Category Archives: Uncategorized

U.S. Children Overmedicated

Posted on September 30, 2008 by continuum wellness| 1 Comment

American children are three times more likely to be prescribed psychotropic medications for conditions such as ADHD and bipolar disease than European children are, a new study finds.

Differences in regulatory practices and cultural beliefs about the benefit of medication for emotional and behavioral problems may explain this dramatic difference, the U.S. researchers added.

“There is significantly greater use of atypical antipsychotics and SSRI-type antidepressants for child mental health treatment in U.S. than in Western Europe,” according to lead researcher Julie Zito.

The report was published in the Sept. 24 online edition of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health.

Antidepressant medications Prozac, Ritalin and stimulant usage were compared in the United States, the Netherlands and Germany,

The researchers found that the annual prevalence of psychotropic medications among children in the United States was significantly greater than in either the Netherlands or Germany. In the United States, 6.7 percent of children were taking these drugs, compared with 2.9 percent in the Netherlands and 2 percent in Germany.

In addition, use of antidepressants and stimulants was three or more times higher in the United States than in the Netherlands or Germany, and use of antipsychotic drugs was 1.5 to 2.2 times greater in the United States than in either of the other countries.

The difference in the use of these drugs may be partly due to differences in diagnosis systems. For example, in the United States, there are more diagnoses of bipolar disease among children and adolescents than there are in Europe, the researchers noted.

Many children in the United States are taking two or more psychotropic drugs in a single year.

(article here)

Posted in ADD, ADHD, adolescents, children, nutrition, Uncategorized

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Tubal ligation, post-sterilization regrets

Posted on September 30, 2008 by continuum wellness| Leave a comment

According to a recently released study black women who undergo tubal sterilization as a means to prevent future pregnancies are more likely than white women to regret the decision.

Tubal sterilization is considered to be a permanent procedure, while it can be undone, this only happens rarely due to a number of factors. And the chances that the reversal would result in pregnancy comes with no guarantee. Yet it seems that many women would reverse the procedure if it was possible for them to do so. The study in the journal Fertility and Sterility, points out that many black women regret having had the procedure done.

The findings are reported in the journal Fertility and Sterility.

Black women over age 30 were more likely to feel a sense of regret. In women under age 30 there were no significant racial/ethnic differences in desiring sterilization be reversed.

Posted in Uncategorized, women, women's health

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Research: Fibromyalgia and Alternative Health Approaches

Posted on September 26, 2008 by continuum wellness| 6 Comments

Scand J Rheumatol.
Vegan diet alleviates fibromyalgia symptoms.

Department of Physiology, University of Kuopio, Finland.

The effect of a strict, low-salt, uncooked vegan diet rich in lactobacteria on symptoms in 18 fibromyalgia patients during and after a 3-month intervention period in an open, non-randomized controlled study was evaluated. As control 15 patients continued their omnivorous diet. The groups did not differ significantly from each other in the beginning of the study in any other parameters except in pain and urine sodium. The results revealed significant improvements in Visual analogue scale of pain (VAS), joint stiffness , quality of sleep, Health assessment questionnaire (HAQ), General health questionnaire (GHQ) , and a rheumatologist’s own questionnaire.

The majority of patients were overweight to some extent at the beginning of the study and shifting to a vegan food caused a significant reduction in body mass index (BMI) (p=0.0001). Total serum cholesterol showed a statistically significant lowering. Urine sodium dropped to 1/3 of the beginning values indicating good diet compliance.

It can be concluded that vegan diet had beneficial effects on fibromyalgia symptoms at least in the short run.

Acupuncture
Mayo Clinic study

Acupuncture Relieves Symptoms of Fibromyalgia, Mayo Clinic Study

Schmerz. 2008 Jun;22(3):324-33.
Alternative and complementary therapies in fibromyalgia syndrome

[Article in German]
Langhorst J, Häuser W, Irnich D, Speeck N, Felde E, Winkelmann A, Lucius H, Michalsen A, Musial F.

