional medicine is " the leading cause of death " in the

United States .

The Nutrition Institute of America is a nonprofit organization

that has sponsored independent research for the past 30 years. To support its

bold claim that conventional medicine is America 's number-one killer, the

Nutritional Institute of America mandated that every " count " in this

" indictment " of US medicine be validated by published, peer-reviewed scientific

studies.

What you are about to read is a stunning compilation of facts

that documents that those who seek to abolish consumer access to natural

therapies are misleading the public. Over 700,000 Americans die each year at the

hands of government-sanctioned medicine, while the FDA and other government

agencies pretend to protect the public by harassing those who offer safe

alternatives.

A definitive review of medical peer-reviewed journals and

government health statistics shows that American medicine frequently causes more

harm than good.

Each year approximately 2.2 million US hospital patients

experience adverse drug reactions (ADRs) to prescribed medications.(1) In 1995,

Dr. Besser of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

(CDC) estimated the number of unnecessary antibiotics prescribed annually for

viral infections to be 20 million; in 2003, Dr. Besser spoke in terms of tens of

millions of unnecessary antibiotics prescribed annually.(2, 2a) Approximately

7.5 million unnecessary medical and surgical procedures are performed annually

in the US,(3) while approximately 8.9 million Americans are hospitalized

unnecessarily.(4)

As shown in the following table, the estimated total number of

iatrogenic deaths-that is, deaths induced inadvertently by a physician or

surgeon or by medical treatment or diagnostic procedures- in the US annually is

783,936. It is evident that the American medical system is itself the leading

cause of death and injury in the US . By comparison, approximately 699,697

Americans died of heart in 2001, while 553,251 died of cancer.(5) Table 1:

Estimated Annual Mortality and Economic Cost of Medical Intervention

Condition Deaths Cost Author

Adverse Drug Reactions 106,000 $12 billion

Lazarou(1), Suh (49)

Medical error 98,000 $2 billion IOM(6)

Bedsores 115,000 $55 billion Xakellis(7), Barczak (8)

Infection 88,000 $5 billion Weinstein(9), MMWR (10)

Malnutrition 108,800 ----------- Nurses Coalition(11)

Outpatients 199,000 $77 billion Starfield(12),

Weingart(112)

Unnecessary Procedures 37,136 $122 billion HCUP(3,13)

Surgery-Related 32,000 $9 billion AHRQ(85)

Total 783,936 $282 billion

Using Leape's 1997 medical and drug error rate of 3 million(14)

multiplied by the 14% fatality rate he used in 1994(16) produces an annual death

rate of 420,000 for drug errors and medical errors combined. Using this number

instead of Lazorou's 106,000 drug errors and the Institute of Medicine 's (IOM)

estimated 98,000 annual medical errors would add another 216,000 deaths, for a

total of 999,936 deaths annually. Table 2: Estimated Annual Mortality and

Economic Cost of Medical Intervention

Condition Deaths Cost Author

ADR/med error 420,000 $200 billion Leape(14)

Bedsores 115,000 $55 billion Xakellis(7), Barczak (8)

Infection 88,000 $5 billion Weinstein(9), MMWR (10)

Malnutrition 108,800 ----------- Nurses Coalition(11)

Outpatients 199,000 $77 billion Starfield(12),

Weingart(112)

Unnecessary Procedures 37,136 $122 billion HCUP(3,13)

Surgery-Related 32,000 $9 billion AHRQ(85)

Total 999,936

The enumerating of unnecessary medical events is very important

in our analysis. Any invasive, unnecessary medical procedure must be considered

as part of the larger iatrogenic picture. Unfortunately, cause and effect go

unmonitored. The figures on unnecessary events represent people who are thrust

into a dangerous health care system. Each of these 16.4 million lives is being

affected in ways that could have fatal consequences. Simply entering a hospital

could result in the following:

a.. In 16.4 million people, a 2.1% chance (affecting 186,000)

of a serious adverse drug reaction(1)

b.. In 16.4 million people, a 5-6% chance (affecting 489,500)

of acquiring a nosocomial infection(9)

c.. In16.4 million people, a 4-36% chance (affecting 1.78

million) of having an iatrogenic injury (medical error and adverse drug

reactions).(16)

d.. In 16.4 million people, a 17% chance (affecting 1.3

million) of a procedure error.(40)

These statistics represent a one-year time span. Working with the

most conservative figures from our statistics, we project the following 10-year

death rates. Table 3: Estimated 10-Year Death Rates from Medical Intervention

Condition 10-Year Deaths Author

Adverse Drug Reaction 1.06 million (1)

Medical error 0.98 million (6)

Bedsores 1.15 million (7,8)

Nosocomial Infection 0.88 million (9,10)

Malnutrition 1.09 million (11)

Outpatients 1.99 million (12, 112)

Unnecessary Procedures 371,360 (3,13)

Surgery-related 320,000 (85)

Total 7,841,360

Our estimated 10-year total of 7.8 million iatrogenic deaths is

more than all the casualties from all the wars fought by the US throughout its

entire history.

Our projected figures for unnecessary medical events occurring

over a 10-year period also are dramatic. Table 4: Estimated 10-Year Unnecessary

Medical Events

Unnecessary Events 10-year Number Iatrogenic Events

Hospitalization 89 million(4) 17 million

Procedures 75 million(3) 15 million

Total 164 million

These figures show that an estimated 164 million people-more than

half of the total US population-receive unneeded medical treatment over the

course of a decade.

INTRODUCTION

Never before have the complete statistics on the multiple causes

of iatrogenesis been combined in one article. Medical science amasses tens of

thousands of papers annually, each representing a tiny fragment of the whole

picture. To look at only one piece and try to understand the benefits and risks

is like standing an inch away from an elephant and trying to describe everything

about it. You have to step back to see the big picture, as we have done here.

Each specialty, each division of medicine keeps its own records and data on

morbidity and mortality. We have now completed the painstaking work of reviewing

thousands of studies and putting pieces of the puzzle together.

Is American Medicine Working?

US health care spending reached $1.6 trillion in 2003,

representing 14% of the nation's gross national product.(15) Considering this

enormous expenditure, we should have the best medicine in the world. We should

be preventing and reversing disease, and doing minimal harm. Careful and

objective review, however, shows we are doing the opposite. Because of the

extraordinarily narrow, technologically driven context in which contemporary

medicine examines the human condition, we are completely missing the larger

picture.

Medicine is not taking into consideration the following

critically important aspects of a healthy human organism: (a) stress and how it

adversely affects the immune system and life processes; ( insufficient

exercise; © excessive caloric intake; (d) highly processed and denatured foods

grown in denatured and chemically damaged soil; and (e) exposure to tens of

thousands of environmental toxins. Instead of minimizing these disease-causing

factors, we cause more illness through medical technology, diagnostic testing,

overuse of medical and surgical procedures, and overuse of pharmaceutical drugs.

The huge disservice of this therapeutic strategy is the result of little effort

or money being spent on preventing disease.

Underreporting of Iatrogenic Events

As few as 5% and no more than 20% of iatrogenic acts are ever

reported.(16,24,25,33,34) This implies that if medical errors were completely

and accurately reported, we would have an annual iatrogenic death toll much

higher than 783,936. In 1994, Leape said his figure of 180,000 medical mistakes

resulting in death annually was equivalent to three jumbo-jet crashes every two

days.(16) Our considerably higher figure is equivalent to six jumbo jets are

falling out of the sky each day.

What we must deduce from this report is that medicine is in need

of complete and total reform-from the curriculum in medical schools to

protecting patients from excessive medical intervention. It is obvious that we

cannot change anything if we are not honest about what needs to be changed. This

report simply shows the degree to which change is required.

We are fully aware of what stands in the way of change: powerful

pharmaceutical and medical technology companies, along with other powerful

groups with enormous vested interests in the business of medicine. They fund

medical research, support medical schools and hospitals, and advertise in

medical journals. With deep pockets, they entice scientists and academics to

support their efforts. Such funding can sway the balance of opinion from

professional caution to uncritical acceptance of new therapies and drugs. You

have only to look at the people who make up the hospital, medical, and

government health advisory boards to see conflicts of interest. The public is

mostly unaware of these interlocking interests.

For example, a 2003 study found that nearly half of medical

school faculty who serve on institutional review boards (IRB) to advise on

clinical trial research also serve as consultants to the pharmaceutical

industry.(17) The study authors were concerned that such representation could

cause potential conflicts of interest. A news release by Dr. , the

lead author, said, " Our previous research with faculty has shown us that ties to

industry can affect scientific behavior, leading to such things as trade secrecy

and delays in publishing research. It's possible that similar relationships with

companies could affect IRB members' activities and attitudes. " (18)

Medical Ethics and Conflict of Interest in Scientific Medicine

Quick, director of essential drugs and medicines policy

for the World Health Organization (WHO), wrote in a recent WHO bulletin: " If

clinical trials become a commercial venture in which self-interest overrules

public interest and desire overrules science, then the social contract which

allows research on human subjects in return for medical advances is broken. " (19)

As former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine , Dr.

Marcia Angell struggled to bring greater attention to the problem of

commercializing scientific research. In her outgoing editorial entitled " Is

Academic Medicine for Sale? " Angell said that growing conflicts of interest are

tainting science and called for stronger restrictions on pharmaceutical stock

ownership and other financial incentives for researchers:(20) " When the

boundaries between industry and academic medicine become as blurred as they are

now, the business goals of industry influence the mission of medical schools in

multiple ways. " She did not discount the benefits of research but said a

Faustian bargain now existed between medical schools and the pharmaceutical

industry.

Angell left the New England Journal in June 2000. In June 2002,

the New England Journal of Medicine announced that it would accept journalists

who accept money from drug companies because it was too difficult to find ones

who have no ties. Another former editor of the journal, Dr. Jerome Kassirer,

said that was not the case and that plenty of researchers are available who do

not work for drug companies.(21) According to an ABC news report, pharmaceutical

companies spend over $2 billion a year on over 314,000 events attended by

doctors.

The ABC news report also noted that a survey of clinical trials

revealed that when a drug company funds a study, there is a 90% chance that the

drug will be perceived as effective whereas a non-drug-company-funded study will

show favorable results only 50% of the time. It appears that money can't buy you

love but it can buy any " scientific " result desired.

Crossen, a staffer for the Wall Street Journal, i n 1996

published Tainted Truth : The Manipulation of Fact in America , a book about the

widespread practice of lying with statistics.(22) Commenting on the state of

scientific research, she wrote: " The road to hell was paved with the flood of

corporate research dollars that eagerly filled gaps left by slashed government

research funding. " Her data on financial involvement showed that in l981 the

drug industry " gave " $292 million to colleges and universities for research. By

l991, this figure had risen to $2.1 billion.

For information about the Natural Hygiene part of the solution, check

at http://www.wynman.com/link7a.html. for the Nikken part,

http://www.wellness-forever.com.

" Opportunities multiply as they are seized. " - Sun Tzu, Author

lou & dr. bob wynman, lake tahoe

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Matt: 10:16