INTRODUCTION: Interdisciplinary S3 level guidelines were devised in cooperation with 8 medical, 2 psychological and 2 patient support groups. Results were elaborated in a multilevel group process. METHODS: On the bases of the “Cochrane Library” (1993-2006), “Medline” (1980-2006), “PsychInfo” (2006) and “Scopus” (2006) controlled studies and meta-analyses of controlled studies were analyzed.

RESULTS: Only few controlled studies were found supporting in part the effectiveness of CAM therapies in the treatment of fibromyalgia syndrome. Due to the lack of information on long term efficacy and cost-effectiveness, only limited recommendations for CAM therapies can be given.

CONCLUSION: Within a multicomponent therapy setting, selective CAM therapies (acupuncture, vegetarian diet, homeopathy, Tai Chi, Qi Gong, music-oriented and body-oriented therapies) can be recommended for a limited period of time.

Curr Pharm Des. 2006;12(1):47-57
Complementary and alternative medical therapies in fibromyalgia.
Sarac AJ, Gur A.

Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Medical Faculty, Dicle University, 21280 Diyarbakir, Turkey.

This article describes the studies that have been performed evaluating complementary or alternative medical (CAM) therapies for efficacy and some adverse events fibromyalgia (FM). There is no permanent cure for FM; therefore, adequate symptom control should be goal of treatment. Clinicians can choose from a variety of pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic modalities. Unfortunately, controlled studies of most current treatments have failed to demonstrate sustained, clinically significant responses. CAM has gained increasing popularity, particularly among individuals with FM for which traditional medicine has generally been ineffective. Some herbal and nutritional supplements (magnesium, S- adenosylmethionine) and massage therapy have the best evidence for effectiveness with FM. Other CAM therapies such as chlorella, biofeedback, relaxation have either been evaluated in only one randomised controlled trials (RCT) with positive results, in multiple RCTs with mixed results (magnet therapies) or have positive results from studies with methodological flaws (homeopathy, botanical oils, balneotherapy, anthocyanidins and dietary modifications). Another CAM therapy such as chiropractic care has neither well-designed studies nor positive results and is not currently recommended for FM treatment. Once CAM therapies have been better evaluated for safety and long-term efficacy in randomised, placebo-controlled trials, they may prove to be beneficial in treatments for FM. It would then be important to assess studies assessing cost-benefit analyses comparing conventional therapies and CAM.

Rheumatology (Oxford), 2004 May;43(5):577-82. Epub 2004 Jan 20
Improved clinical status in fibromyalgia patients treated with individualized homeopathic remedies versus placebo.

Department of Psychiatry, Mel and Enid Zuckerman Arizona College of Public Health at the University of Arizona, Tucson, USA.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the efficacy of individualized classical homeopathy in the treatment of fibromyalgia.
METHODS: This study was a double-blind, randomized, parallel-group, placebo-controlled trial of homeopathy. Community-recruited persons (N = 62) with physician-confirmed fibromyalgia (mean age 49 yr, s.d. 10 yr, 94% women) were treated in a homeopathic private practice setting. Participants were randomized to receive oral daily liquid LM (1/50,000) potencies with an individually chosen homeopathic remedy or an indistinguishable placebo. Homeopathic visits involved joint interviews and concurrence on remedy selection by two experienced homeopaths, at baseline, 2 months and 4 months (prior to a subsequent optional crossover phase of the study which is reported elsewhere). Tender point count and tender point pain on examination by a medical assessor uninvolved in providing care, self-rating scales on fibromyalgia-related quality of life, pain, mood and global health at baseline and 3 months, were the primary clinical outcome measures for this report. RESULTS: Fifty-three people completed the treatment protocol. Participants on active treatment showed significantly greater improvements in tender point count and tender point pain, quality of life, global health and a trend toward less depression compared with those on placebo.

CONCLUSIONS: This study replicates and extends a previous 1-month placebo-controlled crossover study in fibromyalgia that pre-screened for only one homeopathic remedy. Using a broad selection of remedies and the flexible LM dose (1/50,000 dilution factor) series, the present study demonstrated that individualized homeopathy is significantly better than placebo in lessening tender point pain and improving the quality of life and global health of persons with fibromyalgia.

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Posted in holistic, holistic medicine, Homeopathy, Uncategorized

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Research: Reducing Fibromyalgia Pain

Posted on September 26, 2008 by continuum wellness| 1 Comment

An exercise program that incorporates walking, strength training and stretching may improve daily function and alleviate symptoms in women with fibromyalgia, according to a report in the Archives of Internal Medicine.  Benefits appear to be enhanced when exercise is combined with education about managing the disease.

Fibromyalgia affects approximately 3.4 percent of women and 0.5 percent of men in the United States, according to background information in the article. Patients with fibromyalgia experience chronic pain throughout their bodies for at least three months, along with specific sites of tenderness. Causes and mechanisms are poorly understood. “Even with the recent approval of pregabalin by the Food and Drug Administration to treat fibromyalgia symptoms, pharmacotherapy is often insufficient to resolve persistent symptoms or improve functional limitations and quality of life,” the authors write.

Daniel S. Rooks, Sc.D., from Brigham & Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, and now with Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research, Inc., Cambridge, Mass., and colleagues recruited 207 women taking medication for fibromyalgia between 2002 and 2004. For 16 weeks, the women were randomly assigned to four groups: 51 performed aerobic and flexibility exercises only; 51 added in strength training; 50 received a self-help course on managing fibromyalgia; and 55 participated in all the exercises and the education course. The exercise groups met twice weekly, gradually increasing the length and intensity of their workouts, with instructions to perform a third day of exercise on their own.

A total of 135 women completed the study and underwent a six-month follow-up assessment. As measured by two self-assessment questionnaires and one performance test, women who participated in all forms of exercise improved their physical function, an effect that was larger in the combined education and exercise group. “Social function, mental health, fatigue, depression and self-efficacy also improved,” the authors write. “The beneficial effect on physical function of exercise alone and in combination with education persisted at six months.”

“The present study suggests that progressive walking, simple strength training movements and stretching activities are effective at improving physical, emotional and social function, key symptoms and self-efficacy in women with fibromyalgia who are being actively treated with medication,” the authors write. “Furthermore, the benefits of exercise are enhanced when combined with targeted self-management education, and improvements in physical function continue for six months after completion of the intervention. Our findings suggest the need for inclusion of appropriate exercise and patient education in the treatment of individuals with fibromyalgia.”

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(Arch Intern Med. 2007;167(20):2192-2200)

Posted in exercise, fatigue, Health, Uncategorized

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New Pet Foods Recalled

Posted on September 26, 2008 by continuum wellness| Leave a comment

The ASPCA is advising pet parents to discontinue the use of certain dog and cat foods manufactured by Mars Petcare US. On September 12, the company issued a nationwide recall of certain foods due to potential contamination with a Salmonella serotype called Schwarzengrund. The recall includes several widely distributed brands of dry pet food, including Pedigree, Special Kitty, Paws & Claws, Natural Dog Food, Red Flannel, Country Acres, Buju & Ziggie, Member’s Mark, Natural Cat Food, Retriever, Bruiser, Doggy Bag, PMI Nutrition and Pet Pride.

“Pet parents should wash their hands after handling any potentially contaminated pet food,” says Dr. Steven Hansen, the ASPCA’s Senior Vice President of Animal Health Services, “and immediately consult with a veterinarian if any signs or symptoms are noticed in their pets.”

For more information on the recall and affected brands, please visit our website. If you suspect your pet has eaten contaminated food, please call the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center’s 24-hour hotline at (888) 426-4435.

Posted in Uncategorized

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Vegan Halloween Candy

Posted on September 23, 2008 by continuum wellness| Leave a comment

I found this recipe and wanted to share it with my readers. If your little ones have a sweet tooth, well, and you too, this recipe could make for a fun Saturday afternoon. Homemade vegan candy corn.

Posted in family, Uncategorized

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‘Tree Man’ improving

Posted on September 23, 2008 by continuum wellness| 2 Comments

The Indonesian villager know as the “Tree Man” for massive bark-like warts on his body returned home today after doctors removed six kilograms (which is equal to slightly over 6 pounds) of the growths.

Dede, a 37-year-old from rural West Java, was taken home from Bandung city after nine months of operations to remove the woody growths that had smothered his hands and feet, doctor Rahmat Winata said.

He said he hoped to return to normal life and find a new wife after decades burdened by the root-like growths, which had left him unable to move and work except in a travelling “freak show”.

“Now I can live with my children… I can move and go anywhere,” Dede said via telephone from his village.

“I haven’t got any plans to get married yet, but I would like to.”

Dede had lived alone in the village after his wife left him and his teenage children went to stay with relatives because he could no longer care for them.

He said he had not yet talked to his ex-wife and did not know what he would do for work now that he was once again able to freely move his limbs.

His massive warts, which began growing out of control when he was still a teenager, were diagnosed last year by a US dermatologist as the result of a combination of the human papilloma virus and a genetic disorder that means his immune system is too weak to fight them off.

He will return to hospital at the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan in October for at least one more operation – the ninth – to remove the remaining 300 grams of the growths, doctor Winata said.

He has been given a strong course of medicine, including vitamin A, in an attempt to prevent the return of the growths, Dr Winata said.
Watch the video —->Tree Man video
Tree Man News

3/16/2009 More news: Tree Man Comes Home after treatment

Posted in nutrition, Uncategorized

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Healing Our Shadow – Obama and the Palin Effect

Posted on September 13, 2008 by continuum wellness| Leave a comment

This interesting, insightful article came my way. Have a read…

Sometimes politics has the uncanny effect of mirroring the national psyche even when nobody intended to do that. This is perfectly illustrated by the rousing effect that Gov. Sarah Palin had on the Republican convention in Minneapolis this week. On the surface, she outdoes former Vice President Dan Quayle as an unlikely choice, given her negligent parochial expertise in the complex affairs of governing. Her state of Alaska has less than 700,000 residents, which reduces the job of governor to the scale of running one-tenth of New York City. By comparison, Rudy Giuliani is a towering international figure. Palin’s pluck has been admired, and her forthrightness, but her real appeal goes deeper.

She is the reverse of Barack Obama, in essence his shadow, deriding his idealism and exhorting people to obey their worst impulses. In psychological terms the shadow is that part of the psyche that hides out of sight, countering our aspirations, virtue, and vision with qualities we are ashamed to face: anger, fear, revenge, violence, selfishness, and suspicion of “the other.” For millions of Americans, Obama triggers those feelings, but they don’t want to express them. He is calling for us to reach for our higher selves, and frankly, that stirs up hidden reactions of an unsavory kind. (Just to be perfectly clear, I am not making a verbal play out of the fact that Sen. Obama is black. The shadow is a metaphor widely in use before his arrival on the scene.) I recognize that psychological analysis of politics is usually not welcome by the public, but I believe such a perspective can be helpful here to understand Palin’s message. In her acceptance speech Gov. Palin sent a rousing call to those who want to celebrate their resistance to change and a higher vision.

Look at what she stands for:
–Small town values – a denial of America’s global role, a return to petty, small-minded parochialism.
–Ignorance of world affairs — a repudiation of the need to repair America’s image abroad.
–Family values – a code for walling out anybody who makes a claim for social justice. Such strangers, being outside the family, don’t need to be heeded.
–Rigid stands on guns and abortion – a scornful repudiation that these issues can be negotiated with those who disagree.
–Patriotism — the usual fallback in a failed war.
–“Reform” — an italicized term, since in addition to cleaning out corruption and excessive spending, one also throws out anyone who doesn’t fit your ideology.

Palin reinforces the overall message of the reactionary right, which has been in play since 1980, that social justice is liberal-radical, that minorities and immigrants, being different from “us” pure American types, can be ignored, that progressivism takes too much effort and globalism is a foreign threat. The radical right marches under the banners of “I’m all right, Jack,” and “Why change? Everything’s OK as it is.” The irony, of course, is that Gov. Palin is a woman and a reactionary at the same time. She can add mom to apple pie on her resume, while blithely reversing forty years of feminist progress. The irony is superficial; there are millions of women who stand on the side of conservatism, however obviously they are voting against their own good. The Republicans have won multiple national elections by raising shadow issues based on fear, rejection, hostility to change, and narrow-mindedness.

Obama’s call for higher ideals in politics can’t be seen in a vacuum. The shadow is real; it was bound to respond. Not just conservatives possess a shadow — we all do. So what comes next is a contest between the two forces of progress and inertia. Will the shadow win again, or has its furtive appeal become exhausted? No one can predict. The best thing about Gov. Palin is that she brought this conflict to light, which makes the upcoming debate honest. It would be a shame to elect another Reagan, whose smiling persona was a stalking horse for the reactionary forces that have brought us to the demoralized state we are in. We deserve to see what we are getting, without disguise.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/obama-and-the-palin-effec_b_123943.html

Posted in culture, healing, Health, healthy mind, life, motivation, nutrition, pesticides, prescription drugs, Uncategorized, women

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Sexual Activity and Reducing STD Risk

Posted on September 4, 2008 by continuum wellness| Leave a comment

Health Risks of Noncoital Sexual Activity

Washington, DC — When counseling patients about preventing sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), it’s important for physicians to ask direct questions about both intercourse and noncoital sexual activity, according to a new Committee Opinion issued today by The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG).

Noncoital sexual behavior includes mutual masturbation, and oral and anal sex and is common among adults and adolescents. Despite concerns expressed in the popular media about an increase in oral sex among adolescents and young adults, there is no evidence that this is the case. However, research does show that oral sex is much more common among adolescents who have already had vaginal intercourse, suggesting that these sexual activities occur at about the same time and with the same partner.

“Most people, including adolescents, are unlikely to use condoms during oral sex, which places them at risk for acquiring an STD,” said Richard Guido, MD, chair of ACOG’s Committee on Adolescent Health Care, which issued the opinion along with ACOG’s Committee on Gynecologic Practice. “This unlikelihood is partly because of a greater perceived safety compared with intercourse. Although sexual behavior is a sensitive issue to address for both patients and physicians, it’s important to discuss sexuality frankly and without judgment so that we can help our patients fully protect themselves against STDs.”

Risk of getting certain STDs varies depending on the specific disease and the sexual behavior:

  • the risk of acquiring HIV through oral sex is less than through vaginal sex
  • with receptive anal sex having the highest risk
  • Herpes is commonly transmitted through kissing and through oral, vaginal, and anal sex.
  • Herpes simplex virus Type 1 (HSV-1), typically associated with oral herpes (ie, “cold sores”), can be transmitted to the genitals through oral sex.
  • Herpes simplex virus Type 2 (HSV-2), typically associated with genital herpes, can be transmitted to the mouth through oral sex.
  • Nonviral STDs, including gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis, also can be transmitted through noncoital sexual activity.

“Our lesbian and bisexual patients also need be screened for STDs based on the same risk factors as other women,” Dr. Guido noted. “Most lesbians have been sexually active with men at some point. Even without this sexual history, there are some STDs that can be transmitted between two women during sexual activity.”

According to ACOG, physicians should ask more direct questions about a patient’s sexual behavior so that they can provide counseling on ways to lower the risk for STDs. Since most women who engage in noncoital sexual activity are also having intercourse, clinicians need to consider whether these noncoital behaviors add any additional risks to those already posed by intercourse.

Risk-reduction strategies:

  • limiting the number of sexual partners,
  • STD testing before engaging in sexual activity with a new partner
  • correct and consistent use of condoms
  • abstinence
  • and/or mutual monogamy.

Committee Opinion #417, “Addressing Health Risks of Noncoital Sexual Activity,” is published in the September 2008 issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

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Posted in genital warts, girls, HPV, sex, sexually transmitted disease, Uncategorized, women, women's health

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The Gardasil Vaccine

Posted on September 2, 2008 by continuum wellness| Leave a comment

“. . . If the State can tag, track down and force citizens against their will to be injected with biologicals of unknown toxicity today, there will be no limit on which individual freedoms the State can take away in the name of the greater good tomorrow.”

The above is a quote from a vaccine blog I just discovered. It is well written and informative. Visit it here.

GARDASIL Vaccine: The Damage Continues
by Barbara Loe Fisher

http://vaccineawakening.blogspot.com/2008/08/gardasil-vaccine-damage-continues.html

www.vaccineawakening.blogspot.com
www.NVIC.org
www.StandUpBeCounted.org

The vaccine reaction reports keep coming into the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) from mothers describing how they took their healthy teenage girls into a pediatrician or gynecologist’s office where they were given a GARDASIL shot and, then, nothing was ever the same again. The reports of HPV vaccine reactions, injuries and deaths continue to roll in, not only to NVIC but also to the federal Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (Search HPV4 at http://www.medalerts.org/vaersdb/index.html) newspapers, and television stations. And the only response that comes from officials at the CDC, FDA and drug companies when perfectly healthy teenage girls collapse into unconsciousness, suffer a massive seizure, get paralyzed or die suddenly after being injected with GARDASIL is the zombie mantra: “It is a coincidence.”

Last week a nurse who is an administrator in the outpatient department for a group of hospitals in California called and asked if NVIC had been getting reports of unusual collapse after GARDASIL vaccination. I said, yes, we are getting those reports and she said “A lot of our patients are collapsing after the shot is given. It happens with GARDASIL more frequently than with any other vaccine we give.” That same week, NVIC received a report from the mother of a 15 year old daughter who got her first GARDASIIL shot last month. Within 10 minutes of being injected, she collapsed and had her first grand mal seizure, became incontinent, temporarily lost vision in her right eye, suffered uncontrolled vomiting and had to be taken by ambulance to the hospital. Another report to NVIC that week also involved first-time seizures in a 15 year old girl after she got a GARDASIL shot.

Through June 30, 2008, there have been reports that at least 17 to 20 deaths have occurred following GARDASIL and were filed with the federal Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS), although the FDA has yet to admit even one death is causally related to the vaccine, suggesting that the girls would have died that day even if no vaccine had been given. Many of the teenage girls ,who die suddenly after vaccination without explanation, were among the brightest and the best and in top physician condition. This was true for 17 year old Jessica Ericzon, a New York softball player, snowboarder and honor roll student who dropped dead within 48 hours of getting a GARDASIL shot. A coroner could find no cause for her death after an autopsy.

There have been so many reports of reactions, injuries and deaths following GARDASIL vaccination (20-25 percent of all vaccine adverse event reports being filed with VAERS are for GARDASIL vaccine reactions) that the FDA and CDC issued a statement defending the vaccine’s safety on July 22.

But one of the vaccine’s developers has urged caution and offers practical advice about the need for continued use of Pap screening to prevent cervical cancer rather than relying on the vaccine to do the job. ” If you are at all concerned, then don’t have the vaccine – have regular Pap smears and you will be equally protected from cervical cancer….Pap screening is still the only proven method we have for cervical cancer prevention,” said Professor Diane Harper, Ph.D. “We don’t know how long the vaccine will protect a woman from HPV infection, and the vaccine does not protect against all types of HPV infection that cause cervical cancer.”

The “coincidence” defense mounted by doctors and drug company officials every time a vaccination is followed by injury and death is as old as it is unscientific. It is amazing that they have been able to get away with it for so long. Babies can’t talk and babies can’t walk so who they will become is still a dream. But young girls and women have already become much of who they will be and, on the cusp of fulfilling the dream, their vaccine deaths and injuries are much more difficult to sweep under the carpet.

It is immoral for doctors in government and industry to continue to look away from the damage done when vaccines cut down the brightest and most physically fit among us. The suggestion that these healthy, high functioning girls were biologically compromised and would have died or been injured that day even if no vaccine had been given is ludicrous. If those in government responsible for protecting the public health and safety look the other way when healthy individuals die and are injured by pharmaceutical products pronounced by government as “safe” for public use, then we cannot be assured that any licensed drug or vaccine is safe.

Last year, the head of the FDA in China was executed for allowing toxic pharmaceutical products to be licensed and released for public use that ended up killing and crippling people.

Posted in drugs, girls, health beliefs, healthy body, immune system, influenza vaccine, Uncategorized, vaccine injury, vaccines

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